#Chakotay how could you!!! Tuvok wanted to show off!!!
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Polycule Moments
Guess who got access to recording software
#chakotay/janeway/tuvok#st voyager#Chakotay how could you!!! Tuvok wanted to show off!!!#I love how Chakotay looks so much like '????' after - as he SHOULD.#Chakotay#Kathryn Janeway#Tuvok#A little slice of how Janeway & Tuvok normally operate...delicious <3#they are so.....suave??#I can't believe Tuvok actually STOOD up...SIR. Sit DOWN!!! Heheh this ain't drama class <3#Janeway's expression when she finds something funny but can't laugh...'oop!'#I love early seasons Tuvok he takes every opportunity to be like 'Hello Captain who I know better than everyone else. I assume you want#xyz?' (Yes Tuvok you're brilliant as always old friend) and then if he were human he'd turn to Chakotay with the smuggest grin ever on his#face#I wish they'd used this trait of his to tell us more about their friendship pre-voyager#or had it originally be just the two of them as more insulated from the rest of the crew before Janeway starts branching out#(and maybe they can make it a plot point that Tuvok doesn't in a 'we've gotta befriend him!' episode)
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Voyager needed a real command triangle
Okay, this is long, but bear with me.
This gets me everytime. Janeway thinks that if nothing physically intimate happens with Chakotay, then there won't be any problems with her decision making. Which is total bunk. They obviously both care about each other, even if you think it's not romantic (but come on of course it is) which causes issues when it's crunch time. She tends to take his disagreements with her personally rather than professionally, and he lets his feelings get in the way of removing her from command when she really, really needs to be, both for the sake of the ship and for her.
So here's where Tuvok comes in. He's Janeway's friend, but able to distance himself emotionally and be logical (as long as he's not melding with Suder). So when the top two are having a fierce argument, bring in Tuvok as the tie breaker. Janeway doesn't absolutely have to agree with Tuvok's decision, but she'd be getting more than one perspective. Also, Tuvok ought to be able to step up and in dire situations, relieve one of them of duty. This would be really juicy for Tuvok, so there'd have to be specific rules for it so he didn't relieve his commanding officers every episode, but it would solve so many issues. For instance:
Scorpion: Janeway wants to make a deal with the Borg despite everyone else in the room, including Neelix, questioning if this idea is even remotely sane. Chakotay has a neato spider story, but this goes nowhere with Janeway. Enter Tuvok with an idea that would somehow include a little of each of their POVs without all of the crew possibly dying.
Equinox: Janeway's gone so far over the edge that even she realizes it by the end of the episode. The situation becomes way too personal for her. So Chakotay should have relieved her of duty, looong before she got to the point of nearly executing a prisoner. Making sure the captain is in proper shape is part of his job. Instead, he lets himself get relieved of duty. Enter Tuvok who knocks some sense into Chakotay about the captain clearly needing a break from the non-stop commanding thing that would do anyone in. They get the Doctor involved, relieve her temporarily of duty and get her some meds and counseling (which they all need) and figure out some logical steps to take with the Equinox crew. Tuvok could also make sure he's got Janeway securely trapped behind at least two force fields.
Same thing for when Chakotay goes off the rails and Janeway doesn't notice. We see how it works in the last season or so when Tuvok and Chakotay team up on her to prevent her obsessive need to sacrifice herself. Chakotay and Tuvok could have been working at supporting the captain the whole show and she could have had two good counselors for every weighty decision instead of doing it all on her own. And she and Chakotay could have had a decent romance.
You're welcome, Voyager writers.
#star trek voyager#the command trio#Tuvok needs more power#janeway x chakotay#Janeway#Chakotay#Tuvok#Equinox#Scorpion
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16. If you could steal the basic plot of an episode for one show and apply to another which would you choose?
Thanks for the ask! Oooh so many potential options here...
Okay, so you know how TNG had that episode 'Lower Decks' which followed four of the main character's subordinates around the Enterprise for a change, and the senior staff was only featured inasmuch as these characters had access to them? I always thought that was such a fascinating format for an episode (especially with how well it was directed, like- I was looking at these characters I'd known for seven seasons feeling like I didn't know any of them! Their expressions were somehow more impenetrable in this episode, the whole vibe was off with how much less relatable or relaxed they were.) Anyway I think given the premise of these shows, this could be so fascinating for Voyager or DS9 (in fact I'm so fascinated by the potential of "DS9 crew from your average Bajoran working Ops in s1's POV" that I have a whole WIP built on that premise!) On Voyager, I would've loved to see an early season episode that focused on the conflict between Starfleet and Maquis crew members that weren't lead characters- because while Janeway certainly had the time to earn Chakotay and B'Elanna's trust, she can't have won over everyone at once. Here, we only ever see the senior staff when our lead characters are being kept in line. Maybe some Starfleet officers aren't happy with Janeway's leadership either. Maybe some Maquis officers want to abandon ship and take their chances. Samantha Wildman is a lead character and among other things is seriously worried she might be pregnant. Another character regularly complains to Neelix about Tuvok and does a perfect impression of him. One of them gets into a fight with Harry Kim after insulting Janeway. Suder is there. Maybe even a little pre-reveal Seska stirring the pot and spreading rumours, who knows!
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Messed Up (OC!Vulcan/Kathryn Janeway/B'Elanna Torres/Seven of Nine/Chakotay/Tom Paris/Harry Kim/Tuvok) Chapter 6 🥶
warnings: 18+!!, angst, helf-sarm, l1ttlesp@ce, mentions of r@pe, mature language, m3ntal health,
THIS POST CONTAINS MATURE THEMES!! AS SUCH, IT IS NOT SUITABLE FOR THOSE UNDER AGE 18 !!
"It's okay, we'll get through this," B'Elanna told him. "We're no longer 'Mistress', we're 'Mommy'."
B'Elanna led Volir to her private quarters, where she planned to baby Volir.
Once there, Volir began sinking into little space, and began crying for Mama Janeway and B'Elanna.
"Mama!" he screamed. "Mama, I need you! I'm scared!"
"Shh," B'Elanna tried comforting him.
"MAMA!!"
Kathryn Janeway, hearing the cry, arrived in the quarters, immediately taking Volir into her arms.
"There, there, Mommy's got you. It's okay, I'm here."
"Mama," Volir clung to her. "Mommy, Mama, Mommy," he kept calling for his mommies. "I sorry, I so sorry, I bad boy," he sobbed.
"Oh, honey," Kathryn kissed him. "We know you are a good boy. You're not bad."
"Mama," he cried, "Mama, mama," he kept saying. "I made Mommy Lursa and Mommy B'Etor touch each other. I made them eat me, made them rape each other, made them fuck me," he said. "Mama, mama, mommy," he cried.
"Oh, baby, oh, baby, no," Kathryn held him, as he kept saying, "Mama," wishing to be forgiven, to be absolved of his sins.
"I'm so sorry I made you hurt," he sobbed.
"Mommy will help," Kathryn told him, as she held him.
"I'm so sorry," Volir continued apologizing. "I can't TAKE IT ANYMORE," he screamed.
"Mommy is here," Kathryn told him, rocking him.
"I HATE YOU ALL!! I HATE MY MOMMY AND DADDY! THEY DID THIS TO ME! THEY MADE ME BORN INTO HELL!!!"
"Shh," Kathryn rocked him, singing softly, "Hush, little baby, don't say a word, mommy's gonna buy you a mocking bird."
Volir slapped her, knocking her off of him.
"I DON'T WANT A MOCKING BIRD!! I WANT MY FUCKING MOMMY!!!"
"Okay, baby," Kathryn, holding her face, tried to comfort him.
Volir then began throwing up, having returned to adult space, but disgusted with himself, and what he had done.
"Fuck, fuck, fuck," he cursed, spitting up.
"Shh," Kathryn rubbed his back, soothing him.
"Mama," Volir cried, returning to little space.
"Shh," she kissed him.
"I'm gonna," he said.
"It's okay," she told him.
"No, it's not," he said, and threw up again. "I bad boy, I no good boy," he started crying.
"Oh, no, you are a good boy," she told him.
"I not!"
"You are!"
"I not, I no good," he cried. "Why I never feel good on inside, if I good boy? I no like being bad boy," he cried.
"What are you feeling on the inside, sweetheart?"
"Pain," he told her.
"Is it the kind that can be healed by medicine?"
"No, Mama," he answered.
"What kind of pain is it?"
"My soul," he said. "Mama, will you and Mommy make it go away? Please, Mama, make my soul stop hurting," he cried.
"Volir, I love you," she said, kissing him. "I will do everything in my power to protect you and make you happy."
"My soul," he told her. "It hurts."
"I know," she told him, rocking him. "I know."
Volir then fell asleep in her arms.
"I want to be a good boy," he mumbled, before falling asleep, sucking on Janeway's breasts, B'Elanna rubbing his back, kissing him on the head, whispering, "I love you, my baby, my little one."
The next morning, Volir woke up, still sucking on Janeway's breast.
"Good morning, baby," she told him.
"Morning, Mama," he said.
"How is your soul this morning, baby?"
"No good, it bad," he answered.
"I wish I could take that away from you, honey."
"I know, Mama," he said.
"Volir, we are going to try and make this better. Here, how about you draw for us how you feel?"
"Okay, Mama," he answered, going over to a table with paper and crayons.
"Volir, can we look at what you are drawing?"
"NO!! IT NO FINISH!"
"Okay," Kathryn and B'Elanna backed off.
"Here, Mama," he came back, giving them the finished drawing.
B'Elanna and Janeway both gasped at the image, which showed a child's rendition of a man, who was burning in hell, and had been raped.
"Oh, baby," Kathryn held him. "Baby," she cried, as they saw that the man in the drawing was a child version of him. As B'Elanna examined the image more closely, she discovered something that shook her to her core: Volir had written, in Klingon, a suicide note.
"Oh, my gods," B'Elanna breathed.
"What is it?"
"This isn't just a drawing, it's a suicide note," B'Elanna told her. "Look, on the bottom," she pointed.
Janeway took the drawing and looked at the bottom. There, in Klingon, were the words, "I have done my duty, and now I want to be free. I have been nothing but worthless my entire life. I was a horrible mistake, a horrible sin. I have no reason to live, so I will not. It is better for everyone if I die. I am no longer needed. My parents have each other, and their new son, and the crew has each other. No one will miss me, so why should I stay?"
"Volir," Kathryn said, looking at him, crying, "Is this how you feel?"
"No," he said.
"Please, tell the truth," she told him.
"No, Mama," he said. "I want you to live forever, I don't want you to leave."
"Thank you, sweetheart," she told him.
"But, I'm glad that I'm going to die. Then I can be happy," he told her.
"Do you really believe that?"
"Yes," he said.
"Oh, my God," she cried.
"No, Mommy," he said, trying to comfort her.
"Volir," she hugged him, crying, "If you ever feel like this again, will you come to me or Mommy, and tell us, and let us know?"
"Okay, Mama."
Coming out of littlespace, Volir finally felt comfortable enough to show Janeway and B'Elanna his arms, which were covered in scars.
"My gods," B'Elanna exclaimed.
"Why, honey?" Janeway asked, touching them, making Volir flinch.
"I like pain," he said. "Mama," he then asked, "I have scars, and my heart and soul hurts. Ever since I was first punished, all the way back on Voyager, this has been the only way to release the pain and make it stop, even if for a little while. The pain of being punished, the pain of what I've done, the pain of living with this burden, all of it goes away, and I feel better. Please, Mommy, please, Mama, will you help me release my pain, make my soul and heart stop hurting? Please," he begged.
Janeway, realizing that this had all began as a result of the Holodeck punishment back on Voyager, began apologizing, and crying.
"Please, don't cry, Mama," he begged, holding her.
"Oh, my god, I did this," she cried.
