Mission to Myrkr

Mission to Myrkr

TheMission to Myrkr, also known asthe Mission, was an operation conducted by theNew Jedi Order in27 ABY with the purpose of destroying theJedi-huntingvoxyn creatures. A strike team of seventeenJedi Knights, led byAnakin Solo, infiltrated theworldshipBaanu Rass above theplanetMyrkr and eliminated thevoxyn queen, though six Jedi—Anakin among them—lost their lives in the process andJacen Solo was captured.

The mission[]

Prelude[]

TheYuuzhan Vong War continued to rage asplanets began to fall one by one, and with the birth of his son,Ben,Luke Skywalker was determined more than ever to drive back thealiens. After the discovery of theJedi-killingvoxyn, several Jedi were assigned to destroy thecloning facility atMyrkr, including theSolo children,Anakin,Jacen andJaina, and their friendsTenel Ka,Tahiri Veila, andZekk.

Delivery and torture[]

Lando Calrissian andTendra Risant Calrissian pretended to beYuuzhan Vong sympathizers fromTalfaglio, aplanet under Yuuzhan Vong blockade. They delivered the seventeen Jedi to a rendezvous point with the Yuuzhan Vong scout shipExquisite Death, which delivered the team through the heavily mined Vong frontier to Myrkr. During their captivity, the Jedi were badly injured by Vongtorture, and one,Ulaha Kore, almost died. Hoping to elevate himself in the eyes of his superiors by employing voxyn to torture the Jedi one by one, the Yuuzhan VongcommanderDuman Yaght showed particular sadism against the Jedi by repeatedly inflicting pain upon the already injured Ulaha, and by forcing Jaina Solo to choose which of her brothers was tortured. The resulting injuries ranged from bruises, burns, and cuts to more severe injuries. Using a technique calledForce meld, the Jedi managed to survive. They then turned on their captors, and secured the ship inhyperspace with the help of two of Lando'sYVH-Series battle droids, who helped them destroy all the Yuuzhan Vongwarriors and voxyn aboard.

Arrival at Myrkr[]

On arrival in theMyrkr system, several Vong ships, led byNom Anor andVergere onKsstarr, pursued the Jedi frigate. Ulaha sacrificed her life to allow the Jedi strike team to land on theworldship,Baanu Rass, and led the enemy away while Anakin's force entered the ship. Ulaha perished soon after the Jedi were offloaded. Following their entrance intoBaanu Rass, the Jedi encounteredNightsister and secretOne Sith agentLomi Plo as well as her apprentice,Welk. The two agreed to assist the Jedi in finding the voxyn queen in return for safety and protection.

Under Anakin's leadership, the team avoided a trap in a slave city and on board a capturedAT-AT walker, a home to an insect nest. Nom Anor and Vergere relentlessly pursued the group towards the voxyn queen's lair throughout the journey; however, after the encounter in the slave city, Anakin's spleen was ruptured after rashly rescuing his sister. The remaining mission was spent in an attempt to stay away from the Yuuzhan Vong long enough for Anakin to go into ahealing trance, as he refused the team to stop the mission because of his wounds. Not long afterward, the Jedi reached an arena-like area nearby theShaperdamutek where the queen hid from them.

As they neared the arena, they found afreighter,Tachyon Flier, which they attempted to repair as a means of escape. WhileLowbacca repaired the crashed ship,Raynar Thul recovered from his recent injuries. Lomi Plo and Welk showed their true colors by stealing the ship with Raynar on it, theSith flying off into theUnknown Regions.

Anakin Solo's death and mission's conclusion[]

In an effort to complete the mission, the team continued. In a rearguard action, a severely wounded Anakin fought many Yuuzhan Vong as a means of allowing the team enough time to escape. He alsolevitated athermal detonator to destroy the remaining voxyn tissue, which prevented the further creation of the Jedi-hunting creatures. Moments before his death, Anakin became a blinding pillar of light as he becameone withthe Force,unleashing all hispower to destroy the Voxyn DNA and any Yuuzhan Vong who stood in his path, even as his dying body was consumed by the power of Ashla. Jaina, blinded by her grief,wielded thedark side of the Force in order to retrieve Anakin's body. After killing the queen, Jacen, assisted by Vergere, was captured by Nom Anor. Unable to return to the worldship, Jaina, Tenel Ka, Zekk, Tahiri Veila,Tesar Sebatyne,Alema Rar,Ganner Rhysode,Tekli, and Lowbacca flew away from Myrkr onKsstarr.

