Halmad campaign The Halmad campaign was a lengthy undercover operation perpetrated by Wraith Squadron as they worked to establish their cover as the pirate group known as the Hawk - bat Independent Space Force . Prelude . In 7 ABY , Wraith Squadron disguised themselves as the pirate group Hawk - bat Independent Space Force , preying on the Imperial - aligned planet Halmad . Their goals were to make a name for themselves as a pirate group in order to attract Warlord Zsinj ' s attention ; and to pressure Halmad ' s government to seek aid and protection from Zsinj . The mission . First raid . The mission began with disguised pilots Ton Phanan and Kell Tainer starting a fight in a bar on Halmad , in a similar manner to a previous attack on Coruscant against the squadron members . A group of six Imperial pilots became involved , and within two minutes , all of the Imperial pilots were unconscious . By then , the bartender had called the military police , and the rest of the Wraiths arrived dressed in military police stormtrooper gear . The Wraiths took the malefactors captive and led them out of the bar . Once outside , the Wraiths stunned the Imperial pilots and waited . Another Wraith , Castin Donn , had laid down money at other bars in the capitol city , Hullis , and as a result , the military police had been called multiple times that night . The Wraiths approached a military police skiff that was returning to Victory Base and reported that their own skiff had broken . They were allowed to board and rode into the base . Once inside , all the Wraiths disembarked except Shalla Nelprin , who hid inside . After reporting to an officer , the Wraiths dumped the Imperial pilots in an alley and began moving towards their objective , the starfighter hangar . Nelprin stayed in the skiff until it arrived at the vehicle hangar . She waited until the pilots disembarked , and then attempted to stun them . However , her blaster was not set to stun , and both troopers died . The other Wraiths had arrived at the hangar by now and stunned both of the guards . Phanan and Garik Loran took their places . After five minutes , Donn cracked the hangar entry code , and the Wraiths entered . To their surprise , they found TIE interceptors instead of fighters . They quickly set to work disabling the TIEs ' security systems as well as painting graffiti glorifying the Hawk - bats pirate group on the hangar walls . Outside , Phanan and Loran got into a firefight with a group of stormtroopers who were supposed to relieve them . The other Wraiths joined in , but some of the troopers escaped and reported the Wraiths . Wedge Antilles , the mission commander , ordered Donn to use one of the planned distractions . A moment later , the base ' s antiquated air raid sirens went off and the turbolasers began firing at the sky . This was Donn ' s distraction . He had , in fact , sliced in to Victory Base ' s archives and found an old simulation of an Imperial raid on the base . He patched it in to the sensor net , and the base ' s computer flagged them as unfriendlies . The Wraiths with TIE interceptor training took five of the Interceptors and took off . The rest of the Wraiths were picked up by Nelprin in the skimmer she had hijacked . On the way out , the Wraiths in the Interceptors blasted Victory Base ' s command center and then headed for space . The other Wraiths jumped the skimmer once outside the base and waited until the pursuit had passed before stripping off their stormtrooper armor and leisurely heading back to town . Later raids . During the absence of the squadron ' s majority , those who were left in Hawk - bat Base put their time to a good use . Kell Tainer planned a couple of missions on his own initiative , one of them involving a raid on the city of Fellon ' s port warehouse district . The Wraiths managed to pick up large quantities of Imperial propaganda and recreational holos . When they took off , they strafed the city ' s marina where a large number of recreational water vessels — owned by the city ' s wealthy citizens and officers of Victory Base — were docked . Tainer estimated that the property damages caused by their raid amounted to millions of credits . Another mission involved a raid on a money - exchange site located in the city of Hullis . The site was used heavily by the Imperials stationed on the planet . The Wraiths began their operation by sending their slicer , Castin Donn , a day before the raid to slice into