A second type of choir employs a choir master that uses yellow bioluminescence to create a hologramlike projection of what its master sees. Known as a light shaper, the choir master is a flatish, more gelatinous villiplike creature (villid).
YAMMOSKS:
The yammosk, or “war coordinator,” is a genetically-engineered octopus-like creature, with a dozen or so sticky tendrils—some stubby, some gracile—massive black eyes, a blue pulsating communications vein, and a huge central tooth/fang with the power of an ion cannon, to drive down into the surface of a world. Mildly telepathic, yammosks are capable of spawning and training offspring, and have a symbiotic relationship with the dovin basals that propel ships.
In hardcover #3, while researching ways to interrupt and/or easvesdrop on enemy communciations, Danni Quee—with her ex-gal experience—detects the presence of a code being exchanged between a yammosk and coralskippers, involving subtle modulations of gravity.
(Gravitic modulation relies on a precedent already well established in SW. Nearly every space-faring ship has the ability to produce its own artificial gravity, while landand airspeeders use repulsorlift engines. All we’re doing here is giving the Yuuzhan Vong the same technology and putting it to a different use.)
The modulations are a sort of gravity Morse code. The yammosks send these signals directly (or through a dedicated dovin basal) to the coralskippers. The coralskippers, ships, soldiers, etcetera, detect the modulations and pass their own information through their dovin basals (in the case of the slave soldiers, tiny ones embedded in their controlling growths). The code is translated by the ship’s neural network and relayed through the cognition hood.
Gravitc modulation can be applied to any craft or warrior with which a yammosk communicates. For example, a larger craft might have a particular officer(s) tied to its dovin basals via neural line, or through surge-coral implants.
TRANSPORTS AND COMBAT VESSELS:
Battleship Analog, Yuuzhan Vong:
A giant Yuuzhan Vong vessel, larger than the Yuuzhan Vong warship. Where the warship dazzles the eye, the Yuuzhan Vong battleship looks to have been cast fully formed from the churning bowels of some impossibly gargantuan volcano. (Hero’s’ Trial)
Carrier Analog, Yuuzhan Vong:
A capital ship used by the Yuuzhan Vong. Coralskippers attach themselves like barnacles to the spindly arms of Yuuzhan Vong carrier analogs. They are launched and recovered from these elongate and branchlike projections. (Jedi Eclipse) A Yuuzhan Vong fighter-carrier is one of the Yuuzhan Vong reinforcements that joins the Battle of Duro. (Balance Point)
Coralskipper (Plural: Coralskippers):
A Yuuzhan Vong bioengineered starfighter. Length: 13 meters. The living coralskipper is made of yorik coral. The relationship between pilot and coralskipper is more like that between rider and beast rather than pilot and starfighter. To attack, the coralskipper draws very close, and a small appendage on the front erupts like a miniature volcano, spewing forth a burst of fire and a single glob of molten rock, which can melt through a spacecraft. None looks exactly like another, but they all share some features, such as a tapered nose and aerodynamic sides. A coralskipper is roughly triangular in shape, resembling a miniature version of an Imperial Star Destroyer. The canopy resembles mica more than it resembles transparisteel. A coralskipper can cause starfighter shields to go down, perhaps through some type of magnetic or supergravity field. At the front is a thumb-sized dovin basal, an added piece that looks like a breathing, pulsing creature, a disembodied heart. A coralskipper moves along much as it fires its guns, using the opposing force of that “spitting.” It refuels and rearms by eating rocks. Within a circle of enemies, a coralskipper spins, faster and faster, bending laser blasts into a field of tremendous gravity. The enemies can’t break free and begin to orbit the coralskipper until they come crashing together, at which point the coralskipper’s gravity well dissipates and they all go up in a tremendous flash of brilliant energy. In Dark Tide: Onslaught, the pilots in Rogue Squadron determine that the dovin basal functions much like a black hole. It also serves as a shield for the Yuuzhan Vong craft by containing proton torpedoes and the like. The pilots learn that boosting the sphere of the inertial compensator can prevent their shields from being taken down. Cycling low-power shots through the lasers also forces the coralskippers to expend a lot of energy creating the black-hole shields, thus degrading their maneuvering ability. Luke Skywalker and Jacen Solo discover coralskippers growing on Belkadan. A green leafy vine has carpeted the entire area, but has left circular openings of black sand at various points. In the center of these circles are infant coralskippers, all pointing needle-sharp noses toward the sky. The vines function like solar collectors, channeling energy and nutrients to the coralskippers. The sand is black because of a nectar the vines flood into it.
