Kathryn Janeway

"There are three things to remember about being a starship captain: keep your shirt tucked in, go down with the ship, and never abandon a member of your crew."
 * - Kathryn Janeway to Naomi Wildman, 2375

Kathryn Janeway was a 24th century Starfleet officer, most noted for her service as captain of the starship USS Voyager. She became the first Federation captain to successfully traverse the Delta Quadrant, encountering dozens of new planets and civilizations over the course of seven years. While there, she and her crew also survived numerous encounters with the Borg. By 2379, she was a Vice Admiral at Starfleet Command.

Early life
Kathryn Janeway was born on May 20 in Bloomington, Indiana, on Earth. Her father was Vice Admiral Janeway and she had one sibling, a sister, who she described as the artist of the family. Her mother was still alive as of 2378. 

Kathryn grew up on the great plains surrounding her grandfather's farm in Indiana. When she was six years old, she once watched a bolt of lightning split an oak tree in her grandfather's yard; one she had climbed just a few hours before. Many years later, she recalled that there was no anomaly more frightening than a thunderstorm on the plains, especially at such a young age. One of her favorite foods, Welsh rarebit, was something she always enjoyed while at her grandfather's.

Janeway took ballet lessons in her youth. Also, while she was six years old, she learned the dance of the "Dying Swan", the hit of the "Beginning Ballet" class. She recreated the performance in 2373, during Talent Night aboard Voyager. At the age of nine, she and her father hiked the northern rim of the Grand Canyon. She found "the biggest ditch on Earth", as her father used to call it, too dusty and always preferred farm country. When Janeway was twelve years old, she walked home in a thunderstorm over seven kilometers because she lost a tennis match. In 2373, after nineteen years, Janeway decided to take tennis up again, having not played since high school. Janeway was also experienced in pool, even though the first time she played with the crew in Tom Paris's holodeck simulation Chez Sandrine, she led everyone to believe that she was a novice. She also enjoyed skiing. 

Janeway had a special relationship with her father who had raised her to be a doubter and a skeptic and to look at the world with the scientist's eye. When he died by drowning under a polar icecap on Tau Ceti Prime sometime before 2358 she was devastated. She was so grief stricken she fell into a terrible depression and spent months in bed, sleeping away her days. Her sister eventually forced her into the real world again. 

Janeway credited the family tale of her ancestor, Shannon O'Donnell, for inspiring her to join Starfleet. The family tale claimed that O'Donnell had been involved as the driving force in ensuring the construction of the Millennium Gate, despite strong local opposition. O'Donnell was also believed to be an early female astronaut, the first of a line of Janeway explorers. Much to Janeway's disappointment, research in 2376 revealed that her involvement in the Millennium Gate project had been far less prominent than everyone thought and that she had been a mere consulting engineer on the project. However, Seven of Nine told her that her inspiration to Janeway should not be diminished by this, as she was still the driving force behind her desire to join Starfleet and become an explorer. 

During her lifetime, Janeway had studied chromolinguistics, American Sign Language and the gestural idioms of the Leyron. However, she struggled with basic Klingonese. 

Academy years
When she was a cadet in Starfleet Academy she had a close relationship with Boothby, who brought fresh roses to her quarters each morning. She also enjoyed spending her time at a little coffee shop on Market Street known as the Night Owl. Her love of coffee and her late nights got her through many of her classes, as she often had to pull all-nighters. She studied under such memorable professors as Patterson, Hendricks, and H'ohk. 

Starfleet career
Janeway's first Starfleet posting was aboard the USS Al-Batani under the command of Captain Owen Paris. She served as the science officer during the ship's participation in the Arias Expedition. She once revealed that during her posting aboard the Al-Batani, she once knocked out power to six decks by misaligning the ship's positronic relays. 

While a junior science officer, Janeway envied the Captain's privilege of making First Contact with alien species. 

While she held the rank of lieutenant she was the member of an away team defending a Federation outpost from Cardassians during a border conflict. They ended up cut off in a three-day long firefight with the Cardassians. One night during a break in the fighting, her commanding officer ordered her and an ensign to crawl out into the brush and save a wounded Cardassian soldier. At the time she thought her commander crazy, but in retrospect saving that man's life was one of her proudest moments. In the end her away team secured the outpost and all members were decorated by Starfleet Command. 

Janeway first met Tuvok, who later became one of her closest friends and confidants, in 2356. Janeway was dressed down by Tuvok in front of three Starfleet admirals for failing to observe proper tactical procedures during her first command. Although the incident bruised her "Human ego" at the time, she ultimately realized Tuvok was correct. From 2365 onward, Janeway and Tuvok became close friends, and Janeway found she could always "rely on his insightful and unfailingly logical advice". During the mid-2360s, when Tuvok was temporarily assigned to Jupiter Station, he often wrote to Janeway. By 2371, Tuvok had made detailed psychological observations about Janeway over the course of four years.

While in her first year as a commander aboard the USS Billings, Janeway sent an away team to survey a volcanic moon. Their shuttle was damaged by a magma eruption and three crewmembers were severely injured. The next day she returned to the moon, alone, to complete the survey. She wanted the crew to know that their suffering had not been in vain, despite the possibility that she could have been killed. 

Voyager assignment
In 2371, Janeway took command of the USS Voyager in order to locate a missing Maquis vessel, the Val Jean, which had disappeared in the Badlands with her security officer Tuvok who was working as an undercover agent. Given the navigational challenge in this region of space, she proposed to Admiral Patterson to rehabilitate Tom Paris – an excellent pilot and disgraced son of Admiral Owen Paris as well as a former Maquis – for the mission. She visited Paris at the Federation Penal Colony in New Zealand, where he was serving time for his involvement with the Maquis. In exchange for his help in finding the Val Jean, Janeway offered to Paris that she would help him at his next review. Paris was less than enthused about returning to Starfleet after his disgraceful dismissal, but the moment he found out that he would be cut loose, he agreed to join.

While chasing the Val Jean in the Badlands, both ships were engulfed by a displacement wave that hurled them seventy thousand light years into the far side of the galaxy deep into the Delta Quadrant. 

Beginnings in the Delta quadrant
After finding Voyager transferred 70,000 light years across the galaxy, Janeway soon discovered that they had been brought there by a sporocystian lifeform known as the Caretaker.

The Caretaker was dying and therefore looking for a suitable mate so that his offspring could continue to care for a species known as the Ocampa. He held a debt to the Ocampa becasue many years ago he had been responsible for the destruction of their planet's atmosphere, forcing the Ocampa to move below ground in turn prompting the Caretaker to continue providing for them.

The Caretaker had pulled both the Val Jean and Voyager into the Delta Quadrant in order to see if anyone in their crews might be a compatible mate. To that end, he abducted the crew of both ships and conducted experiments. These efforts proved unsuccessful, however, as he found himself to be incompatible with any of Voyagers or the Val Jeans crew members. Unfortunately, two of the crew members – B'Elanna Torres from the Maquis and Harry Kim from Starfleet – became ill after the experiments and were sent to the Ocampa homeworld for care and treatment. Given their perilous situation and the missing crew members, Janeway and the captain of the Val Jean, a former Starfleet commander named Chakotay, decided to put aside their differences in order to locate their missing people and find a way home.

While searching for answers to their dilemma, they encountered a small Talaxian freighter manned by a man named Neelix who, in exchange for water, agreed to help the crew retrieve the missing shipmates.

The Caretaker's condition kept deteriorating and he died before being able to send back Janeway's and Chakotaty's ships to the Alpha Quadrant. Even though Lieutenant Tuvok believed he could activate the system that could send Voyager back, it would have meant leaving the technology in the hands of a hostile native species, the Kazon - which were going to use it to get to the Ocampa. Realizing that this was a sacrifice she was not willing to make, Janeway destroyed the Caretaker's Array by using two tricobalt devices at a yield of twenty thousand teracochranes. Chakotay crashed his ship into a Kazon carrier vessel in order to protect Voyager while it destroyed the Array.

This decision left Voyager stranded 70,000 light years in the Delta Quadrant with their only means to get home destroyed. Recognizing their long, daunting journey ahead, both Starfleet and Maquis crews merged and decided to work together when embarking on their seventy-year long journey home. Chakotay became Janeway's first officer and second in command of the ship. 

The first year (2371)
One of the problems facing Janeway when Voyager first became trapped in the Delta Quadrant was to combine the Maquis and Starfleet crews into one cohesive unit for their journey back home. Their violent hurdle into the Delta Quadrant had left them with empty key positions that urgently needed to be filled such as the position of first officer previously held by Lieutenant Commander Cavit, the helm, chief engineer, a transporter chief, and the entire medical staff including the chief medical officer.

Early on in the voyage, there was an incident between B'Elanna Torres, a Maquis, and Joe Carey of Starfleet. Having a fiery temperament, Torres had punched Carey in the nose over a disagreement in engineering. Chakotay, despite being furious about Torres' lack of discipline, still recommended her for the position of chief engineer; a proposal which Janeway initially dismissed, as she saw Torres as an undisciplined troublemaker unfit to hold a command position. Chakotay kept standing up for Torres, however, and after seeing first hand what she was capable of, Janeway agreed to give her the position. 

