Fanfic Recs / Star Trek: Voyager

Proof that the remaining 10% is worth getting stranded in the Delta Quadrant for here... although you really shouldn't.

These are recommendations made by Tropers for Star Trek: Voyager fanfics, all of which have to be signed to stay on the page. Feel free to add a fanfic of your own to the list, but remember to use the template found here.

You can also add to the current recommendations if you want. Refrain from posting Conversation in the Main Page though; that goes in the discussion page.

An index of all Star Trek Fanfiction Recommendations pages can be found here.

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General Fics

Stories focused on the family and the friendly relationships of the cast. Plot-focused stories or light day-in-the-life stories. Pretty much anything that isn't focused on romance.

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The Best of Both Girls by Jim Wright (of Delta Blues)

• Recommended by Nate the Great
• Status: Complete
• Synopsis: The Borg have abducted Captain Janeway to discuss the Species 8472 invasion. After Kathryn proposes an alliance they attempt to assimilate her. She notices the power vacuum left by the death of the Borg Queen in Star Trek: First Contact and takes over the whole Borg Collective as the new Queen. And that's just the beginning...
• Comments: The story is complete, so you won't be Left Hanging. Be aware that this was written back in 1999, so more recent developments aren't present. The story won a few awards back in the day, including Best of Trek Fanfic. And since Jim had done so many reviews for Delta Blues he knew how to write the characters. If you pay attention you'll find cameos and Continuity Nods from all over the Trek metaverse.

Revisionist History by Penny Proctor

• Recommended by Across The Stars
• Status: Complete
• Pairing: Janeway/Chakotay
• Summary: Fifty years after Voyager's miraculous return, long-hidden truths come to light - about a Captain who risked everything to save her crew, and a love story for the ages that defied all odds.
• Comments: Written in late 2000 and finished in early 2001, this epic story of Voyager's return concerns Jake Sisko as he looks for the woman behind the Starfleet legend and exposes truths long kept buried. One of the best fics in any genre, ever, about a love story for the ages. Disregards the last half-season of Star Trek: Voyager. A must-read for any fan, especially those dissatisfied with the ending Voyager got.

Things of Which We Do Not Speak by Jadzia Katheryn.

• Recommended by The Cheshire Cheese
• Status: Dead
• Summary: Short, light chapters, delving into how certain characters live with certain experiences that are never mentioned on screen after the episodes in which they occured. The first chapter focuses on Samantha Wildman's thoughts about her daughter really being a "duplicate." The second focuses on Tom Paris' thoughts about the three offspring he sired with Janeway in "Threshold," and how it may have contributed to B'Elanna's fear of him abandoning her.
• Comments: Sadly, this fic is unfinished, and likely never will be. However, these two chapters are a must-read for any fan who is very interested in the characters of "Voyager." The author manages to take the notoriously absurd ending of "Threshold" and turn it into a serious piece of literature.

Mixed Feelings by 50of47

• Recommended by The Cheshire Cheese
• Status: Complete
• Summary: A short story focusing on Janeway's feelings after "Tuvix." Janeway confides in Chakotay with her moral dilemma, and how she rationalized what she did to Tuvix.
• Comments: A must-read for any fan who was disturbed by the ending of the episode "Tuvix." This story provides a much-needed closure for the episode, that makes Janeway's actions more acceptable to the audience.

Talking Stick/Circle Series by Little Otter (Macedon) and Peg Robinson

• Recommended by Bucco Babe, Tropers/Esteis
• Status: Complete.
• Synopsis: A "braided novel" of eight stories and novellas. Too sprawling (in the grand sense) in scale and reach to reduce to a mere synopsis; let us just say that this is Voyager unfettered and red in tooth and claw, such as Paramount with its nice tidy pander-to-the-demographics mentality could only dream of producing. Faith, community, alienation and belonging, honest conflict between Maquis and Starfleet, and the realities of life far from home and safety.
• Comments:
  • Begins during series season two, and events from that point and earlier continue to play a part in the stories. Only moved into an alternate timeline because it was being written as the series aired, and the authors found it too difficult to maintain continuity when a stray televised remark might undo extensive plot developments.
  • Both writers are keenly aware of how culture, psychology, and intentions can interact so that every situation means different things to different characters. The series is worth reading for the character writing alone, including the non-point-of-view characters.
• Pairing(s): Janeway/Chakotay, Paris/Torres, Kes/Neelix
• Tags: Alternate Universe

Caretaker by Red Imperator

• Recommended by Buran
• Status: Dormant
• Synopsis: In the author's own words:
  Once upon a time, I had an idea for a little side project. I thought it might be fun to rewrite the pilot episode of Star Trek: Voyager as a novella-length story, keeping the basic plot elements and characters, but taking a totally different approach to it, sort of a "If I had been Voyager's executive producer" project (with a side of "If we had a motion picture budget" and "If we were on a premium cable channel instead of a broadcast network").

A quick summary of some differences from canon:

• Janeway starts the story as a science lieutenant.
• The Kazon are made into truly interesting and threatening villains while keeping their basic hat as space pirates.
• The Caretaker and the Ocampa are initially far more enigmatic.

