The Imperial Assassins were a class of bounty hunters that were awarded a license for their role in hunting down targets for the Empire. These agents were used for covert missions, as the Empire wanted to distance its actions from these agents. This allowed targets to be killed without inciting public outcry. Different grades of Imperial Assassins were available, which showed their reliability and skill.
The bounty hunter Dengar, also known as Payback, was once an Imperial Assassin, Grade One. Under Section 2127 of the Imperial Code, Imperial Assassins were required to notify victims they had been hired to conduct a legal assassination in order to atone for crimes against humanity they had committed. They also had the legal right to defend themselves, and were thus to be provided with a weapon before the assassination occurred. The assassin had to wait three minutes, giving the victim an opportunity to escape. After the assassination, the injured parties filed documents with the Empire explaining why they chose assassination as a recourse for the crimes the victim had committed. Dengar informed Sinick Kritkeen, a general with COMPNOR in charge of Redesign on Aruza of them, giving him a blaster and three minutes to run as the law required. Kritkeen was unable to save himself making use of these, as Dengar quickly killed him, fantasizing that he was Han Solo, Dengar's archenemy.