The first thing Faro saw upon climbing the shuttle's ramp was Captain Pellaeon's hologram staring back at her with a worried, grim face, the kind of sternness only a veteran of the Clone Wars could manage. There were many Imperial Officers whom, in her position, would've looked down on Pellaeon due to the mere rank difference. Faro disagreed, she'd seen enough incompetent superiors to know that experience trumped rank, and despite herself technically outranking the Captain, Faro knew better than to question the experience of a Clone Wars veteran.

The second thing she saw, just a few metres to the right, was the Grand Admiral deep in thought, red eyes staring firmly at the ground. Having read the Captain's report herself, she had no need to ask why the situation was so dire.

"You're sure the object was an automated probe?" She asked.

"It stayed in the system long enough to make a scan, and the short sensory reading we made in turn detected no lifeforms aboard. So in all likelihood, yes, we're certain it was a droid probe." Captain Pellaeon confirmed.

"I see. Well, if it's synthetic, that rules out the Voidlord." Faro sighed with relief.

"Indeed, but we still don't know who sent this probe or why." Pellaeon replied.

"I recognize the design." Thrawn finally spoke, to the surprise of the others.

"It is unmistakably Vagaari."

Captain Pellaeon raised an eyebrow.

"Admiral, the debriefings you gave us on the Unknown Regions explicitly stated that the Vagaari don't possess the technology to make droids."

"Then the debriefings I gave you are outdated. I haven't served in the Expansionary Defence Force in almost two decades, and I wrote that report largely from memory. Obviously the Vagaari have made changes since then."

"So, we can assume the Vagaari are coming?" Faro asked.

"I'm afraid so." Thrawn replied.

A full minute of silence passed before any of them spoke. Thrawn threw his head back, eyes darting in no particular direction. Faro waited for a response from either of the two men before speaking up.

"Admiral, should we tell the Narivan?"

"We'll have to." Thrawn responded.

"Somehow I knew you wouldn't be evacuating." Pellaeon asked.

Thrawn shook his head.

"If the Vagaari are chasing us, then we have a better chance at survival with the Narivan fleet at our backs rather thn being caught out in space with no support. Besides, I see too much potential in the Narivan to simply let them perish."

"Admiral, all of our reports indicate that the Narivan fleet isn't equipped for combat against a technologically superior foe." Pellaeon said.

"Then we shall have to accelerate our technological collaboration." Thrawn replied.

"We may be able to equip the Vagaari ships with rudimentary shield generators. Any form of energy weapons will be an issue, it's unlikely any of the Narivan ships possess the power supply to support turbolasers." Faro suggested.

"Engineer Ormyn will have to be consulted on any potential refits." Thrawn replied, before turning to Pellaeon.

"Captain, what is the status of the repairs on our Star Destroyers?"

"All of them are combat capable Admiral, it will only take another day or two to get them working at peak efficiency, but almost all of the damage received at Lothal has been repaired." Pellaeon said.

"That will give us somewhat of a chance of survival." Thrawn conceded.

"Somewhat?" Faro asked.

"Admiral, the Vagaari have nothing that can outgun a Star Destroyer."

"No, but they can still overwhelm us with sufficient numbers, and the if the probe was able to make an accurate assessment of the fleet's capabilities, they will likely realize the same thing."

"Then we utilize the Narivan fleet. If we mobilize the Narivan fleet working in support with our Star Destroyers, then we might just stand a chance."

"Will that be enough?" Pellaeon asked.

"It's the most we can bring." Faro replied.

"Commodore, I want you to prepare an announcement of these events for the Narivan council. Preferably something that will minimize our potential blame in the Vagaari's imminent return." Thrawn ordered.

"In the meantime, I'm going to retreat to my quarters and begin formulating a strategy."


"The Vagaari are a species of nomads. For as long as the Chiss have been aware of their existence, they have shunned a terrestrial existence in exchange for one eternally drifting among the stars in their warships. Theories have abounded on why this proclivity exists, ranging from the possible loss of their original homeworld to evolutionary adaptation to such an environment. The Vagaari have become something of a curiosity among the Ascendancy's academia for this reason, but none of this is relevant to the coming confrontation.

