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USS Voyager

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USS Voyager
USS Voyager
Class: Intrepid-class
Registry: NCC-74656
Affiliation: Federation Starfleet
Status: Active (2378)
USS Voyager with ablative generators

USS Voyager with ablative generators

The USS Voyager (NCC-74656) was an Intrepid-class Federation starship. It was launched in 2371 and was under the command of Captain Kathryn Janeway.

Contents

[edit] Construction and Launch

Voyager in drydock
USS Voyager docked at Deep Space 9
Voyager leaves Deep Space 9

The USS Voyager was constructed at the Utopia Planitia Fleet Yards orbiting Mars and was launched from Earth Station McKinley on stardate 48038.5 in 2371. (VOY: "Relativity") She emerged from construction as one of the fastest and most advanced starships ever built, with a maximum warp factor of 9.975, Bio-neural circuitry, the Emergency Medical Hologram, and also being the first ship to test the class-9 warp drive.

Janeway assumed command shortly before construction was completed. Admiral Patterson gave her a tour of the ship (as well as a pop quiz) and stated that Voyager, while not as big as a Galaxy-class ship, was "quick and smart." (VOY: "Caretaker", "Relativity")

Q said in VOY: "Death Wish" that he "was betting Riker" would have taken command of the USS Voyager, which may imply he was offered command of that ship before Janeway. This could also refer to early rumors that Jonathan Frakes was to be cast for the lead.

[edit] The First Mission

Shortly before Voyager's launch, the ship's Chief of Security/Second Officer, Lieutenant Tuvok was assigned to infiltrate a Maquis ship, commanded by a former Starfleet officer named Chakotay. The Maquis ship went missing and Voyager was assigned to investigate.

Janeway recruited Tom Paris, a former Maquis and Starfleet officer, and son of the prominent Admiral Owen Paris to help track down the missing Maquis vessel in the Badlands. After leaving Deep Space 9, Voyager was swept 70,000 light-years into the Delta Quadrant. Voyager discovered the missing Maquis vessel there as well.

Several crewmembers were killed in the transfer, including the first officer, helmsman, chief engineer, a transporter chief, and the entire medical staff. The surviving crew members of both vessels were subjugated to a painful medical examination, conducted by an entity known as the Caretaker. The Caretaker was dying, and was searching for a suitable mate so that his offspring could continue to care for a species called the Ocampa after he died.

The Caretaker was unable to mate with the crew, and returned them to their ships. Unfortunately, two crewmembers (one from Voyager and one from the Maquis ship) became ill after the experiments, and were sent to the Ocampan homeworld instead to be treated. Janeway and Chakotay agreed to cooperate with each other in order to rescue the missing crew members and return home.

En route to Ocampa, the two ships encountered a Talaxian freighter manned by Neelix, who agreed to help the crew retrieve the missing crewmen. The two crewmembers were eventually rescued and treated by the Doctor. Unfortunately by this time the Caretaker's condition had worsened, and he was unable to send the two ships back to the Alpha Quadrant. He died a short time later. To make matters worse, a Kazon fleet had arrived at the Array to attempt to commandeer it. During the subsequent battle, the Maquis ship was destroyed, and her crew transferred to Voyager before Chakotay's kamikaze run against the heavily armed Kazon warship. Although Tuvok could have activated the system to send Voyager and the Maquis ship back, Janeway decided instead to destroy the array to prevent it from falling into the hands of the Kazon-Ogla. (VOY: "Caretaker", "The Voyager Conspiracy")

[edit] In the Delta Quadrant

Voyager with Borg enhancements, suffering from molecular decohesion.

Voyager officially lost contact with Starfleet on stardate 48307.5 for being too great a distance away from the Alpha Quadrant. Since the Val Jean was destroyed in a battle against the Kazon, its entire surviving crew were transferred to the USS Voyager to embark on the journey home. Several key positions aboard Voyager, emptied by heavy casualties, were filled by their adopted Maquis crew. The deceased chief medical officer was permanently replaced by the EMH, which was originally designed for brief periods of operation only. (VOY: "Caretaker", "Parallax", "Eye of the Needle", "The Swarm")

On the first few days in the Delta Quadrant, Voyager encountered three new species, including the Talaxians, Ocampa, and Kazon. A Talaxian named Neelix and an Ocampa named Kes became crew members on Voyager after the Caretaker died. (VOY: "Caretaker", "Parallax")

