Port view of Zobral's ship
Ventral view of Zobral's ship
Zobral's ship was a small, warp-capable starship owned by Zobral during the mid-22nd century. Sleek and wedge-shaped, it could penetrate narrow gaps in the planetary defense system on the Torothan homeworld without being detected.
In 2151, Enterprise received a distress call from Zobral's ship. The ship was taken aboard Enterprise, stored in one of the ship's launch bays, in order to receive necessary repairs. Two members of Enterprise's crew did some welding on the craft. It left shortly thereafter, heading to the Torothan homeworld. (ENT: "Desert Crossing")
Background information
Despite this vehicle clearly being referred to as a "ship" on screen and in the final draft script of "Desert Crossing", the scripted references to the vessel additionally twice called it "Zobral's shuttlecraft" and twice "Zobral's shuttle". The craft, in the same script, was described thus; "It's an exotic-looking vessel that shows signs of heavy wear and tear – scrapes, scorch marks, dents, etc."
In the final version of "Desert Crossing", Zobral's ship appears in two scenes, the first of which shows it in one of Enterprise's launch bays and the second demonstrates it making its departure from the starship. Though the first scene suggested a full scale mock-up of Zobral's craft had been constructed, the ship was actually depicted as a CGI effect (as was scripted). Visual Effects Supervisor Ronald B. Moore elaborated, "There was some stuff that we had to cover up. For example, where the shuttle is there was a big welder and all of the cables and stuff. The only shot we did greenscreen was when Zobral turned and walked toward the shuttle. I was a little concerned about that because the director had him step up like he was going to go up into it. I was like, 'You know, I don't even know what this looks like.' The actor got up there, stepped inside and drove it away!" The effect was composited by Fred Pienkos at Eden FX. (Star Trek: The Magazine Volume 3, Issue 7, p. 57)
As evidenced by the final draft script of "Desert Crossing", Zobral's ship was intended to appear in a third scene, with a reuse of footage depicting it in a launch bay aboard Enterprise. However, the craft is clearly off-camera in the final version of this scene.