#janeway vs borg

[jone-slugger]

The Borg Queen is so done with Janeway...

[remholder]

me, watching Star Trek kill off favorite* characters only for them to bring back the men but almost never the women:

[lostyesterday]

I was curious about which Star Trek shows had the most human vs non-human characters, so I made this graph. I counted all major characters plus characters who were in at least 10 episodes of each respective show (with a few exceptions for incredibly minor characters who are technically in more than ten episodes but have barely any/no lines). A full list of characters included is below the cut.

TOS:

Part/Non-Human: Spock

Human: Kirk, Mccoy, Scotty, Uhura, Sulu, Chekov, Chapel

TNG:

Part/Non-Human: Data, Troi, Worf, Guinan

Human: Picard, Riker, La Forge, Crusher, Wesley, Yar, Pulaski, O’Brien, Ogawa

DS9:

Part/Non-Human: Kira, Odo, Quark, Jadzia, Rom, Nog, Garak, Dukat, Worf, Weyoun, Martok, Leeta, Ezri, Damar, Female Changeling, Winn

Human: Sisko, Bashir, Jake, O’Brien, Keiko, Kasidy, Ross

VOY:

Part/Non-Human: Torres, Neelix, EMH, Tuvok, Kes, Seven (part Borg counts as not entirely human to me), Seska, Naomi, Icheb

Human: Janeway, Chakotay, Paris, Kim

ENT:

Part/Non-Human: T’Pol, Phlox, Soval, Shran

Human: Archer, Reed, Tucker, Sato, Mayweather, Forrest

DIS:

Part/Non-Human: Saru, Tyler (debatable but I’m counting him as partly non-human), L’Rell, Book, T’Rina, Nhan, Rillak, Linus, Zora, Adira (again, debatable, but they’ve got a symbiont so they’re not entirely human to me), Gray

Human: Burnham, Stamets (complicated case but I counted him as still human), Tilly, Culber, Lorca (mirror universe characters are still human, I think), Georgiou, Detmer, Owosekun, Rhys, Bryce, Cornwell, Airiam (she’s still human), Pike, Jett, Nilsson, Pollard, Vance

PIC:

Part/Non-Human: Picard (for part of the show at least), Elnor, Soji, Narek, Seven, Laris/Talinn (I am just pretending they’re the same character for simplicity), Jack (I guess???)

Human: Musiker, Jurati, Rios, Adam, Riker, Crusher, Shaw, Sidney

LWD:

Part/Non-Human: Tendi, Shaxs, T’Ana, Barnes, Kayshon

Human: Mariner, Boimler, Rutherford, Freeman, Ransom, Billups

PRO:

Part/Non-Human: Dal, Gwyn, Zero, Rok-Tahk, Jankom, Murf, Hologram Janeway, Diviner, Drednok

SNW:

Part/Non-Human: Spock, Una, Hemmer

Human: Pike, La’an, Uhura, Chapel, M’Benga, Ortegas

[heymrsandman]

JANEWAY: Fire the science lasers

SEVEN OF NINE: Captain, I believe if we Borg nanoprobes the problem, then we can explode everything

TUVOK: Sense-oars indicate that would be extremely rad, Captain

JANEWAY: Good, then I can get back to giving the entire crew mommy issues

vs

PICARD: I have spent six hours drinking tea in my floating fortress city in the middle of Federation heartland and I have decided that centrism is right RIKER: *jazzy trombone solo* vs DUKAT: They say that a good man will kill you without a thought, if he has decided that you are truly evil. What does that say about us, Captain, that we have not yet found cause to end the other? SISKO: It means that I hold myself to higher ideals that random murder, even of scum like you. I can see how you would find it hard to relate O’BRIEN: Sir, Quark’s new Furbys have become sentient and eaten the Defiant

[tribble-ations]

I know the Starfleet badge is just included here as an “implant” for ease of cosplay but the idea of the Starfleet badge and uniform as analogous to Borg implants is so fascinating. It fits perfectly into Seven’s Borg Queen vs Janeway complex

[tea-earl-grey]

Voyager character dnd classes

see the other series here!

