Runabouts are designed for long-term use as patrol, rescue, etc craft from a stationary base. DS9 implies they carry common spare parts, have some medical equipment past basic first aid kits, onboard replicators, and most notably, a tractor beam, something “shuttles” in series aren’t really depicted as having until Voyager (and then only on the delta flyer.) It’s also strongly implied they can have additional, mission-specific equipment such as additional sensors, modular weapons pods, etc easily mounted to them if statements made in Deep Space 9 are any indicator.

Star Trek Deep Space Nine

The best analogy I’ve got in modern terms is an old coast guard “motor lifeboat” from the 1960s to 1990s which were sometimes, albeit rarely armed. They’d serve as light tug boats, support boats to larger cutters, basically any role where a small boat with the ability to operate outside of a harbor for Star Trek Deep Space Nine DS9 20 Logo short time periods could be necessary. Including yes, as a sometimes lightly armed craft.

Again, this craft may or may not have warp drive. While the Type-15 Shuttlepod alternately has one or two control stations, the larger shuttles all have 2. And while there’s more space in the shuttle, it’s not all that much more comfortable. The passenger seating is two benches, and you’re sharing that space with any cargo aboard. It’s not necessarily a good mid-long range transport, but good for short hops.

And that brings us to the Runabout. The Shuttle Ansel Adams, for example, bears the registration code NCC-1701-D 06. Runabouts are different.

Star Trek Deep Space Nine DS9 20 Logo

First of all, Runabouts are all warp-capable. They’re also individual ships with a unique registry and ship class. The Star Trek Deep Space Nine DS9 20 Logo Shuttle Ansel Adams is a Type 7 shuttle, The Runabout USS Rio Grande is a starship, NCC-72452. They have a much larger interior. In the shows, we generally just see the main compartment, which has space for 4 crew stations as well as a large amount of space. They also have a large rear compartment that can be reconfigured – it’s seen in the TNG episode Timescape, used as a communal dining room (the set was built for use on DS9 but charged to TNG’s budget, and then they wound up never using it on DS9!) Runabouts are designed to be used for mid-range travel, as larger starship auxiliaries capable of independent operation, and in a pinch, as a small combat craft – they’re capable of mounting torpedo barbettes to provide more firepower than a shuttle’s phasers.

With this in mind, the producers of Trek wanted to use a term for the ships assigned to DS9 that was more than a shuttle but without tagging them as being the equivalent of a starship. Runabout was right there as a term for marine vessels, wasn’t in use in Star Trek, and vaguely fit the bill.

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