When did Palpatine come back?

I don't recall I've ever seen a time for when he actually returned from wandering around dismebodied.

I know that, after Endor, his spirit floated around for a while. Then he posessed one of his Hands. Then he somehow (I remember not how) got in contact with Sate, who then took the posessed Hand to Byss, where Palpatine finally got back into his clone body.

Can someone tell me when, exactly, this all took place? Also, how long before DE was Palpatine calling ships back to the Deep Core?

 

Tuesday.





Okay, seriously, I'm pretty sure I've read that he was at Byss at least as soon as the Thrawn Trilogy. Probably wasn't too much earlier than that. What hyperdrive classification does a disembodied Sith spirit have, exactly?

 

From what various sources like the Dark Empire Sourcebook and various Adventure Journals impute, he arrived on Byss after approximately a year of disembodied-ness; Sate Pestage was impeached as Grand Vizier "within days" after Endor, fleeing to the Deep Core, yet reappearing after Krennel's tender ministrations at Ciutric, presumably months later.

Further, it's stated that Palpatine spent "[many] years" after his arrival there in contemplation and preparation, beginning to recall many of his ships Coreward. It was mere days or weeks after Endor that the many of the sector fleets reattached themselves to the Ruling Council's authority; the year before Bilbringi is when Palps began working his juju on the remnants in earnest.