Complete Voyager and First Contact/Insurrection Rewrite Fanfiction

[Yukaphile]

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1gOi3PvUazvfux6-Ng0gnWihznT3JHt_cTawE6xC4SDI/edit?usp=sharing

[Simplicius]

I shall give it a look-see.

[Yukaphile]

Thanks.

Thoughts on:

1) Tom Paris being Nick Locarno?
2) Jellico being the original captain and put in a coma?
3) Janeway being young and inexperienced contrasted off the experienced Chakotay?
4) The holo-simulation being Starfleet Command, and not a farm?

[Simplicius]

I've just read it through and I'd be interested to keep up to date with it.

1) That's a given, I think. I'm doing the same thing. It just makes so much sense and is a cool TNG tie-in.

2) That's a very interesting edition, especially speaking as a "fan" of Jellico. It would also be interesting as a bit of narrative tension to hang over certain characters' heads. I'm assuming he's going to die before waking up, however.

3) That's a cool tension builder. I haven't taken it as far in mine (just flipping Janeway and Cavit's positions). It would definitely increase the likelihood of a Maquis succeeding, if Chakotay could agree that he was the only one on board with command experience.

4) This is obviously a smaller change but it definitely makes more sense than what we got.

[Yukaphile]

1) Yeah. To hell with the producers, lol. We all know it was to screw over the little guy. No restraints here.

2) Yeah. He WILL end up outside the coma at some point. And it will lead to all sorts of conflicts. What do you think of him being assigned to basically a repurposed science vessel because he didn't wanna wait for the Cairo to finish undergoing drydock repairs? This is an idea from further back in the thread. Voyager is an Excelsior class which in the post-Khitomer winds of change era, like with America between the fall of the wall and the fall of the towers, signaled a great period of economic expansion and broad-base peace and prosperity. As such, the Excelsiors, which had been pioneered toward future upgrades distinct from the Constitution class, were downgraded from a military role. As Jellico noted, that changed after Wolf 359. And, the Equinox is going to come in later, and it is going to be the Intrepid.

3) I'm planning that basically, Voyager becomes a fleet. The first is the Val Jean. Next is the Cardassian Dreadnought. And many more. Equinox. Hell, I have a whole list ideas here. Should I post them?

4) Thanks.

[Simplicius]

I'd be interested in seeing your ideas, sure.

[Yukaphile]

Here we go.

This is my basic premise. Warning, it's the raw, unedited file.

OUTLINE
-General Approach
-Continuity Reminders
-Season Structures
--The List
-Possible
-Definite
-Ships That Join Voyager
--Fleet Dynamics
-Character Traits
-Removed Episodes
--Adapted Elements
-Reworked Episodes
--The Process
-Tweaked Episodes
--The Process

GENERAL APPROACH

1) use the basic premise with what the original episode did, but work around it to add continuity, drama, and refine it into something better.
2) if it's subpar and below average, take a basic concept, something minor, or several concepts, and work a usable plot around it.
3) if it's not possible, shrink it until it gets reduced to cameos or references, very minor ones, and possibly nothing.

CONTINUITY REMINDERS

NAMES

Aaron Cavit.
Rowena Stadi.
Scott Rollins.
Robert Chakotay.

SEASON STRUCTURES

"Night" begins Season 2.

"Distant Origin" is moved to much earlier in the season and switched with another. it should be the fourth in.

at the end of "Scorpion," Species 8472 only withdraws to regroup, and become a season-long threat in Season 4.

Season 5 is "Year of Hell."

"Bliss" is moved to much earlier into Season 4.

shift "Good Shepherd" to earlier.

shift "Equinox" to earlier.

THE LIST

SEASON 2
"Night"

POSSIBLE

Voyager is an Excelsior class ship. the Equinox is an Intrepid.

push back the WWII hologram to much later.

in expanding on Braxton and the Relativity as the Starfleet Temporal Preservation Corps, adapt stuff from Enterprise with Daniels and possibly even Discovery too.

use time travel to show the crew in the future as a generational ship, perhaps inspired by "Shattered."

the Caretaker screwed up the Ocampa


make the Kobali (reproduce via necromancy) worse than in canon, and perhaps Janeway has to compromise her principles to get them home.

Seven can revive the dead.

In "Scorpion" Chakotay overrides Janeway in order to carry out the alliance with the Borg.

"Demon" explores the Silver Blood.

DEFINITE

they're trying to make Voyager into a generational ship.

bring in Tal Celes, Mortimer Harren, and Billy Tefler early.

one day Jellico will be revived for future conflict.

throughout the series it's the seasoned and experienced former Starfleet officer Chakotay going head to head against the inexperienced Janeway. Janeway might be set and stubborn initially, like how she wants to adhere slavishly to the Prime Directive, but then she grows into a commander and starts relaxing the Prime Directive, perhaps start seeing Federation ideals as less dogmatic. I want her to get her own "In the Pale Moonlight" moment where she feels she has crossed the line... and perhaps unlike Sisko, feels as if she can't live with it, so turns command over to Chakotay or Tuvok.

