The Space Battle at Carida took place during the Galactic Civil War, above the planet Carida, circa 3 ABY–4 ABY. The forces of the Galactic Empire under the command of Grand Admiral Thrawn aboard his flagship, the Admonitor, entered into combat with the Zann Consortium, led by crime lord Tyber Zann in his new flagship, the Merciless, over a Sith holocron that Zann wanted to sell to the Empire. Once he arrived Thrawn demanded that he hand over the holocron. Zann refused and the fleets engaged each other and suffered damage until Bossk, a bounty hunter who worked for Zann, stole the holocron and brought it to Thrawn, who fled afterward. After Thrawn fled the Imperial fleet was destroyed without his guidance and the Consortium fleet emerged victorious. Zann, who had anticipated Bossk's betrayal, then used a homing beacon on the holocron to lead him back to the device.
Determined to sell a Sith holocron to the Galactic Empire, which he had stolen from Jabba the Hutt, crime lord Tyber Zann agreed to steal Tibanna gas from Bespin for Black Sun leader Xizor in exchange for a meeting with the Empire and half the gas. During the raid, Zann, along with his old friend Urai Fen and the droid bounty hunter IG-88A, planted evidence to frame Xizor and his organization with intentions of keeping all the gas for himself. Unaware that he had been framed, Xizor set up the meeting. However, Imperial Supreme Commander Darth Vader was convinced that Black Sun was responsible for the theft and had Xizor killed.
Tyber Zann's new flagship, the Merciless, made its debut during the Space Battle at Carida.
When Zann's Interceptor IV frigate left hyperspace at Carida, it was met by Grand Admiral Thrawn's flagship, the Admonitor, which led an Imperial armada of Imperial I-class Star Destroyers, Victory I-class Star Destroyers, Tartan-class patrol cruisers, TIE/D Defenders, TIE/sa bombers and TIE/IN interceptors. Thrawn then double-crossed Zann by informing him of Xizor's death and demanding the artifact be turned over in exchange for a quick and somewhat honorable death. Zann responded by bringing in his fleet of StarViper-class attack platforms, GAT-12 Skipray Blastboats, Crusader-class corvettes, Interceptor IV frigates and Vengeance-class frigates, which he had stationed nearby. Thrawn, in turn, countered by firing a hidden HVs-2 hypervelocity gun on the planet's surface, which destroyed an Interceptor IV frigate.
Zann brought his new flagship, the Aggressor-class Star Destroyer Merciless, out of hyperspace. The ship destroyed a Victory I-class Star Destroyer with its massive guns. The new weapon surprised Thrawn, and the two fleets engaged each other.
After intense combat between the two fleets, Zann was apparently betrayed by his henchman Bossk, who stole the Sith artifact and absconded to his ship, the Hound's Tooth, to take it to the Admonitor. A Consortium officer ordered the fleet to fire on Bossk, but Zann belayed the order, telling them to let him go. Bossk then delivered it into the hands of Thrawn. The outnumbered Grand Admiral retreated in the severely damaged Admonitor with his prize albeit secured, and left his fleet to deal with Zann's forces however it was later destroyed.
Bossk left the Consortium's employment after he received a huge amount of credits from the Empire. Zann had predicted Bossk's betrayal and had attached a homing beacon to the artifact which eventually led him to the Imperial Archives on Coruscant. This set the stage for the Theft on Coruscant in which Zann planed to steal access codes for the Eclipse, Emperor Palpatine's new flagship under construction over Kuat, so he could gain access to the Emperor's store houses, containing the wealth Zann needed to expand his criminal organization. The Admonitor was repaired, and Thrawn returned to the employ of the Empire. The successful performance of the Aggressor-class Star Destroyer saw more of them put into full production, and Zann Consortium shipyards churned them out for future battles. Many later participated in the Battle for the Eclipse between the Consortium, the Empire and the Rebellion over the Eclipse.
The space battle at Carida first appeared in the 2006 video game Star Wars: Empire at War: Forces of Corruption for the PC. Its name was identified in the Prima Guide for the game. In the game, the Zann Consortium fleet composition is decided by the player; the Imperial fleet first appears in a cutscene and its composition is attributed to game mechanics. After Thrawn gets the holocron and flees, the player must destroy the rest of the Imperial fleet. After the battle, Tyber Zann is onboard the Merciless in all space battles. The Aggressor-class Star Destroyer also becomes available for production to the Zann Consortium. Bossk is also no longer available as a hero unit in the game's story mode from that point on, meaning the Fondor piracy mission cannot be done.
The Forces of Corruption Prima Guide offers several tips for wining the battle, and advises that before the battle, the player sends a defiler–a class of Consortium infantry–to corrupt Carida for Tyber Zann. It also advises that the player send to Carida a fleet consisting of seven Vengeance-class frigates, four or five Interceptor IV frigates, and six Crusader-class corvettes, with the rest of the armada consisting of StarViper-class attack platforms and GAT-12 Skipray Blastboats. The guide recommends that at the start of the battle, the player sends all of their capital ships and bombers to attack the Admonitor, whilst sending their starfighters to attack the Imperial fighters and bombers, and also deploying the StarVipers' buzz droids. It also states that if the Imperial Star Destroyers try to capture the player's ships with their tractor beams, the player should order their ships to target the Star Destroyers' tractor beams to free the Consortium ships from their grasp. After Thrawn flees the battle, the guide suggests that the player should direct the Consortium forces to target the Imperial ships that have the most weapons and destroy their laser cannons, then change target and destroy the laser cannons on the other Star Destroyers. Once all of the Imperial ships' weapons are offline, the guide directs the player to finish off the weakened Star Destroyers. If the mission does not end when all of the Imperial capital ships have been destroyed, the guide advises the player to check a nearby nebula for any ships that may be hiding there.