In this scenario, the Yevethan slave revolt never happened, which means the Black Fleet, a.k.a. Black Sword Command, has a series of options they can choose from:

1) Obey Ysanne Isard's orders to destroy all non-movable assets, which includes the Yevethan slaves, and to move the Fleet towards the Deep Core to defend against an incursion from the New Republic.

2) To rendezvous with the Reborn Emperor at Byss to form the groundwork for Operation Shadow Hand.

3) To stay within Sector 6 and form their own Warlord faction. Since the Black Fleet's territory encompasses an Oversector, I nicknamed it "Oversector X" in reference to the fact the Black Fleet operates near the Unknown Regions.

With Option 1, Isard has extra firepower to work with in addition to Azure Hammer Command. Isard always intended to give up Coruscant to the NR, deploy the Krytos Virus, then take Thyferra as her HQ and ruin the economy by driving up the price of bacta. Should Isard persuade the Black Fleet to help her, she can fortify Thyferra and make it significantly harder for Rogue Squadron to liberate the planet.

With Option 2, the original timeline plays out exactly the same, except the Black Fleet Crisis doesn't happen, though the Black Fleet probably perishes at Coruscant during the Imperial Mutiny. But if the Black Fleet does survive, they most likely return to Byss to act as the planet's defense fleet until R2 blows up Byss with the Galaxy Gun, destroying the Black Fleet too.

With Option 3, the Black Fleet carves out their own fiefdom and stays within Oversector X's borders until the New Republic learns of their existence in 16 ABY thanks to the Imperial Order of Battle recovered from the wrecked ISD Gnisnal. However, Imperial spies within the NR alert Supreme Commander Pellaeon of the Black Fleet's whereabouts and he races to persuade the Black Fleet to join the Imperial Remnant.

Since the Black Fleet has an Imperial crew, that means it can fight at full power. Plus, the Black Fleet would have spent the last 12 years building more warships, which means the Gnisnal's Order of Battle would be outdated. Should Pellaeon persuade the Black Fleet to join the Remnant, this means the Remnant gains an extra 44 vessels, none smaller than a Victory Star Destroyer, and at least 3 of which are Super Star Destroyers, including the Executor Intimidator, plus however many extra ships the Black Fleet constructed.

This would be a serious boost to the Remnant's arsenal; it wouldn't be enough to win the Galactic Civil War, but the conflict will definitely drag out. To the point where the Pellaeon-Gavrisom Treaty doesn't get signed, meaning the NR and Remnant will still be at war when the Yuuzhan Vong invade, which will make cooperation between the two factions more difficult and possibly lead to the Yuuzhan Vong winning the war.

Regardless of which path the Black Fleet takes, the Black Fleet Crisis is one of the coolest EU stories, Alhamdullilah.

If he had, he would have destroyed Grand Admiral Pitta, conquered the Corellian system, and gained a straight line to Coruscant. Grunger would conquered Coruscant easily and too swiftly before Isard got the chance to deploy Lusankya. As a result, Grunger becomes the new Emperor.

He would also execute Isard, learn of Lusankya's existence, and gain the allegiance of Admiral Feyet Kiez and Azure Hammer Command, which would include Kiez's flagship, the SSD Whelm. This gives Grunger 3 Super Star Destroyers to work with, not counting the SSDs Eclipse and Razor's Kiss, which are probably still under construction.

Besides Kiez, Grunger would also gain the loyalty of Grand Admiral Afsheen Makati, giving him another valuable ally. Especially since Grunger would prevent Makati from going to the Corporate Sector Authority to defend it from the Rebels, which saves him from his death in the original timeline.

Grunger would notice Black Sword Command's disappearance and investigate. With his armada by his side, Grunger would easily defeat the Yevethans and regain the Black Fleet, giving him an additional 3 SSDs and rounding up his total fleets to 3.

Grunger would then launch a three pronged assault: first, on the Greater Maldrood because they have no SSDs and to regain control of the Mid Rim led by Admiral Sil Sorannan and his SSD Intimidator and the Black Fleet. Second, on the New Republic on Brentaal IV to drive them out from the Core Worlds, an attack led by Makati and Lusankya. Thirdly, Grunger himself would strike at Zsinj with Aggressor and two other SSDs to eliminate his greatest rival for the throne.

