Title: Meanwhile in the Unknown Regions (1/2)


Author's Note: Apparently, in the new Canon, the Unknown Regions are located beyond the Maw, or its canonical equivalent thereof (Jedi Academy Trilogy), which makes conventional communication and travel nearly impossible.

According to Empire's End, Admiral Thrawn (yes, 'Admiral,' not 'Grand Admiral' which gives me hope as to Thrawn's fate after Rebels' Season 04 considering his new Noghri friend Rukh) knew of a safe path through the labyrinth that led into the unknown and beyond, and there had been ships (plural) sent mapping the hyperspace routes, exploring uncharted space, and … and who knew what else they had been doing as a side business.

(EDIT: Clarification due to multiple feedback from readers: In Legends, Thrawn was sent to the Unknown Regions as "punishment" and Parck was demoted to Commander to make it look more convincing. It's quite possible in Canon!Thrawn could be demoted to Admiral and sent to the Unknown Regions for, let's say, losing to the Rebels? Who knows?)

As to how Eli Vanto fits into the bigger picture, well, I'm really curious whether Eli Vanto is about to become Voss Parck's canonical alternate, but considering Thrawn sent Eli away directly to the Chiss Ascendancy, to Admiral Ar'alani of all people, I don't think so.

Anyway, using multiple agents, operating independently (often unaware of each other's presence), is totally Thrawn's style. I can't see why Eli Vanto couldn't be sent as an ambassador to the Chiss Ascendancy, while Thrawn still would be setting up the Empire of the Hand—not because of a thirst for power, as he never really cared about power for himself, but because being the supreme leader of a faction that could operate independently would give him more freedom in eliminating the threats that the Chiss Ascendancy couldn't deal with because of their official policy of not engaging in pre-emptive strikes. It all fits together like a puzzle.

Once again, I'm combining elements of Canon and Legends, playing with the premise that while the Emperor had envisioned the Unknown Regions to be the future of the Galactic Empire, a sort of back-up plan in case the his grand dark vision failed (Canon), it had also corresponded nicely with Thrawn's plans to pacify the Unknown Regions, obliterating the threats to his people as well as to the people of the Galaxy (Legends).

In this verse, the Emperor had sent Voss Parck aboard the ISD Admonitor, one of the ships tasked with exploring the uncharted space; and Thrawn had given him a task of his own, one which would eventually lead into the formation of the Empire of the Hand, more or less how it happened in the Legends, with Parck being the regent of the Empire of the Hand in Thrawn's absence. Enough talk, let's get to the story! Get ready for Chiss sneaky BAMFness!

Warning / Disclaimer: Technoblable ahead, so I'm preemptively saying sorry. No one ever cares for the laws of physics in Star Wars anyway, and I'm no exception. And the first paragraph is a direct quotation from the Empire's End, no copyright infringement intended. You'll see what I meant by the Unknown Regions being located beyond the Maw.


Outside the known galaxy was an unexplored infinity, one closed off by a labyrinth of solar storms, rogue magnetospheres, black holes, gravity wells, and things far stranger. Any who tried to conquer that maze did not survive. Ships were obliterated, or returned to the galaxy devoid of travelers. Communications from such intrepid explorers were incomprehensible, either shot through with such static as to make the content useless, or else filled with enough inane babble to serve as a perfectly clear sign that the explorer had gone utterly mad out there in isolation.

And yet, here they were, beyond the labyrinth that discouraged any sane travelers from venturing into the unknown and beyond, tasked with mapping the hyperspace routes and exploring the uncharted space that lay behind the maze. To use the words of good old Captain Niriz: 'They were madder than mynocks.'

Parck shook his head, looking at the white-blue stark lines of the hyperspace route their main computer triangulated using Grand Admiral Thrawn's data that had been fed into the navcomputer. The Unknown Regions might have been unknown to the Galactic Empire, but they had hardly been unknown to the Chiss who had lent his services to the Emperor. It wouldn't be Emperor Palpatine if he didn't make use of the Chiss' knowledge; and it wouldn't be Thrawn if he didn't make use of Emperor Palpatine, while others would count themselves very fortunate indeed if they just made it out of the throne room in one piece, escaping with their bare lives as the only reward they would ever get for their services.

In fifteen minutes, they would exit the hyperspace lane, dropping out at a place of strategic importance located beyond an unnamed nebula filled with the much-needed natural resources of tibanna gas, doonium, and other materials indispensable for the self-sufficient base of operations Parck had been tasked eventually to build in the area.

