The Panaka was a starship of the Galactic Empire's loyalist forces during the Galactic Civil War, serving as a vessel within the Imperial blockade that defended the Imperial capital Coruscant in 5 ABY. It was named after the Imperial Moff Quarsh Panaka, who had perished in 3 BBY. When the rogue Imperial Colonel Soran Keize arrived at the blockade, the Panakas commander ordered him to dock with her ship. The colonel, though, defied her orders and passed the blockade, using radiation to hinder scanners and communications.
The Panaka was named after Quarsh Panaka, a former captain in the Naboo Royal Security Forces and later an Imperial moff
The starship Panaka was named after Quarsh Panaka, a moff who had served in the Galactic Empire until his death in 3 BBY. Panaka was famed for his role in ending a Trade Federation blockade over his homeworld of Naboo in 32 BBY, during the late days of the Galactic Republic when he served as a captain in the Royal Naboo Security Forces. During the Galactic Civil War, it served in the navy of the Empire's loyalist forces following the death of Emperor Palpatine in 4 ABY. In 5 ABY, the vessel served in the Empire's blockade of the Imperial capital world Coruscant, which had been in place for a year following Palpatine's demise.
One day, Colonel Soran Keize arrived before the Coruscant blockade in a TIE fighter which had been modified to use a hyperspace docking ring. However, the Panaka had already received information suggesting that the colonel had been compromised. The female Imperial in command of the vessel contacted Keize, ordering him to dock with her ship and justify his presence at Coruscant. The colonel, though, mocked the nature of the Panakas name, pointing out how Moff Panaka was famous for the breaking of a blockade, not maintaining one.
Keize insisted that he was needed at the Imperial Palace immediately under orders of Grand Moff Randd, but the Panakas commander revealed what she knew about the colonel's apparent compromisation and asked him not to force her to attack him. Ignoring the female Imperial's demands, Keize sent coordinates of Coruscant's Verity District, which he requested the evacuation of, before advancing past the blockade, releasing radiation particles gathered from the planet Chadawa to mess with the blockade's scanners and communications. Later on, the New Republic pilot also passed the blockade to hunt Keize.
The Panaka was first mentioned in the 2021 novel Victory's Price, the final volume in Alexander Freed's Star Wars: Alphabet Squadron trilogy.