The Nellist, a combine-reaper, served as both a dwelling and a livelihood for the Human colonists on the planet of Leritor. This harvester cultivated the northern plains, adjacent to the agricultural lands of another combine-reaper called Gevion. To uphold the Settlement Pact between the settlers and the indigenous Sauvax species, the Nellist maintained a distance of at least 100 kilometers from the coast.
Profex Rynalla, a Dark Side Adept, planned to assault both a Sauvax settlement (or kuuvan) and a combine-reaper in order to enslave individuals and instigate conflict between the Sauvax and the colonists. Rynalla and her followers intended to plant Sauvax weaponry at the raided combine-reaper, thereby implicating the Sauvax in the eyes of the Human settlers. Furthermore, her utilization of blaster technology during the attack on the kuuvan would lead the Sauvax to suspect the Humans, as Rynalla's presence on Leritor was a closely guarded secret.
Rynalla dispatched her freighter, filled with Klatooinian soldiers, to assault the Nellist. The freighter's blasters inflicted damage upon the Nellist, causing it to cease operations, after which it exploded, possibly due to further damage or deliberate sabotage. Rynalla's forces abducted the strongest members of the Nellist's crew for enslavement, while the weaker and elderly were executed on the spot using traditional Sauvax gruush spears. Several gruushes were intentionally left behind to mislead investigators; however, a thorough examination would reveal blaster damage and an attack originating from the west, an unlikely direction for a Sauvax force residing to the east.
The proximity of Rynalla's camp to the attack site suggests that the Nellist was targeted due to its convenient location.
As Rynalla had hoped, the Human settlers wrongly assumed that the Sauvax had attacked the Nellist, leading to widespread fear of the native population. The Sauvax, however, were completely unaware of the attack on the Nellist and would have dismissed the notion as absurd: their weapons were incapable of damaging a combine-reaper's hull, and combine-reapers had always been careful to avoid Sauvax territory.