The dual-pronged assault on Meridian Dynamics unraveled almost before it began. In the desolate railyards, the Wookiee demolitionist Thrar was ambushed by Imperial troopers while setting charges, resulting in him being stunned and captured. Nearby, Frenki Gorlonn's attempt to lead Hutt mercenaries into position turned into a desperate firefight. Surrounded by ten troopers, the Besalisk and the mercenaries blasted their way out with grenades, retreating to a cargo truck. As half the mercenaries fled into the night, Frenki managed to drive the survivors through a hail of blaster fire, losing their Imperial pursuers in an unfinished underground construction site.
Safe from the Empire but not from consequences, Frenki found himself cornered by Garza, a Hutt underboss. Under gunpoint, Frenki was forced to confess the truth: the Black Sun had hired them to frame the Hutts. In a twist of fate, Garza spared him but altered the deal—Frenki was now working for the Cartel, and the stolen hardware would belong to the Hutts. Meanwhile, inside the luxurious Aureate Spire, the captured Thrar was dragged to the lower levels for interrogation by the ISB, admitting under duress that the Black Sun intended to blow the rail lines.
Above the chaos, the infiltration of the gala proceeded with mixed success. Tharal, posing as a diplomat from the Chiss Ascendency, successfully bluffed his way past Commander Jessik Bryne to enter the ballroom. Echo, attempting to hack the ventilation systems, was mistaken for a maintenance unit and hauled to the droid repair bay. Fortune favored the crew when the ISB officer interrogating Thrar required a translator for the Wookiee; with the designated droid broken, Echo was pulled from the repair bay to translate. Dropping the charade when the ISB officer left to tell his superiors what he had learned, the droid and the Wookiee escaped through the vents, and reunited with Frenki.
While Echo joined up with Tharal again and attended the demonstration of the Meridian Dynamic, Thrar and Frenki snuck to the loading bay, bribing a guard to secure their position. High atop the Spire, Moff Theodane Walriss and Director Vorn addressed the galactic elite, unveiling the Wraith Core devices capable of intercepting and controlling HoloNet communications to crush the Rebellion and control the crime syndicates. As the demonstration began, a Meridian engineer asked a guest to make a call to showcase the real-time interception capabilities on a massive monitor.
What followed was a catastrophic stroke of bad luck. Unsure if the heist was still on, Frenki sent a text message to Tharal's comlink: "We bribed an imperial dude. When will you come? We are at the loading bay." Because Tharal was in the room, the Wraith Core intercepted the message and displayed it on the giant screen for the Moff and the entire assembly to see. As confusion rippled through the crowd, Moff Walriss realized the breach came from inside the room. He ordered the doors sealed and declared that no one would leave, trapping Tharal and Echo in the lockdown.