Jedi Vector

Jedi Vectors, which were light interceptor starfighters, were designed by Valkeri Enterprises specifically for the Jedi Order during the High Republic Era. These vessels were built to be agile, allowing them to respond quickly to the commands of their Force-sensitive pilots. The sleek, angular design incorporated sharp edges to minimize air resistance and maximize speed, ensuring precision. Vectors could be configured to accommodate either one or two occupants, enabling Jedi to fly solo or with their Padawans. While control was possible from either seat, the skill required to operate the ship often necessitated that a Jedi Master take the pilot's seat. As its name suggests, the Jedi Vector was exclusively designed for Jedi pilots. It shared design similarities with the Vanguard, a land vehicle also developed by Valkeri.

The design philosophy behind the Vectors was minimalist. Systems considered essential for non-Force-sensitive pilots, such as shielding and key computer components, were omitted. The ships were engineered to transmit every tactile sensation directly to the Jedi pilot. This heightened responsiveness enabled pilots to execute complex maneuvers but demanded a high degree of focus. The cockpit bubble, constructed from transparisteel, could be smoothly retracted into the Vector's hull or jettisoned entirely, providing a rapid escape option. Some of the starfighter's functions could be operated remotely via the Force in emergencies, and exceptionally skilled Jedi could even pilot a Vector using the Force alone.

Despite the Vector's slender build, its firepower was considerable. The starship was equipped with two laser cannons that could only be activated by inserting a lightsaber into a panel in the cockpit, which then secured the weapon with a small force field. This design served as both a security measure and a means of ensuring that the weapons were only fired after careful consideration, reflecting the Jedi's philosophy of only taking life as a last resort. Reinforcing this belief, a toggle on the Vector's control sticks allowed pilots to select non-lethal or stun blasts. When the weapons systems were activated, the ship's interior would illuminate in the color corresponding to the activating lightsaber's blade. Furthermore, control of another starship's weapons could be transferred to a Vector, enabling a Jedi to temporarily assume control of an ally's weaponry for precise combat engagements.

Although the starfighter lacked many systems found in other vessels, it was not entirely devoid of additional features. In addition to weapons, the Vector included a droid designed to recover a pilot in the event of cockpit destabilization. The ship also possessed a comm unit capable of translating certain languages into Galactic Basic Standard, as well as a small tractor beam. If a Jedi chose to exit the vessel mid-flight, the ship could be set to autopilot.

Vectors, being Jedi starships, were deployed on missions undertaken by members of the Jedi Order. Given the Order's long-standing alliance with the Galactic Republic, they also participated in joint operations with Republic personnel. As the exclusive pilots of the Vectors, the Jedi developed specialized techniques with the craft that would have been unattainable for ordinary pilots or droids. While some Jedi lacked finesse with their ships, the most skilled pilots could maneuver the vessel with such dexterity that it seemed to become one with the wind.

The full potential of a Vector was determined by the Jedi pilot's connection to the Force. Through this mystical energy field, pilots could coordinate incredibly swift maneuvers that would have been fatal for other beings. One such maneuver was the Drift of Vectors, where multiple pilots wove their fighters into sharp formations, resembling flocks of birds or falling leaves.

In addition to being formidable combat fighters, Jedi Vectors could also serve as escort craft for larger vessels, guiding them through dangerous territories. In defensive situations, Vectors could be used to blockade planetary bodies, preventing hostile ships from leaving a star system.

Jedi Vectors were in operation six years before the launch of the Starlight Beacon in 232 BBY. Around 238 BBY, Jedi Master Sskeer and his Padawan, Keeve Trennis, traveled to Kirima in a Vector for her Jedi training. The Master and Padawan team of Loden Greatstorm and Bell Zettifar consistently flew the same two-seated Vector on their missions. On one such occasion, they piloted the vessel through an ion storm, which left starbursts-like scoring along its wings. Following this incident, Zettifar secretly began calling the vessel the "Nova", a name his master overheard him using while playing with Ember, a charhound the boy had grown fond of on Elphrona.

