Fanfic / The Quick and Easy Path

The Quick and Easy Path is a crossover fanfiction between Star Wars and Star Trek: Voyager.

The USS Voyager has just passed a nebula with elevated neutrino emissions. Despite the possibility of a way home, Janeway orders her ship to continue on. Millions of light-years away, a war against extragalactic invaders has become dire, leading the New Republic to send a ship-of-last-resort to a distant galaxy in hopes of finding a place to escape the invaders...

The story is complete.

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Tropes in The Quick and Easy Path:

• Aggressive Negotiations: The Vidiians and Hirogen try to have a productive diplomacy session. Except some of the "guards" they've brought aren't on the same page, causing this trope when they open fire on each other over the objections of the negotiators.
• Alternative Calendar: Comes up in the Captain's Log in the form of "stardates" as usual for Star Trek, with the intent of providing a point of reference for the passage of time.
• The Ark: The purpose of NRSS Redemption. The Yuuzhan Vong have the New Republic on the back foot, so it's sent away in hopes of finding a new place to settle. Janeway flat-out calls it an "arkship of sorts".
• Armchair Military: Proudmoore comes to think this is what the Federation Alliance and Starfleet are, only respecting Janeway due to her "70,000 light-year obstacle course".
• Army of Thieves and Whores: What's left of the Federation at DS9 has to make do with crews of Bajorans, most of whom are refugees at best, or criminals at worst.
• Artificial Gravity: As expected for both universes. Its failure makes boarding a station slightly difficult, though the boarding party uses magnetized boots to overcome any issues.
• Artificial Limbs: See Unwilling Roboticisation below. Lurtarn loses some of his Force powers from this, just like Darth Vader did.
• The Assimilator: The Borg; Seven of Nine notes in her personal log that if the Borg ever got their hands on Redemption's military technology, problems would ensue. Her proposed solution is a typical Understatement—"We will require ways to improve upon it." In ensuing chapters, the Borg do as they've always done, acquiring technology that makes them a greater threat.
• Attack Pattern Alpha: Tuvok uses pattern Delta-Three upon engaging the Borg.
• Awesome, but Impractical: Redemption's existence as this trope becomes very clear over the course of the story. The ship is so big a spy sneaks aboard without anyone noticing, the command center is vulnerable due to overconfidence in the ship's shields/intimidation factor, most weapons can only fire in extremely limited directions, and point-defense is nonexistent, instead relying on swarms of fighters to do the job.
• Background Magic Field: The Force is present and wielders of it are aboard Redemption. One even uses it as a Healing Factor as part of a demonstration. The Borg and their Queen acquire at least some Force powers through assimilation.
• Badass Boast: Kira Nerys is left in charge of a heavily-upgraded Deep Space 9. She assures Admiral Proudmoore, "Either we're going down, or they are."
• Beware the Nice Ones: The crew of Voyager and their allies view Jason Proudmoore through this lens. The worst thing he's done is act slightly pompous due to possessing an immense technological advantage. Which could turn deadly if someone pissed him off. Thus, all involved endeavor not to, though it appears he's a Reasonable Authority Figure rather than a maniac with a Hair-Trigger Temper.
• Bigger Is Better: Discussed and Justified by Proudmoore regarding why his galaxy has such huge ships. A bigger starship will always win over a paper-equivalent fleet of smaller ones because while its firepower remains relatively constant (barring luck to get past the dreadnaught's shields), the fleet of lesser ships gets picked off one-by-one, leaving its single opponent relatively stronger each time a fleet member is destroyed. (Does not apply if attackers are in swarms of fighters!)
• Biological Weapons Solve Everything: The Vidiian approach to their Hirogen problem.
• Blessed with Suck: The Vidiian phage makes them unworthy candidates for Borg assimilation.
• Blood Knight: Worf's worry about recruited Bajorans given a chance to fight for their homeworld and the entire galaxy.
• Blunt Metaphors Trauma: Seven of Nine takes Proudmoore at his word when he says his fleet only needs "meat and potatoes" as provisions. The Doctor corrects her.
• Brain Uploading: Denara Pel gets hit by Explosive Instrumentation; cue upload into a Human Replica Droid.
• Break the Haughty: Proudmoore finally admits he was wrong about the Borg. In his defense, had technology not been stolen from his fleet the advantages possessed by the New Republic would have remained unchallenged.
• Call-Back: Admiral William Ross is still around, and is now actively involved in Section 31 rather than just being a sympathizer. The Borg failed at stabalizing Omega once but appear to have succeeded now. Cue mass Oh, Crap!. B'Elanna Torres recalls unimatrix shielding, realizing it might be useful for a new problem her team is faced with. It turns out data about the Crystalline Entity's structure may help with focusing turbolaser blasts.
