Mission to Bimmiel

"Okay, so yours is the second most dangerous mission. Out on the Rim there's a system designated MZX33291 by Imperial surveyors. It has a pulsar in the area that disrupts communications from the only habitable world in the system. The Empire had made the planet off-limits to everyone for reasons that are unclear. There is some evidence that they had xenoarchaeological teams out there, but no trace of what they might have discovered." "Okay. You think the Yuuzhan Vong are there?" "I don't know"

- Luke Skywalker and Corran Horn

The Mission to Bimmiel was a reconnaissance operation conducted by Jedi Knights Corran Horn and Ganner Rhysode in 25 ABY to investigate and locate a missing xenoarchaeology research team from Agamar which had lost contact with the university that had dispatched it. The Jedi intervened because the research team was thought to have encountered the Yuuzhan Vong after their initial invasion through 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 planets 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 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 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 Ithor.

Prelude
In 25 ABY after, the New Republic Senate refused to hear Leia Organa Solo's pleas, to fight the Yuuzhan Vong in the Outer Rim, Luke Skywalker called a meeting of the New Jedi Order on 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 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 knights 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's starship arrived at Bimmiel, they discovered that the satellite the xenoarchaeology team would have used to communicate was damaged. The proximity of a nearby pulsar also hardened communications, which, combined with the damage of the satellite, made contact impossible. After walking through the sand of Bimmiel for a while, the duo unintentionally crossed a slashrat killing field. After holding off the slashrats for some time, they fled to a cave where the xenoarchaeology team had been hiding. After meeting the team, they discovered that certain sites were home to old Jedi artifacts that had been stolen. After exploring deeper into the cave, the leader of the team, Dr. Pace, showed Horn a strange group of bones they'd found which he immediately recognized as Yuuzhan Vong.

Worried that the Yuuzhan Vong had returned for the body, Horn and Rhysode went out on a reconnaissance mission to see if the Vong had indeed returned. 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 that would disrupt the planet's delicate ecosystem. Horn suggested attracting slashrats to the camp and use bio-engineered bacteria to counter the release of the gas, but Dr. Pace vetoed this plan. However, after two more students went missing, he agreed to the Jedi's operation.

Ganner 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, thus 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 days later. Corran's reports of Jedi artifacts being on Bimmiel lead to an investigation. 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.

After the conquest of Bimmiel, the Vong fleet continued to attack the world along the Veragi Trade Route: the next was Argazda which surrendered. The Vong eventually met some New Republic forces in the Ciutric system which they defeated.

Behind the scenes
The mission's only appearance in canon is in Dark Tide I: Onslaught which is written by Michael A. Stackpole, However, it is mentioned in Onslaught's sequel 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

 * Dark Tide I: Onslaught
 * Dark Tide II: Ruin

Notes and references
Misión a Bimmiel