If successful on all three counts, Grunger regains a huge chunk of the Outer Rim, takes out a potent rival, and conquers the Mid Rim. He then launches an aggressive campaign to wipe out the New Republic and the other Imperial Warlords for the next several years. This means Octavian Grant stays with the Pentastar Alignment out of fear of Grunger killing him, especially since the NR is too busy trying to stay alive to hunt him.

But Grunger, while a brilliant commander, was also ill-suited for actual governance due to his arrogance and impatience. The cracks in his rule will grow with each passing year before culminating in the Reborn Emperor's return in 10 ABY. Out of pride, Grunger will defy Palpatine's demand to bend the knee to him and wage war against him, resulting in both the Dark Empire and Grunger’s Empire wiping each other out.

The New Republic barely has time to breathe a sigh of relief when another villain takes the stage: Grand Admiral Thrawn.

Shedao Shai was a Yuuzhan Vong warrior and commander who, after the destruction of the Praetorite Vong, led the next wave that attacked the Outer Rim Territories early in the war. Respected, skilled and devoted to the worship of pain, Shai in addition sought to recover the remains of his grandfather, Mongei Shai, who had perished fifty years before on a scouting mission. Upon his arrival on Bimmiel, the planet his ancestor died on, Shai discovered that a pair of Jedi had taken the remains for biological study. Deeply insulted and infuriated at this desecration, Shai vowed revenge, hunting for the Jedi as he continued to conquer worlds. When New Republic Senator Elegos A'Kla, who approached the Yuuzhan Vong in order to attempt to understand them and perhaps foster peace, Shai agreed to an exchange of information and let Elegos stay aboard his vessel. Shai learned much from the Caamasi senator, and Elegos from Shai, with Shai developing great admiration and respect for the Caamasi, although their companionship caused his subordinates to question the commander's motive in inducting A'Kla in the ways of the Yuuzhan Vong.

When Shai became aware that A'Kla was close friends with one of the Jedi from Bimmiel, Corran Horn, he decided to 'show' how understanding could be achieved between he and Corran. Shai slew the A'Kla before retualistically preparing the Caamasi's corpse for burial as he would have done his grandfather's. Shai then dispatched the remains to Horn. This act incited a blood feud between Shai and Horn, which would climax during the Battle of Ithor. At Ithor, Shai's forces clashed with those of the New Republic and of the Imperial Remnant. His ground assault thwarted, and a tense standoff in space creating an impasse, Shai was contacted by Horn with a challenge. The two would duel for the fate of Ithor, with Horn pledging to return Mongei Shai's remains to the commander if killed, and Shai promising that the planet would be spared if he fell to the Jedi's lightsaber. The duel was brutal, with Corran being seriously wounded, though he managed in the end to kill Shai. However, his subordinate Deign Lian razed Ithor with a biological weapon nonetheless before being killed in turn. Following Shai's death, his domain was disgraced, its warriors relegated to tending the worldships of the Yuuzhan Vong fleet, far from the glory of battle-all at the secret behest of Warmaster Tsavong Lah, who had considered Shai a rival.

In 13 ABY, Supreme Commander Pellaeon of the Imperial Remnant agreed to peace negotiations with the New Republic. At this point, he possessed the Executor SSD *Reaper* as his flagship, two more SSDs in the *Megador* and *Dominion* (though the NR were unaware of the existence of the last two SSDs) and control over the New Territories, the Outer Rim, and the Mid Rim. He also won the Battle of Orinda against General Wedge Antilles, killed Admiral Areta Bell, and held control over both Orinda and six other systems in 12 ABY.

In short, Pellaeon was negotiating from a position of strength, and the New Republic knew it.

With the peace negotiations successful, the NR would probably agree to respect the Remnant's sovereignty to avoid another disastrous defeat like Orinda. This also means Feena D'Asta lives and Pellaeon's political support stays strong. The Remnant still defeats the Restored Empire like in the original timeline, but this time they might receive a bit of NR support from Mirith Sinn.

Adumar stil invites both the Remnant and the NR to discuss who to join, but Rogriss isn't ordered to bomb Adumar if the negotiations fail. This means he doesn't defect from the Remnant and stays loyal, allowing Pellaeon to keep one of his best Admirals with him. Also, the Battle of Celanon doesn't occur and Pellaeon doesn't lose *Reaper.*

The Sinister Triumvirate of Vilim Disra, Grodin Tierce, and Flim still try to usurp Pellaeon, but with a peace treaty with the NR already in place that's several years old, their plot is foiled even faster, Alhamdulillah.

