The Second Battle of Veridian III was a confrontation between the USS Intrepid and a renegade D12-class Klingon bird-of-prey. The conflict took place in very close proximity to Veridian III in 2378. The Bird-of-Prey's involvement in the engagement was in revenge for previous affairs with the Federation. Although the Intrepid would have easily destroyed the Bird-of-Prey under normal circumstances due to its substantially superior weaponry and defense systems, the crew of the Klingon ship exploited a key weakness in the Intrepid's defenses and was thereby able to inflict severe damage on the Federation starship before they were destroyed. The Intrepid eventually managed to defeat the Bird-of-Prey, but the Intrepid's victory was a Pyrrhic one, as its battle damage resulted in the additional loss of the ship soon thereafter.
Prelude
The Intrepid in orbit of Veridian III
The Intrepid was patrolling near Veridian III when a Klingon bird-of-prey decloaked and hailed the Intrepid. The Klingon Captain told Typhuss they were searching for a renegade Klingon ship and that they should leave the system and then the transmission ended. Samantha pointed out that the Klingons would be using a K'vort-class bird of prey not a D-12 class bird of prey, they were the renegade Klingon ship. The Klingon bird of prey locked weapons on the Intrepid. Typhuss ordered the shields to be raised and ordered the ship to go to red alert.
The battle
The renegade Bird-of-Prey fires on the Intrepid
The Intrepid fires on the renegade Bird-of-Prey
The Klingons found a way to adjust their weapons to pass through the shields of the Federation starship.They adjusted the frequency of both the ship's photon torpedoes and disruptors and the Klingon ship fired a spread of torpedoes at the Intrepid, which passed through the shields, impacting on the Intrepid's secondary hull. In retaliation, the Intrepid returned fire, but the phaser blast had no effect on the Klingon ship and the Klingons fired disruptors at the Intrepid, severely injuring the conn officer. Samantha Carter took the conn officer's place and brought the Intrepid out of orbit. While the Bird-of-Prey continued its onslaught on the Intrepid, Captain Kira asked Sam about the ship and its weaknesses. Samantha pointed out that the ship was a D12-class Bird-of-Prey which had been retired from service due to defective plasma coils. Samantha did not see how the defect could be used to their advantage, but the coils formed part of the ship's cloaking device.
Sarah Mackenzie informed Typhuss that if a low-level ionic pulse were to be targeted at the Bird-of-Prey's plasma coils it would reset the coil and engage the cloaking device. While the cloak engaged, the shields would drop, leaving the ship vulnerable for just a few seconds. While the Intrepid was still sustaining damage from the Klingon ship, Sarah Mackenzie began work on the pulse and eventually initiated it.
The Intrepid deploys a critical photon torpedo
Destroying the Bird-of-Prey
Savoring almost imminent victory, the Klingons ordered their crew to target the Intrepid's bridge with full disruptors. Instead, the Bird-of-Prey's shields dropped and its cloak began to engage, much to the surprise of the Klingons, at which time the Intrepid fired a single photon torpedo that hit home on the Bird-of-Prey, completely destroying it.
Destruction of the Intrepid
The Intrepid is destroyed
Although the Intrepid had destroyed the Klingon ship, they were far from trouble-free. The magnetic interlocks were ruptured, and moments before efforts were made to repair them, a coolant leak began. The Intrepid was just 14 minutes from a warp core breach and nothing could be done to stop it. Faced with a no-win situation, Typhuss ordered the evacuation of the crew from the Intrepid, using the ship's escape pods, shuttlecraft and Danube class runabouts. Once the evacuation was complete the Intrepid's escape pods, shuttlecraft and Danube class runabouts were able to get to a safe distance before the Intrepid was destroyed by the core breach.
Aftermath
The remaining crew was recovered by the USS Helena shortly thereafter. (Star Trek: Helena episode: "Babel")
The new USS Intrepid, a Sovereign-class starship
Following the destruction of the Galaxy-class starship Intrepid, the crew was reassigned to the USS Intrepid, a Sovereign-class starship on November 14th with Captain Typhuss James Kira reprising his role as commanding officer and selecting most of the former crew from the Intrepid. Starfleet Intelligence Director Jennifer Shepard expressed regret on the loss of the Intrepid, claiming "it was a good ship." (Star Trek: Intrepid)