What is relevant is that this unique lifestyle manifests in the Vagaari way of war in a uniquely ferocious manner. A Vagaari vessel is not merely a warship, nor even a transport. It is a self-sufficient colony, an entire city suspended in the void of space, encased within a thin layer of ray shielding and a shell of durasteel, its populations having only a fragile, flimsy, scavenged life support system to separate themselves from an agonising demise.

In such an environment, a systems failure is not merely putting military assets at stake, it is risking the loss of an entire colony of Vagaari, men, women and children alike. If a Chiss, Imperial or even Rebel warship collapses, it is a loss of military assets and personnel. If a Vagaari warship is destroyed, it is less akin to the loss of a Star Destroyer, and more akin to the destruction of an entire city and the subsequent slaughter of its population.

The result is that every battle and every engagement for the Vagaari is a fight for the sake of the species itself, and it is this high-risk environment that has bred into the Vagaari a servile attitude and a strong psychological compulsion towards strict hierarchy and order of command. A Vagaari vessel can function for years, even decades independently, but the moment a superior officer steps into the fray they are indoctrinated from birth to fall in line. Initiative and independent thinking on the battlefield can allow for the full range of a ship's potential to manifest, but an ill-made independent decision can just as easily lead to a catastrophic loss, and the Vagaari, having merged their whole civilization into their warfleets, cannot possibly risk such a loss.

Of course, this crippling dependency on hierarchy results in the Vagaari command structure being a tenuous, fragile construct at the best of times. The right strike, at the right moment, with the correctly calculated amount of force can shatter the entire construct as easily as a pane of glass.

I was once able to achieve the desired effect during my days in the Chiss Expansionary Defence Force. I had been conducting an investigation into Vagaari activity on the Ascendancy's periphery when I happened on the Lesser Space vessel known as "Outbound Flight". With assistance from the Trade Federation and their battle droids, I was able to strike a deathblow at the very head of the Miskarate, annihilating their leadership in one, fatal blow. The result was a total paralysis of the Vagaari Prime Fleet, freezing in place as every vessel from the largest capital ship to the smallest frigate panicked and reeled from the shock of the leadership they had once so reverently deferred to disappearing in the blink of an eye.

A repeat of my strategy in the Outbound Flight incident will not work. The automated nature of the scout probe suggests a newfound familiarity with droid technology. Furthermore, before I left the Ascendancy, our intelligence reports in the years after Outbound Flight had long since concluded that the remaining Vagaari forces had taken precautions to ensure a repeat of their defeat would not be possible, through the form of increased contingencies and fallback plans in the event of command structure collapse.

But that does not mean the same principle can be applied in a different manner.

The battle will be fought in orbit around Neriva. We will use Neriva's asteroid fields to provide cover. With fire support from my Star Destroyers the Narivan fleet could prove a surprisingly lethal tool. It may be possible to strip away the Vagaari shields with ion weapons, allowing the kinetic projectiles of the Narivan to tear at the durasteel hulls.

A victory through this attritional, defensive wearing down of the Vagaari is possible, though likely to be costly for both the remaining 7th Fleet and the Narivan, and it will be my contingency should the primary battleplan fail, but a more ideal scenario would be to cripple the Vagaari fleet with minimal casualties through another paralyzing psychological shock.

And so I find myself returning to Outbound Flight, wondering how I could recreate a similar scenario with the tools currently at my disposal.

What will be needed will be a more profound psychological shock to the Vagaari than even the sudden death of the Miskara. A world-shattering, unexpected turn of events that would completely and totally undermine the Vagaari faith in their ability to attain victory, faith even in their whole way of life.

Fortunately, I may have just the tool I need at my disposal…


"You wanted to see me?" Bridger asked, entering the room Thrawn had commandered as his quarters. The Admiral was staring at an old wooden clock standing in front of the stone wall, no doubt studying it for any possible insights into the Narivan culture.

"Yes, I did. By now you have no doubt heard the news?" Thrawn nodded.

"I have." Ezra gritted his teeth.

"And if you think I'm going to drop everything and abandon these people-"

"I don't." Thrawn stopped him, waving a hand.

