Sovereign

"Kanan is on Governor Tarkin's Destroyer, the Sovereign. It's still here above Lothal but&hellip; it's scheduled to leave soon."

- Sabine Wren, to Hera Syndulla

The Sovereign was an Imperial I-class Star Destroyer belonging to the starfleet of the Galactic Empire, and served as Grand Moff Wilhuff Tarkin's flagship for a period of time years before the Battle of Yavin.

Characteristics
The Sovereign was an Imperial I-class Star Destroyer, a 1,600-meter long capital ship with a basic armament of 60 Taim & Bak XX-9 heavy turbolaser batteries, 60 Borstel NK-7 ion cannons, and 10 Phylon 07 tractor beam projectors. The Sovereign notably housed an interrogation room, in which captives were tortured.

History
By the sixth year of the Galactic Empire's foundation, the Sovereign was commanded by Commander Abel LaSal while it was stationed at the planet Fondor. However, fifteen year into the Age of the Empire, the Sovereign had become the flagship of Grand Moff Wilhuff Tarkin, the governor of the Outer Rim Territories. Admiral Kassius Konstantine, who formerly commanded the Star Destroyer Relentless, was reassigned as the Grand Moff's second in command aboard the vessel.

Upon hearing that a rebel cell was causing trouble on Lothal in the face of local Imperials, Tarkin decided to take the situation in his own hands. Kanan Jarrus, leader of the Spectres and Jedi in hiding, was captured. The prisoner was taken on board the Sovereign, where he was tortured by the Grand Inquisitor, the Empire's Jedi hunter. When it appeared that Jarrus was too resistant to the mind probe and refused to talk, the Sovereign set course for the Mustafar system, where the rebel would be further interrogated.

However, the rebels soon came to Jarrus' rescue. They stole a Gozanti-class cruiser from a Lothal TIE fighter airfield, which allowed them to board the Sovereign. Jarrus' apprentice, the young Ezra Bridger, managed to free his master. When they tried to escape through the engine room, they encountered the Inquisitor, and they all engaged in a fierce lightsaber duel. Ultimately, Jarrus had gotten the upper hand. The Inquisitor plummeted from the room's central platform, but the remains of his lightsaber fell in the Star Destroyer's engines, causing them to overheat. It started a chain reaction of explosions and the Sovereign, with its stabilizers and propulsion systems disabled, was pulled into the gravity well of Mustafar and exploded. Tarkin and at least two of his men, however, had managed to evacuate the ship before it was too late.

The destruction of the Sovereign not only embarrassed Grand Moff Tarkin, but also displeased Emperor Palpatine himself. The destruction of the Sovereign would still be remembered years later by New Republic soldiers during the Battle of Jakku, who compared their task of capturing a Star Destroyer even more impossible than destroying one.

Appearances

 * Tarkin
 * Battle to the End
 * Star Wars Rebels: The Siege of Lothal
 * Lost Stars
 * Battle to the End
 * Star Wars Rebels: The Siege of Lothal
 * Lost Stars
 * Lost Stars