Around 1 ABY, Maz Kanata, Hondo Ohnaka, and Lando Calrissian orchestrated what became known as the Heist on the Halcyon. This trio journeyed to the Halcyon starcruiser with the goal of retrieving several artifacts, notably a box that belonged to Kanata, from Imperial General Kardan. Kardan had taken these items from various planets that were invaded by his forces.
Under the guise of selling the Crown Jewels of Alderaan to Kardan, Kanata engaged in a meeting with the general, presenting him with the jewels. Following Kardan's inspection to confirm their authenticity, Kanata told the general of her desire to collect payment and depart, explaining she was being followed by thieves seeking the jewels. Kardan then transferred 80,000 Imperial credits to Kanata. She also informed him that one of the thieves was the pirate Hondo Ohnaka, who was currently aboard the Halcyon. Consequently, the general placed the jewels in his safe and dispatched stormtroopers to locate Ohnaka, but he desired the incident to be handled with discretion, as some of his Imperial peers would not understand his collecting hobby.
While Ohnaka created a diversion for a pair of stormtroopers, Calrissian, in disguise as a Halcyon crewmember, offered his assistance to the general in transporting his artifacts to his shuttle. After securing Kardan's relics, he struck the general and two stormtroopers with Kanta's box, and escaped. After Calrissian met up with the two pirates, Kanata emptied the recovered relics from her box onto a bed for reclamation, and told Calrissian and Ohnaka that she had paid them both 40,000 credits for their assistance. She then revealed that the jewels were actually gemstones from [Alderaan](/article/alderaan], and not the actual Crown Jewels. After they departed, Kanata anonymously tipped the Imperial Security Bureau off about the general's hobby.