Telepresence drone ship



The Telepresence drone ship was a type of remote starship used by the Romulan Star Empire.

Overview
The drone was created by Romulan engineers and scientists who used a T'Liss class bird of prey as the basis for an automated war machine. Its modified form contained a propulsion and command system that was identical to that of the larger Romulan warbirds of the era. They were equipped with a Holographic masking system allowing it to change its appearance to match that of any other ship. Its disruptor weapons contained a triphasic emitter allowing them to alter their weapon signature to match that of any other vessel. 

The Multi-Spectral Emitters and Tri-Phasic Emitters were elements that were retained in future versions of drone ships. (STO website: Legacy of Romulus Dev Blog #29)

The most unique aspect of the ship was the fact that it was unmanned and actually controlled remotely through a form of telepresence technology. A powerful telepath was required to operate the machine who controlled the drone and was capable of commanding it from many light years away. This meant that there were no crew within the ship which meant that there was no need for a life support system among the various decks. 

The 25th century version of drone ships lacked this telepresence technology but were instead controlled remotely by a command ship. (STO website: Legacy of Romulus Dev Blog #29)

A self repair system was present to fix any damage sustained. 

History
The drone-ships were constructed in the 2150s where it was used as part of a plan to disrupt the alliance that was emerging between the United Earth, Andorian Empire, Confederacy of Vulcan and the Tellarite people. Using a captured Aenar telepath, Romulan Admiral Valdore directed the drone ship to appear as a vessel of the Coalition and attacked another member. It was hoped that such an action would bring distrust and fracture the alliance before it could be established. The plan ultimately failed due to the intervention of the Earth starship Enterprise (NX-01) and the Aenar pilot rebelling against his masters which resulted in the destruction of the two prototype drone ships as well as the death of the pilot by Admiral Valdore's hands. 

In 2155, Admiral Valdore once again attempted to make use of the drone ships as weapons for use against the Coalition of Planets and thus dispatched Orion mercenaries to capture Aenar telepaths but the plan failed due to the intervention of the Enterprise (NX-01). 

After the 22nd century, the use of these drone ships fell into disuse by the Romulan empire. (STO website: Legacy of Romulus Dev Blog #29)

By 2409, the ships were brought back into use where their original telepathic telepresence capabilities were replaced with standard remote control systems allowing drone ships to be operated by the crew of a dreadnought Warbird. Romulan vessels such as the Scimitar class, Falchion class and Tulwar class Warbirds were able to thus control drone ships but their range limited which meant that they were unable to operate autonomously but made them less prone to sabotage.