Nightswan ' s campaign A campaign was orchestrated by the mysterious Nightswan , who first notably lent his services to the pirate group Culoss for a heist on the " Dromedar " . After the " Dromedar " incident , Nightswan worked with a group on Umbara that ultimately cultivated into a battle over Umbara , also lending his services to human settlers during the a territorial conflict on Cyphar . Nightswan was also involved in a spying operation of Imperial officials on Coruscant , and worked to liberate Wookiee slaves of the Galactic Empire during an attack on the " Sempre " and the resulting Battle at Lansend Twenty - Six , all the while he continued to sabotage doonium shipments meant for the Empire . Nightswan eventually decided to remain with one group , that being the Batonn insurgents . The following campaigns in the sector undertaken by the Imperial Military led to Nightswan ' s death on Batonn . Shortly before his death , Admiral Thrawn , Nightswan ' s nemesis , parleyed with him , and discovered that Nightswan had sabotaged the Cyphar land dispute due to his stance against spice . After Nightswan discovered a secret military project he began disrupting doonium shipments and decided to permanently align himself with the Batonn insurgents , leading to the Batonn sector insurgency . Nightswan ' s insurgency came to a fiery end during the Siege of the Creekpath Mining and Refining complex . Prelude . In the years leading up to the Battle of Yavin , the Empire faced numerous rebel insurgent groups including the Free Ryloth movement , Berch Teller ' s rebel cell , the Spectres of Lothal , Phoenix Cell , and Saw Gerrera ' s Partisans . Another insurgent leader was the smuggling " consultant " Nevil Cygni , who had once worked at the Kanauer Corporation ' s mining operations in the Thrugii asteroid belt . Adopting the pseudonym " Nightswan " , Cygni regarded the Empire as a corrupt tyranny that had to be overthrown and replaced with a new order based on justice , mercy , and freedom . During the Imperial Era , Cygni had joined a group which had broken away from the Mining Guild and sought to exploit the rising confusion in the Empire ' s metal markets , which was hurting many small businesses particularly shipbuilders . Nightswan had joined the group with the hope that they could siphon off enough from the Imperial Navy ' s demand to help them out . However , Nightswan left after discovering that the group was simply selling back stolen metals to the Empire through the blackmarket . This led Nightswan to help ordinary citizens who had been hurt by the Empire and could not get redress . To fund these activities , Nightswan began advertising his services as a consultant for various criminal groups including Angel ' s Culoss pirates , who were the descendants of Q ' anah ' s Marauders . While Nightswan focused mainly on helping innocents , he helped the occasional insurgents when they popped up . Nightswan ' s " consultancy " activities included instigating protests and unrest such as the Circle Bay mayor ' s office protest . Nightswan ' s activities drew the attention of the Imperial Security Bureau , which tasked Colonel Wullf Yularen with investigating Nightswan . While working as a " consultant " , Nightswan toyed with returning to the Mining Guild . However , the Mining Guild had by then learned about the splinter group and had alerted the Imperial authorities . Around that time , Nightswan heard rumors of a mysterious Imperial project that was sucking up vast amounts of doonium , iridium , and other metals , which turned out to be the classified Death Star project . Nightswan used Driller MarDapp ' s Higher Skies Advocacy Group and the Yinchom Dojo instructor Juahir Madras to spy on Imperial officials in the galactic capital Coruscant . Two years before the Batonn insurgency , Nightswan heard from a friend who had worked in the Thrugii asteroid belt about a blue - skin non - human working with Jedi General s during the Clone Wars . This alien turned out to be the aspiring Imperial Navy officer Thrawn , who along with his aide - de - camp Eli Vanto took an interest in Nightswan ' s activities . History . Raid on the " Dromedar " . Eighteen months after Senior Lieutenant Thrawn and Ensign Vanto graduated from the Royal Imperial Academy , Nevil Cygni and the Culoss pirates captured the freighter " Dromedar " , which was carrying tibanna gas . Cygni had infiltrated the " Dromedar " by posing as a new crew member . They imprisoned the ten – member crew in a cage aboard their pirate ship ' s aft – starboard cargo bay and then began transporting the tibanna to Uba in the Barsa sector . The Imperial " Gozanti " - class cruiser " Blood Crow " stumbled upon the " Dromedar " . Cygni posed as one of the " Dromedar " crew members and claimed that pirates had kidnapped his crew . Thrawn managed to convince his commanding officer Captain