"No, Mama," he held her. "You mustn't cry, you need to be strong for Mommy and me," he said.
"Oh," she said.
"Don't feel bad," he held her.
"It's my fault."
"No, Mama," he told her. "I acted out of line. I disrespected B'Elanna, and I didn't use my safe word when I should have. It was my fault, not yours. I have always felt that this is the right path. It is a part of me, and always has been. It was bound to happen sooner or later. You can't blame yourself, Mama. Don't, please, don't," he begged. "I love both of you, I want to be with you both for the rest of my life, and I want to raise your son. Please, don't cry, don't cry," he pleaded, hugging her, as B'Elanna joined in the embrace.
"I'll stop, for you, baby," Janeway said.
At this, Volir retrieved two small boxes from a nearby table, handing one to B'Elanna, and the other to Janeway.
"For us?"
"Open them."
"They're beautiful, baby," Kathryn told him.
"These are engagement rings," B'Elanna said.
"I want to spend the rest of my life with the two women who have made it worth living. Will you marry me?"
"Yes," B'Elanna said, putting the ring on.
"Yes," Janeway did the same.
"We'll always be a family, the three of us, me, Mama, and Mommy," Volir said, taking their hands, as they walked together.
"That's right," Kathryn agreed. "Forever."
"Yes," Volir agreed, and then asked, "So, when will the wedding be?"
"Let us not worry about that now," B'Elanna whispered, kissing Volir with fervent passion.
"Okay, Mommy," he agreed.
The three entered the bedroom, where B'Elanna sat Volir on her lap, and exposed her leaking breasts.
"Here, drink from me, my baby," she told him.
Volir leaned forward and began suckling.
"That's a good boy," B'Elanna told him, as he suckled.
Kathryn kissed Volir's neck, as he sucked.
"Oh," he moaned.
"That's a good boy," Kathryn told him.
He continued sucking.
"Oh," he moaned again. "Mama, Mommy, Mama," he said.
"Right here, baby," B'Elanna and Kathryn assured him.
"I can't breathe," he cried, coming up for air, before leaning forward, and suckling again. The milk was truly heavenly, as were B'Elanna's breasts. They were huge, and soft. The milk was rich, warm, and sweet. Volir had never tasted anything like it before, and couldn't get enough.
"Oh," he moaned, as he suckled. Eventually, the well ran dry, and the flow of milk stopped.
"There's more in the kitchen, but I think you should have a little something else, now," B'Elanna whispered.
"Like what, Mommy?"
Preferring to show rather than to tell, B'Elanna and Janeway both began to run their hands over Volir's chest and body, making him moan.
"Mommy, Mama," he said, as he felt pleasure for the first time in a long while.
"Mama and I are going to make you feel good, my darling," B'Elanna told him. "Our God deserves nothing less than perfection."
"Yes," Volir said, moaning, as he was massaged. "Oh," he moaned.
"Feels good, doesn't it?"
"Yes, Mommy."
"Do you like being worshipped?"
"I... I don't know," he said.
"Tell me, do you enjoy the touch of your mothers?"
"Yes," he answered.
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🪐Stuck in the future.🪐 Pt: 1: how’d I get here? Who are these strange people?!
(Star Trek voyager) (child reader she’s 13- !No ships!)
(Also the child will be called Mika. Had no other ideas for her-)
🪐Mika’s pov🪐
I groaned softly as my eyes began fluttering. But an extremely bright and disturbing light basically blinded my eyes. I repeatedly blinked trying to get myself adjusted to the extreme exposure so quickly. I shifty my body slightly realizing I wasn’t on a normal bed. It was slightly uncomfortable but when I began sitting up I looked around to a strange room. There was a sort of control system across from me and certain technology I could never guess existed.
I realized the attire I was in. I wore blue oversized clothes like in the hospital. Except it wasn’t just a gown that showed my behind. It was a nice oversized long sleeve shirt with long blue pants to match it. ‘Very comfortable…’ I thought to myself. I then began to question what I was doing here and countless of questions entered my head.
My train of the thoughts were stopped when a electronic door, I could only assume it to be on my right opened up and a man walked through. He was balding from the top and had deep brown hair at the sides. His posture was nothing but perfect and he wore a black uniform that had blue lining at the top. There was also a badge but I couldn’t quite comprehend what it was. Less than a minute of examination he looked at me. I squealed surprised.
“Why good morning! How are you feeling?” He asked in a smooth, energetic voice. “Uhm. WHO are you?” I asked practically scared out of my pants. “I’m- a doctor. You can just call me that I suppose. I hope your rest was well.” He responded. “Hold on. I have so many questions..also I don’t quite trust you, DOCTOR. I just woke up in god knows where in a room with someone who I don’t even know!”
My tone of voice became louder as I became panicked. “Don’t worry. Your fine and your not in danger. Just give me a minute.” He quickly turned away and pressed what I could only assume to be his badge. He whispered something into it but all I could hear was the word Captain. It gave me more of an idea as to where I could be.
Right before he finished I jumped out of bed and grabbed something from what I could only assumed to be a control panel. What I grabbed seem to be a sort of gun- or a weapon of some sort but I used it to my advantage. “D-Don’t move! I’ll shoot you!” I threatened my voice barely wavering.
“Oh dear-..” The doctor looked panicked he pressed his badge and spoke loudly, “Sickbay to the Captain!- our ‘guest’ has gotten a hold of a phaser and is threatening me with it. Quite frankly I could walk right through it but my patient is armed!” He ranted through. Then I heard a very stern unfamiliar female voice.
“I’m on my way, I’m coming with Chakotay and Tuvok!” Then the audio shut off. “Who we’re you just talking to?!” I screamed. My arms were shaky from worry about who’s to come. “You need to calm down. Your not in danger I just alerted my superiors because your armed and threatening me. Nothing bad will happen just put it down.” He calmly spoke. I could still hear the shakiness in his voice.
I looked over to the room he exited out off. I ran into it and saw a control panel on the wall, I pressed random buttons to see what it could do. Then suddenly I watched a ‘sparks’ formed right by the door and realized it was a barrier of some sort. “You can’t hurt me! None of those people you mention will hurt me! I swear!”
My voice was so shaky and my breathe was heavy. I opted for a corner and made myself as small as humanly possible. I tried to calm myself down by breathing. I was breathing very shakily and my hands were shaking at an uncontrollable pace. I reminded myself that I couldn’t drop what they called ‘phaser’ because I didn’t want to end up defenseless and I don’t enjoy being defenseless without a shield or weapon.
He kept trying to get me to open up from the barrier and he kept trying to get me to drop the weapon. I rebelled against the doctor and refused. I ignored every word he spoke. Un-shaken and a stone cold look at him.
I sunk to the floor still with the weapon in my arms. I tried to seem small as possible and un-noticeable. But whoever was coming would see me. I just didn’t want them too, I looked away trying to avoid the doctors futile attempts at persuasion.
Suddenly I heard doors open and 3 sets of feet walk into the room. “Captain! I’ve been trying— but she ran into my room! And she set the force field up. May I remind you she’s armed.” Is all I heard. I kept my head low to avoid any eye contact and try to see who was there.
I saw a woman. 5’4 - 5’6. She wore a bun of steel atop her head. Her hands on her hips. She had a strict face like a mother who found out you were failing classes in school. Her hair was auburn colored. Her skin was of the slightest pale.
Then the man next to her had spiky like hair and a tattoo over one of his eyes. His skin was nicely brown and his eyes were relaxed and his expression was calmed and firm at the same time.
The third person he had darker skin, like he seemed to be African- American. His looked was stoic and he seemed to be like a robot. He had odd ears- ears like an elf. His eyebrows shot down and it seemed he was always angry.
During my observation of the three the woman turned her head and made eye contact with me for a quick second. I quickly looked away and raised the so called phaser up. “Doctor..that’s a child..” the woman spoke. “Here let me try to talk to her.” She said smoothly.
I watched as she moved her was slowly to as close as she could. The barrier or the force field as the strange doctor called it kept her from reaching me entirely.
“Hi there, I’m Captain Kathryn Janeway. What’s your name?” She asked sweetly. “Oh- my names Mika..” I spoke slowly. “Well hello, Mika. I understand you may be afraid or anxious but your not in danger. I assure you that. The doctor here was trying to help you.” She spoke calmly.
“Oh really? I’m not that dumb. That’s not a person!” I pointed at the doctor. “He obviously is some sort of program. He basically ratted himself out while talking to ya. Also how do I even know you don’t have bad intentions?! Am I really expected to trust stranger adults?!”
My eyebrows furrowed. I held the phaser up higher now with more intention. “Also I really don’t think the first thing a unknowing child wants to see after waking up in god knows where is a literal ALIEN!” I pointed directly at the pointy - eared man.
The man just scoffed lightly at my comment. Suddenly the woman spoke once again. “I know how you feel. You feel anxious and fearful of who and what is here but I’m telling you now. Me, and my officers here, Commander Chakotay and Lieutenant Tuvok.” She pointed to the men with her introducing them. “Won’t harm you, we’re only here because you have a weapon and it can hurt us. We’re flesh and blood just like you.”
“—I…ok..how do I uh- take down the- Y’know barrier thingy..” I asked entirely confused. I heard a deep chuckle from the woman. “Go to the panel and it should be on the middle right.” She instructed. I followed the captain’s directions and I watch the force field come down.
She slowly stepped in reaching out a hand. Perhaps she wanted the weapon. I slowly but surely made it over to her placing the phaser in her hand. She gave the phaser to one of the men without breaking eye contact with me. Captain Janeway then stretched her arms out for a hug.
I leaned in and hugged her. She rubbed my back gently and carefully. “I promise, here on this ship. Your no stranger. Your no alien to us as we should be to you. Just about all except the doctor are flesh and blood.” She whispered to me.
I nodded softly still tucked into her hug. She was very gentle and kind with me. I appreciated how she remained so patient with me. Even after what’d just occurred. I smiled softly at the thought. “I still have a few questions though.”
She nodded her head. The two of us pulled out the hug. “What’s your question?” She raised a small eyebrow. “How did I get here?..”
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Random season seven thoughts
I don’t think the quality slips (which I find a little rare), but you can feel the end coming in the way the episodes themselves feel. The acting, the writing. *sniff*
Shattered be like, ‘let’s get Maquis B’Elanna, Scorpion Seven, future Icheb and Naomi, current Chakotay, and baby Janeway together to fight Seska one last time.’ It’s an adorable walk down memory lane and could have aired much closer to the end of the show.
They could have done a lot more with Repression. The Maquis had the ship for about two seconds.
Lineage was probably the ep I watched the most back in the day. Over and over. It was surreal watching it again, remembering all the beats and lines as they happened. Roxann is a powerhouse.
I always get confused between Night and the Void. Probably because in Night they called it ‘the void.’ The surveillance aliens crack me up.
The Doctor is consistently in love with Seven. They even lightly ring that bell in Endgame. You could basically replace Chakotay with the Doctor and it would work. But the doctor like, decompiling himself out of grief just doesn’t... eh. lol
Q2 is oddly heartwarming. I love that Icheb gets to have a normal friendship and starts doing some guy ribbing.
Renaissance Man is a nod to Mulgrew and Picardo’s real life friendship.
Homecoming made me cry. It started building from the moment Janeway shows up with the Delta Flyer and then when Neelix stepped into the hallway I was a goner.
They gave Ayala lines.
I was today years old when I realized the Borg Queen wears a crown.
I love Endgame.
Was not expecting to get emotional during the Admiral Janeway/Harry Kim scenes, but hey.
“The Doctor and I decided to keep things in the family.” I love that this line exists.
“Your colleagues, your friends, people who love you.” I love how you could easily read that as J7.
I feel oddly robbed of the sixteen seasons the Admiral erased. I would like to see them please. All sixteen of them.
