During their uprising against the Galactic Empire, the rebellious group aboard the spacecraft Ghost executed an assault on an Imperial transport fleet above Lothal. Ahsoka Tano, a secret operative for Rebel Intelligence who went by the alias "Fulcrum" and coordinated with cells like the Ghost team, provided the information for the attack. While the details regarding the convoy's schedule and path were accurate, Tano's data underestimated the strength of the Imperial forces. Consequently, the Ghost's shuttle, the Phantom, was pursued by at least four TIE/ln space superiority starfighters, with pilot Hera Syndulla, Mandalorian explosives specialist Sabine Wren, and Jedi Padawan Ezra Bridger on board. Syndulla skillfully evaded and destroyed the TIE fighters, enabling the Phantom to get away.
Wren became concerned about Fulcrum's identity and the intelligence she shared, questioning why the rebels were risking their lives on missions such as the convoy attack. Syndulla reassured her that they were contributing to a larger cause and that a strategy existed for opposing the Empire. Wren's trust in Syndulla and the crew's mission grew following a mission to Fort Anaxes, where they faced attacks from fyrnocks residing in the derelict Grand Army of the Republic asteroid base, forcing them to rely on each other for survival.
In the year that was five years prior to the Battle of Yavin, the rebellious crew of the starship Ghost encountered Senator Bail Organa of Alderaan during an operation that resulted in Organa's droids, C-3PO and R2-D2, ending up in their care. Witnessing the rebels' resistance against the Galactic Empire firsthand on the Outer Rim planet of Lothal, the droids reported their observations about the rebels to Organa upon their return to the senator. Impressed by the rebels' actions, Organa facilitated contact between the crew's captain, Hera Syndulla, and Ahsoka Tano. Tano, a former Padawan of the Jedi Order, was part of a growing rebel movement secretly supported by Senator Organa. Operating under the codename "Fulcrum," Tano provided Syndulla with various missions to carry out against the Empire, although the information provided was sometimes incomplete.
Based on intelligence supplied by Fulcrum, Syndulla, Mandalorian warrior Sabine Wren, and Padawan Ezra Bridger launched an attack on an Imperial supply convoy on Lothal using their attack shuttle, the Phantom. Syndulla had access to the intelligence and understood the mission's objective, but she kept Wren and Bridger uninformed due to Fulcrum's need-to-know intelligence policy. Fulcrum's information accurately predicted the convoy's arrival time and route, but it underestimated the strength of the Imperial defenses. As a result, a TIE/ln space superiority starfighter pursued the Phantom. Syndulla skillfully navigated the fighter across Lothal's terrain, consistently outmaneuvering the TIE pilot. She evaded them by flying around stone circles, large rock formations on the surface, and successfully shot down the TIE fighter. Shortly after, three more fighters appeared and began firing at the shuttle.
During the chase, Syndulla piloted the shuttle through a narrow group of stone circles, resulting in damage to the ship's underside as it briefly collided with one of the stones, causing steering problems. One of the TIE fighters crashed into a stone circle and was destroyed, while the remaining two continued the pursuit. The rebels continued to evade the Imperial fighters, while the intelligence failure sparked conflict between Syndulla and Wren. The Twi'lek pilot had not fully disclosed their involvement with the broader rebellion to her crew, safeguarding the rebel collective's secrets in case any of the Ghost team were captured. However, Wren demanded more information, including the significance of the mission to attack the supply convoy. Syndulla refused to elaborate, stating that Fulcrum's intelligence was strictly need-to-know, and Wren did not need to know.
Syndulla fired at one of the stone circles, creating a cloud of smoke. As the TIE fighters emerged from the smoke, one of the pilots flew too close to the other vessel, resulting in a collision. Both ships exploded in mid-air, ending the attack. With the Empire no longer pursuing them, the Phantom set course to reunite with the Ghost. Unbeknownst to the rebels, the shuttle was leaking fuel.
Shortly after returning to the Ghost, Syndulla prepared for a scheduled meeting with Fulcrum at Fort Anaxes, a base on the surface of asteroid PM-1203 that had served as a Grand Army of the Republic military installation during the Clone Wars. Wren insisted on accompanying her to learn more about Fulcrum, and Syndulla reluctantly agreed. While en route to Fort Anaxes, Fulcrum contacted the Phantom and informed them that she had left a crate of supplies for the rebels at the base. Wren interrupted their conversation, expressing her desire to meet Fulcrum, which violated rebel protocol. The nature of the crew's relationship with Fulcrum remained a point of contention between Syndulla and Wren upon their arrival at Fort Anaxes, where Fulcrum was nowhere to be found. Wren, who had previously been a cadet at the Imperial Academy on her homeworld of Mandalore, understood the dangers of blind trust and believed she deserved to know more about their mission. Syndulla urged her to trust that there was a larger plan to fight the Empire.
After retrieving the crates, the two rebels attempted to leave Fort Anaxes but discovered the fuel leak resulting from the damage sustained by the Phantom during the escape from the TIE fighters. Bridger and fellow crewmember Garazeb Orrelios had neglected to repair the damage after the shuttle's return from the previous operation. To make matters worse, Syndulla and Wren were attacked by fyrnocks, creatures that inhabited the shadows of the asteroid base. The two rebels rigged canisters of rhydonium fuel to explode upon activation, using them to kill the fyrnocks as they attempted to attack. Syndulla and Wren held out until the rest of the crew arrived aboard the Ghost to rescue them. Their experience at Fort Anaxes and the trust they placed in each other fostered greater faith in the rebels' secret mission. Wren eventually learned about their role in the rebellion, as well as Fulcrum's identity, after the rebel collective helped rescue Kanan Jarrus, the leader of the Lothal rebels, from Imperial captivity some time later.
The attack on the Imperial supply convoy, specifically the Phantom's escape from the TIE fighters, was portrayed in the opening scenes of "Out of Darkness," the fifth episode of the first season of the animated television series Star Wars Rebels. This event marked the first mention of Fulcrum in the series and highlighted Wren's concerns regarding the secrecy within the rebel crew. This storyline continued through the season finale, "Fire Across the Galaxy," where the crew discovered that Ahsoka Tano was Fulcrum and that they were part of a larger rebellion against the Empire.