Janeway initially doesn't want to do battlefield promotions, but once she begins relaxing Federation dogma, she does. Harry Kim finally gets a promotion, unlike canon.

frivolous use of the holodeck won't be permitted. only occasional downtimes when energy demands permit it. otherwise, it's for preparation, planning, and tactical preparation.

Neelix sacrifices himself to save them from the bioplasmic entity. Qatai joins the Voyager Fleet as the new gruff loner with knowledge of this area of space to serve as a guide.

the Voyager Fleet finds a wormhole that leads to the Gamma Quadrant, neck-deep in Dominion space. six months from the Bajoran Wormhole. but they have to turn back. they just can't sustain these kind of losses. and one ship follows them through. with the wormhole destabilizing as they pass through and gone now, the Dominion battlecruiser hunts them for a while until data they recovered from a Borg node reveals they have a Changeling in the area. they realize it is one of the hundred. so they head to liberate it from the Borg. it was given a designation of Organic Test Sample 9085. that is the name the Founder takes. they liberate the Changeling from the Borg and it joins the Voyager Fleet. the Vorta on board has to strike up a grudging alliance with the Federation with the Founder's order.

once contact with Starfleet command is established, there's lots of bureaucracy to sort through, like whether to officialize those battlefield commissions, and a lot of her decisions start coming under scrutiny, until finally, Janeway is court-martialed for "conduct unbecoming a Starfleet officer."

the series will end with Q sending them home via beating the Borg via a test of character for humanity.

SHIPS THAT JOIN VOYAGER

DEFINITE

Val Jean
Cardassian Dreadnought
Equinox (Intrepid class here)
Dominion battle cruiser
Qatai's shuttle

POSSIBLE

Romulan Ship
Cardassian Ship
Klingon Ship

FLEET DYNAMICS

Equinox has the speed. and the Dominion battlecruiser has the power.

CHARACTER TRAITS

HARRY KIM

Harry desperately wants to get back home.

NICK LOCARNO

tone down on the hypercompetence Tom had in canon.

CHAKOTAY

Chakotay is still into boxing and anthropology.

REMOVED EPISODES

26 episodes to get rid of in order to make room for "Year of Hell."

"Parturition" — (1)
"Tattoo" — (2)
"Elogium" — (3)
"Threshold" — (4)
"Fair Haven" — (5)
"Spirit Folk" — (6)

ADAPTED ELEMENTS

FAIR HAVEN/SPIRIT FOLK

"Fair Haven" is reduced to references or cameos.

REWORKED EPISODES

"Caretaker"
"Phage"
"The Cloud"
"Cold Fire"
"Dreadnought"
"Tuvix"
"Year of Hell"
"The Killing Game"
"Bliss"
"Dark Frontier"
"One Small Step"
"Equinox"

THE PROCESS

CARETAKER

the Caretaker didn't know about Locarno because it wasn't in their database.

edit the Stadi inconsistency of her flying him to the station. she's not part of Voyager.
perhaps have a flashback with Locarno over Wes in his "room."
perhaps cut out the dog scene in order to add more.
Rollins is killed later in the battle, and Tuvok takes over for him.
when Janeway is about to blow up the array, Chakotay challenges her by saying they could rig a bomb to blow it up. she agrees.
abolish the lack of water by "nucleogenic particles."
I'm thinking that the "episode," lol, ends with Chakotay trying to stop the destruction of the array, and give us more logic, like they don't have bombs to blow it up, even to rig something up that would take minutes. it'd take half an hour. reinforcements are coming. and so Chakotay reluctantly flies home alongside her. maybe doesn't put on a Starfleet outfit right away.
perhaps the bomb is set off earlier.
at the end, Locarno offers a fight. Chakotay refuses.
and perhaps it's not water the Kazon are seeking in the first episode, but, well... something rare, like plasma or whatever. Neelix "borrowing" plasma would make far more sense than... that.

PARALLAX

I had an idea. for "Parallax." up the tension by having them trapped there... while evading the Kazon. perhaps this is when Chakotay loses his ship. or not. no use of the holodeck here.
Chakotay offers Torres as the chief engineer in a gesture of goodwill, because he knows sometimes circumstances force people together, and you have to unite to beat a common enemy.
instead of an anomaly, maybe they are fleeing the Kazon.
Janeway is uncertain about having Nick because of his past and when confronted with the Maquis, revealed their spy.
getting a message beforehand draws them and the Kazon ship to the black hole.
the Kazon ship is sucked into the black hole.
Kim wants his clarinet.
he played clarinet in the Julliard Youth Symphony?
Neelix knows about this area of space. a black hole.

TIME AND AGAIN

they go to this planet to trade for stuff. this opens up Prime Directive discussions. maybe Chakotay wants to go down. Janeway doesn't initially. tries to do it too by the book. but then allows him to so long as he takes along a Starfleet liaison, and thinks Tuvok would serve well in that role.

PHAGE

I think the more experienced Chakotay would have wanted to kill the Vidiians. Janeway overrules him.

