The administrative heart of the Galactic Empire's Northern Territory theater, Parin-Minor Planet.
A flash of white light streaked past, and a battered fleet appeared in space beyond the planet. It was in a pitiful state. Nearly every warship had its shields breached, their main armor belts riddled with holes, with fires and smoke rising from countless sections.
Without question, this was Thrawn's victorious fleet returning home.
This fleet had initially numbered more than eight hundred capital ships. But Admiral Gillard Perine had led it in a campaign against the Malarian Alliance, only to be defeated by Mar Tuk and suffer grievous losses. Later, when Mar Tuk attacked Bilbrin Planet, the fleet had launched a forced counterattack under Lieutenant General Ozir's command—and suffered another defeat.
By then, little remained of the fleet. Only after receiving some reinforcements had its number of capital ships barely returned to three hundred, and many of those vessels carried wounds of varying severity.
With such a fleet, Thrawn had defeated Admiral Mar Tuk's menacing Commerce Guild Fleet!
Afterward, he received further replacements, keeping his capital ship count at around three hundred. But one had to remember that this was already the third major battle the fleet had fought in succession.
Then Sefrans Tann, long renowned as the strongest commander in the Milky Way Galaxy, attacked once more with the Archangel Titan warship, hailed as the strongest warship in the Milky Way Galaxy. Counting her Light Cruisers, Sefrans Tann's forces were twice Thrawn's!
Moreover, the quality of their warships was in an entirely different league. Hell-Angel Class Battlecruisers required Imperial-class Star Destroyers to contend with them. The other battlecruisers—the Behemoth-class, Doomsday Battlefield class, and Dunov Class—also possessed greater overall combat power than Victory II-class Star Destroyers. Most importantly, these warships complemented one another perfectly, each with its