r/TheDeepCore

Force composition:

- 1x Executor-class Star Dreadnought ('Intimidator' 'Pride of Yevetha')

• 10,368 fighters.

- 1x Mandator II-class Star Dreadnought ('Implacable' 'Fist of Yevetha')

• [No hangar stat yet]

- 1x Bellator-class Star Dreadnought ('Aramadia')

• 432 fighters.

- 1x Sorannan-class Star Battlecruiser ('EX-F' 'Glory of Yevetha')

• [No hangar stat yet]

- 1x Interlocutor-class Communications Battlecruiser ('Corrupted Signal' 'Voice of Yevetha')

• [No hangar stat yet]

- 2x Urbanus-class Star Cruisers ('Thunder Spear', 'Shattered Katana' 'Purity of Yevetha', 'Star Dream')

• 576 fighters.

- 1x Tyrant-class Missile Cruiser ('Valorous' 'Devotion of Yevetha')

• No fighters.

- 2x Secutor-class Star Destroyers ('Righteous', 'Courageous' 'Liberty of Yevetha', 'Honor of Yevetha')

• 576 fighters.

- 4x Allegiance-class Star Destroyers ('Voracious', 'Animosity', 'Sneering Imperialist', 'Ferocious' 'Harramin', 'Vengeance of Yevetha', 'Loyalty of Yevetha', 'Apotheosis of Yevetha')

• No fighters.

- 12x Imperator I-class Star Destroyers
- 15x Imperator II-class Star Destroyers

• 72-144 fighters.

- 7x Dominator-class Interdictor Star Destroyers

• 16 fighters.

- 1x Modular Taskforce Cruiser

- 7x Venator-class Star Destroyers

• 432 fighters.

- 18x Victory II-class Star Destroyers
- 9x Victory I-class Star Destroyers

• 12 fighters.

- 22x Enforcer-class Star Frigates
- 14x Interdictor-class Star Frigates

• 36 fighters.

- 43x Vindicator-class Star Frigates

• 72 fighters.

- 5x Broadside-class Star Frigates

- Hundreds of lighter Imperial frigates and corvettes not depicted to avoid clutter.

The New Republic were fighting the Black Fleet, which according to the Imperial Order of Battle they had claimed the Black Fleet had 3 SSDs. So why didn't they deploy Lusankya against the Black Fleet?

>!Darius Onneir was an Imperial Lord who became a Moff within the Galactic Empire. Born into wealth and privilege, Onneir used his connections to increase his influence and political power during the Empire's height. Following the deaths of Emperor Palpatine and Darth Vader at Endor in 4 ABY, Onneir, like many other Imperials, went rogue as an independent regional Warlord. While he would squabble with his fellow Warlords, he remained outside of the larger galactic spotlight until 10 ABY when the Reborn Emperor reunited the fragmented Imperial factions briefly under the banner of the Dark Empire. Onneir heeded the call publicly, and nominally returned to the fold, though he still pursued his own ambitions in private. !<

>!While successful in feigning loyalty and supplication for a time, Onneir eventually exceeded his mandates and drew the ire of the Reborn Emperor and New Republic alike. Unable to fight both the galactic superpowers, he fled his domain with his two remaining Imperial Star Destroyers, dropping all pretense of subtlety, he began styling himself now as 'Grand Moff' Onneir. In order to ease pressure on himself, he launched a surprise attack on the Protectore, capturing their capital world and holding it hostage. Using the planet as a bargaining chip, he attempted to bully the Protectorate into an uneasy alliance against their common foes in exchange for the world being unharmed. !<

>!While publicly agreeing to the alliance and a meeting to formalize it, Adalric and Jaalib Brandl plotted an ambush against the renegade to trap his two Star Destroyers between their four, annihilating him to retake their world despite Onneir's leverage. The details of the battle are not documented, or even if it did occur, but Onneir remained at large after the final death of the Reborn Emperor, so it would appear that the trap did not succeed in destroying him. His whereabouts, status and further actions though are not mentioned beyond his still being active after the Reborn Emperor's final death.!<

