Kathryn Janeway

Admiral Kathryn M. Janeway was a 24th and early 25th century Starfleet officer. One of the most decorated captains in Starfleet history, she was most noted for commanding the starship during its journey through the Delta Quadrant. Her captaincy of Voyager and its unprecedented journey through the Delta Quadrant became legendary. As the first Federation captain to successfully traverse the Delta Quadrant, she encountered dozens of new planets, and by one Admiral's estimation, made first contact with more civilizations than any captain since James T. Kirk. ()
After Voyagers return, she served as a vice admiral at Starfleet Command, () and later commanded the on a rescue mission in the Delta Quadrant. () While looking for the missing , she helped to stop the Vau N'Akat plot to destroy the Federation. () Janeway later led a covert mission from the to rescue her former first officer Chakotay from the future, becoming embroiled in a potentially universe destroying temporal paradox. ()
After the rescue of Chakotay, Janeway took an early retirement for a quieter life, only to be drawn back in by the Attack on Mars, becoming a fierce opponent to Starfleet's new isolationist policy. () At some point following this, Janeway was promoted to Admiral. ()
== Early life ==
Kathryn Janeway was born on May 20 in Bloomington, Indiana, on Earth. () 
Her father was Vice Admiral and she had a sister, Phoebe who she described as the artist of the family. Janeway once spilled Phoebe's paints and blamed it on their dog. (; ) Her mother was still alive as of 2378. ()
One of Kathryn's favorite foods, Welsh rarebit, was something she always enjoyed while at her grandfather's. () Another was her grandmother's vegetable biryani. () She grew up on the great plains surrounding her grandfather's farm in Indiana. () With their family having grown up around farmers, her parents insisted that she learn some basic gardening skills. ()
When she was a girl, she liked to swim in a swimming pool or a pond – where she knew exactly what was beneath her – but she was scared to death of swimming in the ocean, where in the open water there was no way to know what was down below. ()
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. () Also at the age of six, Kathryn enjoyed an interactive holodeck fairy tale series called The Adventures of Flotter and took ballet lessons, where she learned the dance of "The Dying Swan". She described the dance as being the hit of her "Beginning Ballet" class and 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 that "the biggest ditch on Earth" – as her father used to call it – was too dusty for her liking, and Kathryn always preferred farm country. () 
When she was twelve years old, she walked home in a thunderstorm over seven kilometers because she lost a tennis match. () In 2354, during high school, she gave up playing tennis; she ultimately didn't pick it up again until 2373. () 
Janeway was also experienced in pool, even though the first time she played it with the crew in Tom Paris' 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'Donnel, 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 studied chromolinguistics, American Sign Language, and the gestural idioms of the Leyron. However, she struggled with basic Klingon. ()
== Starfleet career ==
=== Starfleet Academy ===
During Janeway's first year at Starfleet Academy, she overcame her fear of open water after she went through zero g training in the Coral Sea. ()
As a cadet, Janeway learned that a good officer kept an open mind. ()
During her time at the Academy, Janeway developed a close relationship with Boothby, the chief custodian of the Starfleet gardens, who brought fresh roses to her quarters each morning. Janeway 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. Janeway was also considered an intelligent and adaptive cadet. ()
Janeway graduated in the class of 2357 at Starfleet Academy. ()
=== Early postings and assignments ===
==== Service aboard the Al-Batani ====
Janeway's first Starfleet posting was as a science officer aboard the , under the command of Captain Owen Paris. () When she was a science officer, Janeway envied the captain's privilege of making first contact with alien species. () 
While aboard the Al-Batani, she participated in the Arias Expedition. ()
During another mission, the Al-Batani tried to navigate a dense protonebula and became stuck. () 
Janeway once revealed that, at one point during her posting aboard the Al-Batani, she knocked out power to six decks by misaligning the ship's positronic relays. ()
==== Other assignments ====
While she held the rank of lieutenant, she was the member of an away team which defended 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 one of her future closest friends and confidants, Tuvok, in 2356, at which time he dressed her down 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. ()
==== Service aboard the Billings ====
While in her first year as a commander aboard the , 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. ()
=== Commanding the USS Voyager ===
==== Taking command ====
In 2371, Janeway took command of the USS Voyager and received her first general order at Starfleet Headquarters. She was 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 her former captain, now Admiral 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 . 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 because, 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 Talaxian named "Neelix" who, in exchange for water, agreed to help the crews retrieve their 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 – who 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. Evacuating his crew to the Starfleet vessel, 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 decision to merge the Maquis and Starfleet forces was controversial for both sides at first, but the crews soon learned to work together under the new joint command structure. ()
==== 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, who was 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 a polaric ion 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 an 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 a new timeline was created, where the explosion never 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 a pair of 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, having been unexpectedly spared, resolved to do all they could. Kes donated one of her lungs to Neelix. Janeway was furious with the Vidiians and promised them that, should they harm any members of her crew again, she would not be so generous. ()
Janeway also led the ship into a nebula that was really an organic lifeform. Upon discovering that they had injured the space-dwelling being, she and her crew 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 version of 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, Janeway and her crew 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 had no choice but to do what the captain had been 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 that 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 Culluh of the Kazon-Nistrim. Throughout the year, she and Culluh 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, at 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. ()
==== 2372 ====
In 2371, Voyager discovered Amelia Earhart and other Humans in stasis. They had been captured by the Briori to become slaves, but their descendants had revolted and overthrown 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 Voyagers 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. This was the first time 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 Voyagers crew recovered. ()
Janeway also met up with the Caretaker's partner, Suspiria, who had been taking 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 Suspiria that disabled her. ()
Janeway later helped rescue Tuvok and Torres from a Mokra Order prison, after being nursed back to health by Caylem, who believed she was his daughter, Ralkana. 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 and embarked on a warp ten 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 a planet where they had left them. Janeway joked to Paris that, while she had thought about having children, she'd never believed it was going to be with him. ()
Janeway also had her first contact with Q. While exploring a comet, the Voyager crew accidentally released what turned out to be a from the core of the comet. After some time, the well-known Q arrived, telling Janeway that the other Q, eventually known as "Quinn", had 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 the '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 Vidiian ships, Voyager entered a divergence field and was duplicated in nearly every aspect, including the crew. The two ships were connected by a rift in the lower decks that allowed passage between both ships, but they faced danger as they drew on the same antimatter supply. When the Vidiians attempted to board one of the Voyagers, both crews were in danger, and one of the Janeways destroyed her ship, 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 to their original form was to eliminate Tuvix, who protested the murder. Janeway had to execute a new, sentient, and innocent lifeform so that she could have Tuvok and Neelix 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 aliens 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 aliens' fear that something would go wrong). Voyagers crew eventually tricked The Clown into letting his prisoners out by having Janeway connect 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 that he would now vanish. ()
Along with Chakotay, Janeway was subsequently 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 Voyagers defenses. Paris left the ship under a ruse to uncover the traitor in Voyagers crew. Janeway tried to form alliances with the Trabe, enemies of the Kazon, to force both sides to participate in a peace conference; the conference ended in disaster when the Trabe tried to kill the Kazon. () Sometime 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. ()
==== 2373 ====
After Tuvok began suffering a mental breakdown in 2373, Janeway engaged in a mind meld with him, which took them back to his tour of duty on the , captained by Hikaru Sulu. The breakdown was caused by an alien virus that had lain dormant in Tuvok's mind. ()
Voyager was later assaulted by alien ships that attacked in great number. () The Starfleet vessel also came across a planet ruled by two Ferengi who had become 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 it was deadly. It did no harm, and Kes was revived intact. ()