the building ' s security system . The following day , Tainer and Ton Phanan blew a hole on the building ' s side using their TIE Fighters and stole as many Imperial credit notes , coins , and gems their TIEs could carry . They were pursued by the planet ' s own TIE Fighters , but the Wraiths managed to out - fly them , suffering only minor damages to Phanan ' s fighter . Operation Groundquake . In 7 ABY , Wraith Squadron disguised themselves as the pirate group Hawk - bat Independent Space Force , preying on the Imperial - aligned planet Halmad . Their goals were to make a name for themselves as a pirate group in order to attract Warlord Zsinj ' s attention ; and to pressure Halmad ' s government to seek aid and protection from Zsinj . After a series of successful raids on the planet , Halmad ' s government began construction on two starfighter bases — Fellon base and another east of the city of Hullis — which Wraith pilot Kell Tainer surmised as a way to counter their ground raids . Commander Wedge Antilles then decided that the Wraith ' s next operation was to eliminate both bases . To further show their superiority over the locals , Antilles announced that both missions were to be executed at the same time . Sometime during their planning session for the operation , it was nicknamed Operation Groundquake by Tyria Sarkin . The first part of the operation was spearheaded by the group led by Tainer , and was composed of Sarkin , Hohass Ekwesh , Myn Donos , Voort saBinring and Castin Donn . They captured the refueling tanker " Bastion " — which Tainer had rigged to blow — as well as its two TIE Fighter escorts . The plan was to fly " Bastion " into the base near Hullis while Sarkin and saBinring would fly cover in the seized TIE ' s . Once the tanker was close enough , Tainer would send a message to the base ' s personnel to evacuate before the tanker explodes . Simultaneously , the second group in the operation flew their TIE Interceptors and Fighters towards Fellon base to eliminate it . Led by Garik Loran , in his disguise as General Kargin of the Hawk - bats , the group was composed of Antilles , Dia Passik , Wes Janson , Ton Phanan , Lara Notsil and Shalla Nelprin . Unbeknownst to the Wraiths , the planetary government of Halmad had already accepted the protection of Zsinj and both assault groups found themselves ambushed by superior forces . The tanker " Bastion " was tractored by Zsinj ' s flagship , the " Executor " - class Star Dreadnought " Iron Fist " , before it could complete its mission ; while Loran ' s group found themselves engaging three squadrons of TIE Fighters and Interceptors — led by the famed 181st Imperial Fighter Wing — that suddenly flew out in defense of Fellon base . To further complicate matters for the Wraiths , Tainer realized that their comm systems were being jammed by Zsinj ' s forces . Not willing to give up , Tainer ' s group came up with a plan for escape . Tainer reoriented " Bastion " using its repulsorlifts so that the tanker ' s upper surface was facing Halmad instead of the " Iron Fist " . They then flew out of the " Narra " , which was stowed inside " Bastion " . Another tractor beam was then used on the fleeing " Narra " and Donos , using a modified sniper rifle , fired a stream of data into " Bastion " communications array . Due to a hasty program sliced in by Donn , it caused the tanker to detonate and the " Narra " managed to break free of the tractor lock . Loran ' s group on the other hand , downed several enemy fighters despite the lopsided odds . When Phanan ' s fighter was shot down , Antilles issued the code phrase " Stormies " , which was the Hawk - bat ' s version of the retreat order Omega Signal . Loran however , was pursued by two TIE Fighters and was not able to join the others in retreating . He managed to destroy both fighters and despite having the opportunity to escape , he landed on the planet and went off to find and rescue Phanan . Aftermath . Loran was able to find Phanan but the latter succumbed to his injuries and soon died on the planet , making him the only casualty the Wraiths suffered in the operation . After destroying Phanan ' s body to deny the opposition any evidence , Loran then made his way back to Hawk - bat Base . There , the Wraiths learned that Halmad had joined Zsinj ' s protectorate and through a holomessage recovered by Donn , Zsinj himself wanted to meet with the Hawk - bats to discuss terms of a possible partnership .