Ghosts (Marvel)

Shadows of the past! – Voyager encounters a temporal rift, showing them a historical battle with the Borg.
== Summary ==
En route to the Alpha Quadrant, the suddenly encounters an all-too-familiar sight. On-screen, they witness the carnage of the Battle of Wolf 359. Lieutenant Commander Tuvok suggests it may be some elaborate deception, noting that the battle took place six years prior. Ensign Kim however, informs Captain Janeway that he detects high concentrations of chronitons, suggesting time travel is involved.
As Voyager backs away, the images of the battle disappear, but in their place, the crew detects several Federation escape pods. Tuvok again recommends caution, but Ensign Kim detects life signs on board, as well as a genuine Federation distress signal.
Further scans show the pods to be survivors of the , the , and the , the flagship of Admiral Hanson. Voyager is unable to communicate with the pods, so Captain Janeway orders the survivors to be beamed to sickbay. Tuvok informs her the transporter would be unsafe, due to the chroniton radiation, so the tractor beam is used to tow the pods into the shuttlebay.
Janeway is still understandably apprehensive about the situation, so she orders security to meet her in the shuttlebay, including Lieutenant Josh Rand. The pod's hatch is opened, and members of various Federation species walk out led by Commander Athena Rand, a science division officer from the USS Saratoga, and the aunt of Josh Rand. Captain Janeway welcomes them aboard, curious as to how they got there. The survivors want to know if the Borg were ever defeated. Janeway explains how the caused the Borg cube to self-destruct in Earth orbit.
The captain then has them sent to sickbay, to test for any effects of the temporal rift that carried them to the Delta Quadrant, escorted by Josh Rand, who is very excited to see his aunt again.
Word quickly spreads through the ship that survivors of Wolf 359 have been found. Several crew members rush to sickbay in search of loved ones lost in the battle. Lieutenant Barriston is unable to find a woman named Selina, who was lost on the USS Roosevelt, but B'Elanna Torres is able to find her long-lost friend Marshall Sinclair.
On the bridge, the news is still spreading, and it is revealed that Josh and Athena Rand are relatives of Janice Rand, whom Tuvok served under during his time on the .
Back in sickbay, The Doctor reveals that the radiation has not harmed the survivors, but it has forged a permanent link between them and the rift. He concludes that if the anomaly recurs, they will be pulled back into it. Torres thinks she has a way to reduce the radiation levels, and rushes to engineering to come up with a solution. 
The sixteen survivors are given quarters and begin mingling with the crew. Both sides explain their stories; the Voyager crew explains how they were brought to the Delta Quadrant by the , while the survivors explain their seemingly three month (actually six year) trip through the rift. The survivors quickly blend in, one of them, a Vulcan named T'Pei, even befriending Tuvok.
Unfortunately, the rift suddenly begins to appear, throwing the survivors into a seizure-like state. The rift stops, as do the seizures, but Torres realizes she must hurry to complete her device to hold onto the survivors.
As she completes the device, the rift begins to appear again. She prepares to test it on Commander Rand, but the rift causes the survivors' s to begin to destabilize rapidly. Once again, Voyager witnesses the Battle of Wolf 359. Voyager goes to warp, but the rift follows, still tied to the survivors. The survivors have no choice but to re-enter the pods and return to the rift, with only minutes to say goodbye. As the pods enter the rift, Josh Rand steals an escape pod of his own, and attempts to go after them. Voyager tries to beam him back, but it is too late; he, the rift, and the survivors have all disappeared.
Voyager prepares to go to warp again when suddenly a large unidentified ship opens fire on them…
== Memorable quotes ==
"Human hearts tighten in anguish at the sight of the conflagration that cost the Federation 39 ships and 11,000 lives. Even a Vulcan heart wrenches, just a little before the clarity of logic prevails."
== Background information ==
* The events of the battle include descriptions of characters and events from , , and the installment of , as well as facts from the Star Trek: The Next Generation Technical Manual and the .
