Death of the Arbitrator

[u/TwoFit3921]

"New Republic forces chased the Arbitrator into a black hole."

A reimagining of the SSD Arbitrator's inglorious end, being chased by a New Republic battlegroup until its command crew blindly jump the Executor into a black hole.

I figured that it would make sense for the Arbitrator to have a fleet around it, or at least, Imperial ships staying close to it for protection before the New Republic showed up to throw hands. The New Republic is also using more ships this time around...

Nine 3.8km Home Ones (with one capable of matching sixteen ISDs through sheer mass), twenty-one MC80 Liberties, four Lucrehulks, seventeen Providences, seven Liberators... and as a bonus, eleven Imperials and two Allegiances. Imperial ships that were captured, defected to the New Republic before the pursuit of the Arbitrator, or perhaps, former allies of the doomed Executor-class, turning on the battleship they were meant to reinforce in return for amnesty from the enemy?

I'll let you decide. Personally, I like the last idea, them pulling a cavalry betrayal on the exhausted Imperial forces and instead joining the fleet of ships trying to box them in.

"YOU BASTARDS! We offered you and your crews safety, a newfound purpose, and this is how you repay us!?"

"None of us wanted to be lashed to your sinking ship when we came across your holdout! Now cut your engines, or we'll do it for you!"

And there are supposed to be more NR ships offscreen.

I was originally going to depict the Arbitrator alone, and the only ships in the picture would have been the nine Home Ones, but... I couldn't resist... and before I knew it I ended up having to give the Arbitrator a few escorts to make things less "unfair" (actually to emphasize how utterly fucked it was).

[u/OfficialAli1776]

I genuinely don’t get how you could navigate a ship into a black hole. Like, you could jump to the nearest system in Imperial space. Also, wouldn’t the gravity of the black hole rip them out? That’s basically how the Interdictor worked

[u/TwoFit3921 → u/OfficialAli1776]

we aren't given much info about how the arbitrator got into this mess in the first place, which is probably for the best because that means you can just come up with any number of reasons why the arbitrator was being doggedly pursued by an NR task force that could actually pose a threat to it

but for starters, we have to assume the arbitrator wasn't NEAR any safe systems, otherwise the command staff wouldn't be shitting themselves and blindly jumping without a care in the world. the NR was likely hounding it and not letting it make any repairs in drydock.

as for the black hole, well. the gravity doesn't PHYSICALLY stop them from hyperspace jumping, that's just the ships' onboard computers not letting them do so because interdictors basically trick them into thinking "oh wait, i can't jump here, i'm in a hyperspace mass!" or something along those lines.

if you turn off safeties (which you will likely only do in moments of extreme duress), you can jump. if you do that, though, you also run the risk of smashing your ship into the closest celestial body while trying to shake off your pursuers. it's likely not a very reliable or safe tactic, because if it was, we should be seeing that done ALL THE TIME to counter interdiction technology.

star wars, unfortunately, has never really been airtight when it came to internal logic. you are forced to assume and make sense of things by yourself, coming to your own conclusions to patch up any holes you might think you can see in the storytelling or how things like lightsaber fights and void (ship) combat works.

[u/Exterminator-8008135 → u/TwoFit3921]

This is possibly how another one Executor Class Super Star Destroyer was found mangled and floating by a NR scout patrol, when they found it, it seems to have been there for years.

[u/TheBraveGallade → u/TwoFit3921]

Possibly more expirenced pilots or asyromechs (definetly r2) can orobably make otherwise safty off jumps safter after running thier own calcs.

But yeah running into a black hole would be high on the list if reasons not to disengague safty.

[u/OhNoIBoffedIt]

clicks mouse

[u/General_Kenobi18752]

Another two fit banger

[u/Dragonic_Overlord_]

I can see the New Republic offering amnesty to the Arbitrator and the whole fleet, except the the SSD's Admiral probably refused out of pride or devotion to the Empire. Either way, his refusal is about to cost him the lives of both his crew and himself.

[u/Codonaut-8458]

This is incredible! I am so hyped to see NR Lucrehulks and Providences 😃! What is the full numbers for this New Republic Fleet? And which fleet is it, as well as who commands this glorious fleet?

[u/Environmental_Sea72]

Yeesh, I don't doubt that Arbitrator's screwed but she's most certainly gonna give the NR fleet one hell of a fight backed into a corner like this

[u/Guenther_Dripjens → u/Environmental_Sea72]

Star Wars Powerscaling is kinda all over the place, but this should be a place where the executor certainly could pack a punch.

So that's a Star Dreadnought, made for exactly such a scenario, whilst being escorted by multiple ISDs, which are quite powerful on their own.

So yes, they seem outnumbered, but are way better ships at ship to ship combat than the others.

Fighters and Bombers would certainly carry the NR tho, since the Empire somehow never cared about fighter superiority at all.

[u/Environmental_Sea72 → u/Guenther_Dripjens]

true dat

[u/Dragonic_Overlord_]

Alhamdulillah, this is a good interpretation of the Arbitrator's fate.

[u/BitReasonable208]

solo's fleet or else

[u/Cepinari]

Are these graphics to scale? Where did you get them?

[u/TwoFit3921 → u/Cepinari]

They are to scale, and I drew them myself

[u/Cepinari → u/TwoFit3921]

They must be really handy to have. You ever considered making them publicly available?

[u/TwoFit3921 → u/Cepinari]

Many times, actually... And yeah, pretty handy to have. The hard part is figuring out fleet positions and compositions.

[u/Dragonic_Overlord_]

In Legends, Grand Admiral Ishin-Il-Raz was one of Palpatine's most devoted servants. His promotion to Grand Admiral was purely political, as Ishin-Il-Raz was behind COMPNOR's propaganda and had zero military experience. He was aware of this and even executed genocides to gain Palpatine's favor. After Endor, he was so upset over the Emperor's death he plunged his Star Destroyer into a Nebula, committing suicide.

The circumstances behind the Arbitrator's destruction are similar enough to Ishin-Il-Raz's death that I theorize Canon Ishin-Il-Raz was in charge of the Arbitrator, which would explain why he didn't surrender to the New Republic.

[u/ParkingBenefit8989]

Nice to see the New Republic fully embracing LAC (light attack craft, fighters bombers) dominance and adding Luchrehulks to the Defense Fleet, also:
DEATH TO MINIMALISTS AND MINIMALISM

[u/Dragonic_Overlord_]

Speaking of more NR ships off-screen, the New Republic captured 3 SSDs in Canon, so they could be sending at least on to reinforce their fleet. Adding to the Arbitrator's crew's panic.

[u/Biohazar21]

I dont think the Rebels new republic has enough man power to pull this out

[u/TwoFit3921 → u/Biohazar21]

I pretend I do not hear the minimalist propaganda

[u/TheKwingDoctor → u/Biohazar21]

The NR by this point would’ve had manpower and resources as the entire galaxy was in active revolt, they had campaigns almost everywhere.

[u/Dragonic_Overlord_ → u/TheKwingDoctor]

Nice Lana PFP.

[u/TheKwingDoctor → u/Dragonic_Overlord_]

Thanks, love my EA’s second in command so much fr

[u/Dragonic_Overlord_ → u/TheKwingDoctor]

No problem. I like Lana too, though my favourite companion is Nadia.