After an encounter with a timeship from the future, Voyager was transported back to the 20th century. They stopped Henry Starling, who had used the timeship for monetary gain, from launching the ship and altering history. The Doctor received his mobile emitter, which allowed 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 who 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 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 Nyrians, who replaced the crew with one of their number using a transporter and imprisoned them on a biosphere ship. Janeway led an escape by securing the transporter and beaming the Nyrian leader to one of their own biospheres simulating a frozen wasteland, forcing them to return Voyager. ()
==== 2374 ====
The following year brought Janeway and Voyager in contact with two dangerous races: the Krenim and the 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, at the cost of one of their two vessels being destroyed by the pulsar, left the ship. ()
The holoprogram Leonardo da Vinci, along with other Voyager technology, was stolen by pirates led by . Janeway found his hideout and recovered the technology, including the Leonardo hologram. ()
Voyager discovered a communications network that allowed the crew 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 managed 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 with the Hirogen that year took place on Voyager. The Hirogen captured the starship 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 French resistance unit during a World War II holosimulation. After becoming aware of what was happening, the crew managed 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. She succeeded in destroying the molecule, but not without opposition from Seven of Nine. Seven, being a former Borg drone, still possessed incredible 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 had been 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 had been manufactured by Arturis so that 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 had been that Species 8472 might defeat the Borg. When Janeway had helped the Borg, his people had subsequently been assimilated, and he now wanted revenge. Janeway managed 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 disagreeing with her, she allowed The Doctor to remain as he was, working out the problems on his own with the support of the crew. ()
==== 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. The dying night being 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 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 to prepare for an invasion of Earth. This was based on Janeway's previous actions in their war with the Borg. When Janeway explained that she did not know that the Borg had started the war and that she hoped they could get home faster, the two groups found common ground. The leader of the simulation, having taken the form of Boothby, invited the crew to stay for a bit and treat it as shore leave, but Janeway politely declined, preferring to get underway for the real thing. ()
Janeway demoted Paris for interfering with a water society. () She later 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. ()
Janeway played the part of Queen Arachnia, Queen of the Spider People, in one of Paris' holoprograms, The Adventures of 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. ()
Janeway saved Voyager and Seven from the Think Tank, a group of aliens who solved problems for a fee. They hired the Hazari to attack the ship, and, in return for solving Voyagers problem with the Hazari, they wanted Seven of Nine. ()
Janeway discovered another Federation ship lost in the Delta Quadrant, the , 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. ()
==== 2376 ====
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 agreeing with a promise to get her crew home. ()
The same year, Tuvok was attacked by cloaked aliens during an away mission, and the weapons fire caused brain damage. Since The Doctor needed to examine the weapon in order to cure Tuvok, Janeway sought the Ba'Neth, the race of aliens responsible for the attack. With the help of Kesat Deputy Investigator Naroq, Janeway succeeded in tracking the Ba'Neth down. She used a photolitic converter to uncloak them. Janeway threatened to expose their location to other races, to which the Ba'Neth responded by handing over the weapon, and Tuvok was thereafter 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 had been destroyed by the Turei. After Seven of Nine opened one of the stasis pods without permission and a Vaadwaur named "Gedrin" was consequently 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. She was unaware, though, that the Vaadwaur were a warrior race which 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 propel a ship many light years away and could thereby cut the time of Voyagers 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 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. Although Sullivan was happily married, 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 without significant harm inflicted on the planet, and, when the civilization 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 years prior, but a synaptic transmitter sent images to anyone who entered the system. This was done as a way of commemorating the people who had 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 – the oldest of the former Borg children – to his parents on the Brunali planet, she found out that his parents only had him so he could be used as bait to defeat the Borg. Without the knowledge of the rest of their people, they had secretly genetically engineered him to produce a pathogen, and, when he was assimilated, the pathogen was spread among the Borg, effectively leading to their termination and causing the situation in which Voyager found their cube. The crew 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 an 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 for 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, which had invaded Voyager, back to its home in a nebula. ()
==== 2377-78 ====
In 2377 and 2378, 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 , which arrived on Voyager through the artificial wormhole Barclay had created to communicate with the ship. Nunk 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, which would destroy the ship, and at the last-minute take Seven and turn her over to the Ferengi. The plot was foiled by Barclay and Starfleet. ()
Janeway dealt with a mutiny by the Maquis, caused by a repressed brainwashing technique implanted into Tuvok by a Bajoran named "Teero Anaydis". () 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 recruited the aid of a past version of Janeway to restore the timeline on Voyager after the ship was hit with a distortion wave. ()
Janeway dealt with Paris and Torres' marriage and pregnancy. She encountered Klingons who lived on a generation ship, 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 had enhanced it so that the holograms had become sentient, but they, under Iden, rebelled, killing the Hirogen and other species they came in contact with. Janeway joined with the Hirogen and defeated Iden as well as his murderous desires. However, 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 workforce. Janeway became romantically involved with another employee 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 had been threatening them. ()
===== Returning 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 a 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 was initially reluctant, but after Captain Janeway got the support of the crew for her plan, the two Janeways teamed 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 Paris, Lieutenant Barclay, and the entire Voyager crew. Voyager was then escorted back home. ()
=== Home again ===
Upon the return of Voyager to the Alpha Quadrant and the decommissioning of the ship, Janeway was promoted to the rank of vice admiral and given an assignment at Starfleet Command. In 2379, she ordered Captain Picard and the 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 discussion, sarcastically remarking how Picard got all the easy assignments, but hoped his luck would hold out. () 
Janeway's renown would spread beyond the Federation. The Pakleds would sometimes conflate any Human female Starfleet captain that they had several dealings with, such as Carol Freeman, with Janeway. ()
Sometime after returning home, Seven of Nine wanted to join Starfleet but they declined her admittance because she was Borg. Janeway fought against this decision to the point where she even threatened to resign but Seven eventually gave up on the idea of joining Starfleet and she ended up joining the Fenris Rangers instead. () 
Shortly after being promoted to vice admiral, Janeway attended the launching ceremony of the , which was equipped with a training holographic program modeled after her. Janeway spoke with Captain Chakotay about his returning to the Delta Quadrant; Chakotay promised that she would be the first one to call if he ran into any trouble, but he never did. At the time, Janeway was one of the most decorated officers in Starfleet history. ()
In the alternate timeline when Voyager returned to Earth in 2394, Janeway became an admiral who had done some work with Starfleet Intelligence, though it had concluded by the time she was guest lecturing at Starfleet Academy alongside then-Commander Reginald Barclay at the Communications Research Center. ()
=== Commanding the USS Dauntless ===
==== Looking for the Protostar ====
By 2384, Janeway commanded the on a mission to locate Chakotay and the missing Protostar. () 
The Dauntless tracked the Protostar's warp signature to a planetoid in the Carina Nebula. Upon arrival to the remains of Tars Lamora, Janeway lead an away team where they discover one lifeform alive but in a form of stasis and believe that he had answers to what happened. ()
Her chief medical officer Doctor Noum was initially unable to revive the patient, until her navigator Ensign Asencia suggested that they replicate the serum found within the patient’s biosuit. Not long after, the Dauntless tracked the Protostar's last movement to Federation relay station CR-721, which had been destroyed. Since she knew Chakotay couldn’t be responsible for the attack on the station, that meant that someone else must be in command of the ship. () By this point, their mysterious patient had woken up but had no memory of who he was or what had happened to him. ()
He did eventually remember that he had a mission and that the Protostar crew had taken his daughter. After locating CR-721’s sole occupant, Lt. Barniss Frex at the Denaxi Depot, Janeway ordered the Dauntless to set a course for the Depot, hoping that Frex could shine light on what had happened. At the depot, Frex reported that the station had been destroyed by six "ruthless savages" dressed as Starfleet. When Frex revealed that one of the marauders had purple skin, Janeway realized that it must have been the young man, a teenager she had just met moments earlier. She then admonished Frex for not telling her that the group in question wasn’t a group of criminals, but simply a bunch of kids.
