Evasive maneuvers (also known as evasive action or defensive pattern) were a sequence of defensive movements employed by starship commanders to evade enemy weapons fire, or capture. These movements were specified by predefined or on the spot course changes. Although each race used different terminology for their evasive maneuvers, the tactics remained the same.
In 2254, "Number One" asked Captain Christopher Pike if they should make evasive maneuvers when something came closer to the USS Enterprise on a collision course with the speed of light. (TOS: "The Cage")
Commander Spock used a spiral evasive course to break free from the constraint of the globular force field surrounding the USS Enterprise. (TAS: "How Sharper Than a Serpent's Tooth")
When the USS Enterprise-D was attacked by a Cardassian starship, Captain Jean-Luc Picard ordered a "delta-sequence" evasive maneuver. (TNG: "The Wounded")
An example of this was the Starfleet maneuver "pattern delta" which was to simply a maneuver of rocking the ship hard from port to starboard. Evasive "pattern delta 5" was used to keep attacking ships off balance. (DS9: "Shattered Mirror", "The Search, Part I")
In contrast to evasive patterns, offensive movements such as attack patterns or tactical patterns are instances where a starship commander intends to engage the enemy in a confrontation, rather than evade. These patterns were known as standard maneuvers.
Then there were other types of maneuvers that were named for the person who executed them the first time such as "The Picard Maneuver" which was named for Jean Luc Picard. (TNG: "The Battle")
In 2369, while confronted with a Miradorn Theta-class raider in the Chamra Vortex, Odo ordered evasive maneuvers for his runabout USS Ganges. (DS9: "Vortex")
Red Squad was killed by the Jem'Hadar battleship before they could implement evasive maneuvers. ("Valiant (episode)")
Evasive maneuver patterns
- Evasive maneuver one
- Pattern beta two
- Pattern beta four
- Pattern beta four five
- Pattern beta six
- VOY: "Flesh and Blood", "The Void", "Endgame"
- Pattern beta nine
- Pattern beta 140 (dual attack mode)
- VOY: "Ex Post Facto"
- Pattern gamma
- Pattern gamma four
- Pattern gamma six
- Pattern delta
- TNG: "Darmok", "Conundrum"; DS9: "Emissary", "Shattered Mirror", "What You Leave Behind"; VOY: "Year of Hell, Part II"
- Pattern delta four
- Pattern delta five
- Pattern delta-six
- Pattern lambda ten
- Pattern theta
- Pattern theta one
- Pattern theta two
- VOY: "Initiations"
- Pattern omega
- VOY: "Caretaker"; DS9: "Sacrifice of Angels"
- Pattern omega one
- VOY: "Initiations"
- Pattern omega two
- Pattern omega three
- Pattern omega six
- Pattern Kirk epsilon
- Pattern Riker alpha
- Pattern Riker beta
- The Picard Maneuver
- TNG: "The Battle"
Evasive maneuver sequences
Evasive Maneuver Sequences are simply a series or array of maneuvers which fit a particular circumstance, but then is left to the helmsman to execute the individual maneuvers themselves with discretion.
- Sequence Beta 93
- Sequence Delta / Delta sequence
- TNG: "The Wounded", "Darmok", "Conundrum"
- Lambda Sequence
- Sequence 010
- Gamma Sequence