Dorja Captain Dorja of the Imperial Navy was a career military officer who commanded the " Imperial I " - class Star Destroyer " Relentless " in the fleet of the Galactic Empire and later the Imperial Remnant . A Human male , Dorja embraced the tenets of Emperor Palpatine ' s New Order and took command of the " Relentless " prior to 4 ABY , during the Galactic Civil War between the Empire and the Rebel Alliance . He was known for a cautious command style that saw his ship suffer no casualties , and he held his Star Destroyer back from the main combat lines at 4 ABY ' s Battle of Endor , an engagement with the Rebels that saw the Emperor killed and the Empire splinter into warlordism . Over the next five years , as Imperial Space was greatly diminished by the Alliance ' s successor state , the New Republic , Dorja plotted to seize control of the fleet from Captain Gilad Pellaeon . His plans were foiled , however , when the tactically gifted Grand Admiral Thrawn returned from the Unknown Regions in 9 ABY and was given control of the Empire . Dorja and the " Relentless " were put in command of the navy ' s secondary force , and Dorja saw his exclusion from the Grand Admiral ' s primary armada as a personal slight against himself . During Thrawn ' s campaign against the New Republic , the " Relentless " came across several high - profile enemy targets on the planet New Cov , and although they escaped from the Star Destroyer , Dorja captured the ship thief Niles Ferrier and presented him to Thrawn . Ferrier tracked down a number of dreadnaughts for the Grand Admiral that proved to be a turning point in the campaign , but Thrawn was later betrayed and killed by his bodyguard Rukh . His campaign came to an end , and by 19 ABY Dorja was serving the reorganized Imperial Remnant . When Pellaeon decided to sue for peace with the New Republic , his plans were sabotaged by a group of treasonous Imperials who included a con artist named Flim . Posing as a reborn Thrawn , Flim recruited Dorja to capture Pellaeon ' s courier before he could make any overtures to the New Republic . As Pellaeon waited in seclusion for peace talks that would not actually occur , Flim took to using the " Relentless " as his flagship while " Thrawn " expanded Imperial influence throughout the galaxy . When Dorja intercepted a covert New Republic strike at Imperial - held Yaga Minor , Pellaeon suddenly walked onto the ship ' s bridge and brought the ruse to an end . Peace accords were signed with the New Republic , and in the following years , Dorja ' s daughter Vana became a commander in the Imperial Navy . Biography . Cautious command . A Human male by the name of Dorja was born on the planet Coruscant in or before the year 65 BBY to a wealthy family with a long tradition of military service to the Galactic Republic . His father , grandfather , and four more preceding generations had all been naval officers , with two of them having commanded a ship of the line and at least one having reached the rank of admiral . Dorja followed the family tradition and joined the Navy of the Galactic Empire at some point after the Republic transitioned into the Empire in 19 BBY . Around 2 BBY , Dorja had a daughter , Vana . Embracing the tenets of Galactic Emperor Palpatine ' s New Order , Dorja became the captain of the " Imperial I " - class Star Destroyer " Relentless " before the year 4 ABY . He became known for a cautious tendency to not engage an enemy in direct combat , and for no casualties being suffered under his command . In 4 ABY , as the Galactic Civil War raged between the Empire and the Rebel Alliance , Emperor Palpatine drew the Rebels into a trap at the forest moon of Endor , where his massive Death Star II battlestation was under construction . Death Squadron , a task force of more than thirty Star Destroyers and support ships — the " Relentless " among them — was hidden behind the far side of Endor , and when the Alliance Fleet arrived in the system to destroy the incomplete Death Star , the trap was sprung . The Imperial fleet converged on the Rebels , who were contained in - system by interdictor cruisers . Dorja kept the " Relentless " removed from the Battle of Endor ' s main combat and thus suffered no casualties , but the Rebels won the day when a strike team blew up the shield generator on \ the moon ' s surface that was protecting the Death Star , in turn allowing Rebel fighters to enter the battlestation and completely destroy it . The Emperor was dead , but the Imperial fleet continued to fight for nearly four hours . Imperial morale became extremely low , and after the destruction of Death Squadron ' s flagship , the " Executor " ; the battlecruiser " Pride of Tarlandia " ; and sixteen additional Star Destroyer s ; Captain Gilad Pellaeon of the " Chimaera " ordered a retreat to the planet Annaj . Dorja almost refused to follow