Beliskner-Class Ship

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Asgard Beliskner-Class Ship

Summary

The Beliskner-Class Ship is the name for the most commonly seen type of Asgard ship. It is named after the first ship of its type seen in the series, the Beliskner, commanded by Thor, Supreme Commander of the Asgard Fleet. SG-1 first encountered this class of ship when Thor stepped in to stop a massacre of the people of Cimmeria (2.06 "Thor's Chariot"), though in that case they saw it only from a distance. The SGC didn't get a comprehensive look at the interior and exterior until they helped Thor battle the replicators for the first time. (3.22 "Nemesis Part 1")

Technical Details

Asgard Beliskner Class Ship
Belisknir high-energy weapons
Beliskner Neutrino Ion Engines

The Beliskner-class mothership is the first Asgard ship seen by the Tau'ri, and for a time was the most powerful ship in this galaxy. The designation of mothership comes from a comment made by Teal'c, however, in the Earth sensibility, it is not a mothership, since it is not seen to carry any smaller craft (other than escape pods mentioned by Thor). However, this is an Earth designation, so perhaps it means something else to the Jaffa. A Beliskner very large, several times larger than the Earth starship Prometheus, and is similar in size to the O'Neill-class. is unknown how long this ship has been in production, but it has been the subject of several Jaffa legends, so perhaps a very long time. (2.06 "Thor's Chariot", 4.01 "Small Victories Part 2")

The ship is made of some black material, probably a variant of naquadah, as the Asgard are known to experiment with this material for starship hulls. Thor mentioned the Beliskner is made of alloys, so it is possible naquadah is a base element for them. The bow of the ship is shaped roughly like the symbol of Thor's Hammer, so there is a possibility he designed this ship or took his symbol from it. As his personal ship, the Beliskner, was known as Thor's Chariot, the second idea seems more likely. The rear of the ship houses the two rear thrusters, as well as the two side-by-side rudder-like projections and the wraparound structure going forward. This design is shared among all other Asgard craft seen, so there is a possibility of the nature of their technology requiring this, or it could be simply Asgard aesthetics. The O'Neill-class ship is most similar to this design, but is much more smooth and rounded and less angular than the Beliskner class. There are also four devices on the bottom of a Beliskner-class ship, consisting of several stacked cylinders that emit light. It is unknown that the purpose of these devices is. (3.22 "Nemesis Part 1")

The ship is known to be powered by four neutrino ion generators. Each of them is said to generate power equivalent to one billion kilojoules. Combining all generators, this is four trillion joules of energy. As a reference, this would be equivalent in energy to about one hundred tons of TNT exploding every second. This energy powers the Asgard weapons, shields, and other various technology forms onboard. The massive amount of energy that the generators can create is indicative of advanced Asgard technology. The Daedalus uses Asgard hyperdrive technology, but it is vastly underpowered. When given a greater charge, a Daedalus-class Deep Space Carrier may increase its speed by at least a factor of five. The Beliskner-class uses two rear thrusters for forward propulsion, as well as a deceleration drive for entering a planet's atmosphere. The ship is incapable of surviving an uncontrolled reentry, but then again, hardly anything is.

Asgard hyperdrive technology is the most advanced in our galaxy, quite possibly more advanced than the Ancients were. Asgard are capable of crossing the galaxy from their homeworld to ours in a few minutes, and even while towing a vessel as massive as the Prometheus, can still make very quick jumps to arrive at a desired destination. An O'Neill-class towing the Prometheus was able to cross our galaxy, the immense space between the galaxies, and the Asgard home galaxy in under an hour. Earth's spacefleet uses Asgard designs in its hyperdrives as well as other technologies onboard.

The Beliskner-class, like all Asgard ships, carries very powerful cloaking technology. It is undetectable to radar and the visible eye, as well masking all radio emissions from within. Thor has pointed out that the Asgard have never been detected in all their visits to Earth. This technology is shown to work only at a certain distance from the hull, because Teal'c was able to perfectly see the ship when he performed an EVA on Thor's personal ship. It is possible the cloaking field is part of the ship's defensive shielding system; however, this is just a conjecture.

There is evidence that the Asgard possess a technology that allows them to create objects in the real world from stored computer files. This occurred on both Beliskner-class vessels and the Daniel Jackson. In the case of the Beliskners, Replicator blocks and a fully functional Replicator were created for Samantha Carter to study. In addition, Asgard food, apparently not palatable for humans, was also created.

Offensively, the Beliskner-class was the most powerful ship in the galaxy from a power projection standpoint, until the Replicator war reached a boiling point, and the O'Neill-class supplanted it. The Beliskner is known to be armed with a single forward cannon, firing a blue pulse of energy. This is shown to be capable of destroying a Goa'uld ha'tak mothership with a single shot. However, the motherships of Anubis, utilizing Ancient technology, were able to shrug off a Beliskner-class vessel's attacks. (5.22 "Revelations")

There are many conjectures as to why this happened. A Beliskner-class ship's weapons may be specifically calibrated to do severe damage to Goa'uld technology, and the Ancient shields were simply not similar enough to be effective. The weapons also may simply be of a shield-penetrating design (making them possibly similar to Tollan ion cannons), and Ancient shields may be designed to defend against this. The Asgard weaponry may also be designed to overwhelm defenses through sheer power (4 trillion joules have to go somewhere after all), and the Ancient shields were powerful enough to overcome them. However, it is also possible that the Beliskner used was simply not fully capable. (see below for further explanation)

The only other weapon the Asgard use is their transporter beams. They are used offensively to, quite simply, move their enemies somewhere else. The beams emit a high-pitched sound as they are used in this fashion. Such a strategy has been used on ground troops, and ground emplacements, and against the Goa'uld only. The beams have not been used against other ships, which tend to retreat in the face of an Asgard anyway. Asgard transporting beams are known to not be effective through shields, so this is an additional factor. It is unknown where the Asgard send the captured men and equipment, but it is unlikely they are stowed onboard, due to limited living space aboard the ships.

