Skirmish on Ambria A skirmish took place in the year 3999 BBY on the planet Ambria . Under the direct orders of Great Bogga the Hutt , a gang of pirates and thugs were dispatched Ambria to retrieve both the Tchuukthai Jedi Master Thon and the precious Adegan crystal s in his possession . The battle saw the total defeat of Bogga ' s henchmen . It was also the second conflict in which Thon ' s apprentice Nomi Sunrider wielded a lightsaber and displayed her natural ability with the Jedi power of battle meditation . As a result of Sunrider ' s actions , Thon deemed her ready to assume her new identity , and declared her Jedi : Knight of the Galactic Republic . Background . A Jedi ' s training . In the year 3999 BBY , Jedi apprentice Nomi Sunrider , wife of the late Jedi Andur Sunrider , came to study the Jedi arts under the Tchuukthai Jedi Master Thon , after surviving a robbery attempt at the Stenness Hyperspace Terminal . While at the spaceport , henchmen of the resident Hutt crime boss , Great Bogga , attacked the Sunriders in an attempt to steal the Adegan crystal s in their possession . One of the thugs attacked with a poisonous gorm worm that bit Andur , resulting in his premature death . To save herself , Sunrider had picked up Andur ' s lightsaber and struck down two of the assailants , causing the others to flee , forsaking the crystals they were sent to retrieve . Though successful in driving the remaining thugs off , she was mortified to know that her actions resulted in the deaths of two individuals . As a result , she vowed to never handle a lightsaber again . Even after the Hutt and his lackeys managed to locate Sunrider and her daughter on Ambria and attacked Thon ' s camp , she still refused to handle the Jedi weapon to fend them off . The thugs were ultimately beaten by Thon himself , and they were banished , along with their Hutt master , in shame . Thon recognized the potential in his new student , who had also displayed a natural talent with Jedi battle meditation , when she saved her daughter from the dark side dragons of Ambria ' s Lake Natth . He instead chose to focus on this , as well as other areas of Sunrider ' s training , hoping that she would one day overcome her fear of the blade . After suffering defeat at the hands of Thon , Bogga returned to his fortress to contemplate his next move . Bogga was displeased with his henchman ' s failure in retrieving the Adegan crystal s , particularly his enforcers : the gangster Gudb and the pirate captain Finhead Stonebone . He then decided to accompany Gudb and Stonebone to Ambria , going after Thon , the Jedi woman , and her precious crystals . However , he was unprepared for the strength of Thon when he arrived , and was easily defeated along with his gang , unable to acquire the Adegan crystals . The Hutt gangster and his pirates then returned to his fortress - moon , where they could rethink their strategy . Bogga decided that more forceful measures were required to subdue Thon and take his crystals . He had furnished a set of custom shackles forged of Mandalorian iron , strong enough to restrain even a Jedi Master . He gave the restraints to Stonebone and Gudb , and sent them back to Ambria , telling them to capture Thon with them and not to return without the Adegan crystals . Enforcer ambush . The time came one day that Thon felt his apprentice was ready to construct her own lightsaber . When he told Sunrider this , she immediately refused , saying that she would learn the Jedi arts , but would never take up the blade again . After repeated attempts , Thon could not persuade his apprentice otherwise . He instead told Sunrider to gather her child and her things , leading them to a great canyon in the mountains of Ambria , for a Jedi ritual . In the midst of the ceremony , Thon presented his own personal lightsaber to Sunrider as a gift , but still , she refused to handle her Master ' s weapon . Suddenly , a Hutt sail barge approached from the distance , and the sound of explosions was heard nearby . The battle . Attack at the Meditative Canyon . Gudb and the enforcer gang returned to Thon ' s camp with Stonebone and his pirates , but the Jedi Master , his apprentice , and her child were gone . They destroyed Thon ' s hut , and then scanned the surrounding area , quickly locating the Jedi trio on the precipice of a nearby canyon . The enforcers fired salvos at them from the sail barge , but Thon deflected the projectiles with the Force . The Jedi Master and his companions then attempted to flee , as Stonebone and Gudb continued their pursuit . Thon had noticed the sail barge and saw the impending battle as a final test for his apprentice ; if an actual threat could not force her into battle , then nothing would . He again ordered his apprentice to take up his lightsaber in defense , and again she refused him . Realizing