Sending a message to her mother, Vima quickly rushed to the Ottethan system to rescue her daughter. Unfortunately, during the time it took for Vima to travel to the remote system, the warlord had cast Neema out into the wilds of his planet, where rancors ran rampant. Vima learned of this when she arrived, and to her horror, that Neema was killed in the wild also. Overcome with anger and emotion, Vima herself gave into the Dark Side and in turn killed the Ottethan warlord.

Afterwards, Vima was deeply concerned about succumbing to the same evil that had consumed her daughter, and because of this, cut herself off from the Force, lest something like that should happen again. It was for this reason, that when Emperor Palpatine took control of the galaxy and began the Jedi Purge that Vima was able to escape him and his minions from the extermination of the Jedi. With the Jedi all but extinguished, Vima disappeared into the under-levels of the galaxy for decades.

At some point in her role as just another bottom feeder of the galaxy, Vima, almost two centuries old at this point, got into trouble and was sentenced to serve a prison term in the Spice Mines of Kessel, where she was kept in total darkness for a number of years forced to harvest spice from deep within the planetoid. It was there that Vima met once and future Jedi, Kyp Durron. While he was only still very young, Vima recognized his abilities in the Force and deep within the mines, Vima taught Kyp as much as she could about using the Force. Just as Vima's way into the spice mines remains a mystery, so does her eventual escape from Kessel as well.

However it was done, after her time on the prison planet Vima found herself on the Smuggler's Moon, Nar Shadda about five years after the defeat of the Empire. There, Vima lived out the life of an old beggar woman, scrambling for what she could from those who might show her some kind of compassion. It was Nar Shadda that Han Solo and Leia Organa-Solo made a trip to during the time of the Reborn Emperor. Just by happenstance, or perhaps fate, Vima's and Leia's paths crossed. Because of her family history, Vima was able to sense the Force-sensitivity that resided within Leia and told her of the powers she possessed within her. However, two centuries of being alone, of being seen as the scum of the galaxy, pretty much tainted her words to Han and Leia, who saw them only as the words of a crazy, old woman.