Header Truth OR Myth? Beta Canon - The Loknar Class

Truth OR Myth? Beta Canon – The Loknar Class

Hello and welcome to another episode of Truth OR Myth Beta Canon,  a Star Trek web series that dives into the history of any given topic using Beta Canon sources and my own imagination to fill in the gaps.  In today’s episode, we’re taking a look at the Loknar Class of Starfleet Starships, as first seen in the FASA Role Playing Games, to better understand its place in Star Trek History.

A test by Starfleet Command and the United Federation of Planets, the Loknar Class would end up representing a divide in Species, rather than the idea of one big happy galactic family.  But what do we know about this experimental class?  Well today, we’ll find out…

As always, Because this IS a Beta Canon video, all information relaid should pretty much be taken with a grain of stardust, and only considered a little bit of Star Trek Fun!  And so, with all that out of the way, let us begin.

The Loknar Class Front View
(CBS) The Loknar Class Front View

The United Federation Of Planets was a grand idea, but the smoothly operating and diverse organization, would take a lot of dedication and work to become a reality. At its conception in 2161, there were 4 major species involved.  Humans, Vulcans, Andorians and Tellarites.

In an effort to foster inter-relations between these founding member worlds, All 4 species agreed to a sharing of technology and information, as well as the re-organization of Starfleet into a combined species fleet.

Though on paper, these ideas not only made sense but appeared as grand, forward-thinking values, that the New federation Public ate up like coloured fruit cubes, the reality of the situation though was more of a headache than anything else.

The combining of such different technologies into a starship design that worked in both form and function would be a decades-long problem for Starfleet Command, but the bigger issue would quickly become how to crew any Starfleet Vessels.

You see, at this point in Federation history, the member worlds still wanted to keep the bulk of their own fleets along with their own traditions, meaning alien officers were few and far between.

Also, some of the member worlds, including some of the newer joining members such as the Rigelions, would see Starfleet Starships as very human-centric, a situation which would not foster many different species to join Starfleet.

Constitution
(CBS) Constitution Class Starship

Even over 80 years later, with the launch of the Constitution Class, there would still be these specist views about Federation Vessels. In 2245, the USS Constitution and shortly thereafter, the USS Enterprise would be launched to much fanfare, quickly making the Constitution Class the Jewel of Starfleet’s Crown.

But even as the Federation’s Public were marvelling over the new design, a battle was brewing within the Federation Council. Both the Vulcan’s and the Andorians were impressed with the new design but were equally as unimpressed by the fact that the design itself was once again a very human-centric one.

The Federation President had been pushing for more integrated crews on Starfleet Starships for almost a decade and coupled with this new design, these 2 member species demanded starship designs that would be modified for their own species use.

Going back and forth in council debates, eventually, the Federation Council would agree to 2 test projects to keep its members happy.

The Constitution Class starship USS Intrepid, which was scheduled to begin construction in less than a month, would be modified to Vulcan Specifications, and crewed by an entirely Vulcan Crew… But to solve the Andorian’s Issue, a much more clever approach would be needed.

The Andorian Species, which had a proud and honourable tradition of protecting its own star system using what was known as the Andorian Imperial Guard, wanted to expand this tradition to include the protection of the Federation, and when offered their own Constitution Class vessel, modified in the same vein as the USS Intrepid was to be for the Vulcans, the Andorians straight out refused.

The Loknar Class Dorsal View
(CBS) The Loknar Class Dorsal View

They realized that the Constitution Class as a whole was designed for Exploration Duties, with the construction of the class being a far more complex and time-consuming process than they had really wished for. What they wanted, was their own new Class of Starship, smaller than the Constitution Class, though in the same style, but also completely designed for defence, as had been most of their own starship designs.

So the Federation Council would agree to a joint venture between Starfleet and Andoria, to create an entirely new Class of Starfleet Starship for them to oversee, and thus the Loknar Class was born.

Sitting at a length of 290 meters and a width of 127.1 meters, the Loknar Class would be designed to be operated by a crew of 88 Officers and crew members. and it was 11 decks tall and was also a homage to the NX Class as directed by the Andorian Starship Design Team.

