Mission to Kessel (Trioculus affair)

In 4 ABY, during the Galactic Civil War, Galactic Emperor Palpatine was killed by his Sith apprentice, Anakin Skywalker, during the Battle of Endor. The loss of the Emperor and the second Death Star resulted in a victory for the Alliance to Restore the Republic that shattered the Imperial leadership and allowed the Alliance to transform into the New Republic, Various Imperial warlords fought for control of the remnants, including a power struggle between Imperial Intelligence Director Ysanne Isard and the Central Committee of Grand Moffs.

Acting Imperial sovereign Sate Pestage approached former prophet of the Dark Side Cronal to introduce the Church of the Dark Side as a new state religion. The real prophets, including their Supreme Prophet Kadann, had disappeared after a falling out with Palpatine, so Cronal hired a Bimm actor named Rajah Ubooki to pose as Kadann and make regular HoloNet appearances where he presented cryptic prophecies. One such prediction was that a new emperor would rise, wearing the indestructible Glove of Darth Vader, which had been thought to be lost in space after the Jedi Knight Luke Skywalker amputated Vader's hand in a duel aboard the Death Star. The Moffs chose to move against Isard by selecting their own candidate for the Imperial throne, a three-eyed Trioculus, a slave lord from the planet Kessel who was believed to be the son of Palpatine.

The New Republic Senate Planetary Intelligence Network heard Kadann's prophecies and intelligence of a large Imperial gathering occurring in Kessendra Stadium on Kessel. SPIN agent and Jedi Knight Luke Skywalker was considered too well known to work as a spy, so his droids C-3PO and R2-D2 were selected instead, but they were still considered too recognizable and had to be disguised. At the Droid Repair Shop on the New Republic base on the moon Yavin 4, the Droid Modification Team disguised R2-D2 as a dark green Kesselian spice-mining droid with a modified dome, and C-3PO as a green with a new evil-looking head. R2-D2 was pleased with his modifications, while C-3PO protested about his to Skywalker. The Jedi transported the droids in an airspeeder to the Palace of the Woolamander, the seat of the New Republic Senate, where Chief of State Mon Mothma was to give a briefing on the droids' undercover mission, which was attended by New Republic heroes Leia Organa, Han Solo, and Lando Calrissian.

After Skywalker and Solo discussed the severe punishments for New Republic sympathizers on Kessel, Mothma shared SPIN's intelligence about the gathering on Kessel and the imposter Kadann's prophecy. She also explained that intelligence reports showed that Vader's glove had not been found, but speculated that an Imperial may have been preparing to reveal it on Kessel. Via holoprojector, Mothma showed a drop pod engineered by Admiral Gial Ackbar and his fellow Mon Calamari had engineered to resemble a meteor. Calrissian was already receiving a ride to the planet Bespin from Solo, and so he offered to eject the drop pod from Solo's ship, the Millennium Falcon, en route. The pod was designed to shed its disguise to resemble a spherical Imperial probe droid, which the droids would use to fly to Kessel's upper atmosphere to a stolen Imperial Command Speeder 714-D for their escape.

When C-3PO became agitated at the prospect of getting lost on Kessel, Mothma reminded him that R2-D2's data banks were loaded with maps of Kessel based on intelligence from an escaped slave, showing the layout of the city of Kessendra and its Stadium, including a secret escape tunnel. Mothma concluded the briefing and asked those present to rest well in the night before the mission. C-3PO nervously asked Skywalker if there was no one more suited to the mission, to which the Jedi responded that the protocol droid had already calculated that a Human or alien Alliance sympathizer had only a one in 12600 chance in returning from Kessel.

R2-D2 and C-3PO were disguised as Kesselian droids (as they were far too well known to afford undergoing the mission as-is) and landed on the planet in a drop pod covered as a meteor. They reached the capital Kessendra and the Stadium where took place the meeting.

During the convocation, Grand Moff Hissa presented the Supreme Slavelord Trioculus as the son of Emperor Palpatine. Trioculus declared himself the rightful ruler of the Empire and demonstrated his power by blasting a critical Grand Admiral and Royal Guard with a lethal dose of Force lightning.

After the meeting, the two droids tried to escape the planet but their transport was detected and destroyed by Imperial LAVr QH-7 Chariots. They were about to be located by stormtroopers when they were rescued by Jedi Knight Luke Skywalker. The trio reached the Stolen Imperial Command Speeder 714-D used by the Jedi to land on Kessel. Pursued by Imperial Chariots, the ship piloted by Admiral Ackbar managed to leave the surface, destroying some enemy speeders on its way. In orbit, the speeder was detected by probe droids but they eventually managed to escape in a radioactive asteroid belt.

After the mission, the New Republic agents traveled to Calamari in order to lure any potential pursuer far away from the SPIN headquarters on Yavin 4.