Chimaera

"Shuttle TYA77, transmit clearance codes.''" "Copy, Chimaera'', transmitting codes now."

- An Imperial shuttle prepares to land aboard the Chimaera

The ISD Chimaera was an Imperial I-class Star Destroyer captained by Imperial officer Thrawn prior to the outbreak of the Galactic Civil War. Later, it served as his command ship following his promotions to admiral and then to Grand Admiral in 2 BBY, becoming the flag vessel of the Seventh Fleet.

Early service under Thrawn
The Chimaera was an Imperial I-class Star Destroyer that saw service during the reign of the Galactic Empire. Just as the seeds of rebellion began to spread across the galaxy, the vessel was placed under the command of the Chiss officer Thrawn following his promotion to Commodore. The ship, with Thrawn as its captain, was dispatched to quell early rebel uprisings, with Lieutenant Commander Karyn Faro serving as the Chiss' first officer.

Thrawn captained the vessel for some time, using his effective tactics to deal with the Empire's enemies. One of the rebel groups that was gaining influence at the time fell under the command of a mastermind who went by "Nightswan". Nightswan had been Thrawn's personal nemesis for years, although the two had never truly been formally acquainted. The Chimaera received orders to aid the recently attacked the transport vessel Sempre, which Thrawn had believed to been attacked by Nightswan's forces, which he theorized to have been headed by the recently stolen frigate Castilus. In an effort to arrive at the scene as soon as possible and ensure that they were prepared to face whatever awaited them, Thrawn ordered Faro to inspect the Chimaera's weaponry and engines.

The Chimaera was unable to reach the transport in time, finding it adrift and the crew killed. Thrawn ultimately determined that the Sempre was actually carrying Wookiee slaves, and that they had been rescued by the rebels. In an attempt to neutralize the terrorists, the Chimaera headed to Lansend Twenty-six, an Imperial slave processing center and former Confederacy of Independent Systems fortress. The station had fallen under attack by the time that the Chimaera had arrived, the assault being spearheaded by the Castilus. Colonel Zenoc, commander of the facility, did not have sufficient enough forces to defend it from the rebels. The presence of the Chimaera was adequate enough to provide support, its tie fighter wing occupying the frigate and its V-19 Torrent starfighter detachments while the Star Destroyer fired on the station, concentrating all batteries on the areas where the attackers and escaped slaves were located. Once it had finished dealing with the threats within the fortress, the Chimaera turned its fire on the Castilus, neutralizing the threat and emerging from the engagement victorious.

The Chimaera continued to deal with insurgent threats under Thrawn's command. A few years before the start of the Galactic Civil War, it was dispatched to the Belsmuth sector, where Governor Quesl of Botajef declared his planet independent from the Empire's rule. The Chimaera rendezvoused with Fleet Admiral Jok Donassius, who was in need of assistance in reclaiming Botajef for the Empire.

Arriving in the Belsmuth sector, the Chimaera began to carry out initial strikes against the Botajef revolutionaries. The planetary defences were immensely heavy, and one single Star Destroyer would not be enough to completely subdue the world. Fighter wings under the command of Commander Yve were dispatched to perform flybys past the two CR90 Corvettes that orbited the planet, belonging to the Botajef Defense Force. The Imperials were informed that they were invading the sovereign territory of the Jefi, a race indigenous to Botajef.

The attack began not long after. Using its tractor beams, the Chimaera subdued one of the corvettes, which was taken as a prize. In the meantime, the Chimaera's TIEs managed to make short work of the planetary turbolasers. After focusing on various planetary bombardments, the defense placements were effectively neutralized. With the planetary forces in disarray, the Chimaera could focus on capturing the second corvette. After it was taken, Quesl surrendered and agreed to return to Coruscant and face trial.

Serving the 96th Task Force
Due to his success, Thrawn was promoted to the rank of Admiral and assigned to the 96th Task Force. Even as he assumed control of the task force, the Chimaera remained under his command, serving as his command ship. The captaincy of the vessel was granted to a newly promoted Commander Faro, with Commander Eli Vanto, Thrawn's protege, as another one of the ship's commanding officers. The Chimaera and the 96th were dispatched to the planet of Batonn to deal with a faction of insurgents in the midst of mounting an uprising in the sector. At the last minute, however, the Chimaera and the 96th were recalled after Thrawn refused to initiate an immediate attack against the rebels on Scrim Island.

The Chimaera and the other vessels of the 96th were instead diverted to Sammun to quell the rebellion on that planet. In the end, the Empire secured a victory, with the rebels surrendering after two of their ships were destroyed and another four were taken as prizes. With the battle over, the Chimaera returned to Batonn to reinforce Admiral Durril and the 103rd Task Force, which was in complete disarray. However, instead of assisting the broken Imperial fleet, which was being battered by the planetary defences, the Chimaera remained away from the fray at a safe distance. Upon returning to Batonn, Thrawn sent Vanto to confront Nightswan, who turned out to be Nevil Cygni, a former military contracting consultant who used his resources to fund the growing rebellion.

