Karrde began his smuggling carreer working for Jorj Car'das. During the Empire's reign, smuggling was a fledgling buisness. Under this association, he learned many smuggling tricks. Six years before the Battle of Yavin, he was serving as a navigator on one of his ships, when the captain made a blind hyperspace jump to try and escape attacking Carrack cruisers, they came across the long lost Katana dreadnaught fleet, whcich was unnoticed by everyone but Karrde and the captain. They both took a vow to file the location away in case of an emergency. On a mission to Dagobah, Card'as met Jedi Master Yoda, who showed him to error of his ways. He went legit and handed over the fleet to Tallon. Karrde layed low until the death of the crimelord Jabba the Hutt shortly before the Battle of Endor. Thanks to his wit, Karrde was able to contact several of the late Hutt's underworld connections. By use of these contacts, Karrde slowly peiced together the largest smuggler's syndicate in the galaxy. Among these useful contacts was a striking woman by the name of Celina Marniss, whom Talon met while investigating a safari-hunting scam on Varonat. When the visit turned ugly, it was Celina that saved Karrde from death. Afterwards, he discovered that Celina Marniss was really Mara Jade, a former Imperial operative. He accepted her into his group, making her his second-in-command. With the New Republic replacing the Empire, Karrde insisted upon staying neutral, a position that did not last long. During Grand Admiral Thrawn's attempt to take back the core worlds, he had set up his operations on the distant planet Myrkr, an unremarkable planet, save for the local Ysalamiri, creatures capable of disabling Force energy. Thrawn beleived these creatures could be instrumental in his plan to overthow the New Republic. Talon did nothing to stop him and let Thrawn fly away with the Ysalamiri. Afterwards, Talon had the task of solving two baffling mysteries: what was Thrawns plan and what was Mara Jade's past. He had an opportunity to uncover both when he discovered the crippled X-Wing of Jedi Master Luke Skywalker floating through space. Talon rescued him and brought him back to his base, inadvertantly robbing him temporarily of his Force affinity. He considered turning Luke in to Thrawn, but decided against it, making Thrawn his enemy and losing his operation on Myrkr. He and his group briefly settled on Rishi, however, the Empire finally caught up with Karrde and he was captured. Indebted to the smuggler, Luke teamed up with Mara Jade and rescued him. In return, Talon gave Luke the coordinates for the Katana fleet, which was prove useful in the defeat of Thrawn. He also put together a coalition of smugglers that aided the New Republic at the Battle of Bilbringi, in which Thrawn was finally defeated. The smuggler's coalition matured into the Smuggler's Alliance, which Karrde handed over to Mara Jade, deciding to retire to search for his old mentor, Card'as. Lando Calrissian and Mara Jade helped him in his search, eventually tracking him down to the planet Exocron in the Kathol sector. Card'as was proud of his student and provided him with information that helped expose a con artist behind the supposed return of Grand Admiral Thrawn. Shortly after, the Empire and the New Republic finally declared peace. Karrde seized his opportunity and began the creation of an information gathering organization that would serve both organizations. After the Hand of Thrawn incident, Mara Jade married Luke Skywalker and, even though he participated in the wedding, Karrde new that Mara's loyalty now lay with the Jedi. Fortunately, he had lined up a new lieutenant, Shada D'ukal. Despite his new responsiblities, Karrde still aided the New Republic against the Yuuzahn Vong invasion.