Unworthy is a Star Trek: Voyager novel by Kirsten Beyer published by Pocket Books in 2009. It is the second novel in the Voyager relaunch after Destiny and the sixth overall. It centers around the Full Circle Fleet making contact with a collective known as the Indign.
Description[]
- Freed with a thought, the greatest menace to humanity, the Borg are gone, absorbed into the Caeliar gestalt. But are they? Can this deadly menace, that has hovered over humanity for decades truly be gone? Might some shadow of the Caeliar remain? The Federation decides that they have to know and Starfleet is ordered to find out.
- The Starship Voyager leads a fleet into a region of space that has lived in fear of instant annihilation for generations, home of the Borg, the Delta quadrant. Afsarah Eden—the new captain of Voyager is charged getting answers, to reach out to possible allies, and resolve old enmities in the Delta quadrant
- The perfection that was given to the Borg was withheld from Seven of Nine. Left behind she is living a twilight existence—neither Borg nor human—and slowly going mad. The whispers of the Collective, comforting mummers she has always known, is replaced with a voice deep within her that keeps insisting she is Annika Hansen. Chakotay, the former captain of Voyager, offers to help Seven rendezvous with the ships that Starfleet Command has sent into the Delta quadrant, the probable destination of the mysterious Caeliar.
- These are not the friendly stars of the Federation, the unknown and the unexpected are the everyday.
Summary[]
In 2381, following the Borg Invasion and the species’ subsequent absorption into the Caeliar gestalt, Seven of Nine continues to recover from the traumatic replacement of her Borg implants with Caeliar catoms when her Aunt Irene dies, after a long struggle with Irumodic Syndrome. When Seven withdraws into herself from the trauma of recent events, Chakotay recruits Icheb and his old friend, Sveta, into a ritual which allows them to enter Seven’s mind and convince her to return to the real world. Resisting a mysterious voice which insists she is Annika Hansen, Seven embarks with Chakotay to rendezvous with the Project Full Circle fleet in hopes that finding the Caeliar might answer her remaining questions.
Meanwhile, B'Elanna Torres, having faked the death of herself and her daughter Miral Paris, takes her custom-built shuttle to the Delta Quadrant in the final leg of her three-year long effort to convince the Warriors of Gre'thor that she and Miral are dead. A minor malfunction in her ship's slipstream drive forces B’Elanna to rendezvous with her nearest ally – Neelix – and she must inform her old friend of the death of Kathryn Janeway.
The Full Circle fleet disembarks for the Delta Quadrant, and soon after arriving – at the site of the transwarp hub destroyed by Voyager in 2377 – discovers B’Elanna’s shuttle under attack from a vessel resembling a Borg cube. A shocked Harry Kim, though relieved to learn B’Elanna and Miral are alive, feels betrayed by the deception of Tom. Soon, events force Tom and B’Elanna to change their plans and decide to remain aboard Voyager.
As half of the fleet departs to follow-up on a discovery by the USS Aventine during the Borg Invasion, Voyager, Galen, and Hawking investigate a nearby system from which the strange cube-shaped vessel originated and which might offer the fleet valuable benamite to repair their own malfunctioning slipstream drives. The system turns out to be home to six sentient races – living in a cooperative, symbiotic society – which show little interest in Captain Afsarah Eden’s diplomatic efforts or requests for benamite. Simultaneously, an away team investigating another of the alien vessels makes a horrifying discovery: the aliens use their cube ships to make offerings of other species to the Borg. While the crew digests the strange behavior of the alien races, Captain Eden also learns that deflector protocols which could open a rift into fluidic space have been mysteriously restored – and Admiral Willem Batiste suspects Seven of Nine or Chakotay might be responsible.
When the aliens – identified collectively as the Indign – send a small canister to the fleet, it remains sealed until the voice in Seven of Nine’s head gives her the ability to open it. Immediately, an alien presence from within possesses the Doctor’s nurse, Meegan McDonnell and expresses the Indign’s desire for the fleet to leave their system. After Chakotay, Counselor Hugh Cambridge and the Doctor help Seven deal with the voice, she experiences a vision of a group of aliens not participating in the Indign collective. When Voyager suffers from a plethora of systems failures, the ship shows signs that it is moving out of the system to open a rift into fluidic space but Nancy Conlon and B’Elanna manage to regain control of the ship in time to avoid this outcome.
