Mission to Numidian Prime

Objective

Capture Shenda Mol^[1]

Date

c. 66 BBY^[2]

Place

Numidian Prime^[1]

Outcome

Mol and her followers captured^[1]

Factions
Jedi Order^[1]

Commanders
Jedi Master Dooku^[1]	Shenda Mol^[1]

Military units
Numidian Prime strike team^[1]

Participants
Several Jedi^[1] Jedi Padawan Qui-Gon Jinn^[1] 1 speeder bike^[1]	1 bounty hunter^[1] Mol's followers^[1]

"What am I to do with you?"
"The smartest thing to do would be to turn around and leave. Of course, that's what I want you to do, but it happens to be true. Others are coming. The sooner you leave, the more chances you'll have to lose them."
"When you'll just hunt me down again."

―Shenda Mol and Qui-Gon Jinn^[1]

The Mission to Numidian Prime was an operation undertaken by a Jedi Order strike team on the Mid Rim planet Numidian Prime to capture the bounty hunter Shenda Mol around 66 BBY. After arresting Mol's followers, Jedi Master Dooku and his Padawan, Qui-Gon Jinn, tracked Mol to her hideout.

Jinn pursued the bounty hunter on a speeder bike to her valley stronghold but stalled when she held him at blaster-point. Mol then threatened to kill him, aiming to complete her goal of eliminating one target of every age up to two hundred years old. However, before she could strike, Dooku arrived at their location and attacked the bounty hunter with Force lightning. Afterward, Mol was imprisoned on the Outer Rim planet Stygeon Prime.

Prelude[]

"If you can target any individual from a tremendous distance, why do you resort to bombs or viruses? Why do you kill thousands when you could kill only one?"
"I have a little game I play. I need more kills to win—though, of course, I'm only competing with myself. That's the only competition that really matters, you know. More people ought to understand that."

―Qui-Gon Jinn and Shenda Mol^[1]

At some point during the Republic Era, the Falleen bounty hunter Shenda Mol began mass-murdering individuals throughout the galaxy as she collected her bounties. Instead of only eliminating her assigned targets, Mol considered lost lives "collateral damage" and wished to wreak as much havoc as possible. During her travels, the bounty hunter sabotaged passenger ships, detonated explosives in crowded public areas, and once set loose a deadly virus. Mol eventually decided she wished to kill one target of every age up to two hundred years old and killed several individuals—including an old Whiphid and a four-day-old child—as part of her efforts. Over time, she became responsible for tens of thousands of deaths across fifty planets.^[1]

Capture on Numidian Prime[]

"Shall I tell you of my little game, trainee?"
"It sounds like you're going to."
"It goes like this. I'm trying to kill one target of every age. At least up to two hundred—I can't go chasing ancients all the time. But I want all two hundred years represented. So far my oldest was a Whiphid who was one hundred and sixty-two. My youngest was four days. I count her as zero. Here's the thing. I've killed a thirteen-year-old and a fifteen-year-old. But that leaves me with a little gap. A gap you'd fill perfectly."

―Shenda Mol and Qui-Gon Jinn^[1]

By around 66 BBY,^[2] Mol was operating out of a hideout on^[1] the Mid Rim planet^[3] Numidian Prime with her followers. The Jedi Order organized a strike team—which included Jedi Master Dooku and his Padawan, Qui-Gon Jinn, and several other Jedi—to go on a^[1] Mission to Numidian Prime^[3] and apprehend her. After capturing Mol's other followers on Numidian Prime, Dooku and Jinn were tasked with bringing in the bounty hunter herself.^[1]

Justice — Dooku and Qui-Gon Jinn tracked and captured Shenda Mol as part of a strike team.

Eventually, Jinn located Mol and pursued her on a speeder bike, telling his Master to track his location via comlink. When the Padawan attempted to sneak into the bounty hunter's valley stronghold, she confronted him and pointed a blaster at his head. Jinn conversed with Mol to stall for time, knowing Dooku would soon arrive to assist. The Padawan was appalled by her lack of regret for killing so many innocent targets, disgusted by the pride she displayed when expounding on some of the individuals she had killed—one of whom had been a young child. Mol informed Jinn of her goal to kill one individual of every age up to two hundred years, intending to end his life next, as she had not eliminated a fourteen-year-old yet.^[1]

As Mol moved to strike Jinn, Dooku arrived at their location and attacked the bounty hunter with Force lightning. The lightning incapacitated the Falleen as she moaned in pain, falling to the floor. Dooku berated her for her actions against his Padawan and others, finding them repulsive as she gloated at the harming of innocents. Jinn, wary of his Master's fury, encouraged him to stop attacking her by insisting he was fine. When the Padawan suggested they should take Mol into custody, Dooku agreed, calling for the others on the Jedi strike team to meet at their location.^[1]

Aftermath[]

"Dooku saw your life was in danger. He overreacted. But you're safe, Shenda Mol's on ice at Stygeon Prime, and Dooku's back to himself again."

―Rael Averross to Qui-Gon Jinn^[1]

Jedi-Dooku-Art — Dooku's obsession with Jedi prophecies strengthened after the mission, worrying Qui-Gon Jinn.

Afterward, Mol was imprisoned on^[1] the Outer Rim planet^[3] Stygeon Prime. Jinn worried about his Master's actions on Numidian Prime, contemplating that Dooku might have slipped close to using the dark side of the Force. The Padawan contacted Dooku's former apprentice, Jedi Knight Rael Averross, for advice, though the older man only reassured the younger Jedi that his Master had only acted out of worry for his safety. Jinn was annoyed when Averross brushed his concerns off as not serious, having noticed Dooku's obsession with the holocron of prophecy heighten in the time since their mission to capture Mol.^[1] Meanwhile, Dooku secretly pursued studying the dark side of the Force and its techniques, lured by the alluring knowledge presented in the prophecies of Jedi mystics.^[3]

In the following years, Dooku became increasingly disillusioned with the Jedi Order and eventually left to reclaim his family title, becoming the Count of Serenno. He then went on to fall to the dark side as the Dark Lord of the Sith Darth Sidious's apprentice, taking on the name of Darth Tyranus and leading the Confederacy of Independent Systems against the Galactic Republic in the galaxy-wide Clone Wars conflict fought^[3] between 22 BBY and 19 BBY.^[4]

Behind the scenes[]

The mission first appeared in a flashback in Master & Apprentice, a novel written by Claudia Gray^[1] that was released on April 16, 2019.^[5] Prior to the novel's release, the operation was included in a StarWars.com excerpt released on April 5.^[6] It was first identified as the Mission to Numidian Prime in Ultimate Star Wars, New Edition, a reference book^[3] released on October 4 of the same year.^[7]