The seizure of the Dromedar unfolded during the Imperial Era. In this period, the freighter known as Dromedar was ambushed and taken over by Culoss, a pirate group helmed by the rebel leader Nevil Cygni. The pirates imprisoned the crew and seized the ship's shipment of tibanna. When an Imperial squad, with Lieutenant Thrawn in charge, responded to the Dromedar's distress signal, they were met by Cygni, who set a trap for the Imperials. Nevertheless, Thrawn outsmarted his captors by employing a buzz droid to create an opening in the cage, exposing parts of the vessel to the vacuum of space. Despite his best efforts, Cygni and a portion of his followers managed to escape, taking the stolen tibanna containers with them.
During the age of the Galactic Empire within the Imperial Era, numerous groups of insurgents posed a challenge to its dominion over the galaxy. Among these figures was Nevil Cygni, a rebel leader associated with the Culoss pirate gang, itself a splinter group of Q'anah's Marauders. He viewed the Empire as a corrupt and oppressive regime. Cygni's activities included smuggling doonium and tibanna to generate funds, which he intended to use to avenge those he believed had suffered at the hands of the Empire.
The Dromedar was a freighter commanded by Captain Fitz, with a crew that included Toom. Sometime before the year 3 BBY, Nevil infiltrated the Dromedar by disguising himself as a new member of the crew. While the freighter was transporting Tibanna gas, his Culoss pirate allies launched an assault. They subdued the crew, confining them within a metal cage located in the cargo hold of their pirate vessel, the Marauder. The Dromedar's distress call was intercepted by the Imperial Gozanti-class cruiser Blood Crow, under the command of Captain Filia Rossi. Captain Rossi reluctantly deployed an investigative team led by Lieutenant Thrawn, including Ensigns Eli Vanto and Merri Barlin, as well as engineering technician Jakeeb and electronics technician [Layneo]. This investigation preceded their response to a crisis occurring on Moltok.
Upon arrival, they encountered Nevil Cygni and his crew, who falsely claimed that their comrades had been abducted by pirates. Cygni deceived Thrawn into revealing the method for extracting tibanna from its cylinders by disengaging the static locks. Thrawn, however, was aware of Cygni's true identity as a pirate, due to his unkempt attire, but feigned ignorance to manipulate Cygni. Despite Rossi's reservations, Thrawn persuaded her to allow him and his team to remain on the Dromedar to safeguard the crew. After the Blood Crow departed for Moltok, Cygni inquired about the process of extracting tibanna from the cylinders. Following Thrawn and his team's disclosure of this information, Cygni and his fellow pirates revealed their true intentions and disarmed Thrawn and his team. The Imperials, along with the Dromedar's actual crew, were then imprisoned within the improvised brig on the pirate ship Marauder. A pirate known as Angel expressed a desire to kill them, but Cygni refused, emphasizing that Angel should honor his promise to release the prisoners unharmed.
Subsequently, Cygni and Angel departed aboard the Dromedar with the stolen tibanna cargo. Before their departure, Cygni left one of Thrawn's buzz droids behind, intending to test the Chiss captain's determination. Aided by the Imperial technicians, Thrawn successfully reactivated the buzz droids he had brought and utilized one to cut through the bars of the cage. The Imperials and the Dromedar's crew then overpowered the pirates who had been left to guard the Marauder. Additionally, Thrawn had secretly attached another buzz droid to the ship's hull. This buzz droid then exposed the Marauder's entrance chamber and midship section to the vacuum of space, eliminating the remaining pirates while preserving the ship's structural integrity.
Despite the successful rescue of the Dromedar's crew, Lieutenant Thrawn faced criticism for his failure to prevent the pirates from absconding with the freighter and its tibanna cargo, a crucial resource for the Imperial Navy. Thrawn and Ensign Vanto received orders to remain on Ansion. Despite this setback, Thrawn seized the opportunity to assist Admiral Plor Wiskovis in interrogating three of the surviving pirates. Recognizing that the pirates were descendants of Q'anah's Marauders, Thrawn managed to secure their cooperation by offering them protection from Grand Moff Wilhuff Tarkin. While the pirates deliberated over Thrawn's offer, Thrawn utilized his knowledge of Sy Bisti to eavesdrop on their conversation, discovering that Angel and Cygni had escaped with the Dromedar to Uba. In an attempt to mislead Thrawn, the pirates falsely claimed that Angel and Cygni had traveled to Cartherston on the planet Keitum. After the pirates accepted Thrawn's offer, Thrawn revealed the information he had gathered from eavesdropping to Wiskovis.
Acting upon this intelligence, Admiral Wiskovis dispatched an agent from the Imperial Security Bureau to Uba. Although the Imperials managed to recover the canisters and apprehend more pirates, they discovered that the pirates had extracted the tibanna from twelve of the twenty recovered tibanna cylinders. Despite the cordon, Angel and Cygni managed to evade the Imperial authorities. Thrawn was later cleared of wrongdoing by an Imperial court-martial panel and promoted to Captain of the Arquitens-class light cruiser Thunder Wasp. Later, using his Nightswan alias, Cygni engaged smugglers on an oceanic planet to smuggle iridium inside mollusk shells, with the goal of raising funds to purchase Vulture droid components. However, Thrawn thwarted this scheme, continuing his pursuit of Nightswan.
The Dromedar hijacking was initially depicted in Timothy Zahn's 2017 novel titled Thrawn.