>!Chik Apla was a human male who served in the Galactic Empire as a commando and later Royal Guard. After Emperor Palpatine was killed at the Battle of Endor and the Empire fragmented in 4 ABY, Apla deserted the Royal Guard. Living as little more than gutter slime for the next fourteen years, Apla eventually took up residence on the planet Dolis 3, where he regularly drank with several other former down on their luck Imperials that had also taken up refuge on the planet, but credits were hard to come by, and most of the men were in debt to each other through favors and loans. Apla and his friends frequently gathered in the local bars to complain about the state of the Empire and to get updates on galactic politics. Apla became marginally employed by a former Moff, Derran Takkar. Unknown to Takkar, Apla also began carrying on an affair with the Moff's wife, Anlys.!<

>!In 19 ABY, Apla and his bar buddies learned Jedi Master Luke Skywalker and Mara Jade were planning a wedding on Coruscant. At news of the wedding, the group bemoaned their situation, declaring that the New Republic was now "untouchable." Moff Takkar disagreed, proclaiming that they could still do much to change their situation and that of the Empire. Takkar asked the men in the bar to join him in striking a blow at the New Republic by sabotaging the wedding, assassinating the pair and inserting a coded virus into the New Republic economy. While unimpressed with Takkar's arrogance and condescending manner, Apla and the rest agreed to join the Moff's cause.!<

>!After arriving on Coruscant, Apla began to act more professionally, quieting arguments and forbidding real name use out loud. However, he accidentally used his own name aloud, noting he was out of practice at this. Apla conducted surveillance, spying on Mara Jade, following her and eavesdropping. Finding the site of the wedding, Apla and his compatriots staked out the area, locating the best places of attack.!<

>!Equipped with his target's identity, Apla found the address of the Twi'lek dressmaker and waited for Jade to arrive for her fitting. Now in his salvaged Guardsman armor, he attacked the former Emperor's Hand with his double-bladed vibroblade staff, declaring that she must die for betraying the Empire-losing any element of surprise by announcing himself. Unfortunately for Apla, who had not kept up his own skills in nearly two decades, Jade reacted with incredible speed and the Force, evading his attack and destroying his weapon in one motion.!<

>!Apla was utterly helpless against Mara's counterattack with his cobbled together armor proving itself as worthless as his weapon, he was swiftly knocked unconscious. After his arrest, Apla's medical report showed a ruptured spleen, bruised liver, a fractured skull and broken ribs. Luckily for Alpa, a protracted stay in a bacta while in New Republic custody healed all of his injuries.!<

>!Traest Kre'fey was a male Bothan with pure white fur, and violet eyes flecked with gold. The grandson of Laryn Kre'fey, when the Kre'fey's lost much of their political power due to his grandfather's failure at Borleias, Kre'fey was sent to a smaller satellite school of the Bothan Martial Academy. There, he was instructed under a rather unorthodox Bothan teacher and developed unusual views of Bothan society. In particular, he held the view that Bothan society at its current form was less than perfect, and that they needed to change to better exist within the galaxy. While this originally alienated him to many of his Bothan superiors, Kre'fey demonstrated exceptional skill as a military officer where he rose slowly due to prejudice from more established Bothans. In 19 ABY though, because of the string of resignations in the Bothan military over the Caamas Document Crisis, Kre'fey gained the opportunity to advance to the rank of admiral.!<

>!While he was a first cousin of Chief of State Borsk Fey'lya, he disagreed with his kinsman on many issues, political, social and military, and their relationship was rather combative as a result. He recognized the threat of the Yuuzhan Vong early on and prior to the Battle of Ithor, and threatened to take the military into the Unknown Regions or place Leia Organa Solo into power via a military coup d'état if Fey'lya would not act. Unlike other admirals, Kre'fey actively sought the help of the Jedi. When Kyp Durron came asking for help in destroying a gravitic superweapon the Yuuzhan Vong were growing in the remains of Sernpidal, he provided his flagship, the Ralroost to assist. Throughout the Yuuzhan Vong war, Traest would prove himself to be one of the more gifted and cooperative commanders in the New Republic, working well alongside the the Jedi, the old guard Generals Wedge Antilles and Garm Bel Iblis, along with newer officers and even Imperial Grand Admiral Gilad Pellaeon.!<

