Thrawn and the Rebellion Chapter 1
What if Darth Sidious sent a certain Imperial Navy officer named Thrawn to deal with Ezra Bridger and his band of rebels following the death of his Inquisitor? This Legends-Star Wars Rebels crossover story is set in the immediate aftermath of Star Wars Rebels Season One. For those of you who are familiar with the Star Wars Legends literature, Thrawn was an Imperial Grand Admiral who served as the main antagonist in Timothy Zahn's Thrawn Trilogy. He was a blue-skinned Chiss and a brilliant military commander and strategist who almost turned the tide against the New Republic.
With the various rebel cells starting to form what becomes known as the Rebel Alliance, the Empire dispatches a new rising star in the Imperial Navy to deal with the growing Rebellion. Thrawn devises a new strategy to deal with the upstart Rebels: ysalamiri, furry lizards that can repel the Force. How will our Jedi Rebels Ezra Bridger, Kanan Jarrus, and Ashoka Tano fare against this new threat? Thrawn, Ezra Bridger and all other recognisable Star Wars characters rightfully belong to Timothy Zahn, Lucasfilm, and Disney. Feel free to read and review. I'm happy to hear your thoughts but keep them respectful.
Countering the Rebellion
It had been three days since the destruction of Governor Wilhuff Tarkin's Star Destroyer Sovereign above Mustafar. There had been jubilation when Imperial forces on the backwater Outer Rim world of Lothal had captured a Jedi Purge survivor named Kanan Jarrus. Alas, defeat had been snatched from the jaws of victory when that Jedi's rebel companions tracked him down to the Mustafar system and rescued him. Despite stringent security measures, a small rebel cell had managed to infiltrate Tarkin's Star Destroyer, rescue their Jedi comrade, and kill one of the Empire's Inquisitors. As a result of the raid, the Sovereign had been destroyed taking down with her thousands of navy crew and Stormtroopers. It had been a serious setback for the Galactic Empire and another propaganda victory for the growing Rebellion.
The Emperor (aka Darth Sidious) had summoned an audience with a rising star in the Imperial Navy, a certain Captain named Thrawn. Thrawn was a blue-skinned humanoid alien from the icy planet of Csilla in the Unknown Regions. A charismatic Force Commander in the Chiss Expansionary Fleet, Thrawn's maverick ways had alienated the ruling aristocrats of the Chiss Ascendancy that they had seemed fit to exile him to the fringes of known space. There, his talents had been discovered by an Imperial Captain named Voss Parck who had encouraged him to join the Imperial Navy.
A recent valedictorian from the Imperial Naval Academy on Anaxes, Thrawn had recently been commissioned as a commodore in the Imperial Navy. Commodore Thrawn's flagship was the Imperial Star Destroyer Chimaera. Thrawn had come to the Emperor's attention after writing an article in the Imperial Navy's weekly holo-journal Imperial Fleetwatch, which called for the Imperial military leadership to encourage creativity and initiative within their ranks in order to deal with the new Rebellion. Thrawn had also argued that the Empire could not rule through terror and fear alone and that they needed to win the hearts and minds of its citizens.
Darth Sidious and his apprentice Darth Vader were seated in the former chambers of the Jedi Council. Following the Great Jedi Purge, the former Jedi Temple had been transformed into Emperor Palpatine's new residence: Imperial Palace. All that remained of the Jedi Temple was its quincunx of tower spires, which crowned a fusion of grey, blockish edifices with sloping facades that concealed the building's dark secrets. The palace precinct had a large landing field that was able to accommodate several Victory and Venator-class Star Destroyers. The Imperial Palace was defended by several anti-starfighter turrets and cannons. No airspeeders were allowed to fly over the Imperial Palace unless on important business. The Palace was also defended by a phalanx of red-robed Imperial Guards and an entire legion of Stormtroopers belonging to the 501st Legion, Darth Vader's praetorian guard and the cream of the Stormtrooper Corps. No Jedi, Separatist, or Rebel would dare to attack the Emperor's lair.
Five minutes prior to the scheduled meeting, the sliding doors of the tower's lift slid open with a hiss. In strode Captain Thrawn accompanied by one of the Emperor's Imperial Guards and a nimble, gray-skinned alien who was armed with a cylindrical grey instrument called a Stokhli spray stick. Captain Thrawn was dressed in the olive green uniform of the Imperial Navy. His deep red eyes glowed under the glare of Coruscant's distant white sun. Thrawn was cradling a small cat-sized lizard-like creature. This lizard was covered in light yellow-green-brown fur.
Thrawn bent his right knee and knelt before the Emperor. The Captain was careful not to startle his furry lizard pet and kept stroking the creature's back.
"Your Majesty," said Thrawn humbly "It's an honour to be in your presence."
"Rise, my loyal servant," replied Palpatine in a grim, deathly voice. Darth Sidious' face was obscured by his black shroud, which he now always wore ever since he had sustained those disfiguring facial scares during a skirmish with the "traitorous" Jedi.
