25 Best Episodes Of Star Trek EVER
21. Equinox - Star Trek Voyager
If Year of Hell was the teaser, then this was the main course. Right at the beginning of the episode the USS Equinox is shown under attack by mysterious foes, calling out for help.
They have the same uniforms as the Voyager crew. The ship is battered to pieces. When the credits end and Voyager picks up their distress call, they naturally run to their aid. What follows is a horror story of what Voyager could have been - pirates of the Delta Quadrant, murdering creatures to use their corpses to fuel their faster warp core.
Janeway is horrified to see what these Starfleet officers have resorted to to survive in the Delta Quadrant and vows to take them down. Another confrontation with Chakotay occurs but this time she is not backing down. She hunts the Equinox, allowing her personal vendetta against the betrayal of Starfleet push her further and further into her obsession.
While her counterpart Captain Ransom finally reclaims his ideals at the very end, the hunt to bring him in shows Janeway at her absolute worst and hardest. If Voyager had faced more challenges and less friendly faces, if they not been able to repair their systems so easily and been helped by some people along the way, who is to say what they would have become? There but for the grace of God go I.