Battle for Botajef A battle for Botajef occurred sometime during the reign of the Galactic Empire . The battle was sparked by Governor Quesl ' s attempted secession of Botajef , which was a cover to steal the planet ' s valuable art collections for himself . Commodore Thrawn led the Imperial forces in the battle and exposed Governor Quesl ' s fraud . This ended the battle peacefully in the Empire ' s favor . Prelude . The planet Botajef was home to the Jefi species , whose history was one characterized by long periods of passive allegiance followed by brief periods of fiery conflict that led to new leadership and another era of passive allegiance . This cyclical history was reflected in Jefi art , which was characterized by curves interrupted by stark lines or sharp angles , with a color palette mirroring the group emotional and ethical spectrum . By the Imperial Era , Botajef had come under the rule of the Galactic Empire , who appointed Governor Quesl to rule the planet . While Quesl was a human , he managed to used his leadership skills to convince the Jefi to submit to his rule . Prior to the Batonn insurgency , Governor Quesl decided to secede Botajef from the Galactic Empire . Since this secession brought up memories of the devastating Clone Wars , the Galactic Empire refused to tolerate Botajef ' s secession . While Quesl had managed to convince the Jefi to support him , the secession was a cover for his plan to steal priceless Botajef art and sell them offworld by staging his own death during a confrontation with the Empire . Fleet Admiral Jok Donassius dispatched Commodore Thrawn to bring the separatists to heel . Thrawn was assigned this mission because xenophobic elements of the Imperial Military despised the Chiss alien and wanted him to fail . Out of duty , Commodore Thrawn accepted the mission . During the fifteen hour journey to Botajef , Thrawn studied the planet ' s history and art . He was also helped by Weapons Officer Lieutenant Pyrondi , who explained that the Jefies followed those whom they regarded as great leaders . Thrawn ' s forces consisted of the Imperial Star Destroyer " Chimaera " while the Botajef Defense Force consisted of two CR90 corvette s and seven squadrons of V - 19 Torrent starfighter s ; with five squadrons based in the north - polar base and two based in the south - polar base . The confrontation . Upon emerging from hyperspace , the " Chimaera " was met by Governor Quesl ' s two CR90 corvettes . Governor Quesl ordered the Imperials to leave but Thrawn claimed that Botajef ' s secession violated the formal rules established in Section Eighteen , Paragraph Four of the treaty that the Jefies signed with the Empire after the Clone Wars . While Thrawn distracted the Governor , four TIE fighters flew past the starboard corvette . This did not startle the corvettes who maintained stationary . When Quesl denied there was such a treaty , Thrawn added that Paragraph Seven of the treaty stated that the governor or other leaders must fully disarm before any secession talks . Thrawn then demanded that Quesl remove the turbolaser emplacements around his palace . Quesl mocked Thrawn and dared him to destroy them himself . Thrawn then instructed Senior Lieutenant Yve to dispatch six TIE fighters to take out the turbolasers . Due to Yve ' s superb training , the Imperial TIE fighters easily destroyed the turbolasers without damaging Quesl ' s palace . Thrawn then directed Commander Karyn Faro to shift the " Chimaera " towards starboard in the direction of the corvette holding position there . This shook the Botajef corvette and caused the comm display of Quesl to shake . At that point , Commander Eli Vanto realized that Quesl was on one of the corvettes rather than the palace . Noticing the paintings behind Quesl , Thrawn deduced that Quesl had instigated the secession as a plot to fake his death and escape offworld with Botajef ' s art . When Quesl insisted the Jefies were still loyal to him , Thrawn countered that they would only obey a respected leader and that Quesl no longer held that respect . Admitting defeat , Quesl remarked that he could have sold the art for billions offworld . When Quesl asked how Thrawn had bested him , the Commodore replied that his human crew had twitched in response to what he thought was an impending collision . However , the other corvette had trusted their leader implicitly and showed no fear since it was crewed by Jefies . Thrawn then gave orders for Quesl and his crew to be brought aboard the " Chimaera " and the artwork returned . Thrawn added that the Jefies needed to be " enlightened " and that a new leader needed to be chosen until Coruscant could send a new governor . He also gave orders for the Imperial pilots to remain alert but assured them that no conflict was anticipated . Aftermath . Thrawn defused the Botajef uprising peacefully without any bloodshed . Following the defeat of Governor Quesl , the stolen artwork was returned . Thrawn took steps to inform the chief of the Botajef Defense Force and the Jefies about the real situation . Thrawn also instructed Commander Vanto to contact Imperial High Command on Coruscant to inform them that the situation on Botajef had been peacefully resolved . In private , Thrawn confided with Commander Faro that the fictitious Clone Wars - era treaty had been a ruse for him to distract Governor Quesl until his movement under the tractor beam ' s pull gave final confirmation of his presence aboard one of the CR90 corvettes . The peaceful resolution of the Botajef uprising dealt a blow to those within the Empire who had hope to discredit the alien " outsider " Thrawn . In addition , the conflict ' s peaceful resolution enabled Thrawn to concentrate on eliminating the shadowy insurgent leader Nightswan Behind the scenes . The Battle for Botajef first appeared in Timothy Zahn ' s 2017 novel " Thrawn " , a rebooted Canon ical origins story of the titular character .