In the year 44 ABY, a brief battle occurred in the vicinity of Ashteri's Cloud. The Rockhound, which was transporting Jaina Solo along with Lando Calrissian, was attacked through the act of sabotage by Sith marauders. Solo departed in her StealthX fighter and engaged the Sith forces; however, when she employed the Force to maneuver her shadow bombs, the Sith were able to locate her position and target her, inflicting significant damage. Nevertheless, she succeeded in eliminating the small craft that were dispatched to pursue her, while Calrissian located and neutralized the robot responsible for the sabotage of the Rockhound, and they made their escape into hyperspace.
Following the conclusion of their assignment to aid Luke Skywalker during his interactions with the Lost Tribe of Sith and in confronting Abeloth during 44 ABY, Jaina Solo and Lando Calrissian departed from Abeloth's planet aboard Calrissian's Colossus I Beta Series asteroid tug, named the Rockhound, with the intention of reporting back to the Jedi on Coruscant. However, the Sith had secretly placed a small maintenance droid onboard, which was programmed to damage the ship. Consequently, the Rockhound emerged from hyperspace significantly off-course, finding itself near Ashteri's Cloud.
Upon realizing the presence of the sabotage droid, Solo and Calrissian came to the conclusion that they were under attack by space pirates. Solo launched in her StealthX fighter to engage the pirates, discovering that their forces consisted of an S18 light freighter along with BDY crew skiffs. She transmitted a warning to them, demanding their immediate retreat, and when they ignored her warning, Solo launched a shadow bomb at one of the skiffs. The bomb destroyed the crew compartment, but her use of the Force to control the bomb revealed her location to the attackers, and they began firing upon her fighter.
Solo's energy shields were overwhelmed, and her R9-series astromech droid, Rowdy, informed her that the targeting signal originated from the light freighter. As soon as she launched another shadow bomb and began to guide it using the Force, the Sith located her again and resumed firing on her, causing her to lose control of the shadow bomb. Rowdy reported that the StealthX's agility was impaired and that their shields had not yet reactivated, so Solo decided to launch another shadow bomb. Again, they fired upon her, but she maintained control of the bomb, and at least twenty-four of the attackers perished in the resulting explosion. Solo finally understood that the pirates were tracking her through her use of the Force.
Despite this, Solo decided to launch her final shadow bomb. As the targeted skiff attempted to maneuver its weapons into position, Solo flew her StealthX directly beneath the Rockhound's hull, remaining within her target's exhaust trail. The bomb struck its target, and Solo contacted Calrissian, who reported that he had located and destroyed the sabotage droid on board the Rockhound. Solo requested that he instruct his protocol droid, Ornate, to immediately calculate a hyperspace jump course, and to initiate the jump as soon as it was prepared. She successfully landed her StealthX within the Rockhound's vehicle bay just before the vessel jumped to safety.
Solo and Calrissian contacted Jedi Knight Jaden Korr, who was investigating pirate activities, and compiled a map of ships that had been victims of piracy in situations similar to theirs—a port visit followed by the disappearance of the ship, with no survivors, bodies recovered, or debris located. They discovered hundreds of such incidents, and upon reporting to the Jedi Council on Coruscant, the Jedi realized that the Lost Tribe of Sith was preparing a fleet for war.