The EX-class Cruiser was a breakthrough in space travel. It had the capability of traveling at faster than light speeds, enabling it to make journeys that in the past would have take decades or even centuries. The EX’s could now make those same voyages in mere weeks or months.

That opened up a whole new age of space exploration and discovery as star-systems that were previously out of range for even the most extended trips by “sleeper ships” could now be visited for research, study, and eventual colonization.

DIMENSIONS
Main Hull (ball)
Diameter: 50 feet
Height: 40 feet
Outer Hull (saucer)
Diameter: 150 feet
Displacement: 2000 tons
Speed: 343 times the speed of light
Crew: 18

(Note: Based on the MGM 1956 movie “Forbidden Planet”
"In the final decade of the 21st Century, men and women in rocket-ships landed on the Moon. By 2200 AD, they had reached the other planets of our solar system. Almost at once there followed the discovery of Hyper-Drive, through which the speed of light was first attained, and later greatly surpassed. And so at last, mankind began the conquest and colonization of deep space."
Intro from the movie)

[Note: This story lay dormant for over fourteen years. The first two choices below are to the old story. The third and fourth arcs are new. I would recommend starting with one of those, ignoring the first two.]