Delta radiation

Delta radiation is a type of radiation that can be very deadly and cause profound brain damage. It can be released when the small Class J starship suffers a hull breach. Fleet Captain Christopher Pike's terrible injury occurred in such an incident aboard a training vessel. The exposure left him crippled and confined to a wheelchair in the mid-2260s.

Exposure to delta rays can also weaken certain metals, such as viterium.

The warp engines of the ships of the Terran Empire's Starfleet in the mirror universe generate excessive delta radiation, which shorten the lives of engineers working with them by an estimated ten years per one year of exposure.

In 2369, while on a rescue mission for the runabout USS Yangtzee Kiang, Jadzia Dax noted that the data from the long range sensors might be inaccurate because of an abnormal level of delta radiation from the star in the binary star system.