The Mission to Murkhana was an operation launched by the Galactic Empire, spearheaded by the Sith Lord Darth Vader alongside Moff Wilhuff Tarkin. Their destination was the planet Murkhana, prompted by the discovery of a hidden stash of communication devices. This cache, however, turned out to be a carefully laid trap, designed to entice Vader and Tarkin to Murkhana. The true motive was for a rebel cell to seize Tarkin's personal starship, known as the Carrion Spike. Upon their arrival on Murkhana, Tarkin and Vader, accompanied by a group of twelve stormtroopers, proceeded to the location of the cache to inspect it for potential dangers. They gained entry to the building via an access point on the roof, and began their examination of the equipment. The troopers were then tasked with documenting and transporting the equipment to the Carrion Spike.
Subsequently, Vader and Tarkin visited the Murkhana City Imperial compound, where they engaged with the Imperial ambassador stationed on the planet, along with the Koorivar intelligence operative responsible for uncovering the cache. During this meeting, the rebel cell orchestrated a deceptive communication, impersonating Tarkin to instruct the troopers to return to the cache. This allowed the rebels to board the Carrion Spike, where they killed the crew before commandeering the vessel. Alerted to the theft, Tarkin and Vader sought out a local Sugi crime lord named Faazah, whom they coerced into providing them with a ship, the Parsec Predator. Utilizing the Force, Vader successfully tracked the Carrion Spike despite its cloaking technology and initiated a pursuit. However, the rebel cell managed to escape the Murkhana system, eluding the Imperials. The rebels then used the Carrion Spike to launch attacks on several Imperial installations, before Tarkin eventually outmaneuvered and defeated them.
During the Clone Wars, a conflict between the Galactic Republic and the Confederacy of Independent Systems, Republic Intelligence agent Berch Teller was assigned to Antar 4, a moon controlled by the Separatists. There, he aided in the training and organization of pro-Republic resistance groups. After the war ended and the Galactic Empire rose to power, Wilhuff Tarkin was tasked with making an example of Antar 4, initiating a series of arrests, executions, and disappearances that indiscriminately targeted both former Separatists and those loyal to the Republic. Disheartened by the betrayal of those he had trained, Teller voiced his concerns to the Intelligence chiefs, but was soon reassigned to Desolation Station, a remote Imperial base heavily involved in research for the Death Star superweapon. Shortly after his arrival, Teller vanished from the Empire's radar, using his knowledge of Imperial plans to rescue several anti-Imperial journalists and former Intelligence operatives from arrest.
Approximately five years after the Clone Wars concluded and the Empire was established, Vice-Admiral Dodd Rancit from the Naval Intelligence Agency contacted Teller, presenting him with an opportunity to retaliate against the Empire. Teller, who had previously served under Rancit during the Clone Wars, accepted the plan and assembled a team of individuals to assist him. This team included two journalists he had rescued, Anora Fair and Hask Taff, two former operatives from Antar 4, Salikk and Cala, and a ship designer who had also deserted Desolation Station, Artoz. Rancit, dissatisfied with his removal from command of Sentinel Base and transfer to Naval Intelligence, provided the cell with access to restricted Separatist vessel components from the war, which they used to construct a warship. The cell also acquired old Separatist communication technologies, placing some of them in a hidden location on the planet Murkhana, a former Separatist stronghold.
The crew then utilized surveillance equipment and Taff's expertise with the HoloNet to create a fabricated video of the cache on Murkhana. Rancit then sent this video from Military Intelligence to the Imperial Security Bureau under a false identity, claiming that the cache required investigation. ISB case officer Stellan assigned the Intelligence asset Bracchia to examine the cache. Bracchia quickly surveyed the location and submitted a preliminary report, prompting local Imperial forces to place the cache under observation. About three weeks after the report was submitted, Teller and his cell used their warship to attack Sentinel Base. They sent a false transmission claiming that Rampart Station was under attack, causing Tarkin to dispatch the Venator-class Star Destroyer Electrum to assist the space station. With Sentinel's defenses weakened, the warship swiftly entered the system where Sentinel Base was located and launched several starfighters to attack the facility, before retreating.
