The Infinity was an experimental Federation support courier that was specially designed and built for a rescue mission fifty-two years into the future.
Service history[]
Starfleet built the Infinity for a mission to rescue Captain Chakotay from the other side of the Janeway wormhole, adding in cloaking technology and temporal shielding designed to withstand the temporal paradoxes within the wormhole. It was the only ship capable of surviving the journey to the future. (PRO: "Into the Breach, Part I", "Into the Breach, Part II") However, the cloaking technology violated three treaties, including the Treaty of Algeron. (PRO: "Imposter Syndrome")
It was kept hidden on the USS Voyager-A in Shuttlebay 3 which was a retrofitted hanger bay that also served as a secret meeting place for the ship's command staff, the only ones aware of the Infinity's existence or mission. The ship was found by Dal R'El, Jankom Pog, Zero and Murf who witnessed a secret meeting between Vice Admiral Kathryn Janeway, The Doctor, Commander Tysess and Councilor Noum after Janeway got word that Admiral Edward Jellico was considering pulling the plug on the rescue mission out of fear that the wormhole was becoming unstable and could threaten the timeline. Nevertheless, the four decided to carry on and keep the Infinity prepared for launch, although they had to wait so as to not risk endangering the timeline themselves. (PRO: "Into the Breach, Part I")
After Dal revealed that he and his friends knew about Shuttlebay 3, Janeway revealed to them the truth of Voyager's mission and the group agreed to keep it a secret. Janeway explained that they had to wait for Chakotay to launch the USS Protostar into the past in 41 hours before they could launch the rescue mission so as not to risk a temporal paradox, but no one could know that Janeway was keeping the mission alive as Starfleet might pull them out and cause the crew to lose their chance at a rescue completely. However, Maj'el overheard Dal talking about the secret mission and Shuttlebay 3 and, with her Vulcan telepathy enhanced by proximity to Zero, a Medusan, learned the rest and called in the rest of Nova Squadron to find the ship and report it to Starfleet Command. Dal and his friends managed to reach the shuttlebay first and Dal attempted to move it to a different shuttlebay to prevent Nova Squadron from finding the Infinity. During a struggle between the two groups, the autopilot launch sequence for the mission into the wormhole was accidentally activated, launching the ship with Dal, Jankom, Zero, and Maj'el onboard, leaving Rok, Murf, Zeph, and Grom behind. A mysterious orb entity appeared to tell Janeway that the time was now, despite it being too early for the planned mission, and Voyager was unable to lock a tractor beam onto the Infinity as it got caught in the rift's gravimetric well and flew into the wormhole. (PRO: "Into the Breach, Part II")
The Infinity lost inertial dampeners, but made it through the wormhole and crashed on Solum 52 years into the future. However, the crash broke a number of the ship's systems, rendering it inoperable. The makeshift crew discovered that they had arrived four hours before the Protostar was due to be launched and they were captured by the Vau N'Akat. Speculating that they were always meant to help Chakotay launch the Protostar, the crew helped him and Adreek-Hu escape and reach the ship. However, in the melee Dal dropped a disruptor which allowed Chakotay and Adreek to escape with the Protostar through the wormhole, changing the ship's destination and altering history. (PRO: "Who Saves the Saviors")
Voyager managed to reestablish contact with the Infinity and revealed that they were detecting signs of a paradox from the past being altered. A mysterious entity sent the crew a message to "Save Gwyn" along with a set of coordinates. While Jankom worked on repairs, with problems including busted warp engine relays and the structural integrity being shot, Dal, Zero and Maj'el followed the coordinates to a cavern where they found a ghostly image of Gwyn who was caught between quantum realities in a superposition where she both did and didn't exist as a result of the past being altered. Needing to return to the present to save Gwyn, Zero and Maj'el came up with a plan to turn the Infinity into a time machine by drawing energy from the wormhole to power an inverse warp field similar to how Lieutenant Worf was once able to jump between quantum timelines. With the help of Temporal Mechanics 101, sent over by Voyager on Dal's request, the crew were able to turn the starship into a makeshift timeship.