Then suddenly, the white-blue stark lines disappeared, reverting back into actual stars, and the whole ship shook itself as it was pulled back into real space prematurely.

The Unknown Regions were full of natural gravitational anomalies; from time to time they had found themselves suddenly pulled out of hyperspace since they had re-calibrated their sensors to be more sensitive to these strange occurrences, automatically engaging the safety mechanism protocols whenever they found themselves too close to such a deadly force of nature.

"Red Alert!" Captain Niriz raised his voice, calling down directly to the crew pit, and the whole ship instantly fell into the usual drill when faced with this particular scenario.

"Helm," Niriz then calmly addressed the crewman behind his console, "what triggered the safety mechanism?"

"Uhh, sir," the lieutenant blurted out in a bewildered tone, "it seems we were pulled from hyperspace by an artificial gravity well, sir. Definitely not a natural occurrence."

The man looked up at the captain with concern.

They found themselves facing an adversary equipped with an interdictor cruiser of an unknown range. Splendid. Just what they needed. Ambushed in the very heart of an unnamed nebula, one of innumerable stellar nurseries, surrounded by highly explosive gases that could be easily ignited by their proton torpedoes, resulting in their immediate destruction.

"All ships, maximum power to the shield generators." Parck called as he walked over to Niriz, exchanging a frown with the captain, who didn't like the situation one bit, either.

"Comm: what is the state of short range communication? Radar: what is the level of interference? Can we get any readings on our adversary? Number? Size?"

"Short range comm online, sir," the comm officer replied instantly. "All three VSDs reporting in, communication slightly scrambled but understandable. All ships report no damage. Shields at maximum."

"Too much interference from the gases and the radiation, sir," the radar officer said, shaking her head. "The radar is as good as dead, sir. We are down to visual, trying to recalibrate the sensors. Wait, I'm getting Cronau radiation signatures, sir—ten, fifteen, twenty ships emerging from hyperspace, sir! We are surrounded from all directions. Impossible to verify the ships' signatures due to the interference."

Trapped within an interdiction field, surrounded by twenty ships of unknown size and unknown potential, with limited fighting capabilities due to the highly explosive gases all around them. Basically, they had just been reduced to a handful of sitting banthas. The question was: who were their mysterious adversaries and what did they want?

"Sir, a fighter just entered visual range. Putting on screen now," the radar officer spoke up again. "It's on an attack vector for the Admonitor, sir," she added hastily, her voice rising in pitch.

"Engage TIE Fighter Squadrons Alpha and Beta," Niriz barked out sharply. "Their sensors may be useless, but they can still shoot that sneaky bastard down using their own eyes. Last time I checked, all our pilots passed the regular eye check."

"Belay that order," Parck countermanded immediately, his eyes on the markings decorating the enemy fighter on screen. The vessel might have been unknown to the ship's computers, but it hadn't been unknown to him—or, more precisely, the markings hadn't: the calligraphy stood for the Expansionary Forces, a subdivision of the Chiss Defense Fleet.

"That's exactly what they want us to do. Comm: All ships, do not engage the fighters. Repeat, do not engage the fighters."

"Sir?" the officer asked in confusion, but thankfully he relayed Parck's orders without hesitation. The crewman didn't have to understand as long as he obeyed.

"What's going on, Admiral?"

Niriz narrowed his eyes in suspicion. He didn't understand, either, but he knew Parck well enough by now that it smelled like one of the Grand Admiral's schemes that Parck carried out from time to time.

It didn't take a genius to guess when Parck acted on his own and when he was following Thrawn's incredibly detailed walkthroughs, step-by-step, never deviating from his secret orders; no matter how illogical Thrawn's plans might have sounded, they always fell into place in hindsight, as if Thrawn could truly read the minds of his enemies. Or, at least that's how it looked to the casual observer. In reality, Thrawn's strategies were anything but simple magic tricks.

The battle plans Parck had been given were incredibly detailed essays, listing all possible enemies' movements; respective probabilities of the execution of said movements calculated down to double decimal points; the enemies' weak points meant to be exploited; and the psychological responses meant to be exploited further, leading to utter defeat, all tailored to the limitations of Parck's mind and Parck's capability of executing Thrawn's orders blindly based on faith.

Thrawn literally gave him a series of manuals on the enemies he wanted Parck to eliminate, and he had written it in terms that Parck would be able to follow. The only thing that mattered was that Parck executed those orders, for Thrawn's predictions always came true.

