Gorgon

The standard length of an Imperial I-class Star Destroyer, including the Gorgon, was 1,600 meters. Natasi Daala believed that her heavily armed vessel, boasting sixty turbolaser batteries and sixty ion cannons, possessed sufficient firepower to devastate an entire planet. The Star Destroyer also featured ten tractor beam projectors and a substantial hangar. In terms of support craft, the Gorgon could accommodate up to six full squadrons of TIE/LN starfighters and two Gamma-class assault shuttles. One of these shuttles was the shuttle Edict, which Daala used personally and often piloted herself. Unusually, the Gorgon carried a smaller number of assault and support craft than was typical for a Star Destroyer. It also lacked TIE/sa bombers. For ground operations, the Star Destroyer housed twenty AT-AT walkers and thirty AT-ST walkers. The Gorgon's crew consisted of fewer than 45,000 individuals, which was the standard complement. Daala once characterized her ship as being operated by a minimal crew. As with all Imperial-class Star Destroyers, the Gorgon included a special throne room specifically for use by the Emperor.

Grand Moff Wilhuff Tarkin commissioned the Gorgon. It was constructed over Kuat along with three other Imperial I-class Star Destroyers: the Hydra, the Basilisk, and the Manticore. Tarkin intended these vessels to protect his secret military research facility, Maw Installation, where superweapons like the Death Star, Sun Crusher and the World Devastators were conceived. The Gorgon and the remainder of the Maw fleet were placed under the direct authority of Tarkin's mistress, Natasi Daala, who was the first female to attain the rank of admiral in the Galactic Empire. Daala personally supervised the construction of the Gorgon, which was to be her flagship, from the beginning, and she was determined to transform it into the epitome of Star Destroyer excellence.

Tarkin positioned the Maw fleet within a gravitational anomaly at the center of the Maw, a collection of black holes. They were ordered to maintain their position and guard the facility at all costs, with no external communication permitted. The Maw Installation was only known to Tarkin and the Emperor, remaining a secret from the wider galaxy and the Empire itself. Consequently, Tarkin selected individuals for Daala's fleet who had no connections to the outside galaxy, ensuring that their absence from isolation in the Maw would not be noticed, and that no inquiries would be made. He and Daala also considered the aptitude of the crew members chosen to serve on the Gorgon, selecting those deemed highly skilled. However, Daala was concerned that a lack of active service would diminish her crew's abilities. This, combined with her apprehension that her crew would resent being led by a woman, led her to conduct constant drills and execute several officers to demonstrate her resolve to maintain discipline. Deep within the Maw, the Gorgon remained at full combat readiness, awaiting an opportunity to prove itself. Its crew was kept constantly on edge by its demanding commander and her second-in-command, Commander Kratas. However, despite their commander, the crew gradually grew bored over the following decade, longing for a chance to escape the Maw and return to active duty. Having exhausted the entertainment options and with no prospects for transfer or advancement, discontent was widespread. Furthermore, after a decade-long deployment, the crew began to age, with the reflexes of some of the stormtroopers and fighter pilots becoming less sharp as they exceeded the typical age range for those roles.

The Gorgon's departure from the Maw occurred when a solitary 500-X shuttle, the Endor, entered the region. When its crew, New Republic members Han Solo, Chewbacca, and Kyp Durron, failed to provide the correct security credentials, the Gorgon used its tractor beam projectors to draw the shuttle into one of its hangar bays. Due to the inability to transmit signals through the HoloNet from the Maw because of the ionized gases surrounding the black holes, the crew of the Gorgon, especially Daala, was unprepared for the information the outsiders brought. During the Gorgon's isolation, Grand Moff Tarkin had died on the first Death Star, and Emperor Palpatine and Darth Vader had both perished on a second Death Star. As a consequence of these deaths, the Empire was fracturing in a civil war, while the Rebel Alliance had transformed into the New Republic and had become a dominant force in the galaxy.

Stunned by this news, Daala decided that, with Tarkin gone, she was no longer bound by his orders and could wage her own guerrilla war against the New Republic. She imprisoned the shuttle's crew, informed the Maw scientists of her intentions, and mobilized her forces for departure. During the departure preparations, the prisoners escaped with the Installation's latest project, the Sun Crusher superweapon, aided by Maw scientist Qwi Xux.

The four Star Destroyers mobilized to prevent the escapees from leaving the Maw. However, given the Sun Crusher's virtually impenetrable hull, the fleet could only attempt to overwhelm the superweapon with TIE Fighters. Meanwhile, the Hydra positioned itself to block the Sun Crusher from exiting the Maw through the only direct route. Undeterred, the Sun Crusher accelerated through the TIE Fighter swarm and directly through the Hydra's bridge. The damaged Star Destroyer was pulled in by the gravitational pull of a nearby black hole. With the path cleared, the Sun Crusher escaped into hyperspace.