Janeway: paladin. literally no question she literally made an oath to get her crew home, she is a prototypical paladin. i started this series of posts because i realized how much of a paladin Janeway is.

Chakotay: paladin. i struggled a bit with Chakotay but he is obviously someone very dedicated to truth and justice and was willing to go off on his own path to fulfill that dream of justice when he joined the Maquis and that's very paladin of him.

Tuvok: monk. i think a lot of Vulcans have big monk energy due to their intense almost monastical studies and devotion to logic and Tuvok is a prime example who is highly trained in both physical and mental discipline and sought to help others (Kes, Suder) exercise that same discipline.

Torres: sorcerer. Torres very much lacks the formal training that a usual Starfleet engineer (or wizard) would have but (in my opinion) has even more natural talent for ambitious engineering and manages to be a miracle worker not through some pact or intelligence but just through sheer force of will.

Kim: wizard. look in the show, Torres and Kim were kind of presented as opposites (the Maquis vs Starfleet) with the personality differences to match despite having a vaguely similar set of skills and capabilities. so it really makes sense that if Torres is a sorcerer, Kim would be a wizard with all the traditional by the book learning that entails.

Paris: fighter. Tom Paris is a fighter and i don't have much of an argument other than ~vibes~ and the fact that only a fighter would think he could tank the damage from going warp 10 and then start turning into a salamander.

EMH: cleric/bard multiclass. look the EMH was literally designed to be a doctor. when he was first activated that was his entire purpose and nothing else so i don't think i can really argue that he isn't a cleric. but as he started to exist for longer, he consistently wanted to be something more (specifically a singer, see Virtuoso). i need to emphasize. he's not a good bard. he doesn't provide inspiration or support to anyone. but the fact is that he needs to prove he can be something more.

Neelix: bard. do i have to explain myself? Neelix is very much a jack of all trades master of none kind of character. he dabbles in pretty much everything and 90% of his scenes exist to give support and encouragement to other characters.

Seven: warlock. even in-universe, the Borg (when they're at they're best) are portrayed as this eerie eldritch entity so i think it would make sense that in dnd mechanics, even though Seven broke away from the Borg, she maintained that pact with them in order to keep performing sorts of magical acts (like her increased strength and like. bringing people back from the dead). but she also very much has that same darkness and melancholy that a warlock has from a pact with an ambiguously evil being.

Kes: druid. no question about this one. she has an affinity for plants and vague but powerful supernatural abilities drawn from the literal energy of the universe.

please feel free to reply with your own headcanons! i'd love to read them.

[amokslime]

No "other" because these are mine alone, but feel free to let me know your favorites. I love talking about Star Trek

[fyeahcompetentwomen]

Kathryn Janeway vs. Buffy Summers

Remember: don't vote on "who would win in a fight", but on "who, when given a task that fits her skillset and talents, would do that task better: more comprehensively, faster, with more pizzazz, with less collateral, etc."

Endorsements! "What is she good at?"

Kathryn Janeway, Star Trek: Finding coffee in the Delta Quadrant, captaining a solitary ship far away from space station and Starfleet Command, intimidating bullies, scaring the embodiment of fear, integrating Maquis and Delta Quadrant natives and a former Borg drone into her crew, crossing the Warp 10 threshold, dealing a fatal blow to the Borg and stealing their tech to make it back to the Alpha Quadrant - with the help of her future self who will stop at NOTHING to save the people she loves. Also, being name-dropped.

