Executor/Legends

"I…it looks like a battle cruiser, sir… the largest one I've ever seen!"

- C-3PO, to Luke Skywalker

The Executor was the personal flagship of Darth Vader and the lead ship of its class of Star Dreadnoughts. It primarily served as the flagship of Vader's Death Squadron as he hunted down the Alliance High Command headquarters and, more specifically, Luke Skywalker, following the Battle of Yavin. It later participated in the battles of Hoth and Endor, among others.

Specifications
"I guess you ground-thumpers don't need to keep up with Fleet news. The Executor just happens to be the brand-new flagship of the Lord Darth Vader."

- Joak Quiller, to Daric LaRone and Saberan Marcross



The Executor was the first of the Executor-class Star Dreadnought line. At 19,000 meters in length, almost twelve times the length of an Imperial-class Star Destroyer, making it as large as a small city, the Executor was the largest traditional starship constructed by the Imperial Navy at the time of its completion—only the first Death Star and Torpedo Spheres were larger.

It sported thousands of weapons, including more than 5,000 turbolasers and ion cannons,, 250 assault concussion missile tubes, and 40 tractor beam projectors. It held two full wings of TIE Fighters, for 144 ships, as well as 200 other combat and support ships. For ground assaults, it boasted two prefabricated garrison bases, a full corps of stormtroopers, 38,000 ground troops, and enough walkers to decimate any conceivable Alliance to Restore the Republic base. The Executor was propelled by thirteen immensely powerful, blood red-glowing stardrive engine thrusters.

It functioned with a crew of over 270,000, far less than might be expected for a ship of its size.

As Vader's personal ship, it was specially designed with a meditation chamber, which served as the Dark Lord's quarters. The chamber was equipped with a large spherical pod where, when closed, Vader could rest free of his breathing mask, while allowing his scarred face to feel fresh air. Through airtubes, the pod was pumped with gases and oxygen so Vader could breath independently. The chamber also contained its own communications systems, providing Vader with direct audio and visual feeds to various locations, as well as a direct holographic connection with Emperor Palpatine.

History
"Vader's on that ship."

- Luke Skywalker

Construction and purpose
Designed by Lira Wessex, manufactured by Kuat Drive Yards, and built in secret at the shipyards of Fondor, the Executor was the first of four Executor-class Super Star Destroyers in service before the Battle of Hoth. It was built concurrently with its sister-ship, the Lusankya. Both ships were provisionally named Executor to make it appear as if only one ship was truly being constructed. After construction was completed, the Executor was pressed into military service, while the Lusankya was secretly taken to Coruscant to serve as Palpatine's private escape vessel.



In a military sense the Executor was somewhat impractical, since a smaller ship could fulfill its mission duties, like the command ships of the Galactic Republic had done in eras past. Rather, the Executor served a largely political purpose. Its massive size served as physical proof of the Emperor's unlimited power and resources. The sheer size of the ship served as sufficient means to frighten a planet into submission. The incredible cost to fund the construction of such a large ship had practically bankrupted several star systems. The Executor was presented to Vader shortly after the Battle of Yavin and replaced the Imperial I-class Star Destroyer Devastator and several battlecruisers as Vader's personal flagship.

It served as Vader's headquarters and the flagship of the newly formed Death Squadron while he searched for the secret Rebel base and his son, Luke Skywalker. The ship's maiden voyage saw it destroy the Rebel outpost at Laakteen Depot. This demonstration was meant to show the galaxy that the Rebellion's victory over the Death Star was by pure chance and that the Executor, as well as the Galactic Empire, was unstoppable. Vader christened the ship in reference to his role as the Military Executor of the Emperor's will.

Yavin to Hoth
The only person known to have broken into the Executor was Kyle Katarn. He stowed away aboard a corvette leaving a fueling station on Ergo. Singlehandedly he managed to reach the Executor's boarding hangar and smuggle himself along on the ship's voyage to the secret position of the Arc Hammer.