Zettifar once attended an exhibition on Coruscant, the galactic capital, featuring three hundred Jedi Vectors. The fleet performed a Drift, weaving through the air above Senate Plaza as part of the Jedi Temple's outreach programs. Zettifar remembered the display as the most beautiful sight he had ever witnessed.

In 232 BBY, Jedi Younglings are tested to use a Jedi Vector around a planet and an Asteroid field. But ends up getting a few swallowed by a Space Slug and later returns to the Jedi Temple for a future class the next day.

Shortly after a conclave hosted at the Starlight Beacon to celebrate its upcoming launch, the Great Hyperspace Disaster occurred. During this event, the Class A modular freight transport Legacy Run was torn apart in hyperspace. Debris from the incident exited hyperspace at extreme velocities, hurtling towards the Hetzal system and threatening a cataclysmic impact. The Jedi and Republic immediately initiated a rescue operation from the nearby Beacon, deploying a total of fifty-three Jedi Vectors, including the Nova, carried aboard the Republic Defense Coalition Emissary-class Republic Cruiser Third Horizon. Upon arrival in the star system, the Vectors and numerous Republic Longbeam cruisers were launched from the cruiser to provide assistance.

Greatstorm and Zettifar piloted the Nova to Hetzal Prime, searching for areas of distress on the planet. Using the Force, Zettifar sensed troubling energy and guided his Master and the Vector to a compound where a growing mob was desperately attempting to breach armed guards to reach a starship. Circling one hundred meters above the crowd and unable to land, the Twi'lek Master left his Padawan in the Nova and leapt out to address the situation, utilizing controlled descent to reach the ground. Zettifar followed shortly after, leaving the Vector to fly itself in gentle circles.

Above the Fruited Moon of Hetzal, Jedi Knights Te'Ami, Mikkel Sutmani, and Nib Assek manned three Vectors and were tasked with destroying a hyperspace anomaly heading for the moon's primary landmass. They received assistance from volunteers Joss and Pikka Adren, who relinquished control of the weapons on their Longbeam, Aurora III, to Jedi Te'Ami. As the small squadron prepared to fire, Assek's copilot, the Wookiee Padawan Burryaga Agaburry, alerted his companions to a troubling discovery: he had sensed living beings within the anomaly through the Force. Considering this new information, the Adrens quickly formulated a new plan: the Jedi would use the Force to decelerate the object while the Longbeam used its magclamps to halt its acceleration. Despite significant challenges, the group successfully executed the improvised plan and shared it with other rescue teams.

Throughout the system, numerous other Jedi worked to save lives, connected through Avar Kriss' Song of the Force. Kriss could sense Vectors destroying incoming fragments near one of the system's gas giants, as well as her friend Elzar Mann, a lone-wolf Jedi Knight, who flew a single-seat Vector near the Hetzal system's trinary star. Through this network, Kriss also learned of Agaburry's discovery and informed RDC Admiral Pevel Kronara that more Vectors and Longbeams were needed to perform the rescue maneuvers devised by the Adrens. As time passed, the Disaster became more manageable, and more Jedi arrived aboard Vectors from across the galaxy to assist, including Masters Jora Malli and Sskeer, who executed precise maneuvers to destroy a fragment before it could impact a civilian transport.

However, the Disaster was not yet averted. A lieutenant aboard the Third Horizon discovered that a container of liquid Tibanna was rapidly approaching the system's R-class star. A collision would trigger a chain reaction that would obliterate the entire system. Kriss used all her power to reach out to every Jedi, urging them to unite and use the Force to divert the object. Despite acknowledging a high probability of failure, every Vector pilot remained in the system, determined to try. The effort proved overwhelming for some; many pilots lost control of their vessels, and five Vectors collided mid-Drift after focusing too intently on the container, resulting in three fatalities. Nevertheless, the collective power of the Jedi managed to push the Tibanna just clear of the star's path, saving the Hetzal system.

