Encyclopedia of Speculative Fiction

Chimaera

From the Encyclopedia of Speculative Fiction - http://encyclopedia.wizards.pro

The Chimaera was an early model Imperial Star Destroyer. Early in its service, an officer by the name of Gilad Pellaeon was transferred to her command crew; he eventually became the ship's second in command. During this time, the Chimaera was upgraded to the new Imperial II standard, increasing its shielding and armament.

At the Battle of Endor, the Chimaera was next in the chain of command after the Super Star Destroyer Executor, and with the destruction of the latter, became acting command ship. After several hours of fighting and the loss of the Chimaera's captain, Pellaeon became commander and ordered a retreat to the nearest sector capital, Cannij Barr, in the Annaj system.

Pellaeon became leader of the fleet that fled Endor, presumably at least in part due to the authority vested in the Chimaera. The ship remained under his command during the tumultuous years that followed, and under Pellaeon's leadership, the Chimaera came to be regarded as one of the Empire's most efficient Star Destroyers. This record for efficiency may have been what made Grand Admiral Thrawn choose the Chimaera to be his flagship. Thrawn immediately left his mark on the ship, having a luxury entertainment suite once used by Pellaeon's predecessor turned into a meditation chamber/command room. Thrawn's reorganization of the fleet placed the Chimaera at the center of his personal armada, along with the Star Destroyers Death's Head, Judicator, Inexorable, Stormhawk, and Nemesis.

Thrawn soon began training the crew to his own specifications, and when he ordered the Chimaera to Tatooine to obtain the Alderaanian moss painting Killik Twilight, they were put to the test by the unexpected complications caused by Han Solo and Leia Organa Solo.

Soon afterward, Thrawn began his campaign on the New Republic in earnest, beginning with an information raid on Obroa-Skai. The Chimaera remained his flagship throughout this devastating campaign, up until his death at Bilbringi at the hands of his Noghri bodyguard, Rukh.

Pellaeon was forced to call a full retreat of the Imperial Starfleet, which regrouped near the Unknown Regions. Soon after, he was summoned to the Deep Core to serve the clone of Palpatine. During Palpatine's Operation Shadow Hand, Pellaeon was forced to abandon the Chimaera in the midst of the capture of Duro, losing most of his senior staff in the process and nearly dying himself.

The Chimaera, now in New Republic hands, was nearly scrapped on several occasions. Finally, some years later, slicers working for the Empire created a false disassembly order for the ship, sending it to the shipyards of Gravlex Med, former homeworld of the Anx. Upon its arrival, its skeleton crew was overcome by Imperial commandos, who then blast their way through New Republic pickets. Admiral Ackbar himself commanded the forces that attempted to recapture the Chimaera, but Pellaeon, now an Admiral in command of the entire Imperial Starfleet, nonetheless recovered his flagship. Pellaeon assigned Captain Ardiff to captain the ship.

The fortunes of the Empire soon took a turn for the worse. In a last ditch effort, Pellaeon had a cloaking device and a Computerized Combat Predictor installed aboard the Chimaera for trials. Ultimately, the trials proved unpromising, and Pellaeon began seeking a treaty with the New Republic. Despite the scheming of recalcitrant elements within the Empire, Pellaeon succeeded in convincing the New Republic to declare peace, and Pellaeon and Acting Chief of State Ponc Gavrisom of the New Republic signed the peace accords aboard the Chimaera, finally ending the decades-long war between the two governments.

A fairly long period of peace was finally punctuated by the Yuuzhan Vong invasion. The Chimaera served valiantly at the Battle of Ithor, then was recalled along with the rest of the fleet to defend the Imperial Remnant itself.

Eventually, Yuuzhan Vong forces under Commander B'shith Vorrik appeared in the Bastion system, destroying planetary defense systems with ease and catching the Imperial Navy off guard, as they were expecting the force to attack the Hand of Thrawn base at Nirauan. Only the Chimaera responded to the attack with suitable efficiency. Despite this, the Navy was able to hold its own, or so it appeared, until the Yuuzhan Vong pulled back to make way for swarms of thousands of grutchins. The Navy responded to the grutchins with what Pellaeon considered to be appalling disorganization. The Empire took serious losses from Vorrik's forces, and Pellaeon ordered the evacuation of Bastion. The Chimaera and another Imperial Star Destroyer, the Superior, were harried by the Yuuzhan Vong all the way to a gas giant planet further out in the Bastion system, where the Chimaera took considerable damage before a coralskipper rammed the bridge of the ship. Pellaeon was nearly killed, but a junior officer pulled him from the bridge and took him to a medical frigate. The Chimaera was later able to limp into the Yaga Minor system, where it began undergoing repairs.

Its status past this point is unknown; for the remaining duration of the war against the Yuuzhan Vong, Pellaeon commanded the fleet from the bridge of a different Star Destroyer, the Right to Rule.

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