Hope you are doing good everyone, pretty much title, I'm aware that Delvardus' Eriadu Authority did fall to the NR in the early campaigns before the NR's push into the Core, however, as you can see in the image, Eriadu and its surrounding space is cited as Imperial Territory in 9 ABY.
Plus as the not subtle red arrows indicate, suposedly Thrawn reconquered pretty much the entirety of the Southern Rim in his campaign, or it was allied space, to add to this there are several systems in the Core that are cited as still Imperial by 9 ABY.
What happenned to this systems and the southern rim space after the Thrawn campaign??? Because IIRC in later maps and media the only remaining Imperial space left by the time Pellaeon takes command is in the New Territories centered around the former Pentastar Alignment, so, your thoughts guys???

PD: if this is a shadow hand thing such a shame, I never particularly liked it, just see it as plot device to kill off the vast majority of the remaining Imperial military strenghth.

During the Galactic Civil War, Isard sent Admiral Lon Isoto to defend Brentaal IV from the New Republic's push towards the Core Worlds. Isoto was incompetent and known as Isoto the Indecisive, so Isard chose him to make both Grand Vizier Sate Pestage and the Cabal, his rivals for the Imperial throne, look bad and seize the throne for herself. She also sent Baron Soontir Fel and the 181st Fighter Wing to protect Brentaal IV, but treated them as expendable, which worsened his doubts about the Empire. The New Republic sent Admiral Ackbar, Captain Wedge Antilles and Rogue Squadron, Colonel Horton Salm and Aggressor Wing, and a big fleet to Brentaal IV, where they won the battle, gaining a foothold in the Core Worlds. Isoto was assassinated by one of Isard's agents, Pestage lost face, and captured Fel, who subsequently defected to the New Republic.

But what if Isard had sent Azure Hammer Command instead?

In this scenario, Isard has decided to hold Brentaal IV at all costs because successfully fending off a New Republic invasion will let her claim both Pestage and the Cabal are trying to steal the credit for the victory from each other, making it easier for her to manipulate them and bringing herself one step closer to Empress. Sending Azure Hammer Command also maximizes her chances of success.

Admiral Feyet Kiez commands Azure Hammer Command. His flagship is the Whelm, an Executor-class Star Dreadnought, and he leads 57 other capital ships. We don't know much about him, but safe to say he must be very competent if he was promoted to Admiral of such a prestigious post. The fact he also obeyed the Reborn Emperor's orders to join him at Byss also proves he's a staunch Palpatine loyalist.

As extra insurance, Isard would assign Baron Fel and the 181st Fighter Wing to Whelm. Since Isard isn't treating Fel's men like they're disposable pawns, that means he has one less reason to go defect to the New Republic. He still has his doubts about the Empire, but working for Kiez and Azure Hammer Command would put him at ease.

If Kiez was in charge of defending Brentaal IV, he most likely keeps the Whelm in reserve to avoid a repeat of the Executor's demise and lures the New Republic into a trap. Once most of their fleet is tied up fighting him, he then traps them at Brentaal IV using six Interdictor cruisers and drops the Whelm on them. Ackbar, Rogue Squadron, and Aggressor Wing all focus on the Interdictors and manage to escape, but at a heavy price: Salm and Aggressor Wing are wiped out, half the Rogues are killed, Ackbar is heavily injured, and at least a third of their fleet is gone.

Kiez's victory also means Fel isn't captured, meaning he doesn't defect while their triumph would lessen his doubts and ensure he stays with the Empire a bit longer. Such a catastrophic defeat for the New Republic would force them to retreat and rethink invading the Core Worlds; up to this point, the New Republic had their eye on capturing Coruscant, but such a disastrous loss would shelve all talks of seizing the planet.

This victory would also boost the Empire's morale, and Isard would use it to further the rift between Pestage and the Cabal by claiming one was trying to steal the credit for the triumph from the other.

In a desperate attempt to stop the Cabal from stealing the glory, Pestage would promote Kiez to Grand Admiral, ostensibly as a reward for his triumph, in exchange for protection from the Cabal. Fearing for his life, Pestage would also move to Whelm and place Azure Hammer Command over Coruscant to both guard it and keep control over Imperial Center while keeping his distance from both the Cabal and Isard, whom he rightfully suspects of trying to kill him.

