Immobilizer 418 cruiser

For other uses, see Immobilizer (disambiguation).

"Commander, the field is too powerful!"
"Working on it, sir. It's the Immobilizer. The overcurrent resistors failed to prevent the gravitic systems from redlining—"

―Wilhuff Tarkin and his task force's liaison officer^[1]

The Immobilizer 418 cruiser, or simply the Immobilizer, was a type of cruiser used by the Galactic Empire's Imperial Navy that was developed for Imperial adviser Kren Blista-Vanee's Deep Core Security Zone and manufactured by the Corellian Engineering Corporation and Sienar Fleet Systems. It represented the Empire's first foray into Interdictor design based on less successful designs from the Galactic Republic. The Immobilizer was 600 meters in length and possessed a quartet of gravity well projectors located toward the aft of the vessel's sharply bowed hull. The starship additionally had twenty laser cannons, including multiple quad laser cannons. The Immobilizer 418 typically acted with an escort, and it carried a complement of twenty-four TIE fighters divided into two squadrons.

In the Obroa-skai system in 14 BBY, Imperial Moff Wilhuff Tarkin used a state-of-the-art, untested Immobilizer as part of a task force attempting to intercept the corvette Carrion Spike. However, the Immobilizer malfunctioned and caused many vessels to revert out of hyperspace. After the incident, the Immobilizer was returned to Corellian Engineering.

Due to its many vulnerabilities, manufacturing of the Immobilizer was discontinued by 0 ABY, although many vessels remained in service. In that year, an Immobilizer pulled the luxury yacht Desert Jewel out of hyperspace in the Daalang system. The Desert Jewel subsequently destroyed the Immobilizer and its accompanying TIE fighters. The Imperial Navy continued using the cruiser until the Battle of Jakku in 5 ABY, where the Immobilizer 418 cruiser Glaciate was captured at the battle by New Republic forces under the orders of General Carlist Rieekan.

Characteristics[]

"Our target would be the Immobilizer 418 cruiser Glaciate—six hundred meters long, armed with twenty laser cannons."

―Musmuris Reetgeet^[3]

The Immobilizer 418 cruiser,^[3] or simply the Immobilizer,^[1] was an Interdictor cruiser with many vulnerabilities^[4] manufactured by the Corellian Engineering Corporation^[1] and Sienar Fleet Systems.^[2] The Immobilizer 418 was the Galactic Empire's first prototype Interdictor vessel and was based on previous unsuccessful attempts by the Galactic Republic.^[6] It was similar in shape to a Star Destroyer but much smaller,^[4] at 600 meters in length.^[3] It had an economical basque chassis, despite the fact that the price was still exorbitant. It could quickly and easily be repaired or refitted for new functions, and maintenance could be done with commonly available parts.^[2] The Immobilizer had a sharp, bowed hull^[1] and a bladed edge, with a hangar located on the underside of the ship.^[4] The vessel also possessed an aft engine room, a reactor governor, at least one porthole,^[3] a bridge, and twelve deflector shield generators—a mix of particle shields and ray shields.^[4]

Gravity well generator — The cruiser possessed four gravity well projectors (one pictured).

The Immobilizer cruiser was armed with twenty laser cannons,^[3] including multiple quad laser cannons.^[4] It was crewed with stormtroopers^[3] and gunners. The Immobilizer possessed a complement of twenty-four TIE/ln space superiority starfighters divided into two squadrons.^[4] In addition, the hull's aft featured four spherical gravity well projectors. The projectors contained equipment to pull multiple ships out of hyperspace, and the strength of the gravity well could be adjusted to some extent by the relative speed of the target ship.^[1] One hemispherical gravity well projector was more than enough to pull a ship from hyperspace, while the others could be used to block possible hyperspace routes for escape.^[4] The Immobilizer was also equipped with overcurrent resistors in order to prevent the ship's gravitic systems from redlining. However, these systems were not foolproof and could sometimes malfunction catastrophically.^[1]

Role[]

"The projectors are powering up to high gain, Governor Tarkin. The field will be initiated, then disabled, in an effort to keep from dragging vessels other than the quarry from hyperspace. I should caution, however, that that may be unavoidable, given the heavy traffic in this system."
"I understand, Commander. Order your technicians to be judicious, nonetheless."
"I will, sir. But the power setting of the gravity wells is dictated to some extent by the relative speed of the targeted ship, and, well, sir, to be blunt about it, there aren't many as fast as the Carrion Spike."

