023 Thrawn

"We thank you for your support" Admiral Ar'alani came through the comms and thanked us

"No problem, we have just conducted a trade of mutual benefit. I don't see a problem with helping our friends out" I replied "Our side will have the War Droid arrive soon"

After some friendly exchanges between us, the Droid finally came. They were in awe of the massive size of droid we gave them.

"The droid has arrived, we will take our leave now" I notified them

"Our command has just told us that Commander Mitth'raw'nuruodo will follow your fleet and carry out their side of the deal"

I immediately knew who they were talking about. It was unexpected that they sent Thrawn but I knew what they want to do. After saying our goodbyes, we picked up Thrawn on one of our ships and headed back to our territory.

He soon boarded the Falling Star as we prepared to make a jump for hyperspace.

"Welcome to the Falling Star Commander Mitth'raw'nuruodo" I greeted

"Mr. Mand'alor, you may just call me Commander Thrawn" He bowed

"Ah, thank you Commander Thrawn, that makes things much easier" I replied "I will be leaving my fleets to learn from you then"

"It would be my job and honor to be able to teach Mandalorians" Thrawn spoke

"What do you think of my fleet?" I asked him for his opinion "Give your thoughts about it"

"Can I see the ship designs and fleet details?" He asked

"You may, but some things will be hidden. Protocols" I smiled "I'm sure you know how things work, you were given special authorization to show my sincerity of making peace with your people"

"Thank you" He nodded in appreciation

Ship designs are basically the overview on how ships work and their weaknesses could be found by an experienced fleet officer just by looking at these designs. Leaking them out could compromise the entire fleet and I'm taking a huge risk by sharing with him this knowledge. He took some time but eventually finished studying our ships and making calculations.

"Overall effectiveness is pretty good in fleet battles. The only problem is the lack of different ships. of the same class. You are also being held back by fleet battle tactics and experience in fleet battles" He concluded

I nodded at his observations "I too feel the same, which is why you will be teaching us battle tactics and knowledge as we trade with your people. This way we can benefit both sides and create a relationship where we both are benefitting"

We continued to talk about the fleet before finally arriving at Yansil.

"Welcome to our core system. As you can see we are creating a massive army to protect us but we don't have the necessary knowledge to prevent casualties. You will be staying on one of our Core planets, Yansil" I introduced him

"What are those?" he asked pointing at the SDPs

"Those are our Star Defense Platforms, they are here to protect us from invasions and attacks from star beasts/entities. So far besides our war droids, they are the main deterrent against them. Any inhabitable planet's system is protected by one of them" I smiled

He looked at the SDFs in amazement. Soon we got onto a ship and descended into the atmosphere of Yansil.

"As you can see, we only create cities on certain areas and leave most of the wilderness untouched" I pointed at the forests. "You will be staying in our capital city and we can start the training program whenever you are ready"

After he settled down, I had people give him a guide on the cities and planets we have in our territory. He was amazed at how our empire has such a diversity in races. We taught him our knowledge and creeds as well as traditions. He decided to start by learning more about us so he could fit in a little bit more. I supported it and I gave him the money he needed on a daily basis. There were children occasionally on the streets playing and he would run into them. Through them, he slowly got into a friendly relationship with the people and learned about our stories and legends.

Slowly, he managed to admire me and our traditions as mandalorians. There were the people of Chiss that was coming to our territory to conduct trade every so often. The bought some of our technologies they found useful and the materials we harvested from space beast hides. Their military advisors would also buy or super soldier serums for their troops. He would start the training two months after he arrived. As the training started, I was getting news about the creation of the CIS.

The clone wars are going to break out in a year or two. I strengthened our forces in our borders and sent Selena some knowledge on troop deployments to prepare her. Last year, for her birthday gift, I gave her the SG-S series weapons.

Thrawn had trained our commanders and officers using some of the training from their programs while using some of his ideas. The new program was highly effective and the troops were in awe of his intelligence and Command ability. Under the recommendations of our members, I gave him the command authority over the Falling Star and her fleet. He was surprised and tried to turn it down.

"You earned the admiration of our men. You gained their trust, so I also trust you to lead this fleet of mine one day. Whether or not you are still under the Ascendency or not. You have gained our respect for you. In other words, we recognize you as one of us" I told him "Besides, you have not only gained the support of my soldiers but everyone on this planet. I entrust her and her fleet to you"

After I told him that, he was directly promoted to the Commanding Officer of the Falling star and her fleet. For half the year, he was training our men and exploring our empire at the same time. On several occasions, he was attacked by Space Beasts and got to see our War Droids and SDPs in action. Hyperspace lanes were constructed and they would be lead toward one of our outposts where two or three fleets would be watching them. From there they would be able to access the rest of our empire.

Pirates attacked our outposts and were repelled every time. The Chiss Ascendency was also attacked and had their people taken away by them to become slaves. I ordered 5 Home Defense Fleets to create a force to attack their ships and planets on the system they took over. Thrawn's fleet had joined the task force and I allowed him to have full control of the fleets during this time. Invasion fleets were sent to free the slaves. The Ascendency also sent their fleets and men to assist us to get their people back. It took some time but we managed to completely eradicate them in the last three months of the year.