The Gauntlet was the personal ship of Pre Vizsla, the leader of Death Watch; it was a Kom'rk-class fighter/transport. Vizsla utilized this starfighter during the Clone Wars to transport the Dathomirian brothers Maul and Savage Opress to the Death Watch camp situated on Zanbar, after discovering them adrift in an escape pod. Following the formation of their alliance, known as the Shadow Collective, the trio employed the vessel to enlist the Black Sun and Hutt Clan crime organizations. Prior to the takeover of Mandalore, they journeyed to Sundari, its capital, after which Vizsla departed the city aboard the ship.
The Gauntlet, a Kom'rk-class fighter/transport, featured a Class 1 hyperdrive, four engines, and four laser cannons; two were mounted on its nose, and two faced the rear. A crew of two pilots was needed to operate the ship. Similar to other vessels of its class, the Gauntlet possessed a maximum velocity of 1,000 kph.
Following the conclusion of the Mandalorian Civil War, the remaining members of the Mandalorian warrior caste faced exile to the moon of Concordia. There, under the leadership of Pre Vizsla, a member of Clan Vizsla, they established a breakaway faction known as Death Watch. Engineers and technicians who were loyal to the group designed the Kom'rk-class fighter/transport for their use, manufacturing the ships within factories overseen by Vizsla. The Gauntlet was one such fighter and was used as Vizsla's personal vessel.
During the Clone Wars conflict in 19 BBY, Vizsla and his Death Watch encountered a drifting escape pod in space while aboard the Gauntlet, which was accompanied by a pair of Kom'rk-class fighters. Inside the pod, the soldiers found the unconscious Dathomirian brothers, Maul and Savage Opress. On Vizsla's orders, they were brought aboard the Gauntlet, as he wished to hear their story. Following this, the three ships made their way back to the Death Watch camp situated on the swamp moon of Zanbar. After Maul and Opress aligned themselves with Vizsla at the camp, the group traveled to the volcanic planet of Mustafar on the Gauntlet, with the goal of recruiting the Black Sun crime syndicate into their alliance, the Shadow Collective. Having succeeded in this endeavor, they returned to Zanbar.
Following the inclusion of the Pyke Syndicate in the alliance, Vizsla, Maul, and Opress boarded the starfighter and traveled to the planet Nal Hutta in an attempt to persuade the Hutt Clan criminal syndicate to join. After their failure to convince them, Vizsla piloted the Gauntlet along with his forces to the desert planet Tatooine and launched an attacked on the palace of crime lord Jabba Desilijic Tiure, ultimately compelling the Hutts to become members of the Collective.
With the Shadow Collective now complete, Vizsla and his cohorts traveled to Mandalore, the Mandalorian homeworld, and infiltrated its capital city of Sundari following the planning of its takeover. As he departed the city aboard the Gauntlet, Vizsla contacted Maul via hologram. The Dathomirian informed him that it was time to initiate the next phase of their scheme: the Collective would create chaos in Sundari, while Death Watch, acting as saviors, would arrive to protect the city from the staged attack. Even though Death Watch successfully seized control of the planet's government, Vizsla met his death in a duel against Maul, who then assumed leadership of Death Watch.
Throughout the Clone Wars, the Gauntlet functioned as Vizsla's dedicated transport. With Maul and Opress at his side, he utilized the starfighter to journey to various locations in order to recruit crime syndicates into the Shadow Collective. Two members of Death Watch were at the controls of the Gauntlet when it left Sundari, while Vizsla, positioned at the rear of the ship, conversed with Maul.
The initial appearance of the Gauntlet occurred in "Eminence," the fourteenth episode of the fifth season of Star Wars: The Clone Wars, which was broadcast on January 19, 2013. Its designation within the new Star Wars canon was established in the sixty-eighth edition of the Star Wars: Build the Millennium Falcon magazine, which was released in 2016. Within the Star Wars Legends continuity, the Gauntlet made its debut in an adaptation of "Eminence" entitled The Clone Wars: Darth Maul: Shadow Conspiracy, authored by Jason Fry and published on January 1, 2013.