Orion scout ship The Orion scout ship was a type of scout ship utilized by the Orion s during the mid - 23rd century . The Orion scout ship had a unique design , previously unknown to Starfleet , consisting of an oblong primary hull attached by a central " spine " to a large vertical ring , perpendicular to the primary hull , which contained the ship ' s propulsion system . The propulsion system itself consisted of two four - spoke components , each containing four propulsion unit s . These two components spun independently of each other while the ship was in flight . The scout ship ' s hull was composed of high density trititanium , allowing the vessel to be " cloaked " against Federation sensor probe s . This technology was unlike the cloaking device used by the Romulan s . While moderately armed with standard phaser s , the scout ship was capable of evading both phaser and photon torpedo fire , due to its incredible speed ; indeed , capable of traveling at warp 10 in combat . While " en route " to Babel from , in 2268 , the encountered an intruder vessel , later discovered to be an Orion scout ship . Due to the vessel ' s design , it was able to block the sensor probes of the " Enterprise " , allowing the ship to remain unidentified , and the size of its crew masked . After making multiple strafing runs at the " Enterprise " , it was eventually defeated by the " Enterprise " in combat , after " Enterprise " Captain James T . Kirk allowed his ship to drift , baiting the Orion ship in to a range of about 75 , 000 kilometer s , before disabling it with a few phaser shots . The scout ' s crew chose to set their vessel to self - destruct rather than be captured . ( ) Background information . Footage of the original " spinning wheel " starship optical was recycled in , representing the Ekosian V - 2 rocket . Studio model . Originally featured as a " spinning wheel of light " , or rather as a " faint glowing blip " ( Scene 24 , Script draft , 14 September 1967 , p . 15 ) or simply as a " pulsing light " ( Scene 15a , Script draft , 20 September 1967 , p . 16 ) , the original appearance of the Orion scout ship suffered from the series ' budget limitations , having to make do with a fairly simple optical effect , but would ultimately be revised for the remastered episode that aired in , when the visual was replaced with a full - fledged CGI model . Having been given a certain amount of leeway in their design creativity , the digital artists managed to " " remained faithful to the original effect , but embellished it by creating an ingenious ship design that used the spinning lights as a powerful alien propulsion system . " " Responsible for its design was the remastering project ' s Visual Effects Producer Michael Okuda . The new , digital model itself was constructed at CBS Digital in the CGI software . ( " Sci - fi & fantasy modeller " , Vol . 26 , p . 49 ) In 2015 , former " Star Trek " Producer Dave Rossi made the entire starship database of the remastered " Original Series " available to Project Manager Ben Robinson for representation in the British partwork publication " " from Eaglemoss Collections . However , these models , including the Gorn starship , were not quite production and / or print ready as the models needed to be converted into , the software package of choice for the vast majority of " Star Trek " digital modelers . Robinson assigned Fabio Passaro , among others , to this chore . The intent of release was made public by Robinson in late May 2015 . Thrilled by the prospect that his favorite remastered " Original Series " design , having coined it an " Orion raider " himself , was considered a prospect for representation in the physical world , designer Okuda was particularly looking forward to this possible outing ; " " I ' ve always wanted a model of it , " " he stated . Apocrypha . The ship was used in the " Star Trek Online " expansion " Agents of Yesterday " . In the mission " Return to Babel " , players end up boarding the ship to deliver a bomb that the Na ' kuhl planted on the " Enterprise " . The ship ' s power was revealed to be due to a union with the Na ' kuhl themselves . Instead of the ship self - destructing , the bomb that was returned destroyed the ship instead .