An Andorian commander who became Archer's friend and rival.
Shran is an Andorian commander in Star Trek: Enterprise, played by Jeffrey Combs. Proud, hot-tempered and contemptuous of the Vulcans, whom his people distrust, he first meets Captain Archer in The Andorian Incident, when Andorians storm a Vulcan monastery in search of hidden surveillance equipment.
Archer's honesty and courage win his grudging respect, and the two develop a friendship of rivals. Shran helps Enterprise during the Xindi mission, and in the fourth season he is central to the effort to stop a Romulan plot to set Andorians, Vulcans and Tellarites against each other. In United he fights a ritual duel with Archer that costs him an antenna, and in The Aenar he introduces Archer to the blind Andorian subspecies.
His partner Talas is killed during the crisis with the Tellarites, and his grief shows a softer side beneath his bluster. Shran's cooperation with Archer anticipates the founding of the Federation.