Following the Hetzal incident, more pieces of the Legacy Run exited hyperspace across the galaxy in a series of events known as Emergences. Unbeknownst to the Jedi or Republic, Marchion Ro, the Eye of the Nihil pirate organization, orchestrated these disasters. Ro and the Nihil sowed chaos across the Outer Rim Territories during this period, which the Jedi Order responded to, in part, with their Vector starfighters. During an Emergence in the Trymant system, Ro led an attack on Trymant IV, abducting citizens of Bralanak City aboard his Spider Cruiser. As the Nihil fled the system, they encountered a blockade formed by a Republic rescue fleet consisting of several Vectors and a medical frigate. Instead of engaging the approaching fighters, Ro ordered his pilot, Zagyar, to target the hospital ship. On Ro's command, the Spider Cruiser unleashed a devastating blast on the frigate, destroying at least one Vector in the process. The Jedi pilots were forced to focus on the burning vessel, allowing the Nihil to escape.

Republic scientist Keven Tarr developed a method for predicting new Emergences, enabling them to anticipate when and where to execute the Vector-Longbeam rescue technique developed at Hetzal, which was practiced extensively during the Emergences. The original creators of the maneuver, the Adrens, along with Jedi Te'Ami and Sutmani, used their skills to rescue survivors of the Legacy Run during the 39th Emergence with relative ease. However, trouble arose at the 40th Emergence, when Nihil forces led by Lourna Dee attacked hyperspace wreckage containing the Legacy Run's flight recorder, which could have implicated the Nihil in the Disaster. Missiles and blasterfire were exchanged, and while the Republic and Jedi forces successfully defended the recorder, they suffered casualties, including Master Te'Ami in her Vector.

At the Jedi outpost on Elphrona, Jedi Indeera Stokes planned to take a Vector to the southern hemisphere to observe a newly discovered vein of essurtanium. Greatstorm, also stationed at the outpost, insisted that she take Zettifar with her, so that he may continue to learn controlled descent from the seat of the starfighter. Their plans were disrupted when they were alerted to an ongoing crisis: Nihil raiders had kidnapped the Blythes, a local family of farmers. After losing their Vanguard while pursuing the criminals, Stokes returned to the outpost and manned a Vector, using the Force to remotely pilot a second vessel, the Nova. She caught up to the chase and initiated a two-craft Drift while firing upon a Nihil Cloudship. Stokes' mastery of concentration greatly impressed Zettifar, who watched from the surface. She landed the Vectors so that Greatstorm and Zettifar could board the Nova, ready for flight.

The Jedi pursued the damaged Cloudship, which could not jump to hyperspace due to complications with Elphrona's unique gravity well. Realizing that the Vectors would tear her ship apart in direct combat, the ship's Cloud, Ultident Margrona, chose to exploit the Jedi's morality and ordered for the youngest Blythe daughter, Bailen, to be thrown from the ship. With little discussion, Bell Zettifar leapt from the Nova, catching the child in mid-air and finally accomplishing a smooth, controlled landing with the Force. Stokes and Greatstorm, meanwhile, continued to chase the Nihil into space. In order to slow the marauders down, Greatstorm performed a near-impossible maneuver that placed him in front of the Cloudship, flying backwards and out of range of its laser cannons. Looking Margrona dead on, Greatstorm persuaded her with a mind touch to open the vessel's air lock. Stokes took advantage of the situation, leaping into the vacuum from her Vector and boarding the ship.

At that moment, the entirety of Lourna Dee's Tempest emerged from hyperspace, vastly outnumbering the two Jedi. Greatstorm pulled his Vector away from the Cloudship and attempted as best he could to weave through the cascade of blasterfire from the Nihil fleet. Only able to take one additional passenger aboard her starfighter, Stokes rescued the young Ronn Blythe from the battle, leaving his father, Ottoh, to be saved by Greatstorm. Piloting the ship with his hands and firing its weapons with the Force, the Twi'lek Jedi covered Stokes' escape, destroying many of the marauders' ships. Singlehandedly, Greatstorm and his Nova managed to fend off a majority of the Nihil armada, save for Dee's flagship, the shields of which could not be pierced by the Vector. Turning back to the Cloudship, Greatstorm leapt from his craft and flew into the damaged vessel, breaking his leg in the process. Her enemy subdued, Dee destroyed the Nova and boarded the Cloudship, capturing Greatstorm and Blythe.

