I can't really put together and distribute this (legal issues with my current employer), but...
If you hit
http://launcher.startrekonline.com/launcher_login/default.aspx, you will get back a bunch of XML; the same stuff that's loaded in the launcher.
If you then parse that XML for a line that contains "server_status_image" AND ("server_down.png" OR "server_up.png"), you can find out if the servers are working, and get the info straight from Cryptic.
If you then take your handy little application, it should be possible to put an icon in your windows system tray indicating the server status, and even have a popup show up when the servers come back online. It would be convenient for users who want to do something else with their computers while they wait for the servers to come back.
If you decide to impliment this, please don't try hitting that URL every second or so. I'm sure Cryptic has enough to worry about without a million users DOS'ing the launcher page. Every 1-5 minutes is probably more than sufficient for most users.
I suspect with a talented programmer, you could get a stand-alone tool built in 1-2 hours. For a rookie like me, I'm guessing it will take me 3-4 hours to get a server status tracking app put together for my own use. With the server down, I've got nothing better to do...