Buffy Summers, Buffy the Vampire Slayer: #vote buffy#yeah she's a disaster sometimes#but i would say she's the most competent person in the room (including giles) a good 85% of the time#which is very impressive given her circumstances thank you tumblr user @comradesummers

[thegeminisage]

okay it's star trek update time. saturday we watched voy's "demon" and "one" and last night we did voy's "hope and fear" and ds9's "tears of the prophets."

demon (voy):

this one was so fun. i kept yelling THE GOOP IS ODO and it wasn't ofc but it was fun to imagine

a y class planet...i feel like we only ever see m class...this was very exciting

always exciting when they break out the space suits too

the ship landing is so silly and ridiculous. only slightly less ridiculous than the saucer splitting from tng

for a few minutes there i thought we were gonna have the tom paris/harry kim version of 2.25 resolutions. like because they could only breathe the planet's air. really really really funny

i love that the solution was to just let them clone everybody. imagine after voyager leaves and you can choose any crewman and all the little slimes want tuvok so you just have a bunch of tuvok slimes running around. 10/10

one (voy):

MY GIRL SEVEN....................

this one was soooososososo good

first of all, wtf at chakotay like talking to janeway about her bond with seven...that was gay as hell

i loved also she and the doctor eventually getting tired of each other. their scenes are so funny because they're both really autistic but in different directions

i love also when she gets put through the fire and succeeds...there is nothing she can't do. she really ran that whole ship on her own WHILE HALUCINATING i'm so proud of her

how clever to kind of leave it up in the air whether or not that guy was real, also. i went back and forth on it a few times and finally landed on not real only second before the reveal

her dream about being alone in the snowy tundra...damn. she like hates other people but also hates being alone. what a way to be

hope and fear (voy):

i had to physically pause this one multiple times to collect myself re: janeway/seven

the holodeck game. the argument where they both hit below the belt. the bit in the brig where they reference the first thing that happened in the brig and janeway had to touch seven's little eye thingy in the soft mood lighting wwwwow

i think the ethical dilemma here was a little silly though. like, my guy, you were banking on the ruthless guys who were stronger than the borg and also wanted to eat everyone else for lunch on helping YOU? like everybody say thanks janeway for getting rid of something even worse than the borg! not fuck you janeway for not letting the borg get killed by them

idk. i don't see that she did anything too awful. she sent them back home and saved them from the borg and saved the borg from them and then also got her people thru borg space AND got a gf out of it. leave her alone

i did like all the stuff about intuition vs borg knowledge though...janeway and her intuition remind me of kirk, but janeway and seven both fighting in the brig and then making up in the brig (complete with the touching) is very spones bread and circuses of them.

tears of the prophets (ds9):

man, sorry to say this, but...this script sucked bad. i dont think avery brooks is capable of phoning it in but we probability saw him get pretty close here. that final monologue, which should have ben about dax and was instead about the prophets, was poorly written

and dax's last words being about a baby - come on.

and kira and odo's argument - he is not so stupid he would do this without expecting her to be mad

and the scene between dukat and damar...where was the tension?? crazy dukat great but he's been better

even the thing with quark and bashir moping around in the holodeck because of dax was bad on paper

like, all of these things were saved (well, some of them were saved) by admirable performances from a charming and talented cast, but whew! like, julian looked so sad this became funny. kira and odo kissing to make up was so charming i forgave the premise

but dax's death was a bad death and her final arc being about a FUCKING baby was really sexist. sisko leaving not sure if he is coming back bc of some prophet thing right when bajor needs him most seems ooc. and his monologue to dax not being ABOUT. DAX. was a crime. poor terry farrell.

overall s6 has been great so far aside from a couple of bumps but man did it end on a sour note. i have heard season 7 is divisive so i guess we will see!!

TONIGHT: ds9's "image in the sand" and "shadows and symbols."

[best-star-trek-character]

Official VOY Character Bracket

And here’s the final bracket! Round One will go live tomorrow, 4/17 at 10 am EST!

