The Red Shoulders: Reimagining the Dauntless

Introducing the Dauntless-class U.S.S. Clarke.

In-Universe Context

Registry	NCC-81303
Class	Dauntless-class
Type	Light cruiser
Active	2376 to 25^th century
Decks	10
Length	Approximately 236m
Capacity	400 humanoids
Max. Speed	Warp factor 8.8 Slipstream factor 0.68
Max. Cruising	Warp factor 8.6 Slipstream factor 0.5
Armament	Phasers (x6 phaser arrays) Photon torpedoes (x1 launcher)

While stranded in the delta quadrant, the U.S.S. Voyager first encountered quantum slipsream technology in 2374, a new form of transwarp propulsion that promised travel through space at far greater relative speeds than conventional 4th generation warp drives. Attempts to retrofit the Voyager herself with a quantum slipstream drive in 2375 proved unsuccessful, but data on their attempt was transmitted back to the Alpha Quardrant, and by 2375 the Pathfinder Project hastily began experimenting with their own quantum-slipstream spacecraft. The first experimental Slipstream vessel, the U.S.S. Dauntless, NX-81300, launched in 2376, followed shortly thereafter by the U.S.S. Clarke, NX-81303.

As Starfleet's first attempt at a quantum slipstream-capable starship, only Dauntless-class starships were ever built, due to the design's inability to maintain a quantum slipstream for more than several seconds. Maintaining a quantum slipstream also produced incredible stresses on the warp drive, necessitating the use of a modular engine system that allowed the entire warp engine to be quickly replaced.

By 2380, the experimental Dauntless-class starships were commissioned into the fleet, and served as light cruisers and long-range couriers, with at least one Dauntless-class starship remaining in service well into the 25th century, where it fought at the Battle of Procyon V. Meanwhile Starfleet found much more success with the Dauntless' quantum slipstream successors: the Arbalest-class and Vesta-class, and was eventually able to retrofit limited quantum slipstream drives on the Luna-class and Sovereign-class.

Commentary

Building a model of a Dauntless-class starship is a bit of a challenge, as the Dauntless both is, and is not, a Federation starship. First introduced in Star Trek Voyager as an alien starship masquerading as a Federation vessel, the Dauntless' would later be incorporated into the fleet when its 3D model was used when Star Trek Enterprise jumped to the future Battle of Procyon 5.

There was almost certainly no deep meaning behind this reappearance of the Dauntless: the Enterprise SFX team needed some futuristic-looking Federation starships for the battle, and they already had a model of the Dauntless they could use with little to no alteration. So they did.

Foundation Imaging's original CGI model, created for Star Trek Voyager: Hope and Fear (season 4 episode 26).

My goal with the U.S.S. Clarke was to take the general idea of the Dauntless, and convert it into something appropriately recognizable as a Federation starship. The original design (pictured above) was very alien, but I wanted to try and keep as many of the original proportions as I could, while adding in the necessary Starfleet detail.

I made three major alterations to the original Dauntless design: first and most obviously, I adjusted the size, proportions and placing of the warp nacelles to be more similar to conventional Federation designs; second, I took all of the concave curves of the original design, and made them convex; and lastly I reduced the height of the ship slightly and made the overall profile slightly more angular.

I also enlarged the shuttlebay, which was never well-defined on the original model (though it is still quite small), added in the weapon systems, lifeboats, thrusters, panel lines and so on. Using the Eaglemoss model as a reference, I noticed that there were windows inside the "lip" of the primary hull. This was a detail I liked (I love inward-facing windows), but it didn't make much sense on the original design as that "lip" was far too narrow to accommodate a deck, without ballooning the size of the Dauntless to an absurd extent.

I adjusted the shape and width of the lower primary hull to accommodate a single "outer" deck, and used this detail to determine the approximate scale of the Clarke (it's 236m length feels appropriate next to the 344m long Voyager).

Ultimately I never quite felt satisfied with the design, though I was fond of certain elements (I had a lot of fun modeling the "ridge" at the front of the primary hull) and gradually lost-interest. You may notice that the warp nacelles aren't quite as detailed as the rest of the model--that's why. I ended up detailing the ship starting from the fore and working my way aft, so the rear of the ship ended up being considerably less polished than the front. Almost immediately after finishing the Dauntless, I ended up throwing together a little over a dozen different study models to explore the possibility of replicating the wedge-shaped primary hull from the Dauntless in another design, at least two of which I plan on iterating further. So if you like all these triangles and pointy bits, keep an eye out for those in the future.

One idea I had while trying to determine appropriate proportions for the warp nacelles is that the quantum slipstream drive would produce enormous stresses on the warp engine, effectively causing the reactor/nacelles to "burn out." So I connected the nacelles to a block-shaped pod at the bottom of the hull, with the idea that the entire warp engine assembly could be swapped in out as-needed. If you download the model for yourself, you'll be able to swap between three different nacelle configurations--the default nacelles, longer Sovereign-style nacelles, and shorter, stubbier, Intrepid-style nacelles.