Desert Sands was a unit of Galactic Empire desert stormtroopers that served during the time of the Galactic Civil War, as told in Legends continuity.
This group was a specialized type of desert stormtrooper, equipped with modified armor and gear designed to handle the severe conditions of desert planets such as Tatooine. They carried heavy weaponry, survival supplies, and shoulder pauldrons to signify rank. The unit's composition included Dewback-mounted troopers as a standard element.
Desert Sands was stationed on the Devastator, which was the flagship of Darth Vader and an Imperial I-class Star Destroyer. Captain Mod Terrik commanded the unit, with Senior Officer DSS-0956 serving as his second in command.
In 0 BBY, the unit received orders to deploy to Tatooine aboard a Sentinel-class landing craft. Their mission was to find the Tantive IV's ejected escape pod and retrieve the stolen Death Star plans. They were divided into Alvien, Drax, and Zeta Squadrons, and were supported by troops from Captain Kosh's local garrison.
Upon locating and inspecting the escape pod, Desert Sands discovered that the plans were missing. However, they found a trail leading away from the crash site, as well as evidence suggesting that droids had been the pod's occupants. Following the trail through the desert, the troopers learned that a Jawa sandcrawler had captured one of the droids. Eventually, they located the sandcrawler and discovered that the droids had been sold to moisture farmers. Desert Sands then launched an assault on the sandcrawler, eliminating all of its occupants. Desert Sands continued their pursuit to the moisture farm that had acquired the droids. Arriving at the farm, the unit was again unable to locate the droids. They destroyed the homestead and killed its inhabitants, Owen and Beru Lars.
Under the command of Captain Kosh, the unit then tried to capture the fleeing droids in Mos Eisley, but they were unsuccessful. After the droids left the planet aboard the Millennium Falcon, Desert Sands remained on Tatooine to conduct mop-up operations.
Shortly after the Falcon's escape, Desert Sands successfully secured Mos Eisley and eliminated the Rebel presence and their black market activities from the system.