Cyphar land dispute During the Imperial Era , a land dispute occurred on the planet Cyphar between the local Cyphari Afe clan and human colonists based on the Hollenside Enclave . The land dispute was rooted in two factors : first , the colonists ' desire to harvest a pre - spice material used in the manufacture of scarn ; and second , the insurgent leader Nightswan ' s plot to smuggle doonium out of Cyphar . Commander Thrawn used military force to end the human colonists ' incursions into the Afe clan ' s territory and disrupt both the scarn and doonium smuggling operations . As a result , both Thrawn and Ensign Eli Vanto were promoted to higher ranks in the Imperial Navy . Prelude . The planet Cyphar was home to the indigenous Cyphari species and a group of human colonists based in the Hollenside Enclave . During the Imperial Era , the shadowy pirate and insurgent leader " Nightswan " waged an insurgency against the Galactic Empire . To raise funds , Nightswan was involved in smuggling doonium , tibanna , and even spice . Nightswan established contact with a group of human colonists , who enlisted his help in smuggling a pre - spice material that was used to make a spice known as scarn . While Nightswan was uncomfortable with smuggling spice , he had little choice since the colonists were armed . To distract both the Cyphar authorities and the Afe clan , the smugglers instigated a land dispute between human colonists and the Afe clan around a new doonium vein beneath Afe territory . This dispute soon escalated into raids and retaliatory strikes in defense by the Afe clan . The colonists claimed that the Afes were raiding their border settlements and demanded concessions and a safety buffer zone that would take up nearly half the Afres ' land and forced them to relocate to territories controlled by other Cyphari clans . The Afes claimed that they had lived on the land for centuries and that their attacks were punitive expeditions for trespassing and border raids from the humans . To conceal the doonium , Nightswan instructed the smugglers to smuggle them inside shellfish shells , paralleling an earlier tactic he had used on an ocean world . After both the Afe clan and human colonists petitioned the Empire to intervene , Commander Thrawn of the Imperial light cruiser " Thunder Wasp " requested the mission with the assistance and support of Imperial Security Bureau Colonel Wullf Yularen , a long - time friend and ally . Resolution . After Thrawn arrived along with Ensign Eli Vanto , Thrawn met with Pord Benchel , the mayor of the colony , along with 9 other members to listen to their complaints . After the conference , Thrawn and Vanto headed to meet Chief Joko of the Afe clan . After hearing Joko ' s complaints and learning more about the dispute , Thrawn analyzed the land around him and noticed that the crops developed improperly as a result of heavy metal poison ing . Thrawn informed Joko to move his people from the area as he anticipated a strong human incursion . Thrawn and Vanto also noticed that the movement of the human colonists are moving further northward towards the larger Cyphari cities in order to provoke the Afe clan into attacking . Thrawn and Vanto remained in the area inside the Afe clan meetinghouse to monitor the human colonists as they trespassed . After monitoring the colonists , the pair learned that the colonists were actually attempting to collect scarn . Thrawn called in Imperial reinforcements and instructed to use stun . After Thrawn and Vanto took up positions , they engaged the colonists just as Imperial forces were landing and after capturing most of the colonists , they learned from Clay Tanoo that no raid were made for the night , instead the conspirators were to move their supply to a safe location , and since the scarn was not a spice yet , it was not a crime . Thrawn ordered his forces to protect Afe lands if a skirmish were to erupt , and ordered Lieutenant Gimm to map the vein of scarn under the land . After doing so , Thrawn ordered the " Thunder Wasp " to fire , destroying the scarn but also damaging Afe land . The next morning , Joko protested to Thrawn , and informed him that he planned to appeal his action to Coruscant . Due to Thrawn ' s actions , his superiors were furious . In the end however the majority of the colonists were not aware of the true motivations of their fellow humans . Aftermath . Thrawn ' s resolution of the Cyphar land dispute ended the conflict between Clan Afe and the human colonists . In addition , it disrupted the colonists ' scarn smuggling operation and Nightswan ' s illegal doonium operation on Cyphar . Thrawn and Vanto spent the next week hunting down smugglers in obscure systems . A week later , they were summoned back to Coruscant where they were promoted . Thrawn was promoted to Commodore while Vanto received his long overdue promotion and attained the rank of Lieutenant Commander . Thrawn and Vanto ' s career progression was due to the lobbying of the future Lothalian Governor Arihnda Pryce , an ally of Thrawn who had disrupted Nightswan ' s spy ring on Coruscant . Behind the scenes . The Cyphar land dispute first appeared in Timothy Zahn ' s 2017 novel " Thrawn " , a rebooted Canon ical origins story of the titular character .