Pellaeon , an officer junior to himself , but he agreed with Pellaeon ' s bleak assessment of the situation . After a two - day trip to Annaj , a council of war disintegrated when no clear chain of command could be established in the wake of Palpatine ' s death . Several officers deserted with their forces and declared themselves independent warlords . Aspirations crushed . The Imperial throne was taken by Grand Vizier Sate Pestage , who chose to fortify strategic systems and fortress world s , thereby putting the numerically and economically stronger Empire on the defensive . Pellaeon held the fleet together for the next five years , during which time Dorja conspired to wrest control from him . On several occasions , Dorja came close to taking action and seizing command of the Empire , but the rest of the fleet officers respected Pellaeon and believed that he was worth following . Nevertheless , Dorja was finally ready to make his move in 9 ABY , when Imperial Space had been reduced to a quarter of its former size by the Alliance ' s successor , the New Republic . However , his plans were halted by the return of Grand Admiral Thrawn , a highly gifted tactician , from the Unknown Regions . Thrawn was given control of the Empire by its remaining Moffs and by the Imperial Ruling Council . He was also put in charge of the military forces of two warlord fiefdoms : the Pentastar Alignment and the Ciutric Hegemony . The Grand Admiral left an adequate reserve of ships to defend the Moffs at the Imperial capital of Orinda , but he also took the twelve Star Destroyers remaining from the Battle of Endor . Thrawn formed a personal fleet from six of them and left the other six , including the " Relentless " , as a secondary force under Dorja ' s command . Dorja saw the exclusion of the " Relentless " from Thrawn ' s primary armada as a personal slight against himself . He was also unhappy that a non - Human such as Thrawn was in command of the Empire , but he kept his head low and his opinion private , waiting for the opportunity to seize control . Thrawn spent six months reorganizing the fleet and performing strategic raids along the Imperial – New Republic border before stepping up his campaign . During the campaign , the " Relentless " was sent to the planet New Cov on a regular tax collection raid , but the Imperials discovered two noteworthy ships docked in the planet ' s capital city of Ilic : the " Lady Luck " , a yacht belonging to former New Republic General Lando Calrissian , and the personal X - wing fighter of the New Republic Jedi Knight Luke Skywalker . Several dropships containing stormtroopers and army troopers were sent to the surface to search for the high - profile enemies of the Empire , and when Skywalker , Calrissian , and Han Solo — a famous New Republic captain — escaped from the planet , Dorja pursued and dispatched TIE fighters . The sudden arrival of three dreadnaughts from hyperspace turned the tide of the battle , as the newcomers hit the " Relentless " with an ion cannon barrage before escaping along with the New Republic team . On New Cov ' s surface , Dorja ' s troops arrested the ship thief Niles Ferrier for attempting to steal a load of biomolecule s . Soon afterward , Thrawn contacted the " Relentless " and asked to speak to the prisoner , and Dorja brought the shackled Ferrier to a holocomm unit and called the Grand Admiral back . After making a point to remind Dorja that he had let Solo , Skywalker , and Calrissian escape , Thrawn instructed Ferrier to track down the dreadnaught s that had attacked the " Relentless " at New Cov . He then told Dorja to provide Ferrier with an unmarked freighter as a means of completing the task and ended the call . The dreadnaughts in fact belonged to the legendary " Katana " fleet , and when Ferrier uncovered the armada ' s location , Thrawn acquired 178 of the fabled warships . With his own fleet greatly bolstered , the Grand Admiral changed tactics and began to attack and reclaim territory from the New Republic . Thrawn took the " Chimaera " to capture the planet Ukio while other Star Destroyer captains of the fleet , including Dorja , were sent to make feints at various other targets in order to draw away the New Republic Defense Fleet . Dorja spoke to Thrawn and Pellaeon via hologram while en route to his target and was given the command to strike . Not long after the successful operation , when the " Chimaera " was at the Bilbringi Shipyards , Pellaeon contacted Dorja and requested a 500 - man caretaker crew for the following six hours . The request came after the insane Dark Jedi Joruus C ' baoth — whom Thrawn had recruited to aid with his campaign — used the Force to take control of the minds of everyone on the " Chimaera " bridge in a display of power to the Grand Admiral , and left the men limp and exhausted . Thrawn was later betrayed