Meanwhile, Dee's fellow Tempest Runner, Kassav Milliko, had been sent to the Kur Nebula by Ro, where he had been instructed to intercept a Republic ship carrying the damaged flight recorder. In reality, Ro had sent the Weequay and his Tempest unprepared into an engagement with RDC and Jedi forces, which included the Ataraxia, a Jedi cruiser with a full complement of Vector starfighters. The ship was commanded by Master Jora Malli, who elected to personally lead the Jedi fighters against the Nihil fleet should their presence be required. However, the Republic task force was well-equipped to handle the unorganized Nihil in the battle that ensued, quickly overwhelming their initial defenses. Milliko realized that he could not withstand a fair engagement against the Defense Coalition, let alone the Jedi and their Vectors, and ordered his forces to engage in aggressive, unorthodox tactics. Recognizing that his pilots were untrained for such combat, the Republic commander, Admiral Kronara, called upon Malli and her Jedi for assistance.

The Jedi of the Ataraxia, many of whom had saved lives during the Great Disaster, boarded their Vectors, connected through the Force by Master Avar Kriss. Malli led her squadron in a Drift, approaching the Nihil forces engaged in combat with the RDC. Before they could reach the main battle, Marchion Ro unleashed a secret tactic he called the Battle Paths; using experimental hyperdrives, the Nihil ships entered and exited hyperspace over incredibly short distances in every direction, appearing in the path of the Republic craft. One vessel dropped from hyperspace directly into the Jedi Drift, instantly killing a large number of pilots, including Master Malli herself. A piece of debris struck the vessel of Malli's partner, Sskeer, severing his arm and sending him unconscious into the vacuum of space. However, a droid installed into his Vector managed to save the Trandoshan Jedi.

The collision with the Nihil ship threw the Drift into disarray, forcing the Vectors to separate and fight independently. Jedi Knight Elzar Mann weaved through the chaos, destroying Nihil vessels as they exited hyperspace. Ro changed tactics again, now purposefully targeting Republic ships, even at the expense of his own people. Kronara recalled the pilots of his Z-28 Skywings, leaving the more maneuverable Vectors to defend against the dwindling number of enemy vessels. As the last of the Nihil died, the battle concluded, leaving the nebula a graveyard of Vectors, Longbeams, and other craft. Marchion Ro later showed holograms of the Battle of Kur to his followers, framing the Tempest's suicide tactics against the Vectors as a noble sacrifice for the Nihil.

After the conflict at Kur, Sskeer, accompanied by his Padawan Keeve Trennis, journeyed to Shuraden utilizing a Vector. This voyage marked the commencement of her Jedi Trials, the culminating assessment for Jedi Knighthood. The arrival of ridadi, colossal star-locusts whose usual migration was disrupted by signals from the Starlight Beacon, prematurely ended her trial. Trennis departed from her master and trial, choosing to board their Vector and confront the insects, aiming to prevent the destruction of a city belonging to the Ximpi. By connecting with the ridadi through the Force, Trennis discerned the reason behind their assault and modified her Vector to emulate the Starlight's signal.

The star-locusts then commenced a pursuit, chasing the Vector across Shuraden's terrain. While leading the insects away, Trennis established communication with Jedi Master Estala Maru, who was stationed aboard the Beacon, and apprised him of the unfolding situation. The Kessurian Jedi swiftly adjusted the space station's broadcasts to a different frequency. With the threat neutralized, Trennis directed the Vector into the atmosphere before ejecting herself. Despite concerns from the diminutive Ximpi Kanrii that her Jedi companions would be upset by the loss of the craft, Trennis reassured the alien, stating that Vectors were easily replaceable. However, upon learning of the ship's fate, Sskeer dismissed his apprentice's explanation and immediately requested a replacement vessel.

