Skirmish at the gundark nest A skirmish occurred at a nest of gundarks , a predatory species , on the moon Alaris Prime sometime between 39 and 36 BBY . At the time , two factions were attempting to colonize Alaris Prime — Wookiee colonists from the planet Kashyyyk and the Trade Federation , an intergalactic company . The Wookiees had previously obtained the rights to colonize Alaris Prime legally from the Senate of the Galactic Republic , while the Trade Federation had ignored the Senate ' s ruling and illegally landed on the moon to pursue their own interests . On Alaris Prime , both groups were attacked by the gundarks , prompting them to take action against the creatures by eliminating them . The Federation sent a squad of B1 battle droids from its Droid Army to the gundark ' s nest , while the Wookiees trained a small band of warriors under the leadership of the Wookiee Chewbacca . The Trade Federation reached the nest and began attacking , killing many of the gundarks , while the Wookiees arrived a short time later as the final gundarks were eliminated . As soon as they saw the Wookiees , the battle droids opened fire on them , but the colonists fought back and overcame the droids , destroying all of them . The skirmish rendered gundarks an extinct species on Alaris Prime and led to further battles between the Wookiees and the Trade Federation . Prelude . Sometime between the years 59 and 56 BBY , Alaris Prime , a moon of the gas giant Alaris , was rediscovered by explorers of the Wookiee species from the planet Kashyyyk . These explorers , represented by the Wookiee Chieftain Attichitcuk , petitioned the Senate of the Galactic Republic , the dominant government in the galaxy , for the rights to lead a colonization effort on the moon . In the political debate that followed , the Trade Federation , an intergalactic company , also expressed interest in Alaris Prime , believing it could be used as a trade center between planets such as Kashyyyk , Kessel and Bimmisaari . The moon was eventually awarded to the Wookiees after twenty years of political debate , with Attichitcuk being named one of the leaders of the colonists for his role in gaining the rights . Fellow Wookiees Chewbacca and Shoran , Attichitcuk ' s son and nephew respectively , were also selected as colonial leaders , and Qui - Gon Jinn , a Master in the Jedi Order , was ordered by the Jedi High Council to oversee and advise the colonists in their efforts . The Wookiees set off for Alaris Prime sometime between 39 and 36 BBY ; however the Trade Federation and their Droid Army , dissatisfied with the Senate ' s ruling , illegally launched their own colonization effort on Alaris Prime , arriving shortly before the Wookiees and establishing their initial settlements . One of the structures built by the Trade Federation was a power core , which was attacked by gundarks , a non - sentient predatory species on Alaris Prime , driving the Federation away from that area . When the Wookiees landed on the moon , the damaged power core was discovered by Chewbacca and Shoran while they were heading to a camp built by Attichitcuk , and — acting on advice from Master Jinn — the two Wookiees destroyed the structure before continuing on their path . Once they reached the camp it was attacked by four gundarks , and Chewbacca , Shoran and Attichitcuk were forced to fight and kill the creatures . Shortly afterwards , the ruins of the power core were discovered by OOL - 2 , a Trade Federation B1 battle droid , who reported its destruction to the Federation ' s Viceroy , Nute Gunray . OOL - 2 stated that the power core had been destroyed by the gundarks , and Gunray ordered the droid to find the creatures and exterminate them . The Wookiees began to set up more bases on Alaris Prime , including one command center which was also attacked by gundarks . The multiple attacks prompted Master Jinn to teach the Wookiees to train a small army of warriors to attack the creatures at their nest . At one of these bases , which was led by Chewbacca , Jinn instructed several Wookiee workers to build a troop center in order to train the warriors . Once more than ten soldiers had been trained , Chewbacca led his troops towards the gundark ' s nest to attack . The Trade Federation also ordered a squad of eleven B1 battle droids go to the nest to destroy the gundarks . The skirmish . The squad of battle droids reached the nest and began firing at the gundarks with their blasters , killing many of the creatures . The Wookiees encountered two gundarks at a river close to the nest and killed them with their bowcasters before proceeding . The Wookiees reached the nest and witnessed the last of the gundarks being killed by the battle droids . As soon as all of the creatures were dead , one of the battle droids ordered his comrades to attack the Wookiees . However the colonists fought back and destroyed all of the droids . Aftermath . Immediately after the skirmish , Jinn congratulated Chewbacca and the Wookiees for their combat performance and realized that their colonization effort was going to take a different turn . As a result of the skirmish , gundarks became extinct on Alaris Prime , and the Wookiees gained a new enemy in the Trade Federation as they finally became aware of their presence on the moon . Attichitcuk later began a scouting expedition to see what he could discover about the Federation , and while doing so was ambushed by a unit of battle droids . Attichitcuk was quickly rescued by Chewbacca and a small group of Wookiee soldiers , but he had sustained injuries that prevented him from undertaking his major duties in the colonization for some time . Chewbacca would later lead the Wookiees in several attacks on Trade Federation settlements on Alaris Prime , before the Wookiees drove the Federation off the moon in the Battle for Alaris Prime . Behind the scenes . The skirmish at the gundark nest was first mentioned in the for the 2001 PC video game " , " before appearing in the game and its 2002 expansion " . " The skirmish is featured in the third level of the Wookiee tutorial campaign — " Building an Army " — where the player controls the Wookiees and has to train an army to attack the gundarks . The strategy guide recommends that the player create ten Wookiee troopers before attacking the nest in order to complete the mission , which this article uses as a guide for the number of Wookiees present in this skirmish .