Laneth ' s starship Laneth ' s starship was a type of small warship in the service of the Klingon Empire under the command of a Klingon Augment , Lieutenant Laneth . It was armed with disruptor s . In 2154 , Laneth ' s starship attacked and destroyed a that kidnapped Phlox from Earth . The Klingon ship then transported Phlox to the Qu ' Vat Colony . Later , Laneth ' s starship engaged , which was analyzing the freighter ' s debris . During the engagement , a boarding party was dispatched , and planted a computer virus on board " Enterprise " . In the process of the raid , one of Laneth ' s crew members , Marab , was captured while attempting to return to his ship . ( ) Background information . In the final draft script of " Affliction " , Laneth ' s starship was described as " a small , sleek alien vessel . " That description was followed by a bracketed note which pointed out , " " Although we don ' t know it , this vessel is a new type of Klingon ship . " " " Affliction " teleplay writer Mike Sussman once remarked , " " The reason that ship exists was because we wanted to hide the fact that the people beaming aboard " Enterprise " were Klingon . " " ( " " , issue 53 , p . 16 ) This configuration of Klingon ship , which is similar to a 22nd century style of , was designed by John Eaves . When the Klingon Augments ' ship first appeared , it wasn ' t meant to look recognizably Klingon at all , so as to initially conceal the identity of the ship ' s Klingon crew members . As a result , Eaves was asked to make the vessel seem as if it might be Klingon without looking too familiar . " " [ Supervising VFX Producer ] Peter Lauritson wanted something really different for this , " " Eaves recalled . " " He didn ' t know if he wanted us to go retro or for a sleeker version , or exactly what he wanted , but he was very clear he didn ' t want to have a " Bird - of - Prey " . He said do something completely different , make it angular , make it something that we ' ve not seen before . That was the guidance behind the design . " " ( " " , issue 53 , pp . 10 & 16 ) Because there had been so many " Star Trek " productions and associated spacecrafts by the time Laneth ' s ship was designed , giving it a completely new look was challenging . " " It was kind of like I had writer ' s block . I didn ' t know what other shapes to do ! " " John Eaves exclaimed . ( " " , issue 53 , pp . 10 - 11 ) He began the design process by drawing three rough concept sketches . One of the illustrations , showing quite a familiar Klingon design with wings and an extended neck , was immediately rejected for looking too familiar . Another of the designs demonstrated a style that was much smaller and more compact , while also resembling Goroth ' s starship from ENT Season 2 offering . " " Peter [ Lauritson ] liked that shape , " " Eaves recollected , " " so we went with that for a while . " " Despite this concept having some traction , the notion of using it as the Klingon craft fell by the wayside . For the third sketch , Eaves drew a more radical departure , illustrating a configuration which was partly similar to the compact design . However , Eaves extended it back and blended it into the shape of an engine pod from a battle cruiser . ( " " , issue 53 , p . 11 ) This concept was granted approval and Eaves was asked to use it as a starting point for a more finished design . ( " " , issue 53 , pp . 11 - 12 ) The design of this vessel was thereafter influenced by John Eaves reacting to his " artist ' s block " by heading to the Paramount mill , which was somewhere new and different for him to look for inspiration . He later recalled , " " They had this long level that bowed in the middle – you ' d hang it on a string and it would give you a floating level – and that was where the shape for this ship came from . " " ( " " , issue 53 , p . 12 ) Using this as an inspiration , John Eaves created three alternative designs that he could show the producers . " " We came up with these very unusual shapes , " " he noted . ( " " , issue 53 , p . 12 ) Though all three of the designs had dimensions that John Eaves considered " really strange " and extremely long , the ships he was designing were , in his mind , all relatively small . " " There was a point where they said no windows and no lights so you really don ' t have a sense of scale , " " he continued . " " Normally that was our guide . As I drawing I figured it was not necessarily super small ; it had a crew of maybe 15 or 20 people . " " ( " " , issue 53 , pp . 12 - 13 ) Some of the Klingon ship designs were essentially wingless ; John Eaves truncated the wings but didn ' t remove them entirely . He based this look on aircraft - carrier aircraft when they have their wings folded up . " " I thought it would be cool if that was the basis of the design , " " Eaves related . " " The wings would have been stationary – they don ' t extend – but it looked like they folded out . " " ( " " , issue 53 , p . 12 ) A couple of the three designs ultimately weren ' t recognizably Klingon . " " It was almost like a stealth dart as opposed to a winged vehicle [ . . . ] We ended up with this very Egyptian shape . The only thing that would distinguish them as Klingon , " " John Eaves supposed , " " was the kind of break up I had on the panels . " " ( " " , issue 53 , p . 12 ) The producers concluded the wingless designs were too much of a departure and didn ' t seem Klingon enough . The version they selected was most like the lengthy vessel from John Eaves ' original concept sketches , with shorter but still very recognizable wings . When it came to deciding the color of the ship , the producers chose to retain a distinctively Klingon color . " " I asked what color they wanted , " " Eaves recalled . " " Do you want a grey or a dark metal or something ? ' He said , ' Let ' s go with the green but don ' t put markings on it . ' I guess the idea was that without markings you wouldn ' t know it was Klingon . " " ( " " , issue 53 , p . 13 ) Although John Eaves was only beginning to learn how to use the computer program Photoshop , he tried to use it to digitally render the chosen ship design . " " This was the very first thing I did in Photoshop [ . . . ] I drew it with a mouse on a laptop , " " he explained . Despite Michael Okuda offering to help , Eaves found it enormously difficult to carry out this work on the craft . " " In the end I printed it and did pencil on top of it ! " " he exclaimed . ( " " , issue 53 , p . 13 )