Kepler (USS Endeavor)

Kepler was a Federation class F shuttlecraft in service to Starfleet in the 23rd century. The shuttle was assigned to the starship USS Endeavor (NCC-1001) in the 2250s.

Service history
In the mid-2250s, scientist Janet Hester was rescued by the Endeavor in the Mycena system, then arrested for conducting forbidden transporter experiments. She was able to escape by stealing the Kepler, but she crashed the shuttle on Mycena and was killed on impact.

Shortly thereafter, the crew of the Endeavor was murdered by Hester's disembodied test subjects, who had merged into a consciousness called The Entity. They spent the following two decades searching for the Kepler.

In 2273, the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701) discovered the lost Endeavor. The Enterprise crew were subsequently attacked by The Entity, who believed that ship's zoologist Karen Hester-Jones was Hester. A landing party beamed down to Mycena and located the wreck of Kepler along with Hester's remains. Hikaru Sulu and Spock carried the shuttle with portable antigravs into a laboratory and showed it to The Entity, who swarmed into the craft to take their vengeance. Sulu and James T. Kirk then threw overloaded phasers into the wreck, blowing it apart along with the test subjects. 


 * Endeavor was depicted with the registry NCC-1705 in some panels, NCC-1001 in others. The shuttle was distinctly shown with the registry of NCC-1705/2.