Suddenly, Janeway was informed that the Protostar itself just lifted up from the planet. Once her landing party beamed back about the ship, Janeway ordered the Dauntless to pursue the Protostar into warp. When the Protostar accidentally fired a torpedo at the Dauntless, Janeway ordered to return fire, careful to disable to the ship and not destroy it. When the Protostar fled into the Romulan Neutral Zone, Janeway was ready to follow them in. However, her first officer, Commander Tysess refused to obey her order since he feared she was letting her desire to find Chakotay dictate her actions, actions which could’ve led to war. ()
Janeway contacted Admiral Edward Jellico, at Starfleet Command to get permission to enter the Neutral Zone, arguing that they couldn’t let the Romulans get their hands on an unknown weapon aboard the Protostar. However, her request was denied, and Jellico ordered her to destroy the Protostar if the Romulans seized it. Though Ensign Asencia volunteered to covertly enter the Neutral Zone to get the ship, Janeway stated that she wasn’t ready to defy orders. Monitoring the Protostar from the other side of the Neutral Zone, Janeway gave the order to destroy the ship when appeared that a Tal Shiar squad was about to board, but quickly belayed the order when the Romulans were suddenly taken out of commission by the Protostar crew. (). 
As the Protostar continually ignored the Dauntless hails, Janeway got a lead when Tysess presented her with a PADD which contained bounty information, names, and images, on the Protostars captors. When Janeway lamented that the Protostar crew weren't criminals, but simply children who got in over their heads, Tysess suggested that she look into who asked for the bounty. When Janeway discovered that it was someone called "The Diviner", she expanded one of the images and recognized that the girl was the same species as their mysterious patient. Wondering if the images could jolt his memory, went looking for him and learned that he was in Ensign Asencia's quarters. After ordering security to look up information on The Diviner, she walked into the quarters and found an artificial lifeform and Ensign Ascencia who now appeared to be the same species as the patient. Before she could do anything, Janeway was knocked unconscious from behind. ()
==== The Vau N'akat plot ====
Later, she woke up surrounded by strange people, whom she recognized as the children who'd stolen the Protostar. Not only was she aboard the Protostar, but she was also somehow in the body of one of the children – Dal R'El. Zero, a young Medusan, explained that in the process of Dal attempting to contact Janeway telepathicly, his neural pattern must have gotten switched with hers – which meant that Dal must be in her body aboard the Dauntless. At that point, the young crew explained their entire situation to Janeway: the discovery of the abandoned Protostar on Tars Lamora, their escape from The Diviner, and the weapon placed on the Protostar, the living construct, which was designed specifically to destroy Starfleet should any Starfleet system link up to it. Recognizing that she'd made some unfair assumptions about the children, a sympathetic Janeway promised to help them any way she could; however, she needed to find some way to get her back to her body back on the Dauntless.
While the crew tried to come up with a solution, Janeway located the hologram version of herself that was loaded onto the Protostar. Though Janeway wasn't able to deactivate the living construct, she was able to restore Holo-Janeway's original program and remove the construct's corruption, which caused Holo-Janeway to take over the ship and set it on a non-stop course towards Federation space. With her memories restored, Holo-Janeway then showed Janeway Chakotay's last log, which showed him sending out a distress call before being boarded by Drednoks.
Afterwards, Rok-Tahk, the young Brikar on board, revealed her theory that the Dauntless phaser beam, which struck the Protostar at the moment Zero was attempting to create a telepathic link between Dal (a Human Augment hybrid created from the genes of twenty-six different species) and Janeway must have acted as a conduit and caused the two neural patterns to switch. Zero explained that before the ancient Organians became non-corporeal, they were able to transfer their consciousness into other bodies through physical touch. Zero suggested that Janeway-in-Dal and Dal-in-Janeway go out into space in environmental suits so they could float out in space until they came within touching distance of each other. Since the Protostar was so close to the Dauntless that Dal-in-Janeway could see them through the windows, they were able to get the word out to him through charades. As Janeway prepared to exit the ship, she told Rok that she'd make an excellent science officer someday and promised to help them all in their quests to join Starfleet. However, she revealed to Gwyn that, since Dal was an Augment, he would never be allowed to join.
Later, both Janeway-in-Dal and Dal-in-Janeway both struggled to reach each other so they could switch back. When the Dauntless attempted to pull Dal-in-Janeway back in via a tractor beam, Janeway-in-Dal shot her counterpart with a low powered phaser blast, hoping it would work as a conduit for the mind swap. The plan worked and both Dal and Janeway were returned to their respective bodies and to their own ships. Unfortunately, Janeway, groggy from the phaser blast she'd inflicted on her own body, woke to find herself in the brig, under guard. ()
Janeway tried to convince the officer standing guard outside the brig that Starfleet was in imminent danger. When Janeway assured the guard that she could be trusted, the officer turned around and said that she knows she could. The officer informed Janeway that, years earlier, when she was a child, she was one of the Brenari refugees that the captain, hid from the Devore and had sent through a wormhole in the Delta Quadrant. The officer released Janeway who rushed to the bridge. Unfortunately, she was too late as the living construct had been activated and Starfleet vessels, including her own, began firing on one another. ()
Ultimately, the Protostar crew sacrificed their ship, and their mentor and mother-figure Holo Janeway in the process, in order to save Starfleet. ()
==== Back on Earth ====
One month later, at a debrief at Starfleet Command, Janeway was informed that, thanks to Holo Janeway, the Protostars path across space-time created a wormhole that duplicated the one that sent Chakotay and his crew into the future. This created an interspatial flexure to approximately the same space-time coordinates – in an alternate future. From the wormhole, they were able to pick up a signal from Chakotay. Told that Starfleet was talking about sending a ship through the wormhole to find Chakotay, Janeway stated that she wanted to be on that ship. Just then, an officer entered and announced that the young crew of the Protostar had been found. She ran outside and joined a crowd to see the crew being rescued from their shuttle that crash-landed in San Francisco Bay.