C7 gives me cancer in Human Error, but for some reason I am completely indifferent about it in Endgame. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t understand it at all. I don’t know what anyone would see in it. Even seeing it in front of my face, I can’t picture it. But for some reason I am able to just watch the scenes for what they are. Just be envious of my ability to love 99.9% of Endgame.
They do get a little Seven and Doctor ep heavy in the last season. But even so they manage to give Harry an ep, Tom and B’Elanna, etc... I think Tuvok is the one who doesn’t get much in the way of standalone eps. I think the last one is Riddles in early season six. But he’s such a part of everything you don’t really notice.
Why are they doing ‘crash on a planet and meet nice people and learn sign language’ ep like three before the series is done? Random. I embrace the episodic, but weird that there’s no build up to the end. I think that’s the main thing that’s missing this season. You can’t help but think, ‘we only have three eps to go, and you’re doing this?!’ Then again I think they were debating what the end would be right up until the end, so.
Now I have to go back to where I left off in season five and gif.
p.s. I forgot to mention Carey in Friendship One. I was so pissed. Not at the writers (they actually did a good job in making me pissed) but at the aliens. In that moment, I wanted Janeway to just nuke them all. Good guy, gets punched in the face in episode two and killed two feet from the finish line. With his little ship in a bottle. RIP.
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Beta Cannon: the Pre Voyager Era of Kathryn Janeway | Mosaic v The Autobiography of Kathryn Janeway
This weekend, I got a copy of the Autobiography of Kathryn Janeway from a local book store. For how frequently we speak about Mosaic in the community (despite having some flaws) I was shocked that I had not heard a lot about this book and assumed it was a bad thing. And yeah in some regards it was (see @mia-cooper’s post on the subject). I have a lot of feelings (I’ll post a proper review at a later point) but one thing that did stick out to me is the divergence from what we have considered Beta Canon, aka, the extended universe of Star Treks told through novels, short stories, video games, etc. After completing the novel, I jumped right into my old standby copy of Mosaic, which has dictated a lot of Janeway’s back story since 96. Both of these novels cover the beginnings of Janeway’s life and how she was shaped into the woman we know.
TLDR The Autobiography of Kathryn Janeway changes a lot of things for no reason. Some of these are for the good. Some for the bad. And some, for like no good reason at all, like it was fine as it was, and was accepted cannon for like 25 years, but sure fine whatever.
I will mention that, as Mosaic has been a book in my library and I have read it too many times, so of course, I do have a bias toward it. Additionally, I feel like it is fair to mention here that authors of Fanfiction have leaned on this as their bibles since 1996 as Mosaic is written by Jeri Taylor, one of the show-runners for Voyager. Because of its connection with a showrunner, Mosaic is also integrated into the canon of the show. It seems that most points that are taken from Mosaic in the Autobiography are only included because of their existence in cannon material.
Anyway, this review is going to focus on the characters that shape Kathryn and I will end with my final thoughts. This is long so to respect your dash, you are going to have to click keep reading. You’re welcome.
Obligatory Spoiler Warning for ALL of Mosaic, chapter 13 of Pathways, and chapters 1-7 of The Autobiography of Kathryn Janeway
Edward Janeway
In all media, I feel like we can safely say that Kathryn Janeway is in fact a daddy’s girl. Her relationship with her father is very important to her, so it is interesting to see how it is portrayed very differently in both novels. In Mosaic, a lot of the highlights of Janeway’s earlier years revolve around time spent with him. From giving her special attention after ‘Your Sister’ was born, to consoling her after her losing tennis match and subsequent walk home in the rain, and trips to Mars, Kathryn mentions great fondness of quality time spent. In the Autobiography of Kathryn Janeway he is more described as an absent father, one that she always wanted to see and please. When he was home, she wanted all of his attention and to impress him greatly. She wished to follow in his footsteps after gaining a love of flight and the stars with a plane ride and a telescope he gave her. He tried to prepare her by detaining the events of the current conflict with Cardassia and inviting Starfleet brass over for dinner. Overall, in her early childhood, it makes more sense for Edward to not be around often. There is not a lot of conflict between the sources, other than the details of the aforementioned tennis match and different childhood nicknames.
Edward is in a crash aboard an experimental ship on Tau Ceti Prime which leads to his death. This is where the big differences begin. In Mosaic, Kathryn and her fiancé are also on board. In Autobiography of Kathryn Janeway, Kathryn is still on the Al-Batani. The fall out of this event has a great effect on Kathryn of course in both novels. As this is a missive shaping event of Kathryn’s life, I felt it very jarring to be changed. This moment shaped Janeway and gives us good context for why she handles situations the way she does. I see this trauma and I understand her character better, for dealing with the loss of two of the most important people in her life all at once.
Gretchen Janeway
The Autobiography of Kathryn Janeway was good to Gretchen Janeway as her character is basically a blank slate. We know little about her from Mosaic as it mostly focuses on Kathryn’s relationship with her father (and other male influences in her life). It is nice to learn more things about Grechen as with Edward’s job, it is likely that Kathryn was mainly raised by her. Other than being an artist, she also wrote some of the Flotter holos and wrote a number of children’s stories about the people of Bajor during the occupation. She does a lot of humanitarian work with the refugees from Bajor during the occupation. She loves to garden and get her daughters involved. She has a close bond with Phoebe due to their overlapping interests, but you can tell that she strives to support her in what she does. Overall, I like getting know Gretchen to be someone of than Kathryn’s mother.
Phoebe Janeway
I was shocked when researching Memory Alpha for this review, Phoebe is never named in any Cannon media up to this point (Star Trek Prodigy could very well change this). We know Janeway has a sister and she is an artist, but that is it. Both novels keep her very similar personality-wise. In both stories, Kathryn is not looking forward to being a big sister. They also both mourn the loss of their father together. In Mosaic, she is not mentioned much. Kathryn tells her she is not old enough on an off planet trip and Phoebe plays pranks on her. The Autobiography of Kathryn Janeway goes much more into depth. They don’t get along when they are younger. They fight a lot. I feel this is a very realistic portrayal of real siblings, vying for attention and approval, snapping when they don’t get their way. They both excel at what they do, Kathryn in her studies and Phoebe through her art. They seem to need to one-up each other at every turn. As they grow up, they grow closer together, as many siblings do. Points added for giving Phoebe a wife, something which has been included in a lot of fanfiction. Overall, there are no big conflicting points.
Mark Johnson
Kathryn’s fiance at the time of the Voyager’s disappearance, Mark is a very different part of Kathryn’s life in both novels. In Mosaic, he is a childhood friend and went by his middle name Hobbs. Seemingly always two steps behind Kathryn, he did a lot of the same activities that she did, tennis and swimming in the underground cave systems. He did these poorly, and this makes Kathryn always look down upon him. They reconnected after her father’s death and she fell head-over-heels for him. Personally, I always felt this was a little uncharacteristic of Kathryn, to run away from her responsibilities to be with a man. It just seems very out of character and has always bothered me. The Autobiography of Kathryn Janeway takes a completely different approach. She meets Mark as a friend of Pheobe and her wife as a widower. They hit it off and they fall hard. You can see the conflict in Kathryn as she debates how to move forward with a relationship as they have different outlooks on life. She has a drive to explore but does not want to be an absent parent. She debates quitting, which I don’t think is something Janeway would have ever done. Overall she decides to accept Mark’s proposal just before taking command of Voyager. This makes the Dear John situation a lot more believable as it makes sense that he would want to move on with his life much quicker. Overall, I have to just ask, why? I know Mark doesn’t have a lot of character, but why change basically their whole relationship dynamic?
Justin Tighe
Justin is a character I actually like for selfish reasons. This explains why I was very miffed that he was nowhere to be seen in the Autobiography of Kathryn Janeway. Justin is Kathryn’s first love, they were coworkers, engaged and in love, and dies in the same accident that takes her father. As a person who always wanted Chakotay and Janeway to get together, this incident perfectly gives the reason. She is afraid to get romantically involved with a crew member because of the nature of the job. This dynamic is seen between Picard and Nella Daren in TNG very well. Kathryn has learned the hard way that she can lose a person under her command and how it feels when you are in love with that person. In early Voyager, you can see she isolates herself from the crew and it takes time for her to get comfortable. And during Night she relapses to her old ways. This is the way I have always justified Janeway’s reluctance to have a romantic relationship during their time in the Delta Quadrant. By understanding her background, I have a lot of respect for that choice. Her relationship with Justin really shaped how she handles relationships and without the impact he had on her life, it actually makes her character weaker.
Owen Paris
Owen is Kathryn’s mentor. In Mosaic, they meet as he is reviewing her junior honors thesis advisor on massive compact halo objects. From here they gained a relationship built on respect and learning. It makes sense that, as he was her personal mentor, that she would be close with his family, and why she would seek out Tom as a person to bring with her to the Badlands mission. In the Autobiography of Kathryn Janeway, she does not meet him until she is on the Al-Batani. This doesn’t only weaken her relationship with Admiral Paris, but moreover weakens her relationship with Tom. If he was her superior officer, why would she develop such a ‘big sister’ mentality to Tom if she didn’t have as many opportunities to meet him?
Tuvok
Mosaic does not go too much in depth with Tuvok and Janeway’s relationship, but its sister novel Pathways does. In Pathways, Tuvok meets Janeway when he is an ensign under her command of the USS Bonestell. The Bonestell and the Billings, two ships that Janeway served on, tend to get confused a lot. Most sources have Janeway’s first command as the Voyager, Including Voyager itself - “It doesn't seem like my first command is shaping up the way I expected,” Janeway Shattered. The Autobiography of Kathryn Janeway has her and Tuvok meet on the Al-Batani. I actually really like the dynamic between them, as they grow to respect each other over a much longer period of time. I also like that, though Janeway climbs through the ranks, it does not change their relationship dynamic as she still relies on him and asks him advice as if they were equals. I think giving them a longer time to build their relationship. Also would like to note that Janeway and Tuvok also had a friendship with the original CMO of Voyager, Dr. Fitzgerald. I always wanted to know more about the Pre-Caretaker crew and I would have loved to see this dynamic and how the grief of losing a close personal friend in the Caretaker incident would impact them both.
Also I feel obligated to shout out the Janeway and Tuvok story in Star Trek Waypoint One-Shot. I need to get around to doing a series retrospective, but this short story I have not seen anyone talk about and I love it so much. Please read Waypoint. Okay next.
Other characters
Cheb - Janeway’s boyfriend in Mosaic. He was kind of an asshole and got her into trouble. He is not in the Autobiography of Kathryn Janeway and I see no problem with this.
Boothby - “[he is the] head groundskeeper at Starfleet Academy. When I was a cadet, he used to give me fresh roses for my quarters,” Janeway Revulsion. Boothby is not in Mosaic. In the Autobiography of Kathryn Janeway, it is explained that her mother loved to garden and this was something that Boothby did as a gradian figure to make her feel at home and destress. Makes sense.
Aisha - A childhood friend of Katheryn’s. Only in the Autobiography of Kathryn Janeway. Mosaic has this weird thing about highlighting the relationships with only the men in her life, so it is nice to see her have some other female friends.
Nexa - Katheryn’s roommate at the Academy. Only in the Autobiography of Kathryn Janeway. Nexa helps broaden Kathryn’s horizons by helping to learn about Exoliguisticts, first contact, and the Betazoid culture. Again nice to see her have other female friends.
Riker - Yes they go on a date in Mosaic. He is not mentioned in the Autobiography of Kathryn Janeway. I know he is a gag character but I still liked it.
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Final Thoughts
A lot of characters were changed between these two novels. There is a lot to like and a lot to hate. I really like what the Autobiography of Kathryn Janeway did with characters like Tuvok and Gretchen Janeway. Other characters were not so lucky (Justin, sweetie I’m so sorry that they would erase you like that, oh my god). It’s a mixed bag, but one thing I need say is... why?