Only today's adversaries were definitely not mentioned in Thrawn's manuals, which meant Parck was on his own.

Instead of wasting valuable seconds by explaining himself, he addressed the comm officer again: "Comm, broadcast the following message on all channels, all possible frequencies our enemy may pick up on."

He took a deep breath and switched to Cheunh, trying his best to sound as calm and as professional as possible to the sensitive ears of the Chiss commanding officer.

[Chiss Ascendancy, this is a misunderstanding. We are not going to attack. Repeat, this is a misunderstanding: we are not going to attack. We will lower our shields now to prove our intentions are not hostile.]

"Lower our shields, Lieutenant. Now."

He noticed Niriz looking completely lost by now, lost and deeply uneasy. "Calm down, Captain. The fighter is definitely not going to attack. These are Thrawn's people."

Chiss didn't engage in pre-emptive strikes. However, while they would have never fired the actual first shot, the Chiss would have blasted them from the face of the universe had they fallen for the trap and let themselves be maneuvered into acting in what they had believed to be self-defense.

Parck wouldn't fall for that trick.

His eyes fell on the fighter headed straight for the Admonitor's bridge, flying closer and closer with each second, bigger and bigger, until he was able to take in the details of the fighter with his own eyes, the image of each barrel pointed at the now completely unprotected command superstructure engraving itself into his mind. The Chiss wanted him to believe that he was about to be blasted from the face of the universe. They wanted him to lose his nerves, to snap and order a full-blown attack, so they could either come closer with their ships and finish them off or ignite the nebula and let them be eaten by the infernal flames. Probably the latter.

Parck definitely wouldn't fall for the trick.

The fighter kept getting closer and closer; and then, exactly at the point of no return, the pilot made a sudden U-turn—somewhat inelegant, however, as if he had truly intended to destroy the unprotected bridge, and only his deeply engraved sense of duty and obedience had stopped him. To use the words of General Bittenfeld: 'Damn the sly, red-eyed devil.'

Parck could hardly blame the man for snapping. He was this close to falling for the trick was well.

The whole bridge let out a collective sigh of relief, with Captain Niriz breathing out the loudest, using his hand to wipe the sweat off his forehead. "With all due respect, sir, I'd appreciate if you informed me you were about to pull off one of Grand Admiral Thrawn's parlor tricks beforehand."

Parck cleared his throat, looking at the expressions on the faces of the crew who undoubtedly shared their captain's opinion but were too polite to say so aloud, and he flashed them all a playful smile.

"Oh, this was one of my own, actually."

[Unknown ships, identify yourselves immediately and state the nature of your business in this area of space,] a male voice barked out sharply in Cheunh from the main comm console.

[Chiss Ascendancy,] Voss Parck responded, leaning over the comm officer's shoulder and putting as much commanding authority as possible into his tone. Chiss had to be approached from a position of strength and respect. They never dealt with weaklings, and they definitely wouldn't talk to him if he sounded anything but professional.

[This is Vice Admiral Voss Parck, commanding officer of the Task Force Admonitor of the Imperial Navy, tasked with mapping hyperspace routes and charting regions of space unknown to the Galactic Empire. We are deeply sorry for trespassing. We had no idea that this area was being patrolled by Expansionary Forces.]

The Chiss on the other end of the line took a whole minute before he came back with a reply, his voice as sharp and as unfriendly as earlier. There was no trace of open loathing, of course. That would have been unprofessional. However, it must have been obvious even to the non-Cheunh speakers present that the Chiss wasn't exactly overjoyed to talk to him.

[Force Commander Kres'ten'tarthi speaking. I find your claims questionable given the weapons of mass destruction aboard your ships, your knowledge of Cheunh, and your own respective rank, Admiral. Clearly you are a member of the Hierarchy among your kind.] He used the Chiss Defense Fleet equivalent for the High Command. Well, he was dead wrong about that one at least. Parck might be a member of the Admiralty, but that was still light years from the actual High Command. Still, the Chiss couldn't have known that.

[It is my belief that your intentions are, in fact, hostile, and your weapons are to be used against my people.]

Parck suppressed an urge to sigh.

[While it is true we are equipped with weapons capable of mass destruction, we have no intention of using them against the Chiss Ascendancy. It is a misunderstanding. Please release us from the gravity well and let us go on our way. You have my word as a warrior that we will leave this area of space and never return.]

Another long pause, even longer than the previous one.