• The Cake Is a Lie: Vidiians working for Sela begin to suspect her of this since she has an endless arsenal of excuses but hasn't delivered the Human Replica Droids that would let Vidiians live free of the Phage. They actually call her out, only to be reminded who's in charge.
• Captain's Log: It's not Star Trek without this trope, though it takes until chapter 6 to see anyone (Janeway) recording an entry.
• Casual Interstellar Travel: Played completely straight, though the difference in speed between hyperdrive and warp drive becomes a major plot point.
• Category Traitor: Denara Pel is considered one by the Vidiian Sodality. Odo is also viewed this way by some Changelings.
• Chekhov's Gun: "Large scale" reactor ejection systems come in handy to build a battlestation from ship parts.
• Clarke's Third Law: B'Elanna Torres files hypermatter here, even lampshading it as "[defying] all the science we know". Proudmoore's reaction to the Doctor's Hard Light hologram applies the trope in the other direction.
• Cluster F-Bomb: Proudmoore goes on a Pardon My Klingon version of this after receiving conflicting orders within the span of two minutes.
• Common Tongue: And compatible communications systems to boot (though Redemption was fitted with hundreds of different types of comm arrays due to the nature of its mission). Both sides lampshade the trope.
• Continuity Nod: Captain Janeway notes that if something goes wrong with Voyager's enhanced FTL drive, Proudmoore's people don't know about temporal mechanics so nobody can undo a failed flight. From a Certain Point of View, the Vulcans want to hold everybody back by preventing mass deployment of hyperdrive. Torres thinks Q Junior might mock them as "bipeds staring at screens" since both her and Tom's duties have been reduced to "carefully watch the readout to prevent the ship from exploding". Seven of Nine observes that Tom and B'Elanna are still very loud at night, dashing her hopes that "procreation and the raising of subunits would eliminate the desire to engage in intimate relations". During the Dominion War, Deep Space 9 received a retrofit of additional weapons and upgraded shields. Kira brings this up again, suggesting the station be enhanced still further to fight off the Borg. Captain Janeway recalls her unpleasent experiences involving Q.
• Converging-Stream Weapon: Scimitar's thalaron blaster, mistaken for a superlaser. Admiral Proudmoore ends up explaining/demonstrating exactly what a superlaser does using pirated footage from the days of the Empire depicting the destruction of Alderaan.
• "Could Have Avoided This!" Plot: The Vidiian-Malon war in a nutshell. The Vidiians started it, but the Malon are prone to myth-making, and fearing the "organ thieves" adopt a shoot-on-sight policy. The Vidiians reciprocate, leading to the conflict. Lampshaded by Proudmoore.
• Crossover: Between Star Wars (circa New Jedi Order) and Star Trek (the divergence begins at "Endgame"). This also counts as one internally, as the Star Trek roster isn't limited to the crew of Voyager.
• Curbstomp Battle: NRSS Redemption tears the Borg a new one, even though half her weapons were stripped off prior to launch. Proudmoore thus blows off the Borg as a threat. Seven even agrees with him up to a point but insists if the Borg were to get their hands on anything, Redemption's advantages would probably vanish. The Borg attack a second time and are just as easily dispatched, but as per their status as The Assimilator it's noted they were more interested in gathering information than doing damage... Later, Vidiians find out exactly how useless attacking Redemption is—see Ramming Always Works below. The Borg do get to administer one to the Dominion, which creates an Enemy Mine situation. The roles are flipped when the Borg gain upgrades from New Republic technology, leading to a Redemption escort's complaint: "It's like fighting ourselves!" USS Prometheus makes short work of Malon, after which it's remarked the waste from Malon ships might be more dangerous than the Malon vessels. The whole Federation ends up on the receiving end of one, after hyperdrive-equipped, heavily-enhanced Borg steamroller virtually every member world. We see exactly how powerful the enemy has become when Red Knight 1, a decently-powerful attack ship by Star Wars standards, ends up on the receiving end of this trope.
• Cycle of Revenge: Once the Malon declare war on all Vidiians, the latter reciprocates and like many Real Life conficts, nobody wants to let the enemy get the "last shot".
• Dare to Be Badass: Jean-Luc Picard gives one of these speeches (rather than his trademark) trying to get everyone to work together (and find a way to fit the "Omega Directive"-like procedures into something resembling morality).
• Deal with the Devil: Metaphorically speaking, Picard believes using the "Unassmilator" is essentially this and wonders if civilization will have the strength of character to pull back after the deed is done.
• Death from Above: Proudmoore suggests using a Base Delta Zero (in Starfleet-speak, General Order 24) is sometimes the best solution even if it's an ugly one.
• Death of a Thousand Cuts: Executor-class ships were always vulnerable to this, but the Borg seem to have picked up on it too, much to Proudmoore's dismay.
• Death or Glory Attack: The Federation's attack on Qo'noS.
• Deflector Shields: Redemption has such strong shields it utterly ignores an entire Borg attack.