In 2373, Voyager encountered Species 8472, a race more powerful than the Borg. During this time, Voyager forged a temporary alliance with the Borg, involving themselves for a short time in the Borg-Species 8472 War. Voyager developed nanoprobe weapons for use against Species 8472, who eventually retreated from our galaxy. The alliance between Voyager and the Borg led to several temporary additions to the outer hull of the vessel, comprised of Borg technology which allowed the launching of the nanoprobe weapons. While most of the Borg technology was later removed, several components were kept in place as they enhanced the overall performance of several systems. After this incident, a Borg drone designated Seven of Nine became a part of Voyager's crew. At this time, Kes also left Voyager, as a result of her growing telepathic abilities. (VOY: "Scorpion", "Scorpion, Part II", "The Gift")

Starfleet presumed Voyager to be destroyed in the Badlands until 2374, when the ship's EMH was transmitted to the Federation starship USS Prometheus using a Hirogen owned relay station. The ship, at the time, had been taken over by Romulans. The Doctor, with assistance by an EMH Mark II, returned the ship to Starfleet, and spoke directly to Starfleet Headquarters to set the record straight. The ship's inventory included 32 class-6 photon torpedoes at that time. (VOY: "Message in a Bottle")

The senior staff of Voyager in astrometrics

After the EMH reported Voyager's situation, Starfleet's Communications Research Center set up the Pathfinder Project to find a way to bring back or maintain constant contact with the ship. This project was under the command of Cmdr. Peter Harkins and was supervised by Admiral Paris. The driving force behind the ambitious task to reestablish communications with Voyager, however, was Lieutenant Reginald Barclay. (VOY: "Pathfinder")

In 2375, Voyager found the USS Equinox, which had also been stranded in the Delta Quadrant by the Caretaker. Captain Janeway eventually learned of the Equinox crew's criminal experiments on a species of nucleogenic lifeforms. Janeway adopted the remaining crew of the Equinox and put them to work on Voyager under high security, stripping them of commissioned rank. (VOY: "Equinox", "Equinox, Part II")

In early 2376, first contact between Starfleet Command and the Voyager was finally established over the MIDAS array using an artificial micro-wormhole. Although the periods of data transfer were very limited, not only was Starfleet able to transmit tactical updates to the Voyager crew, but private conversations between Voyager crew members and their relatives in the Alpha Quadrant were also possible. (VOY: "Pathfinder", "Author, Author")

In 2377, Voyager recovered pieces of the UESPA long-range probe Friendship 1. (VOY: "Friendship One") Later that year, Voyager was able to return to Earth with the assistance of an alternate timeline version of Captain Janeway. This Admiral Janeway, who time-traveled from the early 25th century, provided her younger counterpart with sophisticated anti-Borg technology, which included transphasic torpedoes and ablative generator-armor technology. When Voyager reached the hub guided by Admiral Janeway, she ordered the crew to enter, but Captain Janeway was reluctant to waste the opportunity to severely cripple the Borg's infrastructure.

After figuring out a way to destroy the hub, Voyager proceeded into one of the transwarp apertures while the Admiral infiltrated the Borg Queen's hive, where she was assimilated. However, Admiral Janeway had previously injected herself with a neurolytic pathogen. The assimilation introduced the pathogen into the Collective via the Borg Queen. This weakened the shielding for the interspatial manifolds located in subspace and Voyager destroyed one hub with three transphasic torpedoes, resulting in a cascading shock wave reaction. While trying to outrun the shock wave, a Borg sphere pursued Voyager and attempted to capture it. Upon exiting the transwarp conduit in the Alpha Quadrant, Voyager (now captured) launched a single transphasic torpedo, destroying the sphere. The conduit, the entire Borg transwarp network, and Unimatrix 01 were all destroyed. A fleet of starships, assembled in response to sensor readings indicating a Borg energy signature, greeted Voyager as she exited the conduit, and escorted her home. (VOY: "Endgame")

Voyager is escorted home

In total, Voyager spent seven years in the Delta Quadrant before returning to Federation space. The original estimate of the time needed for the return trip had been 75 years, but intervention by numerous alien races, spatial anomalies, and the acquisition of new technologies considerably shortened the starship's stay in the Delta Quadrant. During the course of her time spent in the Delta Quadrant Voyager made first contact with over 50 species, repeatedly engaged the Borg and numerous other hostile species, suffered the loss of several crew members, and greatly expanded the Federation's knowledge of the galaxy.

