Shuttlecraft

Shuttlecraft, or shuttles, or Gratuitous Device for Separating Key Characters to Create Illusion of Drama, are smallish auxiliary space vessels carried by starships and held by starbases. It is never made clear whether these vehicles have warp drive, but one would think so; why else would a trained Starfleet captain and an even more experienced commodore try to chase the wicked fast Enterprise on what essentially be a bicycle. TOS: "Spock, Come Back!".