Three ships of this Cardassian class, bulkier in appearance than their Galor-class counterparts and faster than the norm, were operated secretly by the Obsidian Order to protect the classified Orias system and give chase to Tom Riker's oncoming stolen Defiant; three more joined them when one of the first was disabled; the Order was supposedly banned from operating its own ships. Later it becomes known that the ships were being modified with Romulan cloaking devices for the ill-fated attack on the Founders homeworld.