Thrawn and Vanto eventually returned to the Chimaera, which was then tasked with destroying the rebel base on Scrim Island. Instead of firing directly upon the fortress, the Chimaera fired its ion cannons in the oceans surrounding the island, triggering a tsunami. Thrawn and Vanto once again headed down to the surface to meet with high command. In the meantime, full control of the Chimaera and the 96th Task Force was handed over to Commander Faro, who remained in command over both the vessel and the fleet during the Battle of Batonn. Not long after, most planetary forces and rebel ships in orbit were destroyed. What was left of Cygni's force then retreated to Paeragosto City, holing themselves up in the Creekpath Mining and Refining complex. The Chimaera could not bombard the facility without destroying the entire city, so the capital ship remained in high orbit, awaiting further orders.

Later on, after meeting Cygni face to face, Thrawn returned to the Chimaera and reassumed command of his ship. A fleet of thirty rebel starships emerged out of hyperspace not long after, with the Chimaera becoming engulfed in the fray. While commandeered light cruisers managed to shield the Star Destroyer from the bulk of the fleet's fire, the Chimaera was still exposed. It managed to position itself behind the cruisers, which were, in fact, used as bait to attract most of the enemy's fire. Wings of TIE fighters were then sent to harass the fleet, while the Chimaera focused all fire on the ships. The insurgency on the surface was finally crushed after an explosion destroyed remaining rebel forces in the mines, which was secretly carried out by Governor Arihnda Pryce of Lothal, a personal friend of Thrawn's. Continuously weakened by the Chimaera's fire and disheartened by news of the death of Cygni and the remaining insurgents, the remnants of the insurgent fleet retreated, with the 96th Task Force achieving a strategic victory.

Although he did not condone the loss of unnecessary civilian lives, Thrawn took credit for the eradication of the rebels in order to advance his own career. In exchange for his many years of service, Thrawn was promoted to the prestigious rank of Grand Admiral and placed in command of the Imperial Seventh Fleet. The Chimaera too transferred over, serving as the flagship of the Empire's Seventh Fleet.

Imperial flagship
In 2 BBY, Pryce lacked the forces to deal with the growing rebel threat in her system, which was affiliated with a much larger cell. In need of professional assistance, believing Admiral Kassius Konstantine, then serving as the chief military officer in the system, was incompetent, she petitioned that Grand Moff Wilhuff Tarkin send the Seventh Fleet to help strengthen the Empire's hold over her world.

After learning that the Lothal insurgents were en-route to Mykapo in order to extract rebel sympathizers, Thrawn dispatched Konstantine to go put a stop to the operation with a single Arquitens-class command cruiser. The Chimaera traveled to the system in order to reinforce the defeated commander, although the rebels were able to escape the battle.

Thrawn continued the hunt for the rebels, and sent out Imperial E-XD infiltrator droid to secretly land on worlds in search of their hidden base. EXD-9, one of the droids, managed to land on Chopper Base and began it's infiltration of the facility, but was compromised when Fulcrum informed the rebels of the infiltration. The droid was ultimately powered-off after a skirmish against Captain Garazeb Orrelios, however, it was programmed to self-destruct if it was powered-off while in combat mode. Orrelios and the droids C1-10P and AP-5 managed to disrupt the program long enough to send the unit back to the Imperial fleet and detonate its proton warhead. After Imperial engineers discovered it had returned and reactivated it, the droid self-destructed, destroying the Imperial Star Destroyer it docked with. The Chimaera was present for this, and as a result, Agent Kallus boarded the ship to inform the grand admiral. Thrawn was relatively unconcerned by this, as the sabotage only narrowed his search from a thousand systems to just ninety-four.

As the Seventh Fleet continued to blockade Lothal, Thrawn requested many officers who had encountered the Spectres to board the Chimaera. These included Lieutenant Lyste, Kallus, Konstantine, Pryce, Commander Brom Titus and Captain Brunson. Lyste had recently captured a disguised Ezra Bridger who wanted to rescue Kallus, as he was secretly Fulcrum, Bridger was brought aboard the Chimaera. While Bridger was locked away in Detention Block B7, Thrawn, Konstantine, Colonel Wullf Yularen, Kallus and Lyste met in Thrawn's Office. There, the Grand Admiral informed them of a rebel spy threat. Later, Kallus made his way to the Detention Block to release Bridger, using Lyste's code cylinder. They then made their way to Thrawn's office to erase information of the Rebel's base from his database, while also gaining clearance codes so the retrieval team could land and extract them out.