The Loknar Class would have a safe cruising speed of warp factor 6, and a maximum speed of warp factor 9, having its engine systems heavily modified to allow for this faster speed.

Another starship design being constructed at the time was that of the Saladin Class Destroyer.  Again the Andorians had turned this design down as well, as they didn’t see it as being strong enough to be worthy of their time.

However, the Loknar Class would be designed to complement that class and work in concert with the Saladin class.

(CBS) The Saladin Class
(CBS) The Saladin Class

The Loknar Class would be armed with 7, dual Phaser emitter banks, as well as 4 Photon Torpedo Launchers, 2 forward and 2 aft. Shielding for this class would also be improved over the Constitution Class, using many new Andorian Shield Technology breakthroughs that Starfleet had yet to incorporate.

Environmental Systems would also be designed for an Andorian crew.  Allowing the starships mean temperature to be adjusted per room, allowing for certain areas to be sub-zero temperatures as a standard.

Specially designed component insulators would be installed into various starship systems to prevent malfunction, due to component freezing. There was even a recreation facility that could be programmed for various degrees of snowfall.

The class had 1 aft Shuttle bay that would be responsible for the starships auxiliary space crafts. Along with a standard complement of Starfleet Shuttlecraft, this starship design would also be equipped with several fighter vessels, for various mission functions.

The USS Loknar would complete its construction in 2252 at specially designed shipyards in the Andorian Star System.

 (CBS) The Loknar Class Ventral View
(CBS) The Loknar Class Ventral View

Its shakedown cruise went well, with the class performing above Starfleet’s Expectations.  However, upon its return to the Andorian Shipyards for final system adjustments, something very unexpected happened, the Captain of the USS Loknar, received a transfer request for the unoccupied position of 2nd and weapons officer for the starship, the request was from a human male, Lieutenant Commander Ashton Archer.

Ashton Archer was a direct descendant of the Jonathan Archer bloodline, a bloodline that the Andorians respected greatly.

Also although the starship was designed and intended for Andorians only, the Imperial Guard along with the Captain of the ship, felt they had no choice but to accept the transfer, and Ashton Archer would become the first human to serve on board and Andorian Starship, eventually rising in rank and becoming Captain of the Loknar himself.

Over the following almost 2 decades, the Loknar class would be charged with the border protection forces through out the Federation.  And would maintain the security of Federation Space with both dignity and honour.

But by the launch of the Refit Constitution Class USS Enterprise, the experiment in segregated crews had been deemed a failure.  And although many of the Loknar Class starships remained with the bulk of their crews being Andorians, by the early 2270’s many of these ships contained a bigger mix of alien species.

The Loknar Class would even be redesigned in the mid-2270s to conform with Starfleet new Constitution Class Refit aesthetics and technological breakthroughs, continuing this classes service into the 2290s.

(Paramount) The  Constitution Class Refit
(Paramount) The Constitution Class Refit

But with the launch of the USS Excelsior, and Starfleet Command beginning work on several new classes within that vein of starship design, the decision was made to decommission the class altogether, with the final Loknar Class Refit starship being scrapped in 2297.

As for the USS Loknar itself, Admiral Ashton Archer made a special request of Starfleet and the Andorian Government to restore the vessel to its launch configuration and include it in Starfleet’s Fleet Museum.

Though the request was initially frowned upon by the Federation Council, Admiral Archer would eventually win the day after presenting his argument for it’s inclusion using a very persuasive speech about the importance it showed of working together, and the ingenuity it held which proved that humanity and Andoria were meant to be friends.

And so the USS Loknar would be restored and included in the fleet museum, where many Andorians of the Imperial Guard still visit it to this day.  Reminded of an early time in Federation History when the future was not yet set in stone, and the very survival of the organization rested on the cooperation and development of trust between all member species worlds.

And this fact alone earned the Loknar Class its place, In Starfleet and the Federations history…

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Thank you for watching today’s episode of Truth or Myth Beta Canon, what do you think of the Loknar Class, and the historical narrative I’ve created here. 

Would you like to see more videos like this one?  Well leave your comments in the section below and don’t forget to like the video and subscribe to the channel.

 Thanks again for watching, Live long and prosper… Pink Skins!

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