[edit] Technical Data

[edit] Overview

Intrepid Class, sustainable cruise velocity of warp factor 9.975, 15 decks, original crew complement of 141, bio-neural circuitry that contains gel-packs with bio-neural cells that can organize information more efficiently and speed up response time (VOY: "Caretaker ")

[edit] Physical Arrangement

At only 15 decks and 343 meters in length, the USS Voyager was less than half the size of a Galaxy-class starship. There were 257 rooms on the vessel. (VOY: "Scientific Method")

(VOY: "Parallax", "Phage", "Flashback", "Innocence", "Twisted", and more)

[edit] Weaponry

USS Voyager firing tricobalt devices. These weapons are not normally used on Federation ships.

Voyager carried 13 phaser arrays, four torpedo launchers, and a supply of 38 Class VI photon torpedoes. Due to the tactical nature of Voyager's first assignment, the ship was also equipped with two tricobalt devices, which are not normally carried on Federation starships. (VOY: "The Cloud", "The Voyager Conspiracy") The ship was also equipped with spatial charges. (VOY: "Relativity")

Why Voyager was launched with so few photon torpedoes is uncertain. It could be that since Voyager's first assignment was not supposed to last longer than a couple of weeks, Starfleet did not worry about fully supplying the ship.
A fifth torpedo tube is seen firing in VOY: "Resolutions", however this is most likely a VFX error as the torpedo tube is in the same position as the aft tractor beam emitter.

[edit] Borg Enhancements

After Captain Janeway's brief alliance with the Borg in 2373-2374, Voyager had gained access to a large amount of Borg technology. The power relays on Deck 8 were noted to work better with the Borg modifications, and left alone. (VOY: "Scorpion, Part II") The Astrometrics lab also utilized Borg sensor equipment to further enhance the vessel's abilities. Four Borg alcoves were located in Cargo Bay 2. In 2375, the 29th century Borg drone One enhanced Voyager's shields and weapons to help the crew escape from a Borg sphere. (VOY: "Year of Hell", "The Gift", "Drone") Voyager was capable of using Borg Transwarp technology, and did so in 2375 to shave 15 years off of the ship's journey home (VOY: "Dark Frontier")

[edit] Dealings With the Borg

When Voyager entered the Delta Quadrant the crew understood that they had essentially been thrown into the Borg's "backyard." They knew it was only a matter of time before they would have to face them. Voyager survived more engagements with the Borg than any other Starfleet vessel in history.

Some time around stardate 50614, Voyager was approaching the outskirts of Borg territory. At this time, the crew encountered a derelict Borg cube in the Nekrit Expanse. The drones reactivated but the cube self-destructed thanks to the efforts of the Borg Cooperative. (VOY: "Unity")

Voyager follows the Borg cube

On stardate 50984, Voyager fully entered Borg Space and the crew had their first engagement with the Collective as a whole. During this time, the Borg were engaged in a war with Species 8472. Captain Janeway saw Species 8472 as the more opposing threat, so she decided to make "a deal with the devil" and help the Borg defeat Species 8472, in exchange for safe passage through Borg territory. Unfortunately, after 8472 was defeated, the Borg betrayed Voyager and attempted to assimilate the vessel through Seven of Nine. The crew was prepared for this and quickly severed the drones' link to the Collective. Later, Kes threw Voyager 10,000 light-years closer to the Alpha Quadrant and clear of Borg space, effectively ending the immediate danger. (VOY: "Scorpion", "Scorpion, Part II", "The Gift")

In 2375, Seven of Nine's Borg nanoprobes fused with the Doctor's mobile emitter. The emitter originated from the 29th century, and thus a 29th century Borg drone was born. The Collective detected the drone and immediately set a course to intercept Voyager and assimilate the vessel. The drone, who named himself One, enhanced Voyager's shields and weapons in a vain effort to resist the Borg sphere, but in the end was forced to beam aboard the Sphere and interface with the Collective. He directed the Sphere to a proto-nebula, which destroyed the vessel. (VOY: "Drone")

A Borg probe attacks; Voyager defends itself...

