word nerd

I could see Kathryn Janeway returning to the Alpha Quadrant in the wake of the Dominion War and a lot of her fellow captains thinking she had it easy by “getting her ship lost”. And then the ship’s logs start hitting general access after the debriefings are over. (The same way Janeway was able to pull other captain’s logs for reference).

And her fellow rank-and-file get the logs dealing with the Borg, the Hirogen, Species 8472, the Vidiians, the telepathic pitcher plant, the macrovirus, what have you. And combining all that with making the journey in seven years and the fact that the entire Voyager crew is now a highly trained influx of fresh staffing after the Dominion War, with seven years of Janeway’s desperate insistence on Starfleet morals informing them?

Suddenly Janeway’s crew is captains and commanders and lieutenants, and she’s this Teddy Roosevelt-esque figure in Starfleet in that she’s revered for her leadership but also considered the type of admirably insane that wins wars.

And right about this time Janeway is looking at how Starfleet principles - the very same principles she clung to for her own sanity for seven years - have distorted and changed to be more war-like after the Dominion took so many lives, and she’s thinking “???? have you all??? gone mad???? you know what, yeah, put me in charge.”

"I wish someone would see through it when I tell people I'm fine-" Well, but have YOU considered not lying when people ask you how you're doing?

"I am so resentful of my friend because they keep doing this thing that really bothers me-" Well, but have YOU directly communicated that the thing is bothering you?

"I am burning out because my friend keeps expecting me to help them with serious struggles-" Well, but have YOU tried to establish the boundaries you need to feel okay?

"No one ever asks me about this thing I really care about-" Well, but have YOU brought it up yourself?

"I miss my friend but they haven't texted me-" Well, but have YOU been reaching out to them?

Being cared for is not a fantasy. But you have to let people know you need it. And you have to understand that sometimes they will let you down. Just like you totally could live in a cute farm, but you still have to shovel shit, and the crops sometimes die anyway. Or maybe you win the lottery, but you still have to manage your money and learn real estate law.