During the first year of the Yuuzhan Vong War, a revolt took place aboard the Yuuzhan Vong slaveship Tsam P'ah. Aboard the vessel were thousands of prisoners, taken from many worlds by the Yuuzhan Vong. These prisoners were to be used as slaves on the conquered planet Artorias. On Artorias' surface, the Artorias resistance had killed many Yuuzhan Vong guards, and replacements were required from the Tsam P'ah. When many of the slaveship's guards were sent to the planet's surface, the prisoners saw an opportunity to revolt. Artorian Princess Kaye Galfridian and a captured warrior, Arbeloa, led the prisoners in their cell in an attack against two guards they had lured inside. Outside their cell, the prisoners continued their rebellion, freeing thousands of other captives and killing the remaining Yuuzhan Vong guards, as well as the slaveship's commander. With the ship now under the prisoners' control, they escaped Artorias and renamed the ship Heart of Artorias.
Artorias' people are brought aboard the Tsam P'ah.
In 25 ABY, the extra-galactic Yuuzhan Vong invaded the galaxy, intent on conquering and enslaving its inhabitants. One of the planets that fell to the invaders was Artorias, and many of its people were imprisoned aboard the slaveship Tsam P'ah. Artorias' Queen, Nina Galfridian, and Princess, Kaye Galfridian, were among those that were captured. The Tsam P'ah remained in orbit above Artorias, as the prisoners were to work as slaves on the planet's surface after it had been Vongformed.
The slaveship's commander, Sha'kel, wanting to put his study of Galactic Basic into practice, ordered the Artorian Queen to be brought before him. As she was looking after a wounded friend, the Queen refused, but her daughter volunteered to go in her place. The commander told her of the Yuuzhan Vong's plans for the galaxy, and how they would teach the galaxy about pain. To illustrate his point, Sha'Kel stabbed her in the shoulder. Back among the other prisoners, Kaye found that her mother's friend had died. Later, Nina Galfridian fell in a catatonic state due to the previous loss of her husband, son, and planet.
Through her conversations with the slaveship's commander, Galfridian slowly gained his trust. However, she secretly worked on a plan to strike against her captors. Arbeloa, the last survivor of a warrior species that had been wiped out by the Yuuzhan Vong, was one the people who was eager to fight with her, in exchange for Sha'kel's head. He worked on overcoming his bonds to aid her when the time for a revolt was right.
Meanwhile, on Artorias' surface, the Artorias resistance had been working to disrupt the planet's Vongforming. Many of the Yuuzhan Vong sentries were killed, and the Tsam P'ah landed on the planet to deliver reinforcements. Realizing that this was a perfect moment to strike, Galfridian and Arbeloa set their plan into motion. Acting as though Arbeloa had captured Galfridian—the commander's pet—and wanted to trade her for his freedom, they managed to lure two Yuuzhan Vong guards into their cell. The two guards realized too late that they had walked into a trap, as the entire population of the cell attacked them. The pair of guards killed and wounded many prisoners, but they were eventually overpowered. After the battle, Galfridian placed two Twi'lek women in charge of her catatonic mother and had the arm of one the guards brought to her by another prisoner. Using the device attached to the guard's arm, Galfridian opened their cell.
Before venturing forth, Arbeloa and some other prisoners created weapons by breaking off parts of their surroundings. Outside their cell, the prisoners continued fighting the Yuuzhan Vong guards and opening other cells, freeing thousands of other captives. Many of the prisoners died in the struggle, but with their superiority in numbers, they eventually managed to overcome their captors. After all the guards had been killed, Galfridian led Arbeloa to the ship's command center to make good on her promise: Sha'kel's head. Arbeloa cut off the commander's head and would later fashion it into a hat.
The Queen assumes command of the Tsam P'ah.
With all the Yuuzhan Vong dead, the prisoners were in charge of the slaveship. They were not safe, however, as the Yuuzhan Vong still had a substantial army stationed on the planet. The Queen, having recovered from her catatonic state after noticing the resistance on Artorias and realizing that her husband was still alive, assumed command of the ship through the cognition throne that Commander Sha'kel had used earlier. She jumped the ship away from Artorias to help other refugees of the Yuuzhan Vong War, and the ship, renamed Heart of Artorias, eventually arrived at a battle over the planet Dibrook.
The revolt first appeared in the fourth issue of the Dark Horse comic book series Invasion, which was released on October 7, 2009.