#I'm not even done collecting Janeways

[thresholdbb]

I'm definitely taking Time and Again as soon as I finish it, which is hopefully within the next few hours

What else? I have:

Janeway nebula jacket and pants combo

Janeway jumpsuit

Evil/corrupt hologram Janeway

Bell Riots/2024 Jadzia

I guess I have regular clothes too

[pilots-and-protons]

Had a crazy idea the other day, when I was thinking about how Tom Paris is one of the only main crewmembers who didn't have some kind of Borg stuff happen to him (other than the Doctor, of course).

Obviously Seven is already borg, but Chakotay briefly experienced the mini-collective in "Unity", Neelix and Harry were both cured by Borg nanoprobes (plus Harry had started to be assimilated by the Borg children), and of course Janeway, Tuvok, and B'Elanna were briefly assimilated too.

But because I'm me, I started pondering about "Threshold" and the fascinating potential of Tom being everywhere in the universe simultaneously, but how it all "slipped away" when he tried to remember - to process it after the fact. Because surely, a human brain simply can't comprehend something of that magnitude.

But what if it all was still there - just inaccessible, in a way. I imagine it would be like trying to run a game on a computer that isn't powerful enough - the basic game can download (barely), but if you actually tried to play it, nothing would properly load or function. What if everything Tom experienced at Warp 10 was in there somewhere, but just too vast and incomprehensible for him to access?

And then what if a Borg drone tried to assimilate him?

I like to imagine a scenario where Tom gets caught on an away mission during some Borg fiasco - but when those tubules go into his neck, when the drone links into Tom's mind to bring him into the collective, that Borg gets the surprise of a lifetime. Suddenly it's not one human brain unable to access this vast expanse of experience and memories - it's millions of species, working like one giant super-processor, and suddenly that "inaccessible" part of Tom's mind comes flooding out.

It would be like sending a feedback-loop through a machine to short-circuit it. Suddenly every Borg on the ship (maybe even others close enough within the collective hivemind), are flooded with more information and memories than they can possibly process at one time, coming from a singular source. Every cybernetic implant in the drone who initiated the assimilation overloads, and it collapses in an unresponsive heap.

Of course, Tom would hardly be much better off. It's like his brain exploded, first forced to try and comprehend the expansive collective of the hivemind, then flooded by memories and experiences he thought were all lost. Everything he saw, everywhere he was - all mixed in with the terrified screams of thousands of voices being overwhelmed and dying. When the drone collapses, Tom follows suit - his poor human brain unable to comprehend it all and shutting down to save itself.

When the others find him, he's unconscious, blood oozing from his nose and the injection sites in his neck. He's pale and clammy, but not the ashen color of a freshly-made Borg. The drone is lying beside him, dead - yet signs of struggle are clearly minimal. No one is sure what actually happened.

Tuvok and whoever else are in the away team are all completely perplexed. One moment they were trying to fend off the Borg in other parts of the Cube, then they heard Tom's screams echo through the ship and suddenly one by one, every drone seemed to fritz out and collapse. B'Elanna and Harry try checking the Borg systems, but they can't understand what they're seeing. All they can tell is that it looks like something burnt out every system, spreading from the inside out - both in the ship and the drones themselves like some kind of cascade failure.

Taking their chance to escape, the away team beams back to Voyager, with Tom sent straight to sickbay. When the Doctor gets ahold of him, he's shocked to see that the assimilation process had been started - but something had halted it. Nanoprobes have to be removed from Tom's body, but the interlink node that should have connected him to the collective is completely burned out even before the Doctor removes it. After surgery to remove the Borg tech and to repair some damage done to Tom's brain, they have to wait for him to wake up.

In the meantime, the other senior staff share what they know and what knowledge they gained from the Borg cube. B'Elanna and Seven come to the conclusion that there was some kind of cascade failure, and that the interconnectedness of the Borg meant that when it hit one, it hit all the rest. Janeway is excited by the prospect - that the Borg's greatest strength, their hivemind, could become their downfall if they can only figure out how to recreate what happened. Seven takes what scans she can from the Cube's systems before they depart, but it will take time to reconstruct all the damaged and fragmented data.

Of course, when Tom wakes up in Sickbay, he's initially pretty disoriented. He doesn't remember exactly what happened, too confused by the voices from the collective, and once more unable to comprehend the Warp 10 experiences. He explains that he remembers feeling the injection tubules piercing his skin, feeling terror and disgust at the idea of losing himself as a Borg, but then it's like... static in his brain. Just a faint memory of pressure and pain that he can't understand. When the Doctor assures him that there's no longer anything physically wrong with him, Tuvok suggests that perhaps a mind-meld will be able to help them. Tom's memories may be fragmented due to his injuries and the trauma of the experience, but Tuvok may be able to parse out what happened with the Borg.

