USS Defiant

The USS Defiant (NX-74205) is a fictional starship in the television series Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (DS9) and the feature film Star Trek: First Contact. The lead ship of her class and one of the Federation's first purpose-built warships, the Defiant first appears in the third-season DS9 episode "The Search, Part I", after which it plays a significant role throughout the series in the ensuing Dominion War. While the original Defiant is destroyed in the show's seventh season, Starfleet sends a replacement ship of the same class, the USS Sao Paulo, which receives special dispensation from the Chief of Starfleet Operations to be renamed as the Defiant.

In the episode "Defiant", the character Gul Dukat describes the ship as "one of the most heavily armed warships in the Quadrant," while in the film Star Trek: First Contact, William Riker describes her as a "tough little ship."

Design
The Defiant was initially designed by Star Trek: Deep Space Nine art illustrator Jim Martin with contributions from visual effects supervisor Gary Hutzel and modelmaker Tony Meininger. The Defiant's addition to DS9 was intended to solve the problem of cramped runabout sets according to statements by Robert-Hewitt Wolfe. Original designs called for a "beefed-up" runabout-type ship, but this gave way to a full-fledged starship design, initially called Valiant. This name was dropped out of fear that it would conflict with Star Trek: Voyager and its titular starship, also beginning with a "V". For a brief time it was considered to retain Valiant as the name of the class, but dialog in "The Search" and the ship's dedication plaque firmly establish the Defiant as the pathfinder.

The name Valiant would later be given to another Defiant-class ship in the DS9 episode "Valiant". Although not an actual initial design in the real-world, one of the in-universe designs for the Defiant appears, somewhat modified, as the Nova-class USS Equinox in the Star Trek: Voyager episode "Equinox".

Depiction
The ship's backstory is outlined in its first appearance, the third-season episode "The Search". The Defiant is a prototype vessel for the Defiant-class warship, originally developed to counter the Borg threat. It is officially designated as an escort vessel to avoid the perception that Starfleet builds warships, as it is primarily a peacekeeping and exploration force. Following the Borg invasion, the United Federation of Planets approved a project committed to enhancing Starfleet's offensive and defensive military capabilities; the Defiant was the end result of that project. According to his statement in the episode "Defiant", Benjamin Sisko (Avery Brooks) was in charge of the shipyard where the Defiant was built and helped design it during his assignment to the Utopia Planitia Fleet Yards.

Although it was designed to be fast and highly maneuverable with powerful weaponry, the Defiant was 'overgunned and overpowered' for a vessel of its size. The ship's structural integrity field needed extensive modifications to keep the Defiant from tearing itself apart. The ship was designed specifically for battle, featuring innovative pulse-phaser cannons and quantum torpedo armaments, in addition to photon torpedoes, standard phasers and a high-capacity deflector shield system. Another asset is its ablative armor, enabling the ship to sustain multiple hits from enemy weapons even with the shields inoperable with minimal damage. Inside, the Defiant is relatively spartan by Starfleet standards of the time: the ship is not designed to carry family members, has no science labs or holodecks, and has a limited infirmary. Crew quarters consist of two bunk beds and a general computer interface. Individual quarters have food replicators, but the mess hall is a popular place for the crew to eat on missions.

The subsiding Borg threat and failed systems tests (particularly in regard to the ship's overpowered engines) led the development project to be stalled and the prototype to be mothballed. Following work done at Deep Space Nine, the class would later go into production with at least a half dozen other ships in service by 2374 and onward.

Appearances
First contact with the Jem'Hadar in 2370 convinced Sisko to ask Starfleet for the Defiant so he would be better prepared for contact with the leaders of the Dominion. Starfleet agreed and the Defiant was posted at Deep Space Nine under Sisko's command. The Defiant allows the station's crew to travel faster and further with far more firepower than the station's Danube-class runabouts can provide. While there is no designated commanding officer, Sisko is most frequently seen as skipper of the Defiant.

The Defiant is the first Starfleet ship to legally carry a cloaking device. Supplied by the Romulan Star Empire, the cloak is initially operated by a Romulan officer serving aboard the Defiant. An agreement between the Federation and the Romulans limits the use of the cloak to intelligence-gathering missions in the Gamma Quadrant in exchange for all of Starfleet's intelligence on the Dominion. However, on several occasions, such as the rescue of the Detapa Council (DS9: "The Way of the Warrior"), the cloaking device was used illegally in the Alpha Quadrant.

In 2373, the Defiant is part of a Starfleet task force that tries to stop the Borg in the Battle of Sector 001, as told in Star Trek: First Contact. While most of the Federation starships are destroyed early in the engagement, the Defiant manages to continue fighting the Borg Cube as it approaches Earth. However by then she is shieldless and weaponless, so her commanding officer Lieutenant Commander Worf orders the crew to prepare for ramming speed. This kamikaze action is prevented when the Enterprise arrives and draws Borg fire away, while also beaming Worf and the other surviving crew off of the stricken Defiant. The Defiant is left severely damaged and adrift but the Enterprise's crew assure Worf that it can be salvaged. An early screenplay draft called for the Defiant to be destroyed, but Deep Space Nine executive producer Ira Steven Behr objected to the destruction of his show's ship and so the idea was dropped.

In 2375, the Breen destroyed the USS Defiant during the Second Battle of Chin'toka. The battle marks the first time the Breen use their energy-damping weapon.

During the planning of the invasion of Cardassia Prime some months later, a new Defiant-class starship, the USS Sao Paulo (NCC-75633), is assigned to Deep Space Nine. The Starfleet Chief of Operations grants special dispensation to rename the ship Defiant. Although the USS Sao Paulo commissioning plaque gives a registry of "NCC-75633", in all exterior shots the new ship has the "NX-74205" registry. This is because most external shots of the new vessel were reused shots of the old one, and the new CG shots subsequently used the same registry number for consistency.

Ron Moore said in the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion that the new ship was intended to be designated "Defiant-A", but it was prohibitive to redo the CG model for one episode because stock shots from earlier episodes had to be used as well for budgetary reasons. Nevertheless Moore stated that as far as he was concerned, the change did happen.

The Sao Paulo dedication plaque used the English spelling, without the tilde, instead of São Paulo.

In the DS9 episode "Shattered Mirror", a Mirror Universe version of the Defiant is seen, constructed by the Terran Rebellion. Mirror-O'Brien had stolen the blueprints for the Defiant from Deep Space Nine's computer in a previous episode, but the Terran rebels encounter the same structural issues that the crew in the "prime universe" crew encountered in early Season Three. The rebels kidnap Ben and Jake Sisko because they need Ben to repair their Defiant's design flaws. A computer readout, barely visible onscreen, gives the ship's name as the 'ISS Defiant'.

In other media

 * The USS Defiant, Moscow, Valiant and São Paulo are selectable on the PC game Star Trek: Legacy in The Next Generation era.


 * The Defiant-class is a playable ship class in the MMORPG Star Trek Online.


 * The USS Defiant-class is a purchasable expansion ship in the board game Star Trek Attack Wing.