I will overcome every obstacle, keep my eyes always on Radiance in the Storm. With these wounded hands, I will create a beautiful future, and endless radiance... The stirring music echoed continuously through the office.
"Colonel, an order has arrived from the Naval Department. New operational orders will be issued this afternoon," Adjutant Sandars said as he walked over.
"This is a song by Ailiya-Isabella, the superstar of Dawn Star Planet. It's called 'Radiance in the Storm,'" Colonel Thrawn said seemingly out of nowhere. "It was written a long time ago and is no longer popular. But as a celebrity who serves as part of Dawn Star Planet's official image, Ailiya-Isabella sings it at nearly every concert..."
Adjutant Sandars scratched his head and glanced at the screen before Colonel Thrawn. "Are you looking into Dawn Star Planet's intelligence again? We probably won't be fighting Dawn Star Planet anymore, right? They've already surrendered."
"I think it is a very interesting planet," Thrawn said blandly. "Dawn Star Planet is remote, economically developed, beyond the effective reach of the Galactic Empire, and predominantly human. Even if they merely maintained the status quo, given enough time, they could become one of the Galactic Empire's foremost great powers. Yet their culture is permeated everywhere by a sense of crisis... Why?"
Colonel Thrawn asked the question with no apparent answer in mind.
"Perhaps it is because of Tang Xiao's ambition," the adjutant said. "Look at Dawn Star Planet before and after the war. They expanded their territory enormously. Now they can be called a very powerful warlord."
"You are half right, Sandars," Colonel Thrawn said. "Tang Xiao is ambitious, but that ambition extends far beyond mere expansion. From the very beginning, his hypothetical enemy was the Galactic Republic. Even now, his target remains the Galactic Empire.