• Comments: Sadly unfinished, with no new posts since December 2012. Nonetheless I highly recommend reading it. It grabs you by the throat and doesn't let go. The space battles are easily as good as anything from Ender's Game, while still feeling like they belong in Star Trek; there's real conflict between the Starfleet and Maquis crews; the cast get to be badasses while maintaining excellent characterisation. While there's some foul language that's uncharacteristic of Trek, it works for the story rather than being out of place. This fic is what the show could and should have been had the writing been firing on all cylinders.

Voyager Haiku by MagdeleneJaneway and co-creators

• Recommended by ErikModi
• Status: Active
• Synopsis: A series of haiku based on each Voyager episode (thus far up to "Distant Origin"). Some humorous, some heartfelt, all seeking to capture the love of Voyager in haiku form.

Cavit Ro Voyager Alternate Retelling by Apostrophe N

• Recommended by raffitz
• Status: Season One complete, Season Two ongoing with frequent updates
• Synopsis: A re-telling of Star Trek: Voyager's first season with two major changes: First, the Voyager senior crew who survived the trip to the Delta Quadrant is reversed, leaving Commander Cavit, Lieutenant Stadi, Doctor Fitzgerald, Lieutenant Honigsberg, and the unseen chief science officer (Zandra Taitt, from Star Trek: The Next Generation) alive, but leaving the crew without Captain Janeway, Tom Paris, or Harry Kim. Second, the Maquis ship pulled into the Delta Quadrant wasn't Chakotay's, but rather a newly-"acquired" Maquis ship, captained by the former Lieutenant Ro and a different group of Maquis.
• Comments: It captures the best of Berman-era Star Trek without all the problems associated with it (Berman's hostility towards queer representation, for instance). The changes between alternate Voyager and the canonical ship serve at times to highlight the choices and character of the characters, other times to show what Voyager could have been like without the constraints of a TV budget, and also to explore wholly original concepts. Often all three at once.

Continuation Fics

Voyager Virtual Season 7.5

• Recommended by Big T
• Status: Dead (last updated March 2016)
• Synopsis: A combination Continuation and Fix Fic, this one picks up halfway through season 7, after the episode "Shattered", in order to override the panned ending of the series. It lasts 3 seasons.
• Comments: Unfortunately, this was not completed, and, in fact, is now only available from the Internet Archive or a mirror. Still, the stories are good enough that I couldn't leave them be.
• Update: Starting in August of 2013, the Voyager Season 7.5 team began uploading to fanfiction.net. The second to last episode was completed on January 28. A season finale is currently in the works.

Voyager Virtual Seasons 8 and 9

• Recommended by Big T
• Status: Complete
• Synopsis: A pure Continuation of Voyager, resolving what happened to the Borg, Section 31, while allowing a new enemy and explaining the actual purpose of Voyager's mission in the Delta Quadrant. It wraps up the story in a much more compelling way, resolving nearly everything the fans complained about.
• Comments: The best of the virtual seasons, this one is actually completed. It lasts two seasons, as you would expect, and is even "reviewed" on FiveMinute.net. It also really doesn't break continuity, at least with onscreen canon. If you found the ending of Voyager unsatisfying, this will fix you up.

The Unforgotten by Ananke

• Recommended by The Cheshire Cheese
• Status: Complete
• Pairings: Paris/Torres, Paris/Kes, Kim/Linnis
• Synopsis: Years after "Endgame," an elderly Tom Paris visits the Guardian of Forever, to ask about an alternate timeline. Accompanied by his daughter Miral, and Harry Kim, Tom watches scenes play out from the "Before and After" timeline, and compares his possible future with Kes to his "real" life with Torres and Miral.
• Comments: This is one of the only fics out there that deals with comparing Tom's possible family with Kes to Tom's "real" family with B'Elanna. Paris/Torres shippers may be saddened at the beginning of the story, but will probably feel uplifted by the end. This story is not too long, and can be read in one sitting.

Futility by Jim Into Mystery

• Recommended by JBC 31187
• Status: Complete
• Synopsis: After the Borg invade again, the Federation and the Alpha Quadrant declare war. Admiral Janeway leads the united fleet against the Borg juggernaut, no matter what the cost. One Federation commander and his followers begin to question Janeway's judgment after the Borg counter-attack, but there's more at stake than even the Alpha Quadrant.
• Comments: A series of stories that takes place after Janeway successfully waged a one-ship campaign against the Federation's most feared enemy, the Borg. The main focus is on the war and its cost. The stories discuss many things, such as: the Borg agenda, what they mean by "improving the quality of life for all species" (and how some may be attracted to that), daily life for non-Borg in the Delta Quandrant, why the Q are wary of the Borg, and that one time Paris and Janeway turned into lizards.

