USS Vol'Rala

STARSHIP
USS Vol'Rala
Class:	Kumari-class
Registry:	AGC-7-10
Affiliation:	Andorian Empire, Andorian Imperial Guard (until 2161); Federation, Starfleet (from 2161)
Commander:	Resthenar sh'Prenni
Launched:	22nd century
Status:	Destroyed (October 20, 2165)

The USS Vol'Rala (AGC-7-10) was a Kumari-class starship in service first to the Andorian Imperial Guard, and then to the Federation Starfleet, in the mid-22nd century. Her name translated from Andorii as Enterprise.

History

In the year 2161, the newly promoted Resthenar sh'Prenni became Vol'Rala's captain, when the Imperial Guard was integrated into the Federation Starfleet.

After the United Rigel Worlds and Colonies entered the Federation in 2164, the Vol'Rala headed Starfleet's efforts to eradicate piracy in the Kandari sector.

In early 2165, she was undergoing maintenance at Earth before transporting Captain Malcolm Reed and Lieutenant Valeria Williams to the USS Pioneer at Vulcan Space Central. From there, she joined Captain Reed's joint Andorian Guard/UESPA task force formed to combat the Ware. It was suspected by Pioneer's first officer Travis Mayweather that either Admiral Jonathan Archer or Admiral Thy'lek Shran had arranged for that to happen, to have an Enterprise at such an important mission. The task force's objective was to support and provide defense for Pioneer during her investigations into the Ware's intentions. Vol'Rala and the rest of the task force was ordered to wait on the edge of the sector to avoid provoking a war.

On May 26, the Pioneer was attacked by a group of Ware battleships after raiding a Ware trading post. With the support of the USS Trenkanshent sh'Lavan and the USS Flabbjellah, the Vol'Rala destroyed the Ware reinforcements headed for the severely damaged Pioneer, while the USS Kinaph crippled the last drone ship attacking her.

In the beginning of June, the USS Thelasa-vei provided a distraction for the Starfleet task force to capture the Ware hub complex. A few days later a sizable Ware fleet arrived to retake the station. During the battle, the Vol'Rala suffered heavy damage, but was ready for the final assault on the Ware command ship when it was shut down by Lieutenant Commander Mayweather and other kidnap victims from the inside. (ENT - Rise of the Federation novel: Uncertain Logic)

Partnership of Civilizations

In the following weeks, the task force went deeper into Ware space, to liberate as many people as possible. Science officer Hari Banerji developed a new technique to achieve this, that required no boarding parties, just probes that sent the awakening protocol once fired into a Ware installation's hull.

On July 8, Vol'Rala field-tested the technique on a Ware orbital station near an inhabited world. It failed to wake up the prisoners, so Captain sh'Prenni sent a boarding party led by Commander Giered Charas to bring back a few of the captives to determine what went wrong. They liberated two Nierl and two Sris'si individuals, who informed them that they weren't kidnapped but willfully volunteered for the service, as many in the Partnership of Civilizations have. Outraged that another civilization was fooled into submission, the crew of the Vol'Rala was determined to put an end to their enslavement.

Not long after, Vol'Rala picked up a distress call from Flabbjellah. They were escorting the Ware command ship, where Daskel Vabion was working on a permanent solution to shut down the Ware. He gained control of the ship, and with the help of the Klingon privateer ship SuD Qav, disabled the Andorian light cruiser.

After helping out Flabbjellah, they traveled to Etrafso, a planet heavily dependent on the Ware. After destroying the Ware defences, sh'Prenni gave the order for a planet-wide shutdown. (ENT - Rise of the Federation novel: Live by the Code)

The Vol'Rala was destroyed in battle against a Klingon invasion force, with Captain sh'Prenni and her crew sacrificing themselves to give some Partners a chance to escape the invasion. Only Commander Banerji survived due to his being off-ship at the time.

Following the loss of the Vol'Rala a monument to the vessel and her crew was created and placed in the city of Laikan on Andoria. The sacrifice of the Vol'Rala led Chief of Staff Admiral Jonathan Archer to cancel plans for Starfleet to construct the first Federation starship Enterprise, wanting that name to be left in honorable retirement. As a result it would be over half a century before the first such Enterprise would be built and fielded by Starfleet.

Senior officers

• Commanding officer
  • Captain Resthenar sh'Prenni (2161-2165, KIA)
• First officer/Security chief
  • Commander Giered Charas (-2165, KIA)
• Chief engineer
  • Commander Silash ch'Gesrit]] (-2165, KIA)
• Science officer/Communications officer
  • Lieutenant Commander Hari Banerji (-2165)
• Tactical officer
  • Lieutenant Tavrithinn th'Cheen (-2165, KIA)
• Chief medical officer
  • Chirurgeon Lieutenant Zharian th'Lesinas (-2165, KIA)
• Navigator
  • Ensign Kitazoanra zh'Vethris (-2165, KIA)
• Flight controller
  • Ensign Ramnaf Breg (-2165, KIA)

Background

In his annotations for "Uncertain Logic", author Christopher L. Bennett gives the registry number for the USS Vol'Rala as "AGC-7-10", which was later confirmed by Live by the Code