Trekipedia

Delta Fleet FAQ

What is Delta Fleet anyway?

Star Trek: Delta Fleet is an episodic fan-fiction series with continuing story arcs as well as featuring individual character-based episodes. The stories are written by fans for the benefit of other fans, as well as for readers who simply love Star Trek and enjoy a good story.

Delta Fleet is a ‘sequel series’ to the K/7 Saga, written by Michael Ben-Zvi, set 23 years in the future, in the year 2399 and beyond. It tells of the adventures of Captain Harry Kim, his wife Dr. Annika Kim, and the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701-F, one of the new Discovery Class deep space explorers. These will be the first starships built with quantum slipstream drives, allowing them to return to the Delta Quadrant and follow up on the initial adventures of Janeway’s Voyager. This gives readers the chance to revisit some old friends and enemies, and to meet some new ones.

Where does the name ‘Delta Fleet’ come from?

The Delta Fleet consists of some 14 Discovery class starships, each exploring different sectors of the Delta Quadrant. Occasionally they will run into each other, but essentially the ships are on their own. Each Discovery Class is huge, with a crew of 2000+ including civilians and families, essentially being a mobile Starbase. They each house a number of support ships and scout vessels for extended missions away from the mother ship. (The details of the Enterprise and her small craft will be forthcoming in the Specs section.)

The Delta Fleet project is so ambitious that it involves the combined efforts of the Federation, the Klingon Empire, the Romulan Republic (yes, there have been some changes), the New Cardassian Union, the Ferengi Alliance, and even the Dominion.

Is Delta Fleet a sequel to Voyager?

In a manner of speaking. Delta Fleet is a sequel to the K/7 Saga, only set many years later. In that series, Voyager returned home roughly a year earlier than they did on the television series, so some of the later episodes of Season Six and all of Season Seven never took place. This means that episodes like “Unimatrix Zero” and “Endgame” did not happen, for better or worse. To use the language of another fan fiction series, the K/7 Saga can be called “Voyager Season 6.5.”

Is it important that I read the K/7 Saga before delving into Delta Fleet?

It would help, but it’s not necessary. There is a 23-year gap between the two, so Harry, Annika, and others from the cast of the K/7 Saga have grown and changed over time, making them into new, more mature characters entirely. Delta Fleet will be written in such a way that it will seem remotely plausible that the stories we produce follow logically from what non-readers have seen on the screen.

So this is all just an alternate universe and not considered canon?

Well, to be honest, no fan fiction is considered canon. I doubt that Paramount will be bankrolling this product, especially since it so profoundly repudiates some of the assumptions of “Endgame.” And no Hollywood producer likes to have his or her work negated.

Besides, as much as I’d love to see Delta Fleet on television, I doubt that Jeri Ryan will be looking to leave Boston Public just so that she can age twenty years on the small screen every week.

Delta Fleet is an opportunity to play around in a new universe with some new faces and speculate on how old friends and enemies will have fared over the years. You can get hung up on canon if you like, but first of all, this is supposed to be fun!

Does this have anything to do with the Voyager Virtual Season Project?

Sorry, but no. Although Delta Fleet drew much of its inspiration from the example of VVSP, the two series are set in entirely different universes with different premises. As much as I love the Sernaix, they won’t be making any appearances in these stories.

So will my favorite characters be returning?

Depends on which character you like.

I love reading Paris/Torres and Janeway/Chakotay fiction. Are we going to be seeing them?

Not exactly. The stories really aren’t about them, although they will be making cameo appearances in the first episode. The action of Delta Fleet will be taking place aboard the Enterprise or in the Delta Quadrant, with the occasional call from home. But if you want to write your own stories about your favorite characters/couples and how they are faring in the Delta Fleet universe, then let us know and we’ll see how your idea can be fit into our story.

I always thought that the Doctor and Seven should end up together.

Sorry, but that was dealt with in the K/7 Saga. He went on to have a very happy and rewarding life of his own, and we’ll see him make a cameo in the first episode of Delta Fleet. And even though the Doctor (which isn’t what he’s called in 2399, and no, his name isn’t Joe) isn’t a character in Delta Fleet, his influence has affected the universe and the story in some significant ways.

