The Vahklas-type was a class of Vulcan starship utilized during the mid-22nd century.
History[]
During the mid-2150s, it was employed by the Vulcan High Command as a cruiser. Prior to this, the class was available for civilian use as transports, until as late as 2143.
It was stated by T'Pol, in 2151, that the class had not been used for "a long time", when Enterprise was first approached by the Vahklas.
In 2154, however, at least one ship of this type was part of a fleet in orbit of Earth that welcomed Enterprise home from the Delphic Expanse. (ENT: "Storm Front, Part II")
Later that year, a craft of this type was among the air traffic near the Vulcan capital city. (ENT: "Home")
Two of these ships, along with a combat cruiser, attacked Enterprise while it was in orbit of Vulcan, forcing it to withdraw. The ships then proceeded to conduct an orbital bombardment of the Syrrannite settlement in the Forge. (ENT: "Awakening")
A number of these ships were later part of the fleet that took part in the Battle of Andoria. (ENT: "Kir'Shara")
Technical data[]
Firing forward weapons
These vessels had two primary types of sensors: translinear and lateral. They used thrusters and an impulse drive for propulsion. (ENT: "Fusion") They were also equipped with particle beam weapons. (ENT: "Awakening")
Ships of the class[]
- Named
- Unnamed
Appendices[]
Appearances[]
Background information[]
According to the Star Trek Encyclopedia, 4th ed., vol. 2, p. 469, this was a type of light cruiser.
In the script of "Fusion" (both the first draft and the final draft), this ship design was simply described as "small."
Only one room aboard a Vulcan civilian transport was shown; the "Fusion" script referred to this area as an "Astrometrics Lab".
Studio model[]
Because Star Trek: Enterprise regular illustrator John Eaves was meanwhile overworked, the ENT visual effects team offered to take on the challenge of creating this studio model design. ENT Visual Effects Producer Dan Curry, an established artist in his own right, started work on sketching the craft.
Although he knew it would have to be a brand new configuration, Curry also had some ideas about how Vulcan ships might look, especially as the Suurok-class, which featured a ring-shaped engine, had been introduced a couple of episodes earlier. However, there was no specific inspiration for Curry's sketch; he was simply trying to devise a design that fit with what had come before. "I wanted to keep a sense of the Vulcan ring to imply a consistent technology," he explained, "but because the Vahklas was a smaller ship it did not require the fuller ring which was needed for deep space travel, so I decided to break that." (Star Trek: The Official Starships Collection, issue 88, pp. 10-11)
Dan Curry did his sketch of the Vulcan transport quickly, and he purposefully kept it simple; it didn't suggest any particular surface texture, and omitted the underside and aft views of the ship. The simplicity of the sketch was so that the CGI modelers would be provided with opportunities to express their own creativity, allowing them to augment the craft's details in collaboration with Curry. Happy for that to happen, he handed his sketch over to the digital modelers at Eden FX, where the CG model of the vessel was built and a lot of the finer points were fleshed out. As well as looking at the Suurok-class, the group looked to the T'Plana-Hath to provide them with a style for the surface details and a color scheme for the new Vulcan craft. (Star Trek: The Official Starships Collection, issue 88, pp. 10-11)