Mutara class

Voyager approaches the Swallow Nebula.

The term Mutara class refers to any nebula with similar properties to the Mutara Nebula. (VOY episode: "One")

History

In 2285, a battle occurred in the Mutara Nebula between the USS Enterprise and the USS Reliant. Khan Noonien Singh, leader of the surviving Human Augments, fought the Battle of the Mutara Nebula with his old nemesis Admiral James T. Kirk. The Reliant was destroyed when Khan detonated the Genesis Device inside the nebula, leading to the formation of the planet Genesis. (TOS movie, novelization & comic adaptation: Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan)

The Ganges enters the Chamra Vortex.

In 2369, the Rakhari criminal Croden convinced Constable Odo of the Bajoran space station Deep Space 9 to take him to an asteroid in the Chamra Vortex, on the other side of the Bajoran wormhole. Odo and Croden boarded the Danube-class runabout Ganges to travel to the Gamma Quadrant and into the Chamra Vortex, where they recovered Croden's daughter from a stasis pod, and a piece of Changeling biomatter. (DS9 episode: "Vortex")

Map of the Rakhari sector with the Chamra Vortex.

A Mutara class nebula was encountered by the USS Voyager in 2374 on the starship's return journey to the Alpha Quadrant. The nebula emitted subnucleonic radiation which greatly affected humanoid skin. The nebula was about 110 light years long and would take one month to travel through. It would take a month for the starship to travel through the nebula, opposed to a year to go round. Unfortunately the radiation emitted by the nebula had a damaging effect on most of Voyager's crew. Unwilling to add a year to their journey the crew opted to be put into stasis for the time it took to traverse the nebula, leaving Seven of Nine and the Doctor to operate the vessel. During the trip, the ship suffered many problems due to the radiation including gel pack randomization problems and computer errors. (VOY episode: "One")

A Mutara class nebula in Devore space.

In 2375, Voyager was carrying telepathic refugees through Devore space, with the intention of meeting up with a transport ship that would take the refugees to safety. This ship continually gave them new coordinates, one of which was a Mutara-class nebula. It was later discovered that the transport ship had been intercepted, and at least one dozen ships were waiting inside the nebula for further ships to fall into the trap. Voyager did not go to the nebula. (VOY episode: "Counterpoint")

In 2376, Mutara-class nebulae were known to interfere with sensors. This became a tactical advantage for combatants during the Borg Invasion of 2376 and related conflicts. (ST video game: Armada)

In 2377, The Doctor took holo-images of a Mutara-class nebula while he piloted the Delta Flyer II. When the shuttle later encountered a subspace eddy, The Doctor suggested that it was probably just the gravimetric shear coming from the nebula. (VOY episode: "Renaissance Man")

In 2379, the tactical advantages of Mutara-class nebulae were covered by Lieutenant Commander Carey during a training mission at Starfleet Academy. (ST video game: Armada II mission: "Tutorial: Combat")

Known Mutara-class nebulae

• Chamra Vortex
• Mutara Nebula
• Swallow Nebula
• nebula in Devore space
• near subspace eddy

Appendices

Appearances and references

Appearances

• TOS movie: The Wrath of Khan (first appearance)
• DS9 episode: "Vortex" (first appearance of Chamra Vortex)
• VOY episode: "One" (first appearance of Swallow Nebula, unnamed)
• VOY episode: "Counterpoint"
• VOY episode: "Renaissance Man"
• ST reference: Star Charts (Swallow Nebula named)
• ST video game: Armada
• ST video game: Armada II