Delta Quadrant IDIC Week: The Voyager Conundrum

In 2371, the starship Voyager was pulled 70,000 light-years away from home to the far reaches of the Delta Quadrant by an entity known as the Caretaker, who was looking for a species genetically compatible with his own to create an offspring with in his final moments of life. Unfortunately for all involved, the Caretaker was unsuccessful in this task and died, leaving his powerful space station (known as The Array) unoccupied.  While Captain Janeway could have used the array to send her crew home, doing so would have left the race it depended on (the Ocampa) at the mercy of their enemies (the Kazon), and so Janeway destroyed the array, even knowing that it would mean a 75-year journey home for her crew.

We know that at least one other Starfleet vessel, the USS Equinox under Captain Ransom, was also pulled into the Delta Quadrant. What would your primary character have done in this situation? How would they react being faced between a choice between strangers and their own crew?

In 3,000 words or less of fiction, describe the scenario in which rather than the USS Voyager being pulled through into the Delta Quadrant, it’s your own ship and your own main character. What were they doing before they were pulled through to the other side? How do they interact with the Ocampa and Kazon? And in the end, what is their decision?

Submit your entry as a document or a PDF here.

Suggested Genres:

• Short Story
• Captain’s Log
• After-Action Report
• Federation News Network Retrospective Interview

Criteria

• Entries should be a minimum of 1,000 words and a maximum of 3,000 words, exclusive of titles. Please submit your entry through this Google Form: https://forms.gle/SXZZyfSevQdoYKoP6
• Entries should contain a complete narrative with a beginning, middle, and end. Entries will be judged on creativity, style, adherence to the prompt, and appropriateness for the setting. Spelling and grammar will not be important judging criteria but will be used to break ties.