While visiting a planet which had been devastated by some type of explosion, Janeway and Tom Paris were transported back in time due to a fracture in subspace. They got caught up between a group of protesters and government officials disagreeing over an energy source and its potential dangers. When the protesters took over a power plant, Janeway came to believe that it would become the source of the explosion, but as the away team from Voyager tried to rescue them by cutting into subspace, she realized that this was the actual cause of the catastrophic events. She sealed the rift, and the timeline changed into one without the explosion having happened. 

During the first year of the voyage, Janeway made first contact with a number of species, one of which were the Vidiians who were plagued by an incurable phage and as a result harvested the organs of other species for survival. During an away mission, Neelix's lungs were stolen by the Vidiians and The Doctor had to create holographic lungs to keep him alive. After searching for and finding the Vidiians responsible, it turned out that they had already bio transformed Neelix's lungs. However, they possessed the medical knowledge to do an organ transplant and Kes donated one of her lungs to Neelix. Janeway was furious and promised the Vidiians that the next time around, she would not be this generous should they harm any members of her crew again. 

Janeway also lead the ship into a nebula that was really an organic lifeform. Upon discovering that they had injured the space dwelling being, they immediately worked on a procedure to repair any damage they might have caused to it. 

Their hopes of returning home were renewed when Voyager came upon a micro-wormhole that ended in the Alpha Quadrant. Janeway made contact with a Romulan ship captained by Telek R'Mor. They successfully transported R'Mor through the wormhole onto Voyager and to the Delta Quadrant, only to find out that that R'Mor was from twenty years in the past. Heartbroken, Janeway asked R'Mor to at least transmit the crews' messages twenty years later to their loved ones. When R'Mor was beamed back to 2351, Tuvok informed the captain that he had in fact died in 2367, and that it was unlikely that he could relay the messages. 

The same year, they made first contact with the Sikarians, a friendly and hospitable species that possessed some rather groundbreaking technology: they were capable of folding space, thus allowing ships to travel great distances in short amounts of time. However, the Sikarians had their own set of prime rules, one of which prohibited them from sharing key technology with other species. Janeway tried to negotiate with their leader, but he simply refused to share the technology. Humiliated and helpless, Janeway decided to move on, but some crew members, including Seska and B'Elanna, but also Carey and even Tuvok, were not willing to take no for an answer and looked for alternate means to acquire the technology. However, when they tried to use it, they found that it was not compatible with Federation technology. When Janeway found out she was more than upset to see this level of insubordination among her crew. She warned B'Elanna Torres to never cross the line again or else she would no longer be an officer on the ship. Her biggest disappointment was in Tuvok, however, who had led the operation: she felt let down but he explained that according to his logic, he had no choice but to do what the Captain was morally unable to do. Even though she was touched by his loyalty and willingness to sacrifice for her, Janeway told him to never act on his logic again without consulting with her, telling him that she needed to be able to count on him as he was the one she turned to when she needed her moral compass checked. 

Later that year, she and the rest of the crew found out that Seska, a member of the Maquis crew, was really a Cardassian spy altered to look Bajoran, and that she had been giving Federation technology to the Kazon-Nistrim. Seska berated the captain for having destroyed their last chance to get home and thought her to be a fool for continuing to hold on to what Seska believed to be useless Starfleet principles at the expense of her crew. Janeway tried to explain to her that sharing even minor technology might have dire consequences for the balance of power in that part of space, but Seska, blinded by vindication, could not be convinced. She left Voyager and joined Maje Cullah of the Kazon Nistrim. Throughout the year, she and Cullah plotted ever newer ways to get to Voyager and capture it. 

Despite constant attacks by alien races in an unknown and potentially hostile part of space, Janeway also discovered some favorite pastime for the times Voyager was not on constant guard. In order to relax, she participated in a Gothic holodeck program in which she was the governess of a mysterious mansion. 

The integration of the Maquis crew into the Starfleet crew was not smooth and in the beginning of their journey, both crews faced some challenges. When a few members of the Maquis who were not well versed with Starfleet protocols and procedure exhibited disruptive and even insubordinate behavior, Janeway proposed that instead of punishment, they take on the responsibility of getting those crew members up to speed and instruct them in how to run a Starfleet vessel. For that purpose, Tuvok, who had Academy teaching experience, was put in charge of training crew members who could benefit the most from such training. 

The second year (2372)
In 2372, Voyager discovered Amelia Earhart and other Humans in stasis. They had been captured by the Briori to become slaves, but their descendants revolted and overthrew their alien captors. The Humans on the planet believed that the eight ancestors were dead and honored them in a shrine. Upon revival, the group (Nicknamed the "37's") decided to stay on the planet with their "descendants." Earhart invited Voyager's crew to stay as well, but they decided to continue their journey home. 

During an attack by space-dwelling lifeforms, Kes began to prematurely enter puberty. That was the first time that Janeway was faced with the possibility that on their long voyage home, crew members would eventually start pairing off and maybe even having children. Although the aliens were driven off and Kes returned to her normal state, Ensign Samantha Wildman informed Janeway that she was in fact pregnant. 

Voyager came across an anomaly that distorted the structure of the ship, trapping the senior staff in the holodeck. Janeway was injured by the anomaly, but the crew soon realized that it was actually sentient, attempting to communicate. 

The same year, the ship was attacked by the Botha who caused violent hallucinations in the crew; Janeway hallucinated about her fiance, Mark. However, The Doctor and Kes were able to drive the aliens away and Voyager's crew recovered. 

Janeway also met up with the Caretaker's mate, Suspiria. Suspiria had taken care of an Ocampa colony. She attacked Janeway and Voyager, whom she blamed for the Caretaker's death. Kes was able to distract Suspiria with her telekinetic powers, allowing Janeway to fire a toxin at Suspira that disabled her. 

She helped rescue Tuvok and Torres from a Mokra Order prison, after being nursed back to health by Caylem, who believed she was his daughter. His wife and daughter had been killed resisting the Mokra Order. As Caylem was dying, Janeway posed as his daughter to assure him that she and his wife were fine. 

When Tom Paris broke the warp ten barrier that same year, he began exhibiting strange behavior until his DNA completely mutated and transformed him into an amphibian species. In his delirious state, he abducted Janeway, embarked on a warp 10 journey with her which resulted in her DNA mutating as well. When they were discovered by Voyager a short while later, they had mated and produced offspring. After The Doctor was able to restore them back to their human form, they decided to leave the offspring on the planet they had left them. Janeway joked to Paris that while she did think about having children, she never believed it was going to be with him. 

She also had her first contact with Q. While exploring an asteroid, the Voyager crew accidentally released what turned out to be a Q from the core of the asteroid. After some time, the well-known Q arrived, telling Janeway that the other Q, eventually known as Quinn, tried to kill himself many times, and that this was the reason for his captivity. Quinn asked for asylum and a chance to become Human. He argued that although the existence of a Q is exhilarating and incredible at first, the initial wonder very soon turns to boredom, as there is nothing more to explore, nothing more to reveal about the universe or anything. Because of this unbearable lack of purpose in the Q Continuum, he wished to end his life. Janeway granted his request after a hearing on the matter, where numerous witnesses, including Maury Ginsberg and USS Enterprise's William T. Riker, took part. She urged Quinn to lead a full mortal life. Regardless, he killed himself, receiving a poison from Q, who revealed himself as a sympathizer with the late Q in the end. 

While attempting to avoid a number of Vidiians' ships, Voyager entered a divergence field and was duplicated in nearly every aspect, including the crew, the two ships connected by a rift in the lower decks that allowed passage between both ships but facing danger as they drew on the same anti-matter supply. When the Vidiians attempted to board one of the ships, both crews were in danger, and one of the Janeways destroyed her Voyager, killing the Vidiians and saving the other Voyager. 

Janeway later faced a crisis of conscience when a transporter accident fused Neelix and Tuvok into one being, Tuvix. The only way to bring them back was to eliminate Tuvix. Janeway had to execute a new lifeform so that Tuvok and Neelix could be brought back to life. 

Janeway also confronted fear incarnate, in the form of The Clown. This occurred when she tried to save a group of Kohl who, while in stasis, had been trapped by their malfunctioning neural link. When the consciousness of some of her crew became trapped in the program, the Doctor served as an 'ambassador' to negotiate with the Clown- the 'ruler' of that network, serving as the personification of the Kohls' fear that something would go wrong-, the crew eventually tricking him into letting his prisoners out by having Janeway connected to the network without actually entering it, a holographic Janeway sent in to trick the Clown informing him that fear existed to be conquered, and he would now vanish. 

Janeway and Chakotay were left behind on a planet due to an incurable disease that the atmosphere of the planet inhibited. They began to show affection for each other, but a possible relationship was put on hold when the crew disobeyed direct orders and contacted Vidiians who knew of a cure. 

