After years of dutiful service to the empire, Thrawn was given command of the Star Destroyer
Vengeance, serving under the dark jedi Inquisitor Jerec.
Jerec survived order 66 but was later captured by the Empire and avoided death by accepting
the dark side.
Working together, Jerec and Thrawn destroyed the rebellion on Sulon, and executed the force
sensitive Morgan Katarn.
The following year, the Imperial superweapon, known as the Death Star, was unveiled to the
galaxy following the destruction of Alderaan, which was known to have deep ties to the Rebel
Alliance.
In response, the Rebels attacked and destroyed the death star.
Made possible by Luke Skywalker, the powerful force sensitive child of Darth Vader, raised
away from his father on tatooine under the supervision of Obi Wan Kenobi.
Master Kenobi looked out for the boy from afar, but when the time came, began his training
as a jedi.
Two weeks later, Thrawn and 9 other Imperial officers were called into a private meeting
with Emperor Palpatine, and apprised of the situation.
Although Thrawn suggested immediately attacking the rebel base, Palpatine chose to wait and
ordered them to investigate the identity of the pilot responsible for the destruction
of the death star.
Several months later, Thrawn, now at the rank of Senior Captain, was given command of the
task force admonitor and returned to the Unknown regions where a new warlord named Nuso Esva
was rising in power, conquering his own territory and raising a mighty fleet.
Thrawn originally attempted to ally himself with Esva but was rejected, leading to hostilities
between them.
The warlord however proved a tactical genius, equaling Thrawn and proving difficult to defeat.
*During Thrawn’s meeting with Palpatine, he advised the emperor about security for
the construction site of the second death star.
With Palpatine unable to provide reinforcements, Thrawn turned to Darth Vader who granted his
request, in exchange for the Chiss captain’s help in locating a rebel base.
Engaging with the Eastern fleet of Nuso Esva in the Poln system, the combined forces of
Thrawn and Vader proved victorious.
In the chaos of battle, a group of rebels on Poln minor managed to escape the area with
a number of stolen supplies.
Thrawn was able to use the list of items taken to create a profile of where they were going,
and was therefore able to locate the rebel base, fulfilling his promise to Lord Vader.
After the fighting, he was introduced to a group of 5 former troopers who deserted after
one of them killed an imperial officer.
They were now known as the hand of judgement and impressed Thrawn not only with the fighting
skills but also with the tolerance for other species.
And so rather than turning them over to the Empire, he hired them to train a new army
known as the 501st Stormtrooper legion that would include member of many different species
and would operate exclusively within the Empire of the Hand.
Thrawn’s continued success eventually led to his promotion to Vice Admiral, then made
grand admiral in a private ceremony on Coruscant.
However his rank was largely kept secret with the Empire, as only 12 Grand Admirals were
allowed to exist, and all the position were filled.
Yet despite his favor with the Emperor, Thrawn did not follow orders blindly, even refusing
a direct order on several occasions, when he felt the mission was doomed for failure
and would waste resources.
During one such occasion, the Emperor was outraged and named him a traitor, then assigning
another officer to the mission.
However when the attack proved a failure, the Emperor gained a new respect for Thrawn’s
judgement.
The Chiss Grand Admiral had risen so high he was even granted the title of Warlord,
but soon found that others within the Imperial Court did not appreciate his rapid rise to
power.
And so many began to plot against him, hoping to have him exiled from the core.
Palpatine and Thrawn used this an opportunity and staged the Grand Admiral’s fall from
grace, wherein his allies were demoted and he was effectively exiled, sent to the unknown
region on a mapping mission.
This however was exactly what Thrawn wanted and allowed him to return to his work in the
Empire of the Hand.
With fresh imperial resources, the grand admiral was able to construct a number of Imperial
bases and settlement, using ruthless tactics to conquer new worlds.
Only once did Thrawn fail in defeating enemy forces and so ordered the planet’s destruction.
Though many civilizations were destroyed, Thrawn made sure to allow their art work to
survive, having a deep personal fascination with the subject, using his studies of different
species art to learn about their culture so he might better understand how to defeat them
in battle.
Thrawn’s forces even began to operate in Wild Space, but found it difficult to gain
and maintain territory, and so concentrated primarily on expanding within the unknown
regions.
After successfully quelling an attempted mutiny and his continued success in conquering new
worlds, Thrawn was recalled to Coruscant where he was inducted into the Order of the Canted
Circle.
Before returning to the unknown regions, Thrawn agreed to help Darth Vader on a mission against
the Black Sun criminal cartel.
He was then rewarded by the Dark Lord by being given command of the Noghri, a species who
were saved from total destruction by the Empire, and so offered their allegiance in return,
becoming private Imperial commandos used directly by Vader, Sidious and now Thrawn.
The Chiss Grand Admiral then worked with Vader again to uncover a rebel base on Derra IV,
which in turn led them to send probe droids throughout the western reaches, until finding
the main rebel stronghold on Hoth.
After the battle of hoth in 3 aby, Thrawn continued his work with vader, attacking a
rebel space station in the outer rim.
Although the Empire seemed to be making progress in their war against the rebellion, they were
forced to go the defensive for a time, when Grand Admiral Demetrius Zaarin staged a coup
d’etat, attempting to capture palpatine and take over the empire.
However Darth Vader and Thrawn quickly came to the Emperor’s rescue, though Zaarin managed
to escape.
Thrawn was then assigned to capture the rogue imperial who was continuing his war against
the empire, sabotaging imperial manufacturing facilities.
Thrawn took the place of Zaarin and became an official grand admiral, eventually finding
the traitor and seeing him killed.
The Chiss Imperial then returned to the Unknown Regions where he learned of a rebel attack
on the second death star in the battle of Endor, learning of the deaths of Darth Vader
and Emperor Palpatine.