the steadfastness of Sunrider ' s conviction , he gave up on the lightsaber , and ordered her to exercise her natural ability with battle meditation , as she had done to protect her child . She still refused , so Thon told her to find shelter for herself and the child , for his power rested in that of his student . Thon then approached the thugs in seeming submission . Bewildered , Sunrider was in shock as Thon allowed himself to be imprisoned with Mandalorian manacles by the Hutt ' s minions . A trial of courage . Sunrider did just as Thon had instructed . Racing towards her ship , the " Lightside Explorer " , she and her daughter met up with her protocol droid , A - 3DO . The droid informed her that the " Lightside Explorer " was primed for departure , but as the pirates were situated between them and the starship , they would have to run the gauntlet in order to reach safety . Sunrider thought of Thon , and how he had surrendered so willingly to the Hutt ' s thugs . She then thought of the Jedi power of hers that he spoke of — the battle meditation technique she used previously against the hssiss of Lake Natth . Concentrating on the Force , she reached out to the minds of the pirates and caused them to quarrel amongst each other . With the pirates at each other ' s throats , Sunrider then cast aside her fear , took up Thon ' s lightsaber , and charged to his rescue . The majority of Bogga ' s enforcers and Finhead ' s pirates loaded Thon onto the barge , while Gudb located the Adegan crystals in one of the camp tents . Just as he announced that he had found the crystals , Gudb was confronted by nearly every other member of the gang , who sought to either hold the crystals for Bogga or claim them for themselves , and soon after broke out into a full brawl over them . They never saw Sunrider rushing them from behind as the first of the pirates fell under her blade . The enforcers were completely caught off - guard as she cut her way through to Thon . The gang was terrified of the lightsaber - wielding woman and scurried off , managing to put some distance between them . Meanwhile , Sunrider cut Thon free of the iron manacles , and told her him that she had overcome her fear and had finally accepted her destiny . Thon replied that she was a Jedi , and it was her nature . The pirates realized , however , that there were still twelve of them alive , and that was more than a match for only two Jedi . Gudb regrouped his gang , and they turned back towards the Tchuukthai Jedi and Sunrider . Seeing their numbers , she faltered in confidence for a moment but Thon reassured her , saying that he would join his apprentice and they would fight together in battle . They were met head - on by the gang , who fired blasters as they advanced . Sunrider displayed her natural prowess with the lightsaber as she cut swaths of enforcers down , and Thon blasted the remaining thugs with concentrated waves of Force energy . The thugs trained their blasters on Thon , but he erected a Force barrier that repelled the blaster shots with ease . After an intense but brief battle , five of the enforcers were dead , and the rest were injured . Gudb and Stonebone were beaten yet again . Unwilling to continue their attack , they gathered their remaining forces and boarded the sail barge , to return to their Hutt master in utter humiliation . Aftermath . Thon and Sunrider retired to the camp , where they reflected on the day ' s events . Thon was proud of his student for overcoming her fears , and knew that she was ready to begin her new life as a Jedi . Sunrider , now a full - fledged Jedi Knight , sat with her daughter as Thon began to talk of a new threat ; the civil unrest on the planet of Onderon . Thon planned to assist the Jedi already there by traveling with Sunrider to the galactic capital of Coruscant , in an attempt to convince the senators of the Defense Ministry for military intervention on behalf of the Jedi Order . For the time being , Sunrider had just taken the first real steps onto the path of her new life , the path of a Jedi Knight . Behind the scenes . The Skirmish on Ambria was written and conceived by author Tom Veitch , and first appeared in the third issue of the 1994 " " story arc . The battle was also recounted in author Kevin J . Anderson ' s " Tales of the Jedi " audio adaptation . Veitch used this battle to show the transition of the character Nomi Sunrider from a timid Jedi learner to a venerable Jedi Knight . This battle also laid the groundwork for further development of the Thon and Sunrider characters in the following " " , " " , " " and " " story arcs . The comic version introduces the character Finhead Stonebone as the henchman that Bogga sent in pursuit of Nomi Sunrider on Ambria . In the audio version , however , Bogga ' s primary henchman is Gudb , and Stonebone ' s role is not included .