and killed by his bodyguard Rukh during a battle at Bilbringi , and his campaign was brought to an end . The Empire ' s last gasp . Following Thrawn ' s death , a group of Moffs and Fleet Commander s took control of the Empire . An Imperial Civil War soon broke out , however , and although the feuding factions were united into a Dark Empire by a reborn Palpatine , the Emperor ' s final death saw the fleet once more splinter into warlordism . In 11 ABY , the last vestiges of the Empire ceased to exist , but in 12 ABY Pellaeon unified various warlord fleets into the Imperial Remnant . In 19 ABY , Dorja was serving the Remnant — led by Admiral Pellaeon , its Supreme Commander — from the bridge of the " Relentless " . The Star Destroyer fell within the Braxant Sector Fleet , which was under the direct command of Moff Vilim Disra , but it was also one of the primary ships that Pellaeon used to patrol Imperial Space . Dorja ' s stances toward both Pellaeon and Thrawn had changed radically in the intervening decade — by 19 ABY , he trusted Pellaeon ' s word and judgment and considered it an honor to have served under Thrawn . With the Remnant having been pushed back to just eight backwater sectors in the Outer Rim , Pellaeon realized that the war was lost and decided to sue for peace with the New Republic . Although he convinced the Remnant ' s ruling Council of Moffs to support his plan , the Sinister Triumvirate of Moff Disra , former Emperor ' s Royal Guard Grodin Tierce , and the con artist Flim — the latter of whom was posing as a reborn Grand Admiral Thrawn — set into motion a plot to thwart Pellaeon ' s plans and seize control of the Remnant . Disra summoned Dorja and three other Star Destroyer captains to his palace on the Remnant ' s capital world , Bastion , and in his office , he gave them each a datapad full of instructions . Captain Trazzen of the " Obliterator " and Captain Argona of the " Ironhand " felt that removing four Star Destroyers from the sector fleet for any length of time was a poor tactical move , while both Dorja and Captain Nalgol of the " Tyrannic " questioned Disra ' s authority to send them to Morishim and Bothawui — planets outside of his sector . Disra indicated that he would thus choose other captains to take part in a " history - making military campaign , " but Flim , dressed as Thrawn , walked into the office and stated that he had chosen the four present captains for a reason . The four stunned captains quickly recovered themselves and stood at attention , and the man they believed to be Thrawn told them that for the time being , he could not answer any questions about how he had survived . The captains pledged themselves to his leadership and agreed to keep his survival a secret . Dorja asked no questions about the courier that he had been assigned to intercept at Morishim , and he told the Grand Admiral how pleased he was to again serve under his command . Although Disra feared that Dorja would see through the façade , Major Tierce believed the ruse would only work if they could fool someone who had served directly under Thrawn in the past . After the captains departed , Dorja vouched for Thrawn ' s military genius to a still - skeptical Nalgol . When the CR90 corvette of Colonel Meizh Vermel , Pellaeon ' s peace messenger to the New Republic , arrived at Morishim , the " Relentless " dropped out of hyperspace right behind it and began to fire on its target . Vermel ' s attempts to transmit an offer of parley to New Republic General Garm Bel Iblis were jammed by Dorja . Lando Calrissian and the New Republic ' s Rogue Squadron were in - system at the time , however , and managed to dilute the jamming enough to receive a garbled , nonsensical recording of Vermel ' s message . The corvette was then brought aboard the " Relentless " via tractor beam , and the Star Destroyer jumped to lightspeed to return to Bastion . Dorja contacted Flim , who reprimanded him for allowing even a fragment of Vermel ' s recording to reach New Republic ears . He then interrogated the corvette ' s crew , who had no inkling of what Vermel and Pellaeon were up to . Vermel was eventually taken to a holding cell at the Remnant ' s Rimcee Station . When the Triumvirate was ready to reveal " Thrawn " to the New Republic , Dorja took Flim and Tierce in the " Relentless " to an area of deep space and used an interdictor cruiser to intercept the " Lady Luck " from hyperspace . The Triumvirate had caught wind that Calrissian was giving New Republic Senator Porolo Miatamia a ride from Cilpar to Coruscant , and the two were brought aboard the " Relentless " to speak with the Grand Admiral . The New Republic was dealing with a major internal crisis following the discovery of a partial copy of the Caamas Document , a datacard which revealed that several Bothans were responsible for the long - ago