lives to save what survivors they can. Thrawn is reprimanded by his Chiss superiors for his hostile behavior, and summoned back to his home planet Csilla. Publishers Weekly called Thrawn the "true star" of the novel, noting that his attack on the ship, secretly influenced by Palpatine's agents, "insures his own eventual exile from his race and sets other sinister wheels in motion". Zahn said of writing the novel, "as always, it was immensely fun to play tactics with Thrawn". Though StarWars.com suggests that in Outbound Flight, Thrawn is "too smart and basically decent to become the servant of Palpatine that he later becomes", Zahn explains: Set between Star Wars: A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back, Zahn's Choices of One (2011) pits Thrawn against the alien warlord Nuso Esva, his nemesis from the Unknown Regions. Short stories Thrawn, exiled by the Chiss to an inhospitable planet, is found by the Imperial Captain Voss Parck in "Mist Encounter" a short story by Zahn that was originally published in Star Wars Adventure Journal #7 (August 1995). Parck realizes Thrawn's value as a strategist and decides to bring him to the Emperor. In "Command Decision", a November 1996 short story by Zahn published in Star Wars Adventure Journal #11, Thrawn is an admiral in the Imperial Navy with Parck as his subordinate. Thrawn orchestrates a plan to locate a Rebel base in "Side Trip" by Zahn and Michael A. Stackpole, published in Star Wars Adventure Journal #12 (February 1997) and #13 (May 1997), and reprinted in the November 1997 anthology Tales from the Empire. The success of this mission earns him the command of Darth Vader's Noghri commandos. Zahn's novella Crisis of Faith, published with the 20th Anniversary Edition of Heir to the Empire on September 6, 2011, is set immediately before Heir to the Empire and finds Thrawn finally able to defeat Nuso Esva. Comics Trade paperbacks: Heir to the Empire (collects Star Wars: Heir to the Empire #1–6, 160 pages, September 1996, ) Dark Force Rising (collects Star Wars: Dark Force Rising #1–6, 160 pages, February 1998, ) The Last Command (collects Star Wars: The Last Command #1–6, 144 pages, June 1999, ) The Thrawn Trilogy (collects Star Wars: Heir to the Empire #1–6, Star Wars: Dark Force Rising #1–6, and Star Wars: The Last Command #1–6, 420 pages, December 2009, ) In the 1997 Dark Horse comic Star