Plasma rifle

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File:Andorians pjem.jpg

Andorians with plasma rifles

A plasma rifle was the rifle version of a hand-held plasma weapon used by many species. These weapons were used by Humans during the mid-22nd century. They were carried on Earth starships even after the advent of phase weapons. While not particulary high-yield, they were capable of killing a target. (ENT: "Broken Bow", "Vox Sola", "Regeneration")

The Andorians also made use of hand-held plasma rifles. The Andorian rifles utilized by the Andorian Imperial Guard in the 22nd century fired plasma bursts and had no stun setting. (ENT: "Cease Fire") The Jem'Hadar and the Na'kuhl made use of more advanced high-yield plasma rifles several centuries later. (ENT: "Storm Front"; DS9: "Tacking Into the Wind")

The energy discharges fired by an Andorian rifle were identified as plasma bursts in the script of "Cease Fire".

According to the novelization of Star Trek Into Darkness, the Starfleet phaser rifles used in the alternate reality in 2259 were called pulse rifles, the same alternative term associated with 22nd century plasma rifles used by Humans in Star Trek: Enterprise.

Civilian plasma rifle

File:Plasma rifle, Broken Bow.jpg

Farmer Moore holding a plasma rifle

Shotgun-style plasma rifles were used by Human civilians in the mid-22nd century. A farmer named Moore owned one, which he carried to defend his property in Broken Bow, Oklahoma during a shootout between a Klingon and two Suliban. In the fracas, Moore used the weapon to incapacitate, and severely wound, the Klingon courier Klaang. This was the first recorded contact between a Human and a Klingon. (ENT: "Broken Bow")

This weapon was also referred to as a "plasma shotgun" in the script of Broken Bow. [1]

Starfleet / ECS plasma rifle

A plasma rifle used on the ECS Fortunate

File:Plasma rifle.jpg

A Starfleet rifle with scope

Plasma rifles in a weapons locker

Plasma rifles also known as pulse rifles were the standard-issue carbine weapons on Starfleet and Earth Cargo Authority starships, and carried by personnel of the Earth Sciences Institute in the mid-22nd century. The Enterprise NX-01 and ECS Fortunate were equipped these weapons. The pulse rifles had the capability of firing both plasma bullets (ENT: "Broken Bow", "Fortunate Son", "Regeneration", "Marauders", "The Council") and a beam with an adjustable level from stun to the kill setting. (ENT: "Vox Sola", "Regeneration")

In 2151, a Starfleet security officer stood watch in sickbay with a plasma rifle when the wouded Klingon courier Klaang was abducted by the Suliban. Captain Archer managed to kill one of the invading Suliban with plasma bullets. (ENT: "Broken Bow")

By 2151, Ensign Hoshi Sato had cleared training on the class-3 pulse rifles. (ENT: "Fight or Flight") Starfleet security officers on the Enterprise and Lieutenant Reed carried pulse rifles on several occasions from 2151 to 2154. A selection of rifles was stored in the ships armory. (ENT: "Broken Bow", "Marauders", "The Council", "Zero Hour")

In 2151, a Starfleet security officer with a pulse rifle was investigating the presence of a strange alien lifeform in Cargo Bay 2 with Captain Archer and Commander Tucker aboard the Enterprise. The security officer attempted to use his rifle, set on stun, to fend off the creature when it began to attack them, but was distressed to find out that the weapon had no measurable effect on it. (ENT: "Vox Sola")

In 2153, two security officers accompanying Lieutenant Reed attempted to use pulse rifles to fend off two Tarkaleans who had been assimilated by the Borg, but were unable to penetrated the Tarkaleans' personal force fields. Before intercepting the Borg assimilated ship, Reed upgraded several rifles to emit a beam with the particle yield of 10 megajoules. (ENT: "Regeneration")

Later in 2153, several of these plasma rifles were stolen from the Enterprise by Osaarian pirates. (ENT: "Anomaly") Later on the same year, an EV team was able to dislodge and retrieve a sample of nucleonic particles accumulating on the hull with multiple hits from a plasma rifle. (ENT: "Similitude")

