The rescue operation aboard the Chimaera details the successful liberation of Talon Karrde, a smuggler who was being held prisoner on the Imperial Star Destroyer called the Chimaera. This imprisonment occurred in 9 ABY under the orders of Grand Admiral Thrawn and his forces. Thrawn's intention was to interrogate Karrde to uncover the whereabouts of the hidden Katana fleet. The rescue mission was executed by Mara Jade, Karrde's second-in-command, along with the Jedi Luke Skywalker. They infiltrated the ship using a supply shuttle, made their way to the detention block, and successfully escaped with Karrde aboard the Millennium Falcon. Consequently, Karrde, who had previously maintained a neutral stance, shifted his allegiance to the New Republic and provided them with the location of the Katana fleet.
In the year 9 ABY, the Chimaera, serving as the flagship of Grand Admiral Thrawn, captured the smuggler Mara Jade. She was in the process of retrieving the Etherway from impound on Abregado-rae. Thrawn's objective was to find the location of the secret Katana fleet, which he believed was known by Jade's employer, Talon Karrde. Jade determined that the only way she could escape Thrawn's grasp was to give him the fleet's location. Therefore, to protect her associates, she requested to be released so she could find Karrde and get the location for the exchange. Thrawn agreed, promising to lift the death sentence on the smugglers. However, after he released her, Thrawn tracked Jade's ship, and when the two met, Karrde was arrested, much to Jade's dismay. Jade was also recaptured along with Karrde, she attempted to use telekinesis to harm Thrawn, but was unable to generate enough power to do any real damage, and was later released. Karrde was imprisoned on the Chimaera, where Imperial interrogators tried to force him to reveal the location of the Katana fleet and tried, without success, to convince him that Jade had knowingly betrayed him.
Appalled by Thrawn's actions, Jade resolved to free Karrde from captivity and sought the assistance of Luke Skywalker, a Jedi whom she deeply resented for his involvement in the death of Emperor Palpatine and had previously sworn to kill. Skywalker agreed to help, and the pair infiltrated the Chimaera using a supply shuttle while in the Wistril system. Disguised as TIE pilots and using stolen passwords to slice into the computers, Jade and Skywalker made their way to the detention block, where they freed Karrde. Karrde was still in good spirits because the worst parts of the interrogation had not yet begun. The three then escaped the detention area by going through the garbage compactor and Karrde put on a TIE pilot suit himself.
Upon discovering the escape, Thrawn locked down the ship's computer and sounded the alarm. After correctly figuring out that Skywalker was part of the rescue team, the Grand Admiral instructed his Noghri bodyguard, Rukh, to gather all of the ysalamiri from the Star Destroyer's engineering and systems control bays and bring them to the hangar, hoping to prevent the Jedi from escaping. Karrde, Jade, and Skywalker were unable to reach their supply shuttle because of Thrawn's alert, so Karrde suggested that they steal a vehicle from deep storage instead. There, they discovered the Millennium Falcon, which, unbeknownst to them, had been captured over Endor earlier. Thrawn realized they would find the ship and ordered his troops to stop them, but he was too late. Skywalker and Jade fought their way clear using Force pushes, blaster fire, and cutting, while Karrde piloted the Falcon out of storage and out of the hangar bay. While Skywalker defended against pursuing TIEs from the gun turret, Karrde flew along the Chimaera's hull and exhaust trail, maximizing his cover until he could jump to hyperspace and escape.
Although Karrde had previously tried to remain neutral during the Galactic Civil War, his capture made the smuggler realize that Thrawn was his enemy. As a result, immediately after escaping the Chimaera, the trio went to Coruscant and Karrde decided to sell the location of the Katana fleet to the New Republic.