• Development Gag: As detailed on Memory Alpha, Star Trek is known for its references to this number. Voyager gets a unimatrix warp core after forty-seven separate simulations prove it will work instead of destroying the ship like the last super-fast warp drive did. Seven of Nine catalogues forty-seven separate species with analogues to some (but not all) of the Force powers she observes.
• Divided We Fall: A meeting of the Extragalactic Asset Monitoring Board/Starfleet Command devolves into this as Federation representatives cast doubt on Proudmoore for coming from, in their view, a galaxy of Blood Knights while Proudmoore shoots back that the Federation is a bunch of complacent morons who can't see a major threat right in front of them that may demand getting hands dirty.
• Don't Make Me Destroy You: Admiral Proudmoore drops the trope verbatim against organ-stealing Vidiians.
• Drunk with Power: Averted under normal circumstances for the Borg Queen, but when certain things change, so does her attitude. She really, really likes this "Dark Side of the Force" she's found...
• Dying Race: The Vidiians, courtesy of the phage except that a cure exists—politics is keeping it from being fully deployed.
• Eating the Eye Candy: Exploited; a spy attractive enough to fish for information without arousing suspicion.
• Egomaniac Hunter: The Vidiians have transformed into this, obsessing over Hunting the Most Dangerous Game for their organs.
• Emerging from the Shadows: Picard, of all people. He pulls this on Romulans who were expecting someone else at their rendevous point.
• The Empire: The former Galactic Empire at that. Proudmoore describes their destructive tendancies to his hosts, including a justification for why his Jedi Guardians deflected Scimitar's blast, thinking it a superlaser.
• Enemy Mine: Deliberately invoked between Section 31, Klingon Intelligence, and the Tal Shiar given the level of threat posed by the Borg.
• Exact Words: The Romulans could not contact their fleets or home. Others simply assume that meant assimilation. This is due to a military protocol that orders all assets to go silent until an all-clear is given.
• Explosive Instrumentation: Denara Pel ends up in sickbay due to some exploding components on the holodeck.
• Failed a Spot Check: The Tal Shiar and its allies had to hope the New Republic would do exactly this during the chaos of a Borg attack. They are correct and succeed in stealing a ship. The Tal Shiar builds on what it learned the first time this happened, expoiting the New Republic's casual attitude toward its allies to acquire Human Replica Droids for their Vidiian scientists as payment for services rendered.
• Failsafe Failure: Discussed—Seven of Nine points out how foolish the Redemption's bridge design is. Proudmoore even brings up, then mocks, the destruction of the Executor, ultimately dismissing the issue by a combination of Rule of Cool and the simple fact that they didn't design the ship. Inverted later. The Vidiian station's hanger doors close after the facility is disabled. It's just that the good guys brought some cutting gear...
• Fan of the Past: Exploited due to Redemption trying to speak in blink-code/Morse, Tom is put in charge of trying to figure out both what the new arrival is saying and how to respond.
• Faster-Than-Light Travel: Of course. The difference is that hyperdrives are much quicker than warp drives, which impresses Janeway and suggests there might be a real way home. It turns out even a slower hyperdrive could get Voyager home in thirty hours (instead of thirty years).
• First Contact: As per usual, Federation explorers view meeting any new ship (even a Star Destroyer) as this. Janeway gripes that her chance might be ruined by "Borg paranoia".
• Fixed Upward-Facing Weapons: A big weakness of Executor Star Dreadnaughts. Most of their armament is on the "top" (the side the bridge tower sticks out of), so if anyone attacks from the very large arcs that aren't the top, it creates a slight problem.
• For Want Of A Nail: Captain Janeway makes a throwaway comment that turns into this trope. She tells the Vidiians they should restrict their organ piracy to those who place a similar (lack of) value on life as they do. So they start a war with the Hirogen.
• The Friend Nobody Likes: After a certain incident, Proudmoore all but calls out the newly-created Extragalactic Asset Monitoring Board for treating him like this (mostly out of fear of what he could do if someone pushed him in the wrong direction).
• Full-Name Ultimatum: Proudmoore ends up on the receiving end ("Jason Arcturus Proudmoore") from Jean-Luc Picard after his Jedi deflect an attack away from his ship but hit a planet instead.
• Fun with Acronyms: The General Emulation and Duplication Initiative (GEDI) attempts to mimick some Jedi Force powers (telekenisis, mind trick, acrobatics) for Human Replica Droids.
• Genre Blind: Sela is very grateful the New Republic has a brush with this trope; it allows her forces to obtain technology.
• Godzilla Threshold: Invoked by various characters from those who believe Biological Weapons Solve Everything to people who simply think more drastic, but less-morally-questionable methods are acceptable due to facing The End of the Galaxy As We Know It. Captain Janeway compares the current situation to the Omega Directive, except "for the entire galaxy". Once the emergency is over, she suggests everything can go back to the way it was. Picard sincerely hopes that all involved possess the moral courage to step back "from the precipice".
