3 - 9 3 - 9 was a human male listener who served the Galactic Empire ' s Information Office under the command of the controller LT - 319 in 2 BBY . He was stationed aboard an IGV - 55 surveillance vessel . One of his colleagues was a female intelligence officer . 3 - 9 and his colleagues took part in an operation to hijack rebel droid Chopper and discover the location of Chopper Base . 3 - 9 and his colleagues perished when the rebel Hera Syndulla transmitted a data surge that overwhelmed their ship ' s systems , causing it to explode . Biography . 3 - 9 was an Imperial intelligence officer who served aboard an IGV - 55 surveillance vessel during the Age of the Empire . He was part of a group of individuals led by Imperial Controller LT - 319 who gave up their autonomy and wore cyborg construct s . 3 - 9 was part of a psychological warfare operation by the Galactic Empire to combat the growing Alliance to Restore the Republic . His team was part of Grand Admiral Thrawn ' s efforts to gather intelligence on rebel activities . In 2 BBY , 3 - 9 was stationed aboard his IGV - 55 surveillance vessel when the rebel droids Chopper and AP - 5 passed through the sensor outside the Imperial Security Bureau ' s station on Killun 71 . Chopper and AP - 5 had been sent by Phoenix Leader Hera Syndulla on a mission to steal clearance codes for an upcoming raid on the planet Lothal . Chopper ' s presence was detected by 3 - 9 , who alerted LT - 319 . LT - 319 rightfully suspected Chopper to be the rebel droid that Thrawn had warned about and ordered his crew to set a course for Killun Station . Under the Controller ' s orders , 3 - 9 tracked scan 7161 , which turned out to be the " Sentinel " - class landing craft that Chopper and AP - 5 had traveled in . After 3 - 9 confirmed this fact , the Controller checked the archival data on unregistered rebel droids and found that Chopper was an outdated C1 - series model ; the same model that Grand Admiral Thrawn had referenced in his manual on the Phoenix Cell . 3 - 9 suggested alerting Killun Station but LT - 319 decided to slice into Chopper ' s systems so that they could find the location of the Phoenix Squadron ' s base . Monitoring Chopper through surveillance cameras , 3 - 9 discovered that Chopper was toying with a network terminal while waiting for AP - 5 to collect the clearance codes from the central computer core . Under LT - 319 ' s orders , 3 - 9 " captured " Chopper by using the terminal to remotely reprogram the droid . After taking over Chopper , 3 - 9 found that the droid ' s memory banks did not contain the location of the rebel base . Undeterred , LT - 319 ordered Chopper to accompany his fellow rebels back to their ship . Chopper traveled with AP - 5 and their pilot Wedge Antilles back to the Spectres ' rebel cell ' s VCX - 100 light freighter " Ghost " . Under LT - 319 ' s direction , Chopper brought the " Ghost " out of hyperspace and trapped his fellow rebels in the cargo bay . 3 - 9 monitored the situation and was present when LT - 319 ordered Chopper to install a data spike into the rebel ship ' s navigation computer . LT - 319 ' s plan however unraveled when the rebels regained control of their ship and Chopper . Chopper ' s owner Hera retaliated against the Imperial intelligence officers by reversing Chopper ' s data feed back at the Imperial surveillance vessel . As Hera launched her counter - attack , 3 - 9 reported that their circuits were overloading while his female colleague reported that their fuel cells had been compromised . Shortly later , the surveillance vessel exploded with all hands aboard . Personality and traits . 3 - 9 was a male Imperial intelligence officer who worked on an IGV - 55 surveillance vessel . In his service to the Empire , he gave up part of his autonomy and wore a cyborg construct . 3 - 9 used his technical skills to reprogram the rebel droid Chopper from afar . Despite his skills , he was unable to deal with a data surge created by the rebel Hera Syndulla , which destroyed the surveillance vessel and all hands aboard including himself . Behind the scenes . 3 - 9 first appeared in the " Star Wars Rebels " Season Three episode " Double Agent Droid " , which premiered on Disney XD on March 11 , 2017 .