2884, Thrawn's Counterattack (Part 1)
Imperial Marshal Niel Declan looked at Thrawn in the hologram and said, "Without His Majesty the Emperor, my Battle Meditation cannot compare to what it was when he was alive."
"You can at least keep the soldiers from thinking about running away, can't you?" Thrawn asked.
"Probably..." Niel Declan said. "But first, tell me why you hold the rank of marshal. And how did you obtain the Emperor's signed orders?"
Thrawn glanced at him. "When Dunn Vesex imprisoned me over the Northern Territory matter, His Majesty the Emperor came to see me personally and appointed me a marshal."
"Dunn Vesex? Hmph! That fool. I knew it. How could that worthless coward possibly have won such a great victory against the Kingdom of Dawn in the Northern Territory?" Niel Declan snorted coldly.
There was no racial prejudice between him and Thrawn.
Niel Declan had come from commoner origins, and because he was Black himself, even within the Human Supremacy-minded Galactic Empire, though he was not openly discriminated against, he still endured more than a few contemptuous looks.
Therefore, he held no prejudice toward Thrawn, a Chiss. If anything, the fact that they had both received exceptional appointments from Palpatine gave him a certain sense of kinship.
Of course, that was only Niel Declan's one-sided view. He could not tell what the calm-faced Thrawn was thinking at all.
Thrawn lightly tapped the holographic star map with a fingertip. "First, assemble all our forces in Satellite 1's orbit."
"Satellite 1? It's too close to Coruscant! If we assemble there, we'll be subjected to concentrated attacks from the Separatist fleet!" Niel Declan said.
"They will not attack us. At least, not for now," Thrawn replied. "Tang Xiao is holding his foolish coronation ceremony. The Kingdom of Dawn fleet's formation