Editor's note: The following contains spoilers for Star Trek: Prodigy Season 1 Episodes 11-15

The second half of Star Trek: Prodigy develops a new subplot on the show -- Vice Admiral Kathryn Janeway’s (Kate Mulgrew) search for Captain Chakotay (Robert Beltran). While Hologram Janeway mentors the crew of the Protostar, the youthful protagonists are unaware that their mission to join Starfleet is hindering the real Janeway’s hunt for her friend. If we were imagining the crew of the USS Voyager living in the lap of luxury after their exploits in the Delta Quadrant, Star Trek: Prodigy is here to tell us that they are certainly not. And this tracks with how most Star Trek protagonists’ lives have panned out for the worse. After the series finales of our favorite shows, these heroes did not get the happily-ever-afters they fought and sacrificed for. Instead, they end up facing more personal loss, bureaucracy, and disillusionment. All this while, the majority of the Voyager crew’s bleak futures had not been explored. Now that Star Trek: Prodigy is setting the record straight, we almost wish they hadn’t.

In Star Trek: Voyager, Captain Janeway’s ship, as well as Chakotay’s Maquis vessel, the Val Jean, were dragged into the Delta Quadrant by the Caretaker array and the crew ended up trapped, thousands of lightyears from Earth. It took Voyager seven years and many losses to return home. On Star Trek: Prodigy, Captain Chakotay is on a mission to the Delta Quadrant — yes, he goes back to the Delta Quadrant — but this time it’s a planned mission, and he’s aboard the Protostar which will bring him back home much faster than when Voyager was stuck there. Except, as we know, the Protostar was found by Dal (Brett Gray) and the others. So, what happened to Chakotay? That’s what Janeway is trying to find out. In plain terms, Chakotay is lost in the Delta Quadrant. Again.

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In Episode 11, “Asylum,” Vice Admiral Janeway remarks that the only way Starfleet could convince her to go back to the Delta Quadrant was as a hologram. And yet, in pursuit of her friend, she leaves her apprehension behind and seems to be willing to return to the Quadrant again. She hasn’t had to enter it yet, but for how much longer? We shouldn’t find it all that surprising that the future of these Star Trek protagonists is bleak. Granted, both Chakotay and Janeway got promotions, and their friendship has stood the test of time, but it seems particularly tragic that Chakotay would be brave enough to return to the Delta Quadrant again, only to be lost there, not once but twice in his lifetime. We don’t know for sure what’s happened to him yet, but we know he’s light years away from home and help.

Unhappy Endings Are Becoming a Pattern in Star Trek

This follows a pattern in the franchise — many of the protagonists from the previous series have met tragic ends or faced worse in their later years. Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner) spent the end of his life stuck in a timeless Nexus before being rescued by Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart), only to then be unceremoniously killed, dying with Picard beside him instead of being surrounded by his friends. Kirk’s friend Spock (Leonard Nimoy) lived an impactful life, but he died in a whole other timeline! On Star Trek: Picard, we discover that Picard, a stalwart of Starfleet, left his beloved institution completely disillusioned. Picard was a sad and lonely man till he found purpose again. His colleagues and friends William Riker (Jonathan Frakes) and Deanna Troi (Marina Sirtis) somehow fared worse. After a long courtship and an on-again-off-again romance, the pair married and had a son. But he died of a preventable disease, all because of the Federation’s ban on synthetic lifeforms. They deserved so much more happiness.

Also on Picard, Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan), another member of Voyager’s crew, revealed her life after the credits rolled on Star Trek: Voyager. A freed Borg, Seven’s fear while she was journeying with Voyager was that she wouldn’t be accepted on Earth. Unlike the crew of Voyager who put their initial fears and concerns about Seven’s presence aside to accept her into their "collective," Earth and Starfleet weren’t quite as understanding. Seven’s application to join Starfleet was rejected, and even Janeway threatening to leave didn’t change their minds. And it appears that Seven’s relationship with Chakotay crashed and burned just as fast. So, she went on to be a lone wolf Fenris Ranger. At least Seven’s alive and in a happy relationship with Raffi Musiker (Michelle Hurd). The other two recurring Borg crew members in Star Trek are both dead. Hugh (Jonathan Del Arco) was downed by a knife, and Icheb (Casey King), who Seven considered her son, was tortured so badly that he asked Seven to kill him. There are times even we wish Seven had remained Borg — life may have been easier for her to deal with.

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Janeway's Tough Choices Carry Over into 'Star Trek: Prodigy'

Janeway having to threaten Starfleet is uncharacteristic. She was a stickler for the Prime Directive and Starfleet protocols (to the best of her abilities), but being 75 years from headquarters meant Janeway had carte blanche over how to run her own ship. Being back in the Alpha Quadrant has its downsides. As we see on Star Trek: Prodigy, Vice Admiral Janeway is answerable to her superiors. One of those superiors happens to be Admiral Edward Jellico (Ronny Cox), who questions Janeway’s ability to remain rational in her mission to protect the Protostar and rescue Chakotay. Even in the 24th century, powerful women’s emotional standing is brought into question by obnoxious men. Let’s not forget, Janeway also has to put up with the Dauntless’ insufferable Doctor Noum (Jason Alexander). And we thought the Emergency Medical Hologram was a pain.

Speaking of the Dauntless, the starship’s choice of name seems like more than a coincidence. Back in Season 4 of Star Trek: Voyager, Janeway and her crew encountered another ship called the Dauntless, or so they thought. In “Hope and Fear,” Voyager met an alien named Arturis (Ray Wise), who was extremely helpful in decoding a message from Starfleet. Except, Arturis was actually conning Voyager — he was one of the last of his species, which was decimated by the Borg. He blamed Voyager for his people’s demise because Voyager drove away the Borg’s nemesis, Species 8472. Arturis disguised a starship to look like the USS Dauntless in the hopes that the Voyager crew would move to the new ship, and he’d send them straight to the Borg. He failed, but what’s worse is that Janeway and her crew got away while Arturis was left to become assimilated by the Borg. He would not have been in that situation if Voyager hadn’t sided with the Borg, but they were trying to protect a quadrant from something even worse. But could Voyager have gone back to save him?

Since this was a Star Trek episode, Janeway’s choices weren’t debated much in later scenes, but it was a difficult decision for Janeway to make nonetheless. So why has she taken command of a ship that could remind her of such a harrowing time? Even the interiors of the new Dauntless are reminiscent of the fake one that Arturis created. Is Janeway secretly punishing herself for what happened to Arturis and his people?

Star Trek has a habit of making life difficult for their protagonists, and now we know that the crew of Voyager haven’t been able to escape that fate either. Perhaps the rest of the crew are in a happier place. Has anyone checked if Harry Kim was promoted from ensign?