Voss Parck / Legends Voss Parck was an officer in the Imperial Navy who discovered the future Grand Admiral Mitth ' raw ' nuruodo and later served as the commander of Thrawn ' s Empire of the Hand . Hailing from a naval family on Corulag , Parck followed the expected career path and joined the Republic Navy , serving in the Clone Wars . Shortly after the Galactic Republic became the Empire , Parck came across Thrawn while chasing smugglers in the Unknown Regions . Impressed by Thrawn ' s tactical abilities , Parck offered him a position in the Empire and took him back to Coruscant , where Emperor Palpatine was greatly pleased with Parck ' s find . Parck remained attached to Thrawn ' s career , following the Grand Admiral on his mission to subjugate the Unknown Regions and its myriad aggressors . Deeply devoted to and admiring of Thrawn , Parck served as his right - hand man throughout the deployment , helping to bring many worlds under Imperial control and defeat the forces of Warlord Nuso Esva . When Thrawn returned to known space to take up command of the Empire ' s military forces , Parck was left behind as steward of the Empire of the Hand , an Imperialist territory that Thrawn had carved out of the Unknown Regions . Upon Thrawn ' s death , Parck assumed sole command of the Empire of the Hand , continuing its mission to pacify the hostile civilizations in the region , which he regarded as essential to the future of the galaxy . When a hoax proclaimed the return of Thrawn ten years after his death , Parck cautiously opened relations with the galaxy at large , retaining high - level diplomatic ties even after the impostor was exposed . Biography . Early career . A Human male born to a Corulag family with a tradition of naval service , Voss Parck entered the Corulag Academy to begin a military career , following in the footsteps of his father and grandfather , who had both captained capital ships . There , he trained alongside several siblings and cousins and carried on a rivalry with one cousin in particular , which would last into their military careers , though Parck generally came out behind . Parck graduated the academy and was a captain in the Republic Navy by the end of the Clone Wars , commanding the " Victory " - class Star Destroyer " Strikefast " . At the conclusion of the Clone Wars in 19 BBY , Supreme Chancellor Palpatine reorganized the Galactic Republic into an Empire with himself as Emperor . Parck , who was a great admirer of Palpatine , felt that the new Emperor would bring positive change to the galaxy and continued his service in the Imperial Navy . The discovery of Thrawn . Around one week after the Declaration of a New Order , Parck and the " Strikefast " were in pursuit of the " Starwayman " , a smuggler ship suspected of carrying arms for an anti - Imperial resistance group . The smugglers made a blind hyperspace jump into the Unknown Regions in an effort to shake their pursuers , but Parck would not be deterred and gave pursuit . When the ships emerged from hyperspace , the crew of the " Starwayman " attempted to take refuge on a nearby planet . Parck ordered the launch of the " Strikefast " TIE fighters to pursue the freighter into the planet ' s atmosphere , but a problem with the launch racks prevented the launch of all but two of the starfighters , both of which were destroyed as they gave chase . The smugglers took refuge in a cave , and Parck dispatched a ground team and several starfighters to locate them and the two downed Imperial fighters . In the process , they discovered the abandoned dwelling of what appeared to be an unknown species . Although he was exasperated by the additional bureaucracy , Parck instructed his commander on the ground , Colonel Mosh Barris , to handle the potential first contact situation in accordance with the Empire ' s Unknown Alien Encounters Orders . Parck organized a technical team to send down in support of Barris . Meanwhile , Barris ' s troops found the body of one of the fighter pilots , clearly killed and scavenged for technology . Shortly thereafter , mysterious explosions began to plague the Imperial ground camp , followed by the crash of another TIE . When Barris contacted him to report these new developments , Parck correctly deduced that the dead pilot ' s comlink had been stolen by the unknown aliens , and had it cut out of the network . The next morning , Parck contacted Barris again . Barris had taken casualties and wished to simply raze the forest and pull out . Parck , however , was intent on finding the smugglers and the location of the resistance cell that they were supporting . Parck sent down two squads of stormtroopers to relieve Barris ' s Imperial Army troopers . At that point , the unidentified enemy — in fact an exiled Chiss by the name of Mitth ' raw ' nuruodo making clever use of Imperial supplies — began jamming the ground forces . Cut off from communications with Parck and suffering casualties from the mysterious attacks , Barris ordered a retreat and returned to