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- "During the civil war, the Imperials just chased us into asteroid fields. Now the enemy shoots the asteroids at us. And they're on fire."
- ―Han Solo
The Yaret-Kor, more commonly known as a plasma cannon, volcano cannon or lava cannon, was the primary intership weapon of the Yuuzhan Vong fleet. As with all other Yuuzhan Vong bio-technology, the Yaret-Kor was an organic creation.
Function
The Yaret-Kor operated on a basic principle wherein the cannon took in stone or other massive materials, and then heated the materials up and expelled them towards an opposing ship as a flaming projectile. The size of both cannon and projectile was dependent upon the type of vessel it was linked to. Yorik-et starfighters, for example, were armed with a single plasma cannon that released small, flaming rocks. Larger vessels, such as miid ro'ik warships, had an arsenal of multiple cannons, able to launch larger projectiles in steady streams. Koros-Strohna worldships carried hundreds of cannons of varying sizes, though these weapons had a slow rate of fire and were not grown for anti-starfighter defense.
The Yaret-Kor's plasma projectiles were powerful enough to melt through the hull of a New Republic starfighter, and collisions could easily knock fighters off their flight paths or stun enemy pilots. These weapons were difficult to counter, even with the advantage of deflector shields; the best counter was point defense. Since Yaret-Kor cannons were grown into Yorik-et vessels, it was often difficult to distinguish between ship and cannon, with no easy way to determine the size of the weapon.
As an organic weapon, the Yaret-Kor held many other advantages over conventional, laser-based weapons. Yaret-kor could heal over time, and did not require a power source. They refueled by consuming various materials, thus negating the need to return to specially-designated areas to restock. Additionally, the plasma cannons fitted to yorik-et coralskippers also served as a means of propulsion, in conjunction with the vessel's dovin basal. The opposing force created when the Yaret-Kor fired actually propelled the starfighter through space.
Appearances
- Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (Mentioned only)
- The New Jedi Order: Vector Prime (First appearance)
- The New Jedi Order: Dark Tide I: Onslaught (As plasma cannon)
- The New Jedi Order: Dark Tide II: Ruin (As plasma cannon)
- The New Jedi Order: Star by Star (As volcano cannon)
- The New Jedi Order: Enemy Lines I: Rebel Dream (As plasma cannon)
- The New Jedi Order: Enemy Lines II: Rebel Stand (As plasma cannon)
- Destiny's Way (As plasma cannon)
- The New Jedi Order: Ylesia (As plasma cannon)
- The Final Prophecy (As plasma cannon)
- The Unifying Force
- Dark Nest I: The Joiner King (Mentioned only) (As plasma cannon)
Coralskippers fire their plasma cannons.