Full List:

Round One:

Left Side:

Seven of Nine vs. Lon Suder: poll here

Tom Paris vs. Annorax: poll here

Neelix vs. Mezoti, Azan & Rebi: poll here

Braxton vs. Tuvok: poll here

Q Junior vs. Chakotay: poll here

Quinn (Q) vs. Kes: poll here

Naomi Wildman vs. Dexa & Brax: poll here

Vorik vs. Tuvix: poll here

Right Side:

Barclay vs. Icheb: poll here

T’Pel vs. B’Elanna Torres: poll here

The EMH vs. Doctor Chaotica: poll here

Samantha Wildman vs. The Lizard Babies: poll here

Captain Kathryn Janeway vs. Dr. Crell Moset: poll here

Seska vs. Lewis Zimmerman: poll here

Harry Kim vs. Kashyk: poll here

The Borg Queen vs. Q: poll here

Round Two:

Left Side:

Seven of Nine vs. Tom Paris: poll here

Neelix vs. Tuvok: poll here

Chakotay vs. Kes: poll here

Naomi Wildman vs. Vorik: poll here

Right Side:

Barclay vs. B’Elanna Torres: poll here

The EMH vs. The Lizard Babies: poll here

Captain Kathryn Janeway vs. Seska: poll here

Harry Kim vs. Q: poll here

Quarter-Finals:

Left Side:

Seven of Nine vs. Tuvok: poll here

Chakotay vs. Naomi Wildman: poll here

Right Side:

B’Elanna Torres vs. The EMH: poll here

Captain Kathryn Janeway vs. Harry Kim: poll here

Semi-Finals:

Seven of Nine vs. Naomi Wildman: poll here

B’Elanna Torres vs. Captain Kathryn Janeway: poll here

Finals:

Seven of Nine vs. Captain Kathryn Janeway: poll here

[bumblingbabooshka]

Hey! I was just wondering what your thoughts on Janeway x Seven were? (Love your content btw, it makes me happy)

Janeway/Seven Aesthetics, Themes: God & Her Angel. Creator and Creation -> Monster Movie, It's Alive!, Works of Art. Overbearing expectation. Overwhelming conditional love. "I'd die for you, I'd do anything for you" and meaning it. Requited but Unconsummated love (to 'consummate' here has no sexual connotation but a sense of being 'complete'). Unexpressed but constant pressure. Biting the hand that feeds you. Being keenly observed. A Certain Type of Control being mistaken for care. "I know what's best for you". The lofty and the ungraspable. Teacher/Student. Ant vs Machine. Sad old timey people in photographs standing too far away to see their faces. Telling someone to 'run' while holding the scruff of their neck. Womanhood and Personhood as idealized concepts. Womanhood and Personhood as performance. Hypocrisy. Benevolent[?] Gods are still Gods in the end. Idealization of the other until they can only disappoint or awe you <- Inability to truly see eye-to-eye. Mother/Father Issues. Power Imbalance. Victorian era. The 20's. Perfection and the yearning for it. It's difficult to love someone who means and is so much to you. Who is no longer another person but a complex web of identities that sometimes clash or contradict one another.