The rest of the year was spent in confrontation with the Kazon. Chakotay was captured by the Kazon and tortured when he refused to give up secrets of Voyager's defenses. Paris left the ship under a ruse to uncover the traitor in Voyager's crew. Janeway tried to form alliances with the Trabe, enemies of the Kazon, to force them to a peace conference; the conference ended in disaster when the Trabe tried to kill the Kazon. Some time later, Voyager was captured and the crew was stranded on a prehistoric planet. After Paris, along with Lon Suder and The Doctor, regained the ship, the crew was rescued. Seska was killed and Culluh's power base was smashed, allowing Voyager to depart Kazon space with no further contact with them. 

The third year (2373)
In 2373, Tuvok suffered a mental breakdown. A mind meld with Janeway took them back to his tour of duty on the USS Excelsior, captained by Hikaru Sulu. The breakdown was caused by an alien virus that had lain dormant in his mind. Voyager was later attacked by alien ships that attacked in great number.

Voyager also came across a planet ruled by the two Ferengi who were trapped by an unstable wormhole. Janeway devised a plan to oust the Ferengi who were exploiting the people. During a visit to a Nechani shrine, Kes was struck down by an energy surge and lapsed into a coma. Janeway underwent a series of rituals to help cure Kes. But in the end, it was Janeway's faith that helped revive Kes. She took Kes through the energy field even though The Doctor told her that it was deadly. It did no harm, and Kes was revived intact. 

After an encounter with a time ship from the future, Voyager was transported back to the 20th century. They stopped Henry Starling, who had used the time ship for monetary gain, from launching the ship and altering history. The Doctor received his mobile emitter which allows him complete freedom to go anywhere. 

During that year, Q appeared on the ship and wanted to have a baby with Janeway in order to stop a civil war in the Continuum. He transported her to the Continuum to escape a seemingly female Q that had boarded Voyager. The Human perception of the Q civil war was set in the American Civil War, and Janeway and Q were captured, but the female Q along with the crew of the Voyager managed to enter the Continuum and rescue them. When the Qs engaged in a truce, Voyager was returned to normal space, but not before Q presented his newborn son, whom he instead had with the female Q, to Janeway. 

After an accident that left Janeway in a coma, an alien energy being tried to convince Janeway that she was dying. It fed off the souls of the dying, trying every trick to get her to cooperate, even appearing to her as her father, but she saw through the ruse and refused. Once the being left, The Doctor was able to revive her. 

Near of the end of the year, Voyager was captured by the Nyrian who replaced the crew with one of their number using a transporter and imprisoned them on a biosphere ship. Janeway would lead an escape by securing the transporter and beaming the Nyrian leader to a frozen wasteland, forcing them to return Voyager. 

The fourth year (2374)
The following year brought Janeway and Voyager in contact with two dangerous races, the Krenim and Hirogen.

The encounter with the Krenim began late in 2373 when a Krenim timeship tried to change history to restore the Krenim Imperium. This plunged Janeway and Voyager into a year-long battle. The presence of Voyager had upset the calculations used to restore the Imperium, and therefore Voyager had to be eliminated. Voyager came under a series of attacks by the technologically-advanced Krenim, resulting in the loss of many of the crew and severe damage to the ship. It ended when Janeway suicide-crashed a mortally wounded Voyager alone into the timeship, destroying it and wiping it from existence. This restored the timeline and allowed Voyager to plot a course around Krenim space in the preferred timeline avoiding Krenim territory entirely. 

Also during that year the crew was subjected to various experiments carried out by cloaked aliens called the Srivani. After being close to death, the Voyager crew figured out a way to break the Srivani cloak, only to discover that the aliens had no intention of leaving, finding their studies much too interesting to abandon. The conflict ended when Janeway threatened to destroy the ship and the aliens along with it, partially because of the raised dopamine levels in her blood, by flying through a binary pulsar. This threat worked, however, and the Srivani left the ship.

The holoprogram Leonardo da Vinci, along with other Voyager technology, was stolen by pirates led by Tau. Janeway found his hideout and recovered the technology along with Da Vinci. 

Voyager discovered a communications network that allowed them to contact Starfleet. The network was owned by the Hirogen, a hunter race. When Tuvok and Seven of Nine beamed over to examine the network, they were captured by the Hirogen, who planned on killing them and using their bones as trophies. Janeway discovered that the network was being powered by a black hole and by increasing the power relays, she was able to disable the Hirogen ship and rescue the two. Later another Hirogen was encountered during his hunt for Species 8472 which continued on Voyager when the wounded Hirogen was beamed over for medical attention. The final contact that year with the Hirogen took place on Voyager. The Hirogen captured Voyager, and using brainwashing techniques, used the crew as prey in various hunting programs in the holodeck. Janeway played the part of a Klingon warrior killed by the Hirogen as well as the leader of a resistance unit during a World War II holosimulation. After becoming aware of what was happening, the crew was able to retake the ship when Janeway killed the Alpha Hirogen. As the Hirogen left the ship, she gave them holo-technology in hope that they would give up hunting live prey and use the holoprograms instead. 

Janeway set out to destroy a molecule known as the Omega molecule, the most dangerous and unstable substance known. Janeway succeeded in destroying the molecule but not without opposition from Seven of Nine. Seven, being a former Borg drone, still possessed increbile appreciation and awe of the Omega molecule, which the Borg believed to be perfect. 

Near the end of the year, Janeway met Arturis who helped them decode a Starfleet message. Decoding the message they found a Federation ship that they believed was sent to take them back to the Alpha Quadrant using slipstream technology, which Arturis offered to help them install. However it was a ruse as the ship was manufactured by Arturis so he could take Voyager and its crew to be assimilated. When his plan didn't work, he settled on Janeway and Seven of Nine being assimilated by the Borg. His people had been fighting the Borg and their only hope was that Species 8472 would defeat the Borg. When Janeway helped the Borg, his people were subsequently assimilated and he wanted revenge. Janeway was able to shut down the force field on his ship and she and Seven were beamed back to Voyager as Arturis' ship arrived in Borg space. 

On Stardate 50979, unknown aliens attacked Ensign Harry Kim, The Doctor, and Ensign Ahni Jetal on an away mission. The Doctor had to decide between saving the life of either Jetal or Kim. The ensuing decision began an ethical battle between his original programming and his evolved personality. In order to combat this, Janeway ordered his program rewritten. Eighteen months later when he recovered these memories, she again ordered his program rewritten. As a result of Seven's disagreement with her, she allowed The Doctor to remain as he was, working out the problems on his own. 

The fifth year (2375)
In 2375, Janeway and Voyager made contact with a race known as the Malon. While entering a vast void in space with no stars, Janeway rescued a night being who was dying from radiation poisoning. The Malon, who were the garbage men of the quadrant, were dumping radioactive material in the aliens' space. He asked Janeway to close a vortex that the Malon were using to dump the material. Janeway decided to close the vortex, which had to be done inside the void, which would cause her to sacrifice herself. The crew refused to follow her orders and instead persuaded her to close the vortex as Voyager entered it. It caused a shock wave, but Voyager survived and closed the vortex, protecting the space of the night aliens. Later in that year, they encountered a Malon ship that was in danger of exploding and contaminating space due to ruptured fuel tanks. An away team found that a Malon who was disfigured from years of work on the ship had deliberately caused the damage for revenge. 

Janeway discovered that Species 8472 had simulated Starfleet Academy as a training exercise for preparation for an invasion of Earth. This was based on Janeway's actions in their war with the Borg. When Janeway explained that she did not know that the Borg started the war, and that she hoped they could get home faster, the two groups found common ground. 

She demoted Paris for interfering with a water society. Later, Janeway had a romantic interlude with a Devore commander who, while looking for telepaths to arrest, asked for asylum aboard Voyager. The romance ended when the commander revealed himself as only pretending to defect in order to discover the whereabouts of the telepaths. She played the part of Queen Arachnia, Queen of the Spider People, in Paris' holoprogram Captain Proton. Aliens had taken the program as a serious threat and she had to "kill" Doctor Chaotica to satisfy the aliens that they were no longer in danger. She saved the ship and Seven from the Think Tank, a group of aliens who solved problems for a fee. They hired the Hazari to attack Voyager and in return for solving Voyager's problem with the Hazari, they wanted Seven of Nine. 

The sixth year (2376)
In 2376, Janeway discovered another Federation ship lost in the Delta Quadrant, the USS Equinox, captained by Rudolph Ransom. He explained that his ship was attacked by creatures that killed much of his crew. The crew was beamed to Voyager for medical attention and the Voyager crew attempted to repair the Equinox. Janeway discovered that the reason the creatures were attacking the Equinox was that Ransom had been capturing them and using them for fuel for the ship. Janeway confronted Ransom and arrested him and his crew. The EMH for the Equinox, which was beamed aboard Voyager, helped the crew escape back to the Equinox. They disabled Voyager, kidnapped Seven and sped away. In the meantime, the creatures attacked Voyager.

