Mission to Bimmiel

A reconnaissance mission was conducted by Jedi Knights Corran Horn and Ganner Rhysode in the year 25 ABY to locate and then investigate a missing xenoarchaeology research team from the planet Agamar which had lost contact with the university that had dispatched it to the planet Bimmiel. The Jedi intervened because the research team was thought to have encountered the extragalactic Yuuzhan Vong after their initial invasion through the planet Sernpidal.
Upon arriving at Bimmiel, they discovered that the team's communication satellite had been damaged, which was likely the cause of the communication loss, as communication was already difficult due to the planet's sun. It also reaffirmed the Jedi's belief that the Yuuzhan Vong had occupied the planet, as they were technophobic. After they successfully located the research team hiding in a cave, they learned that the team was in possession of the body of Yuuzhan Vong warrior Mongei Shai. When two members of the team were captured, the Jedi mounted a rescue attempt during which Horn killed the Yuuzhan Vong overseeing the camp, Neira and Dranae of Domain Shai, suffering injuries in the process. However, he was saved by Rhysode, who thus disobeyed orders. After learning that his grandfather's remains had been disturbed and his relatives killed, Shedao Shai vowed to kill Horn. Shai's quest for vengeance would result in his death at the hands of Horn during the Battle of Ithor and the subsequent devastation of that planet.
==Prelude==
In the year 25 ABY, after the New Republic Senate refused to hear Leia Organa Solo's pleas to fight the invading Yuuzhan Vong in the Outer Rim, Jedi Master Luke Skywalker called a meeting of the New Jedi Order on the moon Yavin 4. Once the meeting had concluded, he sent most of the Order out on missions to learn about the extra-galactic species, commanding Jedi Knights Corran Horn and Ganner Rhysode to go to the planet Bimmiel and find a missing Agamarian xenoarchaeology team which was believed to have encountered the Yuuzhan Vong. Rhysode was part of Kyp Durron's faction of the New Jedi Order, which supported aggressive action against the Yuuzhan Vong. Horn was one of the strongest opponents of Durron's faction, as a result Rhysode rejected the senior Jedi's authority, seeing him as weak-willed. Rhysode was then swarmed by garnants, set upon him by Horn's son Valin Horn.
==The mission==
When Rhysode and Horn arrived in the Jedi's shuttle the Dalliance, they discovered that the satellite the xenoarchaeology team would have used to communicate was damaged. They continued walking through the desert in hopes of finding the team, the duo unintentionally crossed a slashrat killing field. The fierce and aggressive slashrats attacked. After holding off the slashrats, the Jedi fled to a cave where the hostile xenoarchaeology team under the leadership of Dr.Anki Pace had been hiding. After meeting the team, they discovered that certain sites on the planet had been home to old Jedi artifacts however they had been stolen. Rhysode was angered by the implication that the Jedi would steal the artifacts and along with Horn convinced the team otherwise. Exploring deeper into the cave, the leader of the team, Dr. Pace, showed Horn a strange group of bones they'd discovered which he immediately recognized as Yuuzhan Vong.
Worried that the Yuuzhan Vong had returned to the planet, possibly for the body of their advanced scout, Horn and Rhysode went out on a reconnaissance mission to see if they had. It didn't take much time for them to discover that they were right. After discovering that the Yuuzhan Vong had a way of keeping slashrats away, Horn took samples of beetles only found at the aliens' camp. The beetles were examined by the archaeology team, who discovered that they were releasing excess carbon dioxide gas that would disrupt the planet's delicate ecosystem. Horn suggested attracting slashrats to the camp using killscent and the use of bio-engineered bacteria to counter the release of the gas, while using the Jedi's shuttle the Dalliance to extract them, but Dr. Pace vetoed this plan saying the were academics and would not get involved in a fight. While discussing the matter Horn and Rhysode realized that two students were missing from the camp. It was explained to them that they had gone to repair a meteorological station but, When Dr. Pace attempted to contact them and could not, the two Jedi immediately went out to search for them.
At the meteorological station they discovered signs of a struggle and a trail leading back to the Yuuzhan Vong base. They then proceeded to watch over the camp for several days. Watching as the Vong searched for the remains the team had found. They also discovered that, other than slaves there were only two Yuuzhan Vong warriors at the camp. Seeing the Jedi's plan as the only way to rescue her students Dr. Pace gave her team permission to proceed.
Rhysode and Horn went in to the Yuuzhan Vong camp to rescue the missing students, where they found that they had been tortured but not enslaved. They had been strapped to boards that kept them in constant pain. They then discovered that the boards release their grip when the person attached was in more pain, so Horn decided that the only way to get them out was to put himself in pain and transmit it through them. After the board released them, two Yuuzhan Vong warriors came back to the camp. Horn told Ganner to leave and take the students to the Dalliance despite him being wounded from the pain he inflicted through him on the students. He fought and easily killed the first warrior. Then, after a long fight with the second, Horn was bitten by the Vong's amphistaff but his enemy had been badly wounded and couldn't kill him. However, the venom slowly started to numb him, but he summoned a pack of slashrats and told them to eat the Yuuzhan Vong, then blacked out. Eventually, contrary to his orders, Ganner swung the Dalliance around, picked Corran up and put him in a bacta tank on board, saving his life.
==Aftermath==
The mission would have great effect on the immediate future of the war. Horn, who had assumed himself to be dead when he blacked out, woke up in a hospital on Coruscant days later. Corran's reports of Jedi artifacts being on Bimmiel lead to an investigation. Yuuzhan Vong Commander Shedao Shai also swore he would kill Corran Horn for the death of his nephew's and the disturbance of his grandfather's remains. Shai's quest for vengeance ended during the Battle of Ithor, when he was killed by Horn in one-on-one combat. In spite of this victory, and the retreat of the Vong fleet, a Vong biotoxin devastated Ithor and exterminated its jungles. Horn would harbor guilt over this for a long time after holding himself responsible for the devastation of the planet, leading him to take a temporary leave of absence from the New Jedi Order.The New Jedi Order: Dark Tide II: Ruin
After the conquest of Bimmiel, the Vong fleet continued to attack the worlds along the Veragi Trade Route: the next was Argazda which surrendered. The Yuuzhan Vong eventually met some New Republic forces in the Ciutric system which they defeated.
==Behind the scenes==
The mission to Bimmiel first appeared in the novel The New Jedi Order: Dark Tide I: Onslaught, which was written by Michael A. Stackpole. The mission was later mentioned in Onslaught's sequel The New Jedi Order: Dark Tide II: Ruin also written by Stackpole. The mission was also mentioned in the The Essential Atlas and The New Jedi Order Sourcebook. The Mission is also Ganner Rhysode's first appearance in Star Wars canon.
==Appearances==
*The New Jedi Order: Dark Tide I: Onslaught 
*The New Jedi Order: Dark Tide II: Ruin 
==Sources==
*
*The New Jedi Order Sourcebook
*The Essential Atlas
==Notes and references==
Category:Battles of Bimmiel
Category:Battles of the Yuuzhan Vong War