Risus Trek: Starship Combat?

I am deep in the throes of prepping a Star Trek (Original Series) campaign, and I am struggling with my approach to starship combat. My gut instinct is that starships, even such beloved ones as the Enterprise, are simply tools of the trade, as per standard Risus rules (plus the nifty commentary on the subject in the Companion). After all, the stories mainly focused on how the badass the crew of the Enterprise was, rather than the ship itself; actual combat itself really came down to the decisions made and carried out by Kirk and the gang, usually as a group. (Most enemy ships, with a couple of exceptions, fought like a single character or grunt squad). I think that, most times, the characters would form a team and describe what they're doing suring the battle.  As characters blow their rolls and the dice start to go down, the different systems would start to fail, which creates challenges for the players.

Some of my players, however, have grown up on Star Fleet Battles, and are used to running ships of vastly different capabilities, all statted out in detail. I'm a little concerned that they will find the standard Risus combat to be too much handwaving; it makes me wonder if I should stat them out and make them characters in their own rights. But still it would come down to running the situation as a team, with the starship as a member of the team. But then I have to make decisions like what cliches does it have, how many dice, should I use Funky Dice, etc.?

Another alternative is allowing the Ship to function as plus dice gear, possibly allowing bonuses in multiple categories as applicable. Actually, I like the idea of making them "questing dice" a little more, since they would have a limited number of uses. The "quest" could be something like "Cutting Edge Explorer", "Pride of the Fleet", "Refurbished Destroyer", etc.

My thought process is rather confused on this matter, so any input would be greatly appreciated.

Guy