The fourth book in the Thrawn series, occurring some time before the Rogue One movie, and after the related Alphabet Squadron book reviewed earlier.
A lot of the intrigues are about allocation of Imperial funds. Secret Project Stardust (The Death Star) is Director Krennan's baby, while Thrawn is trying to protect funding for his advanced TIE Defender project. That Thrawn is assigned to solve the problem of supplies getting destroyed in transit is a political maneuver unto itself, but leads to his investigation wherein he discovers corruption.
As usual, thanks to Saint Louis Public Library. Support your local library!