Timothy Zahn ’s return to his most famous creation , Grand Admiral Thrawn , has been one of theconsistent highlightsof the Modern canon of Star Wars under Disney . So far we ’ve catch to seeThrawn ’s early daysin the Empire anda fateful encounterbetween him and Anakin Skywalker , and io9 can now give you an sole tone inside the third entry in this new Thrawn serial .
Set before theclimactic events over Lothalin the coda of the renovate series Star Wars : Rebels , the third entry in Zahn and Del Rey ’s Thrawn saga , Thrawn : Treason , hits shelves this month . The book finds the Grand Admiral at betting odds — not just with fellow Imperials , as he find his TIE Defender project stalled in party favour of a sure battlestation undertaking courtesy ofRogue One ’s Director Krennic , but his commitment to both the Empire and his own multitude , the Chiss , when a dreadful threat to his homeworld brings Thrawn crashing back into an clash with the Chiss Ascendancy .
That dire menace is brought to Thrawn ’s care by the return of a familiar grimace , as you ’ll see : Thrawn ’s former protege , Commander Eli Vanto , give for the first metre since the original Koran in the serial , Thrawn , release in 2017 ! Back at the end of that book , Eli had found himself on a mission on Thrawn ’s behalf , sent into the Unknown Regions to serve as an regal attache to the mystical Chiss Ascendancy itself .
Thrawn finds himself torn between loyalties.Image: Two Dots (Del Rey/Lucasfilm)
https://gizmodo.com/the-ending-of-star-wars-rebels-was-perfect-because-it-w-1823519195
Ahead of Thrawn : Treason ’s early release at San Diego Comic - Con this week , check out our sole extract below — in both text and in Marc Thompson ’s narration from the Thrawn : Treason audiobook — to see what Eli ’s been up to in his time among the Chiss , include rub articulatio humeri with another typeface fan of Zahn ’s Star Wars exposit universe cloth will retrieve …
It had all started out well enough , Lieutenant Eli Vanto cerebrate as he page through yet another data heel filled with finespun Chiss script . Thrawn had told him that the Chiss Ascendancy had vital want of his talents and abilities , and that he ’d do for Eli to be quietly exhaust from his current tariff aboard the Chimaera . Eli had accepted the Modern assignment and left Imperial space , arriving at the rendezvous full stop Thrawn had sent him to full of hope and prospect , with the fervour of the unknown tingling through him .
Eli and Ar’alani make quite the team.Image: Darren Tan (Del Rey/Lucasfilm)
I am Admiral Ar’alani of the Chiss Defense Fleet , the aristocratical - skinned womanhood had greet him from the span of her ship . Are you he ?
I am he , Eli had confirm , making sure to take his voice with the mix of authority and respect that had service him well during his years in the Imperial fleet . I am Eli Vanto . I convey salutation to you from Mitth’raw’nuruodo . He believe I can be of some use to the Chiss Ascendancy .
receive , Eli Vanto , she ’d replied . Let us see together if he was correct .
That had been over a year ago . In retrospect , Eli thought a little sourly , he should have realise from Ar’alani ’s neutral word and whole step that she was n’t impressed .
His first turn aboard the Steadfast was to find demotion from Imperial commander to Chiss Defense Fleet deputy . No veridical surprise there — different military machine would hardly have equivalent social status systems . His second act was to be drop into an intensive track in Cheunh , the main Chiss language . Again , no surprise — though many aboard spoke the Sy Bisti trade language Eli was fluent in , it was certainly inordinate to anticipate everyone to stoop to the needs of a single crew fellow member . Especially a newcomer and an alien .
But in and through all of that , Eli had carry to be put onto some kind of leadership or command track . Instead , he ’d been floor down here in the analysis department , sifting data , search for patterns , and make predictions .
It was something he was very serious at . Even Thrawn , with all his tactical and strategic genius , had recognized Eli ’s transcendency at such things , and had utilized his science to their full . In retrospect , it was n’t all that surprising that he ’d passed that information on to Ar’alani .
The trouble was that as far as Eli could distinguish , none of the data point he ’d been task to analyse entail anything at all .
They were n’t listings of ship crusade or cargo or smuggling manifests . They were n’t group of personnel , or exotic military personnel , or alien operations . They were n’t even anything internal to the Steadfast , patterns of power usage or data flow or something else design to spot flaws in ship ’s functions or to predict at hand system failure .
To be honest , the whole thing feel like busywork . Eli had always detest busywork .
Still , Ar’alani come to him as a subtle form of person . Maybe this was a tryout of his patience , or his willingness to enthusiastically obey even orders that seemed to make no sense . He ’d certainly gone through a pot of such scenarios with Thrawn .
And really , it was n’t like the tour had been all unremarkable . There ’d been a seriously nasty skirmish with the Grysks and some of their allies near the Imperial border of the Unknown Regions , which had made for a very interesting couple of days . After the inflammation subsided , he ’d hoped things might plunk up a little .
To his letdown , they had n’t . In fact , in many way they ’d really slowed down .
Which was n’t to say the Steadfast was n’t in risk . On the contrary , it was in about as much peril decently now as it had ever been .
The intercom at his place give a small three - shade warble . “ Lieutenant Ivant , report to the bridge deck immediately , ” First Officer Khresh ’s voice amount over the speaker .