destruction of Caamas , and Flim told his guests that he was willing to personally sit down with the Bothan clan leaders and discern specifically whom was responsible . His offer caused major political infighting in the New Republic Senate , serving the Triumvirate ' s aim to bring about the collapse of the New Republic from within . A ruse revealed . While Pellaeon waited for Bel Iblis in the Pesitiin system , with the " Chimaera " blind and out of contact with the rest of the galaxy , the Triumvirate took to using the " Relentless " as their flagship . Dorja ferried them to the planet Kroctar , deep in New Republic territory , where the Kroctari Lord Superior Bosmihi contacted the " Relentless " bridge and asked " Thrawn " for readmission into the Remnant . A Kroctari delegation arrived aboard the Star Destroyer , and under Flim ' s orders , Dorja personally met them and escorted them to a conference room . The ship ' s next stop was the planet Ruuria , where Dorja met with the Ruurian ambassador Amisus , who was also interested in switching sides . After the ambassador ' s shuttle left the " Relentless " , eight " Marauder " - class corvettes jumped into the system and attacked . From the secondary command room , Flim instructed Dorja to launch six " Preybird " - class starfighters to intercept , and Disra quickly realized that the attackers were Diamal an , enemies of the Ruurians . Flim took credit for the discovery and had the " Relentless " execute a Tron Boral maneuver , followed by the Preybirds doing a full - closure Marg Sabl sweep — the pair of maneuvers had been used to great effect by the real Thrawn in a previous battle with the Diamala , and as such , the corvettes fled without any shots having been fired . Dorja informed the Ruurians that an attack on their world had been averted , and then took the " Relentless " back to Bastion . The Unified Ruurian Colonies later pledged themselves to the Remnant . While on the Imperial capital , the Triumvirate learned that General Bel Iblis was planning a strike at the Imperial Ubiqtorate station at the world of Yaga Minor , in search of a full copy of the Caamas Document that he hoped would save the New Republic from descending into civil war . Dorja took them there in the " Relentless " so that they could provide a demonstration of " Thrawn ' s " tactical genius to the Mistryl Shadow Guard s , a group of mercenaries whom they hoped would ally with the Remnant . At the Ubiqtorate station , Dorja contacted Thrawn in the secondary command room and notified him that the " Tyrannic " was approaching the base . Since the " Tyrannic " was actually away on another mission , the Triumvirate knew that it was Bel Iblis ' s Star Destroyer with false transponder code s ; Dorja accordingly told the base ' s General Hestiv to allow the warship to pass the station ' s outer perimeter before putting all defenses at readiness for battle . On Flim ' s order , Dorja also placed the " Relentless " between the station and the incoming Destroyer . The false " Tyrannic " was caught in a number of the station ' s tractor beams and began firing on them , and Bel Iblis ' s task force , hanging back from the station , emerged from hiding and began to attack . During the battle , the information broker Talon Karrde arrived in his starship , the " Wild Karrde " , with what he claimed was the ultimate bargaining chip , and Rogue Squadron escorted him through the battle lines toward the " Relentless " . The Triumvirate and the Shadow Guards made their way to the bridge , where everyone present was shocked when Pellaeon arrived shortly afterward . Karrde had uncovered a datacard revealing the Triumvirate ' s ruse and had brought the information to Pellaeon , and , on the " Relentless " bridge , the Supreme Commander brought the lie to an end . Dorja protested that Nalgol had performed a positive DNA test from one of Thrawn ' s skin samples , but Pellaeon countered that records could be altered . Tierce tried to appeal to Dorja , claiming that Pellaeon was jealous that Thrawn had spurned him in favor of Dorja , but Pellaeon revealed the final card up his sleeve : Tierce was a clone of the original Grodin Tierce and existed as a failed genetic experiment of Thrawn ' s . Karrde ' s associate Shada D ' ukal killed the furious Tierce before he could attack Pellaeon , and the Supreme Commander told Dorja to call a medical team to the bridge . Pellaeon also told him to order all Imperial forces to cease their fire against the New Republic , but Dorja pointed out that they would expect the order to come from Thrawn . Pellaeon agreed , and Flim , in fact glad that the ruse was finally over , also obliged . With their plans having fallen to dust , Flim and Disra were escorted off the bridge by a security team . The Mistryl Shadow Guards also disappeared back into the galaxy . Concurrently with