STARFLEET HANDWEAPONS

SCREENSHOTS OF PHASERS WITH TEXT, page 2

Phaser Rifles

Voyager's crew use the type-3a phaser, compression version. Presumably it became designated "a" when the upgrade, designated "b", was developed, as the type-3a is captioned "type 3" on a drawing in source Encyclopaedia but in accompanying text as "type-3a". This weapon is more commonly known as a 'phaser rifle' or 'compression rifle' or 'compression phaser rifle' and referred to by Voyager's crew as such on tv. One canon source also calls it an 'assault rifle'. The type-3b is first seen in 2373 in [Star Trek: First Contact], and then in [#54 Macrocosm]^*.

^* Behind-the-scenes: it is a production convention in Star Trek that when anything new appears which is major e.g. uniforms, equipment or technology, and thus likely to appear in a tv series too, the film gets to showcase it first, with the tv episode or its contents if necessary being rearranged to suit. Examples: the type-3b phaser and the environmental suits first seen in [Star Trek: First Contact], both later seen in [Star Trek: Voyager], and the white Starfleet dress uniforms first seen in [Star Trek: Insurrection] and later seen in [DS9: Inter Arma Enim Silent Leges].

No explanation is given as to how Voyager's crew come to be using an upgrade that was implemented in their absence and that therefore they cannot know about. I conjecture that when the upgrade being developed for some reason Starfleet inserted its specifications (by 2371, specifically by stardate 48315.6 the date of [#1 and #2 Caretaker]) into its database so that Voyager's crew are able to access them and complete the work themselves. The logical time to introduce them would be after Voyager's Doctor visits the Alpha Quadrant in [#82 Message in a Bottle], stardate unknown, when his debriefing/briefing by Starfleet would logically include a specifications upgrade of handweapons such as the compression phaser rifle to the type-3b (although the security team that boards USS Prometheus carry the type-3a). My alternative theory is that reference to the type-3b was in the 29th century Federation's database, part of which Voyager obtained via Starling's office computer in [#50 and #51 Future's End], and that, like the Doctor's mobile emitter, that information was retained and developed.

Phaser rifles were issued, for example, when Janeway led an away team which included Chakotay for the first time back to the Caretaker's Array looking for missing crewmembers Harry Kim and B'Elanna Torres respectively in [#1 and #2 Caretaker] she ordered "Break out the compression phaser rifles", by the security team guarding Alpha Hirogen in [Prey], to the crew when Voyager entered the heart of Borg space [#68 and #69 Scorpion] and when Voyager faced constant attack by aliens in [Equinox], by the security team that challenged Kes in [#143 Fury], and phaser rifles were employed by Maquis crewmembers to stage the mutiny in [#150 Repression]. Voyager's crew start using the upgrade designated type-3b in 2374, presumably after the Doctor has visited the Alpha Quadrant in [Message in a Bottle] where he is debriefed/briefed by Starfleet Command (this style of phaser rifle was first seen in [Star Trek: First Contact] and was thus in use by 2373).

Tom Paris, at this time attached to Voyager as an observer and without rank, carries a phaser rifle. [#1 and #2 Caretaker]

compression phaser rifles in the hands of security guards - they are holding the designation type-3a phaser [#120 Equinox, Part One]

compression phaser rifle, designation is the type 3a phaser [#79 Concerning Flight]

compression phaser rifles, type-3a, used by mutineers to seize engineering [#150 Repression]

two mutineers with weapons - Crewman Yosa shouldering a compression phaser rifle, Chakotay aiming a hand phaser, [#150 Repression]

compression phaser rifle, type-3a, in the hands of a mutineer (Crewman Yosa) on guard in the brig, [#150 Repression]

weapons locker on the upper level of main engineering, deck 11, [Macrocosm]	Inside the weapons locker: ammunition, rucksack which contains a manual door release device, ?torch, knife and phaser rifle type-3b, [Macrocosm]
This is the debut of the type-3b phaser rifle on [Star Trek: Voyager].
[Macrocosm]	[Macrocosm]
Janeway fires the phaser rifle [Macrocosm]	the phaser fire destroys a macrovirus [Macrocosm]