“ Acknowledged , ” Eli call back , mentally rolling his eyes . The vast majority of Chiss name were frame of multiple syllables in three distinguishable part , the first of which identified the someone ’s family , the second of which was the given name , and the third of which reflected some social ingredient Eli had n’t yet figured out . Since using multisyllable titles all the time could in earnest bog down down conversations — and bad , well-timed military orders — the normal convention was to use marrow names for everything except in the most stately situations .
But there were a few exceptions to the norm . Admiral Ar’alani herself , for one , plain had only a two - part name and no core name at all . The ship ’s navigators , the young Chiss girls invest with Third Sight who used their ability to point the Steadfast through hyperspace , also espouse that pattern . Eli also had n’t count on out why they got the same naming conventionalism as senior flag officer .
Early on , Ar’alani had explain to her officers and crew that Eli was another such exception , and that he should be addressed as Lieutenant Vanto or Lieutenant Eli’van’to . But for most of them the explanation did n’t seem to have taken . Someone had taken Ar’alani ’s conversion of Eli Vanto into a standard three - part Chiss name , then created a core name out of the middle of it , and the name had stay .
At first , Eli had wondered if it was a subtle contumely , either to him or to the admiral who ’d bring this alien into their midst . But Ar’alani had n’t taken offense at the flouting of her order , at least not in public , and finally Eli decided to treat it as their way of life of swallow him as one of their own .
And it could have been worse . If he ’d been unwise enough to tell them his midway initial — N — the name might have become Invant , which was right smart too close to Infant for comfort .
He was halfway to the bridge , top the standard green- and blue - rim compartment doors , when the double - reddish - rimmed door to the navigation ready room a XII measure in front of him skid open . One of the navigators stepped out into the corridor and turned toward the bridge .
Normally , seeing the back of a navigator ’s head word would n’t have give Eli a clue as to who she was . All of the Steadfast ’s navigators were girls , well-nigh all of them between the ages of seven and fourteen , when Third Sight was at its strongest . On top of that , they tend to keep to themselves , and in all his clock time aboard he ’d only met three of the five .
Vah’nya was the elision to all the rule . She was twenty - two days old , and unlike the kid who shared her job she felt perfectly comfortable mix with the rest of the adults on board . Eli had regard and talked with her on a number of occasions , and had found her congenial company .
“ Navigator Vah’nya , ” he called .
She turned to confront him , a small smile touching her lips as she run across who it was . “ Hello , Lieutenant Eli , ” she say . “ What bring you to this part of the ship ? ”
“ I ’ve been grade to the bridgework , ” he say , eyeball her closely . Not just good company , but also highly intriguing . Though her Third Sight was lento languish , as it did with all navigators , even at twenty - two she still had greater skill than all but one or two of the younger girl .
He ’d depend into it a bit , and as far as he could tell no one make love why her ability had lasted this long . But then , with the whole Chiss navigation system a deep , black secret , it was n’t surprising that it had n’t been very well studied .
On top of all of Vah’nya ’s other interesting quality , she was the only person aboard he ’d been able to persuade to call him by his real name . That alone would have earned her high brand in his book .
“ Ah , ” she pronounce . “ So you were not only coming to see me ? ”
“ No , not at all , ” Eli said , feeling his nerve warming . He was n’t entirely sure of the communications protocol regarding fraternization among the officers and crew , and he had no design of learning about it the difficult means .
“ Too sad , ” Vah’nya said , in a spirit that could have been mild sarcasm or double-dyed sincerity . “ Did Junior Commander Velbb say what it was about ? ” she add as the two of them continued frontwards .
“ Actually , it was n’t Commander Velbb , ” Eli told her . “ The order number from Senior Captain Khresh . ”
“ Really ? ” she said , lower . “ That is unusual . ”
“ I bang . ” Eli gestured to her . “ What about you ? Are you coming on watch ? ”
“ Yes , ” she said . “ Though I experience I ’m unlikely to be needed . ”
Eli scrunch his nose . She had that right wing . Barely three hours after the Steadfast arrived in this system , Ar’alani had order a grueling shutdown of the entire ship , a microscope stage below even dreary stealth mode , cutting unnecessary major power use and all emission , including active sensor . She ’d given the ship one final burst from the campaign , and from that moment on they ’d been drifting , dark and tacit , through the liberal asteroid swath three hundred million kilometers from the organization ’s sun .
That had been nearly a week ago . Eli had check the ship ’s position , and studied the passive sensing element report card , and he still had no idea what they were doing here . His good shot was that they were still accompany the ship they ’d been tag ever since leaving the Unknown Regions and that Ar’alani was afraid of spooking it .
As well she might . They were a farseeing way from Chiss place and the various obscure threats arrayed against them . This was a system deeply within the Galactic Empire .
And the threat here were anything but faint .
Thrawn : Treason is out by and by this month , with fans attending SDCC getting the chance to pick up an exclusive former edition boast new cover art from Two Dots , start from Wednesday , July 17 . But that ’s not all — io9 is worked up to bring out a expression at the brand new poster by Darren Tan , for fans who pick up a copy of the Barnes & Noble edition of the record when it release before long , featuring not just Eli , but Chiss Admiral Ar’alani !
Thrawn : Treason hits shelves on July 23 .
For more , ensure you ’re following us on our fresh Instagram @io9dotcom .
BooksdisneyLUCASFILMSan Diego Comic - ConStar WarsTimothy Zahn
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