At the tribunal Starfleet conducted regarding the criminal charges that faced the young crew, such as stealing a Federation starship and impersonating Starfleet officers, Janeway argued that the kids did everything in an effort to warn Starfleet. However, the judges were dismissive of Janeway's idea for the kids to be accepted straight into Starfleet Academy, especially the Augment. One judge argued that the Academy was not a space camp for children, but a serious, disciplined institution designed for only the brightest, while another judge argued that there were protocols to enroll in the Academy and stated that "good intentions do not make up for Federation crimes." Janeway argued passionately on the kids' behalf, stating that the interviews and psychological evaluations couldn't stand up to what the crew had been through and stated that the "Augment" (who she pointed out was not "enhanced" in any way) contained the DNA of twenty-six of the Federation's 150 members and asked if there was a better example of what their alliance represented. 
Soon after, Janeway informed the kids that, while the tribunal did drop all the criminal charges, they could not allow them to be fast tracked to Starfleet Academy, stating that it wasn't fair to the more-qualified applicants. However, five of them would be permitted to serve under her as warrant officers-in-training, on her new assignment. When the group asked why only five, Gwyn stated her intent to forgo Starfleet and travel to present day Solum in the hope of unifying the Vau N'Akat in an effort to prevent the civil war.
Later, Janeway showed the remaining crew the newest ship but stated that it wouldn't be their ship, saying that she had a much bigger plan for them. ()
=== Commanding the USS Voyager-A ===
==== Into the future====
=== Temporarily retirement ===
After returning home, in 2385, Janeway put in her papers for an early retirement to enjoy a simpler life and refused offers of a promotion. However, she was recalled following the Attack on Mars. ()
=== Return to Starfleet ===
When she returned to Starfleet, Janeway furiously disagreed with Starfleet's more isolationist stance afterwards. While Starfleet decided to decommission the new in light of this, Janeway was able to call in a few favors and get the ships turned into training vessels in a pilot program under her command. Janeway and Chakotay gave the young crew of the Protostar field commissions to the rank of ensign and the watched over by , now upgraded into an Emergency Command Hologram. ()
Afterwards, Janeway was promoted to Admiral and was later stalked by Lieutenant Commander Raffaela Musiker, who was seeking support for her conviction that a conspiracy was behind the attack. ()
=== 25th century ===
In 2401, Janeway and Admiral Picard convinced Seven of Nine to officially enlist in Starfleet. ()
Later that year, Picard proposed to Commander Ro Laren that they approach Janeway with her evidence of a widespread Changeling infiltration of Starfleet. Ro replied that she had already tried, but was stymied at every turn. ()
== 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 . ()
Another encounter came about after Janeway 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 had ceased abruptly due to 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, Janeway 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, Voyagers 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. Voyagers 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 Voyagers 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 diamond 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 and a Borg sphere. Although the Admiral Janeway from the future of an alternate timeline allowed herself to be assimilated while infected with a neurolytic pathogen, she thereby annihilated both the Borg Queen and the Unicomplex, dealing a crippling if not fatal blow to the Borg and allowing Voyager to return home. ()
In 2384, the crew of the , which included of Janeway that acted as a training advisor, encountered a Borg cube that had been rendered dormant by Admiral Janeway's pathogen. ()
In 2401, the Borg Queen revealed that Janeway and her alternate timeline counterpart's plan had decimated the Borg to the point of near destruction. Following a failed vengeful plan to assimilate Starfleet with the help of the Changelings, the Borg were finally destroyed by the , finishing what Janeway had started. ()
In the alternate future timeline from which Admiral Janeway originated, she was once introduced by Commander Reginald Barclay, when she was about to give a lecture to his cadets at Starfleet Academy, as the person who "wrote the book on the Borg." ()
==Alternate realities and timelines==
In an alternate timeline experienced by Kes, Captain Janeway was killed during the first encounter between the and the Krenim in 2374, requiring Chakotay to take command. ()
In another alternate timeline, Janeway engaged the Krenim, during a year in which the was wrecked nearly beyond repair. This devastating year pushed 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. Afterward, Janeway rammed Voyager into the Krenim temporal ship, restoring the primary timeline. ()
In a different alternate timeline, Voyager used a quantum slipstream drive in 2375 but crash-landed on an arctic planet. Janeway was killed when the vessel crash-landed, as was the rest of the crew except for Harry Kim and Chakotay, who had survived the trip in the . Fifteen years later, they found Voyager and "fixed" history. ()
In a timeline in 2377 in which Voyager was split into 37 different timeframes, the Chakotay of the original timeframe encountered a Janeway from shortly before Voyager ventured into the Delta Quadrant. He injected her with a chroniton infused serum so that she could travel freely aboard the vessel and enlisted her help in resolving the situation. She became troubled by what she learned of Voyagers future and suggested preventing Voyager from ever being sent into the Delta Quadrant in the first place, but Chakotay told her that it was presumptuous to think that she had the right to change everyone's future. ()
In the aborted timeline in which Voyager avoided the nebula that contained the transwarp hub controlled 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 approximately 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 having suffered heavy casualties during the remaining sixteen years since they had encountered the Borg-infested nebula. She had also encountered the Borg several more times, which had enabled her to develop new tactics and weapons, including ablative generator armor and a type of transphasic torpedo. She had apparently also studied the Borg extensively; 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 went 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. () In 2385, the now-Vice Admiral Janeway reflected upon how her alternate self had sent Voyager home and gave Starfleet the designs for the uniform that Janeway was currently using. () In 2401, the Borg Queen revealed to Jean-Luc Picard that Janeway's pathogen had decimated the Collective, leading to a vengeful scheme to assimilate the Federation through subterfuge but bringing the Collective to the very edge of destruction and later giving the the chance to finish the job. ()
In one alternate reality encountered by Chakotay, Dal R'El, Jankom Pog, Rok-Tahk, Gwyndala, Murf, Zero, and Maj'el, Janeway perished aboard the , along with Commander Tysess and Counselor Noum, while trying to rescue Chakotay from the future. She was replaced by Admiral Edward Jellico as the commanding officer of the . ()
In another alternate reality, the crew of the Protostar failed to stop the living construct and the Federation was destroyed. Janeway was presumably killed in the conflict. ()
==Personal interests==
===Coffee===
Janeway was well known for her love of coffee. She refused to go a day without it and hadn't changed her standing order "Coffee, black," (without milk or sugar) in the seven years of Voyagers journey home. In stressful situations, she tended to drink more than four cups a day. ()
When energy reserves were low and the use of replicators was discouraged early in Voyagers time in the Delta Quadrant, 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 offputting. 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 this future version of Janeway time travelled back to help Voyager return home and regained her idealism, Admiral Janeway returned to drinking coffee and told her younger self she had no idea why she had ever given it up. ()
Janeway's love of coffee was carried over into who would often simulate drinking coffee. ()
By 2384, Admiral Janeway had reluctantly switched from black coffee to black tea to comply with her doctor's orders, though she quipped that she "need[ed] a second opinion". ()
Janeway's love of coffee was such an integral part of her personality that when Dal R'El accidentally swapped minds with her in an attempt to contact her telepathically, the Dauntless crew were perplexed by the "admiral's" odd behavior to the point that Dr. Noum rescinded his "no coffee" order and gave "Janeway" a cup to restore her to normal. When "Janeway" spat it out and reacted with disgust, it served as further proof to the Dauntless crew that something wasn't right with her. ()
=== Nostalgia and the holodeck===