Lando captures a coralskipper after the initial attack on Dubrillion. From it, they learn that the pilot wears a mask that serves as a connection to the living ship. Luke enters the cockpit of the coralskipper and realizes that the mask is part of the larger organism. When he wears the mask, he hears a voice speaking in the Yuuzhan Vong tongue. (VP)
Skips do not perform well in gravity. Coralskippers attach themselves like barnacles to the spindly arms of Yuuzhan Vong carrier analogs. They are launched and recovered from these elongated and branchlike projections. At the Battle of Fondor, the Yuuzhan Vong resort to flinging the coralskippers themselves directly at their targets. (ACJE)
Coralskipper weapons do not set off torpedo-lock alarms. Flying at full power distracts the dovin basal as much as projecting full shields. (BP)
Cruiser Analog, Yuuzhan Vong:
A Yuuzhan Vong capital ship analogous to a cruiser. During the Battle of Duro, one of the ships, a multicolored hunk of coral, is used to ram an unshielded Duro orbital city. Three more cruiser-sized ships, with broad red and green arms capable of deploying coralships, are part of a battle group whose objective is to contain fleeing refugee ships. (BP)
Destroyer Analog, Yuuzhan Vong:
A Yuuzhan Vong capital ship capable of launching coralskippers that are attached on the outside of the ship. Two destroyer analogs participate in the space battle with Talon Karrde’s fleet at Yavin 4. One of the ships is destroyed after being rammed by the Idiot’s Array. The other is destroyed after the Errant Venture and its complement of X-wings arrives in the system. (EVC)
Escape Pod, Yuuzhan Vong:
Escape pod used by the Yuuzhan Vong. The Yuuzhan Vong escape pod is composed of black yorik coral and propelled by a dovin basal with rudimentary dovin basal retros and attitude control. The escape pod is no bigger than a landspeeder and is unarmed. It has a faceted but transparent canopy. Gauntlet Three from the Soothfast discovers the Yuuzhan Vong escape pod containing Elan and Vergere near Exodo II. (ACHT)
Gunship Analog, Yuuzhan Vong:
A midsized Yuuzhan Vong starship often used to escort Yuuzhan Vong cruiser analogs. Gunships are capable of spraying volleys of plasma. (BP)
Spawn Ship, Yuuzhan Vong:
A large Yuuzhan Vong cruiser. The spawn ship has the likeness of an enormous, faceted polyhedron, black as onyx. A spawn ship is sacrificed in order to place Elan and Vergere in the hands of the New Republic. [ACHT]
Spiral-Armed Worldship:
A Yuuzhan Vong bioengineered vessal. At Runaway Prince, Nas Choka is brought to the Yuuzhan Vong warship Yammka via a massive and sinister worldship that looks like a flattened lapidary orb of gloss black, from the dense center of which spiral half a dozen arms. (ACJE)
Transport Carrier, Yuuzhan Vong (Crates):
Vehicle used to transport Yuuzhan Vong warriors to the surface of Ithor. The Yuuzhan Vong transport carriers are bloated floaters sprouting hornlike projections that spit plasma bolts at incoming fighters. The New Republic refers to them as “crates.” (DTR)
Tsik Vai (Yuuzhan Vong Flier):
A Yuuzhan Vong atmospheric flier used on Yavin 4 in their search for Anakin Solo. Tsik
vai have gills on the side. (EVC)
Warship, Yuuzhan Vong:
A capital ship. The Yuuzhan Vong warship is about as long as an Imperial Star Destroyer, but is an ovoid shape and masses a great deal more. The ship’s flesh alternates between strips of smooth, glassy, black rock and rougher, craggier patches that house pits for weapons emplacements and dovin basals. Long, huge deep red and dark blue coral arms grow near the nose, along the spine, and at the aft of the ship. Coralskippers dot these arms like buds on a plant. Some of the larger unoccupied holes in the arms house plasma projectors. The plasma projector has a triskele valve at the tip, which opens for a second or two to eject the plasma, then closes again, sealing the firing tube. The warship’s dovin basals can create a unified gravity well to act as an interdiction field. (NJOG, DTO, DTR)