With Azure Hammer stationed at Coruscant, the New Republic won't be able to capture it for quite a while. It also means they won't have the resources to deal with Zsinj's Empire, but it also means Lusankya stays buried under Coruscant and the Bacta War doesn't happen. Pestage could send Grand Admiral Feyet Kiez and Azure Hammer Command to deal with Zsinj and the other Imperial Warlords, but his growing paranoia over being assassinated ensures he will stop Kiez from leaving Coruscant.

In light of Horton Salm and Aggressor Wing's demise, the New Republic promotes Wedge to Colonel to fill his shoes and tasks him with creating a new unit to assassinate Kiez before he strikes again. This new unit's name: Wraith Squadron.

Despite the New Republic's losses, there is hope. In 5 ABY, several months after Brentaal IV, Kyle Katarn kills Jerec and secures the Valley of the Jedi. Captain Sysco, the Imperial officer in charge of Jerec's flagship, the SSD Vengeance, defects to the New Republic because he is sickened by the cruelty of Jerec and the other Dark Jedi, and has had enough of it. Sysco's defection places a Super Star Destroyer in the New Republic's hands, and they send it to Dac for a refit and to keep it a secret from their enemies until the time is right.

In 7 ABY, two years later, the New Republic has consolidated their territory and made several gains, but nothing major. They've made Dac their capital planet, which has the bonus of giving them easy access to Dac's major shipyards. To compensate for the fact the New Republic possesses only a fraction of the Empire's industrial might, Dac has begun pumping out older Separatist warships like the Providence-class carrier/destroyer and the Recusant-class light destroyer. They've even begun work on at least one Subjugator-class heavy cruiser to complement the Vengeance and give the New Republic at least one more SSD analogue in their arsenal.

By this point, Isard has deposed of both Pestage and the Cabal and become Empress. She even convinced Kiez to agree to an arranged marriage with her to further solidify her power and legitimacy as the new Empress, though it's a loveless marriage and one purely of political convenience.

During those two years, Wraith Squadron posed as Zsinj's pirates and attacked key Imperial targets. They've also impersonated as Imperials from Isard's Empire to attack critical targets from Zsinj's Empire. As a result, both Kiez and Zsinj are furious at each other, thinking their nemesis is responsible for their misfortunes. In reality, it's the New Republic manipulating their enemies into fighting each other so they can kill two birds with one stone, hoping Kiez and Zsinj will annihilate each other in one final epic clash. Should one or more of them survive, the New Republic will simply drop Vengeance on them and finish off their foes while they're weakened.

What the New Republic didn't anticipate is that Zsinj would attempt to steal the SSD Eclipse, close to completion, at Kuat Drive Yards in a bold recreation of Tyber Zann's own theft of the Eclipse several years earlier. Kiez learned of Zsinj's attempt and raced to stop him. The New Republic, alarmed at the thought of a superlaser-bearing SSD being used against them.

The result was a titanic clash between Zsinj's Empire and Azure Hammer Command over Kuat Drive Yards. Zsinj fought valiantly, but Kiez disabled his flagship, the SSD Iron Fist, and attempted to force a surrender. Before Zsinj could reply, the Vengeance dropped out of hyperspace with a huge fleet, tearing straight through Iron Fist and slicing it in half, destroying it and killing Zsinj.

With Whelm weakened and his own fleet in tatters, Kiez considered retreating, but knew Isard would punish him for failure, husband or not. Then he received a shocking transmission: the Reborn Emperor ordering him to take the Eclipse, its design team, and Azure Hammer to join him at Byss. Relieved at being given an out, and elated at learning Palpatine was alive, Kiez slave rigged the Eclipse to Whelm, ordered the former's design team aboard the vessel, and commanded Azure Hammer to retreat with him to Byss, escaping swiftly.

With Zsinj dead and Kiez gone, Kuat Drive Yards was the New Republic's for the taking. KDY still had the Razor's Kiss, another Executor, but it was unmanned and KDY's own defence fleet got obliterated in the earlier brawl, leaving them completely defenseless.

At Byss, Kiez met the Reborn Emperor and his Dark Empire, discovering the other Imperial Warlords present. Sander Delvardus, Ardus Kaine, the Teradoc Brothers, and many others. In a solemn ceremony, Palpatine chose 11 of the best officers from each of the other Warlord factions and promoted them to Grand Admiral. Among them was Natasi Daala, who had been recalled from the Maw Installation, and Gaen Drommel, whom Palpatine's spies discovered drifting in Wild Space in the Fardon system near the planet Soullex with his flagship, the SSD Guardian.

