A Voyager Rewrite, sir, but mine own!

[Simplicius]

This is a thread for any and all discussion of my Voyager rewrite. I might also post updates here.

To cut a long story short, it's basically Andromeda with a generation ship. Voyager tries to build a Federation in the Delta Quadrant, using the legal fiction of "prospective membership" and the eventual "emergency suspension" of Starfleet general orders.

I love the idea of Tom Paris being the alter ego to Captain Proton! I am so stealing.

I never even thought about including Ro Laren. HOLY SHIT! Now I wanna do that!

Have at it!

Tarses seems weird, but okay. Sito Jax is still dead in my story. It became what I feel, based on concept alone, is the far superior "O'Brien in prison story."

Tarses is there to serve three purposes:

1) To fill the overworked nurse role that, in my opinion, didn't suit Paris and just added to his fandom reputation for hyper-competence.

2) To resolve some of my deep-seated issues with the episode "The Drumhead".

3) To act as the main point-of-view for the integration of the Romulan crew. One of the Romulans would be an ageing doctor who takes Simon under his wing both for practical purposes (to train him up to assume the CMO role) and to help Simon explore his relationship to his heritage.

I will admit to being a massive Romulan fanboy, however!

Hmmm... I'm thinking maybe the Doctor keeps the Crell hologram in mine.

I was personally very much on Crell's side during "Nothing Human", I don't mean in terms of Moset's actual war crimes but the moral imperative of the doctor to keep him around as a source of knowledge. I also really enjoyed the two actors' chemistry.

I do like your idea of "reforming" the Delta Quadrant with you, though I'd suggest also having the history "rewriten" as they go. It's sadly how we treat our heroes. And how we treat our criminals. The heroes are spit on, treated as monsters. The criminals are uplifted, their crimes forgotten, and by the time it comes out, there is a new political bias to twist them into being justified in order to serve the needs of the present.

I am certainly planning on having major grey areas, especially as it relates to the Trabe. If anyone is writing up the "official" history of this Federation, it will definitely be the them.

I have toyed with making the crew a generational ship, but that also sometimes requires leaps into the present. How do you plan to handle this?

I think the bulk of the story will try to make the growth feel organic and I will start jumping ahead more frequently towards the end of the story (when the first grandchild is born would be my favoured stopping point).

Looks good so far, but honestly, I am not going for the "reforming" the Delta Quadrant angle. That might be one angle, but I want another angle to be hard survival, and so on.

Yes, I think yours is going to be very interesting. You'll be doing more with the Year of Hell, for instance, whereas I'm excising it.

[Yukaphile]

You could steal the Founder/Dominion stuff, if you want.

1) Oh trust me, I am toning down Nick's competence, That said, you could create a totally new nurse figure. Perhaps one from DS9 or so on. I definitely will do similar.

2) What issues?

3) Oh true. You have Romulans. Can you reiterate? It is in the other thread.

Crell: Well, either way, same result.

Trabe rewriting history:

Actually, now I like the idea that near the end, they leap ahead further. Through various means. Like B5. And of course, eventually contact with Starfleet is established within mine.

[Simplicius]

I love "The Drumhead", I just always felt that it created an unsettling picture of Starfleet's top brass and I imagine it left Tarses with a lot of issues.

As far as the other Romulans are concerned, they are primarily there just to stir up conflict and push Janeway in various ways (since she has to deal with the prospect of a Romulan/Maquis alliance). I want to create a delicate balance between the three main crew groups and show how a working consensus could slowly develop.

[Yukaphile]

I don't see it that way. He was just a one-shot guest actor, nothing more.

But how do they enter the story again?

[Simplicius]

Oh, sorry, yes, it's actually quite simple:

Early on, Voyager comes across a wrecked Romulan ship and beam its skeleton crew of survivors aboard. The Romulans had been brought there by the Caretaker before Voyager and they'd tried to make a deal with the Kazon that backfired - the Kazon essentially descended on them like a swarm, though the fight also left a massive graveyard of Kazon vessels.

The most senior Romulan officer is the ship's doctor but he works a reduced schedule on Voyager as a "civillian volunteer" because Janeway doesn't want to hand over the CMO's ability to judge her unfit - this doctor would then train Tarses, with assistance from the EMH. The other Romulans would just be generic crewmen with a few potential exceptions for supporting characters on the level of Carey, Wildman and so on.

[Yukaphile]

Hmmmm... idea of a wrecked ship they come across. I like that! I'll steal, but for another race. Not the Romulans. Maybe... a Klingon ship, OMG. That would be epic.

That sounds pretty cool!

[Kinky Vorlon]

You can't have the Romluans fade into the background. Their primary characteristic is their chuavanistic arrogance. That has to create tension with the rest of the crew. You also want to have a subversion, with a Romulan who comes to appreciate the hewmans.

It's probably too late, but Remember Commander Shelby from Best of Both Worlds? I'd love to see her in command of a perilous mission like this. She's just been promoted to captain, given command of her own ship, she's determined and ambitious, etc.

[Yukaphile]

Hell, this is why for my story, I'm planning to add a Klingon ship to the Voyager Fleet, not a Romulan one. Besides, it comes near the end of hostilities with the Kazon when they finally achieve resolution.

[Simplicius]

You can't have the Romluans fade into the background. Their primary characteristic is their chuavanistic arrogance. That has to create tension with the rest of the crew. You also want to have a subversion, with a Romulan who comes to appreciate the hewmans.

It's probably too late, but Remember Commander Shelby from Best of Both Worlds? I'd love to see her in command of a perilous mission like this. She's just been promoted to captain, given command of her own ship, she's determined and ambitious, etc.

When I said "generic crewman", I was speaking in terms of major characters. The Romulans certainly will serve two important plot functions; to instigate and exacerbate the Starfleet/Maquis conflict to their own ends, and to apply increasing pressure to Janeway's command style and idealism (though the Maquis are also doing this).

I'm a big fan of Shelby and had actually considered the idea of replacing Janeway outright once or twice but I want to get Janeway working, so to speak.

[Yukaphile]

Besides, DS9 brought up Shelby. Still, in this rewrite, she might be the captain that gets knocked unconscious, like I did for Jellico.