Battle for Poln Major

Roughly eight months following the Battle of Yavin, an alien Warlord named Nuso Esva orchestrated the abduction of the wife and daughter belonging to Governor Bidor Ferrouz of the Candoras sector. The Warlord also made contact with Vestin Axlon, a high-ranking Rebel leader from Alderaan. Esva falsely claimed that Thrawn, an Imperial Senior Captain, was secretly responsible for the destruction of Alderaan. He enticed Axlon to become one of his contacts, promising military support for the Rebellion's cause. Under Esva's direction, Governor Ferrouz commenced negotiations with Axlon, arranging for equipment to be placed at specific locations on Poln Minor for the Rebels to discover.

When the Rebel delegation, consisting of Vestin Axlon, Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, and Chewbacca, arrived at Whitestone City, Imperial retribution for Ferrouz's treason was imminent. Emperor Palpatine had dispatched his agent, Mara Jade, to eliminate the traitorous Governor. Jade enlisted the assistance of a group of renegade stormtroopers known as the Hand of Judgment. Jade devised a strategy to infiltrate the Governor's palace with the stormtroopers' help and execute him as punishment. However, upon arriving at Ferrouz's office, she learned of Esva's manipulation of the Governor and decided to spare his life in order to gather more information about the Warlord and his schemes.

While Jade and two members of the Hand of Judgment—Daric LaRone and Saberan Marcross—were inside the palace, the other three stormtroopers, Korlo Brightwater, Taxtro Grave and Joak Quiller, stood guard outside. Axlon had also instructed Skywalker to remain outside the palace grounds to prevent an Imperial assassin from entering, secretly intending to frame Skywalker for Ferrouz's assassination. Dors Stelikag and his team of rioters, hired by Nuso Esva, received word from Axlon that Jade had entered the Governor's office and initiated the riot, falsely accusing Skywalker of murdering the Governor with his lightsaber. Upon learning of these events, LaRone ordered the three stormtroopers to rescue Skywalker and retrieve his lightsaber.

Simultaneously, Jade, Ferrouz, and Axlon were attacked by another team of Esva's troops within the palace, but the two members of the Hand of Judgment provided assistance. Axlon incapacitated the Governor, falsely claiming he had been struck by a ricochet, and then aided Jade and the two stormtroopers in escorting the Governor out of his office through a secret passage. Using her lightsaber, Jade created an opening into the city's sewers, leading them to a tapcafe called Whistling Wind, which the two stormtroopers quickly cleared of patrons. The Hand of Judgment, along with the Governor and the Rebel negotiator, took refuge in the establishment's basement while Jade returned to the palace to investigate the Governor's family's kidnapping.

During Jade's absence, the members of the Hand of Judgment discovered Axlon's contact with Esva. The Rebel then fired upon Grave and Quiller, injuring both stormtroopers. LaRone engaged Axlon in conversation, distracting him long enough for Brightwater to kick a knife, a gift from a group of Troukree they had encountered earlier, to Quiller, who then killed Axlon. After dealing with the Rebel, LaRone contacted other Rebels—Skywalker and Chewbacca, whom they had interacted with months prior—explaining the situation and requesting the Wookiee to bring their sub-miniature bacta tank to the tapcafe. They also dispatched Brightwater to seek assistance from the Troukree they had befriended, and Vaantaar, the Troukree leader, agreed to help, bringing four of his kind along.

After Jade located the cave where the Governor's family was being held and reported her findings to the Hand of Judgment and Ferrouz, the Governor contacted Major Pakrie, a member of his staff who had been revealed as one of Esva's contacts. Ferrouz revealed their hiding location, hoping to reduce the number of enemies between the Imperial agent and his family. The first assault on their sanctuary occurred shortly thereafter. Esva's troops also deployed a comlink [jammer](/article/jammer-legends] nearby, preventing the defenders from calling for help. The attackers initially attempted to approach stealthily, but the stormtroopers, anticipating their arrival, were prepared.

Instead of waiting for their enemies to reach their prepared bunker downstairs, LaRone and Marcross went out to confront Esva's troops in the tapcafe. The closest attackers were quickly eliminated, but others found better cover further back. The seasoned stormtrooper pair took down all but two attackers, who managed to escape the tapcafe. Stelikag's team, guarding the Governor's family, received word that the attack against the stormtroopers had failed, prompting a portion of the group to move out. Skywalker, who had hitched a ride on Stelikag's landspeeder and located the hiding place around the same time as Jade, waited for an opportunity. Jade then triggered a booby trap the kidnappers had set for her on the other side of the cavern.