We have had a good thing going here with the established canon as is. Mosaic (and Pathways) is the foundation of which the last 25 years of fanworks and the relaunch novels are based on. Why change history when it is already written?
Always, would love to hear your thoughts and thank you for reading my novel of a post. I will see you in the full review.
#star trek#star trek voyager#kathryn janeway#janeway#voyager#voyager book club#star trek novel#the autobiography of kathryn janeway
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So, I finished watching Star Trek: Voyager. (spoilers throughout)
I started watching the show a couple of years ago, and I remember being impressed at how solid its pilot was. Star Trek shows (in my experience) have a history of starting out a bit rough before figuring themselves out, and it felt like Voyager had a pretty solid identity figured out right from the get-go.
But while I have loved watching the show as a whole, it felt like it went through multiple identity crises along the way.
It’s frustrating because the show contains the best depiction of the weight of being in the captain’s chair out of any Star Trek story I have ever seen. Janeway herself is just a great character in general, but getting moments like the finale of “Tuvix” or literally any scene in “Year of Hell” go much further in depicting the effect of leadership on our lead character than one would expect in a Trek show.
Over the course of my viewing of Voyager, I noticed that I tended to respond more to darker episodes than others. “Meld”, in which Tuvok mind-melds with a serial killer Betazoid played by the great Brad Dourif, is one example. “Mortal Coil”, in which Neelix experiences a crisis of faith after a death experience, is another favorite. And while I am indeed a sucker for a quality dark Trek story, the main reason that I believe I favored these kinds of episodes was because they felt like they had an impact on the characters.
Most of the blockbuster two-parters over the course of the show didn’t really stick with me, despite some very fun premises. And it’s because, with the exception of “Scorpion”, most of these two-parters tended to resolve in a way that completely undid any semblance of consequence on future episodes.
The most egregious example of this is the ending of “Year of Hell”, a two-parter that began development as a premise for the entirety of Season 4, but was rejected by producer Rick Berman and downgraded to two-parter instead. While I had pacing issues with the episodes due to sensing the abbreviated nature of a lot of the subplots, I overall really liked the story and seeing the crew of Voyager having to endure so much. Not because I wanted to see them suffer, but because I wanted to see stories that conveyed their journey home would have an impact on them. So when “Year of Hell” ends with a timeline reset that completely eradicates all of the events of the two-parter, I felt cheated. Because it is a cheat.
When Voyager did a similar time travel reset for their 100th episode, “Timeless”, in which a future Chakotay and Harry pull some shenanigans to prevent Voyager from crashing into an ice planet, that story successfully had its cake and ate it by having our present-day crew be aware of the future Harry and Chakotay’s actions. The episode ends with a shocked present-day Harry watching a video message from his now-dead future self.
When I finally got around to the series finale, “Endgame”, all I knew to expect was another time travel story. I have no issues with time travel in Star Trek. It’s possibly overused, but I never get tired of it because more often than not, Trek knows how to find the fun in whichever story they use that device in. I enjoyed the first half of “Endgame” and its depiction of our crew’s future lives back on Earth. I liked seeing Admiral Janeway go rogue in order to time travel back to the Voyager crew that we’ve been following throughout most of the show. And as purposely-but-still-strangely jarring as it was to see Admiral Janeway try to prioritize Captain Janeway and the crew over defeating the Borg, I really liked their scenes together as well as Admiral Janeway’s confrontation, defeat, and death with the Borg Queen. (who is suddenly played by Alice Krige again in the finale after being played by Susanna Thompson in previous Voyager episodes. I was happy to see her but a bit confused after the show seemed to indicate that Thompson was meant to be Borg Queen 2.0, only to have our original Queen from First Contact return)
Then the last few minutes happen. The Borg are quickly dispatched, Voyager makes it back to the Alpha Quadrant, and the show ends with them blowing up a Borg Sphere and saying “hello” to the Starfleet ships waiting for them. There is barely any time devoted to the impact of arriving home on the crew because it happens so suddenly. And as much as Mulgrew does to sell “Set a course for home” as the final line... it falls flat.
I suspect that the reasoning for the abrupt ending is that the writers thought depicting the future older versions of the crew on Earth would serve as closure for our cast of characters. But it doesn’t work because the whole premise of the finale centers on Admiral Janeway undoing that future so she can save the lives of Seven of Nine and Chakotay, who are dead in this depicted future.
During one of Admiral and Captain Janeways’ scenes together, they are debating whether to use the Borg space tunnels to get home faster, or if they should destroy the tunnels to keep the Borg from being able to get around space. Then Captain Janeway proposes that there’s a way for them to “have our cake and eat it, too.”
Despite the convenience of this final plot, one that is explicitly identified as such by that line, the finale could still have stuck the landing if we saw or felt the impact of arriving home on the Voyager crew that we have been following for seven seasons. As messy as the show sometimes got, and as underserved as some characters became after the show introduced Seven of Nine (which confuses me because the writers did such a good initial job of utilizing that character to create new dynamics with the cast), this cast had earned and deserved a depiction of their arrival home. And we never got that.
Tom Paris is my least favorite character on the show. It has nothing to do with Robert Duncan McNeill’s performance, it’s just that the character never felt particularly developed beyond his initial characterization for me. His best material, in my opinion, was in “Lineage” when Tom comforts and assures B’Elanna that he will never leave her and that he wants their children to inherit their mother’s Klingon heritage. But one thread throughout the course of the show that seemed so straightforward of a payoff to save for the finale was Tom’s reunion with his father.
Tom talks frequently over the course of the show about his strained relationship with his Admiral dad. Then once Voyager is able to establish contact with the Alpha Quadrant (another development I had mixed feelings on because it diminishes the premise of the show by minimizing the ship’s isolation), we get introduced to Admiral Paris and he becomes a recurring character. We even get a moment where he expresses his love for Tom and how much he misses him. And while we do see Tom’s reaction to this, this huge character moment isn’t a direct interaction between these two characters. So naturally you would assume that their reunion, and likely reconciliation as father and son, would be shown once Voyager returns to Earth in the finale.
But that doesn’t happen.
Even though Admiral Paris is in the finale, that reunion setup is just not payed off in any way.
We also don’t get to see Tuvok reunited with his family.
Or Seven of Nine’s first impressions of Earth or her meeting any of her relatives.
Or any indication of what our former Maquis crewmembers’ reception by Starfleet would be.
Strangely, the only satisfying character sendoff of the show is Neelix, who in an earlier episode leaves to be with a colony of his own people and serve as Starfleet’s Delta Quadrant ambassador. His goodbye to the crew is a beautifully simple scene of him walking to his ship and passing by the entire crew, who are assembled along the hallway to see him off. And we even get a payoff to his friendship with Tuvok when Tuvok briefly taps his toes as a farewell gesture to Neelix.
Neelix started as the show’s most grating character, irritatingly cheerful and toxically possessive of Kes. By the time the show ended, he had become a well-rounded and essential presence. His traumas of losing his faith and family, as well as his insecurities around his role in the crew, were well developed over the course of the show.
In a way, the finale was a perfect example of the show. The premise was solid, and the cast was totally game and performed it to the best of their ability. But when it came down to conveying any impact that this episode, or the series in its entirety, would have on its characters... the finale just sidesteps that and ends abruptly.
Janeway, Seven of Nine, Chakotay, B’Elanna, Tuvok, Harry, Tom, Kes, and The Doctor all deserved better.
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Voyager for the ships thing! :)
Yay!!
otp: Janeway x Chakotay obvi 😌
favorite canon pairing: Tom x B’Elanna! I really love the way their relationship progressed on the show; it felt very natural and they both grew together as people.
worst pairing ever: Do I even need to say it-Seven x Chakotay.
guilty pleasure pairing: Seven x the Doctor. I KNOW there are some problematic elements, but I just think they had fantastic chemistry, and were at similar places in their lives (newly human and newly sentient), and if handled correctly they really could have been a great pair.
a pairing you want to see more: Harry x Pretty Much Anybody. My ensign boi deserved love 🥺!
that pairing everyone likes but you’re just like ‘lol no’: Tom x Harry. I’m not sure if EVERYONE likes this one, but it’s pretty widespread. I can see Harry having a crush on Tom early on, honestly, but the way Tom always jabs at Harry-especially the many jokes about him ‘bucking for a promotion’, or how he’s always failing at relationships-plus the fact that I really do love Tom/B’Elanna, kind of puts me off of them as a couple.
favorite non-romantic pair: Janeway and Tuvok! A friendship for the ages.
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ngl voyager gets a whole lot of very disproportional hate from the fandom and i'd hazard a guess that a lot of that is just garden-variety misogyny (and probably racism mixed in, considering how many of the most prominent characters are women, poc, or both). like, is voyager perfect? absolutely not. and no spoilers but there was a lot of executive meddling that wound up leading to the finale/conclusion being lacking and there's a lot of reasonable dissatisfaction with that--but again that was largely thanks to the execs fucking the show over and i recommend looking into that if you can once you've finished the show. but overall? voyager is trek right to its very core--it has heart, it's about family, and it never loses sight of that imo, even if some episodes are weaker or just duds (but, like, would it be a trek series without some episodes that just kinda suck but are still fun to watch???)
anyway, i absolutely love that you're getting into voyager, it is my all-time favorite trek series to this day for a lot of reasons, and i hope that ppl like that anon dont put you off bc i'd love to continue to see your thoughts as you watch the series!
Oh, it would take a whole lot more than some anons being salty that others enjoy things to turn me off :D
Thus far (I lost internet last night so I’m still only on Episode 7 of Season 2), Voyager is the Trekiest Trek I’ve watched. Which is a weird sentence, but I mean it in the way you said it’s “trek right to its very core.” What is Star Trek, if we strip the intent of the story down to its basics? It’s about exploration, discovery, that “wagon train to the stars,” wrapped up in the argument that life is fundamentally good. We have problems, but we can work past them. We have differences, but they strengthen us. Diversity is the lifeblood of the universe and the future will continue to improve so long as we embrace that.
Voyager is (again, from what I’ve seen so far!) basically a love song to that premise. I didn’t do too deep a dive because I’m trying to avoid spoilers, but I did look at a couple threads discussing why Voyager is so hated. Again and again I saw the same reason pop up: wasted potential. Now, a lot of fans left it at that (as if the answer to what potential Voyager apparently missed out on is self-evident. It’s not), but those who did expand on the idea consistently claimed that the show needed to be darker than it was, even if they rarely said it like that. Why aren’t the Federation and the Marquis at each other’s throats? Why isn’t the crew going crazy under these circumstances? Why aren’t characters getting killed off left and right in hostile space? “Anything could have happened out there and they played it safe!” but the “anything” here is always... awful. There’s this very pervasive idea that the world is inherently cruel, people are inherently divisive, that when pushed to the brink everything will fall apart... and that (while making for one kind of great story) is very much not Star Trek.
See, Voyager created an unimaginable scenario--lost in space, 75 years from home, forced to live indefinitely with strangers--and their answer to the question of “What happens?” is “People make it work.” They learn to respect one another, they uphold their ideals, they maintain a love of life and discovery, and they create a family. And that’s fucking fantastic. That’s Star Trek! I’m not going to pretend there aren’t problems with the show, with plenty more to come, I’m sure, but I don’t think this is one of them. Why do so many viewers think that hatred, horror, death, and growing jaded is the only potential here? Why would they expect that in a Star Trek show whose premise is the very antithesis of those things?
