Gorn hunter ship
The Gorn hunter ship was a type of small warship employed by the Gorn Hegemony during the 23rd century.
Technical data
Despite its small size, the Gorn hunter was well-armed with plasma weapons and was capable of atmospheric flight. The ship could generate a hologram to conceal itself from sensors, though a scan for polarized EM signatures would expose it as an optical distortion.
Like the much larger Gorn destroyer, Gorn hunters projected patterns of light for inter-ship communication. It was operated by a single pilot. (SNW: "Memento Mori", "Hegemony, Part II")
History
La'An Noonien-Singh and her brother Manu frequently saw Gorn hunters overhead while they were held captive on a Gorn breeding planet.
Gorn hunter attacking the Enterprise
In 2259, the USS Enterprise was attacked by three Gorn hunters and a Gorn destroyer near Finibus III. Hiding inside a brown dwarf, the Enterprise destroyed one of the hunters with an unguided photon torpedo, and another by luring it to such a depth that it imploded from atmospheric pressure. The third hunter was destroyed when the shuttlecraft Galileo transmitted a light code to the destroyer claiming that the hunter had been taken over by Humans, causing it to fire on the smaller craft. (SNW: "Memento Mori")
In 2260, three Gorn hunters participated in the attack on the USS Cayuga and the colony on Parnassus Beta. They and a destroyer subsequently engaged the Enterprise over the planet. A massive number of Gorn hunters were part of an armada witnessed by the Enterprise heading for an invasion of Federation space. (SNW: "Hegemony", "Hegemony, Part II")
After breaking out of captivity on the Gorn destroyer, La'An Noonien-Singh, Erica Ortegas, Joseph M'Benga and Samuel Kirk stole an unguarded Gorn hunter to escape. Despite being seriously wounded, Ortegas managed to pilot the craft, chased by another hunter until the Enterprise sent the Gorn into a long hibernation cycle, causing all of the Gorn ships to return to their homeworld. La'An was able to contact the Enterprise who hacked the ship's systems using codes stolen by La'An and beamed the Starfleet personnel off of the Gorn hunter. (SNW: "Hegemony, Part II")
Ships of the class
Background information
The Gorn hunter ship and the Gorn destroyer were designed by J. Alan Scott of Legacy Effects.