The Eclipse-class Super Star Destroyer opened fire, throwing Thrawn's fleet into brief chaos.
Before the battle, all sensor detection had been blocked, so they had not known that Zaarin's fleet possessed a Super Star Destroyer.
According to the intelligence available at the time, Zaarin's fleet consisted of only ten Imperial II-class Star Destroyers, some auxiliary warships, and several experimental prototype fighters including TIE Defenders. Compared with the twelve Star Destroyers and twenty-three Light Cruisers Thrawn had brought, their forces had been roughly evenly matched.
But the sudden appearance of an Eclipse-class Super Star Destroyer immediately filled every officer and soldier in Thrawn's fleet with the terror of impending doom. Worse still, this Eclipse-class vessel had actually opened fire!
More than a hundred turbolasers fired fiercely from the Eclipse-class Super Star Destroyer's immensely heavy, 17,500-meter-long hull, yet the barrage appeared somewhat sparse. The actual damage was far less severe than the psychological terror it caused. Several warships in the fast Light Cruiser formation Thrawn had dispatched immediately turned around and tried to flee.
Thrawn made a swift decision and immediately ordered that any ship fleeing in battle would have its entire crew executed, with their families arrested on charges of treason as well. Only then did morale stabilize somewhat, and the ships resumed their planned course, continuing their assault on the heart of Zaarin's fleet.
At the same time, Thrawn keenly noticed how sparse the Eclipse-class vessel's firepower truly was. It seemed his judgment had been correct. This Eclipse-class ship was merely an empty shell and had not formed any real combat power at all.
He immediately contacted Governor Wilhuff Tarkin and another Imperial Marshal, Orman Tagge, asking about the Eclipse-class Super Star Destroyer's weapons systems and overall structure.
Wilhuff Tarkin replied that miniaturizing the Death Star weapons system remained a