The Doctor is, as usual, skeptical of the dangers of such a thing - especially so soon after Tom's recovery. But when he hears what the others experienced and why Janeway wants to know what happened, Tom agrees to the meld anyways.

Meanwhile, I also like to think that this strange occurrence was felt by the Borg Queen. Due to the time it would likely take for information to reach the center of the collective, I imagine only the drones closest to the away team's Cube would have been destroyed or otherwise incapacitated. Because of this, the Queen would have some knowledge of what happened - gleaned from fragments of the dying drones' collective consciousnesses. Mostly, she just felt hundreds of drones inexplicably ceasing to function and knew that, at the heart of it, somehow the crew of Voyager were involved. So she sends out a sort of scouting party, to find the ruined cube and to gather more information. Whatever had created this unknown threat - it has to be eliminated.

Back on Voyager, the meld doesn't exactly go as planned. Tuvok had melded with Tom once before after the Banean incident - but this was entirely different. He sees, experiences the sensations, as Tom is captured and the tubules are injected. But then everything becomes... almost incomprehensible. There is pain, fear - and the voice of the collective, their multi-faceted mantra of "resistance is futile, prepare to be assimilated". But intercut with this is something else entirely - space, a shuttlecraft, a feeling of inexplicable freedom. Then Earth, Starfleet headquarters, and a Klingon battle cruiser - voices from the Romulan high counsel, and the inside of an abandoned Cardassian station. Even more flood his mind - some arguing Kazon, though it seems to be a sect unfamiliar to them, a planet unknown to Federation star charts, creatures and places and people that Tuvok has no point of reference for. The images and sensations keep overlapping and coming faster, more intense, until Tuvok can also feel the screams of the Borg, feels the pain pain pain - and he has to force himself to sever the link before his own mind is drawn asunder.

In Sickbay, he stumbles back, caught by Janeway and Chakotay. Tuvok is surprised by the toll such a meld had on him, and even more so at the blood dripping from his own nose. Janeway kindly brings him a tissue and asks if he is alright. The Doctor is hovering, going back and forth between scanning Tuvok and Tom - the latter of which is only just coming around. He eventually asks what happened, trying to sit up but being overcome by a wave of dizziness. The Doctor insists he lie down, and for once Tom doesn't argue. He does admit, however, that partway through the meld it was like his mind just hit a wall and he must have passed out. He doesn't really remember anything.

After much fussing and a few hyposprays, the Doctor tells them that both Tom and Tuvok will be alright - but that they both need to rest for at least the next twenty-four hours. Whatever happened put a great deal of strain on their bodies both physically and mentally, and he once more chides Vulcans on their "recklessness in playing with the humanoid brain". He also give Tom a mild sedative to ensure that he doesn't try to overexert himself.

While Tom sleeps, Tuvok takes the time to meditate and regain his bearings. Afterwards, Janeway brings him some tea in her ready room and asks if he can try to explain what he saw. Tuvok says that the experience was quite disturbing, but that after familiarizing himself with Tom's records, he has begun to come up with a plausible hypothesis. He says that many of the things he saw in Tom's memories shouldn't have been possible - such as the unfamiliar Kazon sect, and the various worlds and humanoids that they have no record of. When Janeway asks if this could have come from the Borg, Tuvok says that it is unlikely - each person's perception leaves a sort of imprint on their own memories, like an artist's signature or the codes used to denote a federation signal in a communique. While the thoughts of the collective were briefly present in Tom's mind, as soon as he became linked to it, these other memories exploded out. The only explanation Tuvok can offer forth is that Tom's brain retained some encoding of his experiences with transwarp flight, which were previously too vast for him to consciously comprehend. The capacity of the humanoid brain to process information must have expanded exponentially with the aid of the collective, and these experiences were once again accessible. However, the onslaught was too much for even the Borg to handle, which completely overloaded their inorganic systems.

He expresses that it seems, Tom unintentionally became a living, breathing Trojan Horse for the collective - without anyone being aware of it. The supposed "weapon" that Janeway was hoping for is, unfortunately Tom Paris himself.

[isagrimorie]

I'm so curious about the Borg Queen's (or Borg Queens, plural) relationship to Seven of Nine.

The Borg is a Collective but there is a Queen.

There's no Hierarchy, supposedly, and yet.

There are no specials and favorites and yet.

There is the Borg Queen's special interest in Picard and Seven of Nine.

Since Dark Frontier the Borg Queen has made a special effort to single out Seven.

Was it always the case? Or did it only start when the Borg chose Seven to be the singular representative of the Borg at Janeway's request in Scorpion II?

This is a similar reason the Borg Queen told Picard.

But also it's not stated enough that the Hansen family, Seven's family, are the first Humans ever Assimilated by the Borg.

Her parents wanted to be pioneers so much they disregarded every safety warning, and trailed after the Borg as if the Borg were some non-sentient new life. They're no better than the scientists in the season 4 episode, Scientific Method.

