"Captain Holt, clear me for takeoff, if you'd be so kind, as well as a platoon of stormtroopers and an escort of TIE fighters. We will act as the good Representative's escorts to the planet's surface. If he has any questions... I am simply a bounty hunter hired to hunt down Fallanassi."

Captain Holt reluctantly agrees to allow Representative Vanden's transport, piloted by Captain Rand, and its duo of N1 starfighters to proceed without an Imperial escort to Raghtan, the capital city of Carratos. But he is not alone—Holt, suspecting treachery from Vanden, assigns Sergeant DuPont to follow the Representative. He impresses upon the Sergeant the need for secrecy, and tells him not to contact the Magnum unless absolutely necessary. DuPont agrees, and he and a squad of stormtroopers discard their uniforms and pursue Vanden's ship in a YV-775 transport that had been impounded earlier by the Star Destroyer Magnum because it had been reported stolen by pirates. Asked by his second-in-command, Lieutenant Thatch, whether Inquisitor Deschain should be made aware of the Representative's visit and DuPont's mission, Holt tells him no. Insulted by Deschain's remark at dinner the previous night comparing Holt's troops fighting the Fallanassi on Carratos to "a child fighting an adult," Holt is determined to handle the matter, and prove the competence of his men, without Deschain's involvement.

Representative Vanden, meanwhile, has discussions with Prime Minister Forb of Carratos, in which he confides to Forb his desire to help the Fallanassi escape what he anticipates will be an Imperial campaign of mass murder. Forb agrees and arranges for Vanden a meeting later that night with a man named "Mr. Mynock" who, Forb tells him, will be able to send a message from Vanden to the Fallanassi in hiding. Vanden thanks the Prime Minister and retires to his hotel for the night. He becomes aware, however, that men in plainclothes—Sergeant DuPont and his stormtroopers—are watching the hotel. Captain Rand creates a distraction for Vanden to sneak out of the hotel. Vanden does so, believing the distraction a success when, in fact, DuPont notices the Representative and follows him discreetly.

Vanden, having discarded his diplomatic clothes, meets "Mr. Mynock," a Carrotosian, in a local cantina. "Mynock" informs Vanden that, at Forb's insistence, he has arranged a meeting that night between Vanden and Wialu, the leader of the Fallanassi. He intends to take Vanden there by landspeeder, but a fight in the cantina draws the attention of Imperial forces. "Mr. Mynock" distracts the Imperials while Vanden sneaks out of the cantina and to "Mr. Mynock's" landspeeder. This time, DuPont is unable to follow him. Under cover of night, Vanden follows the directions he has been given, which take him to a grassy plain near the city of Chofin, where, Vanden learns, the Fallanassi have taken refuge. He meets with Wialu. She tells him where the Fallanassi can be discreetly picked up, and Vanden tells her when; tomorrow morning, as he prepares to depart the planet. Wialu gathers her people while Vanden returns to his hotel in Raghtan.

In a "diplomatic meeting" the next morning, Prime Minister Forb tells Vanden that "Mr. Mynock" has been detained by the Imperials, and, under torture, may have told them what he knew of Vanden's plan. Vanden thanks Forb for his help and wishes him luck in the difficult days to follow, then leaves for a press conference at which he announces that negotiations with the Carratosian government have failed, and that he is returning home to Naboo immediately. Sergeant DuPont, having tortured "Mr. Mynock" and, as Forb suspected, learned of Vanden's plan, marshals his stormtroopers for a confrontation with the Representative at the spaceport. They arrive just as Vanden's transport is taking off, and, in their YV-775 freighter, pursue the transport over the grassy plains of Carratos. When in range of the transport, DuPont's YV-775 fires warning shots at it and orders it to land in the name of the Empire.

Vanden, noting that the YV-775 has been reported stolen by pirates, instructs Captain Rand and the N1 starfighter escorts to shoot it down. They do so, and Sergeant DuPont and his stormtroopers die as the freighter explodes, and with them, the knowledge of Vanden's treachery. The diplomatic transport stops briefly at Chofin, where Wialu and the other Fallanassi are waiting. They board the transport, which then leaves Carratos on the opposite side of the planet from the Magnum. Captain Holt, with no legal reason to detain the ship, has no choice but to let it depart.

Representative Vanden escapes with the Fallanassi, who are taken to J't'p'tan. The news later that day reports that Vanden's ship heroically survived an attack by pirates, and so ends his "wild ride." Holt keeps the secret from Inquisitor Deschain and his superiors, later changing the Magnum's records to show Sergeant DuPont and his squad killed in the Imperial subjugation of Carratos the following week under Deschain's own command.

High Inquisitor Deschain remains ignorant of Sergeant DuPont's mission to Carratos. Upon finding that representative Vanden has been allowed planetside without his knowledge, Deschain places a heavy letter of reprimand into Captain Holt's file and continues to find the Fallanassi on his own, with troops utilized from Holt's vessel.

Evidence of Fallanassi living is found at Chofin, but no sign of actual Fallanassi. Under Deschain's shadow command and the public command of Major Roland P. Snyles (Imperial Army), Chofin is decimated and razed as an example of what happens to those who resist the will of the Empire and hide fugitives from them. Prime Minister Forb is accused by Major Snyles of treason and assisting and aiding the Fallanassi and is arrested for transport to Imperial Center for trial. En route to Coruscant, Forb perishes of 'unknown complications,' but his autopsy states he expired due to extreme pressure on internal organs.

Captain Holt is ordered to hold the blockade and garrison at Carratos by High Inquisitor Deschain as punishment until further notice.

With Carratos seemingly pacified, the Imperial garrison, at the direction of the Ruling Council and some time after Inquisitor Deschain's departure, imposes a harsh taxation scheme to continue to punish the locals (( this is canon )). With no further need for the blockade, Imperial ships are ordered withdrawn, to be more usefully employed throughout the galaxy. Captain Holt appeals Deschain's letter of reprimand on the grounds that A.) he had done nothing wrong and was under no obligation to inform Deschain of Vanden's presence, B.) Holt's blockade, by all accounts, had been a success, and C.) Inquisitor Deschain had no formal involvement in the Carratos operation or standing authority over Holt, the Magnum, or the Imperial fleet. Holt's superiors, sympathetic to this argument, quietly expunge the letter from the Captain's record and belay the Inquisitor's orders to him. Holt returns to his duties, as Deschain returns to his hunt for the Jedi throughout the galaxy. The Carratos operation is called a victory in the Imperial press.