Delta Flyer

For the alternate mirror universe counterpart, see Delta Flyer (AMU).

For the second Delta Flyer, please see Delta Flyer II.

AUXILIARY CRAFT
Delta Flyer
Class:	Custom-built shuttlecraft
Affiliation:	Federation, Starfleet
Launched:	2375
Assignment:	USS Voyager
Status:	Destroyed (2376)

"We are not designing a hot rod, lieutenant."
"That is exactly what we're designing. A 24th century, warp-powered, ultra-responsive hot rod."

— Tuvok and Tom Paris, 2375

The Delta Flyer was a specially-designed Federation shuttlecraft which was constructed by the crew of the USS Voyager in 2375, during that starship's long voyage in the Delta Quadrant.

Knowledge of this craft was known to Tuvok as early as 2371, but kept secret due to the Temporal Prime Directive. (VOY episode: "Fury")

Specifications

The Delta Flyer in USS Voyager's shuttlebay

The Delta Flyer was designed to handle environments that would be too hazardous for a standard shuttlecraft.

The Delta Flyer was designed to withstand the atmosphere of a gas giant. The Delta Flyer was a blend of Starfleet and Borg technology, designed in collaboration between B'Elanna Torres, Tom Paris, Tuvok, Harry Kim, Typhuss James Halliwell and Seven of Nine.

It featured an ultra-aerodynamic tetraburnium alloy hull, retractable warp nacelles, parametallic hull plating, unimatrix shielding, and a Borg-inspired weapons systems, including pulse phasers and photonic missiles, most of which were Paris' conceptions. For aesthetic reasons, Paris designed the flight controls to resemble those from the holodeck simulation of Captain Proton, when Tuvok complained, Paris stated he wanted to feel the ship rather than press buttons. But to Paris' disappointment, the addition of dynametric tailfins was denied by Tuvok. Instead of having the usual 2 pilot stations, it had several command stations. (Star Trek: Voyager)

By 2381 the Delta Flyer and Delta Flyer II design had inspired Starfleet's new heavy shuttlecraft design, the Flyer-class. (TTN novel: Over a Torrent Sea)

Design and first mission

The Delta Flyer being prepared for its first mission

For several years Tom Paris had been working on plans to design and build a new shuttlecraft.The idea to design a larger,more efficient shuttle than the cramped Type 9 shuttlecraft was first given to the Delta Flyer's designer, Lieutenant junior grade Tom Paris, by the former Borg drone Seven of Nine in 2375. Captain Janeway later authorized the craft's construction,which was led by Paris, in order to retrieve a multispatial probe that was lost in the atmosphere of a gas giant and in danger of being stolen by the Malon. The Malon began work on a shuttlecraft also, and finished theirs before the Flyer was complete. When the Malon sent out their shuttle, the Flyer was deployed early, despite a flaw in the vessel's structural integrity. The Flyer was successful in retrieving the probe, but a hull breach started to occur. B'Elanna Torres designed a makeshift device that deployed a temporary force field, successfully containing the breach and the probe was safely returned to Voyager. (VOY episode: "Extreme Risk")

Rejected features included dynametric tailfins. Harry Kim's repeated calls to reinforce the hull with kellinite were also continuously rejected. (VOY episode: "Extreme Risk")

2375 missions

The Delta Flyer's second mission was to infiltrate a Species 8472 biosphere. Paris, Kim, Typhuss and Chakotay took the Flyer out to investigate the biosphere. When the undercover Chakotay was revealed, Voyager rendezvoused with the Delta Flyer. (VOY episode: "In the Flesh")

The Delta Flyer encountered near-destruction in its third mission when it got caught in an ion storm and crash landed three kilometers under rock on a Class M planet. Life support began to fail and Paris, Samantha Wildman, Tuvok, and Typhuss did not believe they could be rescued. The Voyager crew was able to dig through the rock and locate the Delta Flyer. The crew and the Flyer were beamed aboard. (VOY episode: "Once Upon a Time")

In early 2375, Voyager was equipped with a quantum slipstream drive and used it in an attempt to return to the Alpha Quadrant. The Flyer, piloted by Chakotay and Kim, Typhuss rode the slipstream ahead of Voyager in order to chart the slipstream and send appropriate phase corrections to Voyager. Unfortunately, the drive proved unstable and nearly caused Voyager to lose structural integrity. Fortunately, a Harry Kim from an alternate timeline was able to transmit a phase correction directly to Seven of Nine's Borg implants which shut the drive down. Use of the drive was then abandoned until it could be better understood.