the " Strikefast " . Parck quickly came to suspect that the alien Barris had encountered had stowed away aboard the shuttle that had brought the surviving troops back from the surface . The captain took Barris to the hangar control bay , where he ordered that the lights be dimmed . Parck ' s suspicions were confirmed when Mitth ' raw ' nuruodo sneaked out of the shuttle . The Chiss was captured and questioned by Parck , who asked what he had hoped to accomplish by sneaking on board and also sought to find the methods by which Mitth ' raw ' nuruodo had outmaneuvered the Imperials , though he had to reign in the overly hostile and anti - alien Barris . Impressed by his resourcefulness and intrigued by the alien ' s desire to protect his people from assorted dangers , Parck offered him a position in the Imperial Fleet , phrasing it as an opportunity to put the Empire ' s resources to work against the threats of the Unknown Regions . Thrawn — as Mitth ' raw ' nuruodo decided to use his core name among the Imperials — accepted the offer , and Parck abandoned the hunt for the smugglers in order to take what he saw as a more promising prize to the Emperor . Thrawn and the Imperial Court . Palpatine was in fact greatly pleased by Thrawn ' s recruitment ; several years earlier , Thrawn had aided Palpatine in destroying " Outbound Flight " , a Jedi mission to explore beyond the known galaxy , as it had passed through the Unknown Regions , and Palpatine had twice tried unsuccessfully to recruit Thrawn since . After bringing Thrawn to the Emperor , Parck ' s career saw a boost . On the other hand , Barris was shunted aside to backwater assignments , and his career plunged sharply , for which he always resented Parck . Parck remained associated with Thrawn throughout the Chiss ' s swift rise through the Imperial ranks . When Thrawn , who was an active player in Imperial Court politics , was ready to return to the Unknown Regions and exert the Empire ' s influence , he and Palpatine staged a court scandal . The political fallout forced Thrawn into exile on a lowly mapping expedition to the Unknown Regions , or so it was thought . Parck , who backed Thrawn in a move so clearly unprofitable that it became notorious among the court , was likewise exiled with him and demoted to the rank of commander . In fact , Parck quite deliberately put himself on the losing side in order to be assigned to Thrawn ' s expedition , which was entirely orchestrated by Thrawn and Palpatine to allow Thrawn to conduct his mission of Imperial expansion in secrecy . Mission to the Unknown Regions . Parck was assigned to the " Imperial " - class Star Destroyer " Admonitor " , Thrawn ' s new flagship , as first officer to Captain Dagon Niriz . Niriz despised Parck for having brought the alien admiral to the Empire , deeming him arrogant . In the initial stages of the journey , Thrawn assigned Niriz to demeaning tasks and frequently countermanded Niriz ' s orders in such a way as to look passive and weak - willed . This was , in fact , part of a ploy , of which Parck was aware , to strain Niriz ' s patience and loyalty in a test . Upon reaching the Unknown Regions , the " Admonitor " began scouting systems . In the fifteenth system searched the Imperials were approached by three unknown ships commanded by the Ebruchi Creysis , who claimed to be the ruler of the system . Deducing that the Ebruchi were pirates , Thrawn devised a plan to deal with Creysis and find his superiors . Taking the opportunity to further test Niriz , Thrawn shared the details of his plan with Parck but not Niriz . The admiral convinced Creysis that the " Admonitor " was a colonization ship and dispatched Parck to negotiate with Creysis as part of a fictitious " Council of Colonists , " taking a golden sculpture as a gift for Creysis ' s assistance . The admiral allowed Parck ' s " Zeta " - class shuttle to be captured by the Ebruchi . Niriz found Thrawn ' s performance intolerable , and so did General Larr Haverel , the ship ' s infantry commander . Haverel approached Niriz with a plan to mutiny , suggesting that their admiral could not possibly be so incompetent and must in fact be in league with Creysis . Niriz passed Thrawn ' s test when he refused to mutiny , sticking proudly to naval regulations and his sense of tradition and propriety . Parck took the opportunity to learn more about the Ebruchi while waiting for Thrawn to spring his trap . When Creysis sent the tracker - equipped sculpture to his masters to demonstrate the " Admonitor " worth as a target , Thrawn launched his TIE fighters against the pirates . At the same time , stormtroopers erupted from Parck ' s captured shuttle , easily overwhelming the assembled pirates and rescuing Parck and the shuttle ' s crew . Parck returned to the " Admonitor " as Thrawn demolished Creysis ' s forces . With Creysis defeated , Thrawn ' s forces proceeded to lay waste to the base of the pirate ' s superiors . After the battle was over , Niriz submitted his resignation as captain of