Rik Virgilio to let him , Vanto , and three Imperial technicians remain aboard the " Dromedar " with the crew . While prying into the freighter ' s cargo , Thrawn discovered that Cygni and his companions were the real pirates . Cygni took the Imperials prisoner and imprisoned them with the original crew on the pirate ship . Cygni and his followers departed aboard the " Dromedar " with the smuggled tibanna but made arrangements for the prisoners to be transferred to a drop zone . Not trusting Angel not to harm the Imperials , Cygni arranged for Thrawn ' s buzz droid to be left behind . This played into Thrawn ' s hands and he used the buzz droids to free the prisoners from their cage . After breaking out of their cage , the Imperials and " Dromedar " crew members overpowered their captors . Thrawn defeated the remaining pirates by having a second buzz droid moored to the pirate ship ' s hull to expose the ship ' s entrance chamber and amidships section to the vacuum of Space . Despite defeating Cygni ' s pirates and rescuing the " Dromedar " crew , Thrawn was suspended from duty for failing to prevent the theft of the tibanna gas canisters . While Thrawn and Vanto were waiting on Ansion , they took the opportunity to help Admiral Wiskovis interrogate three of the surviving pirates . Playing " good cop " , Thrawn convinced the pirates to reveal where Cygni and Angel had smuggled the tibanna to in return for protecting them from Grand Moff Wilhuff Tarkin . Since the pirates were descendants of Q ' anah ' s Marauders , Thrawn played on their fears of Tarkin . While the pirates discussed Thrawn ' s offer , Thrawn used his knowledge of Sy Bisti and discerned that Angel and Cygni had taken the " Dromedar " and its tibanna cargo to the planet Uba . Accepting Thrawn ' s offer , the pirates claimed that Angel and Cygni had gone to Cartherston on the planet Keitum . While Thrawn knew the pirates were lying , he proceeded with the deal in order to spring a trap on Angel and Cygni . Acting on this information , Admiral Wiskovis dispatched forces to both Uba and Cartherston to recover the tibanna and pursue the pirates . Despite their efforts , Cygni managed to slip through the Imperial cordon around Uba . Though Imperial forces managed to capture the other pirates , they found that twelve of the twenty cylinders that had been recovered aboard the " Dromedar " were empty . Thrawn and Vanto discussed their findings with the ISB Colonel Yularen , who was shocked that Cygni had apparently found a way to extract tibanna from the cylinders . Thrawn was subsequently cleared by an Imperial military court martial and promoted to Captain of the " Arquitens " - class light cruiser " Thunder Wasp " . Iridium smuggling . Following the " Dromedar " raid , a couple of ISB analysts speculated that Nightswan had settled down with a single organization . Colonel Yularen rightfully theorized that Nightswan and Cygni were one and the same . Later , Nightswan engineered a scheme to purchase Vulture droid parts from a Rodian merchant using proceeds generated from smuggling iridium on the planet Paklarn . Nightswan hired several local smugglers , whose plan was to transport the stolen iridium from the mines to an old underwater transport . From there , the iridium would be transported to a group of fishing boats where they were formed into small discs and hidden inside grist mollusk shells . Despite Nightswan ' s instructions to disperse the mollusk meat along the entire path , the smugglers instead disposed of the meat in one dump , attracting a large number of makorr predators . The smugglers ' tardiness enabled Captain Thrawn , Ensign Vanto , and Commander Alfren Cheno to track down the smugglers and apprehend them . After questioning one of the smugglers , Thrawn deduced that Nightswan ' s carefully - crafted scheme had unraveled due to the tardiness of the smugglers . Thrawn had been monitoring Nightswan ' s activities for the past year . He took advantage of his regular trips to Coruscant to visit Colonel Yularen and share intelligence on their investigations into the mysterious Nightswan . Trouble on Umbara . Nightswan then instigated an uprising on Umbara , a former Separatist world that had become a major exporter of doonium . Nightswan staged the uprising in order to instigate the Imperial takeover of Umbara ' s entire mining and refinery sector ; reasoning that it was easier to bribe the Imperial inspectors than the Umbarans . In addition , Nightswan ' s operatives established a ground - based transmitter on one of Umbara ' s moon s , which controlled 400 Vulture droids . The Umbaran uprising provoked the deployment of Imperial Navy forces under Admiral Carlou Gendling . Captain Thrawn ' s " Thunder Wasp " was part of the Imperial pacification force dispatched to Umbara . The Vulture droids inflicted significant casualties on the Imperial forces . However , Thrawn studied the Vulture droids ' attack pattern and deduced that they were being controlled by a ground - based transmitter . He convinced his superior officer Commander Cheno and the other Imperial commanders in the squadron to bombard the moon . While this neutralized the threat of the Vulture droids , Admiral Gendling was incensed that Commander Cheno and Captain Thrawn had usurped his command . Cheno took the fall for Thrawn in order to protect the Chiss officer ' s Imperial career . This allowed Thrawn to continue his investigation into Nightswan . The Coruscant spy ring . Nightswan ' s operatives on the planet Nubia later instigated a protest at the Circle Bay mayor ' s office . They engineered the dismissal of the kitchen staff and embedded their own people among the new staff . This incident led Colonel Yularen and Captain Thrawn to deduce that Nightswan was planning to target Imperial government officials and bureaucrats on Coruscant using dojos . Nightswan ' s spy ring on Coruscant was uncovered by an unlikely source : the Lothalian emigrant and former senatorial staffer Arihnda Pryce . She befriended Driller MarDapp and Juahir Madras . Driller was the head of the Higher Skies Advocacy Group , which covertly gathered intelligence on Imperial mining and industrial operations using bodyguards , who worked for Imperial bureaucrats and senators . Nightswan hope to uncover the Empire ' s secret Death Star project . These bodyguards were recruited by his friend Juahir , who worked as a martial arts instructor at the Togorian H ' sishi ' s dojo Yinchom Dojo . Madras used her position to blackmail and " indoctrinate " bodyguards about the " evils " of the Empire . The bodyguards were tasked with spying on their Imperial employees but were not supposed to assassinate them . The intelligence obtained by the bodyguards was stored on Higher Skies ' computer database , which was then passed to Nightswan . Driller and Madras convinced an unsuspecting Pryce to work for Higher Skies and to hone her martial arts abilities at Yinchom Dojo . As part of their investigation , Yularen along with Thrawn and Vanto visited the Yinchom Dojo under the pretext of verifying their credentials . Pryce , who had met Thrawn earlier following the " Dromedar " Incident , managed to inform Thrawn that she was working for the Higher Skies Group . Thrawn engaged in a martial arts demonstration with dojo H ' sishi to test whether she harbored any malice towards the Empire . While Thrawn ascertained that H ' sishi was innocent , he suspected something aloof about Madras ' behavior and suspected that she had something to hide . Growing uneasy about Higher Skies ' illicit activities , Pryce secretly contacted Thrawn and offered to become a double agent in return for immunity . Thrawn accepted her offer and asked her to copy Higher Skies ' files . Pryce ' s work was complicated when Ottlis Dos , one of the bodyguards she worked with , revealed that he was working as a double agent for Moff Ghadi , a rival of Grand Moff Wilhuff Tarkin who despised Thrawn for being an alien . Pryce turned the tables on Ghadi by offering to share Higher Skies ' intelligence on Grand Moff Tarkin with Ghadi . After securing an audience with Tarkin , she exposed Higher Skies ' espionage activities and Ghadi ' s plot to exploit the illegally – obtained data . In return for immunity , Pryce managed to convince Tarkin to appoint her Governor of Lothal and to promote Thrawn ' s friend Eli Vanto . As a result of Pryce ' s information , Imperial Security Bureau forces under Colonel Yularen arrested members of Higher Skies and Yinchom Dojo . Yularen personally arrested Madras after one of her bodyguards Kaniki tried to assassinate Senator Evidorn . While most of the conspirators were executed , Juahir ' s punishment was commuted to imprisonment after she cooperated with Yularen . H ' sishi was cleared of any wrong - doing and allowed to leave Coruscant . Pryce ' s actions dealt a serious blow to Nightswan ' s intelligence - gathering efforts in the Imperial capital . The Cyphar dispute . Meanwhile , Nightswan became embroiled in the Cyphar land dispute . In order to raise funds for weapons and supplies , Nightswan helped a group of smugglers on Cyphar to smuggle a pre - spice material that was used to produce a spice variety called scarn . While Nightswan was uncomfortable with smuggling spice , he had no choice since the smugglers were armed . To distract both the Cyphari Afe clan and the Cyphar government , the smugglers instigated a land dispute between the Afes and human colonists around a new doonium vein beneath Afe territory . At Nightswan ' s advice , the doonium was smuggled offworld hidden is shellfish shells . Commander Thrawn and Ensign Vanto were dispatched to resolved the Cyphar dispute . Studying the planet ' s shipping records , Thrawn and Vanto