>!Kre'fey was one of the commanders at the Fall of Coruscant, commanding Fleet Group One. He performed conservative actions during the battle, and most of his ships abandoned his orders and defected over to General Garm Bel Iblis who favored harsher and more decisive responses, such as firing through civilian ships the Vong were using as rams. After the battle, he returned to Bothawui for the official period of mourning for Borsk Fey'lya, who was martyred during the fall of Coruscant. While he was there, the Bothan Council officially declared a state of ar'krai-total war that would not end until the Vong were exterminated. Kre'fey initially took to the declaration of total war wholeheartedly, making some of the Jedi under his command suspicious of his intentions, though as the war drug on, Kre'fey, while publicly supportive of harsher measures against the Vong, privately began to have doubts concerning the Vong civilians and Shamed Ones. !<

>!As an added measure the Jedi High Council decided that if Kre'fey tried any actions that might constitute war crimes, the Force meld that the Jedi serving in his fleet used to enhance the fighting prowess of the personnel under Kre'fey's command would prevent the soldiers from doing so. With several squadrons of Jedi under his command, Kre'fey took the fight to the Yuuzhan Vong during the interlude between the election of Cal Omas and the Battle of Ebaq 9, raiding Yuuzhan Vong colonies and attacking the Peace Brigade on Ylesia. On the Ralroost's bulkhead, he inscribed two questions: "What can I do to hurt the Vong today?" and "How can I help my own side grow stronger?", to remind his crew to try to answer the threat of the Yuuzhan Vong.!<

>!From his flagship Ralroost, Kre'fey participated at the final battles of the war in the space around Mon Calamari and then Coruscant where he commanded and fought with great skill against Warmaster Nas Choka's armada. He was present at the formal surrender of the Yuuzhan Vong afterwards. Following the surrender of the Yuuzhan Vong, Kre'fey briefly became the Supreme Commander of the Galactic Alliance Defense Force and earned the title "Liberator of Coruscant," becoming a hero to much of the galaxy. Despite the victory, Kre'fey was despondent, as he believed both that the cost had been too high and that his people would not accept the peace, pressuring him to do the same. His trepidation proved accurate, as the Bothans refused to cease the state of ar'krai, and Kre'fey opposed to their total war, was forced to resign shortly thereafter.!<

>!Zevulon Veers- Zev for short, was a human male, the son of famed Imperial Army General Maximilian Veersn defector to the Rebel Alliance and soldier for the New Republic. Veers lost his mother at a young age, and was raised to be a loyal Imperial youth by his father. Zevulon soon grew distant from his father and began viewing the Empire's practice of slavery against non-Humans as immoral. Veers was enrolled in COMPNOR's Sub-Adult Group where he received low scores from a Political Reliability Observer. After passing junior officer training, Veers was forced by his father to join COMPNOR's elite CompForce unit. Completely disillusioned with both the Empire and his father's obsessive control in the name of reputation, Zevulon considered defecting to the Rebel Alliance. While Zev's superior officer, Ivo Laibach, was interrogating a captive on a mission, a Rebel task force assaulted the CompForcers and took Zev prisoner. Almost immediately upon his capture, Veers defected to the Alliance wholeheartedly.!<

>!Zevulon found life as a Rebel liberating, no longer forced down the path of Imperial service by his father. In 10 ABY, he participated in the Battle of Calamari where he served as a gunner aboard the New Republic Star Destroyer Emancipator under General Lando Calrissian. Zevulon's gunnery managed to destroy the Battlecruiser Allegiance during the battle, but he was forced to abandon ship with the rest of the crew after the Emancipator began disintegrating inside the molecular furnace of a World Devastator. Zev would survive being marooned with the crew on war torn Coruscant to be rescued and later took part in an attack on the Emperor's Citadel on the planet Byss, where he and a New Republic commando team stowed away aboard several X-1 Viper war droids bound for the planet. They launched their attack and made it to the front of the Citadel, but were defeated by a group of Emperor Palpatine's chrysalide beasts-Rancors mutated by Sith alchemy and sorcery. Zev was wounded in the mission, but was rescued with the surviving members of the commando team by the smugglers Salla Zend and Shug Ninx, and were transported safely off-world. !<

>!Zevulon would recover from his wounds and be highly regarded within the New Republic for his actions. His father was not so fortunate, dying that same year in the Imperial assault on Balmorra, demoted and disgraced by the tyrannical regime he had chosen over his own son.!<

After the Yevethans were defeated, Black Sword Command travelled to Byss, only to discover it was destroyed. The Black Fleet then dispersed; some defected to the New Republic while others joined the Imperial Remnant.