On stardate 52619, the Voyager crew devised a plan to steal a Borg Transwarp coil from a damaged Borg Sphere. The mission was successful but Seven of Nine was re-captured by the Borg Queen. The Delta Flyer was able to recover her and Voyager was able to shave 15 years off her journey home. (VOY: "Dark Frontier")

In 2376, Voyager recovered four Borg children from a derelict Cube. The crew immediately set out to find the children's home and family's. Icheb's was located later that year. It turned out that Icheb was genetically engineered to release a virus into the Collective that would kill all the Borg on a ship. When he was returned to his homeworld, his parents set him off to once again fulfill his purpose. The crew managed to rescue him, but not before a Borg Sphere exited transwarp and attempted to assimilate Voyager. A photon torpedo was beamed aboard Icheb's shuttle, detonating inside the Sphere, disabling it and allowing Voyager to escape. (VOY: "Child's Play")

In late 2376 and early 2377, the Collective became aware of a "malfunction" affecting thousands of drones. This "malfunction" allowed a regenerating drone access to the realm of Unimatrix Zero, a place where the drone could retain their individuality and partially regain a part of their lives lost when they were assimilated, if not for a short time. When the drone's regeneration cycle was complete, it would have no memory of Unimatrix Zero. Nevertheless, the Borg still considered Unimatrix Zero a threat, and the Collective began a mission to destroy it. When the Voyager crew became aware of Unimatrix Zero, they engineered a virus that would severe the affected drones from the Collective and allow them to start a kind of "resistance movement" against the Borg. (VOY: "Unimatrix Zero")

The Borg tractor beams prove useless to Voyager's ablative armor

Voyager's ticket home would come from the Borg in 2378. The vessel was fitted with new armor and weapon technology from the future in order to get Voyager to a Transwarp hub. Captain Janeway wanted to use the technology to damage the Borg, while Admiral Janeway insisted that they just take the ship home. The crew managed to do both by releasing a Neurolytic pathogen into the Collective. This disrupted the hive mind and allowed Voyager to destroy the now unshielded apertures with transphasic torpedoes. Unfortunately, a Borg Sphere managed to catch up to Voyager and pulled the ship inside. The Sphere emerged in the Alpha Quadrant and was greeted by a Starfleet armada, however, Voyager destroyed the Sphere from the inside and the long-lost vessel was escorted home.

Back in the Delta Quadrant, the Borg Queen began to literally fall apart. The pathogen had a nearly fatal effect on the Collective. The Unicomplex was destroyed, along with the Queen and Admiral Janeway, and also several trillion drones. The current state of the Collective is unknown. (VOY: "Endgame")

[edit] Crew

Several Voyager crew members were killed in the initial transport to the Delta Quadrant. Among the deceased were the vessels original first officer, the chief engineer, a transporter chief, the senior helmsman, and the entire medical staff. Several of these key positions were filled by former Maquis. Since Voyager's initial assignment was only supposed to last two weeks, a counselor was not assigned.

Voyager's original crew complement was 141. When the Maquis crew was integrated, the crew count rose to 152. About a quarter of the ship's crew were former Maquis. (VOY: "Caretaker", "Repression")

Several species were represented on Voyager, including Humans, Vulcans, Bolians, Betazoids, Bajorans, a Klingon/Human hybrid, a Ktarian/Human hybrid, and others. In addition, Voyager also picked up Delta Quadrant natives during the journey home, most of which filled positions on Voyager's crew. Species included a Talaxian, Ocampan, Brunali, and Norcadian. (VOY: "Caretaker", "Endgame", "Meld", "Deadlock", "Collective")

The merging of Starfleet and Maquis crews on board Voyager went smoothly, and there were few incidents. However, an incident involving B'Elanna Torres and Joe Carey had some Maquis wanting to start a mutiny, Commander Chakotay kept them in line. None the less, Lieutenant Tuvok was preparing for a possible mutiny, and designed a holodeck training program to prepare his security team for such an event. The program was abandoned after a few months, when Tuvok saw how well the two crews were merging and felt that this training program could incite the very mutiny he wanted to avoid. (VOY: "Parallax", "Worst Case Scenario")

In 2374, there were 13 departments, which the heads of reported to Tuvok on a daily basis. (VOY: "Scientific Method")