I like Janeway/Seven but only in a very specific way! I feel like most of the ways I see it are too boring for me personally to be invested. In my mind it's a relationship that would never actually come to pass (Janeway would ultimately not allow it even if she encouraged it - mixed signals) but which would take up a large portion of both of their minds and lives. Janeway is Everything to Seven. She's her worst enemy and the love of her life and she killed her and she gave her new life and she's the reason for all her suffering, all her joy. Infuriating and exhilarating. Deeply confusing. Janeway meanwhile sees Seven as a poor little thing, as dangerous, as a work of art, as herself, as something that can be MORE than what she is now, as an attractive woman, a child, her friend, her subordinate, a concept, an ingenue, a genius etc. Are you trying to make me A woman or Your woman? Am I a human before that? Am I a person first or your subordinate first? If you're nothing like the Borg why does this feel so familiar? [Receiving orders and carrying them out, bending to your will eventually even if we bicker beforehand.] "You're free to do what you want, Seven." [Within reason.] "You don't have to obey anyone, Seven." [Except me.] "This is your life, Seven. Your identity to do what you want with." [Except when I don't agree.] Seven: I don't want this. Janeway: You don't know what you want. Seven: I don't like this. Janeway: You will, eventually. Seven: What if I want to do something else? Janeway: You won't. It's what you are, don't resist it. / Resistance is futile. Janeway says that Seven can do as she pleases but as the captain of a starship she cannot actually allow that. And as a person who has a history of strong moral opinions on what is right and wrong (and a further history of asserting these opinions as factual, rules, and to be adhered to by others) she probably wouldn't have been the best person to explore one's humanity with even if they had been equals in regards to rank. I don't mean to make Janeway a villain in saying this, I earnestly think it's a very interesting facet of her personality. Flaws build character and Janeway has a tendency to impose very high standards for herself and those around her. Whatever Seven did and does would be taken by Janeway as a reflection of herself in my mind. Seven the person exists because Janeway gave her life, after all. This is inescapable v_v No matter how far Seven strays from Janeway's original vision of/for her - she will always be in the shadow of it. It's a debt that can never be repaid and not because Janeway desires to hold it above her head (she explicitly would NOT) - it's just the nature of the thing. The situation might not be ideal but damn sure someone or something's gonna be idealized. So conclusion I very much like Seven/Janeway but only in a specific way which makes most content for it not really my thing..hEHEHE. The worst predicament.

[isagrimorie]

I can't stop thinking of this post proposing Tricia Helfer as a recurring antagonist for Captain Seven of Nine.

A sort of dark mirror/foil.

For Sisko he had Eddington, for Janeway it was Ransom.

It would be crunchy and interesting if Seven's dark mirror is a former Borg-like, from the generation of Borg like Seven was, but taking her cause to the extreme.

Caprica!Six vs Seven of Nine.

It would be so interesting and crunchy.

[hauntedmoonchaos]

J7 Entwining Red and Green

I am running an event from 1st February 2023 to 28th February. (Will accept late submissions or this inspired me after the event was over submissions tho)

You can write fics, do fanart, fanedits that includes gifs, videos and pictures, make playlists or moodboards tag your posts #J723 so I can find them.

You can combine prompts, do one piece or several pieces.

Prompts

How far Janeway is willing to go for Seven.

Naomi or another member of the crew playing match maker.

The bond and trust that exist between the two

An Au of the creators choosing

How Icheb sees their relationship

J and/or 7 encounter alternate versions of themselves (then fall for them, gain insight about their version, etc.)

And you know damn well, For you, I would ruin mysel, A million little times (lyric prompt)

Triad pairing Seven/Janeway/ whoever you pick

Green and Red

Borg

Klingons

Silver

Home

Fever

Holodeck

Forehead Kisses.

Movie Night

One word turns into a war, Why is it the smallest things that tear us down?, My world's nothing when you're gone, I'm out here without a shield, can't go back now (lyric prompt)

Fun

Obsession is a dangerous game but it is one you wanted to play

Janeway/Seven dealing with BQ (make of this prompt what you will)

Dressing Up

Meeting each other families (okay Seven only has an Aunt but still)

Fairytale AU or a Holodeck program about a Fairytale

Favourite J7 moment from an episode

Creativity

Art

Does it ever drive you crazy, Just how fast the night changes? (Lyric Prompt)

Brainstorming

Untouched by The Veronica

Show and Tell

Maquis

Dancing

Singing

A Play's the Thing!

