Romulan scout ship The Romulan scout ship was a small scout ship used by the Romulan Star Empire during the latter half of the 24th century . This class of vessel rarely ventured out as far as the Romulan Neutral Zone . ( ) Configuration . The Romulan scout ship had the familiar " bird - of - prey " appearance that was shared with the much larger warbird ; like that class of vessel , the scout ship had a green hull , a pointed nose section , and a pair of wing sections that were decorated with scribed detailing which evoked feather s . The scout ship also had a few small inset areas on the surface of the hull , such as atop the wing sections , with a grille on the front of each of those sections . This class of vessel was equipped with deflector shield s . ( ) History . In 2366 , the Romulan scout ship " " crash - landed on Galorndon Core , inside Federation space , while conducting an unspecified covert mission . The " Pi " was destroyed with an ultritium explosive , after the crash , to prevent its capture by Starfleet . ( ) A few weeks later , another scout ship was encountered crossing the Neutral Zone by its occupant , Admiral Jarok , who used his vessel to defect to the Federation . Following a pursuit across the Neutral Zone from a Romulan warbird , Jarok , too , destroyed his ship to prevent its capture by Starfleet . ( ) Ships commissioned . Named Unnamed , by pilot Appendices . Background information . Designed by illustrator Rick Sternbach , the Romulan scout ship was initially created for its single appearance in the episode " The Defector " , whose script called for a new Romulan vessel . Romulan ship architecture had already been established by the warbird , which Sternbach himself had designed . The scout ship was definitely influenced by that configuration , since there wasn ' t much else , stylistically , to proceed from . However , Sternbach found the task of designing the scout ship fairly straightforward . " " There was nothing particularly challenging about the design once I started scribbling some loose shapes , " " he noted . It was Sternbach who gave the scout ship its bird - like look , pointed nose section , and green hull . All these elements were inspired by the " D ' deridex " - class . ( " " , issue 90 , p . 10 ) Rick Sternbach produced multiple drawings of the Romulan scout ship , at least two of which were line drawings . In at least one of the other illustrations , he labeled some parts of the vessel . Both that process and the creation of the pair of line drawings were to help the model makers . Some of the design elements were there merely to add detail as " just interesting tech shapes . " For instance , Sternbach added the small insets atop the wings , which he meant to be simply interesting breakups of the hull surface that might be almost any technical system . To him , they usually represented sensor packages , coolant widgets , or part of the vessel ' s communications system . On the other hand , Sternbach also liked to add features that he believed made sense from a practical perspective . Such was the case with the grilles on the front of the wing sections . " " I thought of them as impulse propulsion system intakes for use during atmospheric flight , " " he explained . " " They were part of a heated - air fusion system . In space , those weren ' t used , and with a scout ship the fusion exhaust may have been concentrated and stored as part of the craft ' s stealth capabilities , especially if there were no obvious impulse exhaust vents . " " After Sternbach completed his design work on the scout ship , his illustrations of the craft were sent to Greg Jein ' s workshop , where the model was constructed . ( " " , issue 90 , p . 11 ) Rick Sternbach was aware the Romulan scout ship was intended to be significantly smaller than the " D ' deridex " - class . However , it was the model makers , not him , who decided on the size of the scout ship studio model . Ultimately , the model ended up being bigger than Sternbach had imagined it , certainly in comparison with the size of the studio model . " " Based on my drawings , I could see the length of the scout ship being as much as 48 - 50m , but probably no more than that , " " Sternbach remarked . " " I thought maybe it would be big enough for a crew of three to four , and maybe six more troops or secret operatives . I had no control over what VFX did with the scale appearance , and we didn ' t really talk about it beforehand . " " ( " " , issue 90 , p . 10 ) The Romulan scout ship was later modified as the Romulan science vessel in . It was the last Romulan ship model built for " Star Trek " until the Romulan shuttle in the episode . For more information on this studio model , see TNG studio models . Apocrypha . In " " and , the Romulan scout ship was named as being of the " Talon " - class . Additionally , vessels of this type are listed in the ' expansion volume of Decipher ' s ' as " Theta " - class shuttle / surveyor s . The Decipher " Star Trek Customizable Card Game " , however , refers to the class as the " Lanora " - class scout . None of these designations have been used on - screen ; therefore , they cannot be considered canon .