Skirmish in the Crustai system In 27 BBY , a skirmish occurred between the " Springhawk " , a vessel of the Chiss Expansionary Defense Force ' s Picket Force Two , and a Vagaari plunder ship , along with its two fighter escorts . The plunder ship made its way into the Crustai system on the edges of the Chiss Ascendancy , where a Chiss sentry disabled its hyperdrive . The " Springhawk " , under the command of Chiss Force Commander Mitth ' raw ' nuruodo , quickly destroyed the fighters and approached the plunder ship . The commander boarded the Vagaari ship with his crew , secured the vessel , and found a large storage area full of treasure from various worlds . The Chiss then transported the plunder ship to the Crustai base , where the smuggler Dubrak Qennto helped Mitth ' raw ' nuruodo take an inventory of the treasure on the ship . Prelude . In 27 BBY , Chiss Force Commander Mitth ' raw ' nuruodo of the Chiss Expansionary Defense Force ' s Picket Force Two impounded a light freighter , the " Bargain Hunter " , which was captained by smuggler Dubrak Qennto and crewed by Jorj Car ' das and Maris Ferasi . The smugglers were brought aboard the " Springhawk " , a cruiser under the command of Mitth ' raw ' nuruodo — known to the smugglers by his core name : Thrawn . The " Springhawk " began to travel back to the Crustai base , Thrawn ' s headquarters . However , before it arrived , Thrawn was alerted to the presence of strangers in Chiss space and the " Springhawk " preformed a micro - jump that lasted less than a minute to confront the intruders . The skirmish . As the " Springhawk " returned to realspace , two small Vagaari fighter s flew past the viewport , shooting laserfire and missiles . The fighters were protecting a Vagaari plunder ship whose hyperdrive had earlier been disabled by a Chiss sentry . The Vagaari were pirates that Thrawn had only heard about before , as they had never previously entered Chiss space . The fighters quit firing as they flew out of their optimum range , but they soon came back around for another pass , this time one on each side of the " Springhawk " . However , Thrawn had noticed a pattern in the fighters ' shooting and was able to predict their next move . He shot the " Springhawk " weapons at the fighters , hitting the port from which their missiles were just about to launch , detonating the missiles before they were ejected and exploding the fighters . The " Springhawk " then turned to the plunder ship in the background . The Vagaari ship fired four salvos of missiles at the cruiser , but the Chiss vaporized the missiles in midflight . The " Springhawk " then approached the plunder ship while Qennto , Ferasi , and Car ' das returned to their quarters . Thrawn boarded the enemy ship with his warriors and attacked the Vagaari . Even though the " Springhawk " bridge crew did not board with the others , they helped the boarding party by tracking the Vagaari combatants aboard the plunder ship with the " Springhawk " sensors and informing the boarders where their enemies were , resulting in many Vagaari deaths . Aftermath . The Chiss secured the vessel within an hour , and two hours after that , Qennto , Ferasi , and Car ' das were brought aboard the ship . A Chiss warrior led them through the dead bodies and other carnage to Thrawn , who told them that the Vagaari were slavers and pirates . He led them into a storage room filled with bins , cabinets , and treasure of all kinds : ingot s , coins , gems , artwork . Thrawn had the vessel towed back to the Crustai base for further study . Later , Chiss Admiral Ar ' alani arrived at the Crustai base with Thrawn ' s brother , Mitth ' ras ' safis . Ar ' alani believed that Thrawn should not have attacked the Vagaari , because they had not yet done any harm to the Chiss Ascendancy itself , although they had attacked and enslaved many other species . Thrawn transported her , his brother , Car ' das , and Ferasi to the Vagaari plunder ship . When they arrived , Thrawn took them on a tour of the ship . The Admiral was surprised to see Qennto in the treasure room and demanded to know what he was doing there . Thrawn explained that he was taking an inventory of the treasure and was choosing what he would like to take with him as payment . Ar ' alani chose to stay and take an inventory herself while Thrawn tended to a report he had received of more Vagaari nearby . Behind the scenes . This skirmish was described in 2006 ' s " Outbound Flight " by Timothy Zahn , but it was not given a name in the novel .