ascertained that the dispute was linked to the illicit smuggling of doonium and a rise in the export of shellfish . Thrawn also rightfully deduced that Nightswan had a hand behind this dispute . After meeting with the colonists ' representatives Clay Tanoo and Brigte Polcery and the Afe Chief Joko , Thrawn and Vanto decided to set a trap for the human raiders . Imperial forces managed to capture several raiders including their leaders Tanoo and Polcery . While examining the site , Thrawn also discovered that the disputed ground contained a pre - spice material that was used to produce scarn . In order to end the land dispute , Thrawn ordered the " Thunder Wasp " and its TIE fighters to level the disputed land , destroying the scarn and farmland . Despite resolving the Cyphar dispute , Thrawn ' s actions antagonized Chief Joko , who objected to the loss of farmland and damage to property . The Imperial Military was also displeased that Thrawn had not followed procedure and court - martialed him . However , Thrawn was cleared by a military panel due to Grand Moff Tarkin ' s influence . He was promoted to Commodore while Vanto was promoted to Lieutenant Commander . Thrawn was also made captain of the Imperial Star Destroyer " Chimaera " , giving him more resources in the fight against Nightswan ' s insurgency . Rescuing Wookiee slaves . Following the disruption of Higher Skies and the Cyphar dispute , Nightswan and his followers subsequently took an interest in freeing Wookiee slaves from the Empire . After the Clone Wars , the Galactic Empire had annexed Kashyyyk and enslaved the Wookiee species . The xenophobic Empire wanted to exploit the Wookiees for their massive , robust physiology allowed them to work for long hours in extreme conditions . Besides being forced to harvest lumber and crops , and mining for raw materials on Kashyyyk , large numbers of Wookiee slaves were shipped across the galaxy to work in mines and to build the Death Star . In addition , Wookiees were also used as experimental subjects for testing medicines and weapons . The insurgents ambushed the troop ship " Sempre " with the frigate " Castilus " and two squadrons of V - 19 Torrent starfighter s . After jamming the troop ship , the insurgents boarded the " Sempre " and liberated the Wookiee slaves . Commodore Thrawn and Lieutenant Commander Vanto responded to the " Sempre " distress call . After examining the troop ship ' s interior , Thrawn discovered that the Empire was trafficking Wookiee slaves . Meanwhile , the insurgents attacked the space station Lansend Twenty - Six , which was used to process Wookiees who were being exported offworld . The insurgents were aided by a saboteur aboard Landsend , who managed to disable the long - range comm and shut off the starboard - side defense systems before being captured . With reinforcements from Baklek Base on the way , the " Chimaera " came to the aid of Landsen Twenty - Six . By that stage , the insurgents had already boarded the station . After establishing contact with Colonel Zenoc , Thrawn ordered the Star Destroyer ' s turbolaser s to bombard the starboard part of the station . Meanwhile , Thrawn ' s TIE fighters neutralized the insurgent starships , reducing the enemy forces to the crippled frigate and three V - 19s . Despite helping to foil Nightswan ' s latest venture , Vanto felt uneasy that the Empire was using slaves . Thrawn responded that these slaves were Imperial assets and sought to rationalize slavery . Batonn sector insurgency . Following Admiral Thrawn ' s suppression of the uprising on Botajef , Nightswan turned his attention to the planet Batonn , which was an exporter of doonium . Nightswan became affiliated with the Batonn insurgents , who opposed Governor Restos and his Imperial overlords . The Batonn insurgents captured the Imperial garrison on Scrim Island . In response , Fleet Admiral Jok Donassius decided to take action against insurgent groups within the Batonn sector including Batonn . Admiral Thrawn and his 96th Task Force were tasked with recapturing Scrim Island from the insurgents . However , the mission was reassigned to Admiral Durril and his 103rd Task Force after Thrawn insisted on studying the siege first . Instead , Thrawn was reassigned to quelling the insurgents on Sammun while Admiral Kinshara ' s 125th Task Force was tasked with dealing with the Denash insurgents . Thrawn tasked Commander Karyn Faro with handling the Sammun insurgents while he and Commander Vanto traveled undercover to Batonn to gather intelligence on Nightswan . Posing as an arms dealer , Vanto managed to infiltrate Nightswan ' s base aboard a Nomad starship on Batonn ' s main continent . Nightswan told Vanto about his plans to overthrow the Empire and regarded Thrawn as an obstacle . Eli and Thrawn managed to escape Nightswan ' s ship by staging an explosion . Meanwhile , the Scrim Island insurgents