Conspiracy and Resolve
Admiral Demitrius Zaarin was one of the good old hands in the Imperial Navy. He was courteous and humble toward everyone, highly professional, and had always devoted himself to helping the Imperial Navy improve its equipment, doing everything he could to close the gap with the Kingdom of Dawn army's armaments.
Previously, under his leadership, Sith Fleet Systems had developed the improved TIE fighter and bomber. Compared with the much-criticized TIE/LN light fighter, the improved TIE fighter truly possessed combat performance far superior to the earlier V-wing Alpha-class Starfighter.
Even many Inquisitors and Dark Jedi Knights used improved TIE fighters as their personal craft.
This finally meant that the Imperial Navy's fighter complement was no longer a joke. Before this, many performance specifications of the TIE/LN fighter had actually been inferior to those of the V-wing Alpha-class Starfighter, the Galactic Republic's last-generation mainstay fighter. This led many people to mock the Imperial Navy for forcibly replacing V-wing fighters with TIE fighters simply to save money.
Moreover, Demitrius Zaarin was usually very modest. He often said that he was merely a technician handling rear-area technology and should not enjoy the same status as frontline officers. After all, those fighting on the front lines with their lives on the line were the true heroes. Thus, Admiral Zaarin normally did not wear an Imperial admiral's white General's uniform, instead wearing the gray uniform of an ordinary naval officer.
Naturally, Thrawn held great affection for such a man. He nodded and said to Zaarin, "If you need anything, just tell me."
"Ah, it's like this. After Mr. Orman Tagge established the Cutting-Edge Technology Alliance, he invested enormous resources into technological research. Aside from those top-secret projects, I also have a super fighter plan here. I call it—the Defender Project. Therefore, I