Kardan, a male human, held the rank of general within the Galactic Empire throughout the era of the Galactic Civil War. Shortly after the planet Alderaan's destruction, Kardan found himself on the Halcyon, where he acquired what he assumed to be the Crown Jewels of Alderaan from the pirate Maz Kanata for a price of 80,000 Imperial credits; in truth, they were merely gemstones originating from the same planet. This transaction, however, was actually a component of a heist orchestrated by Kanata in collaboration with the smuggler Lando Calrissian and the pirate Hondo Ohnaka, with the aim of retrieving artifacts from the general's possessions, notably a box hailing from Kashyyyk. Upon discovering Ohnaka's presence aboard the ship, Kardan dispatched stormtroopers with orders to locate him.