The
first major engagement of what would become known as the Thrawn Campaign, the Battle of
Sluis Van was the culmination of a complex stratagem orchestrated by Grand Admiral Thrawn,
intended to both cripple the New Republic Navy and bolster the size of the Imperial
Fleet simultaneously.
Thrawn laid the groundwork for his assault by ordering Hit and Fade attacks on the Bpfassh
and Draukyze systems, though Thrawn had no intention of conquering these worlds, he knew
that his raids would lead to the ship’s garrisoning those systems being moved to the
Sluis Shipyards for repairs.
The Raids also raised the New Republic’s state of alert drastically, inspiring them
to assign Starfighter squadrons to defend important shipping lanes in case of imperial
attack.
Being in it’s infancy at the time, the New Republic was not always well supplied with
cargo vessels, and ships lost at the Bpfassh and Draukyze raids left them with an even
greater shortage of freighters, forcing them to adapt warships such as MC80 Mon Calamari
Cruisers to haul goods.
In addition to his attacks on Bpfassh and Draukyze, Thrawn also ordered a raid on Nomad
City, a mobile mining facility owned by Lando Calrissian.
Much like his other raids, this attack was not intended to seize the city, but rather
to capture a large number of Plasma Jet Mole Miners, advanced mining probes used for drilling
in the vacuum of space.
Though this theft of seemingly innocuous equipment baffled the New Republic at the time, its
purpose would become all too clear when Thrawn’s strategy reached its conclusion.
The Battle finally began when Thrawn dispatched Cloak Squadron, a wing of TIE Fighters concealed
within the cargo hold of an A-Class Bulk Freighter, the Nartissteu.
Advanced Imperial Stealth Composites concealed the TIE Fighters from New Republic Scanners,
making the Nartissteu appear to be an unassuming civilian cargo ship.
Though this ruse succeeded in fooling the flight controllers at Sluis Van Central, Commander
Wedge Antilles who was near the Shipyards at the time, was suspicious of the approaching
freighter, and ordered Rogue Squadron to investigate.
As the X-Wings approached the Nartissteu, the ship exploded, revealing not only the
40 TIE Fighters, but also the 51 captured Mole Miners.
In perfect coordination with the destruction of the Nartissteu, Thrawn’s primary force
of 39 Capital Warships and 30 TIE Squadrons dropped out of Hyperspace and began to assault
the perimeter of the Shipyards, they fought to pin down the New Republic’s defences
and hamper their ability to respond, while the captured Mole Miner probes drilled into
the hull plating of the countless warships left moored at Sluis Van Shipyards following
the raids on Bpfassh and Draukyze.
Each of the Miner Probes had been loaded with five Spacetroopers, more than sufficient to
eliminate the maintenance crews and seize control of the ships.
With the Sluis Van defence force caught up in battle with Thrawn’s primary fleet of
Star Destroyers, the improvised boarding craft were able to seize all of the New Republic
Warships docked at the shipyard.
With their own fleet slowly leaving the system under the control of imperial boarding teams,
the New Republic had no way of reclaiming their lost ships.
Left with no other alternative, the New Republic leadership was forced to use Lando Calrissian’s
command codes to re-activate the mole miners, propelling them further through the ships
they had boarded until they penetrated them completely, venting their atmospheres and
crippling the vessels.
This enormous damage, coupled with secondary explosions from several of the Mole Miners
and one Self Destructive Spacetrooper, obliterated a massive portion of the New Republic Navy.
Though Thrawn had been unable to abscond with the Captured Fleet, he had forced the enemy
to order its destruction, robbing his New Republic Adversaries of countless warships,
and leaving them at his mercy for the remainder of his campaign.