Humor/Parody Fics

The Voyager Coronary by Cureboy

• Recommended by The Cheshire Cheese
• Status: Complete
• Genre: Humor/Parody
• Synopsis: One of the oldest and greatest "Voyager" parodies out there, "Coronary" spoofs the various plot-holes and cliches used in the show; the idea being that the author wants to give the nitpickers a coronary. This is actually a series of "episodes," that start while Voyager is still in the Delta Quadrant.

Star Trek: Series ? by Krenim

• Recommended by The Cheshire Cheese
• Status: Dormant
• Genre: Humor/Parody
• Synopsis: Captain Braxton and Lt. Ducane's adventures aboard the timesihp Relativity, as they travel to various points in "Star Trek's" history. Realizing he and Ducane lack a crew for their time ship, Braxton recruits dead officers from past centuries (by beaming them up seconds before they are killed, so as not to disrupt the timeline), and collects some other wayward misfits as well. The gang ends up including Tasha Yar, Jadzia Dax, Damar, Xaronna (wife of Annorax), Kes, and many more.
• Comments: Inspired by "The Voyager Coronary" and hosted on the same site, one can expect the same cartoonish, raunchy humor. Though this starts primarily as a "Voyager" spoof, "Series ?" ends up spoofing all five "Star Trek" series, and several other sci-fi shows (including "Farscape," "Spaceballs," "Babylon 5," and "Star Wars.")

Detox by Andrew J Talon

• Recommended by Terrace
• Status: Complete
• Pairings: Torres/Paris, Harry/Seven
• Genre: Humor
• Synopsis: It's taken some time, but the Doctor has finally determined why things on Voyager are so weird. Short answer, it's Neelix's fault, but not intentionally. Slightly longer answer, everyone was high as a kite ever since the events of "Caretaker" because Neelix's species gives off pheromones that make other races act irrationally, and they've been exposed to it almost constantly for over six years. Now the crew of the Voyager have to pierce the fog of their drugged-out memories and determine what was only a hallucination, and what actually happened...
• Comments: HEARTILY seconded—the author turns an inconsistent and sometimes incoherent show into an endless mine of pure comedy. Openly inspired by SF Debris, Talon uses SFDebris staples like Mad Scientist Janeway and original ideas (such as Harry Kim being a walking incarnation of James Bond-esque masculinity when not around Neelix's pheromones) to ruthlessly yet affectionately parody Voyager's root problems and most cringe-worthy moments. Even "Threshold" is entertaining! Also, the treatment of Kes and the holodoc as the only sane people on the ship for 6+ years makes perfect sense in hindsight.

Dear Fanfiction Writers: VOY Style

• Recommended by Unicorndance
• Status: Complete
• Pairing: Just the canonical Paris/Torres. Janeway/Chakotay gets Ship Tease'd but it's made explicit that they're not a couple. A bazillion other ships get lampooned.
• Synopsis: Inspired by Zelda 12343's fic "Dear Fanfiction Writers: TOS Style!". When Voyager makes a connection to the Alpha Quadrant, they find that there's one of those irritating temporal anomalies in the way, and they've connected to something they'd never expected... And they have something to say.
• Comments: A variation on the common fanfic plot "Dear Fanfiction Writers", which have the characters complain to the writers about how they're written. It manages to be hilarious but keep everyone in character, Janeway in particular. Definitely check it out if you're sick of the cliches like improbable shipping and Neelix hate.

Uninspired Voyages by Andrew J Talon

• Recommended by Agent_B
• Status: Ongoing
• Genre: Humor/Parody
• Synopsis: A trouble magnet Starfleet Intelligence Agent finds himself on the USS Voyager. Hilarity and complexity ensues.

Shipping Fics

A Fire of Devotion by Zeus Parker

• Recommended by N_Dreiling
• Status: Complete
• Pairing: Seven of Nine/Samantha Wildman
• Synopsis: This 4-parter explores how some events in the show's final 4 seasons may have gone had Seven of Nine entered a romantic relationship with Ensign Samantha Wildman.
• Comments: While the main focus is on the couple, other changes are made to the Voyager canon for the purposes of the story, including but not limited to having the Talaxian/Haakonian War be a war of choice that Neelix objected to rather than simply being a deserter, Harry Kim remembering the "Year of Hell", Jaffen deciding to go with Janeway at the end of the "Workforce" two-parter, and Chakotay dying in "Friendship One" rather than Joe Carey. In addition, the author came up with a creative way to explain the Borg's Villain Decay in the series proper, rather than taking the more common fix fic route of making the Borg threatening again. If anything, he turns the Borg's Cosmic Faceplant (to use an SF Debris term) up to 11. This also sets up an excellent Precision F Strike for Seven of Nine.
  Borg Queen: We have lost many of our voices, but they will be replaced. A newer, stronger Collective will rise. The Cybermen failed. You failed. And your crew will be the first of my new drones. But not you yourselves, no. You, Captain Kathryn Janeway, and you, Seven of Nine, will be the last act I take as the emotional, petty, being the Cyberman virus left me. As my last bit of spite before I return to being what I was always meant to be, a creature of logic, a part of a hive mind, will be this; I will decorate my central alcove with your bones!
  Seven of Nine: Yeah, fuck you too.

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