“But they don’t do enough with those things, even if they have happy outcomes.” They do plenty, they just do it in an episodic rather than serialized nature. I can point to multiple episodes where the replicator rations or Maquis differences are driving the characters’ actions. “But without that horror there’s no conflict.” There’s plenty of conflict. Hostile aliens aside, I just watched an episode where Tuvok and Chakotay are pissed as hell at one another because they fundamentally disagree over how to handle problems, but--because they’re adults with a well-tested respect for one another--they apologize and work through it. “But the characters don’t develop at all.” You mean they don’t grow harder. That’s not the same thing as no development. Tuvok is figuring out how to be more flexible, Chakotay is becoming more willing to accept cultures he doesn’t agree with, Harry is growing more confident now that he’s far from home, the Doctor is learning to see himself as a person, Paris is grabbing his second chance with both hands by making strong ties, and Janeway is learning to command and care for her crew simultaneously. I honestly believe that a lot of people think of “character development” as the character becoming a fundamentally different person, unrecognizable from where they started out. But characters can also grow into the people they wanted to be in the first place. “We’re far from home, in hostile territory, tempted to do horrific things to survive... but no. Right now at least, we’re holding onto who we are. We’re scientists, so we’re going to explore and learn. We’re peaceful, so we’re going to make friends with as many species as we can. We’re members of a society that teaches acceptance, so we’re going to form a family on this spaceship.” That’s incredible!! Did fans miss why Seska was an antagonist in the episode she was unmasked? Because she was trying to convince them to give up everything they believe in in the name of survival, an ends justify the means argument. And the crew said no, we will not give up what we believe in just to make it through. I legit saw a ton of fans saying some version of, “I can’t believe they were that far from home and actually followed Starfleet’s rulebook.” It’s because those rules don’t exist for the hell of it. Overlooking their practical function, they’re a philosophy that the characters believe in, and they’re figuring out how important that part of their identity is to them under these circumstances. Am I willing to steal a specie’s technology if it gets us home? Am I willing to die to help another uphold their own philosophy? (Chakotay in “Imitations”). What regulations should we bend or change to accommodate our new situation? The first two things Janeway does are a) giving the guy who just came out of a penal colony a rank and b) deciding that she needs to be more familiar with her crew than is normally encouraged for a captain because she’s essentially their mom now. Developing doesn’t have to mean characters do a 180 on their initial personality, or characters getting killed off when stuff gets “boring” so that others can do edgy things in response.
Voyager upholds Trek’s premise and runs it to its logical conclusion:
Voyager has the most literal trek--a trek back home.
Voyager has the most diverse crew--a woman Captain, Native American First officer, black Vulcan, Asian-American communications officer, and a White Dude pilot that realizes he wants to be soft and kind towards those who took a chance on him because Toxic Masculinity who?
Voyager has the most literal family--not just a 5+ year mission, but a crew who expects to raise the next generation. They have no choice but to work together, so they indeed come together rather than pulling apart
Except they do, of course, have a choice. In “The 37′s” the crew is allowed to stay on the Earth-like planet with a city of other humans and Janeway is convinced that a sizable number will choose that. After all, they may never get home and this is a safer, kinder future for them. In fact, the real question is whether so many will stay that they can no longer run the ship... but Janeway would never dictate her crew’s choices in that manner. So she swallows her worry down, opens the door...
... and finds that not a single person decided to stay behind. And the show has ensured we understand that this is not just because they all have some unshakable belief that they’ll get home (many don’t), but because this is their family now. This is home.
And fans want to toss that out for a generic, gritty, sci-fi adventure where hope is scarce, the universe is cruel, and people need to be pushed to the limit just to admit that they maybe, sort of, like each other?? Obviously like what you like, but that’s a hard pass for me. I’ll take the bridge crew comforting each other in “Twisted,” thanks. Besides, we already have shows like that. And we already have DS9 which grapples with many of those dark, pessimistic themes. Voyager feels like a breath of fresh air, even within the breath of fresh air that is Star Trek as a franchise. It’s a show that says, “Yes, when everything goes wrong people will come together. They will love each other. They will make it through.”
What’s more Star Trek than that?
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Voyager and Romance
So, the thing about Voyager and romance that sticks with me is they seem to do one couple really, or more accurately two characters, any real justice overall. And that is B’Elanna and Tom. While moments for that relationship may not be perfect that is rather realistic for relationships, as no relationship is perfect all the time so that is tolerable. This post though isn’t going to be about looking at that particular relationship though but primarily at other relationships. Largely because a discord server I am in was talking about Counterpoint and I realized why I both love the episode but also have weird feelings with it. Which, I’ll touch more on that specifically after I discuss the relationship stuff (as that plays a part).
So, I will preface this with it has been a bit since I’ve done a binge of Voyager and really a full binge of Star Trek in general. As such, I may forget a few relationships on the show and overall, throughout Trek in general. From what I can really toss together … I honestly am beginning to believe that when it comes to Voyager and the other shows (the older ones not the new ones – I am not including any NEW Trek in this) that for some reason the relationship writing with Voyager was rather different. Like, they gave 3 characters active relationships prior to being stranded. That being Harry Kim, Kathryn Janeway, and Tuvok. Out of these three we get Janeway and Tuvok holding onto those relationships in their own way while … it seemed mildly convenient for Harry to mention it when it suited him, I guess (like that time Tom wanted to set them up for a double date or you know when he ended up in that alternate timeline but still wanted back with Voyager even more like). Like, the reason I don’t list Tuvok-T’Pel above is because we don’t actually get to SEE that in full, we just get to see Tuvok’s side of it and his dedication – we don’t see the relationship, we don’t see the couple.
Harry and Tom, prior to his relationship with B’Elanna, seem to frequently do this sort of two bros dating around thing which is fine but like … same time the show used them for that. And once they settled Tom with B’Elanna they used Harry in those plot lines when it worked. Thus the alien STD episode and the “how dare you not get the standard permission from your CO and CMO” line (like they really put that into a Trek ep and I’m still unable to not picture Riker, Kirk, Picard, and everyone other Trek character constantly getting permission for their latest romance – just remember Jadzia and Worf likely had to get permission from Sisko and Bashir if the Trill and Klingon weren’t already approved of in the system just saying, that’s a thing that happened). Anyways … my point is they went out of their way on this. Like, when Kes was with Neelix they wrote Neelix to be that jealous judgmental boyfriend who literally got upset she knew where other people’s quarters where, she was nice to Tom, she was … just yeah. They wrote Tom to come off as a player pulling Harry into it, when Tom settled down Harry seems to pick that up (I mean you got his “omg Seven” phase and the alien STD stuff and lord knows what else I’m forgetting with him).
And to top this off I haven’t even touched on the “Janeway can’t have a romance” stuff yet. Which is where my real problem is. Like, its bad enough they brought in Jeri for the sex appeal (which lets be honest stems from the fact they couldn’t use Janeway for that – which I get, Kate was right in the whole concept of the audience target having to keep respect for a female lead and sex appeal couldn’t be a focal point but they could have balanced it right and regrettably because they couldn’t that meant Jeri got all of the other side of the coin). Many of Seven’s eps center on romance or social stuff and honestly that is a whole other WTF post in its own right because it all leads up to the sudden get with the one person on the ship who didn’t want you here in the first place and who also would have served better as the male adult guidance figure/father figure than as a ROMANTIC partner but hey BS happened behind scenes to cause that chaotic romantic on screen set up. But yeah … this is just another example of the poor Voyager romantic plot lines.
Chakotay’s romantic plot lines are usually – and by that, I mean pretty much always – with these strong independent women. But usually, at least from what I recall, they are also typically the “needs help” (damsel in distress/can’t do it alone/etc.) plot. Like, Riley was strong independent but also set up to need help in regard to getting her little collective put back together on the planet. You got Kellin, again another strong lady who yet again also needed help. At least in the ep she’s in and if I recall much of the info on how they fell in love during that time as well – primarily with getting away from danger at the start and then during the initial romance finding her target. Valerie is the only one who doesn’t fall into the needs help plot and that’s largely because she was being manipulated by Chakotay for information – which honestly just goes to show how well Chakotay was at the whole undercover stuff (which tells us a lot about what he could have been doing as a Maquis). Seska was the plot point of “you once dated her, now she is going to badger you to get with her again and when that fails, she’s going to assault you” …. like all of Chakotay’s romances are literally him either 1) being manipulated (as that’s what Seska and Riley did) or 2) being the kind guy or 3) not an actual relationship (either because its undercover work or because the writers were too cowardly to make him and Janeway canon).
Then you got Janeway. Then you got KATHRYN JANEWAY. You know, the one where Kate Mulgrew said no romance, no sexualizing, no doing that sort of stuff because the audience had to maintain respect for the character. I’m sure someone has the exact various quotes out there. Like … this is why we don’t have JC as canon. But what we do got instead is …. Janeway in Prime Factors being flirted with by the administrator as if that’s going to get him what he wants because “female leader means flirt with her”. We got Janeway and a period drama holodeck adventure in the early years which was clearly meant to be her romantic tête-à-tête early on that never got followed up with. We got “delete the wife” with the Fair Haven plot point (because its totally respectable to see the FEMALE LEAD, the STARFLEET CAPTAIN, just straight up DELETE THE WIFE of another individual - yeah, I get its meant to be humor factor because hologram but come on). You have her whole thing with Mark which we get tidbits off but again similar to Tuvok we literally only get to see her side of it – the only couple moment of theirs we get is the comm call in Caretaker.
But Jaffen? You are correct. We got that lovely and touching and wonderful romance with Jaffen …. Oh wait … they had to remove her from the ship, strip her of her memory, and her autonomy in order for her to have a relationship with another individual. And yes, by losing her memories, by losing what made her who she was as a person, she did lose a sense of autonomy. She entered into a relationship without a full sense of independent choice. The point in which she made a choice in that episode, the point in which she – Kathryn Janeway – made a choice with all of the person, the individual she is, was at the end when she had her memories back and could decide based on the values and beliefs and all that she is. What I’m getting at is the people on that planet deliberately took away who she was, they took her memories and her ability to make the decisions they knew she would make --- they did that deliberately (that’s even established in the episode) --- and as such her decisions while in that state are not truly her full independent decisions but the ones impacted by the state she was forced into.
And while I love Resolutions, while I love all the JC goodies, we get in that ep … Yet again the only time we get to see Janeway in any sort of romantic situation is when they remove her from the ship. When they remove her from command. When they strip her of that setting. This time, though – well the first time – she keeps awareness and has to go through lose of it all in order to even start to let it all happen. I love the episode, I do, but I just find it rather amusing they went “’Hey we gotta strand them what should their tasks be on the planet?” and they immediately went “Well Janeway is scientist how about that” “Okay and he can build, Chakotay can start building. Man builds house, right?” and then like went “oh and then she can start a garden” …. Like really? Really? That’s what you got for me. Oh, and then there is the monkey. That’s the romance this ep. Boat, science, monkey.
Then we got Kashyk. We have dealt with Kathryn throughout this series dealing with various leaders of various styles. As mentioned, Prime Factors guy attempted flirting. Other leaders pulled similar or worse or even dismissed her …. Like the list goes on. Counterpoint is a great episode because it deals with prejudice and is rather dark. The thing is, had Janeway been able to have a healthy romantic relationship on screen to counter this episode this episode probably would have come off better. Episodes like Prime Factor could have been done different (that leader didn’t need to be as flirty for example). One or two eps through the series having creepy dudes she had to deal with, fine, whatever … that be a nice impact for the audience. But when you have to many prior to Counterpoint – even if its minor, small stuff – it makes this episode so much harder for fans. Especially the female fans who deal with this constantly.
See, here’s the thing with this ep…. Some of the fans who watch … we know Kashyk well. We know that character. He is that male leader, that male power figure, who uses the power he has to manipulate those in his control to get what he wants. And Kathryn … Kathryn was in his control. Kashyk is listed as a relationship on memory-alpha. But much like how I view Seska with Chakotay … I do not view Kashyk as a proper relationship. In Devore space, Kathryn did not have proper power. She had people in her command, on her ship, that she had to protect. That she knew she had to protect. Her own best friend … lives in her hand … and Kashyk right there willing to kill them. Willing to snatch them up and destroy them. And he used that power to manipulate her and play her. Yes, she played him right back but … did she truly have a choice? Did she have any other choice but to play his game? What would have happened if she said no? And that … that is why this episode is so unsettling for some people. And why this relationship being considered on is so off putting … that the writers, that memory-alpha, that the fact I’m putting it on this list as one of the ones on here for Voyager says so much … they wrote this as one of her relationships while out there … she had to do what so many women had to do to stay safe, to keep people she loves safe, and that’s not a relationship.