The ship served in the Fifth Battle of Yavin IV, where it suffered two accidents: first, the shield-weakening effects of Vrad Dodonna's power gem; and second, a ramming by three Imperial warships (under the command of Amise Griff) leaving hyperspace. Both events allowed the remaining Alliance forces to escape. The Executor later redeemed itself in a number of strikes against Alliance bases.

Hoth to Endor


The Executor, as flagship of Darth Vader's personal Death Squadron, led the assault on the secret Rebel headquarters on the planet Hoth under the command of the newly appointed Admiral Firmus Piett after Kendal Ozzel was executed by Vader for incompetence. Ozzel, believing a surprise saturated bombardment was the best tactic to begin the attack, foolishly brought the fleet out of hyperspace close enough to the planet so that the Rebels, alerted of the fleet's presence, were able to evacuate a considerable amount of equipment and personnel relative to the losses they sustained during the battle.

Immediately after the battle, believing Luke Skywalker had fled the planet aboard the Millennium Falcon, Darth Vader ordered the Executor and Death Squadron to pursue the fugitive ship through the Hoth Asteroid Field. The fleet sustained a considerable amount of damage due to asteroid collisions and was ultimately unable to capture the ship, believing it had escaped into hyperspace after successfully navigating through the asteroid field when, in reality, Han Solo had cleverly attached the freighter to the backside of the Avenger's bridge tower. The Executor and Death Squadron then jumped into hyperspace along several different possible escape trajectories that the Millennium Falcon may have taken.



Soon, however, on information from the bounty hunter Boba Fett, the Executor arrived in orbit over the planet Bespin to capture the crew of the Millennium Falcon on Bespin's Cloud City. After a lightsaber duel in the city between Vader and Luke Skywalker ended in Skywalker's escape aboard the Falcon, the Executor attempted to intercept the fleeing ship. The Rebels were narrowly captured by the Executor's tractor beams, but the Millennium Falcon managed to finally escape into hyperspace and elude Imperial capture.

It was aboard the Executor, during the ship's pursuit of the Millennium Falcon just after the Battle of Hoth, that IG-88 received the information he would use to formulate the ultimate step in his Droid Revolution. After being debriefed by Darth Vader concerning his desired parameters for capturing the crew of the Falcon, IG-88 secretly gained access to the Executor's main computer core. He downloaded the entire computer core's records into his own memory banks, gaining a vast collection of secret Imperial data, including Vader's own code-locked personal files. It was within these files specifically that IG-88 discovered the Empire was creating a second Death Star over the Sanctuary Moon of Endor. He immediately decided it would be to his advantage to upload his own identity into the new Death Star.

Several droids stationed aboard the Executor, including courier droids, were built on the planet Mechis III after IG-88's droid takeover there. They were specially programmed, as IG-88 had designed them after his own programming, to be uniquely sentient. These infiltrated droids also laid electronic pathways through the ship's computer systems which enabled IG-88 to easily access the computer core without being blocked by security measures.

After Vader's battle with Skywalker, Vader and the Executor returned to Coruscant, likely so that the Emperor could personally debrief Vader of the encounter. With Vader's personal hunt of Skywalker temporarily on hold, the Executor was stationed above Coruscant during this time, in conjunction with Vader's own temporary stationing on Imperial Center, from where it was dispatched during its brief campaigns during the following year before assignment to protect the Second Death Star in orbit over Endor.



In the months following the Battle of Hoth, the Executor participated in the Second Battle of Bajic, leading an assault on a secret Rebel shipyard in the Vergesso Asteroids, in the Lybeya system of the Baji Sector, in the Outer Rim. On a tip from Black Sun Syndicate leader Prince Xizor alerting the Empire of the Rebel outpost, Darth Vader was personally dispatched by Emperor Palpatine to eliminate the facility. With support from the Imperial II-class Star Destroyer Avenger and two Victory II-class Star Destroyers, the Executor, under command of Admiral Okins, landed a crushing blow to the Alliance, destroying the shipyard and hundreds of vessels stationed there, ranging from capital ships undergoing repairs to snubfighters.