inflicted heavy damage on Admiral Durril ' s forces , forcing them to retreat from the battle . On Sammun , Commander Faro destroyed two enemy ships , and captured four others as well as a considerable amount of ordnance . Elsewhere , Admiral Kinshara encountered little resistance since most of the Denash insurgents had retreated to Batonn . With the defeat of Admiral Durril , Thrawn was tasked with recapturing Scrim Island . Having studied the enemy ' s tactics , Thrawn used his task force ' s Imperial light cruisers as decoys to absorb the enemy ion cannon s . Though the light cruisers were disabled , this enabled Thrawn to deploy the " Chimaera " and bombard the insurgents from orbit . The " Chimaera " turbolasers generated mini tsunamis that overwhelmed the insurgents ' defenses , forcing their surrender . However , other insurgents managed to retreat to the Creekpath Mining and Refining complex near Paeragosto City ; setting the stage for a siege . Last stand on Batonn . Nightswan ' s forces took control and occupied the Creekpath Mining and Refining complex , driving out the mining staff in a coordinated operation . The Batonn authorities were caught off guard since Governor Restos had requisitioned the Batonn Defense Force to guard his palace . While Nightswan did not want civilians to get involved , many civilians took shelter inside the Creekpath complex , which was defended by a deflector shield generator . Many of the local civilians including Governor Pryce ' s parents Talmoor and Elainye Pryce were sympathetic to the Batonn insurgents due to their grievances with Governor Restos and the Empire . Imperial and Batonn Defense forces lay siege to the Creekpath complex . Due to the presence of her parents inside , Governor Pryce convince Colonel Yularen to allow her to accompany ISB Agent Gudry on a mission to disable the shield generator . Meanwhile , Thrawn arranged a secret meeting with Nightswan in an attempt to find a peaceful resolution to the Creekpath siege . During the meeting , Nightswan revealed his hand in the previous events of the insurgency including the " Dromedar " Incident , the Battle over Umbara , Higher Skies , the Cyphar dispute , the attempted liberation of Wookiee slaves , and the siege of Scrim Island . Thrawn offered to spirit Nightswan to safety in the Chiss Ascendancy but Nightswan was unwilling to abandon his followers to the tender mercies of Governor Restos . Despite their disagreement , Thrawn agreed to minimize civilian casualties . Later , a fleet of thirty insurgent ships exited hyperspace and attacked the Imperial light cruisers orbiting Batonn . Thrawn then deployed several TIE fighters , which had been hidden aboard repair ships . The freighters were now trapped between the " Chimaera " and the TIE fighters . Meanwhile , Pryce underwent a falling - out with Gudry and killed him after he refused to help her evacuate her parents . To cover up his murder , Pryce detonated the explosives that Gudry had attached to the insurgents ' munitions depot but took care to leave the shield generator intact . This created an explosion that destroyed much of the mining complex , killing all the insurgents there including Nightswan along with many more civilians . In space , the insurgents ships witnessed the explosion and retreated ; thus ending the Batonn insurgency . Aftermath . The death of Nightswan during the Siege of the Creekpath Mining and Refining complex ended his insurgent campaign against the Galactic Empire . The Empire accepted Pryce ' s version that Gudy had detonated the explosives to avoid capture at the hands of the insurgents . Despite the high civilian casualties Batonn , Governor Pryce considered them acceptable margins since there were no more insurgents in the Batonn sector . While uneasy about the high death toll , Thrawn reluctantly accepted Pryce as his political ally . Thrawn was later promoted by the Emperor to the position of Grand Admiral and placed in command of the Seventh Fleet . Pryce ' s dissatisfaction with Admiral Kassius Konstantine ' s campaign against the Phoenix Cell led her to petition Grand Moff Tarkin to deploy Thrawn and the Seventh Fleet to the Lothal sector . Despite Nightswan ' s death , rebellion against the Empire continued . By 2 BBY , Thrawn realized that the Empire was fighting a galaxy - wide insurgency . Later that year , the various rebel cells under the leadership of former Senator Mon Mothma formed the Alliance to Restore the Republic , which supported many of Nightswan ' s ideals . After years of warfare , the Alliance ' s successor state , the New Republic , defeated the Empire at the Battle of Jakku in 5 ABY . Behind the scenes . Nightswan ' s campaign forms the secondary plot line of Timothy Zahn ' s 2017 novel " Thrawn " , a Canon ical origins story of the titular character . Nightswan serves as the novel ' s main antagonist .