Voyager could have done romance/relationships such better justice.
#star trek#star trek voyager#i had some feelings about things#primarily the Kashyk thing#but that lead to other things#and honestly i am really begining to question romance in voyager#but also like overall in Trek in general#like the more i think about Voyager the more im like oh god they really did seem to fail there#because the only valid couple i can think of is Tom and B'Elanna
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Caretaker Part 3
Scene 18 Voyager have you no shame?
Nooooo not Neelix in the bathtub! No, Voyager, no! Notice how often Tuvok ends up with Neelix. Maybe Janeway has it out for him. And here I thought only the captain had a bathtub, huh. Do the others take baths? I can see Harry with a rubber duck.
Tuvok says "No uniform for you, Neelix, just the criminals get that. Find an ugly couch."
I decided to spare us all and not show Neelix bathing. This is the array thingy, I forgot to show it before.
Scene 19 The Bad Hair Aliens
Away team lands on a lovely desert planet and meets the Kazon. The Kazon found out how to use technology like spaceships but are stumped on the whole water thing. Like could you maybe find water on another planet that is fit to live on? You think?
Kazon: The bad hair villains
As you can see, Neelix is popular with all.
Kes shows up beaten up. Neelix shoots a phaser. He’s competent with firing except oh he nearly got the away team (including the captain) killed by lying to them, but no matter. The Kazon are overcome in minutes when one of their big jugs of water is shot at, and go dashing off like cartoon chickens.
I always hear "Yakety Sax" during this scene.
Scene 20 Love to stay but . . .
(Ocampaville) Harry and B"Elanna are shown escape tunnels by Ocampa tired of not having HBO.
Scene 21 He who shall one day take over Voyager
(Sickbay)Tuvok: Gee, Neelix if you’d told us you wanted to rescue Kes that might have helped us. Neelix: Don’t be stupid Tuvok! Then the holographic new Doc says:
He gets some of the best lines cause his actor adlibs a lot.
Scene 22 Pixie leaves shade
(in Ocampaville): Go, Kes, give that boss man hell! I did not remember her being so feisty. Why did she put up with jealous controlling Neelix?
Get 'em, girfriend!
Scene 23 Poor Harry
Harry and B"Elanna still trying to escape. They have nicknames for each other ("Starfleet" and "Maquis") that they still occasionally use later. (Continuity?)
Many, many times, Harry.
Scene 24 Movin' on up, to the top
Janeway, Tuvox, and Chakotay are in Ocampaville and - are they riding an escalator?
Janeway: Okay boys, remember we are buying you pants today!
The array is acting wonky, Tuvok’s like "Oh, hey I think the Caretaker dude is dying." and Janeway’s like "How do we get home then?" Ah don’t worry about it.
It's definitely an escalator. When did they get to Sears?
Scene 25 OSHA compliant tunnels
(Underground Ocampaville) It's nice that the tunnels have stairs with handrails. For safety. Tom says Harry is his only friend and Harry’s like I am? Their friendship will become one of most endearing relationships on the show. No sarcasm for once.
Harry's response: I'm you're friend? That's right Harry, Tom said so.
Scene 26 Command Team goes shopping
Back at the mall, Janeway and others figure out the transporter isn’t working again because psychobabble.
You can't convince me this wasn't filmed at a mall. Janeway: I said, no stopping for snacks, Tuvok! Keep up!
Scene 27 Tom to the Rescue
(Under Ocampaville) In case of Earthquake, take stairs. Tom has a really big flashlight. Starting a landslide gets you out this time. Tom reaches the top - yay I made it up to hell. Big boom. Janeway and the others are still in the tunnels (they got out of the mall) so they are in trouble so Tom’s like "I might as well rescue them. Maybe I’ll get to fly the ship!"
Scene 28 Really, Really Sorry Native Americans
(Under Ocampavile). Chakotay’s leg is broken, but Tom rescues him from the stairs. Tom says Chakotay’s an Indian so he owes him a life debt for saving him and then asks Chakotay if he can do Indian tricks and turn into a bird fly and them out of there and I am not making this up. I am just SO SORRY Native Americans, wtf?
Remember back when Tom was really, really racist?
Scene 29 Meanwhile back on the heavily torn up ship . . .
(Back on Voyager)
Oh, hey, the ship cleaned up nice really fast! Must be the space fairies.
Red alert! They need to go back to array thingy - wait, where am I? Jabin of bad hair says array thingy his. Chakotay goes to hold off the Kazon on his tiny ship. Janeway tells Tom to take the helm cause he’s been good for a day or two so you know.
Even Tom is like "Wait, seriously?"
Scene 30 No More Banjos
(On array) Janeway hears a banjo and is like "Jam it!" Caretaker says he’s been bringing entire ships to the delta quadrant to find a compatible mate (not making this up) and the people get sick because they are not compatible maters.
Question for the Caretaker: Like ever think of just finding them a better planet away from the Kazon and stocking it up and stuff? Wouldn’t that be easier?
Caretaker feels guilty because oops he messed up the Ocampan's atmosphere with his tech so he decides to take care of every need the Ocampans have because they are “like children” (ick?) and according to him have the brains of goldfish.
Scene 31 Always think ahead, Chakotay
(Voyager) - The Kazon are dumb but they do know how to make the weapons on their ship work. A Starfleet guy falls and takes a bite of railing with his teeth. Ow. They don’t have enough firepower so Chakotay says "Eh I’ll ram my ship into them and think about where to live later." And Tom reminds him he still owes him. Again. Chakotay beams out before boom.
I guess Chakotay was counting on Janeway keeping them on Voyager cause otherwise this would have been a very dumb idea.
Scene 32 Anyone up for Jello?
Tuvok says" Hey Cap, we can get back to Federation space." and he just knows Janeway is not going to listen. I bet Tuvok would have taken everyone back. The Kazon will kill all of the Ocampa if they leave more tech for them to screw up but won't the Ocampans have to come out sometime and who will protect them then and you know, nevermind. The Caretaker becomes a jello mold, and then a rock.
Maybe the Caretaker should have concentrated on jello mold like creatures for mates.
Scene 33 Wouldn't you like to see this out your window?
Janeway decides to destroy the array. The only one with enough energy to protest is B'Elanna. Chakotay is like "Whatevs" because he blew up his own ship and wants a place to live.
I’m just thinking the guys on the lower decks have to be wondering, "Huh, what’s that array and why’d it explode? Wonder when we’re getting home. Wait, what?"
Scene 34 I Miss Molly
(Janeway’s ready room.) There is a pic of Mark and Molly the dog and her on her computer. Heck with Mark, she’s abandoned her DOG people! She tells Tuvok she’ll get them home because she’s starting to wonder about that decision to strand everyone without their knowledge. That won’t cause her any guilt later.
New canon from my daughter - Mark is a secret agent hence his basic name. Someone needs to run with this on a fanfic.
Scene 35 You know how you quit Starfleet for a cause? Too bad.
Janeway tells Tom she asked the Maquis to join them instead of trying to fit them into their cells for 75 years. How did that many Maquis get on one tiny ship?
Chakotay's ship compared to Voyager. And there were like thirty of them on there at least? I think?
Janeway makes Tom a Lt. and ship pilot which is totally fair even though she’s just promoted him over Harry and wtf doesn’t Tom have a record? Should there be a trial run maybe?
They mention Chakotay’s life belongs to Tom again. Also Chakotay is now first officer in order to promote the Brady bunch theme of togetherness. Chakotay is a good fit because he has experience and he didn't get kicked out of Starfleet. He just chose to leave because he hates them all. Chakotay and Janeway will totally be the parents of this ship.
This HAS to be a major theme in upcoming episodes.
Scene 36 Can we come too?
Neelix and Kes want to be part of crew. Neelix is lucky he’s got his handler Kes or this would never work.
Scene 37 Janeway gives speech - Ayala!
Janeway gives a speech about how it might look like they're screwed, but they've totally got this.
Ayala spotting! There he is by Harry!
Also they are a Starfleet crew cause Janeway says so. And wow, she’s somehow gotten every Maquis into Starfleet uniform ALREADY because conformity solves everything. No need for them to ease into this or something.
Chakotay "Yay I am so happy weeee."
And we have a pilot!
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10, 15, 35, 43 for the Trek ask game?
Thank youuuu and sorry for the late answer! Love these questions <3
10. Which alien pet would you most want for your own?
Honestly I have always been very charmed by Worf's childhood pet domesticated targ (portrayed by Russian wild boar Emmy-Lou😂) - but I would happily adopt a Bajoran hara cat, Cardassian vole, or that cute lizard who climbs over Jadzia on the jungle planet
Anyway look at this lil guy!!!
15. Top 3 favorite alien crewmembers?
Oooh, this is tough. Am I choosing my favs overall, or based on how much I like their alien-ness specifically? If it's the former, then Kira, B'Elanna, and Dax - if it's the latter, then Odo, Worf, and Saru (Discovery). (Deanna and Kes leaving you out Hurt Me but they didn't write you alien enough for the latter list!! Still top 5 favs though <3)
35. A minor character you wish had become a main character?
Okay let's talk about the long-form arc potential both Seska and Suder had. Literally my favourite thing about the Suder episodes is the questions about restorative justice they raise- is there any point in locking a man up after he's sincerely reformed and no longer dangerous? Is it possible to be? Is it fair to the victim's loved ones to give him the right to roam around like nothing happened? What sort of thing could count as "reparations" in Voyager's situation? What if they really had been stranded with him for 75 years? Would he ever have been able to move on from what he did? What sort of hobbies might he take up in his new life? What would it take to win Janeway's trust? Would the victim's friends ever forgive him? Would he rather disembark the ship and start anew somewhere, or remain with his own people? Would he have been able to make new friends? Are you reading this string of questions in Jonathan Frakes's voice too? Would our main characters all have been able to get past his actions? Would it cause disagreements? How would his relationship with Tuvok have progressed? What issues would their getting back to Earth early raise for him? ... Aaaaand then the show decided to give us none of that😂 (well. except for Jonathan Frakes in a brief cameo that is :D)
As for Seska I really don't know what they were thinking with her lol. She starts off as such a promising villain- literally the "reveal" in 'State of Flux' gives me chills! And you can actually understand her actions, her unexpected attachments to Chakotay and the crew. Instead of the whole pregnancy subplot (which made no sense) I would've loved to have seen her grow increasingly afraid she'd made a mistake in teaming up with the Kazon, and try to defect back to Voyager - the questions that would raise would be similar to Suder's, though in this case a bit more personal for characters like Chakotay and B'Elanna. Is she for real? Is she just doing this to trick them again? How do the Bajoran crew members feel about this? What would it take for her to win back people's trust? Say she does something messed up again, does she get a third chance? Would she make friends with Seven of Nine; someone she never personally betrayed who is also seeking redemption for past actions? Society if we'd gotten her as a regular character all the way till S7 - like an actually great redemption arc, where she ends up on good terms with a lot of them by the end (sort of like what they did with Garak on DS9) - ahhh the possibilities!!!
43. Order of shows from most to least favorite?
This is hard😅 okay I'm going to tier rank them that's easier!
Fav tier: DS9 (It's the best <3)
Second tier: TNG (I can't not put it here this show literally changed my life) & VOY (has wonderful characters and has also become very important to me)
Third tier: TOS movies (love them), Discovery (I have developed a nostalgia for it by now. Plus Michael is blorbo!)