Ezra stopped himself, mentally chastising himself for not expecting Thrawn to have already calculated for his reaction.

"So then, why am I here?"

"Do you remember our last encounter with the Vagaari?" Thrawn asked.

Ezra nodded.

"Do you remember their particularly unique form of… psychological warfare?"

Ezra gulped. "The bubbles."

"It's quite effective, isn't it? That's the brilliance of the Vagaari, they force their enemies to fight with the same ruthlessness they themselves show in order to win." Thrawn mused, with a strange mixture of both disgust and admiration.

"The fact you're willing to stoop to their level is why I took up arms against the Empire in the first place." Bridger shot back.

"Nobody should be fighting like that, ever."

"And yet they do. And this is the reality of the Galaxy." Thrawn countered.

"Tell me, what if your Rebellion happened to encounter a Vagaari flotilla? Would you damn the Vagaari's shields? Or would you simply let yourself be destroyed?"

"We'd find a way. I don't know how, but we'd beat them, somehow. Even if it means grabbing my lightsaber and marching over to them personally. " Ezra said firmly.

"Good. I can use that." Thrawn smirked.

"Use it?" Bridger asked.

"We don't know what force the Vagaari will send when they come, but assuming they know the full strength of our forces, they will send the bulk of their fleet. Now it is not impossible for us to win such an engagement, but we would almost certainly be outnumbered, and such a victory would be long and grinding. And it would result in the deaths of many innocent Vagaari captives. Deaths I'm sure you'd rather avoid."

"Are you telling me there's a way to beat the Vagaari without killing those people?"

Thrawn shook his head.

"Not entirely. Not all of them. However, there may be a way to drastically reduce the death toll, and even help them."

"You expect me to believe you've suddenly grown a conscience?" Ezra said, raising an eyebrow.

"I believe this plan will be the quickest and most efficient route to victory, and I believe you'll help me because of your need to help the innocent." Thrawn replied.

Ezra shrugged, deciding it ultimately didn't matter what Thrawn's motives were if he could actually do some good for once.

"Alright. If it'll help those people, I'll do it. What do you need me to do?"

"Excellent." Thrawn said, satisfied.

"It's simple, Bridger, all I need is for you to do what you do best." Thrawn said.

"Start a rebellion."


Uploading this the day Ahsoka comes out just to flex on Disney.

I have thoughts on that, if you care to read them, if not feel free to ignore this:

I have zero fears of Ahsoka "replacing" this fic or making it obsolete for the simple fact that, from what I can tell, the show has gone in the exact opposite direction of what I wanted them to do.

Dave Filoni has a bad habit of ignoring and just outright contradicting any books or source material he doesn't like, something I found out much to my chagrin the further I delved into the old Legends/EU Canon, and especially the ancient Clone Wars Multimedia Project.

And it looks like he's now intending to do the same thing for Disney Canon.

As far as I can tell with Ahsoka, he's completely ignored the Zahn books. Thrawn is just a straightforward bad guy like he was in Rebels (which I hate), and there's no sign of the Chiss or Vanto.

As far as I can tell there will be no Ezra Thrawn teamup, there will be no morally grey antihero Thrawn, and it looks like they're just planning to ignore the whole Grysk threat the Zahn books were alluding to.

In fact, it looks as if they're planning to just do the god-damned Thrawn Trilogy again. Ahsoka just namedrops the first book in the trailer.

Now look, I love the Thrawn Trilogy, I really do, I wouldn't have written an entire fanfic about Thrawn if I didn't love Zahn's writing. But redoing the Thrawn Trilogy in new canon is a TERRIBLE idea. Mostly because it has to be jammed in with all the other new canon lore I've been vocally critical of in the past. I would launch into an explanation of all the problems with this, but it would be bigger than the actual chapter.

I've made my mistakes with Ascendancy, frankly I regret this Neriva plotline getting as big as it did, but at least I tried to do something original, at least I actually attempted to take the spirit of what previous stuff was doing and do something cool and original that honours it.

As always, I'll continue chugging along. I intended to get this out sooner but some personal stuff got in the way. I'm happy I managed to get the plot running again anyway if nothing else.