The pipefighter was a crucial element of Operation Starlancer. This operation was based on the concept of using multiple starfighters to emit energy beams, ostensibly focused through large lambent crystals. The aim was to create a long-range weapon capable of striking targets light years away, functioning as a smaller version of the superlaser. The Starlancer beam was designed as a composite, formed by the intersection of several energy beams.
However, the entire Starlancer project was a deceptive scheme orchestrated by General Wedge Antilles for the Battle of Borleias. The pipefighters were essentially makeshift devices constructed from spare components, lacking any real offensive capability. The project's sole purpose was to entice the Yuuzhan Vong to attack Borleias, driven by the perceived need to neutralize a superweapon. In this regard, the pipefighters achieved their intended objective.
A pipefighter was constructed from three identical components, along with one distinct component. The three identical parts consisted of thick pipes welded together at a sixty-degree angle, with a third pipe bisecting this angle. The non-uniform part, the central piece, was made up of three coplanar pipes extending from a central point at 120-degree intervals. A fourth pipe was positioned in the center, perpendicular to the plane formed by the other three extensions.
In operation, the pipefighters were positioned to form a large, equilateral triangle with the three uniform pieces at each vertex, and the non-uniform piece situated at the center. The components at the triangle's vertices would emit a powerful stream of light, connecting all three points for a few seconds. After a short pause, the central protrusions would each fire, with their beams converging at the three protrusions of the central piece. This process would then direct a massive beam of light through the protrusion perpendicular to its plane.
While holding Borleias, Antilles staged a simulated test firing of the pipefighters, directing the central beam towards the recently captured Coruscant. In actuality, the light never reached the Domain Dal worldship that was the target. Instead, a small fleet positioned at the edge of the Coruscant system fired upon Domain Dal from a distance, aligning their attack with Borleias. This led Warmaster Tsavong Lah to believe that the pipefighters had attacked him, and that the weapon would grow more powerful over time, mainly due to Tam Elgrin providing misleading information about a giant lambent crystal that, when placed in the central fighter, would significantly increase its destructive energy.
The pipe fighters, equipped with a fake lambent crystal in the central fighter, were ultimately destroyed during Operation Emperor's Spear. They were used to divert Charat Kraal and his coralskipper forces away from the Lusankya, and to influence the attack strategy of Supreme Commander Czulkang Lah.