Fourth tier: TOS, SNW, Enterprise, Lower Decks (shows I've enjoyed but only really seen once so far) and I guess the AOS movies lol (imo 'Beyond' is the best one)
Fifth tier: Picard (if it was just the first season it would've been higher! I actually liked that one) & the TNG movies (ugh)
(I am yet to see TAS and Prodigy)
#thanks again for the ask friend <3#nothing like tier ranking the Starred Trek shows to distract you from feeling sick :)#(nothing serious everyone's just been a bit ill due to water contaminations lol)#also yes. I am aware that we never actually got to see a hara cat on screen#but it is a cat! so#it stands to reason I would like one :)#ask game
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So, I finished watching all of Voyager. Some thoughts:
• Kes got done dirty. Like, okay, she left the show, but the coming back for one episode because she forgot why she left in the first place and wanted to kill everyone on Voyager? What? And instead of being like, "hey, you might have Okampa alzheimers, let's address that." They just... recorded a message that when replayed made her ok? No?
• Neelix started out as kind of an asshole and became likable and then was kind of just... there.
• Kes and Neelix's relationship should have ended on screen. Instead of "oh, yeah, they broke up recently." And then have Neelix and Kes not mention that they were ever even together at all until the episode where Kes leaves.
• I didn't see the whole Janeway/Seven shipping thing until the final episode. I don't subscribe to it, but I understand it now.
• Chakotay and Janeway should have gotten together.
• Chakotay/Seven is stupid. Maybe, MAYBE if they had remembered that Chakotay was once linked to a mini collective of ex-borg, and had him use that to help Seven with her transition back to human from the beginning LIKE THEY SHOULD HAVE, then it would have had a leg to stand on. As it is, it felt like they just went "We need to hook Seven up with someone because if we don't then people might think it's ok for a woman to be single and ok with it. Oh yeah, and we're going to kill her off in one timeline for the drama." Yeah no.
• Harry Kim was also done dirty. He's in command, in the CAPTAIN'S CHAIR for the night shift for what, twice a week? For years. And he does a really good job except the one time they pointed out that he was trying to get a promotion and prove that he can lead, and have him fail because.... racism? Haha, look at this guy who can never get promoted because um... it's a small ship? Was that the reason he gave? Because all the people who died over the 7 years were all ensigns? No one was higher ranking, so there were no openings? Yeah, I'm gonna bet on racism.
• And he had a fiancee too, that they promptly forgot about so they could instead make fun of how bad he is with women.
• The Doctor's plight of being treated as a real being was good for the first season or two, but then it just felt... repetitive and out of character for the rest of the crew. It's fine when outside cultures did it, but when we have an episode about the crew realizing the Doctor is a person and should be treated as such multiple times a season for 7 seasons.... you're supposed to be the tolerent future of humanity! They backed off a bit in the last season and made it more outsiders doing it, but it got really repetitive.
• Tom really was just a mary-sue wasn't he? (Gary-stu?)
• I don't really have much to complain about for Tuvok except maybe he was too mind-meld happy. So, yay?
As a whole, I find Voyager okay. 6.5/10?
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Voyager Book Club - February Favorite Fics
So I put forth a challenge of sorts to our Voyager Book Club. I asked everyone to pick ONE Voyager fic that they consider to be their favorite. Now, you can imagine, this is pretty freaking hard! There are so many incredible fics out there. I didn’t say it had to be the best written, or the most in character. I gave examples such as: the one you read over and over or your go-to fic, however you want to phrase it. It was pointed out that a favorite fic can change every hour based on your frame of mind and what you are in the mood to read at any one moment. I get it. Even so....I challenged everyone to only pick ONE. And they did it! Or most of them! I got around 20 different favorites picked! So here is the list of our Favorite Voyager Fics, why they were chosen and by whom. Happy Reading!!
Note: Click on the name of the fic for a link to it! Also, this list is in no particular order.
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@curator-on-ao3: ‘Fragile Things’ by @mia-cooper
“Fanfic is about exploring possibilities. That’s what put this fic over the top to be my favorite. In Fragile Things, MiaCooper examines multiple versions of one relationship, pulling different threads to see how things unravel or knit together. It’s thoughtful, it’s meta, it’s realistic as hell, it’s damn good writing — it’s MiaCooper and it’s excellent.”
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@ariella884(yep, that’s me!): ‘2013′ by PCBW (@pcbw)
“I had a hard time choosing my favorite (like most people here), mostly because as i was gathering them all from everyone else I kept seeing ones and going, ‘Oh! I love that one!’. I also didn’t want to have any duplicates so I had to change mine a couple times, that being said, 2013 is easily one of my top three (which of themselves is almost impossible to pick just one. I’m lucky that my other two were chosen already and I didn’t have to!). I love 2013 because it is a modern AU, without being a completely modern AU. No, that doesn’t make sense. But you get our Janeway and Chakotay, Starfleet officers and all, and you get them in the modern world. It’s incredible! We see the challenges they go through of being taken from everything they know and put into a world that is pretty much unknown to them. Add to that the personal differences they have to work out together. Splash in the normal challenges that we all go through when trying to live a life in this day and age (jobs, house, money, love, family, etc). This is just an incredibly beautiful story that I have read many times and will continue to read over and over. It’s also a long fic and those are my favorite because I like to get completely involved in stories!”
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@mia-cooper: ‘Deceiving’ by QuantumSilver
“Because it starts with a canon event that is absolutely devastating and shows just how devastated Janeway and Chakotay are by it (and Tuvok and Ayala as well, though they only make a brief appearance). It shows Janeway at her absolute best - every last inch the captain, going above and beyond for her crew not just physically but emotionally in spite of the absolutely gut-wrenching cost to her - and it really kicks off with one of my absolute favourite tropes: mutual pining to the Nth Fucking Degree.
It has Chakotay being every bit the commander, backing her up even though he's dying inside, and REFUSING to let her shut herself away even though he KNOWS she's going to want to murder him for pushing and pushing and pushing at her.
And then OH MY GOD, he's deliberately getting on her every last nerve just so he can wrench honesty from her because he knows if she doesn't tell him how badly he's hurt her, how she's absolutely bottomed out because of him, she will never open up to him or anyone else again.
AND THEY DRINK WHISKEY OMG GIVE ME KJ AND C UTTERLY MISERABLE AND DRINKING WHISKEY LIKE IT'S WATER AND PINING LIKE FUCK AND NOT SAYING A WORD BUT BLEEDING TO DEATH FROM THE HEART AND I WILL DIE HAPPY FOREVERRRRRRR
I'm sorry for yelling but this fic makes me want to rip off my clothes and run up and down the street screeching how everybody should read it and they are just BRUTAL with each other and they STILL do not understand, refuse to, CANNOT understand, that the other would not just die for them but MURDER WHOLE FUCKING ARMIES FOR THEM and it's tragic and devastating but then oH MY GOoOoOODDDDD
So that is my favourite fic and the one i read approximately every two months or more if i really hate my writing that day and want to torture myself with How It Should Be Done.”
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@bizships: ‘Fealty’ by MsDisdain
“My favorite story. I honestly don’t have to think about it. It’s one I always go back to.
I love the way the crew pledges their loyalty to her and the way subtle way they tell her that it’s okay that she’s happy too in that they effectively give her Chakotay for her birthday, by way of him “fighting” Tuvok(Starfleet) for her hand.”
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@arcadia1995: ‘The Space Between’ by lauawill ( @joyful-voyager)
“The Space Between is a story I return to time and time again when I'm feeling down. I like that it realistically portrays what might have happened between Janeway and Chakotay right after the returned home in Endgame. I like that no one in the J/C/7 triangle ends up being a bad guy. I like the hopeful ending and imaging what might have happened after the fade to black (lots of sex!!!)“
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@wishful-thinker-87 : ‘if you came this way’ by tree
“It’s always a go to for me, even though I don’t usually like AUs. The sex is intense and emotional. The characterization is pot on. And we get Phoebe being an awesome sister and some Chakotay/Molly bonding too. What’s not to love?!”
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BlackVelvet: ‘Bluffing the Crowd’ by @ralkana
“Even after years since i read this, just thinking about this story brings a warm fuzzy feeling to my heart and a huge silly grin to my face. I simply love it.”
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@purpledog47: ‘The Future is Ours’ by Dawn
“My favorite is most definitely Dawn’s ‘The Future is Ours. This is my one fic. It’s super long and it tells us what happened after Endgame and it has a little bit of everything in it: angst, romance, hurt/comfort, Q, babyfic, romance.”
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@amoderngirl: ‘Time and Distance’ by northernexposure
“If I am ever loosing the thread with J/C, I can always read this and I am immediately in love again.”
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@coffeeblack75: ‘Soft Light’ by northernexposure
“There are so many reasons why I love it that I can't even, haha. I'll start with: it was the first piece of fanfic smut I read, so I love it for that reason - my first time haha. More importantly, it is just beautifully, beautifully written - it's plotted beautifully, it flows beautifully and the pacing is spot on. The author has complete control over all of that & over the language, which is just used masterfully. There's so much subtley going on in this story too - the author doesn't spell everything out for us and instead draws us to the details that reveal what is important - the beginnings of these two getting to know each other. Gosh, it's so hard to articulate haha! But lines like this just make me shiver in delight for their beauty and what they reveal: "he was kissing her, with a lot more sweetness than was wise. Ah god, I could go on and on but perhaps I'll finish with my favourite bit, which is when C feels that first stab of lust & realises she might too & tests his theory by blowing softly on the back of her neck. This moment, omg, the moment is just so beautiful, so quiet, so pointed and private and intimate. You really feel that moment as if you are there. Ahhhhh :)
Also….there are two sequels to it that are equally as wonderful ;)
Oh and one more thing I adore about this story is the way that the C thinks he is lusting after KJ but it is quite obvious he loves her - even before they come together - but he hasn’t realized it yet. The way the author does this is just incredible - so deft! Everything for C is about taking care of KJ … it’s just beautiful.”
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@caladeniablue: ‘Lifeline’ by helenagray ( @picking-daisies-in-the-outfield)
“Why do I like that fic? An unfinished WIP at that (Started in 2013; last update in Jan 2019. No indication how many chapters to go.) The perfect serial story and that's part of the attraction for me.
The first chapter sets the scene: raw Janeway, alone, without the backup of her ship, her crew or Chakotay. Bare of essentials and with only her courage and intelligence and sheer determination to help her survive, and even she wonders how long those will last her.
And while we learn about Chakotay and how he seeks her while the crew has to move on, I am drawn to Janeway most of all.
The fic jumps back and forth across locations and in time from that first chapter to catch up with it again some 20 chapters later, but there is no jarring. The reader knows immediately what KJ is experiencing , but the past events that led to that situation are as important, and that's one of the many attractions of this story. No overlong flashbacks, no tedious info dump. It's all layered, making one wait for the next chapter and the next one, while knowing all the time where KJ has ended up.
The writing is gorgeous, which is a bonus. And it is pure J/C, distilled to its purest by separation. Perfect.”
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@keiraniels: ‘Bad Ensign’ (Series) by @curator-on-ao3
“Ok so I chose Curator’s ‘Bad Ensign’ because I come back to it often - - it’s such a freaking brilliant idea that I can 100% imagine being canon, and it inspired so many Voyager Bookclubbers to write Bad Ensign stories”
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@cnrothtrek: ‘War Torn’ by @curator-on-ao3
“Why? I had the pleasure of beta reading this story, and I am so glad that I did. It has a great plot, is well-written and perfectly paced, and is hard to put down. The way it pulls together two pieces of canon backstories for Miles O’Brien and Kathryn Janeway is genius. The characters feel so real and their voices can be clearly heard in the text. And the supporting characters of Captain Benjamin Maxwell, Will “Stompie” Kayden, and Molly Walsh are incredible. The story is intense, absorbing, and emotional. I just can’t say enough good things about it.”
