Following the Battle of Endor, Thrawn focused his attention on securing and defending the
Empire of the Hand, while the remnant of the Palpatine’s government scrambled to defend
against the rebels which soon established themselves as the New Republic.
Fortunately for Thrawn, the new Republic was unaware that Demetrius Zaarin had been replaced
as the 12th Grand Admiral, which meant no one was searching for the Chiss Imperial.
During his time away from galactic events near the core, Thrawn’s forces battled the
Ssi-ruuvi Imperium, who’d been making advances into Chiss space.
Meanwhile the Empire which had lost ¾ of former territories, were now under the command
of Ysanne Isard who kept in contact with Thrawn, though he did not trust her to rule the Empire.
And as the New Republic continued to win victories, more and more ships were being transferred
out of Thrawn’s command, to aid in the war effort.
Despite the chaos in the galaxy, The Grand Admiral never forgot the real threat waiting
from the far outsiders, and so continued to work to defend against their impending invasion.
Part of this mission involved recruiting worthy officers, such as Soontir Fel, a hero of the
Empire turned Rebel agent. Although Isard wanted to execute the traitor, Thrawn had
him sent to the unknown regions, where he explained the larger goal and the threat of
the far outsiders. Fel, seeing the seriousness of the threat
and that Thrawn was a non-oppressive, yet also highly intelligent ruler, he was swayed
to join the Empire of the Hand. In 8ABY Thrawn at last defeated the outlaw
Nuso Esva who died in the Battle of Quethold. And while the Grand Admiral’s efforts were
successful in securing his own territories, the Empire itself was at the point of collapse.
On Coruscant, Isard had been ousted from power and the remaining moffs squabbled amongst
themselves. It was at this point that Grand Admiral Thrawn
returned to known regions of the galaxy, leaving his forces behind to defend the Empire of
the Hand, while using his sway as Grand Admiral to summon what support he could from the remaining
agents and strongholds of the empire.
Thrawn personally took command the Star Destroyer Chimaera, with Gilad Pellaeon as his first
officer. Some in the ruling council also gave their support, sending him a small fleet,
but most moffs hoarded their resources and sent nothing. In addition many that did come
to support Thrawn did so in order to use him as a puppet.
But Thrawn proved both strategically brilliant and politically astute, able to slowly gain
the support of a large portion of the Empire, winning a number of victories against the
New Republic through his campaign in the outer rim, and even gaining the allegiance of the
influential D’asta family, who held the largest private military fleet in the galaxy.
Part of Thrawn’s success revolved around his continuing study and appreciation of art,
which informed his strategic thinking as he interacted with the various species of the
galaxy. This then led him on one occasion to Tatooine, where an auction was being held
for a famous Alderaanian painting which was taken off world before the destruction of
the planet. However others had also come to bid on the
item, such as Han Solo of the New Republic and his wife Leia Organa who were on a mission
to retrieve the key code hidden within the painting. This code gave entry to the Shadowcast
Communications network which the rebels created years earlier to communicate in secret with
their agents. After the New Republic successfully won the
auction, Commander Quenton, Thrawn’s representative on the planet attempted to take it by force.
And so a fight broke out, with the painting stolen and new republic agents fleeing into
the desert. Eventually Thrawn’s people tracked down what they are after, but not before Han
and Leia removed the code, then escaping the planet.
Early on in his campaign, Thrawn sought an imperial storehouse that once belonged to
palpatine, containing schematics to a cloaking device and at least 20,000 Spaarti cloning
cylinders. With the cylinders, Thrawn could rapidly create a clone army for his fleet
in a renewed offensive against the New Republic. In order to prevent Clone Madness, a disease
in which clones were driven to insanity by prolonged exposure to the force, Thrawn had
beings known as ysalamiri which he’d discovered many years earlier, learning that they possessed
a natural ability to suppress the force around them. With many ysalamiri together in one
place, the effects of the Force could be neutralized for a very large area.
After a number of victories against the New Republic, and with his support amongst the
remaining factions of the Empire increasing, Thrawn found the storehouse he was after on
the planet of Wayland. However what he did not expect to find was the clone of Joros
C’Baoth, who had used his force powers to become the ruler of the local population,
often using his abilities to control their actions directly. The Grand Admiral saw almost
immediately that he was suffering from clone madness, but felt a powerful jedi could prove
useful to his efforts, and so made a deal with C’Baoth, requesting the use of his
abilities such as battle meditation, in exchange for offering to find him Luke skywalker along
with his pregnant sister Leia, whose children would likely inherit force capabilities. In
this way C’baoth could start a new Jedi Order which he would personally lead and shape.
An offer he could not refuse. Thrawn immediately began activating Clones
and while normally Clones needed a year to develop a healthy mental state, the Imperials
were able to produce them within 20 days, thanks to the ysalamiri which blocked the
Force from hindering their progress. This increased personnel coupled with the
increased manufacturing capabilities Thrawn had developed since returning to the known
galaxy, meant he would soon have a large fleet capable of dealing a crippling blow to the
New Republic. In addition, Thrawn had discovered a new form
of gathering intelligence known as Delta Source. Audio recording devices scattered throughout
Coruscant, which Palpatine used to spy on the population and his government officials.
Through Delta Source, the Empire was able to track down Luke and Leia, sending Noghri
Commandos to capture them who even after several attempts proved unsuccessful.
Meanwhile, Thrawn found that he was producing more clones then ships, and set about stealing
a number of Plasma Jet Mole Minors from Lando Calrissian, in order to use their plasma torches
to attack and breach the hull warships, which they could then steal for the Empire.
However during the Battle of Sluis Van, the unexpected presence of Han Solo and Lando
Calrissian aboard the Millennium Falcon disrupted the Empire’s plans, ultimately defeating
Thrawn who managed to steal only one ship. Yet while they suffered a setback, the new
republic suffered heavy casualties and Thrawn was undeterred, confident they would be victorious in
the end.