The Quadex power core was a model of hypermatter annihilation power core manufactured by Quadex for the Corellian Engineering Corporation to be installed into YT-1300 light freighters. As the freighters' most critical component, it was housed in the central hub, the most well-protected and armored area of the starship. It was directly connected to the SSP05 hyperdrive as well as a progressive combustion reaction power converter which in turn powered the SRB42 sublight engines.
The power core was a gray spherical unit with a number of auxiliary power ports on its surface. It was attached via a pressurized connector to a condenser unit, with a thermal regulator wrapped around both devices and delivering excess heat to an adjacent heat exchanger.
The YT-1300 freighter Millennium Falcon had a Quadex power core as part of its standard CEC-issued equipment. The core was modified by one of its many owners even before it came to the possession of smuggler Lando Clarissian. Years after Calrissian came into possession of the vessel, he lost it to fellow smuggler Han Solo who in turn made a number of custom modifications of his own including a direct connection between the core and the ship's AG-2G quad laser cannons. This allowed the weapons to draw more power directly from the reactor, increasing their destructive capacity.
While it was owned by the junk dealer Unkar Plutt on the planet Jakku, the Falcon was severely neglected, resulting in its systems becoming heavily damaged. Around thirty years after the Battle of Endor, the Falcon was stolen from Plutt by the scavenger Rey, the former stormtrooper Finn and the astromech droid BB-8, who used it to escape from the First Order. Plutt's poor maintenance of the starship's hyperdrive meant that the take off led to a flux in the motivator, which bled back into the power core, causing a surge that sent a faulty signal to the fuel distributor, leading to the distributor's propulsion tanks and the ship's auxiliary systems to flood with fuel. This caused systems to overheat and a junction to rupture, allowing the fuel to fill the ship in a gaseous state. Rey was able to fix the issues causing the leak, but then reversed the fix in order to create a trap when the Falcon was captured by the smugglers Han Solo and Chewbacca, two of its former owners. Once the smugglers and the trio onboard the ship began working together, Rey repaired the issue again so Solo could take control of the ship.
Quadex power cores were first mentioned in the Star Wars Legends reference book Star Wars: Incredible Cross-Sections, which was written by David West Reynolds and released in 1998. The core was confirmed to be canon when it was mentioned in the film Star Wars: Episode VII The Force Awakens in 2015. The core was then pictured in, which was illustrated by Kemp Remillard and released in conjunction with the film.
- Star Wars: The Force Awakens: Incredible Cross-Sections
- YT-1300 Millennium Falcon Owners' Workshop Manual
- Star Wars: Millennium Falcon: A 3D Owner's Guide