HOME | DD

Description

Ported to OBJ from the low poly model included with CJ's Models Pack for the Starfleet Command (SFC) series of video games. Retexture by Ghost; no data on original creator.

The Orions have held the fascination of Trek fandom since day one and the very first TOS pilot, "The Cage," with the late Susan Oliver's memorable performance and dance as a green-skinned Orion slave girl during one of Captain Pike's induced illusions having a lot to do with it. (chuckle) Let's also not forget that in addition to openly practicing slavery we also learned in the next few years the Orions were also space pirates (TOS "Journey to Babel," TAS "The Pirates of Orion"); or rather, a good chunk of them were. Both of those factors have fueled a lot of imagination within the ranks of fandom and Franchise alike, so it's no surprise that the twin subjects of Orion space piracy and the Orion slave trade have been subsequently and repeatedly revisited in many a fanon, semi-canon, and Franchise effort, so much to the point that certain parts of those efforts over the decades tend to contradict or even conflict with each other. We Trek fans don't care. For us, the Orions are as integral a part of Trek as anything else. They're the "bad boys" who most of the time (but not all) get away with their bad behavior because of who and what they are. For their part, Orion females are the stock "bad girls" of Trek -- no, really "bad girls" who take pride in the fact that they ARE bad, and who tend to be far more intelligent and cunning than they let on and than your typical slave girl in most sci-fi and fantasy tales. The Orions are who they are and they're not ashamed of it. They're openly proud of being what they are, even if the rest of known space takes more than a few issues with it.

Star Fleet Battles (SFB) has it own unique take on the Orions, and the way they get treated in the game requires a rather inventive backstory that still causes my eyebrows to raise, but it's their thread of the Trek multiverse so there you go. Anyway in SFB the Orions operate standardized starship classes based on old warship designs as well as being able to set up shipyards anywhere they want to build them. This of course directly contradicts the long time real world practice of pirates using whatever craft they can get their hands on and not having such things as standard classes, their own shipyards, and so on. This gets handwaved away in some SFB sources by saying that the early forms of these resources were originally developed for the Orion Space Navy, which defended the Orion colonies from outside attack until the Federation came into the picture and their parent system of Rigel decided to become a member. The Orions didn't want to be put into a Federation straightjacket of laws, rules, regulations, etc. to limit their longtime practice of their free-wheeling and free-dealing behavior, so the Orion Colonies declared their neutrality at this time. The only way the Federation would accept it was if they disbanded the Orion Space Navy and accept Federation Starfleet protection anyway, which they did ... while at the same time making off with not only the construction plans for both its starships and shipyards back then, but more than a few operating examples of each. Indeed, the tale of how the Orions managed to dismantle and then ship away in secret an entire starship spaceyard right under the nose of the local Federation commissioner is the stuff of legend, but I digress. (grin). There's also the story (some claim only a legend) of how a small fleet of sixteen starships from various classes of the former OSN were spirited away by "mutinous" crews, but that too is a tale for another time (another grin). Anyway, in the SFB universe THAT'S how the Orions wind up with standardized warship classes and the resources for both building them and setting up their own shipyards wherever they want. All of it was based on the former resources of the disbanded Orion Space Navy. BTW that also explains why SFB standard Orion ship classes look so antiquated in comparison to what everyone else is using. They're modernized versions of old designs that they know inside and out from years of use. I should also mention that the Orions are very good at copying anything they steal (although their copies tend to be inferior and heavily maintenance prone unless they really work at it, which they often don't), and that in turn explains why they can field examples of the starship technology almost everybody else uses. Oh, and let's not forget their unique warp engine output doubling technology either, which dramatically increases available warp power but can literally burn out the engine fairly quickly if used for too long (ref TOS "Journey to Babel"). Okay? Okay. Take it or leave the backstory if you will, but I'm moving on.

The common Orion Raider (Starfleet Intelligence code name), or Raider class as it is sometimes called, started out as the original heavy cruiser class of the Orion Space Navy. It was a very sound and respectable example of the type in its day as fielded by many a local sector or system defense fleet, if not exactly an attractive one. The Orions kept the design as simple as possible to ease construction, and also went with flat or angular surfaces whenever they could to help throw off enemy sensors and scanners. Simple but effective in both cases, although it resulted in one of the ugliest looking starship designs in known space. Nevertheless the Orions were delighted with it and copied it for the rest of the warship classes in the old Orion Space Navy, resizing it up and down and altering the length, width, and height as needed. That's why all standardized Orion ship classes in SFB look almost alike, BTW (grin). They also kept updating the design to keep it current with the times. For example, TMP era Raiders sported aztec-style hull plating copied from what the Klingons were using at the time, not only sensor/scanner absorbent but also doubling as old-fashioned light hull armor. Not enough to weigh the ship down, mind you, but enough to run without screens and yet protect everyone inside from a ship's phaser stun blast by Federation or other police forces. Raiders also have modern weaponry, modern warp and impulse engines, and modern support systems. They also have very large cargo and, uhmmm, "passenger" holds (i.e. slave cells and pens), converted from interior spaces formerly used for extra crew quarters and other areas deemed unnecessary in the original design, which they can use to transport a surprisingly large amount of cargo of all kinds, and I mean ALL kinds. Finally, all Raider types and all but the largest Orion starship classes derived from them are capable of a full planetary landing and liftoff. This hearkens back to their origins but has also proven quite useful over the long haul for mercantile purposes, doing business with system locals both over and under the table and sometimes setting up shop right where they land in front of the drop ramp for their main cargo hatch, in order allow for quick access to any merchandise on board.

