Maquis resistance fighter who joined the crew of the U.S.S. Voyager after being stranded in the Delta Quadrant in 2371. Dalby grew up on the Bajoran frontier and coped with his hard life by getting into a lot of trouble. He was angry at everybody and everything, he claimed, until a woman came along and taught him about love. But then three Cardassians raped her and smashed her skull. Dalby subsequently joined the Maquis to kill as many Cardassians as he could.

During his first few weeks aboard Voyager, Dalby tried to make his contribution to the combined crew, but he had difficulty adjusting his behavior to fit within Starfleet protocols. For example, if he saw that a bio-neural gel pack was malfunctioning, he would fix it without proper authorization. Consequently, he was one of several Maquis crewmembers assigned to undergo special field training under Lt. Tuvok. Dalby hated this training, feeling like it was a form of punishment, and was very spiteful toward Tuvok. But when the Vulcan disregarded protocol to save the life of one of his trainees, Dalby decided that if Tuvok could learn to bend the rules, he could learn to follow them.