Star Trek: 10 Secrets Of The La Sirena

While early designs for the La Sirena (then the Arana Cosmica) tended towards signature Starfleet shapes (a disc-shaped hull and warp nacelles), Mark Yang was encouraged to pursue a more unconventional configuration... though still very much rooted in Star Trek lore.

According to Yang, the La Sirena incorporates elements of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine's Danube-class runabouts and the USS Defiant, as well 21st century fixed wing aircraft.

In order to set her apart from the larger starships in the fleet and make it clear she's a distinctly smaller vessel, Yang emphasized the La Sirena's twin boom warp nacelles:

Any spacefaring vessel in the Star Trek Universe is based around the nacelles. I figured for a small ship to be credible, then the warp nacelles were probably going to be the biggest part of the design so they could generate a big enough warp bubble. I wanted them to be the first thing you see, so the two slats running down the sides are warp nacelles.

Additional propulsion systems were placed at the very rear of the La Sirena, with multiple impulse nozzles dominating the bulk of the ship's aft section. Unfortunately, the placement of those engines made the idea of the La Sirena hauling cargo impractical, so additional impulse units were attached to each warp nacelle slat.

According to Yang:

The typical impulse engine is in the back but that would be blocked by the cargo so you needed some kind of propulsion on the sides. That's where the pods on the sides came from... At one point there was some discussion about whether the impulse engines would be articulated. I left the design up to the writers so if they had a story point it could be done.