Also, a curious thing is that the Borg Queen wanted Seven to retain her individuality.

BTW it's really horrifying that in Dark Frontier, Seven lays eyes on her father for the first time since she became an individual and Seven didn't even know it.

It's interesting that Seven doesn't make an effort to rescue her father after this.

And she remains angry at her parents, also Seven says in Picard that the Borg killed her parents when they, or at least as far as Seven last saw, her father was still alive. Assimilated but alive.

It's also interesting how the Borg Queen tried to sell the lie that she let Seven regain her individuality as if there was some grand plan.

No wonder it stuck in Seven's head in The Voyager Conspiracy but at this point, Seven knew the Borg Queen was selling a bag of goods. There was no 'let' in Seven becoming an individual, Janeway took Seven from the Collective and gifted Seven with her individuality.

But if there is one thing I am sure of is that Seven is or was the Borg Queen's favorite.

In Endgame the Borg Queen outright makes it text:

And then to outright say that the reason why Voyager was still around was because of her benevolence. Someone is trying to sell a bridge in Brooklyn.

My working theory is Seven of Nine has shown some personality and dedication and the Borg Collective probably noticed, filtered to the Borg Queen, and then has slated Seven of Nine to become the new Borg Queen body and her personality, whatever was left of it, be joined with the file that says: Borg Queen.

(I've always been puzzled why the writers never used the 'We/Us/Our' pronouns for the Borg Queen. The Royal We is a thing).

I know that Hugh said any Borg/Former Borg can fly the Artifact.

But there's something fitting and Right that it was Seven who does fly the Cube.

(Also, bullshit Hugh died from a carotid artery wound, he is as filled with millions of nanoprobes as Seven is, a wound like this shouldn't have been life-threatening. It should have healed Hugh. If Seven's nanoprobe could revive Neelix from the dead, Hugh's nanoprobes should have done a lot more for Hugh).

If there's someone I want to return to in Star Trek Legacy, it's Hugh.

The Collective has always planned for Seven to assume being Queen in the event the Borg Queen dies.

And she briefly fulfills that plan.

But also as horrific as it was, it's probably a good thing majority of the Borg were spaced because it seemed to have countered the euphoric, brain chemistry-altering functions of rejoining a Collective again.

And with Elnor there to remind Seven why she shouldn't give in.

As much as Seven prefers 'Seven of Nine' as her name it seems that 'Annika' is her shibboleth to bring her individuality back to the forefront.

Being part of the Collective and leaving it seemed to really cost Seven, and that might be why piloting the Artifact was erratic.

WAIT.

Hugh just said to activate the Queencell, he didn't say anything about forming a mini-collective and controlling it!

This seems to be a specialized skill Seven has. See Survival Instinct when she re-assimilated her rogue Unimatrix.

[mswyrr]

Star Trek: Voyager, 4x26 "Hope and Fear"

This was so refreshing. It was this moody contemplation on choices and consequences without any villains, without moral simplifications.

-Arturis isn't a puppy kicker the way he'd be in, like, MCU style stuff. His problem with Janeway is clear and has limits. He's not here on a rampage, though he is driven by a grief that has clearly broken him inside. When Janeway cannot convince him out of it though - I couldn't blame him, I couldn't say he was wrong. That final image of him entering Borg space (the place that used to be his home, where everyone he loves is now dead and dismembered by the Borg, where he too soon will join them in that living death) is gonna haunt me, in a good way.

-People constantly jump Janeway for her moral decisions but I think this episode puts a neat point on something here which is that, oftentimes, there is no purely good decision for her to make. Just a choice among a bunch of bad decisions. She doesn't have the might and resources of the Federation at her back, she doesn't get to make clean and pure decisions. Every option has problems, consequences she cannot foresee, but she has to make a decision or they lose people, they lose the chance to get home.

As Sisko put it re: the Federation. "It's easy to be a saint in paradise." But Janeway, like Sisko, is not living in paradise. She tries very hard to be a decent person, but she doesn't have the resources necessary to make that easy.

I LOVE that she isn't a saint, a perfect Mommy, or a devil. She just is and this -- this is the best she can do in the circumstances she's in. It hurts and it's not good. But there it is.

Her shift from a kind of predatory rage--once she realizes Arturis is playing and deceiving her and he's a threat to her people-- to grief over what she's inadvertently done to Arturis and his people and the way he cannot be persuaded out of his decisions was beautiful.

-The lovely, funny J7 shippy moment actually captures the episode's themes beautifully:

Janeway: In a brig, nine months ago, I severed you from the collective and you weren't happy about it.

Seven: No, I was not.

Janeway: In case I never get a chance to say this… I realize that I've been hard on you at times, but it was never out of anger, or regret that I brought you on board. I'm your captain. That means I can't always be your friend. Understand?

Seven: No. However, if we are assimilated, our thoughts will become one, and I'm sure I will understand perfectly. [a beat] A joke, Captain. You have encouraged me to use my sense of humor.

