Xindi - Insectoid starship The Xindi - Insectoid ship was a type of warship used by the aggressive Xindi - Insectoid s in the 2150s . It consisted of a small central core containing the drive system and three extended wing - like sections extending forward , mounted at 120 degree angles along the fore - aft axis . The ships were heavily armed with pulse - firing particle cannon s and torpedo es . They were also highly decentralized in layout , possessing no central control room , reflecting the non - hierarchical nature of Insectoid culture . There was at least one room that had a viewscreen for communications . ( ) In early 2154 , discovered the wreckage of a crashed Insectoid ship while traveling to the Azati Prime system . The " Enterprise " crew discovered that the adult crew had died when they transferred power from life support to power the on - board hatchery , protecting their young . ( ) Insectoid ships participated in the attack on " Enterprise " at Azati Prime , as well as the battles to stop the Xindi weapon in February of 2154 . " In an alternate timeline in which the weapon was successful in destroying Earth , ships of this type were part of a Xindi assault fleet sent to destroy the last remnants of Human ity in the Ceti Alpha system in 2165 . During the battle , one was disabled by fire from the " Intrepid " and another starship and another Insectoid starship was destroyed by fire from the " Enterprise " . " ( ) Appendices . Background information . Despite being introduced in the episode , the final draft script for that episode gives no physical description of this type of craft . The brief for the Xindi - Insectoid starship was that it should look very alien and be physically unlike anything ever seen before . ( " " issue 24 , p . 11 ) The exterior of the " Xindi - Insectoid starship " was designed by John Eaves , who hit upon the design idea after he had a lobster dinner . Eaves was visiting the local market when inspiration struck . " " I was looking into the ice chest and saw these king - crab legs and I thought , ' Wow , that would make a really creepy appendage to a spaceship , ' so that was where those jaggedy crab - like jointed tendrils came from . " " ( " " issue 24 , p . 12 ) Continued Eaves , " " I got the assignment the next day to start working on the Xindi Insectizoid ship . Having those big buttery crab legs still on my mind , my subconscious mind doodled out the starship version of my dinner ! ! ! ! " " As well as the crab legs , other sources of inspiration came from insect anatomy , such as cricket legs . " " I was looking for anything that would give it a bug look , " " John Eaves clarified , regarding the Insectoid warship . " " On the backs of crickets they have that serrated shell , and that ' s where I got the breakdown of the detail in the central body area . It ' s got that kind of faceted , louvered look , which came from the back of a cricket . Then I figured it should have some kind of eye port – that would be where the bridge or the command centre would be . So , for that I mimicked bug eyes , but not directly . " " ( " " issue 24 , p . 12 ) John Eaves proceeded by illustrating an initial concept drawing of a thin ship with long ' arms ' that had three joints . Before submitting the initial design to the producers , Eaves produced a comparison drawing in which the Insectoid starship was beside " Enterprise " ( on its right ) and ( on its left ) the spherical Xindi weapon which attacks Earth in . ( " " issue 24 , p . 12 ) " " I was very happy with the first pass of this flying seafood dinner starship , " " enthused Eaves , " " and so was my boss , Herman Z . We drew up a couple of size charts and off it went to Mr . Berman ' s office . " " Rick Berman was enthusiastic about the basic concept of the design but requested one major change , specifically wanting to shorten the extremely long arms . ( " " issue 24 , p . 12 ) Explained Eaves , " " The drawing came back with a hard line through the middle of the legs that translated out to be , ' cut em off here . " " Returning to the drawing board , John Eaves eliminated the third limb of each of the Insectoid ship ' s arms , resulting in the design still having a " knuckle , " though pulled back to a smaller point . Eaves featured the shortened arms in his second and final pass . To his delight , this revised drawing was given the go - ahead , with unusually few drawings having been produced before acceptance . ( " " issue 24 , pp . 12 & 13 ) " " [ It ] got the approval in red ink and an actual written note ! ! ! " " Eaves exclaimed . " " WOW , that didn ' t happen too often ! ! ! " " The design was approved on . Eaves rendered a color illustration of the finalized design . It was deemed important , about the same time , that the coloration of the craft be slightly different from that of the Xindi - Reptilian warship s . The final design of the Insectoid vessel was approved by not only Rick Berman but also Executive Producer Brannon Braga , before the design was sent to Eden FX . ( " " issue 24 , p . 11 ) At Eden FX , Pierre Drolet built and rendered the design as a CGI model . During the build , Drolet had to make some adjustments , as he was mistaken about the flight direction of the ship . Eaves was pleased about Drolet ' s input , feeling the arrangement of the ship ' s central hub was refined and improved by Drolet . " " I love how he split the central core of the ship into two segments , " " Eaves remarked , " " instead of a symmetrical three piece section to match the three extrusions . " " Eaves was proud of the design in general , feeling it genuinely offered something different to the kind of ships normally presented on " Star Trek " . ( " " issue 24 , p . 12 ) Although John Eaves had designed the Insectoid starship to fly with two arms pointing up and one pointing down , the visual effects team , when the time came to create shots of the vehicle , decided the ship would look cool if it spun around . So , the warship ultimately appeared on screen in virtually every possible orientation . ( " " issue 24 , p . 18 ) Eaves briefly returned to his design , two months later , to produce a crash scene design – as reference for the modelers at Eden – for the episode . ; " " issue 24 , p . 13 ) In the final draft script of that outing , the ship was initially described as " " a crashed ALIEN VESSEL that ' s plowed a trench across the rocky surface [ of a planet ] ( NOTE : We ' ll eventually learn this is a Xindi - Insectoid ship . ) " " The same scripted scene referred to the craft as " exotic " and the script went on to say ( in a subsequent scene ) , " " The ship ' s sustained heavy damage . . . several breaches are visible in the outer hull . " " s art department designed the interiors of Xindi - Insectoid vessels by taking a cue from the fact the Insectoids themselves were imagined as requiring dark and moist environments . Production Designer Herman Zimmerman said of the interiors , " " We made three separate vacu - form [ wall panel ] s , brand new , for the Insectoids [ . . . ] even though we only saw environments for them twice – the inside of a control section for the ship , which was really a viewscreen shot [ " ] , and then the corridors and ' Hatchery ' . " " ( ) A typical corridor aboard one of these vessels was at first referred to , in the final draft script of " Hatchery " , as " cramped " . The next sentence stated , " " The corridor has a modular design , comprised of repeating , interchangeable segments . " " The same teleplay specified that the Insectoid vessel was to have a " large " shuttlebay , and a " narrow " airlock ( also referred to as a " vestibule " ) between two " large , circular " hatches , with " a small window " set into the center of one of those . In the final draft script of " Countdown " , the control area was described as simply " a one - wall set . " In the final draft script of , a group of Xindi - Insectoid starships swarming around the Xindi primary weapon upon its launch was likened to " gnats around a bull . " Apocrypha . In the Bethesda Softworks game " " , the Xindi - Insectoid ship was used for the " Xindi fighter " , albeit rotated 180 degrees . It also appeared in the game " " , where it was identified as a Xindi scout . In " Star Trek Online " the ship is known as the " Xindi - Insectoid " Olaen " - class Heavy Escort Carrier " , and it is equipped with a hangar bay capable of launching " Castroi " - class fighters ( whose design matches that of the Xindi - Insectoid scout ship ) in battle . It also carries an Infectious Biomatter Generator device , which can be fired at enemies to degrade their ships ' hull integrity and maneuverability .