Janeway became obsessed with finding Ransom, and resorted to means that would not have been acceptable to Starfleet. She was willing to kill a captured member of the Equinox if he did not tell them the location of the ship, and confined Chakotay to his quarters when he interfered. When Voyager found Equinox, a battle ensued. When the Equinox was damaged by Voyager and attacked by the creatures, Ransom had a change of heart, dropped his shields and surrendered Seven in exchange for his crew beaming aboard Voyager. He himself stayed with his ship as it exploded. Her final words to Ransom was her promise to get his crew home. 

Tuvok was attacked by cloaked aliens during an away mission in this year. The weapon fire caused brain damage. To cure him The Doctor needed to examine the weapon. With the help of Naroq, a Kesat, Janeway was able to track down the Ba'neth, the race of the aliens and using a photolitic converter was able to uncloak them. When Janeway threatened to expose their location to other races, they handed over the weapon and Tuvok was cured. 

Janeway encountered the Vaadwaur, a race that had been in stasis for nearly nine hundred years in order to survive the bombardment of their world, which was destroyed by the Turei. After Seven of Nine opened one of the stasis pods without permission, a Vaadwaur named Gedrin was awakened. Janeway offered to help him wake up the rest of his race, in return for allowing Voyager to use its subspace corridors, which would considerably cut the time to return home. Unknown to Janeway, the Vaadwaur were a warrior race that had subjugated many of the races in their sector, including the Turei. They tried to take over Voyager but were unsuccessful. Gedrin refused to betray Janeway and helped Voyager escape. 

Janeway and Voyager enlisted the help of Tash, who was working on a catapult vessel that could project a ship light years away. This could cut the time of Voyager's trip. However, Seven of Nine tried to sabotage the experiment. Attempting to bite off more than she could chew, she downloaded too much information into her cortical node, resulting in paranoid delusions. She believed that Voyager was part of a Federation invasion force into the Delta Quadrant and that the catapult would bring more ships into the quadrant. She told Chakotay this. At the same time, she told Janeway that the catapult would be used by Chakotay to launch a Maquis attack on the Federation. When Seven used the Delta Flyer to get away from Voyager, Janeway beamed over and was able to convince Seven that she was ill and needed medical attention. 

Although Voyager was able to send messages to Starfleet through the Hirogen communications network, the network had been destroyed two years earlier and there had been no further contact. Lieutenant Reginald Barclay of Starfleet was able to make contact in that year by opening an artificial wormhole through which communication could occur. The next year the link was further stabilized to allow daily visual communication for eleven minutes a day. 

Janeway found time to relax in a new holoprogram of Paris', called Fair Haven. There, she became attracted to the main character, Michael Sullivan. Sullivan was happily married, but Janeway solved that little issue by changing the program to make him single. Later in the year she rescued Paris and Kim from the townsfolk, who believed they were evil spirits. 

Voyager was drawn by a gravimetric wave into the orbit of a planet with a high rate of revolution. Because of a tachyon core breach, a second on Voyager was a day on the planet. While trapped in orbit they observed the evolution of the planet. However, Voyager was unable to break orbit and when the civilization on the planet began space travel, Voyager was threatened and attacked. When one of the astronauts landed on Voyager, Janeway explained the situation, and the pilot returned to his planet. Ships from the planet used a tractor beam to pull Voyager out of its orbit. 

Janeway also suffered an illusion that she and members of her crew took part in a massacre on the planet Tarakis. The massacre had taken place three hundred year prior, but a synaptic transmitter sent images to anyone who entered the system. This was done as a way of commemorating the people who died. 

Voyager also encountered a Borg ship that was piloted by children who were separated from the hive due to an accident in space. After Seven of Nine convinced them to release captured crewmembers, Janeway allowed them to be beamed aboard Voyager and join her crew. Later when she returned Icheb, one of the former Borg children, to his parents on the Brunali planet, she found out that the Brunali were sacrificing their children to defeat the Borg. They genetically engineered them to produce a pathogen and when they were assimilated, the pathogen was spread among the Borg, effectively leading to their termination. They saved Icheb, who remained on Voyager. 

Later that year, after an efficiency report, Janeway became aware that three members of her crew were performing below standard. She decided to take the three on a away mission with her in order to help them improve their efficiency. When the Delta Flyer was attacked by an unknown force, the trio rose to the occasion and saved the ship and Janeway. 

Janeway also foiled a scam run by Dala, a con artist who was impersonating her. Dala was stealing goods and conning various races by pretending to be Janeway. 

Janeway also had her last meeting with an elder Kes who, with her telekinetic powers, was attacking Voyager, and by traveling back in time was trying to change the timeline by betraying Voyager to the Vidiians. She blamed Janeway for taking her away from her people, for developing her mental powers before she was ready to use them and destroying her youth. As the Vidiians boarded the ship in the past, Janeway was forced to kill the older Kes with a phaser and Voyager broke free and escaped. Janeway explained to the young Kes in the past what had happened and she made a recording explaining how happy she was and that her stay on Voyager was voluntary. When the older Kes again appeared in the normal timeline, she was convinced by the recording and left Voyager peacefully. 

At the end of the year Janeway returned an electric being who had invaded Voyager back to its home in a nebula. 

The final year (2377-78)
In 2377 and 78, the last years of Voyager's trip home, Janeway faced many dangers and old enemies.

The first threat came from an unlikely source: the Ferengi. Nunk, a Ferengi, tried to steal some of Seven's nanoprobes. He programmed a fake hologram of Barclay, which arrived on Voyager through the artificial wormhole Barclay had created to communicate with the ship. He was able to steal the codes by using a dabo girl pretending to be a teacher – she was Barclay's girlfriend. The counterfeit Barclay would steer Voyager into a space accident that would destroy Voyager, and at the last minute take Seven and turn her over to the Ferengi. The plot was foiled by Barclay and Starfleet. 

She dealt with a mutiny by the Maquis caused by a repressed brainwashing technique implanted into Tuvok by a Bajoran named Teero. The ship also became trapped in a void in space in which only those ships willing to plunder other ships for technology could survive. Voyager, by forming an alliance with other ships in the void, was able to escape. Chakotay also required the aid of a past version of Janeway to restore the timeline on Voyager after it was hit with a distortion wave. 

Janeway dealt with Paris and Torres' marriage and pregnancy. She encountered Klingons who lived on a generation ship and were looking for the savior of their race and believed Torres was carrying that savior. 

Janeway again encountered the Hirogen. They had used the holoprogram she had given them after their attempt to take over Voyager, and enhanced it so that the holograms became sentient. The holograms, under Iden, rebelled, killing the Hirogens and other Humans they came in contact with. Janeway joined with the Hirogens and defeated Iden and his murderous desires. But she protected the other holograms who wished to live in peace. 

The crew was later captured and brainwashed into believing that they were part of a Quarren workforce. Janeway became romantically involved with a Quarren before being rescued. 

Q enlisted her aid in helping his son, "Junior", who had become a troublesome teenager. Janeway helped straighten the boy out and reconciled him with his father. She also convinced Neelix to stay with a colony of Talaxians they discovered on an asteroid and helped repel a group of miners who were threatening them. 

The return home
In 2378, Janeway was able to return to Earth with the assistance of Vice Admiral Kathryn Janeway from the early 25th century of an alternate timeline.

Admiral Janeway had provided her present-day counterpart with sophisticated anti-Borg technology, including transphasic torpedoes and ablative generator armor technology, in order for her to enter the nebula that had readings suggesting dozens of wormholes and Borg cubes.

When Voyager reached the nebula guided by Admiral Janeway, she ordered the crew to enter the transwarp hub, but Captain Janeway was reluctant to forgo the opportunity to damage the Borg's infrastructure considerably. Admiral Janeway is initally reluctant, but after Captain Janeway gets the support of the crew for her plan, the two Janeways team up together to try to do both.

While trying to outrun the cascading shock wave reaction caused by the destruction of one hub, a Borg sphere pursued Voyager and attempted to capture it. Upon exiting the transwarp conduit in the Alpha Quadrant less than a light-year from Earth, Admiral Paris ordered all available ships to intercept in response to sensor readings indicating a Borg energy signature.

On arrival in the Alpha Quadrant, the Starfleet armada opened fire on the sphere, which had encompassed Voyager, to no avail. However, Voyager destroyed the sphere from inside with a single transphasic torpedo. As this happened, Voyager flew out from the wreckage, much to the surprise and amazement of not only the fleet, but also Admiral Owen Paris, Lt. Barclay, and the entire Voyager crew. Voyager was then escorted back home. 

Conflict with the Borg
Janeway earned herself a reputation for dealing with the Borg. Her first encounter with the Borg was in 2371 while Voyager was in drydock at Utopia Planitia Fleet Yards. A former Borg and future crew member from the future traveled back in time with the help of the Federation timeship USS Relativity. 

Another encounter came about after she aided the Sakari in camouflaging energy readings and ruins from their planet. A single dead Borg drone was found among the rubble. 

