diff --git a/impl/maven-cli/src/main/java/org/apache/maven/cling/invoker/LookupInvoker.java b/impl/maven-cli/src/main/java/org/apache/maven/cling/invoker/LookupInvoker.java
index 0d5e5caa6411..50448a8ade38 100644
--- a/impl/maven-cli/src/main/java/org/apache/maven/cling/invoker/LookupInvoker.java
+++ b/impl/maven-cli/src/main/java/org/apache/maven/cling/invoker/LookupInvoker.java
@@ -323,6 +323,13 @@ protected final void createTerminal(C context) {
             context.terminal = MessageUtils.getTerminal();
             context.closeables.add(MessageUtils::systemUninstall);
             MessageUtils.registerShutdownHook(); // safety belt
+
+            // when we use embedded executor AND --raw-streams, we must ENSURE streams are properly set up
+            if (context.invokerRequest.embedded()
+                    && context.options().rawStreams().orElse(false)) {
+                // to trigger FastTerminal; with raw-streams we must do this ASAP (to have system in/out/err set up)
+                context.terminal.getName();
+            }
         } else {
             doConfigureWithTerminal(context, context.terminal);
         }
diff --git a/impl/maven-executor/src/main/java/org/apache/maven/cling/executor/internal/ToolboxTool.java b/impl/maven-executor/src/main/java/org/apache/maven/cling/executor/internal/ToolboxTool.java
index ebdd3ac2a512..ad2569a84910 100644
--- a/impl/maven-executor/src/main/java/org/apache/maven/cling/executor/internal/ToolboxTool.java
+++ b/impl/maven-executor/src/main/java/org/apache/maven/cling/executor/internal/ToolboxTool.java
@@ -159,9 +159,11 @@ private String validateOutput(boolean shave, ByteArrayOutputStream stdout, ByteA
             result = result.replace("\n", "").replace("\r", "");
         }
         // sanity checks: stderr has any OR result is empty string (no method should emit empty string)
-        if (stderr.size() > 0 || result.trim().isEmpty()) {
-            System.err.println(
-                    "Unexpected stdout[" + stdout.size() + "]=" + stdout + "; stderr[" + stderr.size() + "]=" + stderr);
+        if (result.trim().isEmpty()) {
+            // see bug https://github.com/apache/maven/pull/11303 Fail in this case
+            // tl;dr We NEVER expect empty string as output from this tool; so fail here instead to chase ghosts
+            throw new IllegalStateException("Empty output from Toolbox; stdout[" + stdout.size() + "]=" + stdout
+                    + "; stderr[" + stderr.size() + "]=" + stderr);
         }
         return result;
     }