Designed and built by the USS Voyagers crew, the Delta Flyer is intended to be a multi-purpose vessel along the lines of a Runabout. The craft incorporates many systems unique to a Starfleet design, a result of the Borg and other technology Voyager has experienced on its journey home. The hull of the Delta Flyer is highly aerodynamic, and is composed of tetraburnium alloys with parametallic plating. The layout is fairly conventional, a large cabin occupies the front portion, with the engineering section aft feeding nacelles to port and starboard. The EPS conduits in the plasma manifold are isomagnetic, minimizing power losses and increasing engine efficiency. There is a small cargo bay and transporter system installed in the flyer, along with the various systems usually associated with a vessel of this type. The area where the Delta Flyer differs most from other Starfleet designs is in the defence systems. The unimatrix shielding was developed by Lieutenant Commander Tuvok, while the weapons array developed by Seven of Nine is based on Borg technology and includes photonic missiles. While most of the Delta Flyers control systems are conventional, the helm controls are based on those of early to mid 20th century aircraft, a choice made by Lieutenant Paris for aesthetic reasons. On the Flyer's first mission it successfully rescued an advanced probe from deep within a gas giants atmosphere, and was subsequently a valuable asset for Voyager. However, the Flyer underwent its share of mishaps; in 2375 the vessel crash-landed on a hostile planet after encountering a severe ion storm, and in 2376 the Flyer was briefly inside a subspace ellipse. The ship was badly damaged again when a dark matter life form attacked it, but was able to escape without any fatalities. Unfortunately, 2376 proved to be the original Flyer's final year in service. Towards the end of the year Captain Janeway led a mission to infiltrate a Borg cube using the flyer, and it was detected and destroyed by the Queen. A replacement was subsequently constructed. After learning and studying the Flyer's specs, sent to Starfleet via Datastream transmission and later when Voyager made it to Earth, Starfleet decided to put the class in limited production. Starfleet's 4th Fleet will test the craft on a large scale for the next few years. The first of the production flyers was assigned to the USS Pegasus and named USS Apollo.
2374:
September: Tom Paris, in his free team, begins to design a new
craft for USS Voyager. This craft will be a runabout. It's design is inspired
because of the overwhelming high loss rate of the ship's
shuttlecraft.
2375:
March: LtCdr. Tuvok designs a new shielding for the class.
Unimatrix shielding will protect the craft better then any runabout has ever
had. At the same time, Seven of Nine, using Borg technoligy, designs the weapons
for the class. She using Federation phaser and Borg photonic missiles. Paris and
an engineering team begin construction of the Flyer.
April: The ship launchs for the first time on a
mission to rescue an advanced probe from deep within a gas giants
atmosphere.
classification: Advanced Runabout
expected duration: 20 years
time between
resupply: 1 months
time between refit: 6
months
Structure:
tetraburnium alloys with parametallic
plating
length: 30 meters
height: 9 meters
width: 6 meters
Impulse Systems:
power:
Fusion
engines: 1
Tactical Systems:
shields:
Unimatrix shielding.
weapons: Type-VIII
phaser arrays, photonic missiles
Crew and Auxiliary Systems:
crew: 1 (maximum 4)
transporters: 1x2
personnel/cargo