The
Imperial Star Destroyer
Chimaera was a starship in the fictional Star Wars
universe. Even though the ship was at Endor, the vessel has not
been seen in any of the movies. It was first encountered in the
Timothy Zahn
book
Heir to the Empire.
The
Chimaera's early history has been left largely unrevealed.
The ship was part of the Imperial fleet that participated in the
Battle of
Endor. After the destruction of the Star Dreadnought
Executor, the second
Death Star, and the death of
the
Emperor, the
Imperials found the tide had turned against them. Six Star
Destroyers and a Star Cruiser operating as a communication ship
were lost, and the Captain of
Chimaera was killed during
the course of the battle.
Pellaeon took command of the
Chimaera, and
withdrew with the rest of the fleet when the order to retreat was
given.
For the next five years, the ship was in what was later
termed "rear guard harassment" of
New Republic forces. A crew shortage became so
acute that the
Empire was forced to conscript
young people into the crew. Young and inexperienced people who
never would have even seen the bridge of a Imperial warship when
the Emperor was alive were now running the ship.
About four
years after the Battle of Endor,
Grand Admiral
Thrawn returned from the unknown regions of the
galactic halo. Thrawn
found the
Chimaera, and decided to use the it as his
flagship. Pellaeon remained in command of the ship while Thrawn
commanded the fleet. Thrawn took over the former Captain's suite
and remodeled it into his personal command room. There, Thrawn used
his understanding of
art and
psychology to
craft stratagies against the New Republic, which he used to
devastating sucess. Over the next year, the
Chimaera
participated in a number of actions that were directed by Thrawn,
including
Sluis
Van.
Thrawn directed the Imperial forces during the Battle
of
Bilbringi. During the battle,
Thrawn was assassinated by his
Noghri bodyguard Rukh. At this point, the tide of the
battle began to turn against the Imperial forces. Pellaeon ordered
the Imperial forces to retreat. Rukh was killed attempting to
escape from the ship.

Little is known about the
Chimaera over the next ten years. Pellaeon left the
Chimaera for a time after being promoted to Vice-Admiral.
Pellaeon commanded other vessels, including both
Victory
and
Imperator-class Star Destroyers. He returned to the
Chimaera when he became Supreme Commander of the
Imperial
Starfleet, a position once held by
Darth Vader.
The
Chimaera was
next seen in the Timothy Zahn book
Spectre of the Past.
This took place during the Camassi Document crisis in the New
Republic. Pellaeon spent time investigating the unauthorized use of
Imperial troops by an unknown person. He also devoted resources
into investigating rumors that Grand Admiral Thrawn was still alive
and had recently returned to Imperial service. Pellaeon also opened
discussions into finally ending the war between the Imperial
Remnant and the
New Republic.
Finally, Pellaeon was able to
prove that Thrawn's reappearance was an elaborate hoax. A few days
later, Imperial and Republic representatives signed the treaty that
finally ended the decades long civil war.