Battle for Poln Major

Approximately eight months following the Battle of Yavin, an alien Warlord named Nuso Esva orchestrated the abduction of the wife and daughter belonging to Governor Bidor Ferrouz of the Candoras sector. Additionally, the Warlord contacted a high-ranking Rebel leader, the Alderaanian Vestin Axlon, falsely claiming that an Imperial Senior Captain by the name of Thrawn was secretly responsible for the destruction of Alderaan. He enticed Axlon to become one of his contacts, promising to provide military support to the Rebellion. Under Esva's direction, Governor Ferrouz initiated negotiations with Axlon, arranging for equipment to be placed at specific locations on Poln Minor for the Rebels to discover.

When the Rebel representatives – Vestin Axlon, Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, and Chewbacca – arrived in Whitestone City, Imperial retribution for Ferrouz's treason was imminent. Emperor Palpatine had dispatched his agent Mara Jade to eliminate the treacherous Governor. Jade enlisted the aid of a group of renegade stormtroopers known as the Hand of Judgment. Jade devised a plan to infiltrate the Governor's palace with the assistance of the stormtroopers and execute him as punishment. Upon arriving at Ferrouz's office, she discovered Esva's manipulation of the Governor and chose to spare his life, intending to gather more information about the Warlord and his schemes.

While Jade and two members of the Hand of Judgment – Daric LaRone and Saberan Marcross – were inside the palace, the remaining three stormtroopers, Korlo Brightwater, Taxtro Grave, and Joak Quiller, stood guard outside. Axlon had also instructed Skywalker to remain outside the palace grounds to prevent an Imperial assassin from entering – in reality, Skywalker was being framed for Ferrouz's assassination. Dors Stelikag and his team of rioters, hired by Nuso Esva, received word from Axlon that Jade had entered the Governor's office. They initiated the riot, implicating Skywalker by falsely accusing the young Jedi of murdering the Governor with his lightsaber. Upon learning of these events, LaRone ordered the three stormtroopers to rescue Skywalker and retrieve his lightsaber.

Simultaneously, Jade, Ferrouz, and Axlon were attacked by another team of Esva's troops within the palace. The two members of the Hand of Judgment provided assistance. Axlon incapacitated the Governor, claiming he had been struck by a ricochet, and then aided Jade and the two stormtroopers in evacuating the Governor from his office through a secret passage. Using her lightsaber, Jade created an opening into the city's sewers, leading them to a tapcafe called Whistling Wind, which the two stormtroopers promptly cleared of patrons. The Hand of Judgment, along with the Governor and the Rebel negotiator, took refuge in the establishment's basement while Jade returned to the palace to investigate the kidnapping of the Governor's family.

During Jade's absence, the members of the Hand of Judgment discovered Axlon's contact with Esva. The Rebel then opened fire on Grave and Quiller, wounding both stormtroopers. LaRone engaged Axlon in conversation, distracting him long enough for Brightwater to kick a knife – a gift from a group of Troukree they had previously encountered – to Quiller, who then killed Axlon. After dealing with the Rebel, LaRone contacted other Rebels – Skywalker and Chewbacca, whom they had interacted with several months prior – explaining the situation and requesting that the Wookiee bring their sub-miniature bacta tank to the tapcafe. They also dispatched Brightwater to meet with the Troukree they had befriended earlier, seeking their assistance in defending the Governor. Vaantaar, the leader of the Troukree, accepted and brought four of his kind to help.

After Jade located the cave where the Governor's family was being held and reported her findings to the Hand of Judgment and Ferrouz, the Governor contacted Major Pakrie, a member of his staff who had been revealed as one of Esva's contacts. He told him where he was hiding with his protectors, so there would be fewer enemies between the Imperial agent and his family. The first assault on their sanctuary occurred shortly thereafter. Esva's troops also deployed a comlink jammer nearby, preventing the defenders from calling for reinforcements. The attackers initially attempted to approach stealthily, but the stormtroopers, anticipating their arrival, were prepared.

Instead of waiting for their enemies to reach their prepared bunker downstairs, LaRone and Marcross went out to face Esva's troops in the tapcafe before they could get into the basement. The closest attackers were quickly neutralized, but others were positioned further back with better cover. The experienced stormtrooper pair eliminated all but two attackers, who managed to escape the tapcafe. Stelikag's team, guarding the Governor's family, received word that the attack on the stormtroopers had failed, prompting a portion of the group to move out. Skywalker, who had hitched a ride on Stelikag's landspeeder and located the hiding place around the same time Jade had, waited for an opportunity. Soon, Jade triggered a booby trap that the kidnappers had set for her on the other side of the cavern.