* The time-frame of this story not explicitly stated, however, the Battle of Wolf 359 is said to have taken place six years prior, placing this story in 2373. Furthermore, this comic references the events of , but must take place before , as Seven of Nine is not yet present. Also, Kes' hair is still short, suggesting it took place before . All three of these episodes are set in 2373.
* This story in some ways parallels the events of (meeting persons time-traveling from a past battlefield, a dedicated crew member desiring to help the fight), but with a very different driving theme – in the installment, Picard was obligated to send the refugees back in time to fulfill their roles in the battle, in this comic the crew decides that 16 people wouldn't have made a difference in the hopeless battle, and Janeway orders them to try and counteract the effect by dragging survivors back into the rift.
* A two-page drawing of the Battle of Wolf 359 shows a wide variety of heavily damaged ships Federation starships including Miranda, Nebula, Excelsior, and ships. There is also wreckage of several Klingon ships, including a bird of prey and a . In , Admiral Hanson said the Klingons were asked for help; however their presence at the battle has never been confirmed in canon.
* When Rand steals an "escape pod", a Class 2 shuttle is shown by mistake.
=== Artwork ===
* The main casts of Voyager are all drawn to appear identical to their television counterparts, however, there are very noticeable differences in the appearance of Tom Paris and Neelix. Tom Paris is drawn with a much longer and aged face. Neelix is drawn much darker, and with significantly more facial hair.
* The survivors all appear with the TNG style uniforms and combadges. This is appropriate as they have traveled forward in time from 2367. Like many comics, there are many more aliens present. Aside from Humans, the 16 survivors include two Vulcans, a Klingon, a Bolian, and wide variety of Starfleet officers from unnamed species. These include: two humanoids with bright blue lips, one with green hair, the other with blue hair; a tall alien similar in appearance to a Bolian, but with green skin; a short furry green man; a dark woman with pink hair, and a short purple man.
* Many of the survivors bear a very tattered appearance. They are drawn with thick black lines, giving an impression of many minor cuts and bruises. Also, when emerging from the escape pods, many are wearing ripped and torn uniforms, and others are missing rank insignia.
=== Creators ===
* Based on Star Trek created by Gene Roddenberry 
* Writer: Laurie S. Sutton
* Artists: 
** Jesus Redondo (pencil art)
** Sergio Melia (inking)
** Glynis Oliver (color art)
** Chris Eliopoulos (letter art)
** 
* Editor:
** Tim Tuohy
** Bob Harras (editor in chief)
** Chip Carter (editing assistance, credited as "score keeper")
== Characters ==
=== Regular and recurring characters ===
; Kathryn Janeway : Voyager captain.
; Chakotay : Voyager exec, a Maquis commander. Chakotay revealed to the Wolf 359 survivors that one of their peers, Benjamin Sisko, had survived the battle, and also that Sisko was a classmate of Chakotay's.
; The Doctor : Holographic Voyager CMO.
; Tuvok : Vulcan Voyager tactical officer.
; Tom Paris : Conn of Voyager. As a boy, Tom knew Admiral J.P. Hanson, he considered him to be "like an uncle".
; Harry Kim : Voyager operations officer.
; B'Elanna Torres : Half-Klingon Maquis, Voyager chief engineer.
; Kes : An Ocampa serving as Voyagers de facto nurse
; Neelix : Talaxian jack-of-all-trades serving as Voyager chef and morale officer.
; Josh Rand : Operations division Voyager lieutenant, nephew of Athena Rand. Josh Rand wears an ensign pin rather than lieutenant's insignia in most panels of this comic.
; Athena Rand : Starfleet sciences division commander lost at Wolf 359. Athena, who was assigned to USS Saratoga, was a descendant of 23rd century Stafleet officer Janice Rand, and the aunt of a Voyager crew member. It is odd that Athena was a full commander, meaning she would have outranked her superior, exec Ben Sisko, on the Saratoga. Likely she was a staff officer outside of Sisko's chain of command.
