History Literature / OutboundFlight

** Although oddly for a Zahn book, we're never actually shown Ferasi's point of view; the only female POV given is Lorana Jinzler. Every single observation about Thrawn comes from Kinman Doriana and Jorj Car'das; the only one who sees Ferasi and Thrawn interact is Car'das, and Car'das could be imagining things. [[HoYay Or projecting his own positive opinions of Thrawn onto Ferasi]].

** Although oddly for a Zahn book, we're never actually shown Ferasi's point of view; the only female POV given is Lorana Jinzler. Every single observation about Thrawn comes from Kinman Doriana and Jorj Car'das; the only one who sees Ferasi and Thrawn interact is Car'das, and Car'das could be imagining things. Or projecting his own positive opinions of Thrawn onto Ferasi.

*** [[spoiler: It's implied that either Car'das came up with this plan after a late-night conversation with Thrawn, the contents of which the reader is never directly told, despite being informed of the conversation taking place; or that Thrawn himself came up with this plan for Car'das to follow, and told him during that conversation. Car'das has enough time to think 'What in the worlds could Thrawn have had stashed aboard the shuttle?' while onboard the Vagaari ship, however, showing that he either knew it was Thrawn's personal shuttle, or he knew that Thrawn wanted him to take that shuttle. By the end of the book, Thrawn and Car'das trust each other enough to use their personal names ([[FirstNameBasis Thrawn and Jorj]]), while Choices of One makes it clear that Jorj is the only person Thrawn trusts most in the galaxy.]]

''[[http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Outbound_Flight_%28novel%29 Outbound Flight]]'' is another TimothyZahn novel set in the StarWarsExpandedUniverse. SurvivorsQuest is also included on this page.

* [[PromotedFanboy Promoted Fangirl]]: Ari Roselani, cosplaying as Grand Admiral Thrawn, [[http://public.fotki.com/Kait/star_wars/tim_zahn_booksigning/thrawntim.html met]] Timothy Zahn in 2002, and apparently they became friends. ''Outbound Flight'' has a female Chiss admiral dressed all in white and aiding in Thrawn's plans named [[http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Ar%27alani Ar'alani]].

* TheGreatestStoryNeverTold: No one ever learns what Thrass and Lorana did.
** This whole story was originally one of these. In ''TheThrawnTrilogy'', Thrawn tells us that he destroyed the Outbound Flight Project and killed the original C'baoth (and his vehemence then is now explained) and in ''HandOfThrawn'' Soontir Fel and Voss Parck give more details about the way Thrawn was outnumbered.
* TheManBehindTheMan: In ''Survivor's Quest'', Aristocra Formbi believes that [[spoiler: the Vagaari have allied themselves with someone more powerful and dangerous]]. While it's never outright confirmed, [[spoiler: the Vagaari's pack of Wolvkils and swarms of Schostri are reminiscent of [[NewJediOrder Yuuzhan Vong]] biots. The absence of either creature during Car'das' time on Vagaari ships in ''Outbound Flight'' supports Formbi's fears, suggesting the Vagaari are being backed by the Vong to help weaken the Chiss Ascendancy in preparation for the imminent invasion.]]
** Then gets played with at the end of the novel as Mara believes that [[spoiler: Formbi couldn't have come up with the plan to instigate a Chiss-Vagaari war on his own. The scheme's complicated and convoluted nature goes against the Chiss' cultural and personal beliefs. It's more along the lines of something Thrawn would have cooked up. And while they [[HandOfThrawn destroyed]] the clone on Nirauan, it's possible the Grand Admiral had another clone hidden in the Unknown Regions. The drastic changes in Formbi's personality in the decades since ''Outbound Flight'' lends credence to Mara's theory]].

** Thrawn figures out that the Vulture starfighter droids are set up to self-destruct if they lose their signal from the mothership to prevent capture. Thrawn then uses this to make an entire battleship's compliment of Vulture droids self-destruct ''while they're still inside said battleship'', resulting in said battleship's loss.

* LastStarfighter: Thrawn's tiny force of three small cruisers and seven fighters takes on two huge Trade Federation split-ring battleships and all the droid starfighters on board, six armed Techno Union ''Hardcell''-class transports, and seven escort cruisers. Without a single Chiss casualty. This is what happens when you fly remote-controlled fighters against someone who can adapt to that and find weak points in all the larger ships.

* BadassCrew: The four 501st units in SurvivorsQuest. They are ''awesome''.

* BatmanGambit: How Thrawn handles the Vagaari.

* TheManBehindTheMan: In ''Survivor's Quest'', Aristocra Formbi believes that [[spoiler: the Vagaari have allied themselves with someone more powerful and dangerous than themselves]]. While it's never outright confirmed, [[spoiler: the Vagaari's pack of Wolvkils and swarms of Schostri almost seem like [[NewJediOrder Yuuzhan Vong]] biots. The absence of either creature during Car'das' time on Vagaari ships in ''Outbound Flight'' supports Formbi's fears, suggesting the Vagaari are being backed by the Vong to help weaken the Chiss Ascendancy in preparation for the imminent invasion.]]

* TheManBehindTheMan: Two possible examples from ''Survivor's Quest''. Aristocra Formbi believes that [[spoiler: the Vagaari have allied themselves with someone more powerful and dangerous. While it's never outright confirmed, the Vagaari's Wolvkils and Schostri insects seem an awful lot like [[NewJediOrder Yuuzhan Vong]] biots, suggesting they're working with the invaders]]. Then at the end of the novel, Mara believes that [[spoiler: Formbi couldn't have come up with the plan to instigate a Chiss-Vagaari war on his own. The scheme's complicated and convoluted nature goes against the Chiss' cultural and personal beliefs. It's more along the lines of something Thrawn would have cooked up. And while they [[HandOfThrawn destroyed]] the clone on Nirauan, it's possible there's another Thrawn clone active in the Unknown Regions. The drastic changes in Formbi's personality in the decades since ''Outbound Flight'' lends credence to Mara's theory]].

