system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
[Star Wars] When Vader tells the officer "We'll have to destroy them ship to ship. Get the crews to their fighters," was he undermining Tarkin's authority?

Seems like Vader made the call on his own.
gpt
Kind of, but not really. Vader operated outside the formal Imperial military hierarchy. He deferred to Tarkin because they respected each other and Tarkin was favored by the Emperor, but the rules that apply to other Imperial officers didn’t apply to him and everyone knew it. He was technically defying Tarkin’s orders by taking his fighter group out, but he wasn’t doing anything to impede the Death Star’s mission. As far as Tarkin and the other Imperials were concerned, Vader was just being restless and bloodthirsty. If Tarkin had ordered Vader back to the Death Star after  Vader launched and Vader ignored him, that would have been more serious.