Zone runners were agile guerrilla fighters who performed hit-and-run attacks against heavier and slower enemy forces.
The role of zone runners on the battlefield typically required them to get into close proximity to mobile enemy targets on foot. After attempting to destroy or disable their targets with well-thrown explosive satchels, they would then run for cover. Instead of armor, which would only slow them down, zone runners relied upon their speed and reflexes to keep enemy forces from drawing a bead on them.
Before he became a spy for the Alliance to Restore the Republic, Wyl Tarson and his older brother Ved fought as zone runners for an unidentified resistance movement on a similarly unidentified world against the Galactic Empire.