Janeway appreciated certain elements of Earth history, often through a scientist's eyes. She once expressed a desire to serve in the 23rd century, alongside Captain Kirk and his crew. While she believed their conduct would have been unacceptable in contemporary Starfleet, she said she would have enjoyed being with them in an era when space seemed "a whole lot bigger." ()
As an avid user of Voyager's holodeck, she enjoyed a Gothic holonovel in the first year of the voyage home and later recreated Leonardo da Vinci's workshop, casting herself as the inventor's apprentice. () Her adventures with left the holodeck when a thief named Tau stole The Doctor's mobile emitter and inadvertently downloaded da Vinci's program into it. ()
When Paris created the Fair Haven holoprogram, set in a small 19th century Ireland village, Janeway marveled at the detail but could point out slight errors in authenticity. Janeway enjoyed playing rings in the program, and even developed romantic feelings for one of the holographic characters. ()
=== Sciences ===
Janeway maintained her passion for science during her captaincy, and the Delta Quadrant provided ample wonders. She enjoyed exploring unfamiliar spatial phenomena and believed that some risk was acceptable for the sake of knowledge. She made a detailed exploration of an astral eddy and collected data on a binary pulsar, although the latter instance was hampered by Srivani experimentation. () Janeway's background in science and engineering allowed her to quickly grasp the implications or potential of spatial phenomena and discuss it on a level with her crew. Although she sometimes had to suspend her scientific mindset, she did use it to reason out seemingly supernatural phenomena. ()
==Personality==
As a captain, Janeway was very committed to Starfleet protocol, resisting the urge to bend or break the Prime Directive throughout Voyagers trip back to Earth through the Delta Quadrant, despite the fact that she was decades from Starfleet Command and could have simply broken the rules and lied about it in her records. While she recognized the potential dangers of this attitude, she refused to compromise on matters of principle. However, she often took action to help any species they encountered where Voyager could offer assistance without breaking the rules, such as investigating mysterious asteroid "assaults" or helping damaged ships conduct repairs without providing any of their "allies" with advanced technology () The only exception Janeway made towards breaking the Prime Directive was when it got in the way of their journey home, particularly when it came towards entering other species territory in the Delta Quadrant instead of going around it, which would extend their journey by months or even years.
Following the rules also extended to handling her responsibilities with her subordinates. When Tom Paris and B'Elanna Torres disagreed on unnecessary genetic modifications for their unborn daughter, they went to her for a command ruling. Janeway came to the conclusion that the problem was not ethical, but marital. She also stressed that, while she was willing to give advice as a friend, she would not make any orders of any kind as to a decision, as it would be highly inappropriate for a captain to do so. ()
While Janeway was a skilled commander, her habit of becoming fixated on her central goals could sometimes compromise her judgment. A key example of this included her vendetta against Captain Rudolph Ransom and the crew of the when she discovered the lengths that his crew had gone to while trying to get home, threatening Equinox crewmember Noah Lessing and ordering Chakotay confined to quarters when he questioned her decisions. () This personality trait was shown at its most extreme in the alternate timeline caused by the Krenim weapon ship, when Janeway kept the crew together until Voyager had lost nine decks, despite being presented with a reasonable argument that splitting up might be safer and kept pushing herself to the point of physical and psychological damage. () As another example, her Silver Blood duplicate attempted to continue their journey to Earth even after learning their true natures until it became clear that this was impossible, too late to prevent the crew from disintegrating while trying to return to a safe environment. ()
Janeway could sometimes be brusque, moving crew out of the way with the wave of a hand or nod of her head. Her detractors – and even herself from an alternative future – characterized her as self-righteous and stubborn, perhaps impulsive. She was also very tender and caring, giving time to her crew, even when off duty, checking in on them when she knew they might need support. Many of the crew felt they could approach her directly with concerns or requests, even when she was off duty. She took a maternal role towards her crew, and especially so with certain individuals like Kes and Seven of Nine. (, , , )
Janeway could become depressive and carried guilt with her for some of her actions towards the people under her. This could cause her to want to atone for these actions, even at great risk to herself. () She was brave, a great tactician and had a scientific mind. ()
Years after her return from the Delta Quadrant, Janeway retained many of the same traits, particularly her better ones. While Janeway initially jumped to conclusions about the young crew of the , () she quickly changed her mind after learning of their pasts and actually meeting them, giving Janeway the chance to hear their side of the story for the first time. () By the point that Janeway met them, she had become a motherly figure to them through who shared many of Janeway's traits. Janeway later fiercely defended their actions before a tribunal and advocated for Dal R'El who, as an Augment, wasn't allowed in Starfleet. ()
After getting Chakotay's distress call, Janeway was committed to rescuing him, even willing to go behind the backs of Starfleet Command on the mission. Although The Doctor was the only crewmember from the original Voyager on the mission, Janeway's new command crew shared the same fierce loyalty of her old one, outright declaring that they were willing to defy Starfleet Command on her order. Janeway later took the young Protostar crew into her confidence so that they would understand the importance and secrecy of their mission, although they unexpectedly went rogue instead. () Despite her worries for her young charges, Janeway ultimately decided to trust them with following the path that Wesley Crusher had set out for them, leading to the successful rescue of Chakotay. ()
Working with her young charges reignited some of Janeway's old spirit and reminded her that boldness wasn't only for the young. Janeway personally led a rescue mission for them, and then agreed to help them stop Asencia and Solum's civil war, an act which risked violating the Prime Directive. ()
After Chakotay's rescue, Janeway began openly contemplating a more quiet life on a farm in Indiana. () Once the mission was over, Janeway rejected any more promotions in favor of an early retirement and the peaceful life that she was seeking. However, the Attack on Mars drove Janeway back to Starfleet where she was fiercely and openly opposed to the new policies of stopping exploration and focusing only on defense. Janeway intervened to keep the from being decommissioned by having it turned into a training vessel in a pilot program under her command, preserving its unique features that were suited for exploration and giving it to the former Protostar crew. ()
Janeway remained a trustworthy person who many considered to be open to listening to them for decades to come as Raffaela Musiker stalked Janeway with her conspiracy theories about the Attack on Mars (), and both Jean-Luc Picard and Ro Laren considered her to be someone that they could go to for help with the Changeling conspiracy in Starfleet. ()
== Personal relationships ==
=== Friends ===
==== Tuvok ====
The first time Janeway met Tuvok, 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. ()
Tuvok became 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 birthdate, 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 – and confirmed that both his protest and her actions would be in the official records. ()
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, Janeway expressed her appreciation for Tuvok, remarking how she had come to rely on his insightful and unfailingly logical advice over the years. ()
One of the reasons Admiral Janeway from 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 from the Delta Quadrant after a twenty-three-year journey, instead of a seven-year one. Tuvok's declining mental state could not be treated, due to his return home aboard Voyager having been 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 her 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 their home "New Earth", which is what they decided to call the planet. 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 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 led 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 a cure for their condition was eventually found, they returned 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 directly explored again. (VOY: )
Over time, Chakotay, next to Tuvok, became one of Janeway's most trusted advisers and closest friends, although they did not always see eye-to-eye. This was evident on several occasions where both passionately disagreed over command decisions.