This is technically the late TOS/TAS era three-engined version, also known as the Heavy Raider. The original regular Raider design had only two warp engines (no center underneath third one) but shared the same base hull.

This is semi-canon, as it comes from the SFB gaming continuity.

TRIVIA - The weapons fit of any given Raider type depends on where it was built. Raiders built in Orion pirate shipyards hidden in Federation space have copied Federation type weapons, i.e. phasers and photon torpedoes. Raiders built in Klingon space often have copied Klingon disruptors supplementing or replacing either copied Klingon phasers or copied Klingon photons, sometimes both. Raiders built in the Triangle sometime have either copied Gorn or copied Romulan plasma torpedo systems for heavy weaponry. Raiders built in the WYN Cluster shipyard have copied Kzinti drone racks and disruptors, and sometimes also sport copied Lyran expanding sphere generators (ESGs). And so on, and so on ....

ASIDE - One of the few things I like about the SFB take on the Orions is that their backstory makes allowances for Orion ship types other than former military designs, as well as Orion spin-off and splinter groups who go their own way and do their own thing. This got reworked and expanded upon somewhat as the various pirate clans in SFC2OP, of course, since the SFC video game series was directly based on SFB. This of course provides a convenient loophole for what everybody else has done regarding the Orions -- the Franchise both on and off screen, FASA, the Decipher RPG, the various other video games, and so on. Of course the SFB continuity remains its own rather unique thread within the Trek multiverse, but at least it's an inclusive one. XD

Description

Ported to OBJ from the low poly model included with CJ's Models Pack for the Starfleet Command (SFC) series of video games. Retexture by Ghost; no data on original creator.

The Orions have held the fascination of Trek fandom since day one and the very first TOS pilot, "The Cage," with the late Susan Oliver's memorable performance and dance as a green-skinned Orion slave girl during one of Captain Pike's induced illusions having a lot to do with it. (chuckle) Let's also not forget that in addition to openly practicing slavery we also learned in the next few years the Orions were also space pirates (TOS "Journey to Babel," TAS "The Pirates of Orion"); or rather, a good chunk of them were. Both of those factors have fueled a lot of imagination within the ranks of fandom and Franchise alike, so it's no surprise that the twin subjects of Orion space piracy and the Orion slave trade have been subsequently and repeatedly revisited in many a fanon, semi-canon, and Franchise effort, so much to the point that certain parts of those efforts over the decades tend to contradict or even conflict with each other. We Trek fans don't care. For us, the Orions are as integral a part of Trek as anything else. They're the "bad boys" who most of the time (but not all) get away with their bad behavior because of who and what they are. For their part, Orion females are the stock "bad girls" of Trek -- no, really "bad girls" who take pride in the fact that they ARE bad, and who tend to be far more intelligent and cunning than they let on and than your typical slave girl in most sci-fi and fantasy tales. The Orions are who they are and they're not ashamed of it. They're openly proud of being what they are, even if the rest of known space takes more than a few issues with it.

