A vessel posing as an advanced Starfleet quantum slipstream ship, offered to Voyager as a fast way home but secretly built by Arturis as a trap.
The USS Dauntless appeared to be an experimental Starfleet ship capable of quantum slipstream travel. It was found in the Delta Quadrant by Arturis, an alien with a gift for languages who had helped Captain Janeway decode a Starfleet message. He claimed the ship had been sent from Earth to bring Voyager home in a matter of months.
In reality the ship was Arturis's own creation, built to resemble a Starfleet vessel. Arturis belonged to a species that had been assimilated by the Borg, and he blamed Janeway's alliance with the Borg against Species 8472 for his people's fate. He planned to lure the crew aboard and deliver them to Borg space. Janeway saw through the deception, but she and Seven of Nine were trapped aboard as the ship fled, and Voyager pursued it through slipstream and rescued them before it reached Borg space.
The incident is the closing chapter of Voyager's fourth season and a turning point in the bond between Seven of Nine and Janeway, as Seven confronted her fears about Earth and about her future with the crew. Voyager also gained enough slipstream knowledge to attempt its own experimental drive later.