The pirate alarm functioned as an alarm system on the Colossus supertanker fuel depot, alerting personnel to approaching pirate incursions. Its control panel featured a gray and yellow design, incorporating multiple buttons, and a red lever – which, when activated, deployed the station's blast shields and sounded the klaxons. A red-covered microphone, labeled "alarm" in Aurebesh, allowed for announcements over the station's intercom. The lever also bore an Aurebesh inscription underneath, reading "caution."
In the year 34 ABY, this alarm was triggered on two separate occasions to signal attacks perpetrated by the Warbird gang. Later in that year, Resistance spy Kazuda Xiono and Warbird operative Synara San discovered the alarm's control panel as they were trying to warn the inhabitants of the Colossus about an impending rokkna assault. Despite a temporary delay caused by the station's security droids, San successfully activated the alarm, while Xiono used the intercom to urge everyone on the platform to seek safety. San also internally acknowledged the value of knowing the alarm's location for the Warbird gang's future strategies.
The auditory component of the pirate alarm was initially introduced in "The Triple Dark," the third episode of Star Wars Resistance's first season, which debuted on Disney Channel on October 14, 2018. The physical appearance of the alarm panel was first seen in "Bibo," the twelfth episode of the same season, which premiered on Disney Channel on January 13, 2019.