• Great Escape: Downplayed. Taking advantage of the mayhem taking over the galaxy, subversive elements bust Sela free and it's much easier than expected. It's actually more difficult to free low-level scientists responsible for developing the bioweapon than the person who started it all.
• Gunboat Diplomacy: Exploited by Proudmoore and Martok. Certain Houses are fermenting rebellion, so Redemption visits Qo'noS for a little "weapons test." It works, afterward Martok is "deluged" with people falling all over themselves to pledge their loyalty to him even as some were actively plotting against him previously.
• Hair-Trigger Temper: Downplayed but justified in the case of B'Elanna Torres. She has been upgraded from "Chief Engineer aboard a starship with less than 200 people" to "Co-Chief Engineer on a project to save the whole galaxy". Therefore, she becomes rather sensitive to perceived slights against her engineering prowess, though Tom Paris is able to calm her down.
• Hard Light: Star Trek holograms fall into this category, which isn't what Proudmoore was expecting (he thought Janeway's projection was a Human Replica Droid).
• Hauled Before A Senate Subcommittee: Denara Pel's work has landed her in hot water with the Vidiian Sodality; she's been pushing a phage cure.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: Vidiians firing organ-thieving beams are killed in an explosion caused by their transporters striking a case of thermal detonators. Proudmoore suggests the "Borg problem" may also resolve itself this way since Dark Side users tend to ultimately undermine themselves.
• Holding Back the Phlebotinum: Justified in the case of the Dominion. They figure should an escape be necessary, it would be advantageous to have technology the enemy has not seen yet available. It ends up working as the command battleship successfully runs a gauntlet to the wormhole. Commander Donatra asks Admiral Proudmoore if he's holding anything back since the Borg have gained significant power through Omega particles. Admiral Proudmoore calls out the Romulans for engaging in this behavior.
• Hollywood Tactics: Unfortunately for Proudmoore, his security teams seem to fall into this category versus the Vidiians.
• Honor Before Reason: Captain Picard will not mount thalaron weapons on his ship, even in the face of annihilation. Downplayed in that there are other weapons available that remain effective which he has no problem using, though Commander Donatra does call him out on it. The makers of "Plague" complain even Klingons might not want to use their weapon, after ruling out the "morally-upgright" Federation that won't do what it takes.
• Ignored Expert: Explicitly averted. When it comes time to build a battlestation from cruiser parts, Starfleet's people defer to Proudmoore's on the best way to proceed. The War Council even goes behind their own team's back to have Proudmoore's engineer speed up the plan.
• I'm a Healer, Not a Weapon!: Denara Pel's reaction to being stuck in a weaponized Human Replica Droid.
• Implied Death Threat: Proudmoore distinguishes between a "threat and a promise" while urging his allies to remember what his weapons can do.
• Imported Alien Phlebotinum: Both directions. Star Wars, meet transporters. Star Trek, meet hyperdrives, and the like. The consequences of such are brought up as a topic of discussion once Voyager hitches a ride home in Redemption's hanger. Deconstructed upon Redemption's arrival back in the Alpha Quadrant—all this technology can't be dropped on everyone's heads without impact. The Vulcan member of the Federation Council recalls her own species' encounter with humanity centuries ago when it was deemed irresponsible to do exactly that (much to the chagrin of humans who believed Vulcans were deliberately holding them back). The Federation and its allies are very concerned about hyperdrive technology since it takes Casual Interstellar Travel to a whole different level—someone could start a war and be gone before any response could be mustered.
• Intergenerational Friendship: Harry Kim and Naomi Wildman share a fondness for music and the night shift.
• It's Quiet… Too Quiet: Picard's reaction after scoring a victory against the Borg. Needless to say, he's quickly proven right.
• I Warned You: Directly quoted by Captain Janeway after the Borg do their thing and become dangerous even to the massive Redemption.
• invokedJerkass Woobie: The crew of Voyager sympathizes with the Vidiians, but not their methods.
• Kangaroo Court: Denara Pel gets hauled before a government comittee and one of these.
• Lame Pun Reaction: Played for Laughs. Tom Paris asks if B'Elanna Torres is "feeling the pressure" since she has quite literally been asked to raise warp core pressures to ten times the normal amount. She angrily shakes him before remembering she solved this once before.
• Landfill Beyond the Stars: Exploited by, of all people, the Think Tank. They enlist the Malon to deliver a phage cure to the Vidiians since the Malon put their garbage virtually everywhere that isn't their home space.
• Last Stand: The Borg quickly find Klingons to be far tougher opponents than most assimilation targets, even when deprived of the usual Energy Weapons found in Star Trek.