During Voyager's first major occasion involving the Borg, Chakotay strongly discouraged Janeway to strike an alliance with such an unscrupulous enemy. (VOY: , "Scorpion Part II") Beyond suspicion of this dubious ally, he questioned that this decision would enable the Borg to continue assimilation, decimation, and genocide against more species, especially considering that Species 8472 had been the most powerful and destructive force against the Borg seen so far. Janeway's reasoning that Species 8472 posed a greater threat to Voyager, as well as to life in the galaxy (partially based on the intense, disturbing telepathic messages Kes received from the mysterious aliens) justified the Borg alliance was one of their biggest disagreements and points of contention. Chakotay - who, up to this point, had never questioned Janeway's final actions - maintained his deep uncertainty of the plan. This was an instance where Janeway refused to even discuss with Chakotay, however, and was steadfast in her insistence that this alliance was the only way through Borg space. After Janeway is injured in the fight and unconscious, and Chakotay is put in command, he defies orders to "make this alliance work" after discovering the Borg had initiated the conflict by invading the species natural habitat - fluidic space - in attempted assimilation. Janeway is furious at this, but after so much disagreement over what constituted the right course, both finally realized that fighting each other wasn't going to help them get through this. Though Chakotay stood by his assertion that Janeway had made a grave mistake in forging the alliance, they subsequently set their differences aside and worked together. His objections ended up inspiring a backup plan between the two, in case the Borg turned on them; this ended up saving the crew. ()
One of their most serious conflicts occurred when Voyager encountered the , 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 had never crossed the line like she had done. ()
Over the course of their journey, Janeway and Chakotay grew as friends and colleagues, each coming to respect and admire the other. Janeway once stated that there was no crewmember that 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. ()
Following their return from the Delta Quadrant, Janeway, now a vice admiral and Chakotay, having officially rejoined Starfleet and now a captain, reunited at the christening of the where they greeted each other warmly with a hug. Janeway spoke with Chakotay about him returning to the Delta Quadrant after everything they went through, but Chakotay assured her that the Protostar would get him there and back in a fraction of the time. Plus, he won't be alone as he'll have Janeway's holographic duplicate to advise him, with Janeway joking that she told Starfleet that was the only way she would willingly go back out there. She then tells him to be careful as it's still a long way from home. Chakotay promised that she would be the first one to call if he ran into any trouble, but he never did. By 2384, Janeway commanded the on a mission to locate the missing Protostar and find Chakotay. ()
==== 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. Against the advice of her senior officers who wished to return her to the Borg Collective with her memory wiped, Janeway was unwilling to return Seven to the Borg and instead tried to rehabilitate her. Even when Seven demanded to return to the Collective as she wished for her connection to be restored, Janeway denied her request and instead tried to appeal to her Humanity. Gradually, Seven rediscovered her Humanity with Janeway as her mentor and role model.
Janeway frequently worked with Seven to teach her the concepts of Human interactions and to help her find a place with the crew. When Seven wished to be assigned duty position aboard Voyager, Janeway accepted her request to be assigned to engineering, though Seven's disagreeable and cold personality ended with her butting heads with B'Elanna Torres. She was eventually assigned to astrometric though still had trouble interacting with the crew despite Janeway's help and had a more difficult time of understanding the Prime Directive. Janeway initially overlooked this behavior at first as Seven was not familiar with Starfleet rules and protocols until Seven had disobeyed her orders by allowing a wounded member of Species 8472 to be captured by a Hirogen hunting party. Janeway then punished Seven by having her confined to her quarters and duty station and forbade her from accessing any of the ship's systems without her knowledge. They eventually moved past the incident and gradually became friends.
Janeway and Seven played a game of together. ()
==== The Doctor ====
Janeway initially shared her crew's frustration with the Doctor's rude demeanor and considered having him reprogrammed. It wasn't until Kes brought her concerns of the crew's treatment of the Doctor to Janeway that the latter considered him to be treated any better than the rest of the crew. She went down to ask if he had any concerns or needs to be addressed, one of which was his frustration that the other crew members had either left him on or turned him off, later giving his program control of that function in his programming. As the crew's journey unfolded, Janeway soon found herself becoming friends with The Doctor. 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 the death of an innocent man, () 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 Starfleet 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 demonstrated 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. This happened 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 who performed 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 of 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 to his parents, "it's a small ship. There are only so many command positions available." ()
The only time when Janeway and Kim ever came into serious conflict was when Kim had an intimate relationship with a Varro scientist called "Derran Tal". This was a violation of Starfleet regulations, which 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 humorously warned Chakotay, "You'd better watch out for your job, commander." ()
Janeway was a central influence on Kim's emotional well-being 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, was there for him whenever he needed guidance and comfort after missions that had tested his abilities to the limit. () In turn, he remained immensely loyal to her and obeyed her orders to the best of his ability.
==== Kes ====
Janeway displayed 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 the loss of Neelix 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 requested temporary leave to travel with Zahir, a Mikhal Traveler. Janeway advised Kes to think about it for another day, but she was supportive of Kes' desire to have variety and "complications" in her limited lifespan. () Ultimately, Kes decided to decline Zahir's invitation.
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). In response, Janeway said, "Oh, I am going to miss you." ()
==== 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 gave her the first tour of the ship. ()
===Romance===
====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 Mark telling her that, having held out hope longer than most, he had eventually believed her dead after Voyager was lost in the Delta Quadrant and that he had met another woman whom he had just married recently. 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. It was rather atypical for her to begin a romance with a former alien enemy, but 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, Janeway 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 that he was single, well versed in literature, in addition to enjoying long, intellectual debates. Although a romance ensued, Janeway ended it, because she wasn't sure how she felt about a relationship with a hologram. ()
====Jaffen====
In 2377, the entire Voyager crew was captured, and their memories modified so they could join the workforce at a power distribution center on Quarra. There, Janeway met a Norvalen engineer called "Jaffen" and fell in love with him. After two weeks, she even moved in with him. When she regained her memory, Janeway 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 had spent together. ()
=== Biomimetic duplicate ===
In 2374, 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 the ship'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 to the Alpha Quadrant, 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 Viorsa's species' artificial hibernation program, created to interact with The Clown as Janeway would while preventing the real Janeway from having to actually enter the program herself. ()
* 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 had 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. ()
* Lieutenant Barclay recreated most of the crew of the USS Voyager at the Communications Research Center on Earth for the Pathfinder Project in 2376. ()
* Also during that year, 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 and crewed by characters based on the crew of the USS Voyager, albeit the names were changed to protect the innocent. The character of was based on Janeway but was 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 Voyagers crew during a crisis in 2378. One of them he impersonated was Janeway. ()
* Some point prior to 2383, Janeway was used as the basis for the holographic training advisor aboard the , referring to herself as . () This was so that Chakotay would still have Janeway with him in some form as he returned to the Delta Quadrant, something that the real Janeway refused to ever do again. () Hologram Janeway later sacrificed herself to destroy the Protostar, saving both the crew and a Starfleet armada commanded by the real Janeway. () However, thanks to a temporal paradox, The Doctor was able to copy Hologram Janeway's program onto an EMH backup module, allowing it to survive. Janeway later had her holographic duplicate, now upgraded into an Emergency Command Hologram, installed onboard the new . ()
* In 2384, The Doctor once again holographically impersonated Janeway, this time as a distraction to fool Asencia while Janeway, Chakotay, and Wesley Crusher rescued the Protostar crew. ()
==Memorable quotes==
"You know, I'm really easy to get along with most of the time, but I don't like bullies and I don't like threats, and I don't like you, Culluh. You can try and stop us from getting to the truth, but I promise you that if you do, I will respond with all the 'unique technologies' at my command."
