"The Force is strong with this one..."
-Darth Vader
Imperial I-class Star Destroyer Death's Head
The newly promoted Commander Faro stood at the bridge, having taken command in Thrawn's absence.
"We will do everything during our current mission exactly as Thrawn instructed. I have faith in his tactical ability, and this plan is of the upmost important..."
"Yes, commander..."
The Seventh Fleet had spread throughout the Outer Rim, deploying Loronar ORL-type scanners. With each scanners, an escort of Lancer-class frigates and Arquitens-class Light Cruisers would create a checkpoint...
The plan was simple, but would allow them to gather important information on the Rebellion's whereabouts. It wouldn't locate the Rebel Base, but it would warn them of an approaching fleet.
Obviously, the Rebels would find a way to work around this problem eventually, but it would give the Empire time to gather its forces.
"Commander, we're detecting a Y-Wing starfighter nearby..." They already found Rebels? That was very quick... Now, what would Thrawn do in this situation?
"Use the satellites to scramble their sensors! Launch the gunboats! And instruct them to use ion torpedoes only, I want the pilot alive." Maybe he'd disable the fighter to prevent resistance... A Y-Wing was slow, but durable. So the attack would not destroy it.
"Scimitar Squadron ready for battle..." The squadron of the faster and superior gunboats was off...
In orbit around a classified planet, close to the Death's Head.
Ezra was performing a scouting mission on his Y-Wing longprobe. A variant that is normally undetectable by Imperial Star Destroyers, so why are they firing their ion cannons at him?
"This can't be good..." Ezra pressed a button to contact High Command, but they were jamming the signal already...
"Great, just great..." Ezra sighed, and started to fly away from the gravity well of the planet they're orbiting.
But he had made a mistake by doing so. His trajectory was in a completely straight line, making it much easier for the faster Gunboats to catch up... There was no escaping, he had to fight...
Ezra took aim at the gunboats, they were faster and more maneuverable than a Y-Wing, but that didn't matter with the power of the Force... He fired with perfect accuracy, hitting the lead fighter...
But it was no use... the Gunboat's shields became visible as it dispersed the red plasma.
"Karabast! They have shields!" Now he really did have to get out of there. Hera and General Dodonna would need to know about the Empire's new toy...
But it became apparent that he might not be able to live to warn them.
"Oh no..." he said as he saw the streaks of condensed blue ions fly past him...
He did a spin, it was a good trick to distort their aim, but they hit him as he sped towards the edge of the gravity well.
The instant electrical shock from the fried technology was extremely painful, causing a lot of screaming... He was knocked unconscious, meaning that he couldn't react as his fighter was pulled to the Death's Head by the Gunboats...
On the Death's Head
Commander Faro and a medical droid walked into a hangar as the pilots pulled Ezra from the disabled fighter... And the droid immediately got to work, scanning for injuries.
"Sir, my scans show no trace of injury, aside from unconciousness caused by the electrical surge from the ions..."
"Very good... Hmm..." She scrolled through Thrawn's files on the Rebels, all of which she had access to.
"This charming male specimen is the Jedi padawan Ezra Bridger... I want him to be placed in a heavily reinforced cell... With quintuple security if need be. We must never underestimate our enemies..."
"Yes, sir..." The Stormtroopers took all of his weapons and dragged him to the most isolated cell on the Star Destroyer...
Faro pressed a button on her holoprojector, and send a transmission... And it was answered immediately.
"Grand Admiral, I have captured the Jedi by the name of Ezra Bridger and placed him in a cell under quintuple security."
Thrawn's face showed actual delight. He was truly impressed that she did all this without him... But it was soon replaced by the same cold stare he always had... She didn't know why he does it, but was always extremely unsettling.
"Very impressive, Commander... Always be prepared for any sort of Jedi devilry he will use..."
"Yes, Admiral..."
Faro looked at his face as his hologram dissapeared... She could tell how much disgust and anger he held underneath that calm demeanor. He spent weeks contemplating what truly happened on Atollon... But he still could not understand the Force...