The Skirmish on Eshkrene transpired in 2974 BBY when Captain Chegg and his Keshiri crew from the Southern Star pursued Takara Hilts and Parlan Spinner, two Human Sith. The Lost Tribe had dispatched the wooden sailing vessel, the Southern Star, to explore the frigid southern landmass of Kesh. Chegg caught up to the two Humans and prepared to execute them. However, the Doomed, descendants of stranded Jedi and Dark Jedi who had made their home on Eshkrene after the Great Calamity, intervened, killing Chegg and several of his crew.
After the Sith Tribe conquered Alanciar in 2975 BBY, they gained access to a lumber-rich continent. The Alanciari, a maritime society, possessed expertise in constructing sizable wooden sailing vessels suitable for extended voyages. Grand Lord Varner Hilts posited that the Sith Tribe were not the first offworlders to arrive on Kesh, given the ease with which the native Keshiri accepted them. Hilts sought to uncover the origins of the myths surrounding the Protectors and Destructors, powerful deities in Keshiri lore. He dispatched the Southern Star, an Alanciari vessel commanded by Alanciari Captain Chegg, to explore Eshkrene, the planet's southernmost continent. Among the ship's complement were Parlan Spinner, a Sith exile granted a "second chance" after a failed assassination attempt on Varner Hilts, and Hilts' daughter, Takara Hilts, who had secretly boarded the ship.
Life aboard the Southern Star was difficult for Spinner and Hilts, who resented being treated as "slaves" by the Alanciari crew. Takara devised a plan to covertly board the ship with several disaffected Alanciari crew members while the others were away, intending to seize control and sail to Alanciar. Upon reaching the icy shores of Eshkrene, the Alanciari crew established a camp and began constructing shelters to prepare for an impending storm. Captain Chegg, dissatisfied with his polar assignment, questioned the Tribe's motives for surveying what he considered a "frozen wasteland". As the Alanciari focused on setting up camp, Takara and her allies attempted to sneak onto the Southern Star, but Captain Chegg detected them. Simultaneously, Spinner attempted a mutiny but was also discovered.
Captain Chegg accused them of mutiny, blaming Spinner for causing trouble from the moment the Tribe sent him. He commanded his crew and the ship's guards to kill the slaves. Takara Hilts and Parlan Spinner retaliated, wielding Takara's lightsaber and their respective Force powers. Chegg promised double rations to anyone who killed the ringleaders, and triple rations for capturing them alive. Overwhelmed, Takara and Spinner were compelled to escape into the frozen tundra. During their flight, Iliana informed Spinner of her plan to quietly board the Southern Star and eliminate the guards one by one, criticizing his impatience. Spinner retorted that he wanted to witness Captain Chegg's suffering, arguing that victory was meaningless if no one witnessed it.
Takara and Spinner descended a hill, but slipped on the snow, causing Takara to lose her lightsaber. They then stumbled upon the skeletal remains of a massive unknown creature. Before they could investigate the skeletons, Chegg and his Alanciari crew caught up to them. One of his men had recovered Takara's lightsaber and spotted them among the skeletons. Chegg confronted the two Sith, mocking their carelessness in losing their weapon. He dismissed the official propaganda portraying the Human Sith as Protectors from the stars as a falsehood, declaring that they would die like Keshiri. Before Chegg could finish his sentence, three arrows struck him in the back, killing him.
Cloaked figures emerged from the snow, eliminating the remaining Keshiri crew. Takara attempted to defend herself with her lightsaber but was pushed aside with the Force by one of the strangers. The group's leader ordered her followers to spare Takara and her companion, recognizing the former. The cloaked figures removed their cloaks, identifying themselves as the Doomed. Their leader, Kaliska, explained that her people had coexisted with the Tribe on Kesh for a long time. They were known as the Doomed, and she declared that they too were "Doomed".
The Doomed promptly took the two Human Sith into custody. Other members of the Doomed detained the remaining Keshiri crew who had landed and seized the Southern Star. The corpses of Chegg and the other Keshiri pursuers were left to decay on the frozen ground. Takara and Spinner learned about the Doomed and their origins in the wake of the Great Calamity. The Doomed were the descendants of Jedi and Dark Jedi stranded during the Hundred-Year Darkness. The Dark Jedi had been banished to the Stygian Caldera following the Battle of Corbos, but attempted to return to the galaxy. However, they were pursued by Jedi and became stranded on Kesh. The Jedi and Dark Jedi clashed on Kesh, but eventually reconciled and migrated to Eshkrene, becoming the progenitors of the Doomed.
After Spinner expressed a desire to see the Doomed's "great weapon," he was imprisoned by the Doomed, who planned to execute him and the other Keshiri crew. However, Spinner and the Keshiri escaped their poorly guarded prison and stole the "Great Weapon". This "Great Weapon" was revealed to be an oubliette containing the hibernating Dark Jedi Remulus Dreypa, a survivor of the Battle of Corbos who helped establish the Sith Empire in the Stygian Caldera. He had been imprisoned by his former Dark Jedi allies, who had reconciled with the Jedi. After escaping Eshkrene, Dreypa instigated an armed uprising on Kestah Minor, aiming to return to the stars. However, the Sith Lord was defeated by Spinner and his former enemy Takara Hilts, who together saved both the Lost Tribe and the Keshiri of Kesh.
The Skirmish on Eshkrene, while unnamed, served as the climax of John Jackson Miller's Lost Tribe of the Sith—Spiral 1, the debut comic issue of the Spiral comic series, which was published on August 8, 2012.