Thrawn noticed the prisoner's escape and returned to his office to investigate any tampering. Kallus, Chopper, and Ezra hid while he inspected his office, whilst Kallus reprogrammed Thrawn's Sentry droids in the adjacent gym to attack him, although the grand admiral was ultimately able to disable them. Kanan Jarrus and Captain Rex landed on the ship on a Sentinel-class landing craft, and attempt to extract Bridger and Kallus using stormtrooper armor as cover. However, Pryce confronted them, attempting to shoot them. Seeing Pryce shooting at who he thought to be actual stormtroopers, Lyste stunned her with his blaster, erroneously believing her to be the traitor. The chaos allowed the Rebels to escape, although Kallus chose to stay behind on the Chimaera to continue his role, since he now not only had an alibi but was also able to frame Lyste as the traitor. However, Yularen and Thrawn later discussed the outcome of the incident, not satisfied by the results. They both came to the conclusion that Lyste was far too loyal to the cause to be capable of treason, deducting that the only possible candidate was Kallus, or Fulcrum.

Zero Hour
After more investigation, Thrawn was finally able to discover the location of the rebel hideout, which was situated on the planet Atollon in the system of the same name. Just as Phoenix Squadron prepared to launch a surprise attack on Lothal with the intention to attack the TIE/D Defender factory, they received a transmission from Kallus that Thrawn was preparing to launch a surprise attack on Atollon, which further delayed the attack. After realizing what Kallus had done, Thrawn saw it as good a time as any to apprehend Kallus, subduing him after a short fight. Mobilizing a portion of the Seventh Fleet from aboard the Chimaera, Thrawn set course for Atollon.

After little time to prepare, the rebels found themselves outgunned and outmatched by the Seventh Fleet, which was commanded by Thrawn and Pryce on the Chimaera. The rebels proved to be no match for the fleet, which managed to destroy the forces of General Jan Dodonna within the early stages of the battle. To make matters worse, the broken rebel fleet was unable to jump to lightspeed due to the Interdictor cruiser captained by Konstantine. Defying Thrawn's orders, Konstantine broke off from formation in order to face the rebel flagship, commanded by Jun Sato, the admiral's old rival. This confrontation resulted in the death of both officers after the latter collided his vessel into Konstantine's. The destruction of the interdictor gave Lieutenant Commander Bridger of [Alliance to Restore the Republic|the rebellion]] the opening he needed to go seek out reinforcements before Thrawn could order the activation of the second interdictor,

The Chimaera and the rest of the Seventh Fleet decimated the entire rebel squadron, forcing what remained of their ships to the surface. Although the rebels managed to raise the shields just in time, Thrawn ordered that the Chimaera's lasers be turned to the ground to intimidate them. When he believed that they had finally had enough, Thrawn mobilized a ground party consisting of Imperial walkers and a large detachment of infantry, heading down to the surface with his own personal squad of death troopers. Thrawn temporarily relinquished control of the Chimaera to Pryce, who commanded the fleet in orbit.

While Thrawn led the ground assault, the Chimaera and rest of the fleet were faced with the unexpected arrival of a small force of Mandalorians. The third party managed to take down the second Interdictor ship, allowing the remnants of the rebel fleet to escape. Aboard the flagship, Pryce ordered that the now disavowed Kallus was to be executed by being shot out of the Chimaera's airlock. Using his prowess, Kallus was able to break free after incapacitating two stormtroopers in an elevator. He slipped away to the ship's escape pods and was rescued by the rebels before they jumped into hyperspace.

Design
Despite it being an Imperial I-class Star Destroyer, the Chimaera had many design differences from standard Imperial Is. On the underside of its hull, the Chimaera had a large engraving representing a chimaera. Another difference was the Chimaera's eight turbolasers surrounding its command tower. Unlike some other Imperial Is that had large double-barrelled turrets, the Star Destroyers of the Seventh Fleet featured eight-barrelled turrets. As apposed to some Imperial I-classes and all Imperial II-classes, the Chimaera had two opposite hangar bays, one located at either end of its ventral docking bay. A large door could cover the aft bay when it wasn't in use.

Crew
Many of the crew of the Chimaera wore a stylised symbol of a chimaera, either of their arms or pauldrons, to show their allegiance to Thrawn.

Behind the scenes
The Chimaera first appeared in the 1991 Star Wars Legends novel Heir to the Empire. In the book, she also served as the flagship of Grand Admiral Thrawn, although, unlike in Rebels, it was an Imperial II-class star Destroyer.

Appearances

 * Thrawn
 * Star Wars Rebels Season Four
 * Star Wars Rebels Season Four
 * Star Wars Rebels Season Four
 * Star Wars Rebels Season Four
 * Star Wars Rebels Season Four
 * Star Wars Rebels Season Four