Slave transports, often referred to as slaveships, were the spacecraft utilized by the Yuuzhan Vong for the purpose of abducting and transporting living captives from conquered planets. Examples of slaveships include the Maledoth and the Tsam P'ah.
Their design did not prioritize combat effectiveness; instead, they typically operated in regions of space already under the control of the Yuuzhan Vong. Alternatively, they were dispatched to gather slaves from a targeted world after combat vessels had neutralized the defending forces.
Similar to the majority of the Yuuzhan Vong's starfaring vessels, slaveships possessed resilient yorik coral hulls, and their dovin basals were capable of generating protective shield voids. Nevertheless, they lacked offensive weaponry and generally traveled with escorts, typically consisting of a flight of four coralskipper per transport. However, the two slaveships stationed at N'zoth were defended by two entire squadrons of coralskippers and a blastboat analog.
The absence of weapon emplacements was not the sole indicator of these transports' limited capabilities compared to front-line combat warships. As with all Yuuzhan Vong vessels, their dovin basals induced numbness in small areas of their living hulls. However, reflecting their role as support ships, it was not deemed necessary to equip slaveships with the specialized nerve biots used to monitor these areas on true warships. Consequently, a boarding party could exploit this vulnerability and infiltrate the hull undetected at these points.
Internally, the majority of the usable space was allocated to prison holds, where captives were secured using blorash jelly. Only a small guard detail and flight crew were present. Like many Yuuzhan Vong capital ships, they could be operated relatively easily by a single pilot.
During the Yuuzhan Vong War, at least two distinct types of slaveships were deployed. The first type, which was already in service during the temporary truce with the New Republic that concluded at the Battle of Yag'Dhul, had an approximate lozenge shape and measured around 500 meters in length.
It could accommodate over two hundred slaves and featured docking ports for four escorting coralskippers, with a fifth held in reserve. The crew size was minimal, typically consisting of just two flight crew members and a few squads of warriors to maintain control over the slaves.
One of the earliest documented uses of slaveships occurred during the Yuuzhan Vong invasion of Artorias, where a significant number of Artorian prisoners, including Kaye and Nina Galfridian of the Artorian royal family, were captured and confined within the slaveships.
Subsequently, after the Battle of Ebaq, a new type of slaveship was encountered: a massive, balloon-shaped sphere with five enormous tentacles extending from its rear. These tentacles would draw prisoners from the surface of a planet and transport them to the slave holds.
These more recent slaveships were utilized at Barab I, N'zoth, Galantos, and during the invasion of the Imperial Remnant. They were designed to systematically remove entire planetary populations, with an estimated capacity of hundreds of thousands, according to Captain Todra Mayn, so that they could undergo shaping into armies of enslaved warriors for the Yuuzhan Vong.