The attack prompted Tarkin to be summoned to Coruscant, the Imperial capital world, where he discussed the incident with Galactic Emperor Palpatine and attended a briefing on the matter. Rancit was also present at the meeting, where Naval Intelligence chief Harus Ison informed those present about the Separatist communication cache on Murkhana. He believed it might be connected to the false communication used in the Sentinel Base attack. The Emperor then instructed Tarkin to collaborate with the Sith Lord Darth Vader to investigate the cache. Palpatine deliberately left the command structure ambiguous, suggesting that Vader and Tarkin should decide between themselves who would lead the mission.
Following the meeting, Vader expressed to Palpatine his opinion that Tarkin should not accompany him on the mission, but should instead return to Sentinel Base where he was needed. Palpatine rejected this idea, stating that it was not a coincidence that the cache was located on Murkhana, a planet with which both Tarkin and Vader had history. Tarkin had fought there during the Clone Wars, and Vader had traveled to the world on one of his earliest missions as a Sith. Believing that Murkhana's involvement in the events surrounding the attack was a sign from the dark side of the Force, Palpatine deemed it essential for both of them to be present for the mission, suspecting it was a trap. The next day, Vader brought the twelve troopers he had selected for the mission to the Imperial Palace landing field, where he had them load his meditation chamber onto the Carrion Spike. When the sphere briefly collided with the edge of the ship's cargo hold hatch, Vader became enraged at Sergeant Crest, the stormtrooper operating the repulsorlift crane.
Upon their arrival on Murkhana, the Carrion Spike was directed to the spaceport in Murkhana City, the planet's capital and the location of the cache. Murkhana City spaceport control informed the Imperials that they would have to find their own landing space, as they no longer had the resources to guide them, much to Tarkin's frustration. After landing, Tarkin, Vader, and eight stormtroopers disembarked and were met by a poorly maintained Low Altitude Assault Transport/infantry, which they were told was the only vehicle available due to sabotage by local residents. After instructing the Carrion Spike's comms officer to contact him if any issues arose, Tarkin and the others boarded the transport. They were flown through Murkhana City to the cache's location, an old medcenter that had been converted into a shield generator housing by the Corporate Alliance. During the journey, the transport was pelted with debris by locals, who resented the Empire for the condition their world had been left in after the Clone Wars.
Upon reaching the building, Tarkin and Vader learned that rooftop Imperial snipers were covering the cache's location. They then ordered Crest and his men to follow two AC-ones and a ASN courier droid equipped with a holotransmitter into the building. They were to complete a full reconnaissance of all areas except the central room containing the cache, while the commanders monitored the holo-feed from the droid at the gunship. For an hour, Tarkin watched the feeds of each of the droids seeing them hit many dead ends, while Vader paced. After this, Crest reported that the reconnaissance was complete and the building was clear. The local stormtroopers established a perimeter, while Tarkin, Vader, and the Coruscant troopers proceeded to follow one of the remotes through the building to the room containing the cache, where they met with Crest and the other troopers. The room was sealed with a sliding door, and after Crest and four troopers approached and opened it, Vader halted the group, sensing something through the Force. Tarkin then realized that the cache couldn't have been brought to the room through the corridors, nor could the generator that had previously been held in the room, leading him to deduce that there was a rooftop access. Vader grew angry again at Crest for missing the other entry way, and the group then left the building and used their transport to ascend to the roof where they found a concealed turbolift shaft.
The group descended in the turbolift and, cautious of traps, split up. Tarkin surveyed the cache while the others investigated the secondary entrance. Vader discovered that the door had been rigged to explode if fully opened, a trap the remotes had missed due to the equipment in the cache. The commanders concluded that the explosives had likely been set after Bracchia's visit to the cache, and believed that they had been meant to find the cache. Tarkin ordered that all the equipment be recorded on film, with any markings noted and any suspect objects packed onto the Carrion Spike by Crest and his men, so that they could be taken back to Coruscant for analysis. Vader and Tarkin then returned to the carrier, as the Sith Lord wanted to meet with Bracchia.