In 2154, Reed attempted to destroy a defensive claw inside a Delphic Expanse sphere with a plasma rifle on the mission to retrieve the redundant memory core of the sphere. The claw appeared to be impervious to the plasma bullets fired by Reed. It required the more powerful ship-mounted weapons of a shuttlepod to destroy the claw. (ENT: "The Council")

When Captain James T. Kirk recreated his uncle's farm in Idaho, inside the Nexus, a wall display of weapons and memorabilia there included a plasma rifle. (Star Trek Generations [2])

The type of the rifle was never clearly identified on screen in dialogue. According to the script of "Broken Bow", the the Starfleet rifle was a plasma rifle and fired plasma bullets [3] and according to Startrek.com it was a pulse rifle [4], suggesting the terms are synonymous. According to the article, the pulse rifle was one of the weapons powered by a rechargeable sarium microcells as was mentioned in ENT: "Cogenitor". A weapons locker where the rifles were stored on the Enterprise was sold in the It's A Wrap! sale and auction. The label above the rifles read "UNIT G95-34942U" and identifies the "UNIT TYPE" as "0094-07" [5].There were two slightly different variants of this rifle prop, both were called energy carbines [6] [7] in the It's a Wrap! auction.

The effects in "Broken Bow", "Fortunate Son", "Marauders" and "The Council" suggest the weapon is the rifle version of the EM-33 pistol, while effects in "Vox Sola" suggest the weapon to be the rifle-version of the Starfleet phase pistol. In "Regeneration" both plasma bullet fire was seen from the rifles used by the A-6 Excavation Team and beam fire from the rifles used by Enterprise security personnel.

The Starfleet rifle was the same prop that was used in several Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episodes to represent the Hunter's crossbows, a Nol-Ennis rifles, the Albino's guards rifles, Kellerun assault rifles and most frequently as the Jem'hadar plasma rifles.

Jem'Hadar plasma rifle

Jem'Hadar plasma rifle (2375)

In addition to a pistol variant, the Jem'Hadar of the Dominion used plasma rifles in the 24th century. Upgraded rifles were distributed in 2375. (DS9: "Tacking Into the Wind") The rifle was capable of firing lethal disruptor bursts with anti-coagulants that are designed to slowly kill their enemies if the burst itself does not. The weapons have at least two other settings: they are able to stun, and fire a more powerful burst capable of vaporizing a humanoid target. (DS9: "Tacking Into the Wind", "The Search, Part I", "The Ship", "Change of Heart", "By Inferno's Light")

In the script of DS9: "Rocks and Shoals", the rifle was identified as a "Dominion disruptor rifle". [8]

According to Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Technical Manual (page 90), the Jem'Hadar rifles were not plasma weapons, as the prop was identified in "Tacking Into the Wind", instead they fire phased polaron beams. According to the book, they have only a single setting, the lethal pulse. This would be inconsistent with "The Search, Part I", where Major Kira takes a direct hit to the chest from a Jem'Hadar rifle set on stun. Lethal to semi-lethal disruptor bursts that leave behind anti-coagulants have been seen in episodes such as "The Ship", "Change of Heart" and "The Siege of AR-558". Both pistol and rifle variants were seen to have the higher setting to vaporize humanoid targets, such as Jem'Hadar and Breen, in "By Inferno's Light".

Na'kuhl plasma rifle

File:Plasma pulse.jpg

The Na'kuhl plasma rifle firing a modulating plasma pulse

In an alternate version of 1944, Vosk planned to deploy the soldiers of the Na'kuhl / Nazi alliance with plasma rifles based on their 29th century technology. The weapons fired a powerful modulating plasma pulse capable of devastating buildings and destroying an American tank with a single shot. Although they were powerful, they were also somewhat difficult to maneuver and required considerable amounts of energy. (ENT: "Storm Front")

External links

• Template:NCwiki
• Plasma rifle at Wikipedia
• Starfleet Pulse rifle at Phasers.net