Star Trek Shipyards: The Delta Quadrant Vol. 2 - Ledosian to Zahl

FOREWORD

In the beginning, new ships were a rare commodity in STAR TREK. Traditional visual effects techniques involved creating expensive physical models that were filmed on complicated rigs, with cameras that flicked through the film at an unbelievably slow rate. By the time STAR TREK: VOYAGER reached our screens, the world had begun to change. CG modeling emerged from its infancy, and as a result, ships became an everyday part of STAR TREK. By the time VOYAGER reached its final season, a new ship was almost as common as a new species of alien. There were so many, we had to split our coverage of the Delta Quadrant into two volumes.

This second volume covers ships from the Lokirrim to the Zahl. On the pages that follow, you’ll find everything from ships that made a one-off appearance to major vessels such as the Species 8472 bioship or the Vidiian cruiser. One ship eluded us: in ‘Gravity’ we only see the remains of Noss’s ship, after it has crashed on the surface. The ship was only ever shown as a matte painting, so it was never built in its complete form. We discussed whether to rebuild it in CG, but ultimately decided that there was too much we didn’t know. In contrast, the archives we’ve recovered have yielded occasional gems. In ‘Virtuoso,’ we see five ships flying around a space station, which we’ve been able to show in unprecedented detail. Similarly, we’re able to show the Mislenite freighter, which only made the briefest of appearances.

If you want a complete catalog of every ship that appeared in the Delta Quadrant, you should look out the first volume in the series, which covers the Borg, and the Akritirian to the Krenim. There are, of course, other volumes in the series, which cover Starfleet ships, the Klingons, the Federation, and the other alien species. The goal has always been to create a comprehensive reference to all the different STAR TREK ships, and each volume brings us a little closer. We hope you enjoy what follows.


LEDOSIAN PATROL VESSEL
 
In 2377, a patrol ship attacked Voyager as it came to the aid of an indigenous society on the planet Ledos.
Visiting the verdant planet of Ledos for a conference on warp field dynamics, Commander Chakotay and Seven of Nine encountered an energy barrier below their shuttle, hidden from its sensors. The barrier hit the shuttle with a power surge, knocking out its impulse engines and warp core. Thanks to Seven, who used phasers to open a temporary rift in the barrier, the pair were able to beam down to the planet’s surface as their shuttle crash-landed.

The barrier had been established there to protect an indigenous group called the Ventu, who inhabited a forested area of Ledos. Long ago they had been attacked by the ancestors of the now technologically advanced Ledosians, with whom they unknowingly shared the planet.
Seven was later able to neutralize the barrier with the shuttle’s deflector and contact the U.S.S. Voyager for rescue. However, a Ledosian scientific team used this “unprecedented opportunity” to cross into the region for anthropological research and resource development. Following Starfleet’s Prime Directive, Captain Janeway intended to restore the barrier after retrieving the deflector and shuttle debris, to prevent further cultural contamination of the Ventu.

The Ledosian government insisted that the barrier remain open and sent a patrol ship to intercept Voyager. It charged weapons and fired two energy beams, disabling Voyager’s transporters and preventing them from removing the Ledosian scientists. Lieutenant Tom Paris approached the planet in the Delta Flyer and was also attacked by the patrol ship. As Voyager tried to hold it off with phaser fire, Paris beamed the science team away from Ventu territory, before the patrol ship took out his transporters, too. Voyager then successfully closed the barrier, incurring the ire of the Ledosians.