Originally appearing in Star Wars Adventure Journal 15, "The Great Herdship Heist" is a short story penned by Daniel Wallace. Will Warren provided the artwork for the story. The narrative centers on a band of professional criminals attempting a robbery aboard an Ithorian Herdship, and it included role-playing game statistics and descriptions for the story's key elements. A sequel by Dan Wallace, titled Fair Prey, was published in Star Wars Gamer 1 three years afterward.
Guttu, a Hutt, discovers that his rival Ritinki, a Bimm, is scheduled to meet with the Rodian loan shark Vop on the Ithorian Herdship Song of the Clouds. The meeting has a dual purpose: to mend fences between Ritinki and Vop, and for Vop to purchase a special package from the Ithorians. Ritinki, however, intends to steal the package from Vop during their meeting, having already replaced Vop's accountant with an imposter to facilitate the theft.
Guttu, though ignorant of the package's contents, understands its value based on Ritinki's elaborate scheme, and therefore desires to acquire it for himself. To achieve this, he enlists Cecil Noone and his team of expert thieves. Noone and his apprentice Kels Turkhorn infiltrate the herdship by posing as catering staff for the meeting, smuggling the remaining two members of their crew aboard in a crate. While Noone and Turkhorn maintain their cover, their colleagues, Dawson, a Tynnan, and Hass Sonax, a Sluissi, attempt to pilfer the package, only to find that Ritinki's assistant has already moved it to his boss's starship, the Asaari Wind. The pair then decide to board that ship to continue their pursuit of the prize.
As the dinner and meeting between Ritinki and Vop conclude, a trio of assassins, who have independently infiltrated the catering staff, launch an attack. Targeting Ritinki, they eliminate his bodyguards, but not before the Bimm uses a beckon call to summon his starship to crash through the transparisteel ceiling of the meeting room. The resulting vacuum pulls the assassins into space before the herdship's safety systems can seal the breach. Ritinki attempts to escape in his starship, only to be fired upon; Dawson and Sonax had boarded the ship when Ritinki summoned it and subsequently opened fire. Noone and Turkhan quickly join their partners on the Asaari Wind and escape the herdship.
Once safely within a nearby nebulae cloud, the thieves decide to open the package that was stowed on the ship: inside they find a rare Gun of Command. This weapon, created by the Hapans, can temporarily incapacitate a target, making them obey all commands. Recognizing the value of such an item, the thieves decide to betray Guttu, planning instead to sell the weapon for a considerable profit themselves.