Between 3 ABY and 4 ABY, the Royal Guard of Emperor Palpatine was killed by the assassin Ochi as part of Crimson Dawn leader Lady Qi'ra's plan to destroy the Sith. In response to the assassinations, the Sith Lord Darth Vader was sent to investigate the deaths, which allowed for the Knights of Ren to raid Fortress Vader on Mustafar until Vader arrived to intercept them.
Qi'ra revealed that the ultimate goal of Crimson Dawn was the assassination of Emperor Palpatine himself. She then gave Ochi his next target: the Emperor's Royal Guard. Ochi was given an courier droid for the mission. He was nervous for the job as he arrived at Coruscant.
Ochi traveled to Zlarb's at Level 2685, where the owner, Zlarb offered Ochi a variety poisons. After some deliberation, Ochi went with the poison Ziroxin-12 which could be delivered at a specific time.
The courier droid prepared for the assassinations
In The Works district, Ochi prepared the poison to the courier droid who was going to poison the guards. The poison was to be used on the guards during their breakfast. The droid turned invisible and traveled into the Royal Guard building. Looking through the droid, Ochi located the guards he was supposed to poison but realized one guard was missing. Using the droid's audio, Ochi discovered one of the guards, Erstin Deez did not eat breakfast and instead went to work early. Ochi then went off to go assassinate Deez himself.
Ochi killed Erstin Deez with his sniper rifle
Ochi was able to locate Deez but instead needed to use the yurfloo poison instead to kill him. As Deez walked by, Ochi took his shot with a sniper rifle that grazed his neck, killing him. Then the courier droid arrived, also completing its mission.
Sometime after, the guards prepared for work and left to guard the Emperor. At the Emperor's throne room in the Imperial Palace, the guards lined the room as Palpatine and his Grand Vizier Mas Amedda discussed the Syndicate War events. All of the sudden, the guards dropped, to the shock of Amedda and Palpatine.
Afterwards, Darth Vader was sent to investigate the deaths, which one of Qi'ra's contacts informed her of. With Vader distracted, a heist was carried out by the Knights of Ren at Fortress Vader. The Emperor began to start to piece each incident together and believed someone was behind a campaign of distraction in order to hurt the Galactic Empire.
The assassination of the Emperor's Royal Guard first appeared in the second issue of the Star Wars: Crimson Reign comic series. The issue was written by Charles Soule, illustrated by Steven Cummings, Victor Olazaba, and Guru-eFX, and published by Marvel Comics on February 2, 2022.