At some point between 17 - 21 ABY, the SSD Intimidator was discovered destroyed near the Unknown Regions. As such, why didn't the SSD Intimidator join the Remnant, and who or what destroyed the ship?

Inspired by the excellent Grand Admiral Zaarin artwork by Absorbconical, I did my first ever commission. Shated with permission. I hope that my fellow Grand Admiral enthusiasts find it interesting.

I figured it'd be a neat effect to have Batch showing off some of creations (and a probable one) along with a more practical demonstration of the cloaking devices.

Batch was indeed a genius- but also ruthless and unethical in the extreme. Per his destruction of Aeten II, he has the dubious distinction of being one of the few known Imperials guilty of mundicide. He really didn't let anything stop him from achieving his goals.

Per his own writing in the Imperial Handbook, he outright says that Imperials should murder civilian crews if they posess cloaking devices.

Batch seems to have had a large Fleet- at least 9 ISDs per the Imdaar Alpha artwork and almost as many in the game itself. He also had overall command of the Executor SSD Terror, and possibly another cloaked Executor at Fondor. He also had access to the top Imperial superweapons, such as the Tarkin. Swarms of cloaked TIE Phantoms and he is also known to have provided Palpatine with a cloaked shuttle and yacht.

For ground forces, Batch wouldn't just have had the usual shipboard complements. It doesn't seem like a coincidence that there were two Imperial Terror Projects involving cloaked forces. Batch almost certainly had a role in the development of the cloaked Terror Troopers. He certainly had no qualms about such experimentation.

Batch appears to have been completely loyal, but also aware of what happened to Grand Admiral Teshik, Bevel Lemelisk, Vader himself, and how Advisors were randomly killed (per WEG). He didn't want to suffer their fates, or worse.

Grand Admiral Zaarin has been specifically stated to have acted when he did only Batch was about to give Palpatine an unbeatable edge with the cloaked TIE Phantoms, and the cloaked Executor-class Terror and the Fondor SSD. The Rebels somehow found out about Batch's projects, and it was only after Batch's projects were ruined that Zaarin felt free to move against Palpatine. Zaarin likely betrayed Batch. There's a strong case to be made that Zaarin feared Batch, or at the very least didn't think he could have won against Batch's cloaked forces. So, he made sure Batch would be out of the way, though he probably didn't expect Batch to survive and go into hiding.

Thing is, he was somehow able to hide, along with at least a few ships, for several Months before Endor to about half a year afterwards. Approximately a whole year in hiding. It's impossible to believe that the Empire had no plans to go after him, though if so how, and who among the Grand Admirals would have been assigned to the task? It is impossible to believe he wouldn't have been prioritized.

Batch's crew must have been fairly loyal to him, at least a good while, or they didn't even realize that he had abandoned the mainstream Empire until long after he left.

As for how Batch was able to hide, the subtext of the original Gamer article has the cloaking device guy going into hiding. That is, whatever forces he had left possessed working cloaking devices. Or so it can be inferred, if it wasn't implied.

Batch's reported death is the murkiest and uncertain of all the Grand Admirals. Normally it wouldn't be a huge surprise if such a person really was murdered by his crew, but this was the guy who had cloaking devices, and almost certainly personal cloaked devices as used with the Terror Troopers. If anyone had the technology, means, and motive to escape and go into hiding, it was Batch.

Alternatively, the crew that turned on Batch were some of his own Terror Troopers. He might have had a truly horrific end, being stalked over a prolonged period of time by invisible monsters of his own making.

After Batch's crew got out of hiding, they must have been quite shocked to learn about the state of the Empire and what happened in their absence. Warlord Harrsk is known to have acquired several ships from Batch's forces. Warlord Harrsk is also known to have controlled the Megador, though not prior to Endor. Batch was known for having access to experimental ships and the larger warships in the Imperial Navy- perhaps Megador was among them? Batch still having control of a larger warship in hiding would explain the apparent reluctance or inability of the Empire to go after and neutralize him.

