(The gems should've taken a leaf from Thrawn's book: "to defeat an enemy, you must know them. Not simply their battle tactics, but their history, philosophy, art..." making me think that the grand admiral could outdo them rather well a lot of the time, when he learns more about the gems. I bet he'd find them absolutely fascinating!)

The Star destroyer Chimera

Thrawn still had yet to have the Bendu's prediction come true, and while he knew the power of the force was real, he thought little of premonition and prophecy.

Yet still, those words haunted him from time to time.

"You cannot see, but I can."

"What? What do you see?"

"I see your defeat. Like many mighty arms surrounding you in a cold embrace." (Its the cluster. The cluster is what kills Thrawn and destroys his ship. Though, how he wouldn't know about it, I'm not sure. I imagine the imperials might investigate gem sites on earth as well as their own galaxy, and maybe find out about the cluster somehow. But, maybe what Thrawn and nearly every other imperial doesn't know, and won't know until it's too late, is that Steven can speak to it, and influence it. Maybe it goes against Steven's wishes when it kills Thrawn, who might've tried to restrain it somehow, but Thrawn didn't know that Steven could influence it, and that it befriended him. And when he was in danger and no one else could help, it came to help him. Or maybe Steven could convince it to let him go, and he later helps fight with the new republic against the Yuuzhan Vong invasion. Or maybe it's crushing Thrawn to death inside his ship, and Steven saves his life.)

He once thought that it meant the Pergill, the ones that had taken his old ship, but he had survived that, and had even murdered the young Jedi, Ezra Bridger, when the Pergill had reached His followers. The private army known as the empire of the hand to some that he had built up in the unknown regions had served him well, able to protect him and the empire from threats from both inside the galaxy and out of it. And they had destroyed Bridger and the Pergill, and rebuilt the star destroyer he now stood upon. (Though, not sure if this makes sense. If the empire of the hand, which Thrawn established, is now helping, especially against threats from outside the galaxy, like the gems and the Yuuzhan Vong, shouldn't they be helping now? And they could be kinda a threat after this is over. Yeah, I think Thrawn would be still alive, though he might not really be listened to by too many people. Seems kinda foolish for them to not trust a being who could defeat the Vong pretty easily though. Though maybe if he is still around, he could end the fight far quicker.)

He shook it off. No warrior can afford to be distracted in wartime. He was a grand admiral of the imperial starfleet, and a Chiss. The two alone meant that he had much more merit and experience than most, and that he was analytical and zealously protective of what he had, of his home, and the empire he served now that could either save or destroy it. But the two together meant that, perhaps, he was the most capable being to defeat the gems.

—-

"I have been learning much about the gems, pellaeon. I had known about them before, but now, observing them, I have an even greater understanding."

"And, what have you found out, sir?"

"Many different aspects of how they live and function, one constant is That the gems are structured into a strict caste system. There is no room to them for sentimentalism, nor for individuality."

"They sound as though they behave in a similar way to our own empire."

"But they take it to a far greater extreme than even we do, Gilad. Any semblance of individuality and expression of non-conformity is met with the harshest repercussions. Such leads to repression that even our emperor might find too much." (Though, what exactly is the difference between the gems and the empire in this regard? They sound pretty similar in the ways he's describing.)

"Grand admiral?" Pellaeon asked, "that book seems to have garnered a great deal of your attention. If I may ask, what is it about?"

"Ah, Yes Captain. This is a highly interesting book from the earth that I have... acquired. It dates back over 1,500 years, from a country upon the planet called China. From what I have found out, this book was written by a great general by the name of Sun Tzu. He named it 'The Art of War.'"

"The statue seems new as well."

"Yes, quite an interesting idol, is it not? Not very appealing to gaze upon, but an interesting deity to say the least. I acquired it from the abandoned home of the Maheswerans."

"The family that the girl Connie, the friend of the gem hybrid Steven comes from?"

