USS Malinche (NCC-38997)

The USS Malinche (NCC-38997) was an Excelsior-class Federation starship in service during the 24th century. By 2373, the Malinche was under the command of Captain Sanders.

In mid 2373, the Malinche was assigned to patrol the Demilitarized Zone near the Gamma 7 Outpost. While on patrol, Benjamin Sisko aboard the USS Defiant contacted the Malinche for help in intercepting a Maquis Raider commanded by Michael Eddington. Unfortunately, the Defiant was disabled by a cascade virus and the Malinche had to tow the Defiant back to Deep Space 9.

With the Defiant out of action, Sanders was ordered to stop Eddington at Veloz Prime by any means possible. However, enroute they received a distress call from a Cardassian freighter and responded, only to discover it was a Maquis booby trap, and a focused particle beam punched through the Malinche 's gyro-shielding and three Maquis raiders disabled the ship's navigational systems and warp drive. Fortunately, the Malinche was rescued by the manually-controlled Defiant, who continued the mission to apprehend Eddington and succeeded. (DS9 episode: "For the Uniform").