Mosh Barris Mosh Barris was an individual who served as a colonel , and later major in the Imperial Army . He was the senior troop commander aboard the " Venator " - class Star Destroyer " Strikefast " . During the Imperial Era , Barris investigated an uncharted planet where an alien settlement was spotted , in accordance with the Empire ' s Unknown Alien protocols . However , upon reaching the planet , Imperial forces were attacked relentlessly by an unknown alien assailant , and many of Barris ' men were killed . Barris was forced to evacuate his forces and also removed the settlement in order to study it back at the " Strikefast " . When Captain Parck , commander of the Star Destroyer , discovered their return , he outed the alien , who had been hiding on the troop carrier . The alien was arrested , and revealed himself as the Chiss Thrawn . Thrawn was taken to Coruscant , and presented as a gift for Emperor Sheev Palpatine , due to his strategic importance . However , prior to this , Barris was demoted to Major , due to his unsatisfactory performance while under fire during the encounter with Thrawn . Biography . A perilous exploration . During the Imperial Era , Colonel Mosh Barris was stationed aboard the " Venator " - class Star Destroyer " Strikefast " , which was commanded by Captain Voss Parck . While escorting several Imperial cadet s back to the Myomar Academy in the Expansion Region , they were sidetracked by pursuing smugglers . During the pursuit , they stumbled upon an uncharted planet where an alien hut had been discovered . In accordance with the Unknown Alien protocols , the Imperials were tasked with exploring the site and making contact with any undiscovered alien life . Colonel Barris led a landing party to the site and discovered a hunt in the center of the forest clearing , surrounded by eight rectangular boxes with two distinct sets of markings in an unknown language . Since Barris and his team could not decipher the script , the Imperial cadet Eli Vanto was brought down from the " Strikefast " to investigate . The multilingual Vanto quickly ascertained that the script on the boxes was written in Sy Bisti , a trade language used on the planet Lysatra in Wild Space . However , Vanto was unable to decipher the second set of script . Barris then complained about having to survey the site in accordance with the Unknown Alien protocols , which he dismissively regarded as a relic of the Old Republic . Despite his personal feelings , Barris followed Captain Parck ' s orders to set up camp while a tech analysis team was sent down . Shortly later , Colonel Barris was contacted by Major Wyan , who had found the crash site of an Imperial V - wing starfighter . With Captain Parck ' s permission , Barris and an Imperial Navy trooper went to the crash site and returned with the fallen pilot ' s flight suit , which had been stuffed with grass , leaves , and pyussh berries . Barris informed Captain Parck that they found no sign of the pilot . Barris also informed Parck and Vanto that he had set up a troop perimeter around the settlement and dispatched another platoon of troopers from the " Strikefast " . After Parck ordered Barris and his troops to locate the pilot ' s body , Barris stated that they might have to wait till morning . When Parck asked if his soldiers were afraid of the dark , Barris replied that he and his men had found that the V - wing pilot ' s blaster , spare power packs , and concussion grenades were missing . Parck then decided to cease any search operations until morning to avoid friendly fire incidents . Barris and his troops were instructed to stay in camp until daybreak . Barris then remarked that he hoped that whoever took the grenades would blow themselves to pieces before attacking them . Before leaving , Captain Parck instructed Cadet Vanto to stay with Barris ' team to study the settlement . The mysterious attacker . By dusk , Barris ' s troops had finished creating their perimeter . The tech team also set up an examination table protected by a transparent weather canopy so that they could study the grass and leaves taken from the flight suit . Shorty later , Major Wyan and his search party returned empty - handed . While examining the flight suit , Barris found the pyussh berries and speculated that they were used in some kind of religious ritual . At that point , Barris and his troops were startled by two explosions along the perimeter line . The second explosion slammed flat against Barris ' face and caused the grasses and leaves on the examination table to burn . Barris ' troops visited the source of the explosions and reported that the unknown attacker had fled . Barris also contacted Captain Parck and got him to dispatch some V - wings for a grid search . He then ordered Major Wyan to take a squad to set up some floodlights at the perimeter and then fine - mesh the hemisphere sensor screen . Wyan responded that the perimeter was full of birds and small ground animals and warned that fine - meshing the screen too far would trigger the alarms . Barris accepted Wyan ' s explanation and ordered him to set up the floodlights . Before they could do that , a second V - wing crashed nearby . Barris and his men found the fallen pilot but discovered that his blaster , power packs , and concussion grenades had been taken . Startled by the attacks , Colonel Barris consulted with Captain Parck by comm at midnight and obtained permission to examine the first flight suit . At that point , they discovered that the helmet ' s comlink was missing . Wyan however found that the second pilot ' s comlink was not missing . Wyan speculated that the attacker were tampering with their circuit . In response , Colonel Barris contacted the " Strikefast " to request that the circuit be shut down . Shortly later , Vanto , who had been analyzing the recent attacks , informed Barris that he had found a couple of coins between the inner and outer shells of one of the crates that dated back to before the Clone Wars . After debating the motives of the mysterious attacker with Wyan and Vanto , Barris instructed Vanto to keep studying the crates . By dawn , Barris ' landing party had lost five Navy troopers , who were guarding the sentry perimeter . Three of them had been killed by the mysterious enemy using concussion grenades while two others had been killed in friendly fire incidents . Barris requested two squads of stormtrooper s from the " Strikefast " , who arrived at dawn . While the stormtroopers were search