USS Lakota
The Defiant and the Lakota battle.
The USS Lakota (NCC-42768) is a refit Excelsior-class Federation starship in service in the 24th century. In 2372, the Lakota ferried Captain Benjamin Sisko, his son Jake and Odo from Deep Space 9 to Earth following the bombing of the Antwerp Conference. (DS9: "Homefront")
Unknown to most at the time, the Lakota had undergone a weapons upgrade, including quantum torpedoes and upgraded phasers. Shortly after Sisko's arrival on Earth, Admiral Leyton placed Erika Benteen in command of the Lakota on the 14th of that month. Leyton intended for the Lakota to play a part in his attempted coup; following the global power outage, it served as a transporter and communications relay base to deploy Starfleet Security forces across the planet.
Shortly after, Leyton ordered the Lakota to intercept the USS Defiant, which was en route to Earth with evidence of Leyton's treasonous actions. In the battle that ensued, it sustained 24 casualties. The Lakota was unable to disable the Defiant as ordered, in part due to the unexpected presence of ablative armor on the latter. The Lakota was on the verge of destruction with the Defiant faring only marginally better, but Captain Benteen stood down her vessel rather than use quantum torpedoes to destroy the Defiant as Leyton ordered. (DS9: "Paradise Lost")
- The Lakota was a re-use of the adapted Excelsior model of the Enterprise-B from Star Trek: Generations. It was named for the Native American tribe.
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