• Lensman Arms Race: Chakotay comments this must be the reason why Proudmoore's civilization is so much more advanced—they're always trying to kill each other so new weapons are a requirement to survive. It appears the Borg, befitting their role, are beginning to do this as well since their weapons are no longer something Redemption can simply ignore.
• Love Makes You Dumb: Fear of this is the more benign reason (among other tropes) for Regulation 621.
• Ludicrous Precision: Seven of Nine's astronavigation chart. Janeway even asks if she "left out any rest stops".
• Lured into a Trap: Deep Space 9 drops its No Warping Zone field. The Borg pounce... only to be surprised from behind by Redemption and her fleet.
• MacGyvering: Downplayed, but present when there is lots of Imported Alien Phlebotinum. Turn a hyperdrive into a one-use sled that's strapped to a ship with only a warp drive? Check. Retrofit turbolasers onto a station that lacks the energy to run them, after bolting new reactor systems on? Done. Replicators also make this easier since most missing parts can simply be waved into existence anyway.
• Macross Missile Massacre: Proudmoore's ship deploys Missile Boats to ward off Borg.
• Married to the Job: Tom insists Harry qualifies, even going so far as to say he'd make a great dad if he could "divorce Starfleet".
• Matter Replicator: Par for the course in Star Trek; Proudmoore thinks it's nuts and initially asks Captain Janeway if she has someone in her ready room to shove coffee through a slot.
• Meaningful Name: A certain faction of Vidiians has names related to death (Dullahan) or real-life viruses (Mahburge—Marburg Virus, Dengue—a type of fever). In a case of Obviously Evil, a biogenic weapon is literally called "Plague", down to having the word stamped on its containers.
• Mighty Glacier: Torres dubs most New Republic and Galactic Empire ships as these. Compared to the types of maneuverability seen in Star Trek, she's not wrong.
• Mind over Matter: One way Proudmoore's Jedi demonstrate their Force powers—levitating PADDs. Comes in handy later to defend Redemption by shoving aside a thalaron beam aimed at the ship.
• The Mole: Under the holograhpic guise of an innocent ensign, John Harrison does some snooping around Voyager.
• Monster of the Week: Well, more like Negative Space Wedgie of the Week; Voyager's tendency to run into these is lampshaded when NRSS Redemption arrives. Proudmoore dismisses these as issues for hyperdrives (count how many times a Star Trek crew suffers a Phlebotinum Breakdown with their warp drive/core...).
• Mooks: Kyle Lurtarn's (and any Jedi Guardian's) view of Borg drones. Starfleet naturally disagrees.
• Morality Chip: Bioweapon developers had to turn the EMH MkII's off in order to get him to work on their project. Thankfully for the Doctor, his orders don't exceed what's allowed, though he does ultimately express disgust at the end result.
• Motive Rant: Implied, but not detailed. The heroes ignore it until a certain word is uttered.
• My Significance Sense Is Tingling: Jedi Guardians boarding a Vidiian space station say that the installation is "red-hot with rage". Jaina Raynor insists there is some kind of conspiracy afoot during the "cultural exchange." She's right, the Reman warbird Scimitar tries to jump Redemption but is foiled.
• Necessary Drawback: Immunity to ion cannons? Become extremely vulnerable to thalaron radiation...
• Needle in a Stack of Needles: "Nova Terra" tries to fish for information. Unfortunately, since over half her target ship's complement consists of non-military personnel, she can't seem to find anything of interest from anyone in areas a random wandering "civilian" like herself could access without arousing suspicion. Sela finds out that in a galaxy where huge starships are the norm, most craft (even smaller ones around 150m) aren't explicitly designed to land on planetary surfaces, unlike the 300m-plus Voyager.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: The Think Tank's canon actions are still true here, they cured the phage, but that has had political consequences among those affected. Captain Janeway inadvertantly starts a war with a flippant phrase, and upon arriving at a battle in said war she gets called out. During this battle, an injured person on Voyager gets thrown into a bacta tank... which promptly makes their condition worse instead of being the mega-Healing Factor that normally ensues as per Star Wars.
• Nonindicative Name: Star Wars uses "laser" in its weapon names ("turbolaser," "quad laser") but in Star Trek laser weapons are considered weak. When a Hirogen wonders how a laser weapon could destroy two of his ships, Janeway invokes the trope before promising no more escorts will be blown up. Played for Laughs later regarding "All-Terrain" transports, which are fouled up by "log rolls, cables, slightly uneven rocks, and sand".
• Noodle Incident: "What happens on Betazed can stay there."
• No OSHA Compliance: The Malons. Lampshaded by the Doctor ("Malon waste export ships would never pass Federation health and safety standards!"), and one of the reasons for the Vidiian-Malon war. Malon contractors didn't care if their cargo, a phage cure, became contaminated, thus handing a dying species a lethal "cure" which stoked hostilities even more.