Daala, determined to recover the Sun Crusher at any cost, ordered the Gorgon and its two remaining sister ships to pursue the superweapon out of the Maw. The Gorgon caught up with its target as it exited the Maw but ran straight into the mercenary fleet of Moruth Doole. This fleet was looking for associates of Han Solo, who had been searching for him and Chewbacca since their disappearance from Doole's prison on Kessel in the Endor. The confused fleet engaged the imposing Star Destroyers, but their attacks failed to inflict significant damage on the Imperial warships. Daala's fleet swiftly eliminated the disorganized force, albeit with some losses, and the Gorgon sustained only minor damage. With this unexpected threat eliminated, Daala ordered the Gorgon to initiate a campaign of piracy against New Republic shipping.

Their initial target was a small CR90 corvette. After firing several warning shots at the ship, the Gorgon brought the corvette into its hangar. From the captured captain, T'nun Bdu, Daala discovered that the vessel was transporting relief supplies to a "peaceful" colony on Dantooine. However, the Gorgon's crew uncovered a large stash of high-grade weapons and communications equipment on board. Daala ordered thermal detonators to be placed among the corvette's engines and then ordered the ship to be released. After it sent out a distress signal, which Daala anticipated would divert the New Republic's attention, the thermal detonators were activated, destroying the vessel. The Gorgon then set course for the colony on Dantooine.

Despite Dantooine's importance as a communications outpost, the Gorgon's sensors indicated that the small colony had limited defenses. Nevertheless, the Gorgon deployed several AT-AT walkers to obliterate the colonists. The operation was successful, and after recalling her troops to the Gorgon, Daala turned her attention to the vital shipyards of the ocean world of Mon Calamari.

Daala devised what she believed to be an fool-proof plan, based on a strategy developed by Tarkin himself. The battle would begin with the Gorgon and Basilisk opening fire and attacking the floating cities of Mon Calamari, drawing forces away from the shipyards. Meanwhile, the Manticore would emerge from behind the planet's moon and destroy the vulnerable starship construction facilities. The plan progressed smoothly until a former slave of Tarkin's, retired New Republic Defense Fleet Admiral Gial Ackbar, recognized the tactic. Using a Mon Calamari code, he remotely seized control of the unfinished MC90 Star Cruiser Startide and used it to ram the Manticore. Accepting her first major setback in her guerrilla campaign, Daala's two remaining Star Destroyers retreated to the safety of the Cauldron Nebula.

While there, Daala planned to use the Basilisk in a suicide attack on Coruscant, the capital world of the New Republic. However, just before the assault on Coruscant, Kyp Durron, one of the escaped Maw prisoners, arrived with the Sun Crusher and attacked the Gorgon. Daala attempted to reclaim her lost weapon, but she soon realized it was a diversion, and Durron had already triggered a supernova in several of the nebula's stars. Daala ordered the Gorgon and the Basilisk to execute an emergency hyperspace jump. As the energy from the supernova explosions radiated outward, the Gorgon narrowly escaped the nebula. The Basilisk was not so fortunate and was destroyed.

With the Gorgon severely damaged by the destruction of the Cauldron Nebula, Daala realized that she should never have abandoned her post at the Maw, and that by disobeying her orders, she had caused the deaths of many of her best soldiers. She then ordered the Gorgon to retreat to Maw Installation, where she discovered two things. First, the Death Star prototype, a semi-permanent fixture around the installation, was missing. Second, a small New Republic fleet was now in orbit around the asteroids that comprised the installation. Realizing that the New Republic had captured Maw Installation, Daala vowed to destroy the facility, or die trying. The Gorgon unleashed a devastating turbolaser barrage on the station from its remaining gun emplacements.

The New Republic fleet mobilized to confront the Gorgon. Soon, adding to the growing chaos, the Death Star prototype, under the command of Maw Installation administrator Tol Sivron, entered the Maw. Despite Sivron's refusal to fire the prototype's superlaser, the looming threat of the weapon caused panic among the New Republic forces. Daala exploited the situation by using the Gorgon's computers to extract information from the Maw Installation's archives. With the crucial schematics in hand, she ordered the Gorgon to target the installation's now-unstable reactor core. As a brilliant explosion filled the viewports of the New Republic ships, the Gorgon escaped and fled to the remnants of the Empire in the Deep Core, seeking sanctuary. However, the New Republic believed that Daala had deliberately crashed the Gorgon into the facility in a suicidal attempt to prevent them from obtaining classified information stored within the Installation. It was not until a year later that the New Republic learned of her survival.

The Gorgon, damaged beyond repair, was seized by the various Imperial warlords who controlled territories in the Deep Core. They dismantled it, using its parts to construct other warships. Daala's remaining crew was dispersed throughout the Deep Core. Daala, accompanied by Kratas, traveled from warlord to warlord in an effort to unify the divided Empire. This effort ultimately succeeded, granting Daala command of a unified Imperial war machine.

The Gorgon was one of four Star Destroyers created by Kevin J. Anderson for The Jedi Academy Trilogy, and it appeared throughout the series as Admiral Daala's flagship. The novel Darksaber briefly mentioned the Gorgon, explaining its final fate.