;Barrston : Voyager lieutenant, from a distinguished Starfleet family. He is disappointed to not find his lost twin, Selina, among the survivors. Tom Paris mentions that Barrston is something of a show-off compared to the more soft-spoken Josh Rand.
=== Other characters ===
; J.P. Hanson : Starfleet admiral lost aboard the at Wolf 359. Tom Paris described Hanson as "like an uncle" to him. This comic mentions (but does not show) him serving on the Melbourne, but this was not mentioned in any episode. In fact, the script for describes him on the battle bridge of a ship, although no reference to this made it into the final episode, except for the fact that he was sitting in the battle bridge command chair in his communication from Wolf 359.
; Marshall Sinclair : A Starfleet lieutenant discovered to have survived the Battle of Wolf 359. He is an old friend of B'Elanna Torres.
;T'Pei : A command division Vulcan survivor of Wolf 359.
; Janice Rand : Starfleet officer, a former shipmate of Tuvok, who was mentioned to be the ancestor of Josh and Athena.
;Glen Leigh : Dark-haired command division Starfleet lieutenant among the survivors, who was paged by name to sickbay while having a conversation with Paris, Kim and Abbey.
;Abbey : Operations division lieutenant, a woman with shiny white hair and blue lips. Lt. Abbey assisted Torres in attempting to prevent the survivors from bring pulled back into the rift. Depending on the lighting, Abbey's hair appeared either bluish white, or green.
;Susan James : Starfleet lieutenant among the survivors, who was paged by name to sickbay.
;Selina Barrston: Mr. Barrston's twin sister, who was aboard when it was lost. Barrston had hoped she would be among the survivors, but failed to find her.
;Ben Sisko : Former exec of Saratoga. When briefing the Saratoga crew on what happened to their shipmates, Chakotay mentions that Sisko had been an Academy classmate of his, and that he had survived the Saratoga.
;Unnamed survivors
*Tall, green-skinned male: Command division Starfleet officer.
*Purple survivor: Sciences division Starfleet officer.
*Short, green furry survivor: Command division Starfleet officer.
*Klingon survivor: Klingon, presumably from one of the Klingon ships seen (in this comic) at the battle.
*Bolian: Science division Starfleet officer.
*Vulcan: Science division Starfleet officer. This survivor may have been T'Pei, drawn in blue instead of red.
== References ==
;Battle of Wolf 359 : An historic battle between Federation and Borg that occurred in 2367.
;chroniton wave cascade : This type of energy heralded the appearance of the temporal rift.
; : Federation starship which defeated the Borg cube in Earth's orbit. Janeway mentioned the Enterprise-D's victory, but the ship was not shown.
;escape pod : Emergency lifeboat vehicle carried aboard starships. The various escape pods were of the design depicted in the Star Trek: The Next Generation Technical Manual, linked up in the manner described by the manual's text.
;frunium monocarbonite : Compound found in the makeup of Federation escape pods.
;gravimetric buildup : An increase of graviton energy that accompanies the chroniton wave cascade
; : Federation starship, commanded by Admiral Hanson, that was destroyed at Wolf 359.
; : Federation starship destroyed at Wolf 359. Voyager had already met with Roosevelt survivors, including Riley Frazier. The mention of Roosevelt has an editor's note mentioning that vessel's appearance in .
; :Federation starship destroyed at Wolf 359. A cubic-designed escape pod from Saratoga was discovered by Voyager, with ship's crewmember Athena Rand. This does not match the design escape pod used by that vessel in , but then again, the ship might have had more than one type of pod.
;temporal rift : The rift encountered by Voyager displayed a definite connection with those that passed through it, as the refugees from the battle site were unable to exist in the new timeframe they were transported into.
; : Federation starship trapped in the Delta Quadrant.
;Wolf 359 : Star system in the constellation , and the site of a deadly battle (see above).
Category:Comics