• No-Sell: Vidiians can't steal organs through personal Deflector Shields (like the kind Kyle Katarn wears). Redemption also demonstrats exactly how much of a Mighty Glacier it is by shrugging off a Negh'Var warp core breach in order to intimidate those opposing Chancellor Martok. The Borg also begin to shrug off the more powerful weapons of the Dominion, necessitating bigger and bigger ships to chase them off. Ion cannons lose their effectiveness on the Borg as well.
• No Warping Zone: The Vidiians seem to have come up with a technological means of yanking ships out of warp and hyperspace. Detonating Omega molecules has the same effect so when the Borg start harnassing them blowing up Borg attack ships becomes a dicey proposition. Deep Space 9 is fitted with a solar-system-sized version to buy it time if the Borg show up.
• Obviously Evil: A biogenic weapon called "Plague?" How original. The developers of it, however, believe there's no point in hiding their actions as Well-Intentioned Extremists who see themselves as the galaxy's last hope.
• O.C. Stand-in: Denara Pel reappears with an expanded role in Vidiian politics. Kilana, a Vorta seen in a single DS9 episode, also appears. Neela, a terrorist shown in one episode of Deep Space 9 also arrives as a prisoner being offered a pardon in exchange for meaningful work.
• Offscreen Moment of Awesome: At some point, the New Republic usurped the Tal Shiar by growing proper clone bodies for Denara Pel's Vidiians, securing their loyalty. They then sabotage the intelligence triumvirate's biogenic weapons.
• Oh, Crap!: Twice in one chapter, both because the Borg have become more dangerous. The Borg up the ante again by deploying crudely Force-sensitive drones that are able to disarm their opponents from across a room.
• Organ Theft: The Vidiians are still at it. New Republic medics are very confused (one crewman was apparently killed for his ear bones), but for Voyager this is depressingly normal.
• The Pardon: Neela and other criminals locked up by the Bajoran government are given (limited) freedom in exchange for working in a program called "Redemption Through Righteousness".
• Pardon My Klingon: With actual Klingons, no less!
• People's Republic of Tyranny: Discussed. Proudmoore mentions the "United Federation of Planets" might not be as nice as its name seems; Janeway understands his hesitation though obviously the UFP does not follow this trope at all.
• Pet the Dog: The Hirogen, never friends to Voyager, attempt to throw said ship clear of the conflagaration between themselves and the Vidiians.
• Phlebotinum Breakdown: USS Prometheus has a cloaking device, but it won't last very long due to the size of the ship being cloaked.
• Point Defenseless: Executors have a major problem with poor fire arcs; most of their big guns are on the top side. So when the enemy strikes from below...
• Poor Communication Kills: Proudmoore says this in different words ("Nobody talks, everybody dies") when he learns of the Vidiian-Malon war.
• Psycho Serum: The Borg Queen feeds it to an uncooperative prisoner when normal methods won't break that person's control. It causes Kyle Lurtarn to go nuts, unleashing Dark Side powers in an attempt to escape.
• Punch-Clock Villain: The Malon, as befitting their Planet of Hats status as money-obsessed. They work for both the Vidiians and the Hirogen—whoever pays!
• Ramming Always Works: Played straight in a way that is realistic In-Universe—four Vidiian attack ships smash into Redemption but harmlessly explode. Keep in mind that pre-Disney Star Wars has presumably-larger Star Destroyers crash into the Executor (the lead of Redemption's class) while the Executor suffered no damage due to its powerful Deflector Shields. A smaller Vidiian ship predictably accomplishes nothing other than ending up prey when it slams into a much-bigger Hirogen vessel at what would essentially be space fender-bender speeds.
• Readings Are Off the Scale: A hyperspace exit causes this for Voyager's sensors. It's promptly discussed how such large emissions may well get the attention of anyone within several thousand light-years. Occurs again due to an extremely large ship traversing the wormhole.
• Realpolitik: The United Federation of Planets doesn't like the fact that the Romulan Star Empire keeps a Slave Race, but in the interests of maintaining the anti-Dominion Federation Alliance (especially valuable if things head south with Proudmoore) tongues are held.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: Proudmoore seems to be one. Odo and Kilana hope such people are still in charge of the Alpha Quadrant as they flee the Gamma Quadrant since it is now overrun with Borg. Captain Janeway advocates for the release of several near-captives after they prove useful despite the fact that they used to be enemies of the Federation. Jean-Luc Picard's status as this enables him to preside over a court trying a spy who was caught weaponizing Denara Pel's research.
• Red Shirt: Surprisingly downplayed compared to the usual while attacking the Vekah yards—there is only one fatality (plus nine casualties).