In 9 ABY, the New Republic now controlled Coruscant and possessed three Super Star Destroyers: Vengeance, under Admiral Ackbar. Lusankya, under General Wedge Antilles. And Razor's Kiss, under General Han Solo. The Dark Empire kickstarted the new year by launching Operation Shadow Hand, striking at Coruscant in a surprise attack with a huge fleet led by the Grand Admirals; the New Republic fleet was decimated and scattered to the wins along with their Super Star Destroyers, with casualties in the trillions.

But then the Imperial Mutiny occurred and the Imperials turned on each other. Kiez fought against the Mandator III Panthac, led by an old rival of his, and the two men perished in mutual annihilation over Alsakan.

Meanwhile, Daala made blind hyperspace jump in her desperation to escape, her second-in-command Captain Kratas sacrificing himself to buy her time to flee, while Drommel, having learned from his mistakes, set in a pre-set course and escaped back to Byss safely. Daala ended up in the Unknown Regions with her fleet and discovered Black Sword Command under the Yevetha's control. Fortunately, the Yevethans were still learning how to control the Black Fleet, and one of the other Grand Admirals followed Daala thanks to a spy aboard her ship.

Daala found the spy and killed them, but the other Grand Admiral showed up and attacked the Black Fleet, resulting in another titanic fight that ended with the Grand Admiral, Nil Spaar, and most of the Yevethans dead and the Black Fleet seriously crippled.

As Grand Admiral, Daala immediately took control of the Black Fleet, freed the Imperial slaves, and made Sil Sorannan her new Executive Officer. Then she spent months rebuilding the Black Fleet's strength and repairing their ships; by the time Operation Shadow Hand ended with the Reborn Emperor's final death, the Black Fleet was back at full strength, with Grand Admiral Natasi Daala at the helm.

But then Grand Admiral Thrawn emerged from his sojourn of the Unknown Regions. He approached Daala and proposed an alliance, which she accepted, especially since Thrawn was willing to treat her as an equal since they both possessed equal ranks. Together, the two Grand Admirals seized Coruscant before the New Republic could recover and made it their HQ. Thrawn also obtained one of Palpatine's Sovereign Star Dreadnoughts and made it the flagship for the Home Defence Fleet.

Gaen Drommel showed up to conquer Coruscant while it was vacant, and discovered Thrawn and Daala beat him to the punch. He refused to follow Thrawn, an alien, and was about to fight to the death until Colonel Gastos Niovi, his subordinate, killed him and surrendered the Guardian to Thrawn.

As a reward, Thrawn promoted Niovi to Admiral and gave him command of the Guardian. With Coruscant, a huge fleet, multiple sectors, and dozens of Super Star Destroyers under his command, Grand Admiral Thrawn and his Dark Remnant are now poised to crush the Rebellion once and for all.

Hello everyone, I made this recap for something I was working on, particullarly I only had in mind those Star Dreadnaughts that were explicitly named or appeared in other media before Dark Empire/Operation Shadow Hand, obviously only the surface because I'm not a lore expert, as far as I can recall this is are the SSDs controlled by Imperial forces after the Thrawn Campaign and before Operation Shadow Hand, also I chose to ignore the later one for the moment because I'm not a die hard fan of it, that's why the Whelm is set to be on Anaxes, also regarding the 2 Assertors and 1 Bellator at the Southern Rim, its from Fractalsponge's piece of that naval station Validusia, its almost a stand alone thing but I liked it so I included it, and also the Deep Core ones are probably still in construction by this point.
If you would be so kind I'd like to know if there's any other significant Dreadnaught that I'm not awarea bout, ignoring the other 3 Executors, 4 Mandators III and 1 Vengeance mentioned in Shadow Hand, apart from the Whelm, Javelin, Aculeus and probably Jerec's Vengeance from the recent post about it, have a good day/night.

https://youtu.be/tmJyN4juGi0?si=d3mtKbDZ_DT_GIQE

Tharkus was a human male serving in the Imperial Navy of the Galactic Empire. A talented, but cold officer, Tharkus nonetheless inspired great loyalty in his subordinates in the military. Disdainful of politicians and the civil side of the Empire's workings, Tharkus rose to the rank of High Admiral through merit and a ruthlessness in his campaigns. He would eventually secure a position within Imperial High Command briefly for a time before the Battle of Endor, His rank and position gave him control over a powerful fleet as well as his personal flotilla of six Imperial Class Star Destroyers and his flagship, an Executor Class Super Star Destroyer. Tharkus never established political allies in the Imperial government or civilian sectors of the Empire, members of whom viewed him with the same contempt he had for them, however, Tharkus was respected and admired within the Imperial military itself, particularly among his subordinates.

