Class and Type: Eclipse-class Special Operations Ship
Commissioning Date: 2361
Lead Engineer: Marcus "Bad Karma" Grebe

Hull Characteristics
Size: 3 (124 meters long, 6 decks)
Resistance: 2
Structural Points: 60
Operations Characteristics
Crew/Passengers: 46/30
   [4 pwr/round]
Computers: 6
   [6 pwr/round]
Transporters: 2 personnel, 2 cargo
   [2 pwr/round]
Propulsion and Power Characteristics
Warp System: 5.0/6.0/9.5 (1 hour)
   [2/warp factor]
Impulse System: .5 c/.75 c
   [5/7 pwr/round]
Power: 130 (30 in Silent Running Mode, see below)
Sensor Systems
Long-range Sensors: +2/30 light-years
   [6 pwr/round]
Lateral Sensors: +2/1 light-year
   [4 pwr/round]
Passive Sensors: -1/600,000 km (see below)
   [2 pwr/round]
Navigational Sensors: +1
   [5 pwr/round]
Sensor Skill: 5
Weapons Systems
Type V Phaser:
   Range: 10/30,000/100,000/300,000
   Arc: All (720 degrees)
   Accuracy: 5/6/8/11
   Damage: 10
   Power: [10]
Type II Photon Torpedoes:
   Number: 16
   Launchers: 1 fv, 1 ad
   Spread: 4
   Arc: Forward or aft, but are self-guided
   Range: 15/300,000/1,000,000/3,500,000
   Accuracy: 4/5/7/10
   Damage: 20
   Power: [5]
  Power: [5]
Weapons Skill: 4
Defensive Systems:
Starfleet Deflector Shields
   Protection: 25/50
   Power: [25]
Dampening Field
   Power: [15]

Description and Notes
Fleet data: The Eclipse-class ships were only designed for one purpose alone: to spy on the enemy.  Only 6 vessels of this class where built and are used exclusively by Starfleet Intelligence for intelligence gathering, insertion and extraction of Mission Teams and other covert operations.

The Eclipse-class sacrifices weapons capacity and crew comfort for enhanced long range sensor arrays, an additional computer core for the purpose of processing gathered data and special stealth capacities (see below).

Standard operations call for these spy ships to get to a specific location (usually within threat space), remain on station to gather data by sensors or deploy/retrieve Mission Teams and then get back to friendly territory, all without being detected. Since not even Starfleet Intelligence employs cloaking devices, every measure has been taken to make the Eclipse-class as undetectable as possible. Stealth hull coating reduces EM-radiation, specialized dampening fields suppress all forms of  emissions from within the ship, and the hull is even painted black and running lights turned off to avoid visual detection.

Since the Eclipse-class's mission is secrecy, its weapons complement is limited.  If the ship's captain has to resort to the use of weapons, the mission is already considered to be a failure.

Although the ship has a single holodeck, it is mostly used for briefings and to train Mission Teams for upcoming missions while en route.

Currently, four of the Eclipse-class ships are on standby to be used by the Ops Department of Starfleet Intelligence for a variety of missions. The other two are attached to the Directorate of Administration’s Evaluation Section of Starfleet Intelligence and are gathering intelligence along the Romulan Neutral Zone and the DMZ. (See The First Line: Starfleet Intelligence Handbook for further info about Starfleet Intelligence.)

Noteworthy vessels / service records / encounters: U.S.S. Eclipse, prototype; U.S.S. Darkness, gathered intelligence along the Romulan Neutral Zone that indicated Ambassador Spock's presence on Romulus in 2368; U.S.S. Black Fire, gathered intelligence along the DMZ that let to the insertion of a Starfleet officer into a Marquis cell in 2371.

"Silent Running Mode"
When in Silent Running Mode, the Warp Core is shut down (meaning Warp Speed is NOT available when in Silent Running Mode) to reduce the energy signature of the ship. Power is then generated by conventional fusion reactor. Most of the available energy is used by a specially configured, ship- wide dampening field that is activated when in Silent Running Mode to reduce emissions from the ship. Life support is reduced to 75%, only one computer core is kept active and all non-essential subsystems, including transporters, are taken off-line. Active sensors are deactivated as well, but the passive sensors remain operational. Although the range of passive sensors is severely limited and it is a lot harder to get sensor data, the senor emissions are negligible. This way, the ship is not completely blind.

Weapons and shields are also powered down but remain on hot standby to be activated instantly if necessary.

Ideally, the ship should not be moving when in Silent Running Mode. However, a speed of up to .1c is possible without increasing the chance of detection dramatically.

Even when not in Silent Running Mode, Eclipse-class ships are harder to detect with long-range sensors. A Challenging (10) test is required (range does not matter this time) to detect it. Use the following table for Difficulty Numbers and Modifiers:

(note that "ship“ means the Eclipse-class ship, not the ship that is searching)

If the ship is in range for lateral sensor (1 light year) the Target Number drops to a Moderate (8) but all of the above Modifiers still apply. Note also that when in a battle situation where the ship has been detected previously and is not in Silent Running Mode, Sensor Operations and Target Lock are resolved normally.

When trying to detect an Eclipse-class ship in silent running mode, use the following Difficulty Numbers and Modifiers for senor operation tests. Even if the test succeeds, the operator can only detect that there is "something out there that could be a ship."  To confirm that the contact is really a ship and to collect more data an additional test is required, using the numbers given below but with a -4 bonus.

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