Seven is another imperfect decision Janeway has had to make - a person who exists (and has a sense of humor! because of Janeway) and yet continues to have the right to complicated feelings about being made to exist in this way by Janeway's decision.

Perfect choices - perfect understanding - those aren't possible. (Not even for Starfleet captains with all the resources Janeway does not have). Unless you're Borg and have the absolute unity (and erasure of personhood) that involves. Unless you are, as Arturis puts it, more like a storm or a force of nature than a person, the way the Borg are.

Instead of perfection we have a spectrum of what is possible here and now, for Janeway - Arturis and his people, destroyed and unreachable, due to Janeway's decision. And the grace of Seven, who is alive and in front of her and reachable but not fully, not totally at peace with what she's done and maybe Seven never will be. Janeway has to accept that; a choice had to be made, there were no perfect options, the only thing she can do is face the consequences with as much decency as she can muster.

(People who say she never faces consequences confuse and befuddle me so much - but enough of that lol)

[suckerforcate]

Minefield

Pairing: Kathryn Janeway x Reader

Word Count: 1500

Warning: kind of battle, wounds, internal wounds

A/n: I'm so sorry that I am posting so few things atm. This story alone took me three weeks, cause I have zero time. My exams are this and next week. I hope to write a bit more after that!!! Hope you like it, I know Janeway stories have few readers🥲

"Red Alert" the Captains voice echoed through the bridge. Immediately the familiar sound started and the light changed into an alarming red. Everyone on the ship took their battle stations and waited for Captain Janeway's orders.

It had been quite an uneventful morning and the chattering and laughing on the bridge had made it seem like a break. A break from fighting, from dying and chaos. But, as they say: never praise the day to early.

Tom had picked up something on the long range sensors. A possible distress call. So, of course you followed it. Getting closer, you noticed that it wasn't just one distress call. There were dozens of them, overlapping each other.

Soon it became clear, as to what the reason for the calls was. A large ship uncloaked and attacked Voyager without warning. Everyone was shaken thoroughly, some even falling out of their chairs. They were much stronger and heavily armed.

"Fire!" Janeway didn't hesitate to defend her ship, even though it was clear that you wouldn't get through their shields so easily.

Another shake. "Hull breach on deck 3 and 7, Captain." Harry announced. Janeway's eyes flickered towards Chakotay and up to Harry Kim. She knew you didn't stand a chance, yet she wanted to help. The other ship were smaller. Already half destroyed, some close to destruction. They weren't able to flee anymore.

Anther hit. A console next to you exploded, Ensign Miller falling back. Janeway's head turned to you.

"B'Elanna to the Captain." Kathryn's hand flew onto her communicator, answering.

"Captain, the warp engine won't hold much longer. We had a direct hit. Shields are down, and I won't get them up again so fast."

"Hull breach on Deck 6. Thirteen wounded and 3 dead." Chakotay looked at Janeway, his face saying: Please, Kathryn. You know we can't win.

With the next hit, Captain Janeway stumbled forward, missing the step and falling down. Desperately trying to catch something to hold onto. Her rip banged against metal, an unpleasant sound. Accompanied by groaning she tried lifting herself up. Her hair was a mess, strands having fallen out everywhere. Her forehead had taken a beating, a thin trace of blood flowing down.

"Tuvok, can you try to beam as many off the destroyed ships? The wounded directly onto Sickbay." He nodded slightly, getting to work.

"As soon as Lieutenant Tuvok is done, you turn around and go to warp. Get us out of here." Janeway stood up, knees seemingly still wobbly and turned to look at Tom.

"Ai, Ma'am."

Kathryn nearly crawled back to her chair and fell into it. You had to hold everything inside of you together to not stand up and run to her. To not check if she was alright. Hesitantly you turned away from her and proceeded to work on the environment control.

"I've got as many as I can, Captain." Tom took that as his cue and flew the ship out of the literary minefield. Right before he jumped into warp, another hit made the ship shake. Somewhere on the bridge a console exploded and someone cried out.

Environmental controls started to fail, first on the lower decks and then slowly on decks all over the ship.

"Captain, were losing environmental controls." You turned, looking at the command team. Janeway's face stayed stern and collected.

"Take power from the holodecks and if needed from the transporter controls. That should suffice. Provide the decks that are still intact first, the evacuated ones are secondary." You nodded, and started the job.

Kathryn looked at Tom questioning. "No one's following us, Captain."

"Alright, I'll be in my ready room." With that she gave the bridge to Chakotay and left. Walking unsteady, a hand holding her rip. You could see her fall against her desk right before the doors shut behind her.

Quickly you rerouted the needed power and got the environmental controls up again. Hesitantly you looked around, no one was looking. Fast you stood up and made your way over to the Captain's ready room.

"Come in" Her voice was weaker than usual, and it was accompanied by a light groan.