Upon witnessing the explosion across the cave, Skywalker assumed that the other person LaRone had mentioned was searching for the Governor's family had fallen into a trap. However, Jade had survived the explosion and used it as a distraction to jump onto a crane that ran across the cavern, granting her access to a small building where the Governor's family was held. Believing the other rescuer had perished, Skywalker set out to find the Governor's family, but Stelikag and his thugs noticed the young Jedi and attacked him. Seeing Skywalker in danger, Jade threw her blaster to him, revealing her position to the kidnappers, who then began firing at her as well.

While Skywalker and Jade attempted to rescue the Governor's family, the Hand of Judgment and their Troukree allies defended Ferrouz against another attack by Esva's troops. This second assault included several members of Esva's own Chosen and an E-Web heavy repeating blaster. The attackers sent a scout down to the basement, where the defenders had established their sanctuary, but one of the Troukree eliminated the scout before their positions could be fully revealed. However, the heavy blaster posed a significant threat, and its cover provided an opportunity to send down another scout, making it essential for the defenders to destroy it. LaRone intended to use a grenade to destroy the blaster, but doing so required placing the explosive directly beneath the tripod supporting the heavy weapon. From his position in the basement, the only way to succeed was to cross the E-Web's firing arc without the grenade being hit or being killed in the attempt. As LaRone moved toward the firing arc, two of the Troukree who had come to help with Vaantaar also moved toward it. One of them stopped farther away hauling the other one up into air, throwing his companion across the firing arch above LaRone's head and thus protecting the stormtrooper from the heavy blaster's fire.

The destruction of the E-Web halted the attack, bringing a moment of silence to the basement. The Troukree's sacrifice deeply affected the stormtroopers, who had not expected the aliens to sacrifice themselves in such a manner to save a Human. In the silence, they noticed that Grave, who had been unconscious in the bacta tank, had regained consciousness and was willing to join their defense despite his injuries. Although they were unable to use comlinks to contact Jade or anyone else outside their sanctuary, the Hand of Judgment was certain that another attack was imminent.

The third attack against the basement of the Whistling Wind tapcafe followed soon after. As the Hand of Judgment anticipated, the attackers began by destroying a supply lift leading to the back alley and dropping down through it. While the defenders' attention was focused on the new breach in their defenses, another group of attackers attempted to enter their position from the opposite direction. The stormtroopers had anticipated this tactic, and one of the Troukree was positioned accordingly, stopping the attackers before they could join the fight. While the three healthy stormtroopers made as much noise as possible, Grave, still lying in his bacta tank, shot several of the attackers from behind, as they had passed him by without considering him a threat.

After the Hand of Judgment and their four remaining Troukree allies had eliminated the attackers who had reached the basement, LaRone had a brief shouting match with the leader of the attackers, who remained safely in the alley with some of his troops. While the stormtroopers conversed among themselves, two of the Troukree headed out through the remains of the supply lift, joining another group of Troukree who had been outside and together with them killing the remaining attackers. When LaRone and Marcross made their way up to the street, they discovered that the Troukree were in control of the field. The aliens had also deactivated the jamming device the attackers had been using.

Around the same time, Jade had reached the Governor's family, who were being held in an overseer's office in the cave. She protected them from the closest kidnappers, while Skywalker fought the others on the cavern floor. Stelikag was killed when he attempted to cross a pool of flammable liquid and Skywalker ignited the substance, forcing the remaining kidnappers to retreat. Skywalker then left the cavern, while Jade and the Governor's family waited in the building until the fire had subsided enough for them to leave.

Following the battle, Vaantaar, supported by his Troukree companions, confronted the Hand of Judgment about their past and their status as renegades. He demanded that they accompany him to the spaceport, where they used one of Esva's Whisperlikes to board Senior Captain Thrawn's ship, the Admonitor. After Grave and Quiller's wounds had healed, Thrawn offered the Hand of Judgment positions among his own stormtrooper force, as trainers for a new strain of warriors. They accepted the offer and began developing their new version of the 501st Legion.

Skywalker departed from Poln Major with the rest of the Rebels before the Imperials could divert their attention from the battle against Nuso Esva's troops long enough to stop them. Jade returned Governor Ferrouz's wife and daughter to him, deciding to pardon the Governor from the accusations of treason, considering his dealings with the Rebels. She then returned to the ship she and the Hand of Judgment had used to arrive on the planet. Briefly, Jade wondered about the stormtroopers' fate, but she soon resumed her duties as an Imperial agent, taking the Suwantek TL-1800 freighter and storing it for potential future use or to be returned to LaRone and his companions if they ever returned.