―A task force liaison officer and Moff Wilhuff Tarkin —

Listen (file info)^[1]

As an Interdictor vessel, the Immobilizer was used to pull ships out of hyperspace.^[1] Immobilizer cruisers had multiple vulnerabilities and were more easily destroyed than Star Destroyers.^[4] On occasion, it acted in concert with other Interdictor vessels as part of a task force.^[1] It typically operated with an escort, but in times of desperation, it acted without one.^[4]

History[]

Encounter in the Obroa-skai system[]

"The requested Interdictors are being developed as part of the Deep Core Security Zone, my lord."

―Kren Blista-Vanee, to Emperor Palpatine^[1]

Five years after the foundation of the Empire,^[1] in 14 BBY,^[7] Imperial Moff Wilhuff Tarkin requested an untested state-of-the-art Immobilizer 418 cruiser vessel from a deepdock in^[1] the Core Worlds'^[8] Corellia system from Imperial adviser Kren Blista-Vanee, who was developing the Interdictor for his Deep Core Security Zone. Tarkin planned to use the cruiser as part of his Imperial Navy task force that was attempting to intercept^[1] the modified IPV-2C Stealth Corvette^[2] Carrion Spike, which had been hijacked by dissidents.^[1]

Carrion Spike AotE — An Immobilizer 418 cruiser attempted to capture the *Carrion Spike*, a modified stealth corvette (pictured).

Moff Tarkin assembled his task force in^[1] the Inner Rim's^[9] Obroa-skai system, including three Interdictors: a CC-7700 frigate, a Detainer CC-2200, and an Immobilizer 418, as well as picket vessels and gunboats. Through his task force liaison officer, Tarkin subsequently ordered the Interdictors to activate their gravity well projectors in order to capture the Carrion Spike. However, upon the gravity well projectors' activation, the Immobilizer's overcurrent resistors failed to prevent its gravitic systems from redlining. The incident jolted Tarkin's flagship,^[1] the Imperial I-class Star Destroyer^[10] Executrix, and caused several ships to revert out of hyperspace, including the star cruiser Stellar Vista, the Lux-400 yacht Truant, and the YT-1000 light freighter Reticent. The Stellar Vista then collided with the Immobilizer, severely damaging the civilian ship's stern and killing around 1100 individuals. The Reticent had been sent by the Carrion Spike's hijackers as a decoy, and the Empire subsequently captured the vessel to question its crew. Following the incident, the Immobilizer was sent back to Corellian Engineering for reassessment.^[1]

Skirmish with the Desert Jewel[]

"All right, I need you to prepare us to jump for Kupoh and tell me which gravity projector on that Inderdictor [sic] is blocking our path to it right now."
"Wait, are you suggesting we attack the Interdictor by ourselves?"
"It's either that or let them catch us. I don't think they'll respond to a polite request to stand down. And this is one of the old models. We should go before they have time to get reinforcements here. Right now it's unescorted and only has twenty-four TIE fighters."

―Luke Skywalker and Nakari Kelen^[4]

DesertJewel-HttJ — The *Desert Jewel*, which was caught in a skirmish with an Immobilizer

By 0 ABY,^[5] production of the Immobilizer 418 cruisers was discontinued by the Imperial Navy due to their vulnerabilities, although they continued to be used throughout the galaxy in large numbers despite not being actively produced.^[4] Its successor model, the Interdictor-class Star Destroyer, was also discontinued in time as well.^[6] In order to make its Interdictors harder to destroy, the Empire began to put gravity wells into Star Destroyers,^[4] resulting in a model known as the Interdictor-class.^[11] In 0 ABY, the Rebel Alliance agents Luke Skywalker and Nakari Kelen were chased by Imperial forces aboard the luxury yacht Desert Jewel to^[4] the Mid Rim^[9] Nanth'ri system. Skywalker and Kelen were being pursued as they had just freed Drusil Bephorin, an important Givin cryptologist, from Imperial captivity on^[4] the Inner Rim^[9] planet Denon.^[4]