the " Admonitor " . Parck visited Niriz in his quarters , telling him that Thrawn had turned down his resignation . He informed the captain of the nature of Thrawn ' s test and the fact that Niriz had passed , as well as revealing the truth of their mission . Niriz took heart , and turned to the mission with much greater eagerness and respect for Thrawn . Nuso Esva campaign . As they proceeded on their mission , more and more ships and resources were quietly transferred to Thrawn , giving him a small armada , and Parck was returned to his rank of captain . By 0 ABY , Thrawn ' s forces had come into conflict with Nuso Esva , a powerful warlord who had decimated several societies in the Unknown Regions . Esva repeatedly turned down Thrawn ' s offer of a treaty and launched a campaign against some of the territories that Thrawn had pacified . The worlds under Esva ' s control stretched to the edge of the Empire , and Thrawn believed that Esva was planning to extend his influence into Imperial Space . Several months after the shock Rebel victory at the Battle of Yavin , Thrawn returned to the Empire to seek help in his campaign against Esva , leaving Parck in command of Task Force " Admonitor " in his absence . While Thrawn was away , Parck led an attack force comprised of the " Admonitor " , two " Strike " - class medium cruisers , and four " Carrack " - class light cruisers into battle against elements of Nuso Esva ' s navy at Teptixii . With the enemy fleet composed of eight Firekiln capital ships and twenty - seven escort vessels , Parck knew that they posed a serious threat to his forces . While he waited for reinforcements to arrive , Parck had his escorts sweep in front of the " Admonitor " to block fire from the Firekilns , while the Star Destroyer focused on destroying the smaller enemy ships in order to leave the Firekilns vulnerable . Parck had the enemy ships pinned down when the " Imperial " - class Star Destroyer " Chimaera " arrived in the system . Parck was surprised to find another Star Destroyer in the Unknown Regions , but with his reinforcements still twenty minutes away , he contacted Captain Calo Drusan aboard the " Chimaera " and requested help in finishing off Esva ' s fleet . Drusan agreed and , as the " Chimaera " moved to outflank the enemy , Esva ' s forces fled to hyperspace . Following the battle , Parck was contacted by Drusan and Lord Odo , an apparent representative of the Emperor who was traveling aboard the " Chimaera " . Odo relayed to Parck a request from General Kauf Ularno of Poln Major in the Candoras sector for help in putting down a potential insurrection . Although not unsympathetic to the situation , Parck explained that his forces could not abandon their mission in the Unknown Regions and initially refused to help . However , upon receiving a transmission reporting the attempted assassination of the Candoras sector ' s governor , Bidor Ferrouz , by Rebel insurgents , Parck reluctantly agreed to assist . While the " Admonitor " traveled with the " Chimaera " , Parck contacted the rest of Thrawn ' s fleet , instructing them to rendezvous in the Poln system . He also sent a message to Thrawn to request his presence . Unbeknownst to most of the Imperials , the situation on Poln Major had been orchestrated by Nuso Esva in an attempt to lure Thrawn ' s forces into a trap . Thrawn , however , was one step ahead of the warlord and was waiting in the Poln system aboard the freighter " Lost Reef " . While Parck deployed his forces in orbit of Poln Major , Esva made his move . Having infiltrated the " Chimaera " under the guise of Lord Odo , he killed Drusan and locked the ship on a collision course with the Golan Space Defense SpaceGun defending the planet . Esva ' s fleet entered the system , and Parck moved to engage but , even after Thrawn and Commander Gilad Pellaeon of the " Chimaera " devised a plan to turn the Star Destroyer from its course and bring it back into the fight , the Imperials were heavily outgunned . Throughout the engagement , Thrawn and Esva mocked each other until Thrawn tricked Esva into revealing his intentions to dominate those who joined him . Only after relaying Esva ' s words to the Unknown Regions as a warning to others did Thrawn spring his own trap , sending a signal to the Dark Lord of the Sith Darth Vader , whose Death Squadron was waiting nearby . With the arrival of Vader ' s fleet , led by the Super Star Destroyer " Executor " , the battle turned in the Imperials ' favor . Esva ' s Eastern Fleet was decimated , though the warlord himself escaped and , with two more fleets operating in the Unknown Regions , remained a significant threat . After the battle , Thrawn rejoined Parck aboard the " Admonitor " and the pair returned to the Unknown Regions . The Empire of the Hand . Under Thrawn , Parck participated in numerous campaigns against the various aggressors within the region and was promoted to senior captain at some point prior to 8 ABY . Eventually , Thrawn organized his conquests into