A medium-range Starfleet vessel stationed at Deep Space Nine.
The Danube-class runabout is a mid-sized Starfleet craft built for missions that need more room than a shuttlecraft but do not justify a full starship. Capable of warp travel, it carries a small crew, a cargo area, and a compact cockpit and fits well on a station such as Deep Space Nine. Each runabout is named after a river on Earth.
On Deep Space Nine the runabouts became the main way for Commander Benjamin Sisko and his officers to reach the Gamma Quadrant through the wormhole. Vessels such as the Rio Grande, the Ganges, the Orinoco, the Mekong and the Yangtze Kiang saw almost constant use for survey flights, rescues, diplomatic transport and covert errands. Dr. Julian Bashir and Chief Miles O'Brien, Major Kira Nerys and Odo all flew them in the course of their work.
The small craft also took part in danger. Runabouts were caught in hostile territory in the Gamma Quadrant and in the Dominion War, and several were lost over the course of the series. Their reliable and unglamorous service made them a quiet backbone of the station's operations.