Stepping in you saw her, leaned against a wall. She was holding her rip with one hand, the other hand held her steady on the wall.

"Lieutenant." She looked a little surprised, trying to hold composure and failing miserably. She groaned, and you thought you saw her knees shake slightly. Carefully you approached her and took her arm, your own arm fell around her waist. Together you went over to her coach, and you gently put her down.

Taking out a medical tricorder, you started to scan her. Your brow furrowed, and she knew something wasn't good.

"You have a broken rip and...my god. Kathryn, you are bleeding internally." Your hand practically flew onto your communicator.

"(L/n) to engineering." B'Elanna was quick to answer.

"Do you think you can manage emergency transport to sickbay. The captain is bleeding internally. I don't think I'll get her there by foot." You saw Kathryn opening her mouth to argue, but you immediately shushed her. This wasn't the time to be stubborn.

"I can try. Give me a minute."

"Acknowledged."

In the meantime you took out the dermal regenerator and started to heal the cuts and bruises that marked her forehead and arm.

"You called me Kathryn." Your eyes slowly wandered up. She didn't look mad, just surprised.

"I'm sorry, Captain. I was worried." Kathryn had no chance to say anything, as B'elanna's voice cut her off.

"Ready for transport?"

"Yes."

"She has a broken rip and is bleeding internally. You need to help her." The panic you tried to hide earlier now found its way to the surface.

The next second you found yourself in the Sickbay. Kathryn sat on a biobed and groaned in pain. The Doctor came rushing immediately. On the other beds were aliens you hadn't seen before. One seemed to be asleep or unconscious, one dead.

"Where are the others, Doctor?" The Captain looked around, surprised to see just these two aliens.

"They were fine, just minor injuries. Commander Tuvok has accompanied them to quarters to rest."

You thought it was wonderful that Kathryn cared for them and worried. Still, she was hurt and needed help.

"No need to panic, Lieutenant. The Captain will be just fine. If you could give me some space to work now, that be quite helpful." Kathryn gave you a gentle smile and slightly nodded. Before you could say something else the Doctor shooed you away.

"Yes, I will inform you."

With that you left and went to your quarters. The next hours were torture. You were pacing around like a wild animal, walking a hole into the floor. With every second more and more panic flooded through you.

"Doctor to (L/n). She is awake and well. You may visit her now." Relief washed over you, hurriedly you made your way to the sickbay. The doors opened, and immediately you saw your Captain smile at you.

You couldn't contain yourself anymore and practically ran to her, embracing her in a hug. She let out a surprised yelp and shared the hug.

"Careful Lieutenant. I'm not quite patched up yet." You pulled away and smiled apologetically. Slowly your hand cupped her cheek and stroked her cheek. The cheek that had been bleeding just a few hours ago. Her eyes grew wide at the sudden contact, and yet she seemed to lean into your touch. It was now or never, so you leaned forward, and your lips found hers. Gently, careful not to hurt her any more, you pulled her closer and intensified the kiss.

"Lieutenant!" She panted right after you pulled away. Her voice was weaker than usual, still it held a certain warning.

"I'm sorry. I was so worried, and I just thought: what if she had died and wouldn't have even known that I love her." Her eyes grew wide, shock graced her face.

"I- Lieutenant. (Y/n), I'm flattered. But I can't-" You put your finger on her mouth, stopping her from finishing that thought.

"Yes. Yes, you can. You have denied yourself love and companionship for far too long. And why? Because you think the crew wouldn't respect you anymore? Because it's against protocol? To hell with that! We are so far from home and the crew won't care a bit. They'll be happy. Their respect won't change, it'll never change. They love you way too much. Admit it, you're lonely. And face the possibility that we won't get home so fast. Do you want to stay lonely for the next twenty years? If you don't love me, that's ok. But don't break this off because you think you don't deserve it. You do." Lightly she pushed your hand down and crashed her lips onto yours. You knew you had to talk about this some more. It would take time to convince her of those things. But this was a nice start.

[thepurplewombat]

The Ethics of De-Assimilation

oops I accidentally got into a moral debate about whether it was racist to de-assimilate Seven of Nine

Reddit why are you so weird

like, the person I'm talking to's point of view is that Seven should have been allowed to remain Borg, but idk, I've always felt like the Federation feels, that being Borg isn't something you are, it's something that's done to you. like maybe if somewhere the Borg have nurseries where they grow babies who are part of the Collective from birth, I would say 'okay, removing them from the Collective is racist' but I don't remember that being the case? I remember some Borg kids, but they were assimilated as children, weren't they?

