How can this one ship potentially survive combat with the Borg? Alien ship with unknown capabilities.
Survive on its own without needing constant resupply? Alien ship with unknown capabilities.
Need episodes where they're trapped on the ship to save money? Unknown ship they're exploring or they trigger some function they're not sure of that created danger.
There's lots of potential there.
See my above post. The ship had nothing whatsoever to do with the storytelling.