Battle for the Katana fleet The Battle for the " Katana " fleet , also known as the Battle of the " Katana " Fleet , was a significant event in the Thrawn campaign . Racing to find a ghost . With both the forces of the Empire and the New Republic depleted before and during the Thrawn campaign s , the need to secure new warships soon became apparent to both sides . Following the disastrous attempt by Imperial forces to secure New Republic ships from the Sluis Van shipyards , the need became still more critical , with over forty New Republic warships disabled following that conflict . Known to only a few , revealing the location of the " Katana " fleet , a formation of two hundred pre - Clone Wars Dreadnaughts , to either side would dramatically tip the balance of power for this period of the Galactic Civil War . Among those few was smuggler kingpin and information broker Talon Karrde , who had been brought into the conflict despite his best attempts to remain neutral . Having an opportunity to meet with Grand Admiral Thrawn , Mara Jade agreed to get the location of the " Katana " fleet from Karrde in exchange for having the death warrants put on him and his employees cancelled . Unfortunately , Thrawn tracked Mara back to Karrde ' s new base and captured him . Before Thrawn could get the location of the fleet from him , however , Mara and Luke Skywalker infiltrated the Grand Admiral ' s flagship , the Imperial Star Destroyer " Chimaera " and rescued him . Extremely grateful , Karrde agreed to provide the New Republic with the Dreadnaught fleet ' s location , insisting that a salvage operation begin as soon as possible . Unfortunately , Thrawn was undaunted by the loss of Karrde , and took " Chimaera " to Pantolomin , assaulting the luxury casino " Coral Vanda " in an attempt to kidnap another person who knew the location of the fleet : Captain Hoffner , whom Karrde had once crewed for . Finding the Dark Force . Arriving at the location of the fleet with Rogue Squadron and a small team of technicians , Luke , Han Solo , Chewbacca and Lando Calrissian boarded one of the Dreadnaughts and attempted to begin the work of bringing the fleet back to New Republic space . The Dreadnaught they chose , based on Luke ' s Force - attuned hunch , turned out to be the " Katana " herself , the flagship and source for the fleet ' s fully - rigged slave circuitry rigging . However , their efforts were stalled by the arrival of Borsk Fey ' lya onboard the Nebulon - B Escort Frigate " Quenfis " , who immediately demanded that Han and the others turn themselves over to them . The situation was further disrupted by the arrival of the Star Destroyer " Judicator " , whose TIE fighter squadrons moved to attack Rogue Squadron . A dozen dropships were also dispatched from the " Judicator " to board the " Katana " . The team aboard the " Katana " managed to restore power to the ship ' s turbolaser batteries , destroying five of the dropships with their opening salvo along with a few TIE fighters while damaging most of the other dropships . Unfortunately for them , the " Katana " < nowiki > ' < / nowiki > s first salvo was also its last , as the turbolaser capacitor was destroyed by a system overload . Instead of assisting , however , Fey ' lya demanded that Captain Sarin Virgilio take the ship and retreat . Appalled by Fey ' lya ' s lack of concern for their comrades ' well being , Karrde and Leia tricked Fey ' lya into admitting this over an open communications frequency . Fey ' lya ' s forces immediately went to Rogue Squadron ' s assistance and Fey ' lya himself was placed under arrest . Two X - wing squadrons from the " Quenfis " joined up with Rogue Squadron , and they began to take the upper hand over the Imperial TIEs . They managed to destroy the opening wave , as well as six of the seven dropships which survived the " Katana " < nowiki > ' < / nowiki > s turbolaser attack . Receiving word of the unexpected level of resistance , Thrawn decided to personally intervene with his flagship " Chimaera " . However , this plan was interrupted by the sudden arrival of Joruus C ' baoth , in a hijacked " Lancer " - class frigate . Realizing that delaying his ship ' s departure to take on Master C ' baoth might cause him to arrive too late to affect the battle , Thrawn instead dispatched the " Peremptory " in his place . Aboard the " Judicator " , Captain Brandei launched one of his reserve squadrons to reinforce the remaining two TIE formations and brought his Star Destroyer forward to engage the New Republic forces directly . At that moment , eighteen freighters and starfighters from Karrde ' s smuggling fleet emerged from hyperspace behind the " Judicator " and began attacking . Mara Jade , taking advantage of her extensive knowledge of Imperial Star Destroyer design specifications , attacked a little - known weak spot in the lower - aft sensor grid with her Z - 95 Headhunter , effectively blinding the " Judicator " to attacks from below . Brandei responded by launching his TIE / sa bomber squadron to attack the smugglers , but then Garm Bel Iblis arrived with his fleet of six " Katana " Dreadnaughts , having been provided the location of the " Katana " fleet by Han Solo . Bel Iblis ' s Dreadnaughts began a heavy ion cannon bombardment of the " Judicator " , but the battle quickly turned in favor of the Empire with the arrival of the " Peremptory " . Three of Bel Iblis ' s cruisers broke off to engage the undamaged Star Destroyer , while Karrde ' s ships desperately scrambled to escape . Mara Jade ' s Headhunter was crippled by a stray laser shot , and she managed to set it on a collision course with the " Judicator " < nowiki > ' < / nowiki > s hangar bay before ejecting . Unfortunately , this put her directly in the path of the Dreadnaughts ' ion cannon barrage , which disabled the locater beacon in her ejection seat . Meanwhile , aboard the " Katana " , Luke , Han , Chewbacca and Lando attempted to deal with the Imperial forces that had boarded the ship , at one point making use of a damaged All Terrain Personal Transport walker that had been forced into one of the cruiser ' s corridors decades earlier by a crewer afflicted by the Hive virus that had doomed the fleet in the first place . Finding themselves backed into a corner and outnumbered on the bridge , Luke threw his lightsaber to cause a decompression in the corridor leading to the bridge which caused the remaining troops to be killed by lack of air . Han then used the ships ' slave circuit systems to maneuver one of the other Dreadnaughts which , unlike the " Katana " herself , still had functional sublight engines , into the path of the " Peremptory " . The Star Destroyer was unable to avoid the collision , which destroyed both warships instantly . One of Bel Iblis ' s Dreadnaughts was damaged in the blast , but the other two quickly joined the rest of his fleet in bombarding the " Judicator " . Realizing that he was now outnumbered and outgunned , Brandei quickly ordered his ship to recover its remaining TIEs and retreat , bringing an end to the battle . Aftermath . The New Republic ' s victory , however , was a hollow one . It was discovered during the battle that only fifteen of the " Katana " fleet ' s two hundred Dreadnaughts were still left . Worse was the knowledge that the stormtroopers that made up the boarding party were actually clones , leading many to fear that a new wave of Clone Wars was in the coming , and that this time Coruscant would be on the losing side . Finding the location of Thrawn ' s cloning storehouse then became a top priority for New Republic Intelligence . As soon as the " Katana " < nowiki > ' < / nowiki > s hull breach was patched and a ship was available , Luke Skywalker left the Dreadnaught and used his Jedi sensory abilities to locate Mara Jade ' s disabled ejection seat , thus saving her life . Thrawn ' s acquisition of the Katana Dreadnaughts resulted in his augmented fleet being able to attack more than twenty more New Republic systems in the immediate aftermath .