Nausicaan raider Nausicaan raiders were vessels employed by Nausicaan pirate s during the mid - 22nd century for raiding freighter routes . These vessels were armed with forward and aft plasma cannon s and possessed primitive shields . Although their weapons were considered formidable to a freighter , Nausicaan raiders were outmatched by starship s , whose spatial torpedo es were capable of piercing Nausicaan shields . Three of these vessels , operating out of a Nausicaan cargo station , attacked the and raided its cargo for a period of several months during 2151 . Fortunately , the Starfleet vessel was able to offer assistance during that year . ( ) Background information . In the script of " Fortunate Son " , this type of vessel was described as " small " and " fast . " The bridge of a Nausicaan raider was scripted to be " dark , " although the final version of the room clearly features large , colorful wall panels . Also , the offensive and defensive specifications of a Nausicaan raider were scripted thus ; " " Medium yield plasma cannons . Simple ( TECH ) shielding , " " where the word " tech " was later to be replaced by a more technical term . In the episode ' s final version , this became , " " Fore and aft plasma cannons , " " and a less direct reference , immediately thereafter , to the craft having shields . s production design team received the instruction to design a small Nausicaan attack fighter during the show ' s first season . Even though Nausicaan starships had never before been portrayed , inspiration for the forthcoming design was taken from how Nausicaans themselves had been established as typically behaving ; due to their thuggish nature as belligerent troublemakers , their vessels had to have a fittingly threatening and aggressive appearance . Illustrator John Eaves began designing the Nausicaan vessel by sketching out a variety of basic shapes . " " I just threw a whole bunch of stuff together , " " he stated . These initial sketches included a design concept for a Vulcan ship , which Eaves had drawn earlier . The same ship layout , with blade - like curves , gave Eaves a design direction , which he expanded upon in the other sketches . As he became increasingly more inspired , Eaves felt the look he was aiming for was somewhere " between the bottom of a shovel and a manta ray . " The producers approved one of the initial illustrations as the final version , a configuration Eaves likened to a manta ray . " " On this one , " " he continued , " " they chose a ship right off the first pass [ . . . ] It was a busy show , so I didn ' t get to flesh it out a little bit more , but I didn ' t need to . " " The reason it wasn ' t essential for John Eaves to plan all the details of the Nausicaan craft was that the CGI artists knew how to proceed from his rudimentary design , anyway . At Eden FX , Lead CG Artist Pierre Drolet took Eaves ' illustration and digitally turned it into a three - dimensional model . Drolet incorporated some of his own ideas into the design , shading the Nausicaan ship with an earthy color scheme , and added detailing such as the forward plasma cannons . All these finishing touches helped give the ship its highly sought - after aggressive look . ( " " , issue 30 , pp . 16 - 17 ) The bridge of the Nausicaan raider was built as a set on Paramount Stage 8 . Presumably , these vessels had warp drive and could travel faster than warp 1 . 8 , the maximum speed of the " Fortunate " , for them to be able to constantly locate , track , attack , and raid said vessel over an extended period of time . Issue 30 of " " lists the Nausicaan fighters as having a maximum speed of warp two and a length of ninety meters .