the perimeter , Colonel Barris found that the mysterious attacker was jamming their comlink channels . Spooked by the repeated attacks , Barris announced that the Imperial landing party would be pulling out . When Wyan reminded him about the Unknown Alien protocols , Barris responded that they could bring the settlement and crates back aboard the " Strikefast " . While the Imperial Navy troopers and technicians began removing the settlement and crates , Barris waited for the anticipated attack , which did not occur much to his bafflement . When the stormtroopers returned , Barris noticed that one of them was missing . Barris ordered the technicians and Navy troopers to evacuate with the settlement and crates aboard their transport while the stormtroopers boarded their own troop carrier . However , one of the stormtroopers was standing rigid outside the hatchway . Before Barris and his men could respond , the trooper exploded . The Imperials discovered that the armor was empty . Shortly later , three stormtroopers emerged from the clearing with the body of their fallen comrade . Meeting Thrawn . Upon landing in the " Strikefast " hangar bay , Colonel Barris was confronted by Captain Parck , who was displeased that he left the site without permission . Barris responded that he was commander of the site and was only doing what he deemed best . Before Barris could order his technicians to erect the site , Captain Parck ordered Barris and Vanto to accompany him to the hangar bay control tower . Realizing that the intruder had accompanied the landing party , Parck then darkened the hangar bay ' s lights to ferret them out . After two hours , Barris and the others witnessed a humanoid figure emerging from the transport and attempt to stow aboard one of the park " Zeta " - class shuttles . Imperial troops then apprehended the prisoner and brought him before Parck , Barris , and Vanto . The attacker was a blue - skinned Chiss warrior who introduced himself as Mitth ' raw ' nuruodo ( or " Thrawn " in short form ) . While Parck and Vanto questioned Thrawn , an enraged Barris interjected and demanded to know why he had harassed and killed his men . When Thrawn responded that it was necessary in Sy Bisti , Barris insisted that the alien respond in Galactic Basic . Thrawn then claimed that he had been exiled to the planet by his own people and that he hoped to return home . When questioned further by Vanto , Thrawn added that he had been purportedly exiled since he and his people ' s leaders disagreed about preemptive strikes . Thrawn then confirmed that he had discovered the body of the first V - wing pilot and filled it with grass and berries . Barris and the others listened as Thrawn recounted how he had attacked the Imperial camp by sending small animals strapped with blaster power pack s to the perimeter . Thrawn also admitted attacking the Imperial sentries by using a sling to fling berries at them and downing the second V - wing fighter with a monofilament line . As Thrawn elaborated how he had used the stolen Imperial communications equipment to attack the landing party , Barris expressed anger that Thrawn had killed a man so that he could steal his comlink . When Barris asked if Thrawn had attacked his men for the fun of it , Thrawn expressed regret but explained that he wanted to draw stormtrooper s out . Thrawn admitted infiltrating the camp in stormtrooper armor and jamming the Imperial comlinks in order to board the transport and hide within the second power generator casing . Barris was present when Thrawn elaborated his interest in seeking an alliance with the Empire . Following the interrogation of Thrawn , Barris was demoted to Major since he had disobeyed Captain Parck ' s orders to remain on the uncharted world under further notice . Audience with the Emperor . When Captain Parck brought Thrawn before Emperor Palpatine at the Imperial Palace on Coruscant , Major Barris accompanied Parck , Thrawn , Eli along with three navy troopers and stormtroopers who had been deployed on the uncharted world . Barris and the others were present when Thrawn offered his services to the Emperor as his adviser on the Unknown Regions . The Emperor was impressed enough by Thrawn ' s offer to assign him a place at the prestigious Royal Imperial Academy . Per Thrawn ' s request , the Emperor agreed to transfer Eli Vanto to the Royal Imperial Academy to serve as Thrawn ' s translator . Following the meeting , Barris and the others went back to their duties . Over the years , Thrawn and Vanto would become friends and rise through the ranks of the Imperial Navy with the former being promoted to Grand Admiral after ending the Batonn sector insurgency . Personality and traits . Mosh Barris was a male human Imperial Army officer who held the rank of Colonel . Barris was ignorant of foreign languages and regarded Sy Bisti as an obscure tongue that even droid s could not be bothered with . He was unaware that Sy Bisti was a well - defined and useful language that was spoken in the obscure Wild Space region . Like many Imperial officers , Barris regarded the Unknown Alien protocols as an inconvenient relic of the Old Republic that interfered with the Imperial Military ' s business . His grudging lip service to the UA protocols led him to abandon his post on the uncharted world and bring the settlement back to the " Strikefast " . Colonel Barris was rattled by Thrawn ' s attack on his Imperial landing party , which claimed the lives of five navy troopers and two stormtroopers . Barris appeared to only understand Galactic Basic and demanded that Thrawn speak the language during the interrogation . Unlike Captain Parck , Barris was not impressed by Thrawn ' s resourceful military tactics . Barris proved to be an ineffective commander since he was unable to cope with irregular warfare and disobeyed Captain Parck ' s orders to remain on the uncharted world . As a result , he was demoted to Major . Behind the scenes . Mosh Barris first appeared in Timothy Zahn ' s short story " Mist Encounter " , which was published in " Star Wars Adventure Journal 7 " in August 1995 . " Mist Encounter " explored Thrawn ' s first contact with members of the Galactic Empire in the Star Wars Legends continuity . Barris subsequently appeared in Zahn ' s 2017 novel " Thrawn " , a rebooted Canon ical origins story of the titular character which incorporated elements of the " Mist Encounter " story . Barris ' lines are told through the point of view of Eli Vanto , the novel ' s .