Defiant was a powerful cruiser and the lead ship of the Defiant-class, built using partially extra-galactic technology. Her shield generator was far more advanced than any other in known space, and the energy fields it generated were powerful enough to sustain a direct hit from a superlaser at 2/3 the power of the Death Star. The Defiant was not invincible, though; her shield generator could be destroyed by physical weapons, such as torpedoes, which would bypass the energy shields and destroy them from the source. To increase Defiant's effectiveness in battle she was equipped with torpedo launchers instead of turbolasers; between this and the ship's vulnerability to torpedoes, the Defiant-class cruisers are ironically well-suited to destroying each other.