A squad of death troopers was hand-picked by Emperor Palpatine to serve as the personal guard for Grand Admiral Thrawn, who commanded the Imperial 7th Fleet. They famously participated in the Battle of Atollon, aiming to capture the rebel leaders. Sometime after this conflict, the Spectres embarked on a mission to Lothal to gather information about the new TIE/D Defender Elite, infiltrating the Lothal Imperial airfield.
During Thrawn's visit to observe a Defender Elite flight demonstration, the Spectres were discovered while attempting to steal the flight data recorder. Thrawn commanded his troopers of death to secure the fighter, but it had already taken to the skies. They were also present during the liberation of Lothal, an event that led to Thrawn, the Chimaera, and Ezra Bridger vanishing into hyperspace.
During the Galactic Civil War, Emperor Palpatine assigned a squad of death troopers to Grand Admiral Thrawn, the commander of the 7th Fleet, to act as his personal guard. Subsequent to Thrawn's meeting with Governor Wilhuff Tarkin, the Grand Admiral and his protective detail apprehended ISB Agent Alexsandr Kallus—a rebel spy known as Fulcrum—within the LothalNet comm tower E-272. Throughout the battle on Atollon, Thrawn's guards kept watch over Kallus aboard the Chimaera.
When Thrawn launched his ground assault on Chopper Base, his guard accompanied him and his ground forces. They maintained his safety, following him closely. Inside the caves, they engaged in combat with Captains Rex and Garazeb Orrelios, alongside Jedi Kanan Jarrus and other rebel troopers. As Thrawn offered Hera Syndulla and Jan Dodonna the chance to surrender, the death troopers surrounded the remaining rebels.
However, the Imperial forces and Thrawn's guard were attacked by the Bendu's storm, as was the remaining rebel fleet, demonstrating his neutrality. Thrawn's guards worked with the remaining AT-AT to bring down the Bendu. Despite this, the rebel leaders and their forces managed to escape. Thrawn's guard went with him to Bendu, where Bendu foretold the Grand Admiral's future. They witnessed Thrawn's attempt to shoot Bendu, only for him to vanish.
In 1 BBY, Thrawn's guard accompanied him and Governor Arihnda Pryce to the Lothal's Imperial airfield to observe Commander Vult Skerris's test flight of the new TIE/d "Defender" Multi-Role Starfighter Elite starfighter. When Ezra Bridger was found at the airfield, Thrawn instructed his guards to secure the Elite. However, Sabine Wren managed to seize control of it and rescue Bridger before the death troopers could surround him.
Two members of Thrawn's guard were present when he ordered the Chimaera to bombard Lothal's Capital City. They were later defeated by Commander Bridger in an ambush. Following this, Ezra and Thrawn disappeared into hyperspace after the young rebel Mart Mattin, acting on Bridger's orders, transmitted on Frequency Zero. This triggered the emergence of a group of purrgil from hyperspace. The Imperial fleet was destroyed, and the purrgil latched onto the Chimaera, leading to the disappearance of the ship, the purrgil, Thrawn, Bridger, and the entire crew.
Thrawn's forces, including Thrawn himself, were marooned in exile on the extragalactic planet of Peridea. By 9 ABY, a stormtrooper named Enoch had risen to become the captain of Thrawn's guard. While at least two death troopers remained in his ranks, they eventually perished. However, the Great Mothers, Thrawn's allies, resurrected their bodies using the Chant of Resurrection. These death troopers wore standard death trooper armor with cracks filled with gold and grey highlights, along with red fabric strips reminiscent of Thrawn's Night Trooper legion. During Thrawn and company's escape from Peridea, these two zombies attacked Sabine Wren and Ezra Bridger.