Obroa-skai information raid

Following a successful raid on the computer system of Obroa-skai, the Battle of Obroa-skai represented the first military conflict between Grand Admiral Thrawn and the New Republic.

On the outskirts of the system, Chimaera waited for the arrival of the scoutships sent on the raid. As the craft emerged, Captain Gilad Pellaeon, commanding officer of the Star Destroyer, shifted the sentry line to yellow alert after reports that they had been followed and consulted Thrawn on how to proceed. Thrawn disregarded the scout wing commander's belief that they had lost their pursuers, and shortly thereafter, a New Republic pursuit force of four Assault Frigates and three wings of X-Wing starfighters in symmetric cloud-vee formation.

Thrawn, ignoring Pellaeon's instinct to flee, chose to stand and fight. As the scoutships raced towards Chimaera, Thrawn ordered three sentry line ships to engage the enemy frigates. The Chiss admiral watched as the pursuit line shifted and destroyed one of the sentry ships, determined that the New Republic commander was Elom, and called the sentry line back. Chimaera's superstructure was brought to face the pursuers' vector to provide launch cover for its TIE Fighters and Thrawn ordered the Sector Four sentry ships and TIE Fighters to initiate a Marg Sabl closure maneuver.

By studying the art of the Elom, Thrawn knew the the New Republic commander would be psychologically incapable responding to the unstructured attack profile of the maneuver. The frigates and X-Wings closed into a defense posture, allowing Chimaera.