Attack on an unidentified pirate base

Prelude

During the Galactic Civil War, a conflict between the Galactic Empire and the Rebel Alliance, Luke Skywalker of the Alliance managed to annihilate the Empire's most formidable weapon: the planet-destroying Death Star space station.

With the Death Star's destruction, the Empire found itself in a weaker position than Emperor Palpatine anticipated, compelling him to engage with the Outer Rim crime boss Jabba the Hutt. Jabba dispatched an emissary to Cymoon 1 to negotiate terms, but the Rebel Alliance had recently initiated a galaxy-spanning campaign to capitalize on their victory at Yavin. A rebel squad under the leadership of Leia Organa intercepted and impersonated Jabba's envoy, launching an attack on Weapons Factory Alpha. Vader engaged the attackers but was unable to prevent Skywalker from succeeding in his mission, which involved destroying the factory's power core, resulting in the facility's complete destruction.

Vader, facing increased pressure from his master due to the loss of both the Death Star and Weapons Factory Alpha, received orders to continue negotiations with Jabba on Tatooine, Vader's birthplace. The Empire's terms were eventually accepted, and Jabba became a supplier for the Empire.

Shortly after, Vader, serving under the authority of Grand General Cassio Tagge, focused on suppressing pirates and other lawless entities who were exploiting the Empire's instability. With the Imperial Senate and the Death Star no longer maintaining order, these groups were raiding and looting Imperial ships and equipment at an unprecedented rate. One such group, financed by the Crymorah Syndicate, carried out several raids using a droid-operated CR90 corvette. Vader and Tagge tracked down the pirate ship after it attacked CZ-246, a Lambda-class T-4a shuttle transporting newly acquired weapons from Jabba's organization. The corvette quickly disabled the shuttle's propulsion systems, but the shuttle pilot chose to detonate the vessel to prevent the pirates from seizing Imperial assets. As the robotic corvette attempted to escape, Vader arrived in his TIE Advanced fighter and promptly destroyed the corvette's engine block, bringing the engagement to an end.

Shortly thereafter, Vader returned to Tagge aboard his Executor-class Star Dreadnought Annihilator to report. The pirate ship was taken to a docking bay and repaired sufficiently for a basic inspection. Tagge then formulated a plan to send Vader, their most capable warrior, to trace the pirates back to their main base using the captured corvette and to uncover the larger organization behind the raids. Before doing so, he assigned an Assistant to Vader to act as Tagge's informant. Vader was displeased with the arrangement but complied out of respect for the Emperor. However, he planted incriminating evidence into a black astromech droid that would frame Adjutant Oon-ai as a double agent. Soon, Vader, Oon-ai, and a unit of six stormtroopers departed aboard the corvette and located the pirate's operational center; a space station situated on the fringes of the Outer Rim.

The attack

The pirates, a Twi'lek, a Mon Calamari, and a Sullustan, noticed the return of their corvette and prepared to unload the contraband and begin repairs. However, the Twi'lek was killed by Vader when the Twi'lek was instead met by Vader's strike team. The droid then left the station's airlock and proceeded to the command center, where it planted the evidence that would incriminate Oon-ai for treason.

Realizing they were outmatched, the remaining two pirates deployed a pair of customized droideka security units equipped with missile batteries to defend against the intruders. The droidekas eliminated four troopers before Vader, at Oon-ai's insistence, used the Force to redirect a pair of rockets back at the droidekas and pirates, killing them all. Except for the Mon Calamari, who triggered the station's self-destruct sequence as he was dying. As the station went into emergency mode, Vader ordered the surviving stormtroopers to return to the corvette and prepare for launch. The troopers complied, while Vader proceeded to the station's command center to retrieve the computer records and the "evidence" the droid had planted—much to Oon-ai's dismay, as he was to follow per his orders from Tagge. Vader ordered the Lieutenant not to abandon his orders while Vader retrieved the information from the computer console. He finished and he casually strode to the awaiting corvette as the station exploded around them. The corvette blasted away as the pirate's base exploded entirely. Oon-ai was surprised they had survived the ordeal, Vader was not and told them they would immediately report their findings to Tagge.

Aftermath

Vader then eliminated Oon-ai to complete his plan of using the attack to eliminate Tagge's spy and send a clear message of his authority to Tagge. Upon returning to the Annihilator, Vader reported to the Grand General, informing him that the intelligence gathered from the pirate's computer confirmed the raiders' connection to the Crymorah Syndicate, validating Tagge's plan. Vader also accused Oon-ai of being a traitor who had exploited his proximity to Tagge for his own purposes. Vader then went to the black astromech droid and insured it had deleted all records of its data upload to the pirate station. It then ejected itself into space and exploded, leaving Vader to lament how only droids were truly trustworthy and loyal.

Shortly thereafter, Vader discovered from the pirate base's computer that the droidekas used by the pirates had been supplied by a rogue archaeologist, Doctor Aphra. Impressed by the modified droids, Vader desired to acquire some for his personal use against his enemies and for covert missions. He departed the Annihilator to locate the Doctor, searching various worlds and eliminating numerous witnesses before learning that Aphra was located on Quarantine World III in Kallidahin Space. Vader arrived on the quarantined asteroid, rescued her from captivity, and explained his situation. Aphra, a "fan" of the Dark Lord, agreed to assist him in acquiring his own army of undeniably loyal combat droids on the former warzone of Geonosis.

Behind the scenes

The attack on an unidentified pirate base was first depicted in the Marvel comic series second issue of their Darth Vader series, released in 2015 and written by Kieron Gillen, with artwork by Salvador Larroca. Gillen collaborated with the Lucasfilm Story Group to develop the narrative and events of the ongoing comic series.