Benj Dobbs

For other uses, see Benj.

"Captain Benj Dobbs is the current commander of my TIE Defender squadron."

―Grand Admiral Thrawn^[2]

Captain Benj Dobbs was a human male who served the Galactic Empire's Starfighter Corps as a TIE Defender pilot. After the commander of the Imperial 7th Fleet's Defender Squadron One, Vult Skerris, died in 1 BBY, Dobbs replaced Skerris, gaining command of the starfighter squadron. In that year, the fleet's commander, Grand Admiral Thrawn, tasked Dobbs with capturing a dead gralloc creature while in a transfer system in the Kurost sector.

The pilot brought the creature's carcass to Thrawn's Star Destroyer Chimaera and later escorted a shuttle carrying two Grysk prisoners to the Star Destroyer. Later on, when the Chiss Ascendancy heavy cruiser Steadfast confronted two Grysk Hegemony warships, the captain and his squadron attacked the two starships, which self-destructed.

Biography[]

Chasing grallocs[]

"It will be interesting to see how they achieve such speeds. Captain Dobbs, I believe your target awaits you."
"On it, sir. Do you want it dead or alive?"
"We'll begin with dead. If necessary, we can go back and capture a live one. I suggest the third gralloc of the group now pacing Lieutenant Fentaugh—do you see it?"

―Grand Admiral Thrawn and Captain Benj Dobbs^[2]

Skerris-Interceptor — Captain Benj Dobbs became the commander of Defender Squadron after its previous commander, Vult Skerris (pictured), perished.

Captain Benj Dobbs^[2] was a human^[1] who served in the Galactic Empire's Starfighter Corps as a TIE pilot in Grand Admiral Thrawn's 7th Fleet. Before leaving the Empire and Thrawn's Imperial I-class Star Destroyer Chimaera to serve the Chiss Ascendancy nation^[2] in 2 BBY,^[3] Commander Eli N. Vanto knew Dobbs.^[2] In 1 BBY,^[4] Comander Vult Skerris, the commander of Thrawn's Defender Squadron One, perished in an attack on the^[5] Outer Rim Territories planet Lothal,^[6] and he was replaced by Dobbs.^[2] In that same year,^[3] the Chimaera traveled to the Kurost transfer point in the Kurost sector to deal with the gralloc creatures that had been attacking the starships there, and Thrawn tasked Dobbs and his TIE/d "Defender" Multi-Role Starfighter squadron with capturing one of the creatures for study. As the Chimaera's sensor officer fed him a gralloc target's coordinates, the captain chased the creature, failing to capture it after two hours of attempts.^[2]

As a result, Thrawn changed his strategy, installing a bypass to feed Lieutenant Fentaugh's Defender's sixth laser cannon to lure the grallocs to the starfighter. After a group of grallocs chased after the Imperial fighter, Dobbs came up behind them and killed the group's third member, maneuvering its carcass between the forward points of one of his Defender's angled wings, bringing it to the Chimaera. Shortly after Thrawn captured two Grysks during a battle against a Grysk Hegemony warship, an Imperial shuttle brought the prisoners to the Chimaera, and Dobbs ran a full-wrap escort. While escorting the shuttle to the Imperial Star Destroyer, a cloaked Grysk starship attacked the Defender escort; however, as Dobbs moved to find the vessel, the Grysks escaped to hyperspace. The captain then jumped to hyperspace under Thrawn's directive, deactivating a nearby Grysk gravity well projector's cloaking device and revealing the projector's position.^[2]

Delta attack[]

Captain Benj Dobbs: "I think we can skip Gamma. Let's move to Delta."

Eli Vanto: "Defenders want to move to Delta, Admiral."

Admiral Ar'alani: "Do they. Very well, let's split the difference. Half of them to Gamma, half to Delta."

―Captain Benj Dobbs, Lieutenant Eli Vanto, and Admiral Ar'alani^[2]

After Thrawn located a Grysk forward base consisting of two warships conjoined by eight umbilical cylinders, the Chimaera traveled to the base's location. Once there, Thrawn's first officer, Commodore Karyn Faro, remotely destroyed the cylinders, causing the ships to separate and creating an explosion. Dobbs reported that the explosion caused only minor damage to the conjoined ships' surface. Thrawn then plotted to destroy a Grysk task force that was attacking Imperial space, using Dobbs's Defender squadron and fellow Grand Admiral Balanhai Savit's Third Fleet.^[2]

Preparing for a battle with the task force, Thrawn asked Dobbs if he trusted Vanto, who had become a lieutenant in the Ascendancy's Chiss Defense Force and served aboard Admiral Ar'alani's Chiss heavy cruiser Steadfast, and Dobbs told the Grand Admiral that he trusted the lieutenant. While Thrawn arrested Savit on charges of treason, the Steadfast engaged the Grysk force's two warships. As the Grysks dug into the heavy cruiser's hull, Vanto summoned twelve Defenders under Dobbs's command, which fired at the rear warship.^[2]

Dobbs told Vanto that he wanted to skip Gamma attack, an attack on the rear warship, and move to Delta attack, which involved the Defenders charging from the rear warship to the lead warship. In response, Ar'alani had Vanto bring six of the Imperial fighters back to hyperspace and send the other six to converge on the lead warship. Meanwhile, the Steadfast's tractor beam pulled a gravity well projector into the lead Grysk warship's hangar while the Defenders attacked the fighters leaving the hangar. The warship tried to destroy the fighters with its cannons; however, the shots missed, and the Grysks destroyed their own vessels. After the battle, Ar'alani instructed Vanto to arrange accommodations and refreshments for the Defenders' pilots.^[2]

Personality and traits[]

"But no, not directly. As you stated earlier, the primary reasoning was that Captain Dobbs knows you. And that he trusts you."
"I hope so."
"He does. I've already spoken to him. He is eager to play his part in the upcoming battle, and welcomes the chance to serve with you again. And of course, you're also the only one aboard the Steadfast who speaks Basic with any fluency."

―Grand Admiral Thrawn and Lieutenant Eli Vanto^[2]

A male pilot, Dobbs was eager to play his part in the battle against the Grysk task force, welcoming the chance to serve with Vanto once again.^[2]

Skills and abilities[]

"It'll be tricky, sir. They're pretty fast and way more maneuverable than any starfighter I've ever seen. But I think I can get one for you."
"Very good, Captain. Launch when ready. We'll find you a target."

―Captain Benj Dobbs and Grand Admiral Thrawn^[2]

Commodore Faro believed that Dobbs and his pilots were not anywhere near Skerris's superb level of combat skill. However, the captain managed to catch a gralloc, a creature much faster and maneuverable than any fighter Faro had seen.^[2]