U.S.S. Sajitka / Kumari Refit-class

Last crawled date: 1 year, 10 months ago

U.S.S. Sajitka, NCC-44 Kumari Refit-class Type: destroyer Operator: Andorian Guard; UFP Starfleet Active: 2162-2204 Decks: 10 Length: approximately 270 meters Capacity: 220 humanoids Max. Speed: warp 6.4 Max. Cruising speed: warp 6.2 Armament: particle cannons (x10); heavy particle cannons (x2); disruptors (x4); photonic torpedoes (x2 torpedo tubes) Defenses: deflector shields ======================================== Service History The U.S.S. Sajitka was one of the very first Andorian Guard starships to be constructed after the formation of the United Federation of Planets, and incorporated a number of new technologies adopted from fellow member-worlds. Updated with Federation technology, the Kumari and her subsequent sister ships were officially categorized as Kumari Refit-class starships. In her early service, the Sajitka (named after an ancient Andorian sun goddess) saw heavy combat action against Orion pirates, Klingon Privateers, and the Ware threat. Much of her later service, however, was spent as a diplomatic envoy—where the Sajitka played a vital role in the early growth of the Federation. As Federation shipbuilding capabilities advanced, the Sajitka soon found herself obsolete next to the rapidly advancing starfleeet, and was retired from service in 2204. The Sajitka was placed in geostationary orbit of Andor in 2216 where she became a monument to Andoria's role in the founding of the Federation. Starship Background The Kumari Refit-class is an update of the venerable Andorian Kumari-class destroyer. Incorporating a number of technologies from other member worlds, most notably Vulcan subspace sensors and Earth navigational deflectors, the Kumari Refit was a substantially improved design. The Kumari-refit does, however, possess slightly less firepower than the original Kumari, owing to its much larger shuttlebay. Model Background First, I built my Kumari model: then, I modified it into what you see here—a vision of what an Andorian starship might look like a few years after Star Trek Enterpise ended, in the service of the newly-formed United Federation of Planets. I think the original Kumari is a brilliant design and I did not want to change it very much. The most obvious changes are the big shuttlebay placed in the center of the primary hull and the large observation deck on the dorsal hull, but there are also quite a few more subtle changes. The warp nacelles, for example, are more rounded than the original Kumari to reflect that 'smoother' Federation influence; and the great big 'wings' are double-jointed, which allows them to fold up against the hull (you'll have to download the model to see this, however, as the web viewer here does not accommodate scenes). For the most part, this model was a lot of fun to build and I didn't really run into many problems. There were two troublesome areas, however. First: the wing pods. What are they supposed to be? No clue. I've seen them called weapon pods and fuel pods and even secondary warp nacelles. I decided to make them into weapon pods. Each pod as two disruptor beam emitters, angled fore and aft. The long 'fang' shaped extensions on either side, I imagine, are some kind of energy field projector that helps stabilize the disruptor beam. These are, I think, very volatile and powerful weapons—the Kumari's 'main guns', so to speak—but are used rarely, as their energy consumption requires that the warp drive be taken offline. The other troublesome area is the giant glowing section of the hull at the aft end. On the Kumari model, it's pretty easy guess at what each of the various components might be. But that bit? No idea. I decided to call it the 'power core' and put some little greebles inside. My intent was to vaguely sort of emulate the paddlewheels of old-fashioned riverboats. The giant particle beam 'broadside' cannons are the heavy weapons, though in the actual Kumari design the circular bits might actually be airlocks or vents or something instead. But I liked the idea of putting giant guns there, so I did. I also decided to try and make it look a little more 'alien' by shaping the windows like parallelograms. I'm not sure how well that worked, though, as it's hard to even tell the difference from a distance. Oh well. The NX design and other Earth ships seen in Star Trek Enterprise all have a very clear 'Federation' aesthetic, but hopefully with this model you can see that same aesthetic at play. Like traditional Federation designs, the Kumari has a primary and secondary hull separate from each other, two nacelles raised above the centerline, and upwards-sweeping wings creating the impression of defying gravity. The Kumari is, I think, as much a 'proto-Federation' design as any of the Earth ships. Finally, the name 'Sajitka' is something I made up. Hopefully it sounds even just vaguely Andorian-ish to you. P.S.: I've had the idea of a Federation-styled Kumari for a while now, as evidenced by this old sketch: http://sly-lupin.deviantart.com/art/Star-Trek-Sketch-no-8-534299300 (Starship information is derived partially from Memory Alpha and/or Memory Beta, and from my own imagination.) #Andor #Andoria #Andorian #Kumari #Kumariaclass #Star_Trek #Starship