| File:Dauntless.jpg | |
| Class: | Dauntless-class |
| Launched: | Stardate 51472.0 (2374) |
| Status: | Presumed destroyed, possibly assimilated (Stardate 51978.8) |
The "USS Dauntless" (NX-01-A) was an alien vessel disguised as a Starfleet prototype starship of the Dauntless-class.
In mid-2374, while still stranded in the Delta Quadrant, the USS Voyager received a transmission from Starfleet Command via the ancient Hirogen communications network. Although the message contained a number of unencoded personal messages, there was also an encrypted file that the Voyager crew was unable to open.
On Stardate 51978, Voyager encountered an alien named Arturis who had a gift for translating languages, both verbal and computerized. He easily decrypted the mysterious message, which gave a set of coordinates near their current location. Upon arrival, the Voyager crew discovered the advanced Starfleet explorer, Dauntless.
Incorporating technology that promising a faster trip home, the Dauntless proved to be an elaborate trap set by Arturis to arrange for the Voyager crew's assimilation by the Borg. Arturis's race had been recently assimilated by the Borg, and Arturis blamed that event on Kathryn Janeway's short-lived alliance with the Borg against Species 8472.
Ultimately, Voyager eluded the trap, and Arturis was left stranded aboard the Dauntless as it entered Borg space, where he was presumably assimilated. (VOY: "Hope and Fear")
Voyager later used the slipstream technology examined aboard the Dauntless to construct their own makeshift slipstream drive, which eventually propelled them over 300 light years closer to home before it burned out. (VOY: "Timeless")
Background
Considering that no one aboard Voyager blinked at the unusual registry number of the Dauntless – NX-01-A – there was presumably an earlier USS Dauntless, with a registry of NCC-01, making it the first vessel commissioned into Starfleet. (The Enterprise registry number, NX-01, does not apply because the Federation Starfleet was almost certainly not the same as the Earth Starfleet.) They likely did not notice the registry number, or did not think about it at the time.
Another possibility is that Starfleet recycles ship registry numbers, at least for prototypes.
Yet another theory is that the NX-01 was named Dauntless until Captain Picard and his crew altered history in Star Trek: First Contact by informing Zefram Cochrane that their ship was called Enterprise. Zephram Cochrane then decided to name the NX-01 "Enterprise" after the Enterprise-E. Unfortunately, this theory does not hold much water since this Voyager episode takes place after the events of Star Trek: First Contact.
Another possibility is that the registry number was meant to serve as homage to Archer's Enterprise, as the two ships ushered in a new era for space exploration. In this case, the name would be different as Starfleet wouldn't give the same name to two ships in service at the same time, as the Enterprise-E was already launched.
The computer game Star Trek: Bridge Commander also featured a Galaxy-class starship called the USS Dauntless, with the registry NCC-71879.