At the opening of the Valo Republic Fair, multiple Jedi pilots executed an aerial display with Vectors, flying alongside Republic Defense Coalition Longbeams. Among these Jedi were Zettifar, Stokes, Assek, and Agaburry. Following the ceremony, Vectors were put on display across the fairgrounds for attendees to view. When the Nihil initiated their attack on the fair, numerous Jedi ascended into the sky aboard their Vectors to engage the incoming Nihil ships. When the Nihil caused one of the fair's floating islands to plummet, Stokes, Assek, Agaburry, Sutmani, and Jedi Master Porter Engle employed the Force to rescue a group of fairgoers who had fallen, gently placing them onto their Vectors in mid-air. Regrettably, the fairgoer who boarded Sutmani's Vector was a Nihil operative. This Nihil member was determined to assassinate Sutmani, even at the cost of their own life. Using a power gauntlet, the Nihil member shattered Sutmani's Vector, compromising the hull and disabling its controls. The Vector, along with the Nihil marauder and Sutmani, plunged downwards, crashing into a fairground cafe and resulting in the deaths of the Nihil member and Sutmani, as well as injuries to numerous fairgoers. After the Jedi secured the remaining fairgoers on their Vectors, Stokes, Assek, and Agaburry attempted to intercept Tempest Runner Pan Eyta's Cloudship utilizing their Vectors. However, Eyta fled the Valo system upon the arrival of the Royal Togruta Fleet.

Following the assault on the Valo Republic Fair, Jedi Master Stellan Gios orchestrated a trap to both draw in the Nihil and ascertain the location of their base. With assistance from GoNet reporter Rhil Dairo and Senator Tia Toon, Gios successfully lured Eyta and his forces into an ambush above Cyclor. Numerous Vectors and Longbeams engaged Eyta's forces, decimating the fleet. However, unbeknownst to them, Eyta had escaped via an escape pod during the conflict. During the skirmish, Gios received information from Mann confirming the location of the Nihil base on Grizal. Gios assembled his fellow Jedi and their Vectors, then proceeded to the planet to engage in battle with the Nihil forces on both land and air. During the battle, Mann's Vector was shot down, resulting in a crash landing that severely injured him. Despite Mann's survival, his Vector was destroyed.

By 41 BBY, the use of Vectors had diminished considerably. Jedi Temple mechanic Meba Fonox was repairing an old Vector when Padawan Obi-Wan Kenobi, awaiting the arrival of his Master, Qui-Gon Jinn, at the Temple hangar, approached her to inquire if former Jedi Master Count Dooku's starship had departed from the Temple.

The Jedi Vector was conceived for the Star Wars: The High Republic project, a large storytelling effort intended to explore the Jedi Order centuries preceding the events of Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace. The ship made its debut in the initial High Republic releases, simultaneously appearing in the novel Light of the Jedi by Charles Soule and the young readers book The Great Jedi Rescue by Cavan Scott on January 5, 2021. The Vector was initially revealed to the public prior to the initiative's launch on December 11, 2020 in a StarWars.com article, providing an overview of some of the ships and vehicles set to be introduced in the forthcoming project.

According to Pablo Hidalgo from the Lucasfilm Story Group, the creative team behind The High Republic adhered to a specific design principle when crafting the world for their new narratives. Given that the era was set hundreds of years before the corruption depicted in the prequel trilogy, the technology of the High Republic needed to embody an idealized interpretation of what was presented in those films. To that end, the Lucasfilm art department examined thousands of pieces of unused concept art from various Star Wars productions in order to identify suitable designs that aligned with their objectives. Ultimately, a piece of art initially created by Warren Fu for the 2005 film Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith was selected to represent the Jedi Vector. George Lucas had approved the design for use in the film, but it was ultimately omitted.

Originally intended as a clone starfighter for Episode III, Fu's concept was chosen for its sleek design, which StarWars.com senior editor Dan Brooks described as "almost mosquito-like, an angular and elegant design befitting this gilded age." Phil Szostak, the creative art director of Lucasfilm, considers the ship a favorite of his designs for the project, expressing his delight at seeing Fu's creation find a place in Star Wars canon. Fu himself was also pleased to see the design integrated into canon. While the original art for the fighter displayed the crest of the Galactic Republic, as featured in the prequels, on its wings, the crest was replaced with the symbol of the Jedi Order for its appearances as the Jedi Vector in Marvel Comics' High Republic series.