Between 3 ABY and 4 ABY, the Imperial Admiral Tarl Sokoli was assassinated by the Imperial Dark Squadron leader Beilert Valance outside the Eriadu system. Sokoli had previously been sent to the system on the orders of the Sith Lord Darth Vader, in order to trap the admiral who had been publicly displaying dissatisifaction with the Empire, which Vader found dissatisifying. The mission was also a test for Valance, a former bounty hunter who Vader had previously captured and recruited into the Empire, who had a past connection with Sokoli as the admiral had inspired Valance to join the Empire when he was a child.
Prior to the mission, Vader had the Sith assassin Ochi of Bestoon falsely inform Valance that Sokoli had been recruited into the resurgent criminal syndicate Crimson Dawn as a mole within the Empire. Valance, with no choice but to do the Sith Lord's bidding in fear of those he loved being killed, traveled with Dark Squadron to Sokoli's light cruiser, the Forerunner II, where they were engaged by TIE/ln space superiority starfighters.
After two members of his squadron was lost to fighters, Valance decided to crash his TIE/d "Defender" Multi-Role Starfighter into the bridge of the Forerunner II in order to get a shortcut to Sokoli. Once Valance exited his crashed ship, he briefly spoke with the admiral before he killed him with his palm blaster.