While traveling through the Nekrit Expanse, Voyager encountered a Borg cube floating dead in space. There were no power signatures on board and scans revealed 1,100 dead drones. Janeway sent an away team over to the cube to collect and gather information about Borg technology. The away team discovered that all systems on the ship ceased abruptly by an electro-mechanical discharge approximately five years earlier. The team brought back a Borg corpse to analyze.

While leaving the region, Chakotay was forcibly linked to the new Borg Cooperative and made to activate a Borg cube, which was destroyed seconds later by the Cooperative. 

In late 2373, she had a major dealing with the Borg. After nearly three years of travel, Voyager had reached the edge of Borg space. Janeway increased security and prepared herself and her crew for the eventual crossing of Borg space. Rather than turn around, Janeway and her crew managed to locate a small passage where there was no Borg activity, which they named the "Northwest Passage".

It was later discovered, however, that the absence of Borg activity was due to the presence of a large number of quantum singularities. While en route to the Alpha Quadrant, Voyager's engines stalled as Kim detected fifteen Borg ships closing fast from behind. Fourteen of the ships passed Voyager, but the last one scanned Voyager with a polaron beam. Later, Kim detected that the power signatures of the Borg ships had ceased. Janeway, curious about this decided to head for their position. When they arrived the Borg ships were destroyed.

The singularities in turn were how a race, supposedly more powerful than the Borg, were entering our domain from their realm of fluidic space. Later, she learned that the Borg's new enemy, designated Species 8472, occupied the passage. Rather than tempt fate with the unusual aliens, Janeway opted to make a treaty with the Borg. Voyager's EMH had discovered a way for Borg nanoprobes to assimilate the previously immune species. Janeway oversaw the development of a new nanoprobe-based bioweapon that was designed to attack Species 8472 at a cellular level. It was during this incident that Seven of Nine was stranded on Voyager.

Seven of Nine's newly-found individuality caused concern within herself, giving her the need to return to the Borg to be with the others in the collective. Kathryn Janeway attempted to stop this need by introducing Seven to her past and to what her normal life should have been. Despite much apprehension on Seven's part, Janeway eventually got through to her and she finally accepted her individuality. 

Between stardates 50953.4 and 50984.3, Voyager was attacked by a Borg probe. After destroying the attacking vessel, several data nodes were salvaged. Using information obtained from the nodes, Janeway devised a plan to raid a Borg sphere and steal one of its transwarp coils, which would speed Voyager's journey home. The mission went well until Seven was captured by the Borg Queen. Janeway led an away team to free her using the Delta Flyer, which had been adapted to withstand the firepower of the Borg. The Borg cube was destroyed and Seven was freed. 

In 2376, Janeway found out that a group of Borg had a genetic mutation that allowed them to exist as they were when they were individuals during their regeneration. This state was named Unimatrix Zero. Janeway assisted them in fighting Borg without the mutation so that they could remain individuals. She, B'Elanna Torres, and Tuvok introduced a nanovirus into Tactical Cube 138's central plexus, separating the members of Unimatrix Zero from the hive mind. This plunged the Collective into a civil war. 

In 2378, with the help of a future version of herself from an alternate timeline, Janeway discovered a Borg transwarp hub and decided to destroy it rather than use it to return home. With the support of her crew and ultimately her future self, Janeway enacted a risky plan to do both. The plan succeeded and Voyager returned to the Alpha Quadrant, less than a light-year from Earth, having destroyed the hub, a Borg sphere and in the case of Janeway's future self, the Borg Queen and the Unicomplex, dealing a crippling, if not fatal blow to the Borg. 

''In an alternate future timeline, Janeway was invited to lecture at Starfleet Academy by Commander Reginald Barclay, who introduced her to his cadets as the person who "wrote the book on the Borg." She later helped deal a crippling blow to the Borg in 2378 by allowing herself to be assimilated while infected with a neurolytic pathogen, killing the Queen, destroying the Unicomplex and allowing Voyager to return home.''

Later career
Upon the return of Voyager to the Alpha Quadrant, Janeway was promoted to the rank of vice admiral and given an assignment at Starfleet Command. In 2379, she ordered Captain Picard and the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-E) on a diplomatic mission to Romulus, in response to a message relayed at a request of the new Romulan Praetor, Shinzon. Janeway told Picard that Shinzon was a Reman and that if the Romulan Empire became unstable, it would mean war for the entire quadrant. Janeway then ended the transmission, saying how Jean-Luc gets the easy assignments. 

The 23rd century
Janeway once expressed a desire to fight in the 23rd century alongside Captain Kirk and his crew. 

Coffee
Janeway was well-known for her love of coffee. She refused to go a day without it and preferred it completely black, without milk or sugar. When energy reserves were low and the use of replicators was discouraged, she tried to give up coffee by drinking Neelix's "even better than coffee substitute", but to no avail; the beverage had a thick, molasses-like consistency that Janeway found more than distasteful. She was relieved when the bridge called her just before Neelix was finished pouring it. 

''In an alternate timeline, Janeway gave up coffee in favor of tea later in life. When she came back to help Voyager return home and regained her idealism, she returned to drinking coffee and told her younger self she had no idea why she ever gave it up.''

Tuvok
Tuvok was one of Kathryn Janeway's closest as well as most trusted friends and advisers. She often sought out his advice and counted on him when she needed her moral compass checked. They had known each other for nearly twenty years, served on three starships together and she was present at his daughter's Kolinahr. Janeway was also one of the few people who knew Tuvok's birthday and in 2376 she replicated a birthday cake for him. Tuvok regarded Janeway with the same esteem and over the years they forged a friendship based on trust and deep respect for the other. 

Unlike with Chakotay, Janeway and Tuvok had a less tumultuous relationship. Almost without exception, Tuvok always respected Janeway's decisions, including her decision to make Chakotay first officer over him. When in 2371 Tuvok – along with several other crew members – disobeyed her orders regarding acquiring classified technology from the Sikarians that could have gotten them home faster, Janeway felt betrayed, disappointed and saddened at Tuvok's behavior. Even though Tuvok reassured her that he acted out of logic, believing he had to acquire the technology on her behalf as she was not morally able to violate the prime directive like that, she reminded him of the strong relationship they had spent years forging and asked him to bring his logic to her the next time instead of just acting on it. She emphasized once again how much she needed to be able to rely on him. 

In 2372 Tuvok and Neelix were merged into a single being, Tuvix, after a transporter accident. The new hybrid quickly became popular among the crew, including Janeway. When The Doctor was finally able to devise a method to separate the two again, Tuvix refused – calling their plan an execution. Janeway was faced with a moral dilemma as saving Tuvix would have meant sacrificing Neelix and Tuvok. Realizing that both men had loved ones waiting for them, and how much she in fact missed Tuvok's friendship and guidance, she took it upon herself to make sure that the separation took place – despite opposition by The Doctor. 

Their relationship was not this harmonious from the start, however. In fact, the first time Janeway met him, he dressed her down in front of three Starfleet admirals for failing to observe proper tactical procedure during her first command. Even though her ego took some bruising, Janeway knew that he was right. When she commended him in 2374 for his outstanding service as chief tactical and security officer and promoted him to the rank of Lieutenant Commander she expressed her appreciation for him, remarking how she had come to rely on his insightful and unfailingly logical advise over the years. 

''One of the reasons Admiral Janeway form an alternate timeline wanted to change the outcome she had witnessed in her own timeline was to help her friend Tuvok. In that timeline, Voyager had returned home after a twenty-three-year journey, instead of a seven year one, through the Delta Quadrant. Tuvok's declining mental state could not be treated due to his returning home with Voyager too late for him to receive proper treatment which would have required a blood-relative. In this alternate timeline, he suffered severe mental damage and lived in a mental hospital. However, due to the intervention of Admiral Janeway from this same alternate timeline, Tuvok arrived back in the Alpha Quadrant with the rest of the Voyager crew in time to receive his treatment. ''

Chakotay
Janeway's relationship with Chakotay was complicated. Chakotay started out as an enemy and a compulsory shipmate. As they got to know one another, he became a possible romantic interest, and finally a close friend and confidant. 

Chakotay was the leader of a Maquis cell that Janeway was sent to apprehend. When both of their ships were transported to the Delta Quadrant by the Caretaker, Chakotay and Janeway became reluctant allies in the attempt to find missing crew members and return to the Alpha Quadrant. After the Array and Chakotay's ship were destroyed in a battle with the Kazon, the crews integrated and Chakotay became Janeway's first officer.

Janeway liked the idea that Chakotay not only had the technical qualifications with command experience, but that he also was a graduate of the Academy; something which could not be said of most of his crew of outlaws and malcontents. Chakotay did not want to be her token Maquis, however, and while he embraced Starfleet ways once again and promised the captain his allegiance, he also stood up for his former crew and made sure they were treated fairly. 

