- For other uses, see lance.
A lance weapon was a 25th century type of directed energy weapon, a massive and power-intensive weapon beam fired from a beam array built into a starship's structure. In the 2400s decade, Borg command ships were capable of firing plasma-based lance weapons. (STO - Task Force Operation mission: "Hive Onslaught")
History and specifics[]
A Federation Yamato-class dreadnought firing its phaser spinal lance.
In the year 2409, Admiral D'Vak led an international Omega Force six-ship task force into an assault on a Borg unimatrix and the Borg Queen. When he detected a power buildup in the pair of Borg command ships, the admiral warned the rest of the task force about their lance weapons, ordered them to get "under their guns", and moved his ship, the Odyssey-class USS Houston, in to draw the command ships' fire. The Houston was destroyed when the Borg ships fired their plasma spinal lance. Before the task force retreated from the unimatrix, they recovered escape pods from the Houston, saving D'Vak's life. (STO - Task Force Operation mission: "Hive Onslaught")
Spinal lances were built into the "spine" of a starships' spaceframe. Except for the Borg command ships, spinal lances could only fire forward in a straight line. (STO - Klingon War mission: "Welcome to Earth Spacedock")
Nausicaan siege destroyers were equipped with a disruptor-based lance weapon, the javelin, that could only fire while the ship was in siege mode. (STO - Empire mission: "The Hunt is On")
A related weapon type was the juggernaut array. On the Vaadwaur juggernaut, the integrated beam array fired a blast of polaron energy. (STO - Delta Rising mission: "Escalation")
In an alternate timeline, the Confederation of Earth's World Razer-class was equipped with a juggernaut array that fired a blast of phaser energy. (STO website: Ascension: Raze the World)
In the 26th century, the gravitic lance was a weapon built into Federation temporal dreadnoughts like the Universe-class temporal heavy dreadnought cruiser, Durgath-class temporal heavy dreadnought battlecruiser and Valkis-class temporal heavy dreadnought warbird. This radiation weapon was derived from the 27th century Tox Uthat quantum phase inhibitor. (STO - Agents of Yesterday mission: "Welcome to Earth Spacedock")
In the year 2554, the Universe-class USS Enterprise-J used its Tox Uthat-fuelled gravitic lance to destroy the Tuterian command sphere at the Battle of Procyon V, leading to the defeat of the Sphere Builders and the Temporal Liberation Front. The Annorax-class science dreadnought controlled by the TLF, the KIV Annorax, was equipped with a chroniton lance that fired antiproton energy. (STO - Future Proof mission: "Ragnarok")
Lance weapon types[]
- chroniton lance
- devastation lance[1]
- gravitic lance
- heavy phaser lance
- javelin
- juggernaut array
- spinal lances:
- agony phaser spinal lance
- phaser spinal lance
- plasma spinal lance
- spiral wave disruptor lance