## Chapter 27

1 In Greek myth, the Chimaera was a fantastical fire-breathing beast that combined lion, goat, and snake. It was also held to be unconquerable, though it was eventually killed by Bellerophon.

Nowadays, the word refers to something made up of disparate parts (usually as a result of grafting or genetic manipulation), or something wildly and grotesquely imaginary.

All of those elements went into my decision to name Thrawn’s flagship the Chimaera. Disparate elements (human plus Chiss), considered imaginary (and hence not taken seriously by others until Thrawn was ready to move), and unconquerable.

—TZ

2 Cloaking shields are one of those SF gadgets that almost beg to be abused by the writer. A cloak of invisibility that lets you sneak up right beside your enemies and deliver lethal blows can make life way too easy for you, and way too easy for your characters.

I would probably not have used cloaking shields at all if it hadn’t been for that comment in The Empire Strikes Back. Given that the Empire did have such a device, I couldn’t very well ignore it, any more than I could ignore the existence of clones and cloning.

Fortunately, by the time I began writing Heir, West End Games had already come up with the kind of limiting factor that cloaking technology needs. Along with its expense, they also postulated that it was a two-way shield, with no light or signal getting out that your enemy could see, but also no sensor data getting in that you could see. A doubleblind shield is automatically more difficult to use safely and effectively than the one-way type that often shows up in science fiction.

Fortunately, coming up with inventive ways to use limited and otherwise questionable technology is one of Thrawn’s specialties.

—TZ