I kind of liked the whole Chakotay/Seven thing they had in “Endgame.”

Get out. Now.

What about other Trek characters, like from TNG or DS9?

Well, by this time most of them would be far too senior to be crewmembers aboard the Enterprise. There will, however, be a few cameos over the course of the series. Vic Fontaine is just about the only DS9 ‘regular’ who we currently have planned to appear in the series.

Will we be seeing the Kazon? Or the Vidiians? Or the Hirogen? Or Species 8472? Or the Borg?

Yes, yes, yes, possibly, and definitely yes. It may take some time before we revisit each of the various species encountered by Voyager, but we will be seeing many of them again. However, the intervening years have brought interesting changes to all of them.

I noticed that Icheb and the Borg kids never joined up with Voyager in the K/7 Saga. Will we ever be seeing them in Delta Fleet?

Maybe. If someone can think of a good enough story to include them, then we’ll definitely consider it.

What about Kes? Since “Fury” never happened in the K/7 Saga, does this mean we will see her again in a better story than what the Voyager writers came up with?

Perhaps. Remember that Kes would be close to 30 at the time of Delta Fleet, which is way beyond a normal Ocampan lifespan. But then Kes is no longer a normal Ocampa. If someone can think of a good story for her, then let us know.

Who do I talk to about getting involved with Delta Fleet?

If you want to be a writer or offer up your story ideas, please send an email to mbzvi@yahoo.com, and you will be invited to join the Delta Fleet Yahoo mailing list.

All story ideas will be considered, however most will be rejected due to the fact that it does not work within our storyline. Most authors will be picked based on the quality of their work rather than their story idea. So if we don’t use your ideas or are unable to take you on as a writer, please don’t take offense.

I don’t want to write, but I want to help out. What else can I do?

For one thing, we can definitely use more artists. Anyone who knows how to do technical schematics would be needed. And people willing to edit or proofread stories would be a big plus to the project. And most important of all are people who are willing to spread the word.

What are your policies regarding writers? What can or can’t I do?

Writers will have freedom to come up with their own stories, as well as receiving story ideas and outlines developed by the producers, and then farmed out to any takers for writing in full.

Delta Fleet is intended to be similar to Star Trek: TNG or Enterprise in that each episode will be an individual mission, but there will be continuity between the episodes to fit within the general story line of the crew’s mission in the Delta Quadrant. In that sense, it will be more of a series, as opposed to a serial like VVSP or Babylon 5, where there is a tight connection between episodes as part of a larger story with a clearly intended ending. We’re a little bit looser here at Delta Fleet. There will be a forward momentum with characters and their development, but we are allowing for greater independence within each episode.

Remember, continuity of plot and characters is important and the producers will have the final say as to what will or won’t fly. Since so many of the characters in the setting are new (or changed from their earlier incarnations), it will be a while before many new writers get the proper feel for them. Therefore, we ask that all authors defer to the producers’ judgment if anything is considered out of character. And please don’t write any characters in a demeaning or farcical manner unless the story specifically calls for it.

Also remember to keep everything no more intense than what you’d see on prime time television. If you want to do something more adult, then that can be posted as “non-canon” material off-site, with links in our message board.

What are the requirements for submitting a story?

We’re looking for good quality writing along with a good story idea. Once an episode has been assigned to a writer, we ask that he or she submit an outline of their episode, broken down by scenes, so that we know what to expect. Once the producers check it over and give the green light, the author can feel free to start writing.

Each episode needs to be from 18,000 to 23,000 words in either plain text format or Microsoft Word. Anything shorter than that and it wouldn’t have room for development we wish to see in each episode. Anything longer will take too much time for the beta readers and web developers to sort through, unless they are given a huge lead-time.

Oh, and please remember to respect the deadlines given to you. Other authors are dependent on everyone getting their work in on time.

Where will the episodes be posted?

All the episodes will be posted on the website. Back episodes will be archived in the Episode section of the site.

But I’ve got more questions that you haven’t listed here.
In that case, you can send your questions to Michael Ben-Zvi at mbzvi@yahoo.com.

Lets set sail!