Defensively, the Beliskner-class has onboard shield generators that project a defensive energy shield with an orange tint. This shield is bubble-shaped around the hull. It is unknown exactly how powerful the shields are, but considering the scale of their hyperdrive and weapons technology, they must be very good. Internally, the ship is equipped with dampening fields that activate in the event of an internal explosion. All of this points to a Beliskner being extremely difficult to destroy, both from internal and external threats.

Despite all this technology, it is known that a single Asgard can pilot a Beliskner. At least a few others can be aboard, considering the sheer size of the vessel, and Thor commented about evacuating the crew when the Replicators came aboard. (3.22 "Nemesis Part 1") The Asgard commander usually sits at a command chair, a large seat with two arches on either side going upwards, and lights on these arches. This command chair can be beamed out of the ship and situated in other places if the Asgard commander wishes to leave the ship. Thor has used this ability to dramatically enter the SGC several times. (6.17 "Disclosure") There is also at least one stasis pod onboard, capable of both autonomous medical work and for placing an Asgard in suspended animation. (3.22 "Nemesis Part 1")

The Beliskner-class ship internals have been shown to be colored differently on different occasions. Initially, in Thor's first official visit to Earth, the ship's walls were colored white with white lights all around. Later, when the Replicators were attempting to invade the Earth through the Beliskner, the lights were of a red color, and the ship had very dark corridors. There is a chance that the Beliskner-class ships used in these adventures were two separate ships, but there is also the possibility that Thor simply had an inspiration for interior design, or simply he wanted to change the interiors. Assuming the ships were the same, there is also a possibility the white walls were of a particularly sturdy element (trinium is known to be of a white/gray color), and the Replicators simply ate the alloy in order to replicate stronger members of their species, leaving red colored walls and few lights.

Asgard computer technology is much more advanced than Earth's. It has the ability to create high-resolution computer graphics, as well as audio and video files, creating, manipulating, and storing them very rapidly. The bridge of a Beliskner-class has two large wall monitors that are used in this respect. Communications and access to ship records are routed through these. Asgard do not use keyboards, they use a large panel that is marked with smooth triangle shapes. Several objects in the same shape as these markings are manipulated on the panel, with location and the triangle's point determining how it is accessed.

Despite the obvious technical superiority the Beliskner has over Earth's current starships, the Beliskner is an obsolete vessel in the Asgard inventory. The more recent O'Neill-class and the Daniel Jackson are much more capable and advanced starships. Given that the Beliskner-class is known throughout Jaffa legend, they have likely been in the same form for many generations. Given that the Asgard were uncontested in technical superiority until the Replicator threat and Anubis's Ancient technology, they probably saw little reason to improve the starships.

Stargate References

A Beliskner-class, quite possibly the Beliskner, came to the rescue of SG-1 and the people of Cimmeria from an invasion from Heru'ur. Daniel Jackson, Samantha Carter, and Gairwyn contacted the Asgard through the Hall of Might, an Asgard relic placed upon Cimmeria. It was thought to contain weapons or other Asgard technology, but instead was a test of the Cimmerians, to determine when they would be advanced enough to be told that those defending Cimmeria were Asgard, not gods. Upon explaining the situation, Thor borrowed Gairwyn for a length of time and then brought his Beliskner to Cimmeria and removed the Goa'uld from the land. He then returned her and left some information from the Asgard for the Tau'ri. (2.06 "Thor's Chariot")

A Beliskner-class ship brought Thor to Earth on his first official visit to Earth, where he discussed bringing the Earth under the Protected Planets Treaty, an agreement the Asgard have with the Goa'uld System Lords. Thor beamed back and forth from his ship with his command chair to sit in on the negotiations. After the agreements were met, he left orbit and returned to the Asgard homeworld. (3.03 "Fair Game")

A Beliskner-class of the Asgard, albeit from another universe, was summoned by the Samantha Carter of that universe during a Goa'uld invasion. Upon the ship's arrival, the Goa'uld beat a hasty retreat. It is likely that the Asgard would militarily defend Earth in this universe from then on. (3.06 "Point Of View")

The Beliskner, commanded by Thor, was brought to Earth by the Replicators after being infested by them. Thor stayed behind in an attempt to destroy the ship before it could be piloted to a safe landing on Earth. Being unable to do that, he beamed Jack O'Neill onboard in the hopes he could do something. Along with Carter and Teal'c, they successfully destroyed the ship as it reentered the atmosphere and escaped using the SGC's Stargate. (3.22 "Nemesis Part 1")

Another Beliskner-class of Thor's was used in an attempted strike against Anubis, who had moved to invade a Protected Planet. Thor attempted to reason with them before being forced to open fire upon Anubis's ha'taks, which absorbed the fire, and retaliated, destroying Thor's ship. The power of Ancient technology is not disputed; however, it is likely that the Beliskner-class was not fully combat ready as others have been. The Beliskner that was dispatched was the only ship available, and the Asgard thought the Goa'uld would turn tail at the mere arrival of the ship. Also, the Ancient technology upgrades cannot be too severe, because Goa'uld ha'taks led by Lord Yu were able to strike and damage them significantly. Also, the fact that Thor was unable to flee before being destroyed is indicative that the ship was not ready. (5.22 "Revelations")

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Article written for Solutions by Jordan Kreiger

--DeeKayP 09:09, 27 February 2006 (PST)

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