After some rough patches in the beginning, such as the time Chakotay pushed for her to give B'Elanna Torres the post of chief engineer – despite Torres' unprofessional and rebellious attitude – Janeway soon began to trust Chakotay and admired him for his integrity and fair handling of the crews of Voyager and the Maquis. He eventually became one of her most trusted officers and friends and she remarked once how she could not imagine a day without him. She often relied on Chakotay's innovative tactics in the battle with the Kazon and she integrated many Maquis tactical and procedural techniques in various battles.

Janeway once told Chakotay that as the captain, she did not have the luxury of getting involved with anyone on board the ship – no matter how long the journey. She went on to say that she intended to return home before her fiancé gave her up for dead. A budding romance seemed to emerge between the two when they were forced to remain behind on a deserted planet because of an incurable virus that was only contained by the environment of that planet. They had no choice but to remain there and make New Earth, which is what they decided to call the planet, their home. While Janeway was not ready to give up yet and immediately began to search for a cure, Chakotay came to terms with their situation and worked to make their new home a better place – even building her a bathtub and working on a boat. They also dropped the formalities and Janeway suggested that he call her Kathryn. Both felt a certain attraction to one another and outside of a command structure a romantic involvement suddenly seemed less inappropriate. Yet, both were hesitant to take their relationship a step further.

One night after a long day of work, Chakotay gave an exhausted and sore Janeway a neck massage, stating he had a lot of practice in his younger years because of his mother's own neck problems. Janeway greatly enjoyed the opportunity to unwind until she realized that their actions might be inappropriate. They separated, but the issue gnawed on their minds, preventing sleep. Eventually, Janeway broached the subject and said they needed to 'define parameters' for both their sakes. However, Chakotay responded that he wasn't certain if he could. So instead, he told her about an ancient legend among his people- about an angry warrior who couldn't find peace even with the help of his spirit guide. For years he struggled with his discontent until one day he and his war party were captured by a neighboring tribe lead by a woman warrior. She called on him to join her because her tribe was too small and weak to defend itself from all its enemies. They fought many battles together and the angry warrior swore to himself that he would stay by her side, doing whatever he could to make her burden lighter. From that point on, her needs would come first. In that way, the warrior began to know the true meaning of peace. While listening to this story, Janeway realized that Chakotay was talking about himself- that it was their story and both came, silently, to an understanding. When eventually a cure for their condition was found, they returned back to Voyager and resumed their professional and cordial relationship, leaving everything they had said to each other behind on the planet. A romance between the two was never explored again. 

Over time, Chakotay, next to Tuvok, became one of her most trusted advisors and close friends, although they did not always see eye-to-eye. This was evident on several occasions where both passionately disagreed over command decisions. One of their most serious conflicts occurred when Voyager encountered the USS Equinox, which was captained by Starfleet officer Rudy Ransom. They found out that Ransom and his crew had been using sentient beings as fuel for their ship. Janeway was furious to see a Starfleet officer having behaved like that and set out for a relentless hunt of the Equinox. Her drive to bring Ransom and his crew to justice quickly turned to an obsession and on more than one occasion she compromised the safety of the ship for the pursuit. She even went so far as to lock one of Ransom's crew members in the cargo bay and threatened to unleash one of the alien beings, unless he told her where Ransom was. Chakotay was able to stop just in the nick of time, telling her that she was crossing the line. Blinded by her desire to catch Ransom, Janeway relieved Chakotay from duty. After they caught Ransom and she came back to her senses, she realized that she had gone too far and that Chakotay had had reason to stage a mutiny against her if he had wanted to. However, she was glad that he never crossed the line like she had done. 

During another occasion involving the Borg, Chakotay strongly discouraged Janeway to strike an alliance with such an unscrupulous entity. He was also against her aiding a genocidal race kill one of their enemies, Species 8472, thus equipping them with a powerful weapon, just so Voyager could get home faster. Janeway was not to reason with, however, and she insisted on striking a deal with the Borg in exchange for safe passage through their space. After a lot of fighting over what constitutes the right course, both finally realized that fighting each other wasn't going to help them get through this. They subsequently set their differences aside and worked together, even though Chakotay stood by his assertion that Janeway was making a grave mistake. 

Over the course of their journey, they grew as friends and colleagues, each coming to respect and admire the other. Janeway once stated that there was no crew member she trusted more than Chakotay. With the passage of time, both Starfleet and Maquis had bonded and grown as one Starfleet crew. Thus, Janeway was rather displeased when Starfleet referred to Chakotay and half of her crew as "Maquis", unaware of the unity and trust that now existed between the former adversaries. .

Seven of Nine
After rescuing Seven from the Borg, Janeway developed a very complex relationship with her. She was determined to help the ex-Borg to adjust to life on Voyager and regain her lost human identity. Gradually, Seven rediscovered her humanity with Janeway as her mentor and role model. It wasn't only Seven who learned from the relationship; she frequently challenged Janeway in various opinions. Gradually they became friends.

Janeway and Seven played a game of Velocity together. 

The Doctor
As the crew's journey unfolded, Janeway soon found herself becoming friends even with The Doctor, despite initially regarding him as just another hologram. The two of them became closer, particularly when they were the only crewmembers standing between Voyager and the macrovirus that was attacking the ship. 

Over time, their friendship and mutual respect grew, with The Doctor often coming to Janeway when he needed personal advice or information about how his program was developing, as well as consolation about any wrong decisions he had made in recent times. It was Janeway who stopped The Doctor from deleting the additional subroutines that made him unique when he felt responsible for a death of a crewmember, Janeway who assured The Doctor that none of the crew thought any less of him when he was embarrassed about the fantasies created by his dream program,  and Janeway who told The Doctor that none of the crew blamed him for betraying them to help a crew of holograms. In addition, when Janeway faced death after being captured by an alien species, The Doctor risked everything to save her. 

Tom Paris
Chakotay once remarked that Tom Paris was Janeway's personal reclamation project. At a time where no one wanted anything to do with Tom, she approached him and offered him a second chance at redeeming himself by joining her on the mission to the Badlands to retrieve the Maquis ship with her security officer on board. Janeway was aware of Tom's exceptional piloting skills and gave him a chance to join her on the mission as a Stafleet observer.

Tom was reluctant but he accepted the offer. After the Caretaker's array was destroyed and the crew permanently stranded in the Delta Quadrant, Janeway, recognizing Tom's hard work and bravery, granted him the field commission of lieutenant for his exceptional accomplishments during their battle with the Kazon. For the first time in his life, Tom didn't know what to say, determined to not disappoint the captain after the faith she had in him. 

When Tom was caught by Chakotay during his gambling operation in Sandrine's, he reminded him that the Captain had put a lot of faith in him and that she would be disappointed to find out about his recent conduct. Even though Paris' insubordination and lack of discipline were part of a larger plot to expose a traitor among the crew, everyone understood the importance of the faith she had placed in him. 

Only once during their journey, did Janeway seriously punish Paris in 2375, when he disobeyed her direct orders, not to interfere with the affairs of the Moneans, he was demoted to the rank of ensign and sentenced to thirty days in solitary confinement in the brig. Janeway was gravely disappointed in Tom's conduct, which she believed was something he had finally grown past. She reminded him of the fresh start she had given him four years earlier. Tom admitted that even though he had never been very good at playing by the rules, it did not mean that serving under her command hadn't changed him for the better. Even though he regretted having let down Janeway, he felt proud because this time he had broken the rules for something he believed in. A year later, Janeway reinstated him to the rank of lieutenant junior grade as an award for his exemplary performance and expected more of the same from him. 

Janeway was a central figure in Tom Paris' personal and professional journey on board Voyager by helping him change for the better and grow into a responsible officer with integrity.

Harry Kim
Janeway felt differently about Harry Kim than about the other officers and crewmen under her command. He came to her fresh from the Academy, and she was very protective about him. Kim exceeded all of Janeway's expectations and she considered him 'one of the bright spots of this whole mission'. He continued to exceed her expectations to the point where she let him have command experience of Voyager, such as managing the night shift twice a week. Although normally his performance on Voyager would have meant he would rise up the ranks fairly quickly, Janeway could never promote Kim. As he pointed out 'it's a small ship. There are only so many command positions avaliable'. 

The only time when Janeway and Kim ever came into serious conflict was when Kim had an intimate relation with a Varro scientist called Derran Tal. This was a violation of Starfleet regulations. This brought Janeway and Kim into serious conflict. Kim (under the influence of alien hormones) actively defied her orders more than once and then engaged in a heated argument with her over his feelings for Tal. Although their relationship was temporarily strained, Kim (with help) managed to break free of the influence of the hormones. After this, Janeway and Kim's relationship very quickly returned to normal. Kim continued to serve well aboard Voyager to the point where Janeway once warned Chakotay (humourously) 'you'd better watch out for your job Commander'. 

Janeway was a central to Kim's emotional wellbeing in the Delta Quadrant. Feeling insecure because he was 'the baby of the crew', he looked up to Janeway as something of a mother figure for comfort and guidance. Janeway in turn would be there for him whenever he needed guidance and comfort after missions that had tested his abilities to the limit. In turn, he would remain immensely loyal to her and obey her orders to the best of his ability.