: - Janeway, to First Maje Culluh ()
"In a part of space where there are few rules, it's 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 ()
"Dismissed. That's a Starfleet expression for 'get out'."
:- Janeway to Neelix ()
"You and I know that fear only exists for one purpose: to be conquered"
:- Janeway to Fear ()
"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 ()
"Who are these kids?"
:- Janeway, on the crew of the USS Protostar ()
"The Protostar, named after the early stage in the formation of a star, powered by it; we designed a ship that could explore the far reaches of our understanding in hope of finding others who share our ideals, so that we may create a stronger alliance. Stack up those tests, the psych evaluations, interviews. The don't hold a candle to what this crew has been through. And concerning the Augment, whose name you've conveniently forgotten. His name is Dal R'El. Is he genetically engineered? Yes. Was he enhanced in every way? Look at him, or course not. But his heart is bigger than any in this room. I should know. The Federation is made-up of over 150 member species. Dal's DNA includes 26 of those. So, I ask you, is there a better living embodiment of what are alliance represents?"
:- Janeway, defending the crew of the USS Protostar against a Starfleet tribunal ()
===Janeway's coffee quotes===
"Coffee, black."
:- Janeway, to Voyagers 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 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 ()
"Tea… black."
"Admiral, you're not drinking coffee?"
"Doctor's orders. Between you and me, Ensign, I need a second opinion. But I know you didn't come here to talk about beverages."
:- Janeway and Asencia, on why she's drinking tea instead of coffee ()
== Chronology ==
;20 May, 2330s/2340s: Born in Bloomington, Indiana, on Earth
;2350s/2360s: Serves as science officer aboard the , under future Vice Admiral Owen Paris
;2365: Serves as commander aboard the 
;2371: Assumes command and becomes captain of the ; while looking for a Maquis ship in the Badlands, she is hurled into 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, who reside in Unimatrix Zero and have a genetic mutation, by sending a virus which will make those drones aware of their surroundings in the real world so they can resist the Collective
;2378: Returns to the Alpha Quadrant via the use of a Borg transwarp hub, after being stranded for seven years in the Delta Quadrant; 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
;2383: Commands the during its search for the missing 
;2384: Commands the during its search for Chakotay.
;2385: Puts in for early retirement before being brought back by the Attack on Mars.
== Appendices ==
=== Appearances ===
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=== Background information ===
Kathryn Janeway was played by actress Kate Mulgrew. 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 . In , Janeway was voiced by Brett Gray while she was in Dal R'El's body.
The decision to feature a female captain as the lead character of the (not-yet-named) series of helped set that then-forthcoming Star Trek show apart from its predecessors. (Braving the Unknown: Season One, VOY Season 1 DVD special feature) Executive Producer Rick Berman explained, "The feeling was that... the best direction for us to go – in terms of trying new things, being socially responsible, which Star Trek has always been – was to go for a female captain." (The First Captain: Bujold, VOY Season 1 DVD special feature) Berman elaborated, "We didn't want to just create a captain and cast it with a female. We wanted to create a female captain who was a captain that was somewhat more nurturing and a little bit less swashbuckling than someone like Captain Kirk, a little bit less sullen than someone like Captain Sisko, and a little bit more approachable than Captain Picard." () Wanting to develop the character of a female captain who would act as the lead role on Star Trek: Voyager was one motive Berman had for including Jeri Taylor as another executive producer involved in the conceptual genesis of the series, as it was believed Taylor could be a positive influence on the character's development. (Star Trek: Voyager - A Vision of the Future, p. 156) Taylor and her then-associates, Berman and Executive Producer Michael Piller, all agreed that they wanted a female captain for the series. (Star Trek: Voyager - A Vision of the Future, p. 158)
Although a female captain had been decided on, this concept was downplayed to Paramount Studios. Essentially, the three executive producers of the forthcoming series said to Paramount, "Let us interview both sexes, and if the best actor we find is a woman, can we hire her?" Eventually, Paramount accepted this proposal. The studio's hesitation was based on uncertainty over the viewing audience's possible response to having a female captain as the series lead. No one at the studio knew if the viewers – who were well known as predominantly male, aged twenty-five to forty-five – would accept the idea. However, the choice of a female captain had a significant advantage, as it would eliminate the problem of fans comparing the new captain to Captains Kirk and Picard. As a result, the executive producers proceeded unhindered, building the notion of a female captain into their premise for the series. (Star Trek: Voyager - A Vision of the Future, pp. 158-159)
In a series of early development notes written by Jeri Taylor (dated ), the character of the captain was briefly outlined, in a section titled "The Crew". The outline stated, "Captain – a Human female, Lindsay Wagner type." (A Vision of the Future - Star Trek: Voyager, p. 176)
The character was originally named "Elizabeth Janeway". (; VOY Season 2 DVD trivia text version of ) In the first draft script of (dated ), the character had that name, though she had received the first name "Kathryn" by the time the final draft of the script was issued.
In the "Caretaker" script, Janeway was described as "a charismatic woman in her early forties." The script went on to say, "She has a warm thoughtful face and remarkably attentive eyes that suggest a deep awareness of all that is going on around her."
Looking for the right actress to play Janeway was an arduous process, due to the untried nature of the female character. Jeri Taylor commented, "The search for the captain was a long and difficult one. This is the person that gets the white-hot glare of publicity as the first female ever to head one of the Star Trek series and she had to be just right." (Captains' Logs Supplemental - The Unauthorized Guide to the New Trek Voyages)
Numerous 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 (; A Vision of the Future - Star Trek: Voyager, p. 267; Star Trek - Where No One Has Gone Before, paperback ed., p. 214), and veteran science fiction television actress Erin Gray. Others considered include Karen Austin , Joanna Cassidy (Star Trek - Where No One Has Gone Before, paperback ed., p. 214), Lindsay Crouse , Blythe Danner (A Vision of the Future - Star Trek: Voyager, p. 267), Patty Duke , Chelsea Field (Star Trek - Where No One Has Gone Before, paperback ed., p. 214), Linda Hamilton (A Vision of the Future - Star Trek: Voyager, p. 267; Star Trek - Where No One Has Gone Before, paperback ed., p. 214), Kate Jackson (Star Trek - Where No One Has Gone Before, paperback ed., p. 214), Patsy Kensit (A Vision of the Future - Star Trek: Voyager, p. 267; Star Trek - Where No One Has Gone Before, paperback ed., p. 214), Carolyn McCormick , Tracy Scoggins , Helen Shaver , and Lindsay Wagner (Star Trek - Where No One Has Gone Before, paperback ed., p. 214). At an early time of pre-production when it was unclear that Janeway was to be a woman, actors Gary Graham and Rene Rivera also auditioned for the role. Nigel Havers was another male actor who was considered for the part. (A Vision of the Future - Star Trek: Voyager, p. 267)
Eventually, French-Canadian actress Geneviève Bujold was cast in the role of Elizabeth Janeway. Following this selection, the character was described in an early press release (dated ), which referred to Janeway as "a Human female [who] leads the combined teams of Starfleet and Maquis personnel. She is not the only female Captain in Starfleet, however, her intelligence, thoughtfulness, dedication and diplomacy have earned her respect and recognition as one of the best Starfleet Captains – male or female." 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 Bujold's request, the character was renamed "Nicole Janeway".