Aftermath and legacy[]

After Anakin's death, Jaina continued to wrestle with the dark side, and Tahiri, who had been romantically involved with Anakin, was sent to depths of despair. Jacen faced theEmbrace of Pain at the hands of the Yuuzhan Vong, though he was thought to be dead by everyone except his mother; Ganner Rhysode later died while helping Jacen escape. Due to the heavy losses that came with the mission's bittersweet victory, the Solo family went into a deep depression. Luke Skywalker himself bitterly regretted not going along with the team to ensure a safe success and the guilt remained with him for many years afterwards.

Just after getting electedChief of State, one ofCal Omas's first priorities was to organize a ceremony where the survivors of the mission were knighted, and the dead were honored.

Six years after the war's end, theDark Jedi, including Raynar, started theDark Nest Crisis. Due to the excessive use of the mind meld that was employed throughout the previous years, the survivors, with an exception of Jacen and Tenel Ka, were easily converted intoJoiners. Jacen and Tenel Ka had a child,Allana, and fell in love.

During theSecond Galactic Civil War in40 ABY, Jacen turned to the dark side and apprenticed himself to the Sith LadyLumiya, through whom he discovered that Vergere had been a Sith. Alema Rar, who was presumed deadfour years earlier, returned with the intent of exacting revenge on Jacen's family, in the process helping to ensure Jacen's fall; she was later killed. Later in the war, Jacen, by then the Sith Lord Darth Caedus, took Tahiri as his Sith Apprentice, corrupting her with false promises of bringing the deceased Anakin Solo back to life. The war ended with Caedus's death at Jaina's hands, whilst Tahiri, having realized the error of her ways, was redeemed by the now-teenaged Ben Skywalker.

Of the seventeen Jedi that participated in the mission to Myrkr, only seven of them—Jaina Solo, Tenel Ka, Tahiri Veila, Lowbacca, Zekk, Tesar Sebatyne, and Tekli—survived both the mission and its long-lasting repercussions.

In43 ABY, sixteen years after his death, Anakin Solo's spirit met with Luke and Ben in theMaw. Saying that too much had died with him, Anakin warned his uncle and cousin not to repeat his mistakes. He also asked them to tell Tahiri he still loved her, a message she later received from Anakin's parents.

Behind the scenes[]

While writingLegacy of the Force: Invincible, the ninth and final volume of theLegacy of the Force series,Troy Denning suggested in his outline an ending that would have resurrected Anakin Solo: Denning's proposal involved Jacen Solo flow-walking back to the Mission to Myrkr to corrupt Tahiri into becoming his apprentice only to make contact and switch places with Anakin. To not alter the past's events, Jacen's body would have been disguised as if it were Anakin's and Anakin's corpse would have been brought back to the present, with Jaina resurrecting him afterwards. The idea was not explored beyond that.^[6]

InThe New Essential Chronology, it is repeatedly—and mistakenly—referred to as the 'Mission toWayland'.^[7]

Appearances[]

Sources[]

• "Who's Who in the New Jedi Order" —Star Wars Insider 57
• The New Jedi Order Sourcebook
• Making a FullRecovery onWizards.com(original site is defunct)
• The Official Star Wars Fact File 74LOW 1-2: Lowbacca
• "The New Jedi Order in 100 Easy Lessons" —Star Wars Insider 74
• Star Wars: The Ultimate Visual Guide
• The New Essential Chronology
• The New Essential Guide to Droids
• Fate of the Jedi: Dramatis Personae
• The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia(First identified as the Mission)
• The Essential Atlas
• Anor, Nom in theDatabank(original site is defunct)
• Solo, Anakin in theDatabank(original site is defunct)
• Solo, Han in theDatabank(original site is defunct)
• Solo, Jacen in theDatabank(original site is defunct)
• Solo, Jaina in theDatabank(original site is defunct)
• Solo, Princess Leia Organa in theDatabank(original site is defunct)
• Vergere in theDatabank(original site is defunct)

Notes and references[]