Kes
Janeway displays a particular fondness for Kes. They were able to talk freely and deeply together. When Kes locked herself in The Doctor's office, frightened and confused by the early onset of the Ocampa elogium, she allowed only Janeway to enter. Kes explained to her what was happening and Janeway comforted her. Towards the end of 2372 Janeway supported Kes when she was struggling to cope with Neelix's loss and his replacement by Tuvix, a fusion of Neelix and Tuvok caused by a transporter accident. Janeway was available to comfort and give advice to Kes late at night, receiving her although she (Janeway) was in her nightgown. At that time she found herself sharing a confidence with Kes: about how much she missed Mark Johnson. She told Kes: "My door is always open for you, Kes." Later she received Kes in her ready room and comforted her as Kes wept. Kes told Janeway that she was evolving into a higher plane of existence and had to leave Voyager to prevent any further damage to the ship (her new-found mental powers were causing problems in the structural integrity field). Janeway said, "Oh, I am going to miss you." 

Admiral Patterson
Admiral Patterson was Janeway's favorite teacher at Starfleet Academy. He became her mentor and a parental figure to her, especially since her father had died when she was young. Patterson treated her like his own daughter. He helped get her the assignment on Voyager, and would give her the first tour of Voyager. 

Mark Johnson
At the time Janeway was commissioned as captain of Voyager, she was engaged to Mark Johnson. Shortly before her departure to the Badlands, she discussed the fate of her pregnant dog with Mark. In 2374, when Voyager had begun communication with Starfleet in the Alpha Quadrant, Janeway received a letter from Johnson telling her that having had believed her dead after Voyager was lost in the Delta Quadrant, he met another woman and they married. This news was rather unexpected for Janeway but it was also the jolt she needed to finally move on with her life and stop hiding behind their relationship. 

Kashyk
After the infamous "Dear John" letter she received from her fiancé Mark Johnson informing her of his marriage, Janeway shyly began pursuing romance again. During the incident with the Devore Imperium, Janeway became attracted to Kashyk, the Devore inspector who pretended to defect to Voyager. Even though she wasn't sure about him, she did give him the benefit of the doubt and at one point even offered him to join Voyager and, rather untypical for her to begin a romance with a former alien enemy, they passionately kissed before his departure. When Kashyk showed his true face she was prepared, albeit disappointed. Before Kashyk left she told him that her offer to take him with them was genuine, and that it would still stand if he had kept his part of the bargain. He told her that for what it was worth, she made a tempting offer and even though his assistant wanted Voyager confiscated and its crew sent to a detention center, Kashyk ordered him to drop the matter and pretend that this incident never happened. 

Michael Sullivan
In the program Fair Haven that was created by Tom Paris, she became attracted to one of the male characters, Michael Sullivan and even went so far as to alter his appearance and personality subroutines so he conformed more to her standards. Sullivan originated as a simple, married man, but she modified his program parameters so he was single, well versed in literature, in addition to enjoying long, intellectual debates. A romance ensued but she ended it because she was not sure how she felt about a relationship with a hologram. 

Jaffen
In 2377, the entire crew was captured and their memories modified so they could join the workforce at a power distribution center on Quarra. There, she met a Norvalian engineer called Jaffen and fell in love with him and after two weeks, she even moved in with him. When she regained her memory, she said that even though she could always use a skilled engineer on Voyager, him joining them wouldn't be appropriate as they were romantically involved. Once again unable to pursue a relationship with someone because of her responsibilities, Janeway left Jaffen behind, stating that she would never forget the time they spent together. 

Memorable quotes
"In a part of space where there are few rules, its more important than ever that we hold fast to our own. In a region where shifting allegiances are commonplace, we have to have something stable to rely on. And we do... The principles and ideals of the Federation. As far as I'm concerned, those are the best allies we could have."
 * -Janeway, on life in the Delta Quadrant

"We're Starfleet Officers. Weird is part of the job."
 * -Janeway, to Kim

"Space must have seemed a whole lot bigger back then. It's not surprising they had to bend the rules a little. They were a little slower to invoke the Prime Directive and a little quicker to pull their phasers. Of course, the whole bunch of them would be booted out of Starfleet today, but I have to admit, I would have loved to ride shotgun at least once with a group of officers like that."
 * -Janeway to Kim, on the crew of the USS Enterprise NCC-1701

"Abandon ship? The answer's 'no.' I'm not breaking up the family, Chakotay. We're stronger as a team."
 * -Janeway to Chakotay

"This ship has been our home. It's kept us together. It's been part of our family. As illogical as this might sound, I feel as close to Voyager as I do to any other member of my crew. It's carried us, Tuvok, even nurtured us. And right now it needs one of us. "
 * -Janeway to Tuvok

"It's never easy, but if we turn our backs on our principles, we stop being human."
 * - Janeway to Ransom

"The Son'a, the Borg, the Romulans... You seem to get all the easy assignments."
 * - Janeway to Picard

Janeway's coffee quotes
"Coffee, black."
 * - Janeway, to Voyager's computer

"Just... coffee."
 * - Janeway, after Neelix tried to give her another alternative to coffee instead of his custom substitute

"There's coffee in that nebula!"
 * - Janeway

"I'm just going to have to give up coffee, that's all there is to it."
 * - Janeway, after losing even more energy reserves in a nebula

"Coffee: the finest organic suspension ever devised... I beat the Borg with it."
 * - Janeway, to Chakotay

"One more cup [of coffee] and I'll jump to warp."
 * - Janeway, to Neelix

"You ought to try it one day. Keeps you sharp."
 * - Janeway, to Seven of Nine

"It's an acquired taste."
 * - Janeway, to Kurros

"Coffee, black."

"Make it yourself."
 * - Janeway and Voyagers computer', after Q gave it a personality

"I don't know why I ever gave this up."
 * - Admiral Janeway, talking about when she gave up coffee in an alternate timeline

"Listen carefully, because I'm only going to say this once. Coffee, black."
 * - Janeway, to Neelix after he informed her that more replicators had gone offline

Biomimetic duplicate
In 2374, the Voyager, landed on a Demon Class planet rich in deuterium sources. The planet was filled with silver fluid with mimetic properties. The Silver Blood sampled the crew's DNA and created duplicates with identical memories and personalities but with the ability to survive on the planet. The silver blood would not let Voyager leave unless it could duplicate the rest of Voyager's crew to populate the planet. Captain Janeway, understanding that this was their only way out, allowed the "silver blood" to duplicate the crew. In 2375, this duplicate crew- unaware that it was a facsimile of the original Voyager crew- had managed to recreate Voyager and begun their own trip home, but began suddenly dying one by one due to warp drive radiation caused by an enhanced warp drive they had developed. Even after finding out their true identities, the Janeway duplicate attempted to continue their mission to get back to Earth, too caught up in the original quest for home to think about stopping, but the death of Chakotay's duplicate forced her to recognize that she was being irrational. They set a course back to the Demon class planet, but everyone, including the duplicate Janeway, died before the ship could reach home. 

Holograms
Kathryn Janeway was holographically duplicated on a number of occasions.
 * Recreations of crew members from Voyager and the Jupiter Station Holoprogramming Center were seen by The Doctor during a holographic malfunction in 2371. This simulation, or daydream, included Janeway, apparently part of a program created by 'Lewis Zimmerman'.
 * A holographic Janeway was used to fool The Clown in the Kohl's artificial hibernation program, created to interact with the Clown as Janeway would while preventing Janeway actually entering the program.
 * The entire crew of Voyager was recreated by Tuvok for his Insurrection Alpha program, Janeway initially away on a mission with Tom Paris before returning to try and retake the ship.
 * The Kyrian Museum of Heritage in the 31st century used the program The Voyager Encounter to detail their encounter with the, as an aid to a history lesson. In this version, Janeway was a darker character willing to use force and murder to make her point, although the Doctor later recreated the 'true' Janeway to explain what really happened.
 * In 2374, The Doctor recreated the crew of Voyager, including Janeway, to help Seven of Nine improve her social skills.
 * The Doctor took a holographic image, down to the subatomic level, of Captain Janeway deleting his memory in 2375.
 * Lt. Barclay recreated most of the crew of USS Voyager at the Communications Research Center on Earth for the Pathfinder Project in 2376.
 * In 2376, Ensign Harry Kim and Seven of Nine projected The Doctor's daydreams into the holodeck aboard Voyager in order to better understand what was malfunctioning. In one such daydream, The Doctor acted as the Emergency Command Hologram after Captain Janeway was incapacitated.
 * In 2378, Seven recreated the crew of Voyager to perfect her social skills, including Janeway.
 * The Doctor's holonovel Photons Be Free was set aboard the USS Vortex and crewed by characters based on the crew of USS Voyager, albeit the names were changed to protect the innocent. The character of Jenkins was based on Janeway but far colder and more brutal, once killing one of her crew so that the novel's protagonist would focus on treating her less injured pilot over the more seriously injured man.
 * The Doctor was forced to impersonate members of Voyager's crew during a crisis in 2378. One was Janeway.

