Star Trek: 10 Worst Things Captain Janeway Has Ever Done

The season five premiere episode Night sees Voyager plunged into an area of space that is quite literally made of nothing. There are no stars, no gaseous anomalies, no planets. It is simple a void between the great distances of the Delta Quadrant, and it gives the crew plenty of time to think.

This is bad. This is very, very bad. Once Captain Janeway is given what is effectively a forced shore leave, she retreats into herself entirely. Cut off from the rest of Starfleet, she begins to allow old doubts and fears to surface, going so far as to begin shutting herself away from the crew entirely. Even Chakotay, who is not only her first officer but her closest friend next to Tuvok on the ship, can't convince her to lift her chin.

It takes this friendship to shake her from her doldrums, as she plans what is essentially a suicide mission to stop a Malon scow from polluting the area any further. Tuvok, having seen this behaviour before, warns Chakotay. Though the scene in question is a warm one of friendship, it is unfortunately an example of the captain letting her insecurities take over which, though altruistic, led to her decision to leave Voyager altogether.