Battle of Rhigar

Following the mission undertaken by Luke Skywalker and Mara Jade to Nirauan, the Hand of Thrawn met its end through a pirate incursion. Soon thereafter, Commander Kres'ten'tarthi, the commanding officer of Syndic Mitth'raw'nuruodo's Household Phalanx—a vital Chiss detachment within the Empire of the Hand—arrived at the clandestine military training academy on Rhigar. His purpose was to announce the fall of the Hand of Thrawn at the hands of pirate forces.

Lieutenant Jagged Fel, fearing the pirates might have discovered the academy's location, hastened with the other cadets toward the hangar to mount a defense. However, a damaged pirate [freighter](/article/freighter-legends] breached the transparisteel dome concealing the base. This resulted in the deaths of several students, including the academy's commandant, Gimald Nuruodo, the destruction of their clawcrafts, and the exposure of the academy. Upon inspecting the ship's cargo, Fel concluded that the attackers were pirates, contrary to Stent's suspicion that they were New Republic forces.

With Stent now the highest-ranking officer present, she directed First Lieutenant Shawnkyr Nuruodo to gather weaponry to fend off an impending assault. Shawnkyr enlisted Fel and several other cadets in her mission. Fel returned to the hangar, laden with charrics, only to witness Stent's disappearance in a laser blast. Assuming Stent's demise, Nuruodo assumed command. She instructed the cadets to convene in the central indoor forest, where they would establish a defensive line against the pirates. Fel felt uneasy about this plan, and when the pirates initiated an bombarding of the base, he sought cover with Nuruodo in the mechanic's bay. This incident clarified Fel's reservations: the pirates would likely precede a ground assault with a substantial aerial bombardment to weaken the base, rendering a ground defense ineffective. He explained to the cadet commander that he would pilot Blue Flame—which had survived due to its location in the mechanic's bay following a previous crash—and deliberately perform poorly to lower the enemy's expectations, hoping they would cease the bombardment and commence a ground assault.

Fel started his silver-blue ship and accelerated through the newly created opening in the dome. He soon found himself facing a corvette and several X-wings. He launched a series of erratic attacks, mostly missing his targets. However, his fire provided cover for the launch of two [proton torpedoes](/article/proton_torpedo-legends], which destroyed two enemy fighters. Fel navigated through the debris, sustaining damage to his hyperdrive but evading pursuit. He channeled power into the hyperdrive, overloading it, and then used the clawcraft's emergency detachment feature to eject the unit into the path of an approaching fighter, causing an explosion. This reduced the enemy force to two fighters and the corvette. Convinced he had done all he could and that it was time to feign defeat, he used the edge of the explosion to propel himself away, then dove toward the dome, pretending to have lost control. He activated his repulsors at the last moment, crashing through the dome and impacting the hangar floor with considerable force. The Blue Flame was destroyed, and Fel suffered a severe cut extending from his right eyebrow along his scalp, along with a possible concussion. He exited the craft and placed a fellow student's body inside to deceive the pirates into believing he was dead, then limped toward the forest.

Upon finding Shawnkyr, he collapsed. She examined him and deemed him unfit for combat but requested his assistance in devising tactics. The two fighter pilots had landed and begun reconnaissance, but the Chiss successfully ambushed them. Only seven students remained capable of fighting, insufficient to counter the likely number of pirates aboard the corvette. Fel had a sudden inspiration and had one of the mirrored transparisteel panels that had fallen from the dome placed on the forest path, with dead Chiss bodies arranged on top. The other students suspended themselves from the trees above the path using ropes. The mirrored surface created the illusion of more bodies lying on the ground. As the pirate force advanced, the Chiss ambushed them, striking from above as the pirates searched for a threat at ground level. The battle was chaotic and brief, resulting in a complete victory for the Chiss.

Following the battle, Fel and the Chiss utilized the pirates' communication equipment to request assistance from their superiors.

In recognition of Fel's crucial role in tactical planning and his leadership, Shawnkyr Nuruodo relinquished her position as cadet commander to Fel. Jag Fel assumed command of a Clawcraft squadron shortly before the Yuuzhan Vong War, and Shawnkyr became his wingmate throughout the conflict.

The Cavrilhu Pirates are not explicitly named in Red Sky, Blue Flame, but they are described as "Carrion birds who follow warriors and pick the battlefields clean". This description likely refers to the Cavrilhu Pirates who fought Luke Skywalker and Mara Jade, the "warriors", during their quest for the Hand of Thrawn in Vision of the Future.

The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia addressed the timeline inconsistency by confirming that Stent survived the attack.