Competitive Sports

Snow

Beach

Rock-climbing

Battle of Wits/Other Language/Other Intelligence-based shenanigans

Victorian AU

Crossover with other shows (if i do this one i am gonna do doctor who)

Historical AU

Nurturing

Cooking/Food

Mind Meld/Communicating via the mind/telepathic communication

Birthday/Anniversary/Other Celebration

Earth

Journaling/Logs/Epistolary

Role-reversal (like Seven as the Captain and Janeway as the ex-drone, or Janeway/Seven as Maquis leader)

Reconcilliation

Mirror Universe

Meeting Future or Past Self

Amnesia fic

Body Swap

Star gazing

Braiding each other's hair

From all the things that we are, Are not saying, Can we see beyond the scars, And make it to the dawn? (Lyric Prompt)

Memories

Shape shifting or animal transformation

One Bed trope

Time loop

Plants/Growing

Huddling for Warmth trope

Lowered Inhibitions

Bookshop owner/plantshop owner

Quest

Waking up next to each other

Q vs 7 (over Janeway) or Alternatively BQ vs Janeway (over Seven)

[ezrisdax-archive]

fic ideas I had for things but never finished or started properly (also a lot of these I came up with with other people):

b7

fake dating au

accidentally got married au

 mutual pining whoops we're sleeping together anyway

ace attorney au

 seven as the one in shattered instead of chakotay au with maquis!b'elanna in janeways spot

future fic from naomi point of view about her gay aunts

dragon age au with warden!b'elanna and morrigan!seven

kes stays and is sick of them flirting and locks them in a closet au

 the coffee shop au I never finished which became a whole world anyway

 help desk support b'elanna dealing with ext 709 on the phone every day

hades game au

stuck on the holodeck and have to act the parts out to get out

utena au

xena au

troisha

expanding on the au I had where alternate reality tasha ended up in prime timeline instead of going to the past

xena au

roommates at starfleet au which I think I may have also done? so like...a different better one

 tasha didn’t die but ended up in some limbo form and deanna keeps seeing her as a ghost

kiradax (either dax)

reverse au with ezri as the dax host before jadzia and jadzia in season seven

mass effect au with asari!jadzia and human!kira

dragon age au with hawke!jadzia and mage!kira

au where kira stays on ds9 at the end of season six and is able to get to jadzia in time to save her but jadzia has to leave for trill for healing for a while and they write each other

chlodine

time loop au where they're looking for atlantis and whoops its got a funky artifact that has nadine looping

au where they meet much much sooner

office au where nadine is night security and chloe works late and keeps forgetting her badge and breaking in

wilenko

the au where one of them gets the beacon instead of shep

winter soldier cerberus au where they show up instead of sheps clone in ME3 or take kai lengs place in ME3

tim hortons vs starbucks au in niagra falls listen I'm canadian

stargate au

grissom academy instructor kaidan but ash on the normandy still

 pacific rim au

star wars au with clone soldier ash and jedi kaidan

vetryder

never went to andromeda au and ryders dig site needs supplies and she finds vetra

the typical au where sara isn't the pathfinder but calls dibs when she wakes up and meets vetra anyway

were dating pre andromeda but vetra thought ryder died when the hyperion didn't show up

misc star trek

seven/ezri where seven ends up on ds9 by the borg attacking the defiant and them getting seven from it look it wasn't fully fleshed out

divided we fall rewrite (ezri/lenara)

on an away mission together leading to fake dating (joann/keyla)

the kes stays on voyager, tom leaves au with kes, harry, b’elanna, and seven shenanigans (gen)

ezri and harry bffs serving on captain geordi's ship (gen)

misc

 ichiban time loop au (yakuza, gen)

au where korra doesn't fully get her memory back in season two but thinks her and asami are dating (lok, korrasami)

seong-hui keeps texting saeko and this leads to a relationship (yakuza, seong-hui/saeko)

tifa finds aerith at shinra hq where she’s been locked up for a while (ffvii, aerith/tifa)

tifa dead all along based on the latest trailer and technically a ghost but aerith drags her back to living anyway (ffvii, aerith/tifa)

rei begs susato to dress up again to get out of dating other guys (ace attorney, susahao)

franmaya star trek au with romulan/vulcan fran and trill maya (ace attorney, franmaya)