Clearly there must have been some sort of discussion taking place on the other end. In any case, Parck wasn't speaking to the actual person in charge; while it was true that 'Crahsystor'—literally translated as 'Force Commander'—didn't have a clear rank equivalent in Galactic Basic, a deliberate provocation of a potential enemy into an attack would have to be approved and personally overseen at least by the Syndic whose House the commander belonged to. Only, the Syndic had no desire to talk to him directly; Parck would have get past this senior officer first.

[In that case, I presume you would be willing to clear the misunderstanding personally, coming alone and unarmed, surrendering your flag to us, submitting yourself to our questioning, and leaving the final decision to us. We will, of course, provide an armed escort to the ship where the interrogation shall take place. Are you capable of operating a vessel or do your require a pilot as well?]

Us. Plural. There was definitely a heated discussion taking place at the other end of the line. Could there be a member of the Hierarchy present? Or an Aristocra?

[I am capable of operating a vessel myself, thank you.] A little courtesy couldn't hurt one bit, Parck supposed, using a grammatical clause that implied genuine gratitude.

[You have my word I shall come alone, unarmed, and bearing no harm to you or your people.]

[Very well. Kres'ten'tarthi out.]

After the comm went dead silent, Parck took Captain Niriz aside and translated the whole exchange for his second-in-command.

"You can't be serious, Admiral!" Niriz exclaimed, his eyes widening in shock. "You can't go there alone! Grand Admiral Thrawn has always had a way with words, sir, and apparently it's a species trait. There is too much left unsaid here."

He had to admit that the captain had a point. However, as the commanding officer, Parck was directly responsible for the lives of the men under his command, which left him with no choice but to accept the Chiss's terms.

"I'm not exactly thrilled about the prospect either, Niriz, but the fact remains that we've stumbled on the Chiss Ascendancy's backyard with a Star Destroyer. Four Star Destroyers. Of course they are angry. I'll just have to convince them we are not here to start a war."

Niriz blinked. "And how do you propose to do that, sir?" he asked skeptically.

"I don't know yet, Niriz," Parck admitted. "I'll find a way."

"It's too dangerous, sir. The Chiss said there will be an interrogation." Niriz's expression hardened, and he crossed his arms in a negative stance. "If their idea of interrogation is anything like ISB's, then there won't be much of you left once the questioning is over. You should have at least bargained for your own safety."

"I don't believe they would result to torture, Captain," Parck countered, trying to sound more confident than he actually felt. If the Chiss truly believed the weapon arsenal aboard was to be used against the Ascendancy, then extracting information by force would make perfect sense.

"Not if I cooperate and answer their questions fully and truthfully. They are Thrawn's people, after all."

Niriz pursed his lips. "They're basically holding us at gunpoint, sir; and in any case, even if you cooperate, you can't tell them any military secrets."

"Niriz, I know you mean well, but right now you're not very helpful."

Parck suppressed a shudder. He truly didn't need a reminder of what could follow if the Chiss didn't find his explanation to their satisfaction, both to the crew as well as to him personally. And Niriz was right, of course. Parck couldn't disclose privileged information, which included questions about the Task Force Admonitor as well as about the organization of the Imperial Military in general.

"Let's hope it won't come to that."


Due to the heavy interference, the transport shuttle's navigation systems were as useless as outdoor equipment on Coruscant; the screen showed nothing but static, leaving Parck blindly following the Chiss fighter outside the Admonitor's visual range deeper into the nebula, until he finally noticed a combat cruiser that must have been the source of the artificial gravity well. The size of the ship was similar to the old Consular-class Republic cruisers, only it was armed to the teeth, equipped with what appeared to be missile launchers and laser turrets.

After he exchanged a few curt words with Chiss flight control, a female with an even sharper voice than that of the Chiss commander, he docked at one of the starboard-side airlocks and took a deep breath before he opened the airlock to the connecting corridor, preparing himself for a cold welcome consisting of multiple red-eyed glares.

He expected to be thoroughly searched and placed in restrictive binders upon setting foot aboard the interdictor cruiser, but he never even made it past the corridor. Immediately after his first intake of the recycled air, his head started spinning, his consciousness began slipping away, his body going numb; and the last thing he saw before he fell to the floor had been two black uniformed Chiss soldiers opening the airlock from the other side, wearing full-face masks with breathing filters.

Well, they wouldn't have lured him here only to have him killed by a poisonous gas, that much was clear. However, it seemed he should have paid more attention to Captain Niriz. Obviously, the Chiss didn't feel like being good hosts today.

TO BE CONTINUED