Star Trek Has Replaced The USS Voyager With An A
Star Trek: Prodigy teased a return of the USS Voyager, only this time it's the Voyager-A.
When last we saw the USS Voyager, she was returning victorious from the Delta Quadrant in the series finale of Star Trek: Voyager back in 2001. The ship survived but apparently, that hasn’t stopped Starfleet from replacing it. The season finale of Star Trek: Prodigy confirmed that there is now an A version of Voyager in the Star Trek universe.
The Voyager-A’s reveal came during a blink-or-you’ll-miss-it moment in the episode. It happens when the crew of the USS Protostar crash lands on Earth and is picked up by a pair of shuttlecraft.
Here’s a still shot of one of those shuttles from the episode…
Note the registry number on the shuttlecraft above. It’s NCC-74656-A. The registry of the USS Voyager is NCC-74656…
A few things to know here. First, in Star Trek, shuttles always have the same registry number as the starship they are from. So if the shuttle in this picture is NCC-74656-A then it is from a ship with that same registry.
Second, the “A” designation is only added to the registry number of a new ship being named after a previous starship that distinguished itself in some way. These designations are very, very rare in Starfleet. The one you know best is, of course, the new replacement Enterprise being given NCC-1701-A in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home.
If these shuttles are from a ship with the registry number NCC-74656-A, then that ship is definitely named Voyager and it is not the same Voyager from the 90s TV show. Rather, it’s a brand-new, tricked-out, replacement version.
The only odd thing here is that the original USS Voyager was never destroyed. Captain Janeway brought it home to Starfleet, and it was intact when last we saw it in the Star Trek: Voyager series finale.
However, that finale episode (titled “Endgame”) took place in the year 2378 in Star Trek’s fictional timeline. Star Trek: Prodigy takes place in the year 2383. That’s five years after the completion of Star Trek: Voyager. There’s no telling what happened to the USS Voyager at that time. Either it was destroyed or it must have been retired to a museum (perhaps because of its accomplishments), with a new ship commissioned.
So will we ever get to see the Voyager-A? Star Trek: Prodigy seems to be hinting that we will. In the Prodigy Season 1 finale episode, Vice-Admiral Janeway tells the show’s teenage crew they won’t be going back to their little ship. Instead, she says she has something “bigger” in mind. There’s a good chance that something bigger is the Voyager-A. Expect to see it when Star Trek: Prodigy returns for season 2.
We already knew the Voyager name would continue on in other ships. Last year Star Trek: Discovery, which is set in a much further off future, gave us the Voyager-J.
What exactly will we get with the Voyager-A? Star Trek’s original USS Voyager is an Intrepid class starship. The Intrepid class was brand new when Voyager launched, which means the class is only a bit more than a decade old in canon. That’s still rather new by Starfleet standards. Given that, most devoted Voyager fans are likely hoping the Voyager-A will be another identical Intrepid or an updated Intrepid in the vein of the Constitution class refit.
On the other hand, in canon Starfleet shifted away from ship designs like the Intrepid after Janeway’s crew got lost in the Delta Quadrant. The Intrepid was originally designed as a long-range explorer and shortly after its launch Starfleet found itself in multiple wars with the Borg, the Cardassians, the Dominion, and the Breen. They shifted from making exploratory vessels to more warlike ships in the vein of the Defiant class and the Sovereign class.
It’s possible that Starfleet scrapped the entire Intrepid line in the years since we last saw it. However, given the success Voyager had in defeating the Borg and battling its way back from the Delta Quadrant, you’d think that would prove how solid the design is. You’d think they’d want more of a starship like that.
We’ll all find out the true fate of Voyager when Star Trek: Prodigy returns for season 2.