The Delta Flyer being chased by the USS Challenger

In the previously mentioned alternate timeline, the Delta Flyer remained in the slipstream on course to the Federation while Voyager crash-landed on a class L planet. Fifteen years later, Chakotay, Kim, Tessa Omond, Halliwell, and Helen Magnus, stole the Delta Flyer from a shipyard and used it to locate the remains of Voyager. They retrieved Seven of Nine's corpse and The Doctor from the buried ship. By analyzing Seven's cranial implant they intended to determine when it had shut down and thus when Voyager was destroyed, allowing them to transmit their message accordingly. The Doctor was the only person who could determine the necessary temporal coordinates for their mission. They used a temporal transmitter to transmit the proper phase corrections to Seven via the implant, which would allow Voyager to remain safe in the slipstream. Unfortunately, Kim's corrections did not work - but with time running out, The Doctor convinced him to send another message, this time with corrections which would collapse the slipstream. Just as he transmitted the drive shutdown sequence, the Delta Flyer was destroyed by a warp core breach induced by attacks from the USS Challenger. (VOY episode: "Timeless")

A few months later, the Delta Flyer was used to go underwater on the Waters of the Moneans. The Flyer was able to take large amounts of stress, entering great depths of water. It was even able to reach the core of the ocean which was quite deep underwater. This core was actually a large containment field generator. (VOY episode: "Thirty Days")

A Borg diamond fires gravimetric torpedoes at the Delta Flyer

During a mission where the Voyager crew stole a Borg transwarp coil, Seven of Nine was captured by the Borg. The coil was installed onboard the Delta Flyer, for which it was used to proceed to the unicomplex to retrieve Seven. When Kathryn Janeway beamed into the complex, she was stuck there with Seven when the Borg Queen activated a dispersal field. Janeway was able to disable the Queen's interface to the collective and the field was deactivated. With Janeway and Seven retrieved, the Flyer proceeded back to transwarp and returned to Voyager, pursued by the Queen's diamond. (VOY episode: "Dark Frontier")

2376 missions

When Voyager was trapped in the Vohrsoth Forge, the Delta Flyer was used to transport members of the hazard team onto the Scavengers' base of operations in order to acquire stolen samples of isodesium. This transport was done by shuttlecraft because the Scavengers had a transporter inhibitor present which prevented a direct beam-in into the station. (VOY video game: Elite Force)

The Delta Flyer and the Ares IV inside the ellipse

The Delta Flyer is towed out of the ellipse

When Voyager encountered a graviton ellipse, the Delta Flyer was sent in to locate the Ares IV command module, which was lost in the ellipse in 2032. The crew of Tom Paris, Chakotay, and Seven of Nine, Typhuss James Halliwell examined several artifacts trapped in the ellipse before finding the command module. While the Flyer attempted to tractor the module out of the ellipse, the ellipse was hit by a dark matter asteroid. The Delta Flyer became severely damaged and Chakotay was injured. Aboard Voyager, B'Elanna Torres devised a method to use an ion distributor from the Ares IV to repair vital components of the Flyer. Seven beamed to the Ares IV module where she located the distributor and downloaded the sensor data and logs of the Ares IV commander, John Kelly. She returned to the Flyer, with the distributor and Kelly's body. The distributor was connected to the Flyer's power systems and the shuttle was able to escape before the ellipse returned to subspace. (VOY episode: "One Small Step")

