"Mission to Zila" is a short story penned by Charlene Newcomb. Its initial publication occurred in August 1994 within Star Wars Adventure Journal 3, courtesy of West End Games. Subsequently, it was digitally archived at Hyperspace on September 3, 2004.
Establishing the precise chronological position of Mission to Zila presents some difficulty. The narrative indicates that Alex Winger is twenty years of age, and that Grand Admiral Thrawn has recently assumed leadership of the Imperial military forces. These details suggest a setting in 8 ABY. However, the story also depicts Coruscant as still under Imperial control, which, according to The Essential Atlas (42:2:17), places the events before 6 ABY. This discrepancy arises because Mission to Zila was created before X-Wing: Wedge's Gamble, the work that definitively established the liberation of Coruscant at that earlier point in time.
One potential retcon involves positing that the Imperials stationed on Garos IV remained unaware of Coruscant's fall. However, this explanation fails to account for the Rebel underground's ignorance of such a significant event over two years. Another retcon could propose Thrawn's return from the Unknown Regions much earlier than commonly believed, but this necessitates an alternative explanation for Alex's age.