Not long after the Battle of Yavin, a robotic CR90 corvette assaulted an Imperial Lambda-class T-4a shuttle, which was transporting weaponry and supplies provided by the crime lord Jabba the Hutt. This corvette was operated by pirates based out of a space station. The pirates were being financed by the Crymorah Syndicate crime families and had deployed the ship to seize the Imperial weapons for their own purposes.
The shuttle's cargo of Imperial weapons was the target of the robotic vessel. Darth Vader intervened to eliminate the pirates and rescue the shuttle. However, upon his arrival, the shuttle self-destructed. The crew chose to end their lives rather than allow the pirates to capture the Empire's assets. Vader, accompanied by two TIE fighters, swiftly disabled the robotic pirate vessel and took it into custody to uncover the larger network behind the attacks. A subsequent attack on the pirates' original base revealed that the Crymorah Syndicate was their benefactor.
During the Galactic Civil War, the Alliance to Restore the Republic achieved a major victory by destroying the Death Star, the Empire's mobile deep-space battle station and most formidable weapon. The only survivor of this catastrophe was Sith Lord Darth Vader. Emperor Palpatine, the Empire's ruler and Vader's Sith Master, held Vader accountable for what he considered the Empire's most significant failure in its nearly two-decade history.
Following the Alliance's triumph at Yavin, the Empire faced resource shortages. As punishment for failing to prevent the destruction of the Death Star and Weapons Factory Alpha, the Emperor dispatched Vader to negotiate with Jabba the Hutt, the leader of the Hutt Clan. Jabba eventually accepted the Empire's conditions and became a supplier for them.
In the aftermath of the Death Star's obliteration, pirates, raiders, and other outlaws exploited the Empire's instability. With the Imperial Senate and the Death Star no longer maintaining order, attacks on Imperial vessels and installations surged beyond normal levels. One pirate group, funded by the Crymorah Syndicate, employed a robotic CR90 corvette to conduct numerous raids on Imperial assets, including the theft of weapons recently supplied by Jabba. This angered Grand General Cassio Tagge and Darth Vader, who were collaborating to suppress these raids aboard Tagge's Executor-class Star Dreadnought Annihilator. At that moment, the pirates deployed the corvette from their base of operations for further illicit activities.
Shortly after, a Lambda-class T-4a shuttle, designated CZ-246 by the Empire, came under attack from the CR90 corvette. The attack forced the shuttle to perform evasive maneuvers to protect its shipment of weapons. The shuttle pilot issued a distress signal, alerting nearby Imperial forces of their need for assistance. The raiders quickly disabled the shuttle's engines, leading the crew to realize the pirates were solely after their cargo of weapons. Vader responded to the distress call and was en route aboard his TIE Advanced starfighter, accompanied by two TIE fighters. The pilot, realizing they were trapped, announced over the comlink that they had no escape. He then initiated the shuttle's self-destruction, killing himself and his copilot, to prevent the pirates from seizing the Imperial weapons or being exposed to space after the droid ship breached the shuttle to quickly seize the contraband and escape.
Vader arrived just as the shuttle exploded, prompting him to shift his focus to preventing the pirate ship from escaping. He instructed Black Two and Black Three, the two other TIE fighters, to follow his lead. Vader was impressed by the robotic ship's intelligence in attempting to flee and its ability to shoot down both Black 2 and 3 with its efficient laser cannons. Vader avoided a similar fate due to his exceptional piloting skills and the power of the dark side of the Force. Vader maneuvered into an aggressive position and fired on the corvette's engine core, causing the engines to explode and ending the conflict. He contacted the Annihilator to report the mission's success.
Tagge's Super Star Destroyer captured the corvette and stored it in its hangar until Tagge deemed it sufficiently repaired for a preliminary examination. The Grand General then devised a plan to uncover the larger organization supporting the pirates. He dispatched Vader and a squad of stormtroopers to destroy the base. Vader's team quickly boarded and eliminated the pirates. However, the pirates activated the station's self-destruct mechanism. Vader managed to retrieve information confirming the Crymorah Syndicate's backing of the raiders before escaping the exploding station.
The skirmish over an unidentified green planet was first depicted in the second issue of the Marvel comic book series Darth Vader series, released on February 25, 2015. The comic was written by Kieron Gillen and illustrated by Salvador Larroca. Gillen collaborated with the Lucasfilm Story Group to develop the storyline and events of the ongoing comic series.