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| Image Sources: Memory Alpha Wiki |
Topics: Civil Rights, Diversity in Science, Existentialism, Human Rights, Star Trek, Women in Science
Kathryn Janeway was the Captain of the Starship Voyager, lost in the Delta Quadrant that managed to have a seven-year run and eventually get back to Federation space for her promotion to Admiral.
Alyanna Nechayev was introduced at the "top of the pecking order" being Jean Luc Picard's immediate boss, often showing up to give him an assignment, chew him out or give him a disapproving "evil eye" (you've got to admit, those eyes were phasers set way beyond stun).
Benjamin Lafayette Sisko checked all boxes: a black man, single father; Starfleet Commander and widower. I was a fan of Avery Brooks in "Spencer For Hire" and "A Man Called Hawk," introducing my sons to him in Star Trek: Deep Space 9.
To move each story arc along, backgrounds weren't deeply explored, mimicking a lot of the reasons for physics-defying technologies like warp drive, Heisenberg Uncertainty-violating transporters and replicators. There was their fictional World War III before warp drive (unfortunately); there was probably on their story line, an equivalent of #MeToo before Janeway and Nechayev ascendancies; there were Bell Riots and on our actual time line - a Black Lives Matter movement - before a Benjamin Sisko.
Alynna Nechayev was a Human Starfleet flag officer during the late-24th century. She spent much of the 2360s and early 2370s dealing with issues near the Cardassian border. (TNG: "Chain of Command, Part I", "Journey's End", "Preemptive Strike"; DS9: "The Maquis, Part II")
Nechayev was a significant figure in Starfleet's dealings with the Cardassian Union and a fierce advocate of Federation security. She was Captain Jean-Luc Picard's direct superior, but her working relationship with him was poor.
In 2369, while serving as a Vice Admiral, she ordered Picard to relinquish command of the USS Enterprise-D to Captain Edward Jellico, the latter having experience with Cardassians in the past and having worked to establish the original armistice of the Federation-Cardassian War. She assigned Picard to a special operation to infiltrate a Cardassian installation on Celtris III. After Jellico's negotiations with Gul Lemec worsened, she authorized his actions against the Cardassian warships in the McAllister C-5 Nebula, at the risk of provoking open war and abandoning Picard. (TNG: "Chain of Command, Part I", "Chain of Command, Part II") [1]
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Kathryn Janeway was a 24th century Starfleet officer, most noted for her service as captain of the starship USS Voyager. She became the first Federation captain to successfully traverse the Delta Quadrant, encountering dozens of new planets and civilizations over the course of seven years. While there, she and her crew also survived numerous encounters with the Borg. By 2379, she was a Vice Admiral at Starfleet Command. (VOY: "Caretaker", "Endgame", "Friendship One", "Scorpion", "Scorpion, Part II"; Star Trek Nemesis)
Kathryn Janeway was born on May 20 in Bloomington, Indiana, on Earth. (VOY: "Year of Hell", "Imperfection") Her father was Vice Admiral Janeway and she had one sibling, a sister, who she described as the artist of the family. (VOY: "Sacred Ground", "Coda", "The Killing Game") Her mother was still alive as of 2378. (VOY: "Author, Author") [2]
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"So you're the commander of Deep Space 9... and the Emissary of the Prophets. Decorated combat officer, widower, father, mentor and... oh, yes, the man who started the war with the Dominion. Somehow I thought you'd be taller..."
– Senator Vreenak, 2374 ("In the Pale Moonlight")
Benjamin Lafayette Sisko was a famous Starfleet officer best remembered for his seven-year assignment commanding station Deep Space 9 in the Bajor sector. After discovering the Bajoran wormhole, he became known to the Bajoran people as the Emissary of the Prophets. He fought the Borg at the Battle of Wolf 359 and played a critical role as a Starfleet strategist and front line commander in the Dominion War. (DS9: "Emissary", "In the Hands of the Prophets", "Accession", "Second Sight", "The Search, Part I", "Favor the Bold", "The Siege of AR-558", "What You Leave Behind")
Sisko was born in 2332 in New Orleans, North America, Earth, to Joseph and Sarah Sisko. Sarah, however, had been possessed by a Prophet – a non-linear alien species which lived in the then-undiscovered Bajoran wormhole – in order to ensure the birth of Benjamin, who would later become the Emissary of the Prophets. A year later, the Prophet returned control of Sarah's body, and she soon left her son and husband. Joseph soon remarried, and his new wife posed as Benjamin's biological mother all the rest of her life. (DS9: "Image in the Sand") She gave birth to his sister, Judith, (DS9: "Homefront") and at least two brothers. (DS9: "Paradise")
By the 2020s, the American government – reacting to serious problems of homelessness and unemployment – created special Sanctuary Districts (essentially walled-off sections of the city grid) in most major cities. Unfortunately – while established with the benevolent intent of providing free housing and food, as well as prospects for future employment – the Sanctuaries quickly degenerated into inhumane internment camps for the poor. Even though people with criminal records were not allowed inside Sanctuaries, it didn't take long for the homeless and unemployed to be joined by the mentally ill and other, more violent, social outcasts. These groups were referred to by their slang terms – Gimmies, Dims, and Ghosts.
By late 2024, the twenty square blocks that made up Sanctuary District A had become overcrowded slums. With the records of people inside the Sanctuaries not uploaded to the planetary computer network (and therefore not accessible using an Interface), the true conditions inside were unknown to the general public. American society believed that, despite the political upheaval affecting Europe at the time, the United States was stable and had found a way to successfully deal with the social problems that had been the genesis of the Sanctuaries. An "out of sight, out of mind" mentality had set in. People in the district started to believe that their needs were forgotten. [3]
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To wit, each represented in science fiction what we're seeing today in this existential struggle by aspects of society that have historically been marginalized to say: we are human; #MeToo and the culmination of that struggle in actualized power.
For power to be actualized, it must first be seized. Occupy Wall Street is now a pitiful blog that hasn't been updated since August 2016. It's Reich/Right Wing counterpart - the Tea Party - not only demonstrated in the streets; they GOT elected. The Orwellian "Freedom Caucus" is now on Capital Hill making laws. "Killer Tweets" and witty Snap Chat posts will not change policy: only the grimy, dirty work of politics will accomplish that, and that needs to happen before we see a Nechayev, Janeway or Sisko on relativistic speed starships.
A lot can't be covered in 60 minutes between phasers, impossible spaceship speeds, Grandfather paradox plots and commercial sponsors.
Move On dot org: Check if You Are Registered to Vote or Get an Absentee Ballot
"Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot,
Nothing is going to get better. It's not."
― Dr. Seuss, The Lorax
1. Alynna Nechayev, Memory Alpha
2. Kathryn Janeway, Memory Alpha
3. Benjamin Sisko, Memory Alpha
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