The Archernar airlock station was a 23rd century Federation observation post outpost on the world-ship Archernar IV.
Service history[]
Constructed some time between 2264 and 2270, the airlock station was used to observe the native Archernarians in a discrete manner. It also served as a shuttle passageway through the hull of the world-ship, which blocked transporters and subspace communication. The station contained a vast hangar bay connecting the outermost hull with the habitable inner surface. The interior exit was situated along a forested wall near a waterfall. The station was maintained and operated by personnel from the orbital K-class Archernar IV contact station.
The shuttlecraft Columbus gained approval clearance from the contact station before entering and traveling through the airlock station's hangar bay en route to the world-ship's interior. After a brief coup in which the world-ship's Omega-weapon destroyed the contact station, Columbus crew were isolated from the galaxy. Captain James T. Kirk and Ambassador Elizabeth Cassady used the airlock station's external communications bubble to contact the USS Enterprise. (TOS - Mission's End comic: "Issue 2")
Later, via the external comm bubble Kirk and Cassady provided a status update to Admiral Heihachiro Nogura and Ambassador Sarek. (TOS - Mission's End comic: "Issue 3")
After Kirk suffered a skull fracture, Cassady brought him back to the airlock station, as it had biobeds where he could recuperate. (TOS - Mission's End comic: "Issue 4")
The airlock station disappeared — along with Archernar IV — when Archernarians and Crawlers engaged the world-ship's "Heart of God" engine and traveled into another dimension. (TOS - Mission's End comic: "Issue 5")