the Empire of the Hand . Thrawn placed his headquarters on the planet Nirauan , inside a building known as the Hand of Thrawn due to its distinctive shape . It was this fortress that gave the Empire its name . It was made up not only of conquests , but also of planets that willingly joined . This empire , unlike Palpatine ' s , was tolerant of non - humans , fitting Thrawn ' s meritocratic style . A major component of the Empire of the Hand was Syndic Mitth ' raw ' nuruodo ' s Household Phalanx , an organization of Chiss supporters of Thrawn who worked on the margins of and even deep within Chiss society to recruit numerous warriors to Thrawn ' s cause . In 4 ABY , Emperor Palpatine was killed at the Battle of Endor , and the Empire began to fragment and lose territory to the New Republic . Thrawn and Parck remained in the Unknown Regions to continue their work , but Thrawn , by this point a Grand Admiral , remained in contact with the mainstream Empire and had some degree of cooperation with Ysanne Isard , Palpatine ' s eventual successor . It was this connection that gained the Empire of the Hand another crucial servant , Imperial fighter ace Baron Soontir Fel . Over the years , Thrawn stopped Nuso Esva ' s expansion and began to push the warlord back . By 8 ABY , the remnants of Esva ' s fleet were in hiding , and the warlord had taken refuge on the planet Quethold , having manipulated the Quesoth Queen of the Red into an alliance . With several other threats requiring the Empire of the Hand ' s attention , Thrawn could not afford a lengthy blockade of Quethold and sought a decisive victory . While Parck was primarily charged with coordinating the search for Esva ' s scattered fleet , he joined Thrawn ' s senior officers and representatives of the Stromma — whose world had been liberated from Esva ' s rule by the Empire of the Hand — at a number of strategy sessions before the assault on Red City . During the battle , which Parck observed with Thrawn aboard the " Admonitor " , the Imperials tricked Esva into thinking that the Queen had betrayed him ; Esva killed the Queen and was subsequently killed by her soldiers . Although Esva was defeated , Parck was concerned about possible reprisals from his followers . Thrawn , however , doubted that they would present much of a threat with their leader gone and decided that the time had come for him to return to the Empire and take command of the Imperial Fleet . While Thrawn left to rendezvous with Captain Gilad Pellaeon on the " Chimaera " , Parck took the " Admonitor " to the Chaos Triangle to oversee the process of rebuilding following the Esva campaign . In Thrawn ' s absence , Parck became an admiral and took command of the Empire of the Hand . Thrawn remained in contact with Parck , who was fully appraised of Thrawn ' s strategies as supreme commander . Conversely , Thrawn , who was well - known for his centralization of information within himself and minimal dispersal of it to his subordinates , informed no one within the Empire of the existence of the Empire of the Hand . This meant that when Thrawn was unexpectedly killed in 9 ABY by his bodyguard , the Empire of the Hand ' s existence was completely lost to the galaxy at large . Before Thrawn ' s death , the Grand Admiral left instructions that , were he ever to be reported dead , Parck was to continue his mission in the Unknown Regions and wait ten years for his return . As a result , Parck kept his attention turned outward as he continued the fight in the Unknown Regions , choosing not to reveal himself and the Empire of the Hand ' s plentiful resources to the Imperial Remnant . Not even the return of Palpatine drew Parck from the Unknown Regions . While waiting for Thrawn ' s return , Parck continued the Empire of the Hand ' s relentless campaigns against anything which threatened the Empire or the Chiss Ascendancy , whether the Chiss desired their help or not . Parck ' s top assistants in this period were General Fel and the Chiss officer Kres ' ten ' tarthi , the commander of the Household Phalanx . Parck also had some contact with the Chiss Ascendancy , despite the fact that the existence of the Empire of the Hand was officially unrecognized . Aristocra Chaf ' orm ' bintrano was at least one highly - placed Chiss official who was on speaking terms with Parck . The return of Thrawn . Ten years after his death , as promised , Parck ' s known space contacts brought to his ears rumors of the return of Thrawn . Parck immediately dispatched scout ships to search out former Emperor ' s Hand Mara Jade , whom he saw as a perfect intermediary due to her Imperial past , New Republic connections , and close relationship with the galaxy ' s largest information broker , Talon Karrde . Having had no contact with Thrawn , Parck was unsure of the accuracy of the rumors and wished to be completely certain that the Grand Admiral had returned before revealing the Empire of the Hand ' s existence to the Imperial Remnant . Parck was in fact right to doubt , as the " Thrawn " of the rumors was in fact an impostor , hired as part of a scheme by Moff Vilim Disra to seize power within the Remnant . The timing was coincidental ; Thrawn ' s actual promise was to be fulfilled by a clone grown in a secret sublevel of the Hand of Thrawn , to be awakened by a timed system which was continually reset by Thrawn up to his death . By triangulating the vectors of two of the scout ships , Jade followed them back to Nirauan , but was shot down over the planet . Jedi Master Luke Skywalker was contacted by Karrde and set off to rescue her . Eventually the two of them infiltrated the Hand of Thrawn , where Jade was captured and brought before Parck , Fel and Kres ' ten ' tarthi . Parck , by now an old and gray - haired man , revealed the basic history of the Empire of the Hand to Jade and offered her a position within it , stressing the vital nature of its mission . Jade , however , refused the offer . With further reports that Thrawn had returned to the Imperial capital world of Bastion , Parck decided to risk contact with the Empire . To stop Jade interfering , Parck ordered her detained until they had contacted Bastion and Fel suggested wounding Jade to force her into a Jedi healing trance which would prevent her escape . Before Parck ' s Chiss guards could act , however , the conference was broken up by Skywalker , who cut his way into the room and rescued Jade , escaping to the hidden sublevels of the base . The clone of Thrawn was killed in a flood of the lower levels caused by Skywalker and Jade ' s escape attempt , and before Parck could dispatch a scout craft to Bastion , Jade remotely steered her ship into the Hand ' s hangar , disabling the base ' s ships . Parck was left to clean up his damaged base , while the false Thrawn was exposed before Parck could make contact , keeping knowledge of the Empire of the Hand and its vast territories limited to Skywalker and Jade . In the chaos and vulnerability immediately after the attack on the Hand ' s hangars , the Hand was assaulted by a well - organized gang of pirates and fell to them , forcing Parck to evacuate the planet . However , this did not last , as Parck was back on Nirauan by 22 ABY . Diplomatic dealings . Knowledge of the Empire of the Hand slowly leaked out , with Skywalker and Jade informing New Republic Chief of State Leia Organa Solo . The Imperial Remnant , under Thrawn ' s former protégé Gilad Pellaeon , also had some contact with Parck , though he chose not to ally himself with any particular group or engage in serious diplomatic relations . One group with which he did wish to have better relations was the Chiss Ascendancy , whose citizens provided much of the Empire of the Hand ' s manpower and which the Empire of the Hand existed to protect . However , as Thrawn was an exile from the Ascendancy and Chiss military doctrine refused to recognize the Empire of the Hand ' s tactics as moral , relations remained strained and unofficial despite Parck ' s wish for better cooperation . In 22 ABY , Parck was notified by the Chiss that the remains of " Outbound Flight " had been found . The Chiss intended to make a conciliatory diplomatic event out of the mission to recover its wreckage , and Parck forwarded their message to Skywalker and Jade — now married to Skywalker — who were invited along as representatives of the Jedi and New Republic . However , his message was intercepted by one of Talon Karrde ' s employees who had had family aboard " Outbound Flight " . Consequently , the Skywalkers arrived over Nirauan instead of at the rendezvous point contained in the message . They spoke with Parck , who had overcome whatever resentment the destruction of his hangar might have caused him , and Parck informed them of the Chiss Ascendancy ' s request . Unbenknownst to the Skywalkers , Chaf ' orm ' bintrano was using the diplomatic mission to lure the Vagaari — a species of nomadic slavers operating in the region — into an attack , allowing the Chiss to declare war on the threat , since Chiss military doctrine did not accept the idea of the preemptive strike . Knowing that the mission would come under attack , Parck sent his own representatives to the meeting : Commander Chak Fel and the four stormtroopers of the 501st Legion ' s Unit Aurek - Seven . Fel and his bodyguards were allegedly there to protect the Skywalkers , but were secretly charged with supporting Chaf ' orm ' bintrano ' s own forces . By the time of the Yuuzhan Vong War , General Baron Soontir Fel had become the public face of the Empire of the Hand in its dealings with the New Republic , and Parck had largely disappeared from the scene . By around the end of the war , the Empire of the Hand had disappeared from the galactic scene , leaving Nirauan abandoned . Speculation at the time included the Empire of the Hand ' s destruction or absorption by the Chiss Ascendancy . Chaf ' orm ' bintrano suggested to Luke Skywalker that the Empire of the Hand had served its purpose and would rise again when needed . Soontir