Invasion of Yavin 4 The Battle of the Jedi Praxeum took place at the Jedi Praxeum on Yavin 4 during the Yuuzhan Vong War in 26 ABY . The Peace Brigade / Yuuzhan Vong conquest of the jungle moon was partially due to the fact that the New Republic was unwilling to provide aid for the New Jedi Order . The battle was divided into two phases : the initial Peace Brigade attack , and the subsequent attempts to recover the Jedi who remained trapped on the jungle moon as the Yuuzhan Vong consolidated their presence in the system . Prelude . Following his humiliating defeat at the hands of Jedi Knight Jacen Solo during the assault on Duro , Warmaster Tsavong Lah called for the lives of every Jedi alive . Any world which gave a Jedi refuge would be targeted for attack . But , he suggested , worlds and groups who cooperated with the invaders in eliminating the Jedi would be spared . Many in the New Republic obeyed his call . Some genuinely believed that they could secure peace with the Yuuzhan Vong , or else that it was a choice between defeat and cooperation . Others blamed the Jedi for provoking the war . Some were simply in it for the credits . The situation also fuelled recruitment for the Peace Brigade paramilitary organization created by Nom Anor , who obtained an extensive list of Jedi from highly - placed sympathizers . Dorsk 82 was slain by a mob on Ando and Swilja Fenn was captured by the Peace Brigade on Cujicor , while Cheklev narrowly escaped when the planetary government on Devaron handed him over to the invaders . Even non - Force - sensitive Academy tagalong Uldir Lochett , now flying for the Space Rescue Corps , was almost killed by his own copilot . One particularly vulnerable target was the Jedi Praxeum , which now lay some distance beyond the space under effective New Republic control . With the Jedi Knights scattered across the Galaxy , only a handful of adult Jedi remained to protect the young Jedi trainees , and there was some concern as to whether the Fallanassi illusion which was the Academy ' s primary defense would remain effective against the nulling effect that the Yuuzhan Vong had in the Force . Thrackan Sal - Solo , attempting to save the Corellian sector from attack , informed the Yuuzhan Vong as to the Academy ' s location . On Coruscant , Jedi Master Luke Skywalker realized the danger , but the New Republic stalled on sending a ship to evacuate the children , and although he also made efforts to locate Booster Terrik in the hope that his Star Destroyer , the " Errant Venture " , would be able to pull them off , he had little progress in tracking him down . At this point , Jedi Apprentice Anakin Solo approached his uncle . Although he often refused to admit it , the young Jedi was growing troubled by Luke ' s limitations and failures of judgment , and he was now being haunted by nightmares of his childhood friend Tahiri Veila , who had remained at the Academy . Luke ' s wife Mara suggested that she contact her former boss Talon Karrde , a smuggler turned information broker who still controlled a sizeable and well - armed fleet , and who could rescue the students . Luke agreed , and explicitly forbade Anakin to do anything rash — but his nephew was certain that Karrde would be too late , and mounted a one - man rescue mission . Peace Brigade raid . Using slicing tricks taught to him by Mara , Anakin sneaked out through Coruscant ' s security perimeter aboard his XJ X - wing Starfighter with his astromech Fiver . On arriving in the Yavin system , he discovered the presence of a Corellian light freighter in orbit around Yavin 4 , scouting the place out . Although the ship initially claimed to be a corusca gem prospector , a heavily - armed flotilla of twelve more ships now dropped into the system , including several starfighters and corvettes and a frigate . Anakin realized that his worst fears had been correct : the Peace Brigade had arrived in strength . Anakin managed to fight his way past the Brigaders , and landed at the Great Temple , where he found that Streen and Peckhum had taken the Academy ' s only hyperspace - capable transport on a supply run to Corellia , leaving only Kam and Tionne Solusar and his own former Kushiban mentor Ikrit guarding the Jedi children . While Kam and Tionne took the children to hide the passageways and caves that spread beneath the Temple area and the surrounding river land , Ikrit and Anakin remained at the Academy to create a diversion against the Brigade assault — five ships full of troops , led by Lieutenant Kot Murno . However , Anakin was appalled to discover that Tahiri Veila had also remained in the Temple , along with fellow students Valin Horn and Sannah , naively determined to help fight off the attack . Meanwhile , Talon Karrde arrived in the system with the " Wild Karrde " to find the other seven ships of the Peace Brigade squadron in orbit around the planet . A tense standoff ensued , but while Captain Imsatad , the ex - Imperial commander of the Brigader force , distrusted the former smuggler , Karrde was able to tempt him with an offer vornskr s and ysalamir i to track down the Jedi . This proved too much for Imsatad to resist , but although he attempted to control the situation to his advantage , Karrde successfully double - crossed the Brigaders and rescued Kam , Tionne and the Jedi children who had been hiding with them . Moreover , as the " Wild Karrde " ran the blockade , the rest of Karrde ' s fleet arrived , turning the tables on the Brigaders — but then a point a powerful Yuuzhan Vong task force showed up , led by two " Miid ro ' ik " warships . Karrde quickly dispatched the Jedi children to the relative safety of Coruscant in the care of his partner Shada D ' ukal , while he himself remained on the edge of the system with most of his ships , in the hope that the Jedi remaining on the planet would also be able to escape . On the surface , Anakin managed to hijack a Peace Brigade light freighter piloted by Remis Vehn , but Ikrit was slain covering the escape , and Tahiri was taken