Shortly thereafter, the Executor attempted to retrieve stolen plans to the uncompleted Second Death Star in the Battle of Kothlis. Chasing a group of Bothans fleeing from the colony world of Kothlis, the Executor failed to recover the plans after destroying the space station Kothlis II orbiting the planet and then subsequently capturing the CR90 corvette Razor in conjunction, once more, with the Imperial II-class Star Destroyer Avenger. Although the Razor was seized by the Avenger, the plans were finally secured into Alliance hands when a Bothan, carrying the plans, launched from the ship in an escape pod and was recovered by the civilian Dreadnaught Mercury, from which it was transferred to the Mon Calamari Star Cruiser Independence.

Just prior to being assigned to protect the Second Death Star, the Executor destroyed Prince Xizor's personal skyhook Falleen's Fist in orbit over the planet Coruscant, killing Xizor and severely crippling Black Sun from that point forward.

Endor
Early in 4 ABY, the Executor, once more under command of Admiral Firmus Piett, was assigned to protect the Second Death Star in orbit over Endor's Sanctuary Moon. There, it served as the command ship of the massive Imperial fleet, an armada of up to fifty Imperial-class Star Destroyers also assigned to Endor to await the impending arrival of the Rebel fleet, of which the Emperor knew was soon to arrive.

As the command ship, the Executor acted as the commanding vessel of the entire Death Star construction site, monitoring the thousands of construction ships that entered and exited the area, as well as overseeing the ingress and egress of ships through the Death Star's deflector shield. It was while monitoring this tedious construction activity that the Executor intercepted the Lambda-class shuttle Tydirium, holding the Endor Strike Team, including Luke Skywalker, en route to the moon's surface to destroy the shield protecting the battle station. Vader instantly sensed the presence of his son, and would soon depart his flagship for the final time to await Skywalker on the forest moon.



After Vader informed the Emperor of Skywalker's arrival, Palpatine knew the arrival of the Rebel fleet would not be far off. He ordered the Executor and the rest of the Imperial fleet to the far side of the moon, where it would wait in secret to ambush the Rebels.

Once the Rebel fleet arrived, the Executor and the remainder of the Imperial fleet assumed a position behind the Rebels, blocking their only escape vector. They effectively had the Rebel fleet sandwiched between themselves and the Death Star, but were personally ordered by the Emperor himself to defer from attacking to allow the Death Star's superlaser, believed by the Rebels to be inoperable, to strike first. With the operational status of the Death Star realized, the Rebel fleet desperately resorted to attacking the Star Destroyers at point-blank range, a suicidal measure to be sure, but the safest choice when confronted with the unstoppable power of the Death Star. It was at that point that the Executor entered the fray.

"Concentrate all firepower on that Super Star Destroyer!"

- Admiral Ackbar, during the Battle of Endor



After the shield generator was destroyed by the strike team bringing down the shield protecting the Death Star, the Rebel fleet commenced its primary attack on the battle station's main reactor core. Hoping to dissuade much of the Imperial starfighter presence from following the Rebel fighters into the Death Star, Admiral Ackbar ordered a concentrated assault on the Executor itself, led by his own command ship, Home One. A flight of RZ-1 A-wing interceptors from Green Squadron were able to destroy one of the ship's deflector shield domes, disabling the bridge's main deflector shields. Almost immediately, one of the attacking A-wings, piloted by Arvel Crynyd, ironically hit by one of the Executor's guns, inadvertedly crashed into the ship's unprotected command tower, smashing through portions of the bridge section. The loss of the bridge temporarily disabled the Executor's navigational systems. Before auxiliary power could restore control, the Executor, caught in the Death Star's gravity well projector, plummeted into the surface of the station, obliterating the massive warship.

With the loss of the command ship, the Imperial fleet fell into disarray and the tide of the battle was effectively turned. The Executor served as a great beacon of morality for the rest of the fleet, and with its destruction, the remaining commanders panicked. Despite still retaining a numerical and qualitative advantage over the Rebel fleet, the bulk of the Imperial fleet retreated into hyperspace.