Star Fleet Battles (SFB) has it own unique take on the Orions, and the way they get treated in the game requires a rather inventive backstory that still causes my eyebrows to raise, but it's their thread of the Trek multiverse so there you go. Anyway in SFB the Orions operate standardized starship classes based on old warship designs as well as being able to set up shipyards anywhere they want to build them. This of course directly contradicts the long time real world practice of pirates using whatever craft they can get their hands on and not having such things as standard classes, their own shipyards, and so on. This gets handwaved away in some SFB sources by saying that the early forms of these resources were originally developed for the Orion Space Navy, which defended the Orion colonies from outside attack until the Federation came into the picture and their parent system of Rigel decided to become a member. The Orions didn't want to be put into a Federation straightjacket of laws, rules, regulations, etc. to limit their longtime practice of their free-wheeling and free-dealing behavior, so the Orion Colonies declared their neutrality at this time. The only way the Federation would accept it was if they disbanded the Orion Space Navy and accept Federation Starfleet protection anyway, which they did ... while at the same time making off with not only the construction plans for both its starships and shipyards back then, but more than a few operating examples of each. Indeed, the tale of how the Orions managed to dismantle and then ship away in secret an entire starship spaceyard right under the nose of the local Federation commissioner is the stuff of legend, but I digress. (grin). There's also the story (some claim only a legend) of how a small fleet of sixteen starships from various classes of the former OSN were spirited away by "mutinous" crews, but that too is a tale for another time (another grin). Anyway, in the SFB universe THAT'S how the Orions wind up with standardized warship classes and the resources for both building them and setting up their own shipyards wherever they want. All of it was based on the former resources of the disbanded Orion Space Navy. BTW that also explains why SFB standard Orion ship classes look so antiquated in comparison to what everyone else is using. They're modernized versions of old designs that they know inside and out from years of use. I should also mention that the Orions are very good at copying anything they steal (although their copies tend to be inferior and heavily maintenance prone unless they really work at it, which they often don't), and that in turn explains why they can field examples of the starship technology almost everybody else uses. Oh, and let's not forget their unique warp engine output doubling technology either, which dramatically increases available warp power but can literally burn out the engine fairly quickly if used for too long (ref TOS "Journey to Babel"). Okay? Okay. Take it or leave the backstory if you will, but I'm moving on.

The common Orion Raider (Starfleet Intelligence code name), or Raider class as it is sometimes called, started out as the original heavy cruiser class of the Orion Space Navy. It was a very sound and respectable example of the type in its day as fielded by many a local sector or system defense fleet, if not exactly an attractive one. The Orions kept the design as simple as possible to ease construction, and also went with flat or angular surfaces whenever they could to help throw off enemy sensors and scanners. Simple but effective in both cases, although it resulted in one of the ugliest looking starship designs in known space. Nevertheless the Orions were delighted with it and copied it for the rest of the warship classes in the old Orion Space Navy, resizing it up and down and altering the length, width, and height as needed. That's why all standardized Orion ship classes in SFB look almost alike, BTW (grin). They also kept updating the design to keep it current with the times. For example, TMP era Raiders sported aztec-style hull plating copied from what the Klingons were using at the time, not only sensor/scanner absorbent but also doubling as old-fashioned light hull armor. Not enough to weigh the ship down, mind you, but enough to run without screens and yet protect everyone inside from a ship's phaser stun blast by Federation or other police forces. Raiders also have modern weaponry, modern warp and impulse engines, and modern support systems. They also have very large cargo and, uhmmm, "passenger" holds (i.e. slave cells and pens), converted from interior spaces formerly used for extra crew quarters and other areas deemed unnecessary in the original design, which they can use to transport a surprisingly large amount of cargo of all kinds, and I mean ALL kinds. Finally, all Raider types and all but the largest Orion starship classes derived from them are capable of a full planetary landing and liftoff. This hearkens back to their origins but has also proven quite useful over the long haul for mercantile purposes, doing business with system locals both over and under the table and sometimes setting up shop right where they land in front of the drop ramp for their main cargo hatch, in order allow for quick access to any merchandise on board.

This is technically the late TOS/TAS era three-engined version, also known as the Heavy Raider. The original regular Raider design had only two warp engines (no center underneath third one) but shared the same base hull.

This is semi-canon, as it comes from the SFB gaming continuity.

TRIVIA - The weapons fit of any given Raider type depends on where it was built. Raiders built in Orion pirate shipyards hidden in Federation space have copied Federation type weapons, i.e. phasers and photon torpedoes. Raiders built in Klingon space often have copied Klingon disruptors supplementing or replacing either copied Klingon phasers or copied Klingon photons, sometimes both. Raiders built in the Triangle sometime have either copied Gorn or copied Romulan plasma torpedo systems for heavy weaponry. Raiders built in the WYN Cluster shipyard have copied Kzinti drone racks and disruptors, and sometimes also sport copied Lyran expanding sphere generators (ESGs). And so on, and so on ....

ASIDE - One of the few things I like about the SFB take on the Orions is that their backstory makes allowances for Orion ship types other than former military designs, as well as Orion spin-off and splinter groups who go their own way and do their own thing. This got reworked and expanded upon somewhat as the various pirate clans in SFC2OP, of course, since the SFC video game series was directly based on SFB. This of course provides a convenient loophole for what everybody else has done regarding the Orions -- the Franchise both on and off screen, FASA, the Decipher RPG, the various other video games, and so on. Of course the SFB continuity remains its own rather unique thread within the Trek multiverse, but at least it's an inclusive one. XD