In 1897 PD, he held the rank of Captain and was in command of the battleship PNS Conquistador. The task force it led encountered a secessionist plot in the Morell Star System. Thurber detached his destroyer screen, and went to the edge of the hyperspace limit in the system, where he was able coordinate his beams and make multiple hyperspace transitions, which resulted in the destruction of two battlecruisers, which ended the space-based portion of the conflict. (JIR2)