* The Man Behind the Man: Two possible examples from ''Survivor's Quest''. Aristocra Formbi believes that [[spoiler: the Vagaari have allied themselves with someone more powerful and dangerous. While it's never outright confirmed, the Vagaari's Wolvkils and Schostri seem an awful lot like Yuuzhan Vong biots, suggesting they're helping clear a path for the incoming invaders]]. Then at the end of the book, Mara believes that [[spoiler: Formbi couldn't have come up with the plan to instigate a Chiss-Vagaari war on his own. The scheme's complicated and convoluted nature bucks the Chiss' cultural beliefs. It's more along the lines of something Thrawn would have done. And while they [[HandOfThrawn destroyed]] the clone on Nirauan, it's possible there's another Thrawn clone active in the Unknown Regions. The drastic change in Formbi's personality in the decades since ''Outbound Flight'' lends credence to Mara's theory]].

Sidious's agent, Kinman Doriana, is sent with a Trade Federation battle fleet to intercept and destroy Outbound Flight some time after they leave Republic space. They encounter Commander Thrawn, who curbstomps them despite having a much smaller force, and captures the survivors, including droids. Doriana gets Thrawn in contact with Darth Sidious, who tries to convince him that Outbound Flight is a threat to the Chiss. Thrawn is cautious, but when Outbound Flight shows up and Thrawn uses it to destroy the Vagaari forces, Jorus C'baoth karks up ''everything'' and Outbound Flight is destroyed. Fifty-seven people and one Jedi survive, and Thrawn's brother aids this Jedi in a HeroicSacrifice, causing Outbound Flight to crash in such a way that the survivors keep surviving, to no one's knowledge.

* AlwaysSomeoneBetter: How Dean Jinzler saw his always-absent Jedi sister. And how his Jedi sister felt when she saw her Master praising Anakin.

* TheFundamentalist: Jorus C'Baoth is the closest we've seen to a fundamentalist Jedi so far in the EU. He believes that the Jedi connection to the Force makes them superior to other beings, and therefore they deserve to lead. He is confronted by some non-Jedi members of the Outbound Flight crew who call him out for his attitude, but before he can respond, the project encounters Thrawn's forces.

* InTheBlood: Admittedly, [[TheThrawnTrilogy Joruus C'baoth]] was already crazy from being a [[CloningBlues flawed clone]], but it's pretty easy to see where he got his... well... ''everything'' from.

** This whole story was originally one of these. In ''TheThrawnTrilogy'' Thrawn tells us that he destroyed the Outbound Flight Project and killed the original C'baoth (and his vehemence then is now explained) and in ''HandOfThrawn'' Soontir Fel and Voss Parck give more details about the way Thrawn was outnumbered.

* {{Last|Kiss}} HandHolding

--> '''Mara Jade (in ''[[HandOfThrawn Vision of the Future]]'')''': So...just how badly did Thrawn slaughter them?

---> '''Doriana''': *puts blaster down* "Don't be absurd, Vicelord. I would sooner shatter a thousand-year-old crystal as kill a being such as this.
---> '''Thrawn''': "So I was indeed right about you."

* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: The crew of the light freighter ''Bargain Hunter'' are a cynical smuggler, his idealist female love interest, and a callow but intelligent youth. Basically, they're a darker version of Han, Leia, and Luke.

* DracoInLeatherPants: There's kind of an in-universe example, with [[WideEyedIdealist Ferasi]] always seeing Thrawn as completely noble and honorable. He's a morally complex character, and nothing like a CardCarryingVillain, but he's still not what she thinks.

* TheFundamentalist: Jorus C'Baoth is the closest we've seen to a fundamentalist Jedi so far in the EU. He believes that the Jedi connection to the Force makes them superior to other beings, and therefore they deserve to lead. He is confronted by some non-Jedi members of the Outbound Flight crew who call him out for his attitude, but before he can respond the project encounters Thrawn's forces.

* LastKiss: Well, last hand-holding, anyway. Possibly a HoldMe; it depends on who you ask.

* [[PromotedFanboy Promoted Fangirl]]: Ari Roselani, cosplaying as Grand Admiral Thrawn, [[http://public.fotki.com/Kait/star_wars/tim_zahn_booksigning/thrawntim.html met]] Timothy Zahn in 2002, and apparently they became friends. ''Outbound Flight'' has a female Chiss admiral, dressed all in white and aiding in Thrawn's convoluted plans, named [[http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Ar%27alani Ar'alani]].

* WideEyedIdealist: Maris Ferasi
* WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity: Jorus C'baoth isn't as bad as [[TheThrawnTrilogy his clone]], but he's still not the stablest of beings. You can see why he and [[EvilSorcerer Palpatine]] get along...
* [[Woobie/{{Literature}} The Woobie]]: Lorana Jinzler. Aside from Obi-Wan, she's the single most unambiguously "good" character in the story.

* TheIshmael: As always, Thrawn's viewpoint is a mystery. We also never see Jorus C'baoth's thoughts, and it's a given that Darth Sidious is like that too.

* DontShootTheMessage: C'baoth leaves Thrawn with a very bad impression of the Jedi.