In 2374 the crew of Voyager, stranded in the Delta Quadrant were given a life line; an advanced Starship complete with slipstream drive that would reduce the time of their journey back to Earth form decades to months. Appearing alongside an introduction form Starfleet, the Dauntless appeared to be the next step of Starship evolution. Until they realised it was all a lie – an alien ship dressed up as a Federation ship in a revenge plot that would have led the all to their deaths.

Despite the truth being revealed, Voyager’s crew had extensively studied the Dauntless and would later try and apply some of the research in an abandoned mission. Once they did return home, thanks to the Borg transwarp network, the Dauntless research was handed over to Starfleets R&D division to reverse engineer their findings and create a functional slipstream capable Starship. Named after the false ship’s given name, the prototype USS Dauntless was built to mimic it’s source material, but with a few adjustments…
Replicating the general shape of the false ship, the Dauntless prototype was built around a bulkier arrowhead hull with more of a dome shape than the orginal while retaining the pointed deflector diush underneath. The secondary hull protruded from the lower end of the primary with two nacelles attached below, giving it a more unique and unusual look, even in comparison to it’s inspiration.
Larger than the Arturis ship, the new Dauntless took a lot of internal design cues while offering more internal volume for a functional science and research vessel. Many of the internal layouts would largely remain a direct lift from the false ship, primarily the bridge design which was identical to the original, and it’s engineering bay which hosted the slipstream drive alongside a primary warp drive.

Aside form it’s advanced warp capabilities, the Dauntless was also ready to defend itself at any time thanks to multiple phaser canon points and torpedo launchers. Teh elongated engineering section also allowed for more cargo and shuttlecraft for short range missions while the warop core itself was built in the read of the primary hull.
The Dauntless prototype was used as Admiral Janeways Flagship in the 2380’s up until an incident with the USS Protostar and the Living Construct in 2384. While a rare ship and still undr development in deploying slipstream full time, the Dauntless Class is available for new Captains in Quadrant 2.
Prospective Captains can view the Dauntless information in the Starfleet Recognition Guide within the Fleet Database, which is pre-approved for selection for officers applying for their own command. Active officers and crew can find out more in out Unit Application section.
