Noghri revolution

In 20 BBY during the Clone Wars, a Separatist ship crashed to the surface of Honoghr after a battle over the Noghri world. The ship emitted Trihexalophine1138, a poison which nearly destroyed the planet's flora.Only the kholm-grass could survive. The Noghri were unable to do anything about this, and many died. The race remained unknown to most of the galaxy's citizens.

Later after the rise of the Galactic Empire, the Dark Lord Darth Vader came to the planet Honoghr and offered his help, planning to make the Noghri, who were skilled assassins, warriors for the Empire. He sent decon droids to clean the planet. The Noghri thanked him and the Empire by putting a debt on themselves, and became Vader's private assassins, known as Death Commandos. Later on Vader introduced Grand Admiral Thrawn to the Noghri as a reward for service to the Empire, and named him the new master of the Noghri.

The Noghri served the Admiral, working as skilled assassins and warriors. One of them, Rukh, even became his bodyguard, traveling with him everywhere. Thrawn trusted the Noghri somewhat, as they thought he was a god. In 9 ABY, Thrawn began his campaign to destroy the New Republic and become the new Galactic Emperor. Using the Noghri as one of his many components, he sent them to capture Luke Skywalker, Han Solo and Leia Organa Solo. However, they failed, one of the few times they did not accomplish their goal.

Later, after he saw through Han Solo's plan to hide his wife on Kashyyyk to keep her safe, Thrawn sent Noghri to capture her. With the help of Chewbacca and other Wookiees, she defeated them—the first time. Several nights later, more came, and fought their way into her hut. A Noghri named Khabarakh had her in his grasp when he stopped, smelling her for the first time. He had recognized her as Mal'ary'ush, the daughter of Vader and his heir.

He agreed to meet Leia over Endor later. The two then headed for Honoghr, as he thought she could help them. However, Thrawn was visiting Honoghr on the very same day, and recognized Khabarakh as the last survivor from the Commando Team 22, which had been sent to Kashyyyk to capture Leia. Thrawn personally set off to the dukha of the clan Kihm'bar to interrogate Khabarakh about the events on Kashyyyk. Meanwhile Leia and Chewbacca were hidden in the dukha in order to not to be noticed by the Admiral. Thrawn sentenced Khabarakh with betrayal and sent him to Nystao to humiliate him in public.

Leia, Chewie and the maitrakh planned to set Khabarakh free when the moon was the farthest from the planet, and managed to. Leia later learned from the maitrakh that the devastation had not been during the Galactic Civil War as she thought, but decades earlier. She realized that the Empire had tricked them. Later, she learned of the complete duplicity of their plan when she examined the kholm-grass and proved that the decon droids were essentially doing nothing: they were actually killing mutated kholm-grass planted by the Empire at a very slow rate. After that, the Noghri realized they had been fooled, and swore vengeance. They turned against Thrawn, but secretly. The Noghri vowed to serve Leia until their debt was repaid.

Thrawn began to suspect something was amiss with his loyal servants, but was unaware of exactly what was troubling them.

Not long afterward, Thrawn was killed during Battle of Bilbringi by his bodyguard Rukh, setting the Noghri free, and ending the crisis that was coming close to destroying the New Republic. The Empire had suffered a grievous blow, and would never recover from the death of their last hope.

The Noghri became part of the New Republic. They continued to serve as bodyguards for Leia and her family. Though Rukh had been killed by Grodin Tierce onboard the Chimaera, he became a hero for setting the Noghri free. The Noghri vowed to fight against the Empire, and tried to forget their years of service, taking it as a personal insult if someone mentioned it.

• The Thrawn Trilogy Sourcebook
• The Official Star Wars Fact File 139