Alternate realities and timelines
In an alternate reality experienced by Kes, Captain Janeway was killed during the first encounter between USS Voyager and the Krenim, requiring Chakotay to take command. In another alternate reality Janeway engaged the Krenim. After a year in which USS Voyager was wrecked nearly beyond repair, pushing Janeway to her psychological limits- to the point where she was only still in command because there was nowhere to contain her for treatment as the ship fell apart around them-, Janeway rammed USS Voyager into the Krenim temporal ship restoring the primary timeline. In an alternate timeline, USS Voyager used a quantum slipstream drive in 2375 but crash-landed on an arctic planet, killing Janeway and the crew except Harry Kim and Chakotay, who had survived the trip in the Delta Flyer. Fifteen years later, they found Voyager and "fixed" history.

In another alternate timeline in which Voyager avoided the nebula that contained the transwarp hub created by the Borg, the ship returned to the Alpha Quadrant sixteen years later than they did in the prime timeline. Janeway became a vice admiral and traveled back in time to 2378, bringing along technology thirty years from the future to help Voyager return to Earth using the previously avoided hub. The Janeway from this timeline had become more obsessed with bringing her crew home after suffering heavy casualties during the remaining sixteen years after they encountered the Borg-infested nebula. She also encountered the Borg several more times, which enabled her to develop new tactics and weapons, which included the ablative generator armor and the transphasic torpedo. It is implied that she had also studied the Borg extensively as she knew the shields protecting the hub were controlled by the Borg Queen herself. She also gave up coffee in favor of tea, but only took up coffee again after she goes back in time to help her younger self get home. This Janeway had become very bitter and lost her idealism, but upon seeing the crew's loyalty, she regained her idealism and agreed to work with the crew to deliver a crippling blow to the Borg and get home. Pretending to be seeking the Borg Queen's help in getting Voyager home because of the stubbornness of her present-day counterpart, this Janeway allowed herself to be captured and assimilated by the Borg Queen, infecting her with a neurolytic pathogen, killing her and destroying the Borg Unicomplex. She died in the explosion, but her sacrifice allowed Voyager to finally return home while destroying the Borg transwarp hub. 

Chronology

 * 20 May, 2330s/2340s: Born in Bloomington, Indiana, on Earth
 * 2350s/2360s: Serves as science officer aboard the USS Al-Batani under future Vice Admiral Owen Paris
 * 2365: Serves as commander aboard the USS Billings
 * 2371: Assumes command and becomes captain of USS Voyager; while looking for a Maquis ship in the Badlands, she was hurled to the Delta Quadrant along with her ship and crew
 * 2373: Forges a temporary alliance with the Borg to fend off Species 8472
 * 2374: Re-establishes contact with Starfleet Command through the Hirogen communications network
 * 2377: Aids a group of Borg drones that reside in Unimatrix Zero and who have a genetic mutation by sending a virus which would make those drones aware of their surroundings in the real world so they could resist the Collective
 * 2378: Returns to the Alpha Quadrant after being stranded for seven years in the Delta Quadrant via the use of a Borg transwarp hub; shortly thereafter, she is promoted to the admiralty and assigned to Starfleet Command
 * 2379: Orders Captain Jean-Luc Picard to Romulus for a diplomatic meeting with the new Praetor Shinzon

Background
Kathryn Janeway was played by actress Kate Mulgrew. The character was originally named Elizabeth Janeway. (VOY Season 2 DVD trivia text version of ) Due to legal aspects (specifically, that a prominent person, an actual American feminist writer, named Elizabeth Janeway existed), the name had to be changed. At the request of French-Canadian actress Genevieve Bujold, who was to play the role, the character was renamed "Nicole Janeway". Bujold left the cast of Voyager during filming of the pilot,, and was replaced by Mulgrew. At that time, the character's name was once again changed to its final form – Kathryn Janeway.

The first season DVD release includes the first public release of footage featuring Bujold as Janeway. The extant footage shows a subdued Bujold; accustomed to the big screen, her quiet, nuanced acting style did not blend well with the rest of the cast. When she left the set after two days of filming, Kate Mulgrew, who had been Brannon Braga's second choice, was asked to come back for another audition.

In many long and reverse shots, Sue Henley played Janeway, functioning as Mulgrew's stand-in and body double. The young Janeway in was played by an unknown actress, while photo double Erin Price stood in for Mulgrew in the last episode,. In the episode, Janeway was briefly portrayed by Robert Duncan McNeill after exchanging DNA with Tom Paris, whose DNA had been previously taken by the impostor "Steth."

Numerous other actresses have claimed that they were or have been reported in the media as having been considered for the role of Janeway, most notably Susan Gibney and veteran science fiction TV actress Erin Gray. Others considered include Patty Duke, Nicola Bryant, Joanna Cassidy, Linda Hamilton, Carolyn McCormick, and Lindsay Wagner.

Janeway's birthplace of Bloomington, Indiana, is most likely a nod to Jeri Taylor, who co-created Star Trek: Voyager and was born in the same city. Bloomington is also the town in which Taylor's alma mater, Indiana University, is located.

The shooting script of directly refers to the popularity of the Janeway character, stating, "She has lost none of her dry humor and down-to-earth charm which made her a household name and beloved cult figure."

Apocrypha

 * In the Voyager relaunch book series, Admiral Janeway taught at Starfleet Academy with Tuvok.
 * Janeway was mentioned in the Deep Space Nine book trilogy Millennium. In the book's alternate future, Janeway and Voyager returned to the Alpha Quadrant at an unspecified time. After the destruction of Earth, Janeway, along with The Doctor, Admiral Seven of Nine, and Hugh negotiated an unholy alliance with the Borg, as a desperate measure to stop Weyoun and the Pah-wraiths from destroying the universe. The cornerstone of Janeway's plan was Project Guardian. The goal of Project Guardian was to use the Guardian of Forever to go back in time and destroy Bajor. Although such an act would violate the Temporal Prime Directive, at least it would save the universe. On December 22nd, 2399, the combined Borg/Federation fleet arrived at the Guardian's planet to find it was interdicted by hostile Grigari forces. What followed was six days of fighting. Finally, on December 28th, Janeway and an army of Federation troops made it to the surface, the Guardian in sight. At that moment, Janeway knew that she had won, that victory was in hand. However, the Grigari were ready for her. They activated a singularity bomb, which created a black hole, killing all who were present. Janeway, the Borg and Federation fleets, the Guardian, and the Grigari were all killed. The timeline was later reset thanks to Captain Sisko.
 * In the Next Generation prequel The Buried Age, it is revealed that Lieutenant Janeway participated in an archaeological expedition led by Captain Picard a few years after the destruction of the Stargazer, where a plan of Janeway's to access a location isolated from the rest of the universe by a quantum field results in the accidental death of three of the four aliens trapped there; Janeway later notes that, if placed in a situation where her own interests and the well-being of another race are in conflict, she will choose the second option. When assembling his crew for the Enterprise-D, Picard attempted to recruit Janeway, but she was on another long-distance assignment and could not be reached.
 * In the Next Generation relaunch novel Before Dishonor, Janeway was assimilated by the Borg in the year 2380 and is made into their new Queen. An attempt by Seven of Nine to rescue her resulted in the defeat of the Collective, but Janeway herself was apparently killed. Her final fate was left uncertain, as it was implied that she had become a companion of Lady Q. Her death was confirmed in the Full Circle novel.
 * In "Places of Exile", a story in Star Trek: Myriad Universes - Infinity's Prism, an alternate version of Janeway is presented, who is stranded in the Delta Quadrant along with the rest of the Voyager crew. She eventually is instrumental in helping to form a Delta Quadrant version of the Federation, as well as beginning a relationship with Chakotay, and bearing his child.
 * In the Star Trek Online multiplayer game, Admiral Janeway is alive and well in the year 2409, and is one of the principal backers of scientific investigation into the Supernova of 2387 which destroyed Romulus. When the player speaks to the Trill astronomer Damar Kahn aboard Starbase 114 during the episode titled Heading Out, this information is revealed through Kahn's dialogue text.
 * In the Voyager novel, The Eternal Tide, it is revealed that Janeway's conciousness was intercepted by Lady Q as a favor for her son. Lady Q extended the instantaneous moment between life and death experienced by all beings to a point where Janeway exists in this manner for over a year. With assistance by Lady Q, Q Junior, and Kes, Janeway is able to return to her human body, sans Borg implants, and travel to the Voyager fleet in the Delta Quadrant in September 2381, in order to aid in Voyager saving the universe from an early death via the Omega Continuum. With the absorption of Fleet Captain Afsarah Eden into the Continuum from whence she came, Starfleet Command places Janeway as the new Admiral in command of the Voyager fleet. Janeway also renews her romantic relationship with Captain Chakotay.