Star Trek Reveals Riker's Mission Aboard the Titan

By Jamie Lovett

Star Trek has finally revealed new details about Capt. William T. Riker's time commanding the USS Titan. The Star Trek Logs Instagram account uploaded several fictional data files detailing the lives of Star Trek: Picard's main characters and the histories of its ships. The file on the USS Titan revealed that the original Titan launched before the signing of the Khitomer accords, commanded by Capt. Saavik. It served as the flagship of the fleet after Starfleet decommissioned the Enterprise-A. Fans already know that the Titan-A is the "hero ship" of Picard's third season. But what about the Luna-class Titan, which Riker took command of after Star Trek: Nemesis, which has only appeared on-screen in Star Trek: Lower Decks?

The Titan file confirms that Starfleet designed the NCC-80102 Luna-class Titan as a tactical heavy cruiser. Starfleet fitting the ship for battle made sense since it launched in 2379, during a particularly volatile time in Starfleet's history. The Dominion War had only just ended, and the Borg and Romulan threats still lingered. In 2280, Riker took the Titan on a series of dangerous "tactical" missions to secure the Federation's borders in the Beta Quadrant, which proved successful. However, such adventures eventually led to the ship suffering considerable damage. The Federation pulled the ship from service in 2398.

What happened to the USS Titan in Star Trek?

Saavik and Riker had established the Titan's reputation as a significant ship in Starfleet history. Thus, Starfleet originally planned to repair and refit the vessel. However, the data file explains that propulsion technology underwent significant advancements around the same time, leading Starfleet to pivot towards creating an entirely new ship bearing the Titan's name and registry number with an additional letter at the end, the Constitution III-class Titan NCC-80102-A. That's a rare honor for a starship, usually reserved for ships like the Enterprise. The Titan-A has another unusual feature. The refit had already begun when plans changed. Thus, the Titan-A, while still considered a brand new Starship, contains many of the Luna-class Titan's internal parts.

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While the Titan has only appeared in Lower Decks, many novels have chronicled the ship's adventures. The Star Trek: Picard novel Dark Veil chronicles one such mission and may reveal how Riker and Deanna Troi's son, Thaddeus, became terminally ill. Before that, an entire series of Star Trek: Titan novels followed the ship's post-Star Trek: Nemesis adventures until that version of the Star Trek universe concluded with the Star Trek: Coda trilogy.

Star Trek: Picard Season 3 premieres on Paramount+ on February 16th.

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