Fel joined the Chiss Ascendancy proper and Luke Skywalker expressed a belief to Chief Navigator Peita Aabe of the Chiss Ascendancy that Parck had also " joined the Chiss . " Personality and traits . An avowed Palpatinist at the dawn of the Empire , Voss Parck believed strongly in order and obedience to government . He was committed to the Imperial Fleet as an institution and resented what he regarded as meddlesome political oversight which handcuffed its effectiveness . Parck began his career as a dutiful and ambitious officer , seeking promotion in the Fleet . However , his priorities changed after he encountered Thrawn . Parck willingly accepted demotion and disgrace among the Imperial Court to join Thrawn in his mission to the Unknown Regions , where he became a zealous crusader determined to combat the region ' s myriad enemies , with no concern for personal gain or advancement . He genuinely believed in the cause , enough to unsettle Mara Jade during their interview . He was convinced that the mission of the Empire of the Hand was truly vital to securing the Empire and the galaxy as a whole , to the point that he was reluctant to abandon it to assist the Empire in preventing an insurrection in the Candoras sector . Such was Parck ' s level of devotion to Thrawn that , after the Grand Admiral ' s death , Parck waited patiently for his promised return rather than reveal the Empire of the Hand ' s existence to the Imperial Remnant . Though Parck began as Thrawn ' s discoverer , he quickly found the relationship reversed . Thrawn was already known to Emperor Palpatine and was greatly sought by him . Thrawn was promoted swiftly while Parck was left in his wake . Thrawn remained quite loyal to Parck , however , keeping him as his right - hand man throughout his career . Parck returned this loyalty in turn . He was deeply impressed by Thrawn ' s abilities and willingly shared in his supposed exile to the Unknown Regions , keeping faith in his commander ' s abilities , even when he did not fully understand his plans . Even after Thrawn ' s death , Parck continued to be loyal to him and remained utterly assured of his promise to return , to the point that Mara Jade considered him almost delusional . Parck was a highly intelligent man with a well - developed deductive skill similar to , though not as extensive as , that of Thrawn . Parck had in fact out - thought Thrawn at least partially in their first meeting , correctly predicting his stowing away on the shuttle . Thrawn , who was generally miserly with information , kept Parck within his confidences throughout his career and trusted him implicitly , often revealing details of his plans to Parck which were not known to his other protégés , Dagon Niriz and Gilad Pellaeon . Besides a firm grasp of tactics , strategy , negotiation , and information - gathering , Parck spoke multiple languages in addition to his native Basic , including Cheunh , Honoghran , Twi ' leki , and Zabraki . He could also understand Quesoth Common Speak . Behind the scenes . The character of Voss Parck was created by Timothy Zahn for the short story " Mist Encounter " , published in " Star Wars Adventure Journal 7 " in August 1995 . Zahn later reused the character in the short story " Command Decision " , published in " Star Wars Adventure Journal 11 " ( 1996 ) , and " Vision of the Future " ( 1998 ) , the second book in The Hand of Thrawn Duology , which dealt heavily with Thrawn ' s backstory . This placed Parck in command of the Empire of the Hand , though that organization ' s name was only given in the following Zahn book " Survivor ' s Quest " ( 2004 ) , in which its organization and purpose were also fleshed out . While these appearances pushed the Empire of the Hand and the Chiss into the mainstream , Parck largely dropped out of the picture , with the primary face of the Empire of the Hand becoming General Baron Soontir Fel . The character subsequently went unused until the release of the novel " Choices of One " and the short story " Crisis of Faith " , both written by Zahn and published in 2011 . To date Parck has only been written by Timothy Zahn , and his only other in - universe mentions are in the short stories " Missed Chance " and " Red Sky , Blue Flame " , and the novels " " and " " . Parck ' s position in relation to that of Dagon Niriz is unclear . At the outset of their expedition to the Unknown Regions , Niriz outranked Parck . However , Parck was clearly acting as Thrawn ' s right - hand man during " Command Decision " , while Niriz was left out of the loop . " Choices of One " shows Parck once more holding the rank of captain and in command of the " Admonitor " , while the Zahn short story " Side Trip " , set after the events of " Choices of One " , shows Niriz as captain of the " Admonitor " when Thrawn returns to known space in order to execute a small mission on behalf of Lord Vader . Parck is once again acting as captain of the " Admonitor " in " Crisis of Faith " , the ship ' s latest chronological appearance .