Under attack from Watchers, the Infinity traveled back in time 52 years to the present where the crew was able to stabilize Gwyn to return to Voyager. Although Jankom believed that the Infinity couldn't fly anymore between the damage and the ship being salvaged to make the time machine, the mysterious entity repaired the ship, allowing the crew and Gwyn to return to Voyager. (PRO: "Temporal Mechanics 101")
Tysess later told Janeway and Noum that Infinity's power was some kind of cascading photovoltaic loop, confusing the Andorian officer as to how kids could make the advanced calculations needed to reroute the ship's power grid in that way. (PRO: "Observer's Paradox")
Subsequently, Voyager was ordered to destroy all evidence of their classified mission, the cloaking ship that violated three treaties in particular. The Infinity was to be launched into a class b hypergiant, but the former crew of the Protostar decided to steal it in order to chase down a message from the mysterious benefactor who had repaired the ship for them and led the crew to Gwyn. The Protostar crew made holographic duplicates of themselves in order to fool Voyager's crew, but ran into trouble when the duplicates thought that they were the real crew and tried to take the Infinity for themselves which would've caused the duplicates to blink out of existence and leave the Infinity to be destroyed. After rebooting the duplicates -- inadvertently causing them to glitch and switch personalities -- the crew managed to beam aboard the Infinity as it was launched towards the star. Once out of range of Voyager's scanners, the crew cloaked the Infinity and set course for the spiral nebula that Gwyn had been directed to. At the same time, Voyager was fooled into believing that the Infinity had been destroyed. (PRO: "Imposter Syndrome")
Facing a 61-day journey to the spiral nebula in the cramped quarters of the ship, the crew elected to use an abandoned Borg transwarp conduit as a shortcut. While the conduit greatly cut down on the Infinity's travel time and took it into the Delta Quadrant, the ship was grabbed by a Kazon drone, pulled out of the conduit, and forced to make a landing at the Kazon training facility. Following the destruction of the rogue AI running the training facility, the crew resumed course for the nebula. (PRO: "The Fast and the Curious")
A week later, Zero received a telepathic message from Ion, a Medusan living on Ovidia IV, a colony for non-corporeal lifeforms. There, the Ovidians helped Zero by replacing their damaged containment suit with a corporeal body, albeit one that would inevitably deteriorate once it was away from the planet's atmosphere. Nonetheless, Zero decided to continue traveling with their friends rather than remaining at the colony. However, at the same time, Voyager finally discovered the crew's deception and began tracking the Infinity. (PRO: "Is There in Beauty No Truth?")
Shortly thereafter, the Infinity finally arrived at the nebula and located a hidden planet by using the transporter's Heisenberg compensator to remodulate the shields. The crew then landed the Infinity at the time ziggurat where they picked up a single lifesign which proved to be Wesley Crusher, the true source of the message that had led the crew to the planet. (PRO: "The Devourer of All Things, Part I")
Swarmed by the Loom, the crew, Wesley, and Maj'el attempted to use the Infinity to escape, only to witness the Loom attacking and ultimately destroying the ship. However, having tracked the Infinity to the planet, Voyager arrived and opened fire, giving them a chance to escape into the ziggurat, with Wesley using a gateway to send the Infinity crew to the Protostar's location. (PRO: "The Devourer of All Things, Part II")
Writer Jennifer Muro named the Infinity after a ship she dreamed about.[1]
Alternate realities and timelines[]
In an alternate reality encountered by Chakotay, Dal R'El, Jankom Pog, Rok-Tahk, Gwyndala, Murf, Zero, and Maj'el, Vice Admiral Kathryn Janeway perished aboard the Infinity, along with Commander Tysess and Counselor Noum, while trying to rescue Chakotay from the future. She was replaced by Admiral Edward Jellico as the commanding officer of the USS Voyager-A. (PRO: "Cracked Mirror")