The Space Battle of Carida transpired during the era of the Galactic Civil War, specifically in the space surrounding the planet of Carida, approximately between 3 ABY and 4 ABY. The Galactic Empire's military forces, under the strategic direction of Grand Admiral Thrawn aboard his flagship, the Admonitor, engaged in combat with the Zann Consortium. The Consortium was commanded by crime lord Tyber Zann from his newly commissioned flagship, the Merciless. The conflict centered on a Sith holocron, which Zann intended to sell to the Empire. Upon arrival, Thrawn issued a demand for the immediate handover of the holocron. Zann's refusal initiated a full-scale engagement between the opposing fleets, resulting in significant damage to both sides. Subsequently, Bossk, a bounty hunter in Zann's employ, absconded with the holocron and delivered it to Thrawn, who promptly retreated. Following Thrawn's departure, the Imperial fleet, lacking his leadership, was decimated, leading to a decisive victory for the Consortium. Zann, having foreseen Bossk's treachery, exploited a homing beacon affixed to the holocron to track and recover the device.
Tyber Zann, a crime lord, sought to profit by selling a Sith holocron to the Galactic Empire. He had acquired it through theft from Jabba the Hutt. To facilitate a meeting with Imperial representatives, Zann agreed to extract Tibanna gas from Bespin for Black Sun leader Xizor, receiving half the gas as compensation. During the raid, Zann, aided by his longtime associate Urai Fen and the droid bounty hunter IG-88A, strategically placed incriminating evidence to implicate Xizor and his organization, intending to keep all the gas. Unaware of the frame-up, Xizor arranged the meeting. However, Supreme Commander Darth Vader of the Empire, convinced of Black Sun's culpability in the theft, ordered Xizor's assassination.
As Zann's Interceptor IV frigate emerged from hyperspace near Carida, it encountered Grand Admiral Thrawn's flagship, the Admonitor. This vessel spearheaded an Imperial battle group composed of Imperial I-class Star Destroyers, Victory I-class Star Destroyers, Tartan-class patrol cruisers, TIE/D Defenders, TIE/sa bombers, and TIE/IN interceptors. Thrawn then betrayed Zann by revealing Xizor's demise and demanding the artifact in exchange for a swift and somewhat dignified death. Zann countered by deploying his fleet of StarViper-class attack platforms, GAT-12 Skipray Blastboats, Crusader-class corvettes, Interceptor IV frigates, and Vengeance-class frigates, which were positioned in close proximity. Thrawn retaliated by activating a concealed HVs-2 hypervelocity gun on the planet's surface, destroying an Interceptor IV frigate.
Zann then deployed his new flagship, the Aggressor-class Star Destroyer Merciless, from hyperspace. The vessel's powerful weaponry obliterated a Victory I-class Star Destroyer. This new weapon caught Thrawn off guard, and the two fleets then engaged in combat.
After intense fighting between the two fleets, Zann was seemingly betrayed by his associate Bossk. Bossk stole the Sith artifact and boarded his ship, the Hound's Tooth, to deliver it to the Admonitor. A Consortium officer ordered the fleet to open fire on Bossk, but Zann countermanded the order, allowing him to proceed. Bossk successfully delivered the artifact to Thrawn. The outnumbered Grand Admiral, with his prize secured, retreated in the heavily damaged Admonitor, leaving his fleet to face Zann's forces, though it was later destroyed.
Bossk terminated his employment with the Consortium after receiving a substantial payment in credits from the Empire. Zann had foreseen Bossk's betrayal and had attached a homing beacon to the artifact, which eventually led him to the Imperial Archives on Coruscant. This set the stage for the Theft on Coruscant, where Zann planned to steal access codes for the Eclipse, Emperor Palpatine's new flagship under construction over Kuat, so he could gain access to the Emperor's store houses, containing the wealth Zann needed to expand his criminal organization. The Admonitor was repaired, and Thrawn resumed his service with the Empire. The impressive performance of the Aggressor-class Star Destroyer led to its mass production, with Zann Consortium shipyards producing them for future engagements. Many of these vessels later participated in the Battle for the Eclipse between the Consortium, the Empire, and the Rebellion over the Eclipse.
The space battle at Carida was first depicted in the 2006 video game Star Wars: Empire at War: Forces of Corruption for the PC. Its name was confirmed in the Prima Guide for the game. In the game, the Zann Consortium fleet composition is determined by the player; the Imperial fleet first appears in a cutscene and its composition is attributed to game mechanics. After Thrawn gets the holocron and flees, the player must destroy the rest of the Imperial fleet. After the battle, Tyber Zann is onboard the Merciless in all space battles. The Aggressor-class Star Destroyer also becomes available for production to the Zann Consortium. Bossk is also no longer available as a hero unit in the game's story mode from that point on, meaning the Fondor piracy mission cannot be done.
The Forces of Corruption Prima Guide provides strategies for achieving victory in the battle, suggesting that prior to the engagement, the player deploy a defiler – a class of Consortium infantry – to corrupt Carida for Tyber Zann. It also advises the player to send to Carida a fleet consisting of seven Vengeance-class frigates, four or five Interceptor IV frigates, and six Crusader-class corvettes, with the rest of the armada consisting of StarViper-class attack platforms and GAT-12 Skipray Blastboats. The guide recommends that at the start of the battle, the player sends all of their capital ships and bombers to attack the Admonitor, whilst sending their starfighters to attack the Imperial fighters and bombers, and also deploying the _StarViper_s' buzz droids. It also states that if the Imperial Star Destroyers try to capture the player's ships with their tractor beams, the player should order their ships to target the Star Destroyers' tractor beams to free the Consortium ships from their grasp. After Thrawn flees the battle, the guide suggests that the player should direct the Consortium forces to target the Imperial ships that have the most weapons and destroy their laser cannons, then change target and destroy the laser cannons on the other Star Destroyers. Once all of the Imperial ships' weapons are offline, the guide directs the player to finish off the weakened Star Destroyers. If the mission does not end when all of the Imperial capital ships have been destroyed, the guide advises the player to check a nearby nebula for any ships that may be hiding there.