• Reluctant Warrior: The New Republic's Admiral portrays himself this way to the denziens of Star Trek, except it's kind of hard for Janeway to swallow given the presence of a massive starship covered in really powerful Energy Weapons. Proudmoore gets called out on how ridiculous this attitude seems to his hosts when his Jedi Guardians defend his ship in a way that ends up harming innocent people. Janeway finally receives an explanation why this is the case; Proudmoore theorizes that the speed of hyperdrive vs. warp drive permitted larger-scale conflicts in his galaxy.
• Rousseau Was Right: Janeway hopes she can talk the Vidiians and Hirogen into a cease-fire since the one Vidiian she meets in the Delta Quadrant with any authority (Custosan) seems to be a Reasonable Authority Figure among Blood Knights.
• Sci-Fi Writers Have No Sense of Scale: Averted for inter-galactic distances. The galaxies are two million lightyears apart—hyperdrives are just really, really fast (especially compared to warp drives).
• Scylla and Charybdis: Risk an Enemy Mine/Teeth-Clenched Teamwork with people who may turn hostile, or watch territory get taken away in a series of unending Curbstomp Battles? The Dominion, facing the Borg, chooses the first option. The heroes view a choice between mass-produced warships (the opposite of what Starfleet stands for) and unrestricted use of biogenic weapons as falling into this trope too.
• Self-Destruct Mechanism: The Borg are seen employing these in battle. When a large number of Borg drones beam aboard Redemption, Oviha Tupa holds a deadman's switch to blow the entire ship if control is lost.
• Sequel Hook: What's coming through that "interdimensional rift?"
• Shoot the Messenger: Our heroes try to do this by accident, not realizing the incoming ship is an actual messenger, not an attack force. Thankfully, Poor Communication Kills is averted and the arrivals Odo and Kilana survive to deliver their very important news.
• Shout-Out: Peppered with them.
  • The New Republic Admiral's last name is Proudmoore. Taken further as one of his staff is named Jaina Raynor.
  • The chapter in which Voyager is actually set to hyperspace home carries the Bookends phrase "Set a Course For Home" as its title.
  • When teams board a Vidiian station, they are told "the light is green".
  • Proudmoore warns the Vidiians "Don't make me destroy you."
  • Chapter 11 is called "Everything is Awesome!"
  • A spy uses "Nova Terra" as an alias, complete with long blonde hair to hide very Romulan ears. Continuing in this vein, we find out Jason Proudmoore's middle name is "Arcturus".
  • Korath is still working on his chrono-deflector but it's decades from completion and Martok punishes him for chasing a "madman's dream" involving starting a war between the Empire and the Federation after the two just kicked the Dominion's arse.
  • A certification held by some civilians aboard Redemption gives them the title "Star-Craft Certified Space Engineer".
  • Several chapter titles reference various memes ("Do Not Want", "Leeroy Jenkins").
  • The Jedi Guardian Kyle Lurtarn channels Poe Dameron in a battle against the Borg, even dubbing them "clankers."
  • A shifty Section 31 agent is named John Harrison.
  • Denara Pel complains her stint in a military Human Replica Droid will be a "year of hell."
  • Admiral Roddenberry orders Redemption to "bottleneck that portal. Light them up!"
  • One Section 31 operative is a descendent of Malcolm Reed who commands the now-captured Prometheus.
  • Kira references using "atmospheric assault craft" in attacks on warp-capable starships.
  • Proudmoore suggests "hitting them with the Empire", straight out of the Star Wars Legends book Rebel Dream.
• Shut Up, Hannibal!: Kilana actually shouts "Shut up" in exasperation (not that they hear her) to the Borg's "You will be assimilated..." speech. She also notes these speeches don't work on Jem'Hadar—it actually makes them fight harder.
• Silly Rabbit, Cynicism Is for Losers!: Some Federation types try this on Proudmoore. Given what's going on in their galaxy, it doesn't work very well and Proudmoore is viewed as a Sour Supporter.
• Simple, yet Awesome: In-Universe, the Applied Phlebotinum that makes Star Wars shields work is considered simpler in design, yet more effective than the bubbles protecting Starfleet ships. You just need more power for them to work properly.
• Skewed Priorities: The Federation view of the Romulan Praetor's protest over the deaths of hundreds of millions being an issue because it deprives them of their Slave Race.
• Space Is an Ocean: Star Wars has a lengthy entry on this trope's page, and the design considerations resulting from such thinking cause trouble for Redemption since most of its firepower consists of Fixed Upward-Facing Weapons.
• Starfish Language: Subverted. Though Kim jokingly suggests Redemption's blink-code might be something very complex by comparing English to Korean, it turns out not to be.
• Stealth in Space: The Scimitar just like in Star Trek: Nemesis though it doesn't work nearly as well when the responding ship just puts up a barrage of turbolaser blasts that hit the cloaked target due to sheer fire volume.
• Stone Wall: Redemption heads in this direction as her weapons are destroyed.