Worldship (Plural: Worldships):
A Yuuzhan Vong bioengineered vessel. The living worldship is made of a huge, ten-kilometer chunk of yorik coral and can carry more thanfive thousand warriors and supporting coralskippers. It is propelled by dovin basals. The trailing tendrils of a worldship are huge membranous creatures anchored at the end by dozens of piloted coralskippers. At times of weak-gravitational-pull fields, such as between galaxies, those membranes can be extended wide as cosmic sails, riding interstellar winds. These sails are also used to help the worldship land. The coralskippers invert the sail into a semicircle, with the worldship at its apex. The dovin basals release their grip on the planet’s gravity and focus instead on opposing fields, slowing the vessel. The worldships carry another gigantic creature, a brownish tubular worm that can be used as a lifeline and a communications line on icy worlds. It extends one end out from the worldship and down into the icy water. The creature is too warm for the ice to re-form around it. (VP, DTO, DTR, NJOG)
Some Yuuzhan Vong, like Nen Yim, have lived their entire lives aboard worldships like the Baanu Kor. Before their arrival in the known galaxy, there was much infighting between Yuuzhan Vong castes and domains and the worldships were dying. Indeed, the worldships are continuously dying, and some shaper domains are charged with the task of maintaining them. (EVC)
Yorik-Trema Landing Craft:
A Yuuzhan Vong landing craft thatis smaller than a cruiser but larger than a coralskipper. The yorik-trema landing craft looks like a flattened oval with ultrasensitive eyes moving constantly to track other craft like its coralskipper escorts. When he goes to the surface of Duro, Tsavong Lah stands behind his pilot in the small forward compartment of the lead lander. The ships have ablative, regenerative ventral surfaces. Landing claws reach the ground when the ships touch down on the surface. Molleung worms then extend from the ship’s sides to unload passengers. (BP)
Volcano (Plasma) Cannon:
Starfighter-scale weapons that approximate blaster cannons. Fired by coralskippers.
Named Ships:
• Baanu Kor: a Yuuzhan Vong worldship.
• Harla: a Yuuzhan Vong worldship.
• Legacy of Torment: a Yuuzhan Vong ship commanded by Shedao Shai. It is destroyed at Ithor. (The New Republic classifies the Torment as a grand cruiser.)
• Burning Pride: a Yuuzhan Vong vessel. Deign Lian battles New Republic forces at Garqi.
• Crèche: a Yuuzhan Vong yammosk-carrying clustership under the command of Chine-Kal. The ship is destroyed at Fondor.
• Yammka: a Yuuzhan Vong warship commanded by Supreme Commander Nas Choka.
• Sunulok: a Yuuzhan Vong war vessel that is part of the advance group arriving at Duro.
SPEECH:
• “bruk tukken nom canbin-tu”—to “weaken the hinges of the enemy’s fort.”
• “do-ro’ik vong pratte”—war cry of the Yuuzhan Vong.
• “Yuth ugh!”—“get back!”
• “Bos sos si” a question, pointing to lightsaber- (presumably saying, “What is this?”).
• “All glory to you, warrior”—the appropriate farewell to one gloriously killed in battle.
• Reference to others as “infidels.”
• “Belek tiu”—a sign of respect and/or apology and permission to continue. Accompanied by snapping the fists against opposite shoulders.