"Yes, the very same, Pellaeon. It is a deity known as Kali, worshipped in the subcontinental peninsula of the nation on this planet known as India. She is a goddess of death and war, but, she was not always revered as such. She was once known as a great giver of life and one of the creators of the universe, according to her worshippers. She protected all her children, and they say her anointed ruler was a man considered by the gods to be of pure universal perfection, known as a Chakravartin, though, not a god himself. But, in her wrath against another goddess, Parvati, she was consumed by her jealousy for how the lover of both of them, Shiva, seemed to favor Parvati over her. She always commanded Shiva to destroy, while Parvati encouraged him to create and undo with more gentleness."

(And I kinda made up my own thing in regards to India mythology, but I guess I'd like to think of this as my own thing. I hope no one dislikes this, or finds it insulting, but if you have thoughts on it, I'd like to hear it. Not sure what this has to do with the story though. But something that might, maybe he also noticed some kind of thing in his research of Vedan or Hindu religion and culture, or some other faith of India, he might also come across a scroll of a giant dragon, serpent or other monster bursting forth from a deep chasm in the earth, big enough that it destroys the earth when it emerges, perhaps put there by a great being of yellow light named chakravartin, kinda like when yellow diamond did that with the cluster. or perhaps such a thing is mentioned in the Mahabharata, there's no shortage of mythical stories of sci-fi in there. Of course, the war between the gems ended around 3000 BC or so, and the Mahabharata was written originally around 800 or 900 BC, so, doesn't quite match up. Even though there are a lot of things with the gems inspired by the Indian culture, like the Palanquins. And he might mention that Connie's surname, Maheshwaran, means "master of the universe" in Sanskrit. Pellaeon might ask if that's meant to be taken literally, but Thrawn would dismiss that idea, though, might still keep her potential in mind... Though, what he learns about mythical creatures, it doesn't have to be from the Veda/Hindu culture, it could be something from Christianity, such as the behemoth or leviathan coming out of the earth or sea, or some other faith, like the Midgard serpent Jormundanr wrapping around the earth. I know that, well, I guess maybe there's no holidays in the world of SU, but that doesn't mean there can't be religion. And maybe this drawing interests him somehow. Ironic, since I thought the cluster would be the thing that kills him... I got the idea from Asura's wrath, the first form of the Vlitra In particular. I got a lot of that from Asura's wrath actually. The Vlitra does seem pretty similar to the cluster in a way.)

(Maybe something better might be the idea that, in Hindu culture, there's the idea of Brahma, the creator, Vishnu, the maintainer, and Shiva, the destroyer. Perhaps each could've been an aspect or avatar or simply the different forms of the Father, the daughter, and the son of Mortis. Maybe they reached out from where they were in the other galaxy and showed their different forms to different people across different countries and different planets across the Universe. Maybe that's just how they looked and who they appeared as and what they were called to the people of India. Or maybe that's what the diamonds were to some people. Might make more sense if it was them instead of the Mortis Gods, especially since those gods are locked away in the Mortis pyramid.)

(I wonder if Steven might try to convince Thrawn that what he's doing is wrong? And maybe even succeed in some capacity? Not sure how or why though...)

"My emperor..." Thrawn said, bowing.

"Rise, Grand Admiral. I understand that you have more to tell me, aside from the incursions by the gems, correct?"

"I do, my lord. And the results are... troubling."

He presented the datapad in his hand to the emperor, who looked it over carefully. Though Thrawn could not see it, he knew what was there. A report on the progress the far outsiders were making into the galaxy. There weren't many already there at this point, but more would inevitably arrive. (It's the Yuuzhan Vong.)

T: "My lord, I have something else that may require your attention."

P: "and what might that be Grand admiral?"

Thrawn procures a holopad, the top of which reads in basic "Yuuzhan Vong encroachment progress report"

after they finish it

P: "you are certain of this Thrawn?"

T: "I am, my emperor. Though they are still about 20 years away from us at their current speed, Even if the rebels and gems are stopped, the Vong are still coming, and we must be prepared for when they get here."

P: "even if this is true, our priority is to stop the current threat. We shall deal with the Vong when the gem empire is shattered, and the rebels all lie dead. I will see to the son of Skywalker myself, and to the hybrid gem as well."