• Suddenly Shouting: Janeway doesn't realize she's yelling as she chews out both Proudmoore and the Federation reps during their Divided We Fall bicker-fest. Kira Nerys also has a volume increase while vowing to make sure nobody at DS9 dies without Taking Them With Us first.
• Sufficiently Advanced Alien: Starfleet personnel learning about Redemption's technology see some of its abilities (shields, weapons) as this. One engineer-turned-politician calls the ship "outrageous."
• Suicide Attack: Zig-zagged. On one hand, some ships attacking Qo'noS are being crashed into Borg. However, the single pilot is set up in an escape shuttle, so while the ship goes on a one-way mission, the pilot does not.
• Taking You with Me: Dom Reed crashes his rapidly-aged ship into a Borg vessel to protect Neela's Bajorans.
• A Taste of Their Own Medicine: Minor example. Seven of Nine, thought to be an Insufferable Genius by her crewmates, gets the same vibe from Oviha Tupa.
• Technobabble: Doesn't really show up in full Star Trek form (the trope could honestly be called "Treknobabble" due to its ubiquity in that 'verse) until Chapter 8, but when it does it's just like you'd expect from the Doctor. Really takes off later once the mish-mash of Star Trek and Star Wars Applied Phlebotinum becomes a central plot point ("multi-resonant, pressurized quantum singularity core" anyone?) Star Wars finally gets one of its own (from the Legends literature)—the Hyperwave Inertial Momentum Sustainer that breaks through No Warping Zones.
• Teleportation: Standard for Star Trek, but the newly-arrived Star Wars people haven't heard of transporters. Admiral Proudmoore is confused—"First I was here, and now I'm [over] here!" Notably, it doesn't work with anyone's shields up (as per usual). When Vidiian ships cause Redemption's shields to flicker, some of them beam aboard. Borg drones later do the same thing to Redemption after it drops shields temporarily to allow allied ships to hide inside its defensive fields.
• Tempting Fate: Harry Kim thinks the nightshift is boring and wishes "something would happen" (though he's Genre Savvy enough to know Be Careful What You Wish For could be in effect and hopes it's not Borg). Another crewmember lampshades it anyway, threatening to blame Kim if something should happen (naturally, it does).
• There Is No Kill Like Overkill: Redemption's weapon demonstration over Qo'noS shows any would-be coup organizers exactly what kind of Death from Above Martok would be able to call down on their sorry heads.
• This Is Not a Drill: Proudmoore's announcement when Borg drones board Redemption.
• Throwing Your Sword Always Works: A common tactic among Jedi shown in Star Wars Legends (particularly its video games), Jaina uses a thrown saber to cut off legs below the knee.
• Unnecessarily Large Interior: Tom Paris, B'Elanna Torres, and others remark on the sheer size of a conference room inside Redemption, the latter commenting that the table alone "might just be the size of one of our nacelles".
• Unnecessarily Large Vessel: The top wing of a Lambda-class shuttle prevents Proudmoore from docking in Voyager's shuttlebay.
• Unwilling Roboticisation: Any "guest" of the Borg. Such as Kyle Lurtarn.
• [Verb] This!: Worf's reaction to the Borg adapting against ion cannon fire. Doing so makes them vulnerable to thalaron weapons.
• We Have Become Complacent: Proudmoore accuses the Federation of living the trope, being too weak to contain the Borg and refusing to acknowledge how dangeorus the galaxy they inhabit is. He implies the Vulcans in particular are prone to relying on Talking the Monster to Death when the better approach is shooting first. Chancellor Martok also says as much, commenting "You Federation types have many soldiers. Not so many warriors."
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: How Sela sees herself for developing biogenic weapons. She also drops We Have Become Complacent, accusing the Federation of tying up the last hope in red tape.
• What the Hell, Hero?: Proudmoore gets quite a sharp one from the Federation Alliance after his Jedi Guardians mount a defense that results in the irradiation of Remus. Proudmoore is none too happy after first being told "Blow up anything that comes through the wormhole." only to be given countermanding oders from the same person two minutes later. Kira Nerys gives it right back at Admiral Proudmoore for firing on Odo's ship as it arrived through the wormhole, though in defense of Proudmoore, nobody knew about this at the time, presuming it to be another hostile incursion. During some alone time, Denara Pel suggests to the Doctor that someone could, in theory, create a virus to destory the Borg. He is suitably unhappy, though she appears to have no intention to actually follow through with her idea. In terms of sheer destruction, Spock suggests Proudmoore's galaxy doesn't care about life since casualty counts from the Yuuzhan Vong War were so high, but gets an earful of I Did What I Had to Do/Godzilla Threshold/I Am What I Am thrown right back.
• Why Don't You Marry It?: In the form of "If you like/trust our mortal enemies so much, you can go talk to them!"
• Zerg Rush: Jedi opinion of Borg drones. When the "zerg rush" suddenly consists of Force-empowered drones, it's a bit more threatening.

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