Boron

For other uses, see Boron.

"Thing was one of the Empire's new diamond-boron-armored jobs."

―Wedge Antilles, about the MS-15 diamond boron missile^[6]

Boron was a gas that could be found in the atmosphere of the barren and hot Expansion Region planet Acilaris. It could be used to manufacture power generators, such as those present on Verpine colony asteroids, and boron fission reactors, including ones used to power turbolaser emplacements. The Commerce Guild also produced carbonite-boron mid-gauge mining bits. Another use for boron was in the production of missiles, with diamond boron missiles such as the MS-15 diamond boron missile being designed for use against starfighters. Diamond boron armor plates rendered that specific model nearly impervious to laser cannons; however, the weapon's high cost prohibited its widespread use.

Description

Boron was a light gas that was present in trace quantities in the atmosphere of^[1] the barren rock^[7] planet Acilaris. Small and possessing a very high surface temperature, Acilaris occupied the closest orbit around^[1] the binary star Morasil and Termadus of the Cularin system^[7] in the Expansion Region's Thaere sector.^[8]

History

Mining bits and power generation

"Vespula, a 12-year old company, was in violation of several patent and copyright laws when it began unlicensed replication of carbonite-boron mid-gauge mining bits."

―HoloNet News report^[2]

Boron power generators were used on Verpine colony asteroids such as Research Station Shantipole.

The company Vespula Manufacturing & Exports, based in the Kalinda system^[2] of the Mid Rim's Vilonis sector,^[8] at one point began manufacturing unlicensed replicas of the Commerce Guild's carbonite-boron mid-gauge mining bits, thereby violating several patent and copyright laws. After three months of ignored warnings to cease the illegal activities, the Commerce Guild employed a team of bounty hunters that destroyed Vespula's manufacturing plants, with the termination of the unlicensed carbonite-boron mid-gauge mining bits subsequently being reported on in a news report of the HoloNet News' CoCo District Edition on the date 13:5:2.^[2]

By the time after the Battle of Yavin, boron was also used in the manufacture of power generators^[4] and fission reactors.^[5] Most asteroids of the Roche system's asteroid field^[4] in the Mid Rim's Roche sector^[9]—including Research Station Shantipole—that were colonized by the Verpine species utilized boron power generators.^[4] A boron fission reactor was used to power the Loronar Defense Industries Turbolaser System I turbolaser emplacement; however, it had a tendency to overheat.^[5]

Missiles

"And how about the boron missile specs we sent? I'm sure those have proven useful. The Imperials are certainly puzzled by its sudden ineffectiveness."

―Emala, to Leia Organa Solo^[10]

Sienar Fleet Systems (logo pictured) used boron in the manufacture of MS-15 diamond boron missiles.

Boron was also used in the manufacture of missiles.^[10] By 22 BBY,^[11] the Confederacy of Independent Systems was manufacturing experimental anti-starfighter diamond boron missiles at a factory on^[12] the Inner Rim^[13] planet Pengalan IV. When, during a mission to the facility, the Galactic Republic accountant Joram Kithe noticed a mention of a cargo of test missiles labeled as type AS-X-DB amid the Confederacy's data, he assumed that the designation "DB" stood for "Diamond Boron."^[12]

The design of the highly destructive Sienar Fleet Systems anti-starfighter MS-15 diamond boron missile,^[3] which was manufactured by 3.5 ABY,^[14] incorporated a diamond boron tip and diamond boron armor blast plates that rendered the missile nearly impervious to starship-mounted laser cannons. However, the weapon did not see widespread use due to being prohibitively costly.^[3]

Behind the scenes

The name "boron" was introduced to the Star Wars franchise via a mention of a boron power generator in Strike Force: Shantipole, a 1988 roleplaying adventure authored by Ken Rolston and Steve Gilbert and published by West End Games for use with Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game.^[4] Steve Perry's 1996 novel Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire subsequently provided the first identification of boron as a distinct material.^[6] When an expanded version of^[1] the section of Robert Wiese and Andy Collins' 2001 Living Force Campaign Guide of Wizards of the Coast's Star Wars Roleplaying Game focusing on the planet Acilaris^[7] was published on Wizards.com on April 9, 2003, it retroactively established^[1] that boron had also been indirectly mentioned in the original section as well.^[1]^[7]

A sample of real-world crystalline boron

In the real world, boron is a chemical element and metalloid, that, in its pure crystalline form, has a black luster and is hard but brittle. In nature, boron has low abundance and is predominantly found in the form of chemical compounds. Boron is used to increase hardness in steel, and it combines with various metals to form a class of compounds called borides, with some of the latter being among the hardest and the most heat-resistant of all known substances.^[15] Boron carbide and boron nitride are the hardest known materials after diamond, with boron carbide being used in the manufacture of military armor.^[16]