Turkana IV was the inhabited fourth planet in the Turkana system. The planet was located in the Beta Quadrant and was home to a failed Earth colony. Turkana City was one of the settlements on this planet.
Turkana IV colony
A failed experiment
The planet's government began breaking down in the 2330s. Dozens of factions developed, and civil war broke out. The Turkana government gave police powers to the two largest factions, the Coalition and the Alliance, but it was quickly overthrown by those cadres, and the planet severed relations with the Federation by 2352, the two factions declaring the planet's independence.
Lawlessness became the norm, and rape gangs became a common threat. For some of the citizens, drugs became an escape from the poverty and violence that they had to face every day. Few citizens escaped the planet. One of those fortunate enough to do so was Tasha Yar, who left the planet at age fifteen, and later went on to become a Starfleet officer. (TNG: "The Naked Now", "Where No One Has Gone Before", "Symbiosis", "Legacy")
Re-establishing contact
In 2361, the USS Potemkin attempted to contact the colony. The vessel was warned away with the threat that anyone beaming down to the surface would be killed.
Six years later, the USS Enterprise-D visited Turkana IV, in response to a distress call from the freighter Arcos. The Arcos was lost, but survivors crash landed on the planet in an escape pod. At that time, the surface structures had all been destroyed by years of civil war, and the planet's inhabitants lived in structures that extended up to three kilometers below the surface. Proximity detectors were used to separate the two factions, and both sides' bases were heavily defended in order to prevent all-out conflict. (TNG: "Legacy")
See also
Stellar Cartography
In 2371, the location of Turkana IV was labeled in a star chart Data and Captain Picard studied in stellar cartography aboard the USS Enterprise-D in 2371. (Star Trek Generations, okudagram)
Appendices
Background information
This planet's quadrant of origin is inferred based on the position of its star system as seen in the star chart appearing in the Star Trek: Picard episode "Maps and Legends".
According to the Star Trek Encyclopedia, 4th ed., vol. 2, p. 427 and StarTrek.com, Turkana IV was an M-class planet. [1](X)
Apocrypha
The FASA Star Trek: The Next Generation First Year Sourcebook referred to this remote mining world as "Hokma V".
External links
- Turkana IV at Memory Beta, the wiki for licensed Star Trek works
- Re-Used Planets in TNG at Ex Astris Scientia