A guard detachment of death troopers from the Galactic Empire saw action in 3 ABY, first commanded by Sergeant Cordo and subsequently by the Dark Lord of the Sith Darth Vader. After the Duel on Cloud City against Luke Skywalker, the three remaining death troopers went with Vader to Tatooine and the Lars moisture farm, where they engaged criminals. Later, they accompanied Vader to Coruscant and secured Padmé's Apartment.
This unit, acting as a guard detail, originally consisted of seven death troopers and was assigned to specialized missions. Death [troopers](/article/trooper] were a specialized type of elite [stormtroopers](/article/stormtrooper], products of the Tarkin Initiative, and were placed under the command of Imperial Intelligence. Their deployment was for the protection of high-ranking Galactic Empire officials, as well as for carrying out clandestine operations. Initially, the unit had seven members, led by Sergeant Cordo who served as the unit's commanding officer. Certain death troopers were specialists, identifiable by their pauldron and supplementary equipment. Following a reduction to just three members, all underwent extensive cybernetic repairs.
Due to their exemplary service and actions for the Empire, the unit was personally selected by the Dark Lord of the Sith Darth Vader to function as his personal guard. However, their ultimate allegiance remained with the Galactic Emperor Sheev Palpatine. Consequently, the death troopers betrayed Vader during the Scourge of Coruscant under Palpatine's orders. Among the three surviving members, only one was a specialist. During their service, the unit utilized a TIE/rp Reaper attack lander and a Lambda-class T-4a shuttle, and they were armed with death trooper armor, E-11D blaster carbines, and DLT-19D heavy blaster rifles.
During the Imperial Era, this death trooper unit served as part of the Imperial Military of the Galactic Empire. They began their careers as regular stormtroopers before being chosen for death trooper training. After completing rigorous training and undergoing physical augmentations, they graduated and were officially designated as death troopers, some becoming death trooper specialists.
In 3 ABY, the death trooper unit was assigned to Sergeant Cordo aboard an Imperial-class Star Destroyer amidst the Galactic Civil War. Their initial task was to destroy a Rebel Alliance v-150 Planet Defender, as an Imperial admiral opted not to endanger their ship by approaching the cannon. Following the briefing, Sergeant Cordo and the death troopers boarded a TIE/rp Reaper, traveled to the planet housing the Rebel Alliance's cannon, and deployed the death trooper unit after landing nearby.
While advancing into a tree line, the death troopers were ambushed by a group of rebel troopers, resulting in at least one trooper's death in an explosion. A firefight ensued, causing further casualties for the death trooper unit. After the initial attack, the surviving death troopers moved out of the trees and advanced towards the cannon, encountering more rebel infantry. As the battle unfolded, Sergeant Cordo monitored the death troopers from the Reaper using his macrobinoculars, observing that they were approaching the cannon without sufficient cover. As Cordo voiced his criticism, the unit was reduced to four members amidst increasing resistance. During the field engagement, one death trooper was shot down, but another used the fallen trooper as a shield.
After neutralizing the infantry threat, the remaining three advanced closer to the cannon, prompting Cordo to remark that they had advanced further than they should have. Cordo then noticed that the cannon was targeting the death troopers. Believing that the death troopers ignored his warnings, Cordo sacrificed himself by using the TIE Reaper to attack and destroy the cannon, but his attempt failed when he was shot down and crashed at the cannon's summit. Barely surviving the crash, pinned down and surrounded by the engines, Cordo was approached by the death troopers, who he initially believed were coming to rescue him. However, the death troopers began firing on the engines to detonate the Reaper's wreckage. As Cordo realized that they had indeed heeded his earlier advice, the craft exploded, engulfing the troopers, killing Cordo, and destroying the cannon.
Following the mission's conclusion, the three death troopers were taken to a medical bay for medical attention and repairs. A lieutenant arrived and asked the 2-1B surgical droid if these were the troopers responsible for Cordo's death. The droid confirmed, but also stated that they had completed their mission and that the lieutenant could review the mission's recordings. The lieutenant dismissed this and ordered the droid to terminate their life support, stating that the Empire had no need for traitors. At that moment, Lord Vader arrived, killing the lieutenant and declaring that the Empire needed victors, not traitors. He then ordered the droid to continue the repairs, including extensive cybernetic enhancements.
