Voyager

Launched in the Earth year 2371, and much smaller than a Galaxy-class starship, the U.S.S.Voyager NCC-74656 is 11,130 feet long, weighs 1.5 million metric tons and has a crew of only 150. Voyager's smaller size makes it far more maneuverable than the older, larger starships in the fleet.                       The first mission of the Voyager, commanded by Captain Kathryn Janeway, 5 to visit the Badlands to investigate the disappearance of a Maquis ship whose crew contains Janeway's Chief of Security, Tuvok, who is on an undercover mission.

Voyager enters the Badlands, is intercepted by an immense tetryon beam and then completely engulfed by a polarized magnetic variation displacement wave. This wave propels Voyager 70,000 light years across the galaxy to a G-type star system in the Delta Quadrant.

With Voyager severely damaged, many of her key officers dead, and the mission extended indefinitely, Janeway takes on the crew of the Marquis ship when it is destroyed by a ramming it into a large ship of the group called the Kazon. The Marquis captain, Chakotay, who is a former Starfleet officer; agrees to serve as First Officer, while the half­ Klingon half-human B'Elanna Torres becomes Voyager's Chief Engineer. As the ship's doctor was one of the officers killed during Voyager's initial contact with the Caretaker, the emergency holographic doctor, programmed to serve as a short-term emergency supplement to the medical team, is forced to assume the role of primary caregiver to the crew.

With the supply of antimatter a problem now that the ship is cut off from Federation support systems, the crew must save fuel for their long journey back to the Alpha Quadrant. Conservation measures include periodically dimming the ship's lights and restricted use of the holodeck.

The limited power supplies also mean the rationing of replicator credits. The food supplies are stretched using vegetables grown in a hydroponic garden set up by Kes, an Ocampan who has joined Voyager on its journey. Her partner, Neelix, a Talaxian trader; has taken on the role of 'morale officer' and chef, cooking up foodstuffs he picks up from planets along the way.

Neelix is familiar with many planets and peoples he has encountered in his previous travels, but as the ship moves deeper into the Delta Quadrant, one of the crew's primary missions becomes the cataloging of all new planets and life forms.