"I have summoned here to discuss the recent incident in the Mustafar system," said Palpatine solemnly "A group of rebels rescued their Jedi leader and killed one of my top Inquisitors. Not content with that, they destroyed Governor Tarkin's Star Destroyer. The Rebels were assisted by a group of starships. This is a very disturbing development. There are multiple rebel cells and tribes but they have never been known to work together in such large numbers. What is even more disturbing in our intelligence reports is that this so-called Jedi leader, whom they call Kanan Jarrus, has a young apprentice called Ezra Bridger, a street urchin from Lothal."
Palpatine clicked his finger. Almost instantaneously, a Neimoidian mechno-chair which had been standing at front of Palpatine's throne flickered and displayed two holographic images. One was of the Jedi leader Kanan Jarrus. Kanan was a lean, tan-skinned human man with blue eyes and a brown pony tail. The second figure was of a teenaged human boy with tan skin, blue eyes, and long-black blue hair.
"These rebels have cost our forces a great deal of trouble," added Darth Vader in a solemn, mechanically-amplified voice "We have exhausted every resource to deal with them but nothing has worked. If left to persist, this weed will grow into a noxious tree that will be hard to uproot. So we thought that we might give one of the Navy's rising stars a chance to uproot this weed."
"Ah yes, I gather that's what you've summoned me for," replied Thrawn in a calm, polished voice "I've been reading the latest intelligence reports from my counterparts in Lothal. They're at a wits end trying to deal with these Rebels. What an exotic bunch. We have a Twi'lek pilot, a Lasat warrior, a teenaged Mandalorian girl, and a C1 astromech droid. They're a very interesting case-study. And what's more troubling is that they are part of a wide movement seeking to overthrow the Empire. What we need is a radical new solution."
"What are you proposing," asked Darth Vader "We have thrown everything in the box against them."
"Then, I think it's time that we think outside the box," replied Thrawn "As history as shown, military superiority does not always guarantee victory in the face of a determined foe."
"And how do you suppose we'll do that," growled Darth Sidious impatiently "This is no game of sabacc. I have an Empire to run and these little gad flies are running circles around us."
Thrawn extended a shoulder around the grey-skinned alien and led him forward.
"My Dark Lords of the Sith," said Thrawn "Meet Khabarakh, one of my best Noghri Death Commandos. As you know, the Noghri's homeworld of Honoghr was contaminated by a Separatist bioweapon during the Clone Wars. Out of our gracious and compassionate good will, the Empire has offered to detoxify their homeworld in exchange for the Noghri sending their bravest men and women to serve the Empire as Death Commandos. They're the Imperial Navy's secret commando force and one Noghri is a match for five Stormtroopers."
"How I miss the old Clone Troopers," commented Darth Vader "They're far superior to our present Stromtrooper Academy graduates. One Clone Trooper is better than three Academy recruits put together. The Lothal Academy is only good at churning out cannon fodder. But, I don't see how your Noghri would be able to defeat those Jedi."
"A good question," said Thrawn, who stroked his furry lizard pet. "My Lords, meet Liza. She's a ysalamir, a species of furry lizards from Myrkr that can deflect the Force itself. They evolved this ability in response to predation by the Force-sensitive Vornskr, large unpleasant canines whom you don't want to run into. I have a whole colony of ysalamir on my ship the Chimaera."
"Prove it," thundered Darth Vader, half-fascinated and half-frightened
"Well, I think it is time for a test of your Force powers, my Lords," replied Thrawn
Without a moment's hesitation, Darth Vader wrenched a nearby chair with the full power of the Force and flung it at Thrawn. At the same time, Darth Sidious unleashed a volley of Force lightning on Thrawn. However, these attacks flew off Thrawn. It seemed that there was an invisible bubble around the Captain.
"Very impressive," said Darth Sidious as an ugly grin appeared on his withered face "Those two Jedi will be in for a rude shock."
"What a great performance," added Darth Vader grimly "Let's put your theory to the test. But remember, we are prepared to tolerate a certain number of mistakes but not too much."
Captain Thrawn sensed the dark undertones beneath Darth Vader's voice. The Sith apprentice was fearful and jealous that someone else would usurp his place as the Emperor's right-hand man. Thrawn disliked Vader's style of command which relied excessively on punishment and terror. Vader had surrounded himself with a herd of sheepish yes-men who did not dare to question his will or bruise his ego. Thrawn smiled. Now he had the opportunity to prove his salt and worth as a military commander to the Galactic Empire.
Endnotes
For this story, I have decided to make Thrawn a Commodore since he will be able to command more than one ship at a time. Ideally, he'll be in charge of a squadron or flotilla. In response to a comment in the reviews section, I won't be following all of the canonical information from Star Wars Legends. My story is just loosely based on the Thrawn Trilogy and Star Wars Rebels. Sometimes, writes need to take creative liberties in order to put out a good story. At the end of the day, we need to remember that all Star Wars spinoffs outside the movies are "licensed fan fiction." So, I apologize if I don't follow all the canonical information from the Thrawn Trilogy and Star Wars Rebels.
Cheers,
Andrew Lim