A shuttlecraft of the Enterprise-D, named after Stephen Hawking, in which the Trill ambassador Odan was fatally injured in 2367 on his way to mediate between two moons.
The Hawking was a shuttlecraft carried by the Enterprise-D, named after the physicist Stephen Hawking, who later appeared in the series as himself.
In The Host, Ambassador Odan is on his way to settle a dispute between the two inhabited moons of Peliar Zel. He refuses to use the transporter and gives no reason, so William Riker flies him down in the Hawking. A ship from one of the moons opens fire on the shuttle, and Odan is badly hurt.
In sickbay Beverly Crusher, who has fallen in love with him, learns why he avoided the transporter: Odan is a symbiont living inside a host body. The host dies, and Riker volunteers to carry the symbiont until a new Trill host arrives.