Small craft introduced in the 24th Century to facilitate short-range scientific and exploratory missions, Danube-class Runabouts were commonly based off of Federation outposts to enlarge their spheres of influence. These bases used Danube Runabouts on missions that standard shuttlecraft could not, such as extended range patrols and light combat missions. These vessels were quite successful, and the design continues to be refined.

Runabouts can under some circumstances be carried and based off of starships rather than orbital or planetary bases. A runabout stored in a ship's standard shuttlebay facilities occupies four (4) contiguous structure boxes. Any ship that elects to convert hangar space for runabout use must pay 5 combat points per structure box (20 per runabout) for the conversion. A minimum of two shuttlecraft must remain onboard any ship. When launching runabouts one of them counts as a single launch/land point.

I modeled Runabouts as SHF after trying them out as LCV's and deciding that it just didn't work right at that scale. The weapons on the Danube are approximations of the type of firepower that I think they should have, given the way they performed on DS9.

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