The Borg are essentially a parasite race who would find it hard to survive without assimilating other species, and while I feel like it might have been better to provide Seven with other options than to be assimilated into the Voyager crew, I also don't think that from the POV of Janeway or any other member of the Federation, de-assimilating someone from the Borg is necessarily a morally negative act. I don't think Janeway saw it as any different than the TNG crew de-assimilating Locutus, which was also against his will at the time. Like, people who have been assimilated by the Borg don't want to be freed, because that's part of what assimilation is - it removes their free will and makes them part of the collective. You can't make an informed decision about whether or not to remain in the Collective without first having been removed from the Collective.

imo it's kind of like freeing someone from an abusive cult, even if they don't necessarily want to go at that time - isn't it still the right thing to do even if they find it hard to adjust or initially react negatively to their new circumstances?

like I feel that Seven's situation is a bit more complicated than 'Janeway's racist for de-assimilating Seven and forcing her to become human' but it's also more complicated than 'de-assimilating Seven and forcing her to become human was 100% the right thing to do', you know?

it was a morally complicated situation complicated by practical concerns - was it even safe to allow Seven to return to the Collective? Would it compromise the safety of Janeway's crew? - and I actually really don't appreciate this redditor trying to simplify it to 'Janeway's a space racist'

The questions on the other side are equally valid though - like, could Janeway have safely returned Seven to the Collective? Is it ethical to de-Borg someone who has been Borg longer than they were not Borg? Would it have been more ethical, in the event that they could not safely return Seven to the Collective, to hill her?

But on the whole I feel like trying to apply Prime Directive arguments to the Borg is like explaining the benefits of veganism to a cat. The cat doesn't care, the cat can't care. The Borg can't both obey the Prime Directive and continue to exist as a species any more than a cat can be vegan. That's the thing about the Borg, why I love them so. What does a pacifist culture like the Federation do about this massive existential threat? How does the Prime Directive help against an enemy who cannot be negotiated with, cannot be reasoned with, and whose very way of life is inimical to that of the Federation?

(I watched TNG at a very young age - my first TV memory is of Picard becoming Locutus - and came away with a life-long obsession with a: zombies and b: the Borg)

[spider-sideblog]

Hi I'm currently in love with Seven (Voyager) so have some ideas

- Seven is so mentally ill. And I see the show try to talk about it and they do a fairly good job considering what psychiatric knowledge was readily available and actually had a good amount of research in but I don't think even watching it as it came out I would feel it did this arc justice. Between her insistence that she'll be fine and the Doctor's insistence she listen to him, all they're doing is causing more problems

- The Doctor needs to stop. I like his character so much and they did so well with him right up until he starts trying to "fix" Seven. Seven is autistic and I think she's some of the best autistic representation we've ever seen in TV. She has trouble in communication and doesn't see the point in frivolities and has difficulty in understanding herself and her emotions. One could argue she turned out this way due to the nature of the Borg but I'd be willing to bet you need a predisposition of those beliefs for them to stick around.

- I think they should have done more exploring of what her first few weeks outside of the collective was like

- She could have been very good representation for plurality. I will not elaborate, I think it's clear

- Seven deserved more empathy, sympathy, anything. Janeway is always so nice and understanding but I think they really had her turn her back to Seven. She spent so long trying to help Seven she completely forgot that she's not just an experiment. I think Janeway is having trouble herself fully understanding that Seven is human at her core. Janeway just sees "former Borg" like everyone else. She's trying so hard but Starfleet isn't exactly known for being actually Utopian

I might do more/more in depth evaluation of characters and arcs and whatever soon in the future

[opinated-user]

of course LO doesn't care about Chakotay. he's connected to both his mother and his father's tribes, struggled to reconcile conflicting beliefs and expectations, fought stereotypes and challenged unjust systems, is reasonable enough to hear everyone out and respect others' beliefs, looks out for others and disagrees with his best friend about 80% of the time but remains civil and kind and respectful with her. Chakotay is an anthropology/archaeology double major who is the careful, quiet counterpart to Janeway's "I will endanger myself to help others" loudness. he's the anti-LO. he's everything she'll never be as a person, better in every way, and that doesn't appeal to her. she can't relate to a mature, thoughtful, respectful, calm, collected, dad-joking Native man with deep ties to his roots who sees the humanity in everyone. not one single part of that makes sense to her.

honestly as a Cree person I love Chakotay because you can't divorce his character from being Native. you CAN divorce LO's rare non-white OC from their heritage and lose nothing. a white Aliana and a black one and a Native one wouldn't have one single word shifted in their backstories. Chakotay's family left Earth to go settle on another planet where they could practice their tribe's values and way of life freely without white influence. LO won't even contact other Cherokee people to get resources on Cherokee. shit, she won't even Google some stuff and put more effort into pretending to be Cherokee more convincingly.

