Household Phalanx A Household Phalanx ( or sometimes House Phalanx ) was a type of military or paramilitary unit among the Chiss , possibly the private warrior retinue of a leading public figure . The only such unit of which any clear detail is known was that loyal to Syndic Mitth ' raw ' nuruodo , better known to the galaxy at large as the Imperial Grand Admiral Thrawn . It appears that Thrawn ' s Household Phalanx was loyal to him in his capacity as a Syndic of the Eighth Ruling Family , and accordingly wore the burgundy colors of the Family ; but it is unclear exactly what such loyalty meant in the wider context of Chiss society , given that Thrawn had been exiled from Chiss space . The Household Phalanx was , in the words of one of its officers , a " rogue phalanx " in that it appears to have been formed around a core of Chiss warriors who shared Thrawn ' s ideals and were prepared to joined him in his crusade beyond the frontiers of the Chiss Ascendancy , acting independently of the Expansionary Defense Fleet and the Chiss political leadership — although for at least part of its existence , it operated under the aegis of the Empire of the Hand . Although a study prepared by the University of Sanbra in the final years of the New Republic described Thrawn ' s House Phalanx as a " portion of the CEDF , " this seems to be a self - consciously euphemistic reference to the number of Chiss military personnel who had left their posts to join it , perhaps compounded by a lack of certainty on the author ' s part as to the true status of the phalanx . The scant available evidence suggests that a unit wearing the House colors of a Ruling Family should be operationally distinct from the black - clad troops of the CEDF , and the Sanbra study dryly notes that the personnel in the House Phalanx had " taken an extended leave " to deal with threats outside the borders of the Ascendancy , action that would have been regarded as " treason " and " secession " had the Ascendancy ' s leadership been capable of publicly admitting that it was occurring . Operational history . In 19 ABY , the Household Phalanx was under the leadership of the Chiss Commander Kres ' ten ' tarthi , who answered in turn to Imperial General Baron Soontir Fel , and its scout pilots were probing Imperial and New Republic space , using powerful long - range ships which combined elements of the TIE / LN starfighter design with alien technology . Lured into following these ships , Mara Jade and Luke Skywalker discovered the command post known as the Hand of Thrawn on Nirauan , where the Household Phalanx was represented by an impressive starfighter force of a hundred scouts , and a garrison of Chiss warriors wearing red jumpsuits with Imperial rank insignia . In spite of damage done by the Jedi , and a subsequent pirate attack , House Phalanx forces were apparently still headquartered at Nirauan three years later , by which time they were explicitly claiming to represent the Empire of the Hand . It is not beyond possibility that the Clawcraft unit led by Commander Chak Fel was one of the Phalanx ' s component units at this time . Household Phalanx forces were next encountered by the galaxy at large during the Yuuzhan Vong invasion : in 26 ABY , Colonel Jagged Fel , the Baron ' s son , deployed with three squadrons of Clawcraft alongside Imperial forces at the battles of Garqi and Ithor . Although Jag subsequently sent one of his squadrons to report back to his father , the others remained to resist the Yuuzhan Vong in cooperation with the New Republic , and part of the force was still fighting alongside Rogue Squadron at least as late as the Battle of Kalarba . Nevertheless , Colonel Fel ' s two remaining squadrons were eventually recalled , while his father seems to have busied himself founding a number of remote bases in the anticipation of a guerrilla war against the Yuuzhan Vong . By 28 ABY , Jag had been removed from his command position , but he and his wing guard were sent back to scout former New Republic space following the fall of Coruscant . On Hapes , he defied his orders and raised a bush - pilot snubfighter force , Vanguard Squadron , but within a few months , he was once again in command of a full Clawcraft squadron , sometimes referred to as " Chiss Squadron . " At the same time , mysterious political maneuvers seem to have been occurring in the Unknown Regions . The precise fate of the Empire of the Hand and the Household Phalanx is unknown , but by 29 ABY , Baron Fel was apparently Assistant Syndic of the CEDF , and in 30 ABY , Colonel Fel was appointed as the Chiss Ascendancy ' s Ambassador to the Galactic Alliance . The Household Phalanx was not apparently heard of again after the conclusion of the war . Organization . Most of the Household Phalanx personnel encountered by outsiders have been crack fighter pilots flying Chiss hybrid variants of the Empire ' s TIE Series starfighters , and operating from hidden fortresses on remote worlds . It is known that the composition of the force was almost entirely Chiss , and that squadron commanders were chosen by the pilots they led , although they could also be reassigned by superior officers . Overall numbers of personnel are unknown ; at least a hundred scouts were based at Nirauan in 19 ABY , and 36 Clawcraft deployed at Garqi and Ithor seven years later , but the full total may have been much , much larger . Training facilities and combat bases were scattered in remote locations around the galaxy , and it appears that , although some recruitment took place among the children of serving personnel , the ranks of the Phalanx were swelled by volunteers and defectors drawn directly from the Ascendancy . One of the most unusual such recruits was Jagged Fel . For political reasons , he was enrolled in a military academy operated by the line military of the Ascendancy , and subsequently commissioned into a Colonial Phalanx guarding one of the Chiss colony worlds . But , with his Chiss wing guard Shawnkyr Nuruodo , he joined the House Phalanx , probably by defection , and in approximately 24 ABY , he was chosen as commander of a starfighter squadron by his Chiss comrades . By 26 ABY , as noted above , he was a colonel with several squadrons under his command — the Phalanx seems to have preserved the Imperial system in which colonels commanded larger formations than single squadrons . It is unknown what happened to the Household Phalanx subsequent to the confusing political events of 29 ABY , but both Baron Fel and his son later appeared as senior officers of the CEDF , and the House Phalanx ' s distinctive burgundy uniforms and Clawcraft subsequently appeared in association with Chiss warriors claiming to be soldiers of the CEDF . Lastly , it should be mentioned that the House Phalanx pilots who accompanied Colonel Fel to the grand reception for the allied forces before the Battle of Ithor wore white uniforms , rather than burgundy — a color that was perhaps more appropriate for troops assigned to an Admiral of the Defense Hierarchy than a unit associated with one of the a Ruling Families . Other Household Phalanxes . As already noted , Thrawn ' s Phalanx operated independently of the Chiss Ascendancy , and it may have been unique and anomalous in many ways : there is only a small quantity of evidence to suggest the existence of comparable military units within Chiss borders . In 28 ABY , Baron Fel described Ganet as the Phalanx Commander of a rival Syndic , and it is likely that he was indicating that she commanded a Household Phalanx . However , given that she wore a black jumpsuit , and claimed to speak and act for the CEDF , it is hard to know what her real status was . It is not known for certain whether there was any connection between House Phalanxes and the Colonial Phalanx es which were the militias of the twenty - eight Chiss colony worlds , although such a link cannot be ruled out . A New Republic source claimed that Colonial Phalanxes typically fell under the authority of Syndics answerable to House leader s , and we can also note that between at least 27 BBY and 22 ABY , combat - capable cruisers of the Fifth Ruling Family were typically crewed by personnel clad in the yellow colors of the Family . These warriors may have represented a Phalanx or Phalanxes serving the Chaf Family or its senior members , and they appear to have been tasked with defending some form of Family presence in the volumes of space that contained the Chiss colony words .