[moonhuit]

Would you consider dropping some j/7 fic recs?

ive had this in my inbox for a while ! and ive been adding fics to it but i realized 7 should be enough for now omg. the selection is a little bit twisted it seems

Small Dreams of a Scorpion by tigermoth 26

i just want everyone to know im normal about this fic. im all about introspection mode seven but introspection early s4 seven days????? girl dinner

The 74' by cobbs

this is for the admiral janeway and captain seven enjoyers. in my mind this is canon

Drowned / Drowning by yeaka

vampirism?? with borg??? AND in j7???? need i say more (also supplemental reading is @isagrimorie post about survival instincts script actually talking about borg recycling)

Post Hoc by linguisticallycunning

its not my set of j7 fic recs if i dont have at least one from the killing game episode

With a Little Help by Anderson

immovable object (janeway and her starfleet protocols) vs unstoppable force (seven of nine with a mission)

Radiant Thaw by baileyjumps

seven of nine being normal about kathryn janeway (absolute 180 degree on this)

[clementine-kesh]

oh fuck yeah harry kim meta for the win!! if it's alright, can you elaborate on harry being 'as starfleet as they come'? (maybe even comparing him to *picard's* idea of what starfleet is and should be? i think they're interesting individuals to put side by side.) thanks!

hell yeah i’m always down to talk meta! by “as starfleet as they come” i was mostly referring to him being the picture perfect model ensign type. you know, top of his class, did a ton of extracurriculars, someone who was happy and thriving within the system. a system i doubt he ever questioned pre-voyager, either. plus, he’s ambitious and has the skills to match. see: non sequitur, where in the alternate timeline he was less than a year out of the academy and already presenting the first update to starfleet’s shuttles in 50 years. it’s not a stretch to say he’d have worked his way up the ladder pretty quickly were he not trapped on voyager.

but of course starfleet is more than just academic performance or scientific knowledge. it’s about people, seeking out new life and learning from it, and harry’s a great example of someone who embodies that. he’s a character who doesn’t assume things about other people and does his best to meet them at their level. there are two scenes that illustrate this really well, the first is when he and tom are eating dinner and he wants to invite janeway to eat with them and tom thinks it’s a bad idea to which harry’s like well who else is she gonna eat with, and the second is when he expresses interest in seven and tom’s like ew wtf dude she’s a borg and harry retorts with well there’s a woman in there, too. in both cases you have someone making assumptions about someone else and harry pushing back on it by being like no they’re a person just like us and we should do our best to connect with them. see also warhead when harry’s like “we’re not transporting this mysterious ai device on board” and the doctor’s like “but it’s just like me 🥺” and that’s what convinces harry. harry might be an engineer by training but his real superpower lies in diplomacy.

contrast that with picard, who is also a very skilled diplomat, but the key difference is that picard is loyal to institutions and harry is loyal to people. harry’s out there pulling shit like staging a mutiny and violating the temporal prime directive just to save his friends. stuff that goes directly against every rule in starfleet’s book. picard could NEVER. he’s a needs of the many kinda guy whereas harry says fuck that everyone matters!! shit hits the fan and harry will always choose to help people over any perceived moral high ground or sense of duty. maybe if harry hadn’t been thrown into the psychological maelstrom of voyager he would’ve turned out more like picard but thank god he didn’t because let’s be real, he’s way more interesting of a character because he’s a little messed up and has some moral ambiguity to him.

i think picard’s vision of starfleet is very much one that exemplifies a lofty sense of enlightenment, of being the pinnacle of civilization. whereas harry’s is way more about actually helping people no matter who they are. see: picard’s reaction to members of the maquis vs. harry’s. picard gets all high and mighty and pissed about them betraying the federation while harry takes a step back and tries to find common ground. if picard were on voyager he probably would’ve been a lot more like lieutenant carey and bitched about the maquis instead of actually trying to work with. becoming best friends with one? again, picard could NEVER