I'd be in favour of a 'saucer' section that can operate individually of the main vessel. Improvements over the Galaxy version I'd envision would be a limited 'warp-burst' capability to a range of say five light years. The saucer section would feature a small combined warp engine & 'fuel' reserve designed to allow the crew to 'escape' the vicinity of the main vessel body. This would be a single 'jump' as the system would rely on a warp core to function for extended durations.
Also due to the 'loss' of the Galaxy saucer section I'd see Starfleet requiring some form of controlled landing system to allow for the eventual recovery of these valuable resources.