Seven and Tuvok turn on and arm their phaser rifles as they prepare to search for a member of Species 8472 on Voyager. They are dressed in environmental suits. Likewise attired, Chakotay and Paris magnetise their boots to enable them to walk in zero-gravity as they join the search. (pop-up window) [Prey]

The earlier type-3 rifle phaser remains in Starfleet's fabrication database, though no new production copies have been produced for several years. Minor retrofits were made to certain deployed units, such as those on Deep Space 9 by 2373. As far as styling and handling is concerned, the type-3b does not have the double-handed grip of the type-3a, but possesses a sturdier-looking single-grip handle, the rear part of which can be used to brace the weapon against the user's chest to enhance stability in handling and wobble-free targeting. The sight, or more strictly the spill light which now acts as both the sight and as illumination, is incorporated within a larger housing which is mounted atop the weapon.

The type-3b compression phaser rifle is enabled by pressing the appropriate control on the control panel. This activates a red light which indicates that power is on. Pressing another control arms the weapon (in the screenshot below left, Seven and Tuvok are loading nanoprobe charges), indicated by the activation of the spill light which equates to the sight, as well as simultaneously helpfully illuminating a potential target. In [Prey], Seven states: "Level 5 should be sufficient to stun the creature." meaning a member of Species 8472.

the red light is the power on indicator [Prey]

looking directly into the spill light [Prey]

The type-3b compression rifle [Prey]

The upgrade features of the type-3a to the type-3b include densified sarium-krellide cells, upgraded targeting scanners and isolinear processor, and pre-fire chamber reinforcement similar to that of the type-2 unit, and a split emitter resonator designed to tune and focus the outgoing beam. It supports twin hot-swappable power cells with a total energy charge of 3.45 x 108 megajoules, a field-replaceable deuterium plasma generator, twelve-stage plasma accelerator, and five-stage cascading pre-fire chamber. At the terminus of the energy flow is the emitter crystal, also a lithium-copper superconductor like the pre-fire chamber. The plasma accelerator is critical to pumping the prefire chamber to the proper energy level for controllable nuclear disruption forces (NDF). Almost no classical thermal or other unwanted EM (electro-magnetic) effects are present in the discharge beam. The superheated, rarefied plasma is exhausted past the emitter crystal in a focused stream. The plasma helps ensure that the crystal does not cool too quickly during firing. The type-3b also boasts a new seeker/tracker, possessing both passive and active EM and subspace detectors. Like other phaser types, the tracking processor is coupled by STA (subspace transceiver assembly)STA NOTE to the onboard station safety system to constrain the rifle to setting 3, unless authorised by senior officer command override. In particular, the type-3b incorporates the first true transitional phase pulse accelerator.

The power levels of the type-3 phaser rifle are the same as the type-2 personal phaser, namely 16 settings, with 9 to 16 all involving high proportions of nucleur disruption energy.

Janeway wields a type-3a compression rifle while Tuvok aims the later version of the type-2 phaser (downward curving handle) [The Chute]

compression phaser rifles, designation phaser type-3b [#68 Scorpion, Part One] - these weapons are widely issued as Voyager enters the heart of Borg space

Distribution of the type-3b to Starfleet personnel is not consistent: on deep space station Deep Space 9 (maintained jointly by Federation Starfleet and Bajoran military officers) two different type-3 rifle phasers are stored in the armoury - an older model shares a number of technological innovations with the type-2, and a recent type-3b which delivers on theoretical research connected to the equipment requirements of the Sovereign-class starship (e.g. USS Enterprise NCC-1701-E). The type-3a compression phaser rifle was not deployed aboard DS9 due to limited Starfleet allocations but were issued to certain frontline starships in view of the threat from the Dominion (the ruling species of the Gamma Quadrant at that time). The fact that Voyager's armoury includes the type-3b indicates that the crew's situation is deemed perilous enough to merit the issue of this weapon. It is not known how many armouries Voyager has but there is one on deck 6, which Seven illicitly accesses in 2374 [#74 The Raven]. Although the type-3a continues to be used on Voyager after the introduction of the type-3b (as indeed it continues to be used elsewhere in Starfleet e.g. in [Message in a Bottle]), it will be noted that the type-3b tends to be deployed in situations of the highest hazard potential.

compression phaser rifles, designation phaser type-3b [Prey]

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