As the Desert Jewel was traveling through hyperspace, an Immobilizer 418 cruiser pulled the Jewel out of hyperspace into^[4] the Mid Rim's^[9] Daalang system. In the ensuing skirmish, the Immobilizer launched its full complement of TIEs. However, due to the Empire's frequent use of the Immobilizer cruiser against Alliance raiding groups, Skywalker had knowledge of the ship's weaknesses and formed an attack strategy. Skywalker and Kelen ultimately destroyed both the Immobilizer's TIE complement and the cruiser itself, splitting the latter in half with a Utheel Rockcrusher Compact Seismic Charge.^[4]

The Battle of Jakku[]

"I popped the hatch and crawled inside the systems while the others stood guard. Sniffing the vent ports for ozone and nitric oxide, I traced the reactor governor by its electrostatic discharge and wired in our bypass. The Glaciate sat dead in space. While the others commed Rieekan to tell him of our success, I peered out the porthole, down the length of the ship I'd just captured."

―Musmuris Reetgeet^[3]

The Immobilizer cruiser Glaciate fought over^[3] the Inner Rim planet^[8] Jakku in 5 ABY. The Battle of Jakku was the final engagement of the Galactic Civil War between the Empire and the the Rebel Alliance's successor, the New Republic, during which a Republic squad infiltrated the Glaciate. The squad included humans who had previously served aboard Imperial Interdictors and the Ranat Musmuris Reetgeet, acting on General Carlist Rieekan's orders.^[3]

The operatives infiltrated the Immobilizer with a stolen Imperial assault shuttle, entering the cruiser by making a hole in its aft engine room. Since the vessel's crew was distracted by the larger battle, the team proceeded to the next chamber with little resistance. In the room, Reetgeet crawled inside the cruiser's systems and disabled the reactor governor, capturing the starship for the New Republic. Reetgeet later reflected on the squad's capture of the Immobilizer.^[3]

Behind the scenes[]

Immobilizer Interdictor Cruiser — The Immobilizer 418 cruiser in the *Star Wars* Legends continuity

The Immobilizer 418 cruiser first appeared in the current Star Wars canon in James Luceno's 2014 novel Tarkin, referred to as the Immobilizer.^[1] The Immobilizer 418 cruiser was first identified by its full name in the eighty-seventh issue of the Star Wars: Build the Millennium Falcon magazine, published by De Agostini^[6] around August 31, 2016.^[12] The interior of an Immobilizer was later pictured in the 2017 reference book Star Wars: On the Front Lines, written by Daniel Wallace.^[3]

The vessel originated in the Star Wars Legends continuity, where it was first mentioned in the Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game supplement The Star Wars Rules Companion, which was written by Greg Gorden, edited by Bill Slavicsek, and published by West End Games^[13] in January 1989.^[14] Referred to only as an Interdictor in The Star Wars Rules Companion,^[13] Slaviscek and Gorden's October 1989 Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game supplement Imperial Sourcebook first pictured the vessel and identified it as an Immobilizer 418 Interdictor-class Heavy Cruiser.^[15] The Immobilizer then made its first appearance in the 1991 novel Heir to the Empire, the first book of author Timothy Zahn's Star Wars: The Thrawn Trilogy.^[16] Bill Smith's 1996 reference book The Essential Guide to Vehicles and Vessels then identified the vessel as an "Immobilizer 418 cruiser."^[17] The canon Interictor-class Star Destroyer, which was an in-universe successor to the Immobilizer 418 cruiser,^[6] was based on the design of the Legends Immobilizer from the Imperial Sourcebook.^[18]