• “built-thing”—a building.
• “guvvuk”—a command for “go, get moving.”
• “klekket(s)”—a unit of time; about two months.
HISTORY:
Yo’Gand’s Core—Yo’Gand was a legendary general responsible for turning the tide in the Cremlevian War and thus uniting the various tribes. The tactic destroyed Ygziir, the home planet of the most powerful rival tribe.
Star Wars: New Jedi Order: Vector Prime by R.A. Salvatore
Star Wars: New Jedi Order: Dark Tide I: Onslaught by Michael Stackpole
Star Wars: New Jedi Order: Dark Tide II: Ruin by Michael Stackpole
Star Wars: New Jedi Order: Agents of Chaos I: Hero’s Trial by James Luceno
Star Wars: New Jedi Order: Agents of Chaos II: Jedi Eclipse by James Luceno
Star Wars: New Jedi Order: Balance Point by Kathy Tyers
Star Wars: New Jedi Order: Edge of Victory: Conquest by J. Gregory Keyes
Star Wars: New Jedi Order: Edge of Victory II: Rebirth by J. Gregory Keyes
Star Wars: New Jedi Order: Star By Star by Troy Denning
Star Wars: New Jedi Order: Dark Journey by Elaine Cunningham
Star Wars: New Jedi Order: Enemy Lines I: Rebel Dreams by Aaron Allston
Star Wars: New Jedi Order: Enemy Lines II: Rebel Stand by Aaron Allston
Star Wars: New Jedi Order: Traitor by Matthew Stover
Star Wars: New Jedi Order: Destiny’s Way by Walter Jon Williams
Star Wars: New Jedi Order: Force Heretic I: Remnant by Sean Williams
Star Wars: New Jedi Order: Force Heretic II: Refugee by Sean Williams
Star Wars: New Jedi Order: Force Heretic III: Refugee by Sean Williams
Star Wars: New Jedi Order: Final Prophecy by Greg Keyes
Star Wars: New Jedi Order: Unifying Force by James Luceno
Also by R. A. Salvatore
THE DEMON WARS
THE DEMON AWAKENS
THE DEMON SPIRIT
THE DEMON APOSTLE
In Vector Prime, based on a story line approved by George Lucas, New York Times bestselling author R. A. Salvatore takes the Star Wars universe to previously unscaled heights of action and imagination, expanding the beloved story of a galaxy far, far away . . .
Twenty-one years have passed since the heroes of the Rebel Alliance destroyed the Death Star, breaking the power of the Emperor. Since then, the New Republic has valiantly struggled to maintain peace and prosperity among the peoples of the galaxy. But unrest has begun to spread and threatens to destroy the Republic’s tenuous reign.
Into this volatile atmosphere comes Nom Anor, a charismatic firebrand who heats passions to the boiling point, sowing seeds of dissent for his own dark motives. And as the Jedi and the Republic focus on internal struggles, a new threat surfaces from beyond the farthest reaches of the Outer Rim—an enemy bearing weapons and technology unlike anything New Republic scientists have ever seen.
Suddenly, Luke Skywalker; his wife, Mara; Han Solo; Leia Organa Solo; and Chewbacca—along with the Solo children—are thrust again into battle, to defend the freedom so many have fought and died for. But this time, the power of the Force itself may not be enough . . .
A Del Rey® Book
Published by The Ballantine Publishing Group
Copyright © 1999 by Lucasfilm Ltd. & ™.
All Rights Reserved. Used Under Authorization.
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. Published in the United States by The Ballantine Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York, and simultaneously in Canada by Random House of Canada Limited, Toronto.
Del Rey is a registered trademark and the Del Rey colophon is a trademark of Random House, Inc.
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> www.randomhouse.com/delrey/
A copy of the Library of Congress Catalog Card Number is available upon request from the publisher.
e-ISBN 0-345-46740-X
Map design by Daniel Wallace
Map by Chris Barbieri
Star Wars: The Novels timeline design by Alexander Klapwald
v1.0
Vector Prime Page 43