prisoner . Anakin , with Valin , Sannah and the captive Ven , fled with three of the smaller Peace Brigade ships in pursuit , but although they were able to take out their pursuers , the damaged freighter was itself shot down and crashed deep in the jungle . Anakin began to lead a salvage mission to repair the ship so they could flee the planet . Standoff and Anakin ' s rescue mission . Days passed , and the standoff above Yavin 4 continued between Karrde and the invading forces , while Tahiri languished in Peace Brigade captivity . In the jungle , Anakin worked to repair the freighter , and also to improvise a repulsorsled out of a crashed E - wing : he was determined to go back for his friend , as he had promised her . A week passed , and he dreamed of her again , now seeing her shaped and turned to the dark side by the Yuuzhan Vong . At this point , the young Jedi was joined by Fiver with his damaged X - wing , and also by the ex - Imperial pilot Qorl , who had been living on Yavin 4 for many years as a hermit , and who brought him news of the arrival of the Yuuzhan Vong . Anakin asked the old TIE pilot to take charge of the others , and left them to repair the damaged freighter , while he himself set out to rescue his friend . At around the same time , a senior Yuuzhan Vong officer , Commander Tsaak Vootuh arrived on Yavin 4 . It is not clear whether the initial Yuuzhan Vong task force of a week before had come to raid the Academy , or , as they claimed to the New Republic , simply to tap water from Stroiketcy , but now they had resolved to hold and garrison the jungle moon , take possession of any " Jeedai " they could find , and establish a damutek colony for the Shapers . Tsaak Vootuh had Imsatad executed , and took Tahiri into his own custody , while his warriors rounded up the other Brigaders for interrogation and ritual execution . A fortnight later , Master Shaper Mezhan Kwaad arrived on Yavin 4 . A secret heretic answering directly to the Supreme Overlord , she and her apprentice Nen Yim claimed Tahiri as a specimen for their experiments . Their aim was to physically and psychologically transform her into a Force - sensitive Yuuzhan Vong , replacing her personality with a new identity named Riina Kwaad , based on memories copied from Nen Yim ' s own childhood . Meanwhile , Anakin journeyed through the jungle , occasionally evading Yuuzhan Vong patrols . He discovered that the damuteks had flattened the Great Temple , and encountered a Yuuzhan Vong outcast named Vua Rapuung . Once a renowned Warrior , he had been the lover of Mezhan Kwaad , but when he decided to break off the affair , she had infected him with a virus that caused his body to reject his ritual implants , making him seem to be a Shamed One . Rapuung , however , knew that Kwaad was responsible , and believed that Anakin could help him vindicate his honor . Weeks more passed , while Tahiri ' s brainwashing continued , and Anakin , disguised as a slave , infiltrated the Yuuzhan Vong colony and repaired his lightsaber . Together with Vua Rapuung , he broke into the damutek where Tahiri had been shaped , but even as they made their way towards the heart of the Shaper facility , Mezhan Kwaad was being apprehended by Tsaak Vootuh on a charge of heresy . Anakin arrived just in time to see the commander and his personal guard leading away the captive Shapers , accompanied by the brainwashed girl who now believed herself to be Riina Kwaad . Escape . Anakin and Vua fought their way across the compound , to where Tahiri and the prisoners were being hustled aboard a ship for transport off - world . In front of dozens of Yuuzhan Vong , ranging from Intendants to Shamed Ones , Vua Rapuung confronted his former lover , and demanded she speak the truth . Mezhan Kwaad calmly and proudly proclaimed her heresy , then killed Tsaak Vootuh and his surviving guards with a weapon concealed in her Shaper Hand , before using it to hobble and overpower Anakin and Vua , ordering Nem Yim to take them aboard the ship for transport to the Supreme Overlord . At this point , however , Tahiri used Anakin ' s lightsaber to decapitate the Master Shaper , and the badly - injured Vua Rapuung fought to give Anakin and her enough time to escape aboard the ship . The two young Jedi joined up with Qorl and the others on the now - repaired freighter , and ran the Yuuzhan Vong blockade , just in time to be rescued by Karrde ' s ships — restored to full strength by Shada ' s return — and the newly - arrived " Errant Venture " , and a force of X - wings with pilots including Corran Horn and Jacen and Jaina Solo . A space battle followed , in which Karrde ' s fleet , augmented by the Star Destroyer and the additional starfighters , destroyed the Yuuzhan Vong ships in orbit and bombarded the colony on the surface , destroying the damuteks and more ships that had been brought into land . Karrde then deployed troops , who liberated the enslaved captives the Yuuzhan Vong had been using , leaving the Shamed Ones and a few other survivors to await rescue by their own people . Although Karrde withdrew from the system , and the Yuuzhan Vong eventually reoccupied Yavin 4 , the battle was in most respects a victory for the Galaxy ' s defenders . Tahiri had been scarred mentally and physically by her ordeal , but of all the Jedi at the Academy , only Ikrit had been lost , and all the children had been saved , along with the slave population that the aliens had subsequently brought to the jungle moon . On the military level , Karrde and Terrik ' s irregulars had wiped out a Yuuzhan Vong task force and utterly destroyed the most important Shaper compound in the Galaxy . Moreover , a belief developed among the Shamed Ones that Vua Rapuung had been redeemed in his death thanks to his alliance with Anakin . This marked the beginning of the " Jeedai " heresy , an underground movement which regarded the Jedi as saviors rather than enemies , and which would eventually erupt as a full - scale revolution led by Kunra during the Recapture of Coruscant .