Alternate Reality: Voyager's "Alliance"

I've been watching episodes from Star Trek: Voyager, Season 1, and recently viewed the episode titled "Alliance."

In summary, the story involves an attempted alliance between Voyager and the Kazon-Nistrim that doesn't work out. After a series of brutal attacks by the Kazon, Janeway is persuaded to ally with Maje Culluh and Seska, the Cardassian undercover operative. Of course, this doesn't play out as they hoped, and in fact made things worse.

I couldn't help but think what might have happened if the alliance actually succeeded one way or another. Perhaps Seska convinces Culluh to keep his trap shut, perhaps he is killed and a more reasonable leader steps in, or perhaps Janeway falls victim to an exploding EPS conduit. In any case, this alternate diverges with a successful alliance with the Kazon-Nistrim, and Voyager's path takes a very wide turn...

"U.S.S. Voyager, Captain's Log Stardate 49337.4: As a consequence of the most recent Kazon attack, Captain Janeway was killed when an EPS manifold exploded and the blast showered her with shrapnel. Despite the best efforts of the EMH, the captain died on the operating table.

"Despite my own misgivings, I assumed command of Voyager when Commander Chakotay received a lethal dose of radiation attempting to seal a breach in Engineering. Though I have served as Tactical Officer on Voyager for nearly a year, and despite my extensive history with Captain Janeway, I have never considered myself viable as commander of a starship. Nevertheless, Voyager needs a captain, and I am the senior officer.

"While many items demand my consideration - choosing a new First Officer, planning for the extensive repairs necessary - my most pressing concern is preventing further attacks that could ultimately lead to Voyager's capture or destruction.

"I have dispatched Mr. Neelix to the Kazon stronghold of Sobras to make contact with the Kazon-Ogla, but have taken the additional step - at the recommendation of Lt. Torres - of contacting Seska and working with her as an intermediary to forge an alliance with Maje Culluh and the Kazon-Nistrim. Despite my reservations, Seska assures me that Culluh is open to a potential alliance. He will most certainly make numerous unreasonable and illogical demands, but I am confident that we can come to a mutually beneficial arrangement that will prove stabilizing for this region of space.

"Will this decision prove correct? Only time will tell."

With Lieutenant Tuvok in command, Voyager rendezvoused with the Nistrim flagship and the crew met with Maje Culluh and Seska. As predicted, Maje Culluh made demands completely unacceptable to the Starfleet personnel, but - unlike the outcome in the standard universe - Tuvok suggested that he would consider a crew exchange between the Kazon and Voyager crew. With that change, the alliance was formed and the pact sealed.

Flash forward two years...

After a mutiny of Maquis and Starfleet crewmembers, Tuvok, Lt. Carey, Ensign Harry Kim, and a handful of Starfleet personnel were put off Voyager. They were given a shuttle and several weeks worth of supplies, and they proceeded on their way, setting a course for Federation space. Despite Seska's assurances, many assumed that the Kazon ambushed them shortly after they left the system, but no concrete proof was found one way or the other.

With Seska in a masterful position, the Kazon and Voyager crews did indeed integrate. Lt. Torres, still angry at Seska for her betrayal, managed to put aside her half-Klingon rage and work with her new ally. Indeed, after being placed in command of Voyager, Torres made the decision to actually make a concerted effort to get along and make the alliance work. While they did not completely abandon Starfleet regulations and protocols, Voyager and her crew discovered a newfound flexibility that neither Janeway nor Chakotay would have permitted.

The sheer power of Voyager prevented the Kazon-Nistrim from simply seizing the ship (along with Torres' reprogramming of the computer core, making such an action impossible). However, the resources suddenly at their disposal allowed the Voyager crew to upgrade numerous systems, secure fuel for power production, and reproduce various technologies (including replicators, transporters, and computer systems) to upgrade the Nistrim vessels. Within months, the Voyager-Nistrim alliance boasted seven ships fitted with phasers and quantum torpedoes, transporters, replication capabilities, and cloaking devices constructed by Torres and her engineers in collaboration with Seska.

While Torres maintained the desire to return to Federation space, she and her advisors were convinced by Seska that any such return would result in their immediate arrest and likely permanent detention both for their Maquis activities as well as fomenting mutiny aboard a Starfleet vessel. Given the available options, Torres made the decision to settle in the Hanon star system at the edge of Kazon-Nistrim territory. Against the protestations of Seska, Culluh, and several crewmembers, B'elanna chose to disassemble Voyager and use its materials and technologies to build a new colony.

Again, despite the Kazon rage at the decision, Seska assured Culluh that the secrets of the Federation's technology were now theirs and could be produced at will. Many of Voyager's crew, uninterested in settling on Hanon IV, chose to sign onto a Kazon crew, while others opted to take one of Voyager's remaining shuttles and leave the sector. Still others made contact with other local species, made agreements and pacts of their own, and made their own ways in the Delta Quadrant.

With a fleet of ships more advanced than any sect, Culluh and Seska spent their days forcing capitulation from the other sects, destroying the enemies of the Nistrim, and establishing the foundations of the First Kazon Autocracy. The Talaxians, Trabe, and other indigenous peoples found new reasons to fear the Kazon, and the appearance of their Trabe-Starfleet hybrid vessels were dark omens to those worlds around which they took up oribt.

I've long considered this as an interesting Episode or even Series seed, and - after fleshing it out - considered sending my PCs from my Starfleet Cadet Series into an alternate reality where they would encouter the remnants of Voyager's crew, elements of the expatriated crew who left the planet, and even the alternate Tuvok and crew.

While I may never use it, I thought that it was worth sharing.

mactavish out.