Eventually, the three remaining death troopers fully recovered and resumed their service as Vader's personal guard. By the time of the Duel on Cloud City, they were stationed on Vader's flagship, the Executor. After the Millennium Falcon's escape from Cloud City, Vader summoned his death trooper guard to a hangar to embark on a mission to locate all those who had concealed his son, Luke Skywalker, from him.
The three death troopers accompanied Lord Vader on a Lamdba-class shuttle to Tatooine and the Lars moisture farm. After landing at an Imperial base and being greeted by Lieutenant Ardo Banch and the local Imperial forces, Vader ignored Banch's greetings, while the death troopers menacingly rebuffed the lieutenant's attempts to speak with the Emperor's right-hand. Arriving at the moisture farm, the death troopers secured the area as Vader and his crime scene analysis droid ZED-6-7 searched for clues. As progress stalled, Banch and several stormtroopers arrived in a speeder to inform Vader of intercepted transmissions, but were killed in an explosion. The blast engulfed the Dark Lord of the Sith, but he was unharmed, and soon detected three starships overhead. Using the Force, Vader brought down the largest ship and killed its occupants after they opened fire. The nearby death troopers moved atop a sand dune as the other two vessels were shot down. Following the skirmish, the death trooper guard accompanied Vader to Coruscant and secured Padmé's Apartment as the Sith Lord and his droid investigated the building.
Subsequently, the guard traveled with Vader to the planet Vendaxa, where they encountered Vendaxan land squid that had attacked a group of rebel fighters. The troopers remained outside a bunker while Vader and ZED-67 entered, encountering Sabé, one of Amidala's Handmaidens. They guarded the site while Sabe and ZED-67 buried the deceased fighters. The handmaiden revealed that security recordings from Amidala's apartment were hidden on Naboo. The troopers were ordered to guard the shuttle's landing site while Vader and ZED-67 went with Sabe. During this time, the two Imperials were swallowed by a Sando aqua monster summoned by Captain Tonra, who believed Vader had murdered Senator Amidala. The Death troopers piloted the shuttle over the monster and fired on it using its rear-facing blaster cannon; however, the monster damaged one of the shuttle's wings and caused it to crash. The Death Troopers, emerging from the Shuttle, fired on the monster with their E-11D blaster carbines. This proved unnecessary though, as Vader (having survived being swallowed along with ZED-67) cut his way out of the beast's head and impaled its brain with his lightsaber, killing the creature. After the shuttle was repaired, the entourage traveled to Theed, the capital of Naboo, in order to 'choose the site of the battle'. However, the group were trapped in Gungan Bubble wort projectors. One of the troopers, apparently confused by the shields, attempted to fire his E-11D, but didn't following a warning from the forensics droid that firing it would merely kill himself with the ricochets. Captain Ric Olié then introduced himself, alongside the Amidalans, a group that swore to kill whoever had murdered Queen Amidala. After deeming the group of no use to him, Lord Vader used the Force to deactivate the projectors. The troopers and the Sith Lord then proceeded to kill all of the Amidalans. Following this, one of the troopers appeared to ask ZED a question, to which the droid said he could just ask Vader, adding that he wouldn't recommend it. The group then approached the Tomb of Padmé Amidala.
After a battle with Amidala's handmaidens, Vader discovered that the final location he needed to travel to was the medical facility on Polis Massa. When Sabe alerted all the Amidalans of the new location, ZED advised one of the death troopers to execute the handmaidens, but Vader prevented him from doing so. The group then traveled to Polis Massa, where Vader tried to access the medical logs in the facility. However, their time was cout short with the arrival of the Amidalans. During the battle, the death troopers operated laser batteries and used them to take down several starships. Vader and the three death troopers then killed all of the Amidalans and Vader was able to access the medical logs.
Later on, the death troopers accompanied Lord Vader to the starship Vermillion during the Crimson Dawn's Auction for Han Solo. The troopers were instructed by him to transport the carbonized Solo to his flagship, and to kill anyone that tried to interfere. The troopers then stood guard as Lord Vader battled Lady Qi'ra, the spokesperson for Crimson Dawn.