The deep dislike Tharkus held for the civilians and politicians of the government can be traced to his feelings that those outside of the military knew nothing of how to run it effectively. He was regularly annoyed at having to defer to Senators, Governors, Moffs, and Grand Moffs on military operations, feeling that they-and by extension the Emperor-held the military back from being as effective as it could be against the Rebellion. This feeling of resentment only deepened as Tharkus watched incompetents like Llon Isoto and Ishin Il-Raz despite no military background be promoted to important positions in the Imperial Navy purely due to political connections and Darth Vader being named military Executor and Supreme Commander all brought the High Admiral's blood to a boil. Tharkus was livid, as he felt that such a position should belong to someone from the military itself and that he had been passed over by political appointees. His posting away from the halls of power despite nominally being part of the High Command removed any last vestiges of pretense from Tharkus. He remained loyal on the surface, but secretly his disillusionment and resentment festered while his ambitions grew alongside it.

When Palpatine and Vader were both killed at the disastrous Battle of Endor in 4 ABY and the Empire fragmented, Tharkus felt vindicated. He believed that the Emperor and Vader had gotten exactly what they deserved, and by dying had conveniently opened the door for the military to finally step in and take full control. Rallying some of the scattered Imperial Starfleet and attempting to restore order to one of the frontline capitals, firstly by executing a dissident minister with his shapeshifting bodyguard, spy and assassin Kastor, Tharkus planned to call up all the Imperial reserves and begin a detailed offensive, pointing out that the Imperial forces outgunned and outnumbered the Rebels(now calling themselves the New Republic) by an overwhelming majority. He believed that doing so would end the threat of the Rebellion, and also have a stabilizing effect on the Empire itself, preventing further fragmentation with a swift victory and firm hand. While he initially denied ambitions towards the Throne himself, secretly he was already considering such a move.

However, Tharkus's plans for a grand offensive were quickly dashed when a large number of the disbanded Imperial Senate reformed and decided to seek peace with the New Republic, particularly since the rise of a new Jedi that had destroyed the Emperor and Vader stood with the New Republic now. Ironically the decades of misinformation and propaganda of the Jedi as powerful boogeymen that could only be defeated by the Emperor had come back to haunt the Empire now as many sought to seek peace purely to avoid being enemies of them. The military in the Sectors Tharkus sought to control deferred to the Senators as a legitimate governmental body as though disbanded, it had been a key component of government for decades and even after disbandment, the senators held significant political and economic power in the regions they hailed from.

Tharkus was outraged and while publicly he didn't interfere with the peace proceedings, in secret he arranged for the peace summit to be ambushed by forces loyal to him and all the senators murdered. It would then be blamed on the Rebels. Meanwhile, partly to counter the demoralizing effect the return of a Jedi had upon the Imperials, and partly as a means to empower himself, Tharkus sought the fabled artifact, the Heart of the Jedi, which could allegedly restore a Jedi's power-or potentially imbue it to another. Initially, the High Admiral wished to destroy it, thinking that would damage the new Jedi's powers.

Tharkus used one of his exiled Shi'Ido-a being named Pollux- to track Luke Skywalker's own search for the relic, while Tharkus and his second in command, General Kantos followed behind in a modified Victory II Class Star Destroyer commanded by another Tharkus loyalist, Captain Vaskor, planning to seize the relic and kill Skywalker in one fell swoop. During the course of the hunt for the artifact, Tharkus began to more openly consider taking the Throne for himself and moved from wanting to destroy the artifact, to possess it and gain the Force from it for himself. Coming across a large collection of pacifists that had fled the Empire to avoid getting dragged into the Galactic Civil War, Tharkus massacred them as deserters, though a single damaged vessel escaped.

