The Mission to Numidian Prime represents an operation executed by a strike team from the Jedi Order on the planet of Numidian Prime, situated in the Mid Rim. The objective was the capture of Shenda Mol, a bounty hunter, which occurred around 66 BBY. After the capture of Mol's followers, Jedi Master Dooku and his Padawan, Qui-Gon Jinn, proceeded to track Mol down to her hideout.
On a speeder bike, Jinn gave chase to the hunter of bounties towards her fortified valley base, only to be halted when she confronted him at blaster point. Mol then issued a threat to kill him, as she was determined to achieve her goal of eliminating one individual from every age bracket up to two hundred years in age. However, before she could act on this, Dooku's arrival at their location led to his assault on the bounty hunter through the use of Force lightning. Subsequently, Mol was imprisoned on Stygeon Prime, a planet located in the Outer Rim.
During the Republic Era, the Falleen bounty hunter known as Shenda Mol embarked on a campaign of mass-murdering across the galaxy as she performed her bounties. Mol did not limit herself to eliminating only her assigned targets, instead, she deemed lost lives as "collateral damage" and sought to inflict maximum devastation. Throughout her travels, this bounty hunter sabotaged passenger ships, detonated explosives in heavily populated public spaces, and even unleashed a lethal virus. Mol eventually resolved to murder one individual of every age, up to two hundred years old, and proceeded to kill multiple people—including an elderly Whiphid and a child only four days old—in pursuit of this objective. Over time, she became responsible for the deaths of tens of thousands across fifty planets.
Around 66 BBY, Mol was based out of a hideout located on Numidian Prime, a Mid Rim planet, along with her followers. To capture her, the Jedi Order organized a strike team—which included Jedi Master Dooku and his Padawan, Qui-Gon Jinn, as well as several other Jedi. This team was sent on the Mission to Numidian Prime. After the capture of Mol's followers on Numidian Prime, Dooku and Jinn received the assignment of capturing the bounty hunter personally.
Jinn eventually found Mol and pursued her using a speeder bike, instructing his Master to monitor his position using a comlink. As the Padawan attempted to infiltrate the bounty hunter's valley stronghold discreetly, she confronted him, aiming a blaster at his head. Jinn engaged Mol in conversation to delay her, aware that Dooku would soon arrive to provide assistance. The Padawan was horrified by her lack of remorse for the numerous innocent lives she had taken, and disgusted by the pride she displayed when detailing some of the individuals she had murdered—including a young child. Mol informed Jinn of her intention to kill one person from every age group up to two hundred years old, planning to end his life next, as she had yet to eliminate a fourteen-year-old.
Just as Mol was about to strike Jinn, Dooku appeared on the scene and attacked the bounty hunter with Force lightning. The Falleen was incapacitated by the lightning, collapsing to the floor while moaning in agony. Dooku rebuked her for her actions against his Padawan and others, finding her gloating over the harm inflicted on innocents repulsive. Jinn, sensing his Master's rage, urged him to cease his attack, insisting that he was unharmed. When the Padawan suggested they take Mol into custody, Dooku concurred, and summoned the other members of the Jedi strike team to their location.
Subsequently, Mol was imprisoned on the Outer Rim planet of Stygeon Prime. Jinn felt concern regarding his Master's behavior on Numidian Prime, considering that Dooku may have come dangerously close to using the dark side of the Force. The Padawan reached out to Dooku's former apprentice, Jedi Knight Rael Averross, seeking guidance. However, the older man merely assured the younger Jedi that his Master had acted solely out of concern for his well-being. Jinn was frustrated when Averross dismissed his concerns as trivial, having observed Dooku's increasing obsession with the holocron of prophecy in the time since their mission to capture Mol. Meanwhile, Dooku secretly pursued the study of the dark side of the Force and its techniques, drawn by the enticing knowledge presented in the prophecies of Jedi mystics.
In the years that followed, Dooku grew increasingly disenchanted with the Jedi Order and ultimately departed to reclaim his family title, becoming the Count of Serenno. He then fell to the dark side, becoming Darth Sidious's apprentice as the Dark Lord of the Sith, adopting the name Darth Tyranus and leading the Confederacy of Independent Systems against the Galactic Republic in the galaxy-spanning Clone Wars conflict, which was fought between 22 BBY and 19 BBY.
The mission was first depicted in a flashback sequence within Master & Apprentice, a novel authored by Claudia Gray that was published on April 16, 2019. Prior to the novel's release, the operation was featured in an excerpt from StarWars.com that was released on April 5. It was initially identified as the Mission to Numidian Prime in Ultimate Star Wars, New Edition, a reference book that was released on October 4 of the same year.