Genevieve Bujold left the cast of Star Trek: Voyager during filming of the pilot, "Caretaker". 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. A distinctly unimpressed Brannon Braga commented, "If you watch her dailies, you can see she's not very good." (The Fifty-Year Mission: The Next 25 Years, p. 569) When Bujold left the set after two days of filming, Kate Mulgrew, who had been Braga's second choice, was asked to come back for another audition. Mulgrew ended up being cast in the part, replacing Bujold. At that time, the character's name was changed to its final form – "Kathryn Janeway".
Jeri Taylor was hopeful that, with Kate Mulgrew in the role, Captain Janeway could and would be highly sociable. Shortly after casting the part, Taylor remarked, "We are going to see that she interacts much more easily on a social level with the crew in a way that Picard never did." (Captains' Logs Supplemental - The Unauthorized Guide to the New Trek Voyages)
In an early press release issued shortly after the casting of Kate Mulgrew, much the same information about Janeway was presented as in the earlier press release, apart from a few changes. For example, the character (now renamed "Kathryn") was introduced as "a Human Starfleet Captain" rather than "a Human female". The updated press release additionally referred to Janeway by remarking, "She is a tough Captain, who is not afraid to take chances." The same document relayed that Mulgrew had commented, "Captain Kathryn Janeway is the quintessential woman of the future... both commanding and discerning in her warmth; she's authoritative while remaining accessible. Beneath her extraordinary control runs a very deep vein of vulnerability and sensitivity that I look forward to exploring in seasons to come." 
Due to the female gender of Voyagers captain, depicting the character was a balancing act; the captain's feminine qualities, her nurturing and emotional aspects, had to be maintained while also making the character tough enough that she was believable as a Starfleet captain. Concerning the plausibility of the character's toughness, Rick Berman stated, "It's not really all that true with a somewhat diminutive woman like Kate Mulgrew. Those are problems that we find enjoyable to work with and to overcome." (Star Trek: Voyager - A Vision of the Future, p. 159) Berman was ultimately pleased with how Mulgrew sought this balance. He recalled, "Kate, I think, remarkably deliver[ed] a feminine nurturing side and at the same time, a sense of strength and confidence. And that's just what we were looking for and I think that we've gotten it in spades." ()
The Star Trek: Voyager costuming department regarded the maintenance of Kate Mulgrew's body weight as vital for the portrayal of Captain Janeway. "We have to beg Kate Mulgrew not to lose weight," remarked Costume Designer Robert Blackman, during the making of the series, "because she is very energetic and burns up the calories like there's no tomorrow. So to keep her at a US size 3 or 4 is very difficult sometimes." ()
Brannon Braga found witnessing Kate Mulgrew portray the role of Captain Janeway was particularly informative for writing the character. Mulgrew's habit of frequently placing her hands on her hips, while personifying Janeway, inspired the creation of the Tak Tak body language in , an episode Braga wrote. (Star Trek: Voyager - A Vision of the Future, pp. 171-172)
Nana Visitor considered auditioning for the role. She commented: "Can you believe I had the nerve? I accosted Rick Berman in the street right in front of Stage 4 at Paramount and said, “Why not? Why? Why can’t I?” Because you know, they had the mix-up, and they fired the person they hired, and all of that stuff. And I said, “I can do both!” … I don’t know what I was thinking. And he was like – he practically patted me on the head, and said, ‘No, we’re gonna get a whole other actress for that". 
=== Apocrypha ===
The novelization gives her name as "Kathryn M. Janeway". The Autobiography of Kathryn Janeway reveals that the M stands for Margaret.
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 5 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 22, 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 28, 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 "Places of Exile", a novella from the Star Trek: Myriad Universes anthology book Infinity's Prism, an alternate version of Janeway is presented, who becomes 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 romantic relationship with Chakotay, and bearing his child, Shannon Sekaya Janeway.
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 that 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. Janeway finally appeared in-game in January 2022 for the game's 12th anniversary, voiced by Kate Mulgrew, and appearing in old age much like her alternate timeline self in "Endgame". She replaces Commander Ethan Burgess as the point of contact for Starfleet characters in the Delta Rising expansion (which had been released in 2014) and is involved in the mission "Red Shift", set during a conflict with the Terran Empire. Janeway's mirror universe counterpart, known as "Marshal Janeway", also appears. The mirror Janeway appears to have Borg implants similar to those of Seven of Nine, as well as the ability to reanimate slain Starfleet officers as Borg drones. Leading a team to Jupiter Station to claim a "prize" for the Emperor, Janeway is betrayed by her team – the mirror counterparts of , the Lukari captain Kuumaarke, and the player character – and forced to seek asylum, revealing to her prime universe counterpart the reason behind the raid.
In the Next Generation prequel The Buried Age, then-Lieutenant Janeway served as the second officer aboard the USS Mary Kingsly under the command of Captain Onna Karapleedeez. She participated in an archaeological expedition led by Captain Picard a few years after the destruction of the , 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 , Picard attempted to recruit Janeway for his first officer, 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 that 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 the Star Trek: Voyager novel The Eternal Tide, Janeway's consciousness 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 Project Full Circle 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 Voyager and the fleet. Meanwhile, Janeway also renews her romantic relationship with Captain Chakotay. The novel A Pocket Full of Lies sees the fleet discover the existence of an alternate version of Janeway created during the events of , also revealing that the temporal fracture Voyager experienced during those events was the result of an attack by the Krenim after they became aware of the events of the "erased" Year of Hell in and . This alternate Janeway had a daughter named Mollah with a Krenim agent.
In the novel To Lose the Earth, the prime timeline Janeway finally married Chakotay with Seven of Nine and B'Elanna serving as bridesmaids.
The Autobiography of Kathryn Janeway reveals that Janeway had a daughter named Amelia who was created by Janeway's mother and sister from Janeway's frozen eggs during the time that Janeway was believed dead. Amelia eventually joined Starfleet.
In an alternate timeline featured in the Star Trek: Myriad Universes novella A Gutted World, Voyager was never stranded in the Delta Quadrant and Janeway and Mark were married by 2373. She remained in command of the ship until it was destroyed by the Cardassians in the Dorvan sector in 2373.
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