Non-intervention policy

The preemptive-strike laws, or alternatively the non-aggression protocols or non-intervention policy, were a set of laws of the Chiss Ascendancy that rendered preemptive strikes in warfare illegal and punishable by exile. This policy, influenced by the Ascendancy's isolationism and libertarian approach to the galaxy at large, was taken very seriously as a Chiss military rule of engagement. These protocols required the Chiss military to do everything necessary to avoid preemptive combat against potential adversaries.

While the protocols did not allow first strikes, they did allow for punitive and retaliatory strikes against confirmed aggressors, in response for encroachment on Chiss territory or trade routes. After the attack on Csilla by unknown assailants, the Chiss Syndicure and Defense Hierarchy Council decided to attack the Paataatus because, even if the Paataatus were not behind the attack, they had "been poking at the edge of the Ascendancy again," which deserved a retaliatory strike.

Part of the mission of the Chiss Expansionary Defense Fleet was to conduct reconnaissance and evaluate threats beyond the Ascendancy's borders. Between the Fleet's mission and the non-aggression protocols, there was a strong preference for stealth missions when the Fleet ventured to inhabited systems unknown to the Chiss. An incursion into someone else's territory, even just to gather data, was viewed as dangerously close to preemptive combat.

Text and facts from the “Non-intervention policy” article on Wookieepedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0. Modified for this site.