Battle at Ukio

Ukio was one of the five major producers of agricultural supplies for the New Republic and was ruled by the Ukian Overliege. Sometime prior to Thrawn's campaign, the Empire lost its control over Ukio.

In preparation for his attack on Ukio, the Grand Admiral had deployed some of his fleet including the Imperial-class Star Destroyers Bellicose, Judicator and Nemesis and Death's Head on diversionary attacks on Ando Prime, Filve, Crondre and Ord Pardron. This was to distract the already stretched New Republic forces who had already sustained losses at the battle for the lost Katana fleet. For the attack itself, Thrawn deployed two Star Destroyers including his flagship the Chimaera, ten of the Katana Dreadnaughts and an unknown number of cloaked cruisers. At his helm was the Dark Jedi Joruus C'baoth who would be responsible for coordinating the orbital bombardment of the cruisers via battle meditation.

As the Chimaera and its escort of Dreadnaughts descended on Ukio's surface at high orbit above the sunside equator, Thrawn demanded that the Ukian Overliege submit to the Empire by lowering its planetary shield and withdrawing its military forces to their bases to await Imperial occupation. When the Ukians delayed a response, Thrawn retaliated by ordering the Chimaera to fire its turbolaser batteries on the planetary shield. As expected, the planetary shield deflected the blasts. But under the influence of C'baoth's mind control technique, the two cloaked cruisers hovering beneath the shield at the two points fired upon by the Chimaera fired on the planetary surface in turn; obliterating two Ukian military air bases. Thanks to the near-instantaneous timing and the devastation sustained on the surface, the Ukians believed that Thrawn had developed a superweapon capable of blasting through a planetary shield that could fit on a Star Destroyer.

Rather than incur more destruction, the Ukian Overliege surrendered to Thrawn and subjected to his terms of surrender. These terms included lowering Ukio's planetary shield and allowing Imperial occupational forces to seize control of the shield generators and all ground-to-space artillery systems. All military vehicles larger than a command speeder were to be confiscated by the Imperial occupatiers. In exchange for accepting an Imperial military occupation, Thrawn also agreed not to interfere in the local political and social administration and to exempt Ukio from war-level taxation and military conscription. However, Thrawn also demanded that a significant proportion of Ukio's food production and processing facilities be diverted for the Imperial war effort. Rumors that the Empire had developed a superweapon capable of firing through a planet's defense shields spread throughout the galaxy, although the New Republic, studying a macrobinocular recording of the attack made by Samuel Gillespee and forwarded to them by Talon Karrde, later disproved this belief.

• The Last Command Sourcebook
• The Thrawn Trilogy Sourcebook
• The Essential Guide to Weapons and Technology
• The Essential Chronology
• The New Essential Chronology
• The Essential Atlas