Ironically, the fighter responsible for the Executor ' s destruction was designed by Walex Blissex, the father of Lira Wessex, the naval architect who designed the Executor.

Commanders
"Assignment to the Executor is the fast track to promotion&mdash;as well as an early grave."

- Saying on board the Executor



While Vader wielded the Executor as his personal weapon, its military functions were commanded by a series of admirals, each of which met an untimely demise. Admiral Amise Griff was the ship's first officer, having overseen its construction at Fondor. Griff, in a ploy by Vader, led a foolhardy assault on Yavin 4, and perished.

Command was then handed to Admiral Kendal Ozzel, famous for his part in allowing yet another escape by the Alliance at Hoth by making an Imperial fleet exit hyperspace too close to the rebel base. For his failure, Ozzel was force-choked to death by Vader and was succeeded by Admiral Firmus Piett.

Piett, a competent commander, was the only commanding officer of the Executor not responsible for botching an important operation. Despite this, luck would conspire against him when the astromech droid R2-D2 successfully repaired the Millennium Falcon's hyperdrive and allowed the Rebel heroes to escape from the grasp of the Empire. Despite Piett's failure to capture the Falcon, he was not killed by Darth Vader as other Imperial commanders had been. Piett would later perish at the Battle of Endor when Arvel Crynyd's A-wing smashed into the Executor's bridge.

It is likely that the day-to-day operations of the ship were overseen by a captain, and the admirals mentioned above merely used the Executor as their command ship for Death Squadron.

Behind the scenes



 * Many Expanded Universe sources have claimed that the Executor was only 8,000 meters long. Some other sources, most notably StarWars.com, have claimed that the Executor was 12,800 meters long. Both of these figures are in direct contradiction with the films themselves, which consistently show the Executor to be around eleven to twelve times as long as accompanying 1,600m long Star Destroyers, or 17,600-19,200m. The 12,800m figure was apparently intended as a "compromise", being halfway between the length seen in the movies and the West End Games 8,000m version. In September 2005, the StarWars.com Databank was finally updated with the 19,000 meter length. These lengths still remain a point of contention among some Star Wars fans.


 * The miniature Executor used in filming was 2.83 meters long (9 1/4 feet).


 * Among being one of the many sources to list the ship at 8 kilometers in length, The Essential Guide to Vehicles and Vessels indicates the Executor carried three prefabricated garrison bases, rather than the standard two carried by the Executor-class Star Dreadnoughts. Additionally, the guide only identifies nine stardrive engines on the warship. The StarWars.com Databank states the Executor was equipped with two garrison bases and thirteen engine thrusters.

Appearances

 * Therefore I Am: The Tale of IG-88
 * Of Possible Futures: The Tale of Zuckuss and 4-LOM
 * Payback: The Tale of Dengar
 * The Prize Pelt: The Tale of Bossk
 * The Last One Standing: The Tale of Boba Fett
 * Star Wars: Dark Forces
 * Sand Blasted
 * Classic Star Wars
 * Allegiance
 * Star Wars Rebellion: My Brother, My Enemy
 * Star Wars Missions 18: Rogue Squadron to the Rescue
 * Imperial Spy
 * Galaxy of Fear: The Hunger
 * Splinter of the Mind's Eye comic
 * Revenge of the Jedi comic
 * Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back
 * Star Wars Infinities: The Empire Strikes Back
 * Star Wars: Imperial Ace
 * Shadows of the Empire comic
 * Shadows of the Empire novel
 * Star Wars: X-wing Alliance
 * Star Wars: Rogue Squadron II: Rogue Leader
 * Star Wars: Rogue Squadron III: Rebel Strike
 * Star Wars: Empire at War: Forces of Corruption
 * Star Wars: The Rise and Fall of Darth Vader
 * Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi
 * Star Wars Infinities: Return of the Jedi
 * A Day in the Life
 * Mara Jade: A Night on the Town
 * Heir to the Empire
 * X-wing: The Krytos Trap
 * X-wing: The Bacta War
 * A Grand Admiral Returns
 * Heir to the Empire
 * X-wing: Isard's Revenge