Kapit Courier

The Kapit Courier began life as a design study to turn the failed Takaaki Courier design into a worthwhile ship; this soon shifted to a clean-sheet design, with the emphasis put on reaction capability and warp speed. The design was locked down for final development before 45 Gabriel; nonetheless, the scout/skirmish frigate designs of the Amarki and Starfleet caught Cardassian attention even before that battle. Equipped with modern impulse engines, nacelles, and warp cores, the Kapit Courier apparently only operates civilian-grade long-range sensors, making it a skirmisher rather than a scout-skirmisher. Trangot is believed to be the primary shipyard for the Kapit Courier.

It compares oddly to Starfleet vessels, being slightly better armed and defended than the Kepler-class, but inferior in all but speed to any general-purpose frigate and even that to the Comet. The low crew requirements are notable. Starfleet intelligence describes it as meant solely to move dignitaries or security forces between Cardassian worlds.