Ayer Ayer was a major in the Galactic Empire ' s Stormtrooper Corps who served as the stormtrooper commander aboard the " Imperial I " - class Star Destroyer " Chimaera " . When the Imperial slave transport " Sempre " was attacked by rebels working with the criminal Nightswan , Ayer received orders from the Imperial capital Coruscant to board the vessel with his men without informing the rest of the " Chimaera ' s " crew of the slaves onboard . By the time the " Chimaera " reached the " Sempre " however , the attackers and slaves were long gone , and so Ayer grudgingly allowed Commodore Thrawn and Lieutenant Commander Eli Vanto to board . Thrawn worked out that the transport had been carrying slaves , and used the information to work out the next target of the rebels : the Imperial base Lansend Twenty - Six , where the slaves had originated from . The " Chimaera " then arrived at Lansend while it was under attack and helped defeat the rebel attackers . When the " Chimaera " traveled to the planet Botajef in order to confront its Governor Quesl , who had declared that the world was succeeding from the Empire , Thrawn had the major and his men standby ready for battle before arriving . There proved to be little need however , as Thrawn realised that the succession was simply a cover created by Quesl to allow him to steal a collection of valuable art work onboard a CR90 corvette . Once the governor ' s ruse was revealed , Thrawn had Ayer and his men board the corvette and arrested Quesl . Biography . A message from Coruscant . Ayer was a male major in the Galactic Empire ' s Stormtrooper Corps during the Age of the Empire . Under the command of the Chiss Commodore Mitth ' raw ' nuruodo , who was more commonly known as Thrawn , he served as the stormtrooper commander of the stormtrooper s on board the " Imperial I " - class Star Destroyer " Chimaera " , the commodore ' s personal flagship . When the Imperial transport " Sempre " was attacked by rebels associated with the criminal Nightswan , the " Chimaera " picked up the vessel ' s distress signal , and soon after Ayer received a communication personally from the Imperial capital of Coruscant . The communication instructed Ayer to lead a squad of his men onto the transport ; which had been carrying Wookiee slaves , but to not inform his colleagues on board the Star Destroyer of the nature of the transport ' s passengers . Ayer then met with Thrawn , Senior Comm Officer Lomar and First Officer Karyn Faro on the " Chimaera ' s " bridge to inform them of his instructions to board the " Sempre " . As he spoke to the group , Lieutenant Commander Eli Vanto approached and Thrawn explained the situation to him . Vanto guessed the rebels were aiming to kill the troopers on board the " Sempre " , at which point Thrawn prompted Ayer to explain that there were no troops onboard . When Vanto questioned the commander on the matter , Ayer refused to divulge any further information and claimed that he and his men would not need any aid once they had boarded . Arriving too late . An hour and forty - nine minutes after the conversation , the " Chimaera " reached the " Sempre ' s " location and found it drifting dead in space , the attackers long gone . Ayer and his men boarded alone nonetheless , discovering that the crew of the transport had all been killed and that the slaves were gone . With the need for secrecy over , Ayer reluctantly permitted Thrawn and Vanto onboard the " Sempre " but tasked his men with keeping them out of the slaves ' quarters . Despite this , Thrawn ordered his way inside and quickly deduced that the room had been altered to accommodate slaves . After learning that the slaves were Wookiees from the " Sempre ' s " audio logs , Thrawn worked out that the transport had originated from the Imperial base Lansend Twenty - Six . He then had the " Chimaera " flown there immediately , where they discovered the base under attack by the same rebels who had previously attacked the " Sempre " . The combined forces of the Star Destroyer and the base managed to defeat the rebels before they could rescue the remaining Wookiee slaves in the base . The Botajef incident . Sometime after the battle at Lansend Twenty - Six , Governor Quesl of the planet Botajef declared that the planet and its native Jefi inhabitants were succeeding from the Empire . The " Chimaera " was amongst the vessels sent to deal with the situation , which Quesl had actually engineered as a distraction so that he could steal an incredibly valuable collection of artwork from Botajef . Thrawn had Ayer and Starfighter Commander Yve prepare their troops for battle before arriving at Botajef , and upon arriving was contacted by Quesl , who attempted to goad the Imperials into firing on the governor ' s palace where the art had been housed . The governor hoped that the destruction of the palace would lead most to assume that he and the art had been destroyed , allowing them to escape onboard a CR90 corvette , but Thrawn saw through the ruse and had the corvette pulled aboard the " Chimaera " by tractor beam without destroying the palace . Personality and traits . When informing his superiors onboard the " Chimaera " that he was not able to provide more information about the " Sempre , " Ayer was apologetic and seemed particularly uncomfortable when looking at Thrawn . When Vanto questioned what would happened if the commander and his men needed help , Ayer became unapologetic and confident in that the stormtroopers would not need help . Behind the scenes . Ayer first appeared in the novel " Thrawn " , which was written by Timothy Zahn and released on April 11 , 2017 .