Upon witnessing the explosion across the cave, Skywalker assumed that the other person who LaRone had mentioned was searching for the Governor's family had fallen into a trap. However, Jade had survived the explosion and used it as a distraction while she climbed onto a crane that spanned the cavern, providing her access to a small building where the Governor's family was being held. Believing that the other rescuer had perished, Skywalker set out to find the Governor's family, but Stelikag and his thugs spotted the young Jedi and attacked him. Seeing Skywalker in danger, Jade threw her blaster to the man, but the act gave away her position to the kidnappers and they started to shoot at her, too.

While Skywalker and Jade attempted to rescue the Governor's family, the Hand of Judgment and their Troukree allies defended Ferrouz against another attack by Esva's troops. During the second assault, the attackers were reinforced by several members of Esva's own Chosen as well as an E-Web heavy repeating blaster. The attackers sent a scout down to the basement, where the defenders had set up their sanctuary, but one of the Troukree was able to dispose the scout before all of their positions had been revealed. The heavy blaster, however, posed a threat and its cover offered a possibility of sending down another scout, and it was essential for the defenders to destroy it. LaRone wanted to use a grenade to blow up the blaster, but in order to do so he would need to place the explosive directly underneath the tripod supporting the heavy weapon. From his position in the basement, the only way to succeed was to cross the firing arch of the E-Web without having the grenade hit by the fire or dying in the attempt. When LaRone started toward the firing arch two of the Troukree, who had come to their help with Vaantaar also headed toward it. One of them stopped farther away hauling the other one up into air, throwing his companion across the firing arch above LaRone's head and thus protecting the stormtrooper from the heavy blaster's fire.

The destruction of the E-Web halted the attack, bringing a moment of silence to the basement. The Troukree's sacrifice deeply affected the stormtroopers, who had not anticipated such selflessness from the aliens to save a Human. In the silence, they noticed that Grave, who had been unconscious in the bacta tank, had regained consciousness and was willing to join their defense despite his injuries. Although they were unable to use comlinks to contact Jade or anyone else outside their sanctuary, the Hand of Judgment was certain there would be another attack against their hiding place.

The third attack against the basement of the Whistling Wind tapcafe followed soon. As the Hand of Judgment expected the attackers started by destroying a supply lift that led to the back alley, and dropping down through it. When the main attention of the defenders was directed toward the new breach in their defenses, another group of attackers tried to enter their position from the other way. The stormtroopers had known to expect such a tactic and one of the Troukree was positioned accordingly and able to stop the attackers before they could join the fight. While the three still healthy stormtroopers were making as much noise as they could, Grave—still lying in his bacta tank—shot several of the attackers from behind them, as they had passed him by without considering him to be a threat.

After the Hand of Judgment and their four remaining Trourkee allies had disposed of the attackers who had made their way to the basement, LaRone had a short shouting conversation with the leader of their attackers, who safely remained in the alley with some of his troops. While the stormtroopers conversed among themselves, after the change of threats with the attackers, two of the Troukree headed out through the remains of the supply lift, joining another group of Troukree, who had been outside and together with them killing the remaining attackers. When LaRone and Marcross made their way up to the street, they found out that the Troukree were the masters of the field. The aliens had also turned off the jamming the attackers had been using.

Around the same time Jade had made it to Governor's family which was held in an overseer's office in the cave. She was able to protect them from the closest kidnappers, while Skywalker fought the others on the cavern floor. Stelikag was killed, when he tried to cross a pool of flammable liquid and Skywalker ignited the substance—the fire also forced the remaining kidnappers to retreat. Skywalker then left the cavern while Jade and Governor's family waited in the building until the fire burned down enough for them to leave.

Following the battle, Vaantaar, backed by his Troukree companions, confronted the Hand of Judgment regarding their past and their status as renegades. He demanded that they accompany him, leading them to the spaceport, where they commandeered one of Esva's Whisperlikes to board Senior Captain Thrawn's ship, the Admonitor. After Grave and Quiller's wounds had healed, Thrawn offered the Hand of Judgment positions within his own stormtrooper force, as trainers for a new breed of warriors. They accepted the offer and began developing their own version of the 501st Legion.

Skywalker departed Poln Major with the other Rebels before the Imperials could shift their attention from the battle against Nuso Esva's forces and intercept them. Jade returned Governor Ferrouz's wife and daughter to him, deciding to pardon the Governor from the accusations of treason. She then returned to the ship she and the Hand of Judgment had used when arriving to the planet. For a short time Jade wondered what had happened to the stormtroopers, but soon she returned to her duties as an Imperial agent, taking the Suwantek TL-1800 freighter and storing it for a possible future use or to be returned to LaRone and his companions if they ever came back.