In 2377, Lieutenant Commander Tuvok received a letter from his son. Embedded in the letter was a transmission from a former Bajoran Vedek named Teero Anaydis. Teero was a Maquis sympathizer who was rejected for experimenting with mind control. During Tuvok's undercover mission in 2371, he was discovered by Teero and was forced to undergo a procedure that, when a Bajoran phrase was stated, Tuvok's "Maquis spirit" would awaken. When Teero finally reached Tuvok in 2377, Tuvok began mind melding with the former Maquis on Voyager, and eventually a mutiny occurred on the ship. Janeway was able to help Tuvok regain control, and after another mind meld with the Maquis, life on board returned to normal. (VOY: "Repression")

[edit] Command crew

See also: USS Voyager personnel for a complete list of personnel

[edit] The journey of Voyager

At the beginning of its journey, Voyager was approximately 70,000 light years from Earth. As the Milky Way has a diameter of approximately 100,000 light years, one side of a galactic quadrant equals 50,000 light years. The Sol system including Earth, is about 25,000 light years from the galactic center; thus, we can conclude that the Caretaker's Array and Voyager's starting point was on the far edge of our galaxy. At maximum warp, it was estimated that Voyager would take 75 years to get back to Earth. However, there were various factors which substantially shortened Voyager's stay in the Delta Quadrant:

  • 2374 - Kes uses her new and more powerful psionic abilities to push Voyager 9,500 light years closer to Earth, simultaneously pushing them out of Borg space. (VOY: "The Gift")
  • 2374 - Using the new astrometrics lab, Ensign Harry Kim and Seven of Nine plot a new course to the Alpha Quadrant that takes 5 years off of Voyager's journey. (VOY: "Year of Hell")
  • 2374 - Quantum slipstream drive technology is discovered aboard the USS Dauntless, which brings Voyager 300 light years closer to home. (VOY: "Hope and Fear")
  • 2375 - Within a region of space called The Void, Voyager discovers a wormhole which brings them 2,500 light years closer to Earth, also having the advantage of sending them out of the dark region they had been trapped in for the last few months. (VOY: "Night")
  • 2375 - Voyager attempts to use quantum slipstream drive again. The ship travels 10,000 light years before the slipstream collapses due to intervention from an alternate future. (VOY: "Timeless")
  • 2375 - Voyager raids a Borg sphere and manages to steal a transwarp coil. After using it on a rescue mission in the Delta Flyer, the coil allows the ship to travel 20,000 light years closer to home. (VOY: "Dark Frontier")
  • 2376 - Voyager accidentally enters the Vaadwaur species' underspace corridors, which propel the ship 200 light years from its entry point. The direction, however, was not mentioned, however it is logical to assume it was within the direction of Earth, based on Gedrin's information to Janeway.(VOY: "Dragon's Teeth")
  • 2376 - Voyager uses a graviton catapult designed by an alien called Tash to travel about 3000 light years closer to Earth. (VOY: "The Voyager Conspiracy")
  • 2377 - Grateful for her assistance with his son, Q provides Janeway with a map containing a shortcut to the Alpha Quadrant that would shorten Voyager's journey home by "a few years"; whether they used this route before they managed to reach home wasn't revealed. (VOY: "Q2")
  • 2378 - Voyager concludes its trip home by using the Borg transwarp network to return to the Alpha Quadrant, while destroying it with the help of an alternate future-timeline Admiral Kathryn Janeway. (VOY: "Endgame")

Combining these distances, Voyager was able to cover 48,100 light years in addition to that covered by normal means at warp speed. The distance covered by normal warp drive however, remains unclear, as the position of the transwarp hub was not stated. Furthermore a transwarp conduit allows passage to distant parts of the galaxy within minutes, which makes an estimation difficult.

[edit] First Contacts

Voyager made more first contacts than any other Federation starship since the era of James T. Kirk and the original USS Enterprise. (VOY: "Friendship One")

Notable first contacts include:

For a complete list of Voyager's first contacts, see Delta Quadrant species encountered by Voyager.

[edit] Embarked craft

[edit] Voyager references

[edit] Appendices

[edit] Background

  • The first series bible describes Voyager as being "smaller, sleeker and more advanced than the USS Enterprise-D. It holds a crew of some two hundred, and does not have families on board."

[edit] References

[edit] See also

[edit] External link

Intrepid-class starships
USS Bellerophon • USS Intrepid • USS Voyager
Retrieved from "http://memory-alpha.org/en/wiki/USS_Voyager"
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