Instead of sending Thrawn to the Unknown Regions, Palpatine uses his exile from the Imperial Court to hide Thrawn's reassignment to the Imdaar Alpha research station to develop a cloaking device for use to crush the Rebels for good.

Since Thrawn is supposed to be in exile, I doubt he would be able to gain the Executor SSD Terror as his flagship because it would look suspicious. Especially since his secret promotion to the rank of Grand Admiral is still, well, a secret.

Like his fellow Grand Admiral Martio Batch, Thrawn would probably come up with hundreds of different stealth designs, with the hibridium cloak being the most promising design. Unlike Batch, who abandoned the hibridium cloaking design because it prevented the pilot from seeing out of his ship, I think Thrawn would still find ways to make good use of it since he is a tactical genius. A good example would be the Siege of Coruscant in 9 ABY in the original timeline, where I theorize he used the hibridium cloaking tech for his cloaked asteroids during the Siege of Coruscant.

As for whether Thrawn would use the Tarkin superweapon to destroy Aeten II to get instant access to the stygium crystals for his cloaking experiments is a good question. On one hand, Thrawn is ruthless and will do whatever it takes to achieve his goals, having no problem bombarding whole worlds into submission. On the other hand, he did believe in restraint, to an extent, so I think he would only destroy Aeten II as a last resort, but he would do so without hesitation.

Especially since the Aeten II mines were all tapped out, so it was virtually impossible to obtain new stygium crystals. As such, I believe Thrawn uses the Tarkin to destroy Aeten II and acquires millions of the stygium crystals for the TIE Phantoms. Since Thrawn's rank as Grand Admiral is still a secret, he probably contacts Palpatine for authorisation to use the Tarkin and receives his approval. Fortunately for Thrawn, there are enough crystals for him to refit his flagship, the ISD Admonitor, and the Imdaar Alpha research station with the stygium cloak too.

The Rebels still learn of the TIE Phantoms and try to steal one, but Thrawn foils the plot. Curiously enough, the Rebels destroyed the station in 3 ABY, the same year Zaarin launched his coup. The TIE Phantom project was top-secret, so only the Imperial top brass would have known about it. One theory I heard is that Zaarin leaked the project to the Rebels to deprive the Empire of a counter to his TIE Avengers, which would also function as a distraction and lessen the resources the Empire could devote towards stopping him.

In this timeline, Thrawn still fights Zaarin, but with a stealth Admonitor and a fleet of TIE Phantoms, Thrawn will have an easier time defeating Zaarin. Maybe even beating him before he destroys the TIE Avenger factories and giving the Empire an extra weapon to use against the Rebellion.

As a reward for defeating Zaarin, Palpatine rewards Thrawn by ending his exile, publicly appointing him to Grand Admiral and giving him the Terror, ordering him to refit it with the stygium cloak. Thrawn accepts the reward and gains the Terror as his new flagship, along with Admiral Sarn, Batch's protege who was loyal to Admiral Blitzer Harrsk, as his second-in-command.

After the Empire loses the Battle of Endor, Thrawn wouldn't have to worry about a mutiny because he can command genuine respect from his subordinates. On that note, Batch's distinterest in Imperial politics and low profile led to him being called "the invisible Admiral", but it also meant he lacked strong allies. This, combined with his lack of any notable military achievements, and his failure to stop the TIE Phantoms from being destroyed, leads me to believe he was a terrible leader, which is probably half the reason why his own crew mutinied and assassinated him.

Especially since Sarn's crew were loyal to Sarn, though Thrawn can easily earn their respect too. After Endor, Thrawn can either return to Coruscant to rally the Empire or go to the Empire of the Hand to deal with Nuso Esva and the other threats of the Unknown Regions. I believe he would do the latter, since Pestage and Isard are there to keep the Empire together, and Thrawn knows they wouldn't appreciate an alien Grand Admiral usurping their authority.

With the Terror and a fleet of TIE Phantoms, combined with his strategic ingenuity, Thrawn would be virtually unstoppable.