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@theshortywrites: ‘The Dragonfly Oath’ by Koneia
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@emmikamikatze: ‘All the Good Things We Never Did’ by northernexposure
“This story brings me to tears, makes me smile and shiver and fear and worry. It's given me phrases that won't leave me, that keep repeating itself in my head even months (years) after first reading it. There's just the right amount of show trivia to make it a fanfiction, but little enough to make it a unique and original story. ne makes me fall in love with these characters all over again as if I didn't know them beforehand.
This story is special and precious and it speaks to me on so many levels I can hardly comprehend how genius it is. It's a literary masterpiece of fanfic if there ever was one.”
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@missmil: ‘Here I Stand’ by lauawill
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@manalyzer13: ‘Gravitation’ by northernexposure
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@grace-among-the-stars: ‘Filling the Void’ by Spiletta42
“Filling the Void is the one fic I always return to. It has my fave ships, JC, PT and D7. Minor characters play major parts and it is just funny. It makes me laugh every time.
JC’s relationship is really explored from all angles, this is not just your average, ‘the crew get them together fics’, it is so much more. It has sexual tension, smut, humour, sadness and is pure JC BLISS. It always cheers me up and I was so happy when Spiletta42 added it to Ao3 because this meant so many more people would find it.”
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Anonymous: ‘Bent, Not Broken’ by @killermanatee
“This is an incredible hurt/comfort Janeway/Chakotay fic. The story is painfully written from both characters' perspectives, showing how each is suffering in a different way from the traumatic event that has occurred. In the end, their love for each other will help them come together and they will both be able to heal with time, comfort, and support from one another. This is a beautifully told, emotionally heavy story of one couple's love overcoming tragedy. It is my favorite Janeway/Chakotay fic, and I recommend it to anyone who wants to read a heartbreaking yet fulfilling story.”
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@minakotenjou: ‘Mysterious and Curious’ by @h4t08
“It was so hard to choose - there are a lot of incredible fanfics out there. This was one of the first...shall we say spicier J/C fics I read and for some reason I still think of it often. It's great smut for sure, but I think it stuck with me because of how it all gets tied together at the end.”
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@leisylaura: ‘The Bitter End’ by @mia-cooper
“We have post endgame books but not one about the original timeline, I remember reading “The bitter end” and thinking “this is it, this is what happened”. I cried from beginning to end.”
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@killermanatee: ‘The Dying of the Light’ by @cnrothtrek
"This fic is such a gorgeous piece of art. I hadn't seen the TNG episode before reading it and when I did watch it I was very disappointed because this fic is just on such a completely different level. The storytelling is so delicate and intriguing, that combined with the poignant and elegant writing style, so that it was impossible to put my phone down. I can't recommend this fic highly enough."
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@cheile: ‘Marooned’ by Soliquilii9 (aka Running Horse)
“I love how she makes the story unfold in slow steady measures. Also, she filled in the gaps left by the writers in regards to his heritage by using information from her own Cherokee background and it is done naturally (not in an info dump type manner). “
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What do you think of our list of Voyager favorites? Do you have a favorite that isn’t on this list? Reply to this post with your favorite!! And if you haven’t read ALL of these fics yet, I strongly suggest you get started!! Have fun and enjoy!!
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Am I once again posting about the Voyager Relaunch Novels? Yes. Yes I am.
I am re-reading the Post-Endgame Voyager Relaunch novels and marathoned reading The Eternal Tide over the last two nights and all I have to say is Janeway and Chakotay love each other so much, I was literally sobbing through about six sections of the second half of that book.
The Kirsten Beyer books are SO GOOD. And as I’m re-reading them I love how she handles every single one of the Voyager characters but especially Chakotay. I feel like she understands Chakotay and gives him everything the writers of Voyager never quite grasped about his character in seven seasons. Full Circle is such a powerful story of his love and his grief, and the rest of the crew’s love for him (especially Tom, B’lanna, Harry and Sev-- wow his friendship with Seven is so awesome throughout the Beyer books, everything it should have been in the show and not what we got in Endgame. The support they have for each other without forcing a cringey relationship back onto them adds so much to BOTH of their characters. Hey this paragraph went way off the rails but I don’t care.)
Anyway I really love the plots of each of these books, I love how they handle EVERY character (well, I miss Tuvok -- at some point I’m gonna get to the Titan novels) and the new characters are pretty great (oh man Cambridge is a fave, and so much better than the new consular that was introduced in the Spirit Walk books. Loved Eden, love Farkas.)
I made a post a few days ago about how Chakotay is the whole “upstanding, solid, good guy” archetype that some people dare to call “boring” I’ve previously talked at length in a post about Mass Effect about how that’s just... my favorite kind of character. And Chakotay is just... so that. It also made me realize that the Janeway / Chakotay dynamic is also very similar to a Shepard / Kaidan dynamic (powerful commanding officer of her own ship woman character, solid, good, honorable mature right-hand man first officer (or close to it) male character and maybe that’s why they’re both two of my favorite ships.
Anwyay here’s some spoilery thoughts about The Eternal Tide.
Chakotay telling Seven about his relationship with Janeway evolving before she died, and how he doesn’t think he’ll ever love any other woman!
Confirmation that Chakotay was thinking about proposing when they were supposed to met in Venice!??! What!?
Janeway thinking about Chakotay right after her resurrection and how deeply she feels for him and wondering about how her death affected him! Also I kind of love that Chakotay DIDN’T come to her mind when deciding whether to return to life or not? This was her decision and making it about A Man I think would have made it feel less about her and how she knew she would be taking responsibility for The Multiverse, which is what it absolutely should have been about. Realizing what her death would have done to him basically the second she was alive again... that part was so well written. I loved it. Her relationship shouldn’t become the basis of who she is -- but it adds to her.
Their... reunion... scene... almost being ruined by Q... Chakotay’s utter shock and disbelief and the description of him slowly beginning to have his heart open up to the possibility, him inching closer to her as she’s thinking that maybe she’s made a mistake and understands just how deeply her death hurt him... that.... entire... SCENE. (Actually about once a year I dig that book and Full Circle out just to read their getting together / reunion scenes.)
Getting Seven’s reaction to Janeway was also very, very good. I wish they hadn’t cut past the scene where the rest of the Voyager staff sees her for the first time but we did get a little taste of it.
Um okay and then Janeway tells Chakotay she loves him for the first time and he says it back, naturally but like, this is as Chakotay was preparing to go on a suicide mission? SOBBING. They didn’t even get a day together, but at least they got to say goodbye this time.
Janeway forcing herself not to think about Chakotay’s death because things just got so much more dire.
Yes they won, but Janeway all alone on the battle bridge and she can’t even bring herself to contact Voyager yet because she just needs time to mourn Chakotay for a few seconds and takes a few seconds, a few breaths, a few moments... and then... OMG.... Chakotay is returned by Godson Q just before his death and they’re so happy... I CANNOT.
THE EPILOGUE where they’re in bed and had spent every possible moment together and so casual and free and happy together... it’s everything we ever wanted for seven seasons and seven more books.
--
Oh I started this post now almost a week ago and now I’m a few books forward and hey am I now going to talk about Protectors? Yes, yes I am.
J/C don’t get to spend a lot of time together in this book. Janeway gets sent back to the Alpha Quadrant to undergo counseling and evaluation which, tbh, is totally valid considering she DIED A VIOLENT HORRIBLE DEATH and then WAS DEAD FOR FOURTEEN MONTHS and then you know RESURRECTED AND IMMEDIATELY HAD TO SAVE THE MULTIVERSE oh yeah not to mention WAS REUNITED WITH THEN HAD TO TELL CHAKOTAY GOODBYE FOREVER A FEW HOURS LATER then oh wait THE MAN SHE LOVES WAS ALSO BROUGHT BACK FROM THE DEAD (or the brink of death, whatever.)
There’s a short and sweet goodbye scene then for the bulk of the book Janeway is back on Earth going to counseling (which, that second counseling scene was so great, and seeing her slow down and enjoy life with her mother was so great, and um also that scene with her and Picard? Wow. Just Wow. Also I can’t wait to go back and read some TNG books because I need to see JL/B actually get together.) And the entire time she’s just like... not even doubting her relationship with Chakotay even a little. She thinks of him and is excited to be reunited but every time it’s like “the man I love” “The person I plan on spending the rest of my life with” and even “the love of my life.” WOW. Just Wow. Chakotay worries a bit but never doubts.
Oh and then she basically tells her commanding officer “yeah um, thanks but I absolutely have no plans on curbing my relationship with Chakotay to make you feel more comfortable. Also JL/B and Riker/Troi are all married so fuck you?” She does agree to keep separate quarters on another ship which is like.. fine... whatever. But also her going “Yes he’s my subordinate but we’re not going to let that affect our working relationship, we’re adults.” Fuck. Yeah. Montgomery asks if they’re gonna get married and Janeway is all “IDK, probably? We’ll let you know.”
And B’Elanna asks Chakotay the same thing and his answer is also basically “Yeah at some point, we haven’t talked about it yet but yeah we’re spending the rest of our lives together now stop prodding me.”
Their reunion when she returns doesn’t go as planned and it’s a teensy bit worrisome at the end but with notes of positivity.
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OK I’m only about 1/3rd into Acts of Contrition but I got to a part last night that made me put the book down for a minute and thank Kirsten Beyer out loud.
J/C finally get to spend some time alone several days after she makes it back to the fleet in the Delta Quadrant. They have a brief discussion about The Plot, then Chakotay is like “Know what? We’ll talk about The Plot Stuff tomorrow in the briefing. Let’s instead talk about us.” And then he stands up for what he wants! And Janeway listens, and they talk, and agree! And then Chakotay is like “Okay, now I really want to hear about what happened to you back on Earth for all those weeks!” So... literally they just... sit and talk for several hours like, I don’t know, real people would? There’s no drama! And they both affirm their commitment to each other and their relationship!
It’s just... it’s... so good? Their relationship is so solid! They LOVE EACH OTHER and it’s based on their solid friendship (something else they actually say out loud!) and they talk to each other and there’s no like drama for drama’s sake about their relationship so far and it’s like, better than even any fanfic I’ve ever read (and there’s some great fic out there for these two) because nearly every other character is also getting their screentime and character development (minus Tuvok -- who’s off with Riker and Troi on the Titan and Neelix isn’t around much -- though he’s spoken of and we see him a bit when they visit New Talax). Also it’s... beta canon. No matter what, this is real and accepted beta canon.
I have been going back and listening to all the episodes of the Literary Trek podcast episodes about these books, and for Eternal Tide and Protectors Beyer herself was on the podcast and listening to her talk about Chakotay and Janeway both individually and as a couple her love for them both is clear, she loves the show and knows what she’s doing and is allowed to do it, and her writing is so damn good. One of the hosts of the podcast has said in several episodes that he used to really dislike Chakotay as he was in the show and now book Chakotay is one of his favorite characters. And honestly? I do love show Chakotay but book Chakotay is... everything show Chakotay should have been. But he’s also been through hell and back and I love how Beyer used that experience -- and now Janeway’s resurrection experience -- to advance them BOTH individually and how that’s affected them as a couple now that they actually get to be that.
There’s so much other good in these books. Tom and B’Elanna’s storyline and the way she writes them and their marriage... I could write so much about it. Harry gets better characterization! A plotline! A promotion! A love interest that may actually work out?!!? We’ll see. And SEVEN. Wow. So much happens with Seven and it’s so great, I love her so much and Book Seven is again, even better.
Two more books have come out since the last time I read the series and the final book comes out next month, I can’t wait to see all the great moments Beyer has coming up for them. It also makes me twice as happy that Beyer is so involved with Picard. It’s so clear the love she has for these two and I can’t imagine J/C not still being Alpha canon with her involved.
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