the battle at Yaga Minor , Luke Skywalker found a full copy of the Caamas Document on the planet Nirauan , which averted a civil war . Fifteen days later , Pellaeon signed peace accords with the New Republic ' s President Gavrisom , and the Galactic Civil War was finally brought to an end . By 28 ABY , Dorja ' s daughter , Vana , had become a commander in the Imperial Navy . Personality and traits . Dorja embraced the thrill of command , the call of space , and the tenets of the New Order when he joined the Imperial Navy . Doing so also ensured that he followed his family ' s long tradition of military service . As the captain of the " Relentless " , he became known for a cautious command style and a reluctance to engage an enemy in direct combat ; his tactics came under fire from others , but he dismissed their criticisms , albeit nervously . On paper , his prudence was not misplaced ; the " Relentless " suffered no casualties under his command up to and including the Battle of Endor , although he was removed from that engagement ' s main battle lines . Dorja was loathe to follow the orders of a junior officer when Captain Pellaeon ordered a retreat from Endor , but he agreed that the battle was hopeless . For the next five years , Dorja plotted to seize control of the Imperial fleet from Pellaeon . Although his carefully laid plans were foiled by the return of Thrawn , Dorja was disgusted that a non - Human was controlling the Empire and continued to plot to wrest power . By replacing Thrawn , Dorja believed that he could reinstate an undiluted , glorious New Order , something he felt the Emperor would have wanted . Dorja was offended when Thrawn left the " Relentless " out of his primary armada , but the captain kept his opinions to himself , knowing that the Grand Admiral was unforgiving toward insubordination . He was uncomfortable and openly winced when Thrawn took care to remind him that he had let Han Solo , Lando Calrissian , and Luke Skywalker escape from New Cov . Toward the end of the Thrawn campaign , Dorja was eager to go into battle during the Grand Admiral ' s capture of Ukio , cupping his right fist in his left in an ancient Mirshaf victory gesture as he acknowledged an order from Thrawn . Ten years after Thrawn ' s death , Dorja ' s attitude toward him had shifted considerably — he considered it an honor to have served under the Grand Admiral , and he espoused the quality of Thrawn ' s character and of his military genius to a skeptical Captain Nalgol . When Dorja believed that Thrawn had returned , he followed the Grand Admiral ' s orders unquestioningly , even if they puzzled him . He had complete faith in Thrawn and was thus calm when the " Relentless " came under attack , and he visibly beamed when Flim , posing as Thrawn , complimented his leadership ability . Dorja ' s attitude toward Pellaeon had also turned around by 19 ABY , at which time he trusted the Supreme Commander ' s judgment and his word . When Pellaeon accused " Thrawn " of being a con artist in disguise , Dorja was torn between whom to believe . Dorja was less respectful toward Moff Disra , in whose sector fleet he served , questioning his authority to conduct operations outside of the Braxant sector and treating such orders as requests rather than commands . When Disra , on the bridge of the " Relentless " , was shocked that the Kroctari wanted to join the Imperial Remnant , Dorja gave the Moff a tightly satisfied smile . Dorja had light skin , brown eyes , and gray hair , and he stood 1 . 8 meters tall . Behind the scenes . Captain Dorja was created by author Timothy Zahn as a minor character in the 1992 novel " Dark Force Rising " , the second book in what would later be known as " " . In 1993 , he appeared in the trilogy ' s conclusion , " The Last Command " , and his character was fleshed out in Bill Slavicsek ' s " Dark Force Rising Sourcebook " . Dorja was later used in a larger role in Zahn ' s 1997 and 1998 books , " Specter of the Past " and " Vision of the Future " , two novels that make up " The Hand of Thrawn " Duology . He has since been mentioned in several " Star Wars " reference works , and visual depictions of Dorja have appeared in the 1998 video game " " and in the comic book adaptations of " Dark Force Rising " and " The Last Command " . The of " Rebellion " tells the game ' s players that Dorja " makes a nearly perfect admiral , and you can trust him with difficult battles . " Although the " Dark Force Rising Sourcebook " establishes that Dorja hates and plots to seize power from both Grand Admiral Thrawn and Captain Pellaeon , " The Hand of Thrawn " Duology presents him as extremely loyal to both of them . As ten years separate the events of the duology from those of the Thrawn Trilogy , this article treats the discrepancy as Dorja having changed his attitude in the intervening time period .