the really hilarious part is that Chakotay was written by white people and they STILL handled race better than LO. they made a lot of mistakes they later apologized for in regards to not doing the research about Native tribes and their differences and ended up spending a lot of time in tie-in novels clarifying shit. but I still love Chakotay because he's a Native person who's hardworking, smart, calm, and tries his hardest to understand other people. instead of the "helpful Native sidekick" character archetype he gets into verbal fights with his boss! they disagree on shit! he's not here to hype up white people or to sleep with them so the audience can oggle a hot Native body, he's here to do the right thing and if that means telling his best friend and commanding officer she's wrong, he'll do it. he will call in the ship doctor to relieve her of duty and take the helm himself if it's a catastrophic enough argument and instead of quoting wise old white cishet dudes like usual in Trek's writing he quotes Native and Indigenous writers, leaders and scholars.

meanwhile LO is "Cherokee" according to her and has written ZERO Native characters and ZERO non-white ones whose race isn't completely irrelevant to the story/couldn't be changed without anything else changing and she has NEVER focused on Native characters and NEVER talked about Native representation in media. being "Cherokee" (according to her and not the Cherokee Nation) is

real Natives have a lot of opinions on Chakotay and like... you're not REQUIRED to like him. him being written by and portrayed by a white guy is super gross and I'm not going to excuse it. but at least it was an attempt. the character is Native and second-in-command and often handed full control in times of crisis and had his own independent stories separate from the white cast. it was huge progress.

and all LO can do is drool over the pretty white lady, whose character she ALSO didn't get, and use "I'm Native!" as a shield while never writing a single Native character in her life in anything (and no her writing herself but in brownface doesn't count).

I'd claim the white writers of Star Trek Voyager as Native allies before I'd claim LO as one. they gave us Native rep. wtf has LO ever done for us?

all of this what you said makes all the more egregious to me this post, anon: https://lily-orchard.tumblr.com/post/190144669550/i-want-to-write-a-native-american-character-for-a an anon went directly to LO to ask her advice on how to write a native character and rather that direct them to any article or any resource, as they asked, LO just said to not "make a big deal out of spirituality and you'll be fine." i'm not native so correct me if i'm wrong... but isn't spirituality a big deal when it comes to the culture of many Native American Nations?

[lazypeanuthologram]

Barring the Borg's brutal and hostile takeover of other species, when Janeway forces Seven to be "human" it's a good metaphor for when singlets try to force a system into being a singlet.

They think they're doing this great service but all they're doing is causing harm.

I feel for Annika deeply. I don't know what I'd do without my system. It'd be hell.

I get in the context of the show Janeway thought she was doing Annika a good thing, but it was really a horrific thing to do to her.

It was the exact same thing the Borg had done in the sense what Annika needed was discarded. And it was the opposite in a way, since the Borg did it for their collective, but Janeway also didn't do it for Annika. She did it because she was a singlet and couldn't understand any other way.

When Seven is introduced, she makes it clear there's constant communication.

Its hard to put into words, but Annika's "recovery" isn't really a recovery. It's learning how to pretend to be "normal" while disabled, and yes, for many systems forcing them to merge and be a singlet is forcing them to be disabled.

There are a systems out there that this doesn't hold true for, but I'm not talking about them.

One treatment doesn't apply to everyone.

And Annika was Borg. To pretend otherwise is to put your own biases on it.

Of course this metaphor falls apart the more we know of the Borg, so NO, I am NOT SAYING systems are the Borg where no one has any individualization.

And to bake your noodle even more: in real life, forcing a system to integrate is no different than the Borg forcing individuals to become Borg.

This whole thing is messy and I'm not sure I communicated correctly. Oh well.

I've muted notifications for this because I don't want to fight with anyone, but maybe this makes it a little more clear why forcing integration isn't good.

[isagrimorie]

I really find it interesting how different Seven and Hugh are post-severance.

Seven was proud to be Borg. Hugh seemed just like a regular Drone as opposed to Seven of Nine, Tertiary Adjunct of Unimatrix 01.

Unimatrix 01 is the closest to the Borg Queen and by how the Borg Queen acts with Seven, it feels like Seven is one of the few chosen to replace her.

Some personality seems to have been retained, especially for those who 'grew up' in the Collective.

Hugh was more amenable and open to change, more confused by what was happening to him.

Seven was fully aware of her function, she was the chosen Borg representative to speak for the Borg collective when Janeway requested one.

Seven was very resistant and has several occasions tried to return to the Borg.

It is also interesting to me that for a long time in Voyager, she identified as Borg.

Hugh coined the term xBs as a way to name themselves and take back the name.

It's interesting to me that Seven used the term once when speaking to Elnor in season 1 but mostly, I think Seven thinks of herself as Borg.

Her feelings towards being a Borg and Human are still complicated and it got only more complicated the moment Voyager returned to the Alpha Quadrant.

It seemed like she tried out the more Human side of herself and used 'Annika' as a name but that moment of experimenting on that name usage died the day Icheb died and realized how much she was used and betrayed.

For Seven she is both Human and Borg but she knows she can't comfortably identify herself as Borg because of how much harm the Borg has done to... well, everyone. She's been part of the Collective that's assimilated worlds, she knows this well.