THE CLOUD

well, I had another idea, as I rewatch Chuck's Voyager reviews for the umpteenth time, and am passing "The Cloud." Obviously, holodeck use is going to be limited. in fact, during my version of "The Cloud," I feel as if they'll shut down all the holodecks but one or two, to divert that energy elsewhere, and then leave the other two for tactical simulations. Chakotay will be the one to come up with that idea and Janeway once again feels her doubts, and confides this in Tuvok. hell, maybe she has an argument with him that "episode" about giving the crew leisure activity, and in the end, finally does what he suggests. more Starfleet/Maquis tension!

COLD FIRE

while the Kazon are spreading propaganda, it occurs to the Voyager crew to look back and muse on how they are the sole representatives of Starfleet out here and how their reputations reflect that. color their past in a checkered light. like there are rumors of a Voyager/Vidiian alliance when they first met, and Janeway released them. or how she rescued Torres and didn't free the other prisoners in "Faces."

DREADNOUGHT

the Dreadnought remains as part of the fleet in the end. it also has no quantum torpedoes.

TUVIX

oh, and I think I wanna keep the decision to kill Tuvix, but have Janeway later feel regret over it. perhaps this is her "In the Pale Moonlight" moment. maybe keep Tuvix around for a while longer.

YEAR OF HELL

one idea I'd had is that, due to her growing feelings for Tom and even the future where she saw herself married to him, I'd imagine that Kes would hesitate when the console blows up, and... thus, Janeway and Torres are killed. and that's why she steps aside for Torres. because she doesn't trust herself with this. on her home mating couples were so simple. among the stars, with others, it's so complicated.

it ends with a reset button, with Harry Kim as the only one who remembers, in the deflector control room where the temporal shields hadn't fallen all the way, and he remembers everything that which happened.

THE KILLING GAME

hell, for the Hirogen plot... I'm thinking it's not just a WWII simulation. but a simulation of many such past human battles. the Eugenics Wars and WWIII. or, have them all be put into different timeframes. Egypt, Greece, Rome. Hirogen would find that fascinating.

BLISS

Neelix gets replaced with Qatai to serve as the new guide. he sacrifices himself to save them from the bioplasmic entity, diving his ship right into the maw.

DARK FRONTIER

"Dark Frontier" has the collective kidnap Seven, but as a lab specimen, trying to understand the alien nature of "individuality" by examining a former drone through close study. in order to learn to better assimilate them, given that twice now the Alpha Quadrant has fended off a Borg invasion. actually, this "lab examination" idea makes sense. remember in this universe, they not only failed to conquer the Alpha Quadrant twice, with three Borg Cubes, but... they also sustained heavy losses to Species 8472. I think the Borg are intelligent enough, in the original conceit, to wanna analyze and to adapt before proceeding. they're like scientists. so trying to understand individuality with a former drone is logical. and it once again means the singular chorus speak. no damn queen. this could open up great philosophical discussions.

ONE SMALL STEP

Chakotay is star of One Small Step.
they decide maybe to pilfer the old ship for parts.

EQUINOX

Equinox joins the Voyager Fleet.

TWEAKED EPISODES

"Eye of the Needle"
"Pathfinder"
"Death Wish"
"Future's End"
"Scorpion"
"Hunters"

THE PROCESS

EYE OF THE NEEDLE

edit the cloud stuff so that "we're having trouble with our replicators."
Janeway wants to reprogram the doctor, but Chakotay talks about how dangerous that is. no coffee
switch Eye of the Needle and the Maquis cheese episode

DEATH WISH

this will have Janeway wonder if she should compromise her ideals to get them home. and instead of Maury Ginsberg being at Woodstock, it will have him working at the Lincoln Memorial during King's speech. if not for him, the speech wouldn't have happened.

FUTURE'S END

perhaps Sterling and his family were major investors in the genetic embryos. in this altered timeline, with a literal frickin' time ship, he instead invested in microchips. it would at least acknowledge why contemporary 1990s looked so similar.

SCORPION

Kes stays.

HUNTERS

the Hirogen communications network/relay station network used to contact the Alpha Quadrant, that stuff with "Message in a Bottle," "Hunters," "Prey," can still work.

[Simplicius]

Very interesting! I particularly like the idea of keeping the Dreadnought around. I might write up a summary of my rewrite on a google document if you'd like.

[Yukaphile]

Sure.

That said, the reordering of season structures is the hardest. I want this to kind of follow a format similar to DS9. Sorta. But while still adhering to canon, changing what is needed.

When do you think the Equinox should come in? And all this earlier stuff?

I also think Season 4 will be the Borg/Species 8472 stuff, and then, Season 5 is the year of hell. I might tweak "Before & After" to give it more relevance. I do want Kes to stay around, but that means somebody has to go. As per what was going to happen in canon. Season 2 and Season 2 will probably feature the Voth. Can I even save the Kazon? LOL.

[Yukaphile]

I think what drives Kes away from Tom is that she LETS Janeway (or another commander) and Torres die. She no longer trusts herself, given she abandoned Neelix and then let somebody die. Feels she is being corrupted by the influence of the stars.