The shrunken Rubicon activates a control panel on the Defiant.
The USS Rubicon (NCC-72936) was a Danube-class runabout assigned to Deep Space 9. The Rubicon was a replacement for the USS Mekong, and commenced operations in late 2371. Commander Sisko suggested the name for the new runabout. (DS9: "Family Business")
In early 2372, the Rubicon, carrying Julian Bashir and Miles O'Brien, was forced down on Bopak III by a subspace magneton pulse. It was discovered that the pulse had been sent by a group of Jem'Hadar on the planet's surface, who were seeking help to combat withdrawal symptoms from their ketracel-white addiction. (DS9: "Hippocratic Oath")
Later that year, Jadzia Dax asked Captain Sisko for his permission to send a science team to a trinary star system. Sisko told her they could take the Rubicon. (DS9: "Accession")
On stardate 51474.2, the Rubicon was used as part of an investigation into a rare subspace compression phenomenon. Due to unexpected circumstances, the Rubicon, with a crew of three (Dax, O'Brien and Bashir), was forced to re-enter normal space by an alternate path, resulting in the vessel shrinking to a length of 6.5cm. It was later safely reverted to its original size after helping to thwart a Jem'Hadar takeover of the Defiant. (DS9: "One Little Ship")
- Named for the famous river in Italy. The Rubicon is used by Benjamin Sisko and Elim Garak to travel to Earth in the novel Hollow Men.
Template:DanubeClassRunabouts