During a period of shore leave on Voyager, Janeway took the Flyer to a nearby planet in the Norcadian star system. When Seven and Tuvok were kidnapped by Penk, Voyager engaged in battle with his vessel. Penk was able to disable Voyager, but Janeway arrived in the Flyer and was able to disable Penk's signal antenna, forcing Penk to lower power to his ship's force fields. This allowed Seven and Tuvok, along with several other competitors held hostage aboard the ship, to be rescued. Janeway and the Flyer returned to Voyager. (VOY episode: "Tsunkatse")

Chakotay, Neelix, Harry Kim, Typhuss and Tom Paris returned from a mission aboard the Delta Flyer and were abducted by a damaged Borg cube run by adolescent Borg. The Flyer was locked in a Borg hanger while the Voyager crew were attempting to negotiate for the return of the shuttle and its crew. Before the Borg cube was destroyed due to a feedback pulse after the Borg attempted to remove Voyager's deflector dish, the Delta Flyer escaped the ship. (VOY episode: "Collective")

Later that year, Janeway decided to take the Flyer on an astrological survey, crewed by Voyager crewmembers who were not working to the best of their abilities. The mission became dire when the Flyer was attacked, disabling its warp drive. Janeway plotted a course for a nearby planet and ordered the crewmen to abandon the Flyer. They refused to leave her, although one crewmember, Mortimer Harren, abandoned the Flyer aboard a escape pod and used it to distract the dark matter object. Harren inadvertently discovered how to deter the object using phasers, which the Delta Flyer used to escape. Soon after Harren was returned to the Flyer, an explosion occurred, disabling it. Voyager picked up the distress signal and retrieved the damaged shuttle. (VOY episode: "Good Shepherd")

The Delta Flyer was impersonated by a vessel piloted by several con artists attempting to use the reputations of the Voyager crew for criminal purposes. In order to track their hiding spot, Voyager captured one of the criminals, Dala, and allowed her to escape aboard the Delta Flyer. Tom Paris, Typhuss and the Doctor stowed away in the aft compartment, apprehended Dala, and retook the Flyer after she flew it to the hiding spot of the criminals. (VOY episode: "Live Fast and Prosper")

The Delta Flyer crashed on Kelis' homeworld

While on an exploration mission, the Delta Flyer crashed on a planet with a pre-warp society. Harry Kim was able to evacuate, but B'Elanna Torres remained aboard and survived the impact. A poet on the planet, named Kelis, found the Flyer and figured out how to access its database, using Voyager's experiences in the Delta Quadrant as a basis for his plays. Torres attempted to repair the Flyer with Kelis's help, but the ship was damaged beyond her means. Kim eventually located the Flyer and brought an emergency transmitter from the escape pod, which was used to send a distress signal to Voyager. The Flyer was transported aboard and needed major repairs. (VOY episode: "Muse")

When Kes travelled back in time to the first year of Voyager's journey, the tachyon particles caused by her presence in the past resulted in Tuvok experiencing 'flash-forwards' of events that wouldn't happen on Voyager for several years, with the first example of these being when he suggested that the Delta Flyer be used to navigate a region of space filled with subspace vacuoles due to its advanced sensors over four years before it would even be constructed. (VOY episode: "Fury")

Destruction

The Delta Flyer is destroyed

In late 2376, Captain Janeway, Commander Tuvok, Lieutenant Torres and Lieutenant Halliwell flew the Delta Flyer to a Borg tactical cube, with the goal of infiltrating the vessel and assisting the drones of Unimatrix Zero. While approaching the Cube, the Borg Queen located the Flyer. The away team beamed onto the cube just as the Flyer was destroyed. Typhuss had lauched an escape pod and set a course for Voyager, Voyager found Typhuss and beamed him on borad Voyager. (VOY episode: "Unimatrix Zero")

Following the team's return to Voyager in early 2377, a replacement the Delta Flyer II, of similar design and specification, albeit with fewer Captain Proton-inspired embellishments was constructed. (VOY episode: "Drive")