It's a terrible thing to identify as for everyone, it's a complicated premise at best but it's the identity that for better or worse, Seven felt more comfortable with.

In season 2 of Picard, we learn that Seven hasn't been at peace with herself for 20 years because she has been trying to deny her Borg identity.

In Hope and Fear in season 4 and even up to season 6 (as far as I'm up to in the rewatch) Seven's been ambivalent about returning with the Voyager crew back to the Alpha Quadrant.

(And as we know now Seven's fears are founded).

"If we do return to Sector 001 will I adapt to Human civilization a single Borg among billions of individuals?"

Seven did adapt, she trained herself to adapt more Human mannerisms and speech patterns. Trained herself to be an individual the way people of Alpha Quadrant would find more acceptable but in her heart of hearts she is both Human and Brog.

Meanwhile, Hugh seems more comfortable with being identified as an xB. A reclamation and a new term for himself and his other fellow Borg cube members.

Also, I realized rewatching the scene where Seven rescues Elnor, she fell back to her old speech patterns:

"What is happening on this Cube?"

It's interesting for Seven the Artificat is still the Borg Cube. I like that characters who were former Borg drones have complicated and diverse opinions and thoughts about their former identity. I like that Hugh is all but ready to move on from being an xB.

And Seven struggles with it more. I wish Hugh had lived because I wanted more interactions and discussions between Seven and Hugh.

Sure Picard and Seven have a shared experience but in the degrees of shared experience, Hugh and Seven's experience are more aligned. Picard and Janeway would have similar experiences in being Borg.

In a screwed-up sort of way, most of Starfleet now knows how Seven feels as a Borg and as an individual.

[opinated-user]

The series finale of Voyager has Janeway go back in time and deliberately put herself at risk of dying at the hands of her most feared enemy because even after getting her ship home, she refused to accept a timeline where her one of her best friends is suffering from an incurable form of dementia and the other is dead. "Badass who gets things done" rips out the emotions of the character entirely. Is she a badass? Sure. Does she get things done? Absolutely. But she's also so consumed with guilt that she risks a fate worse than death. Even if you're not paying attention to the entire show, the ending episode alone should've explained to LO that Janeway isn't a #girlboss, she's a complicated character. She's willing to rewrite a quarter of a century of history to make a timeline in which Chakotay and Tuvok are okay even knowing it means breaking the Temporal Prime Directive, punishable by death if she's caught. She's guilty, upset, stubborn, future Janeway calls her past self stubborn and self-righteous, and present day Janeway doesn't have an argument against that assessment of herself. The fact that the conflict between the two is "which of our plans to fix everything at the risk of killing ourselves do we go with" should, in and of itself, be enough to get LO or any other viewer to realize she's not a remorseless Aliana style badass. She cares so deeply it's the cause of 90% of her character flaws.

The kicker here is that I don't even like Voyager! I hated large chunks of it, I have so many complaints about the main cast I could write a book and I wrote an actual college paper on the problems in the finale. It's the second worst Star Trek series! I have whole seasons I don't think are worth rewatching but even I know better than to reduce Janeway to some murderous badass as if her whole personality is to be unfeeling and cool. She puts up the facade of being cool and collected but that's an act and we see it dropped constantly AND the finale calls it out at great length!

LO reduces complex characters down to one or two traits. If she likes them, they're cold badasses (Kuvira, Janeway) whose crimes are excused (Magneto, Kuvira) who she views as having done nothing wrong. When she hates them, they become irredeemable regardless of whatever they did wrong (the entire SU rant episode and most characters discussed). If they undergo character growth, that's bad and they're poorly written and the authors are authoritarian/Nazi sympathizers (Starlight Glimmer, Pink Diamond). This often goes hand-in-hand with demonization of characters who are not friendly to her faves (Korra and LO's mockery of her PTSD being the most egregious example) and being willing to overlook problematic elements in a show with a character she likes (antisemitism is fine because Harley is hot so who cares).

None of this is unique to her. A lot of neckbeards and whatever the lady equivalent is do this. This media illiteracy and moral myopia is common among the chronically online and self-centered. But she has influence over a large audience primarily composed of children, and what she's teaching them is that nuance is nonexistent, everything is black and white, racism/antisemitism/bigotry is fine if you're cool enough, murder/violence equals power and power equals morality, and to be in the right means all of your decisions are good automatically/to be accepted without question.

The problem isn't any one of her bad takes on characters. The problem is her presenting herself as a media analyst with intelligence who should be trusted by young people as an authority figure. Her work is aimed at teens but she herself is unable to understand characters who she's seen since her age was in the single digits.

(And I'm sure someone will try to use her being neurodivergent to excuse this, but she's old enough to know better. I'm ND and I don't pull this shit, and I'm younger than her.)

that has always been the worst aspect of LO, isn't it? it's the dychotomy between she acting as if she has a better idea of what is happening than anyone else while constantly showing her various limitations to media analysis.