Once again using the Low Altitude Troop Transport, Vader and Tarkin traveled to the city's Imperial compound where they were greeted by the Imperial ambassador who led them to the Intelligence asset inside the compound. Vader first questioned the ambassador about the state of Murkhana City, to which she replied that she did not have enough troops to fix it, and that even with reinforcements the resentment of the people might prove too much to overcome. Tarkin then turned to Bracchia, who described his initial visit to the cache, apologizing for missing the turbolift. The Moff was surprised to learn that the asset had investigated the building on orders from his case officer, as he had assumed Bracchia had discovered the cache himself. Before the questioning could continue, Tarkin received word from Crest, informing him that the stormtroopers had returned to the medcenter. Confused, he questioned the sergeant as to why, and was told that they were following his orders. Realizing what was happening, he ordered the troops to return to the Carrion Spike and tried to raise the ship's crew on comm, but to no avail. The ambassador explained the problem was due to the city's power grid or communication array going down, but Tarkin also failed to get a response when he tried to remotely activate the ships defense mechanisms to prevent intruders approaching it. Crest then reported back, informing Tarkin that the Carrion Spike was gone and that its crew and the Stormtroopers left to guard it were dead.
Vader grew angry at Crest again, and then used the Force to sense that the Carrion Spike was still in the system. After learning that the Judicial cruiser in the spaceport was not spaceworthy, Vader ordered the Imperials to split into two groups. Tarkin, Vader and headed to the headquarters of a local criminal group known as the Sugi and made up of members of the Sugi species. Crest and his men headed to the home of Faazah, the head of the criminal group. Upon the first groups arrival at the headquarters they were escorted at blaster point by half a dozen guards to Faazah's throne room, where twenty more guards awaited them. Vader greeted the crime lord, who he had previously helped gain power by killing a rival in the Black Sun crime syndicate. Faazah admitted he owed Vader, hence why he had let them meet with him, but refused to hand over his ship, the Parsec Predator. Tarkin then revealed a hologram which showed Crest and his men in a warehouse belonging to the Sugi, which the troopers had rigged with explosives. The crime lord at first was not bothered by the potential loss, but after realizing the stormtroopers were also holding his entire family in the warehouse ready to execute, he gave in and handed over the launch codes to his ship, ordering all of his guards to leave the landing pad the ship was located on. Tarkin ordered Crest to move to the landing field with the Sugi family, and take possession of the ship, after which Vader Force choked Faazah and slaughtered all Sugi present in the throne room, as well as several repurposed battle droids that reinforced them. Two stormtroopers were killed in the exchange but the Imperials otherwise left unharmed.
Boarding the Parsec Predator, Vader and Tarkin took to orbit, where Vader again used the Force to sense the Carrion Spike, which was hidden by its cloaking systems. The new crew of the Carrion Spike recognized Faazah's ship, and were confused as to how it was following them, suspecting a tracking beacon or a faulty stealth system. To escape they jumped to lightspeed, using the Carrion Spike's sophisticated navigation computer to jump to the nearby Fial system. Vader and Tarkin sent word to Coruscant of the theft of the Carrion Spike, before jumping in pursuit of the stolen vessel.
Vader and Tarkin managed to pinpoint the Carrion Spike within the Fial system, but the ship once more evaded capture by hyperspace jumping to the Galidraan system. Relying on the Force again, Vader tracked them to Galidraan, where the rebels attacked Galidraan Station, a space station in orbit around Galidraan III. Unable to prevent the assault, Vader and Tarkin lost the Carrion Spike when it ejected Vader's meditation sphere and jumped to the Lucazec system. The cell continued their attacks on several more Imperial targets, while the Empire tried to predict their next move. Rancit, who had given the cell their target list, eventually betrayed them and set a trap in the Nouane system, nearly destroying the Carrion Spike. Realizing they had been betrayed, the cell abandoned the Spike and sent it on autopilot to its next destination, the Carida system, where Rancit was waiting.
By this point, Tarkin had identified those involved in the Carrion Spike's theft, including the Vice-Admiral. Vader arrived in the Carida system and executed Rancit for his betrayal, while Tarkin ambushed the rebel cell during what they hoped would be their final attack, targeting a convoy carrying parts for the Death Star. All members of the crew were captured and eventually executed except Teller, who escaped and confronted Tarkin on his homeworld of Eriadu. Tarkin outsmarted the ex-agent, and left him injured on the Carrion Plateau giving him slim chance of surviving so that he might one day try and avenge his crew again.
The Mission to Murkhana was conceived for the 2014 novel Tarkin written by James Luceno. While the book did not include any images of the event, a preview of the novel published in Star Wars Insider issue 153 featured several illustrations by Joe Corroney.