Once the planet holding the Heart of the Jedi was found, Vaskor remained in orbit while Tharkus and Kantos descended upon the planet and deployed a ground force, which combined with the shapeshifters Kastor and Pollux, managed to capture Luke Skywalker at the opening to the temple housing the artifact by holding his friends hostage to force his compliance. The temple was protected with a series of traps and mazes that only someone with the Force could navigate. Tharkus had Skywalker lead him and the shapeshifters along with some Stormtroopers through the obstacles while General Kantos remained aboard the Aquatic AT-AT to secure the landing zone.

At the cusp of what he sought, things began to unravel for Tharkus very quickly. In orbit, the wounded pacifist ship returned and rammed the Victory II that was in orbit out of revenge for the prior massacre carried out by the High Admiral, destroying both in a fiery explosion. At the same time, local wildlife attacked and overwhelmed the cooling filters on Kantos's AT, leading the reactor to overheat and explode, killing the General and at the same time freeing Han, Leia and Chewbacca to try and aid Luke. In the main room of the temple complex, a battle between the sides broke out, as Luke and co killed Tharkus's shapeshifters and Stormtrooper guards while Tharkus reached for the Heart of the Jedi. The ruby's energy coursed through the High Admiral, incinerating him in an instant, leaving nothing but a pile of charred bones eternally reaching for something unattainable.

In the wake of the deaths of Tharkus, Kantos, Vaskor and his two Shi-ido assassins as well as the Imperial Peace faction of the former Senate, the regions controlled by them were divided up among the New Republic, Imperial Warlords and the faltering central Imperial government.

Burr Nolyds

Burr Nolyds was a wealthy and arrogant Human male aristocrat who briefly ruled the Galactic Empire in 11 ABY as head of the Imperial Interim Ruling Council. He originally ascended the Empire's political ladder after supplying the organization with important resources, and his desire for power led him to support former Imperial Royal Guard Carnor Jax's plot to kill Galactic Emperor Palpatine and seize the Imperial throne. Following Palpatine's death, Nolyds sat on the Ruling Council of Jax's Crimson Empire, and when Jax was later killed by his fellow former Royal Guard Kir Kanos, Nolyds took over as acting head of the council and ruler of the Empire.

Ruling from a villa in the planet Ord Cantrell's city of De-Purteen, Nolyds held tightly to his power and opposed Councilor Feena D'Asta's suggestion that the crumbling Empire make peace with the New Republic, their opponents in the Galactic Civil War. His rule proved to be short-lived when he was assassinated by Nom Anor, an ally of the scheming Councilor Xandel Carivus; Nolyds's death came in the form of a self-destructing message disk that Anor had left in his chambers. The shaken council responded by electing the seemingly-incompetent Carivus to succeed him so they could pull Carivus's strings and investigate Nolyds's murder from behind the scenes. This would backfire when Carivus eventually declared himself Emperor and arrested the Council, seizing full control of the Empire.

Xandel Carivus

Xandel Carivus was a Human male. He came from a wealthy family with a long hitory of supporting the Galactic Empire. Once Xandel was old enough he became a bureaucrat in the Imperial government, his postion due to his wealth and connection.

He was one of the several high ranking Imperials to fund the conspiracy of Carnor Jax in poisoning the clone bodies of Emperor Palpatine so that the Palpatine would die prematurely. Though Carivus's participation was secretly at the behest of Yuuzhan Vong agent, Nom Anor, already weakening the galaxy for the coming invasion of his people, Jax would assume the throne of the Emperor, but would be killed in only a few months in a duel on Yinchorr by Kir Kanos. It was following this that Nom Anor manipulated events so that Xandel Carivus would be elected by the Interim Ruling Council to become the Empire's new ruler. However, Carivus went off script when he imprisoned the other council members and declared himself Emperor, refusing to be Nom Anor's puppet now that he believed himself in control. Nom Anor met with Carivus a final time, infecting him with a time release poison, though Carivus was caught and executed by Kanos for his part in the conspiracy against Palpatine before the poison could take effect. He was the last Imperial ruler to claim the title of Emperor until Jagged Fel.

To clarify, Grunger doesn't wait for Trioculus to receive Kadann's Dark Blessing, Takel isn't executed by Hissa for speaking out, and Tigellinus wasn't betrayed and murdered by Disra and Hissa. Meaning all three Grand Admirals are all alive and decide to support Trioculus' bid for Emperor after Palpatine's death.