When Seven, Chakotay and Cambridge visit an isolated Neyser colony, they discover that the aliens have been attacked with Starfleet weapons. Seven is drawn deeper into the colony to encounter the Old One who telepathically warns Seven of the canister’s true nature. Simultaneously, Voyager is hijacked once again and used to open a rift into fluidic space forcing Eden to realize that the traitor is her own ex-husband, Admiral Batiste. As the rift widens, Eden confronts Batiste and learns that he was a sleeper agent for Species 8472 for the invasion that Voyager had negotiated a truce to avoid five years earlier (VOY episode: "In the Flesh"). While Chakotay negotiates with Valerie Archer, the Species 8472 agent he dealt with preceding the truce, Eden allows Batiste to return to his people. Meanwhile, Reg Barclay – one of few who knew that Meegan McDonnell was actually an advanced hologram – realizes that the Indign consciousness never truly left her program and tries to apprehend her before she does further damage.
After Chakotay convinces Archer to return Batiste to fluidic space, Meegan escapes and Seven explains what the Old One revealed – the memory engrams of eight immortal, and incredibly dangerous, Neyser were imprisoned in the canisters which Meegan stole after attacking the isolated Neyser colony. When the Indign arrive to attack the Full Circle fleet, Seven uses her catoms to access the Indign consciousness and dissuade them from attacking by lying about the status of the Borg. In the end, the Old One promises to share the truth of the Borg’s evolution with the Indign and Seven manages to make peace with the voice – which the Caeliar had left to facilitate her adjustment.
As Eden is promoted to replace Batiste as fleet commander, Chakotay is offered the captaincy of Voyager, B’Elanna is promoted to fleet chief engineer to oversee the slipstream technology, and B’Elanna and Nancy recruit Counselor Cambridge to help Harry and Tom reconcile.
References[]
Characters[]
USS Voyager personnel[]
- B'kar • Willem Batiste • Eline Bens • Hugh Cambridge • Chakotay • Nancy Conlon • Donner • Afsarah Eden • Gaston • Gleez • Aytar Gwyn • Harry Kim • Kula • Kenth Lasren • Samantha Maplethorpe • Neol • Miral Paris • Tom Paris • Devi Patel • Seven of Nine • Sharak • B'Elanna Torres
USS Galen personnel[]
- Reginald Barclay • Cress Benoit • The Doctor • Michael Drur • Clarissa Glenn • Benjamin Lawry • Meegan McDonnell • Lynne Selah • Ranson Velth
USS Hawking personnel[]
- Justin Bloom • Connor Griggs • Bal Itak • Lamar • Lern • T'Pena • Vorik
Other Starfleet personnel[]
- Icheb • Illo Mirren
- Referenced only
- Regina Farkas • Erika Hernandez • Kathryn Janeway • Kenneth Montgomery • Owen Paris • Jean-Luc Picard • Sanchez • Tuvok • Naomi Wildman • Samantha Wildman • Lewis Zimmerman
Other characters[]
- Valerie Archer • Brax • Dexa • Hestax • Old One • Sveta
- Referenced only
- Adam • Alra • Nanietta Bacco • Captain Proton • Chaotica • Dathon • gods • Irene Hansen • Hevra • Miles Jobin • Kahless the Unforgettable • Kahless • Kaslo • Kes • Buster Kincaid • Kularg, son of Grav • Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart • Sekaya • Seska • George Bernard Shaw • Carson Tallar
Starships and vehicles[]
- USS Achilles (Mulciber-class) • Alpha Flyer • Species 8472 battleship • USS Curie (Merian-class) • USS Demeter (Theophrastus-class) • USS Esquiline (Vesta-class) • USS Galen (Galen-class) • USS Hawking (Merian-class) • Home Free • USS Planck (Merian-class) • USS Quirinal (Vesta-class) • Van Cise • USS Voyager (Intrepid-class)
- Referenced only
- USS Aventine • Borg cube • USS da Vinci • USS Enterprise-E • escape pod • Miranda-class • Nova-class
Locations[]
- Alpha Quadrant • Beta Quadrant • Delta Quadrant • Earth (San Francisco) • Irin • Indign system • New Talax • shipyard • Sol system
- Referenced only
- Azure Nebula • Delgara • Deneva • Deneva system • Earth (Palais de la Concorde) • Erigol • Kaslo • Tendara Colony • Terrasphere 8 • transwarp hub
Races and cultures[]
- Betazoid • Bolian • Bosaal • Brunali • Deltan • Dinaali • Dulaph • Greech • Hierarchy species • Human • Imalak • Irsk • Klingon • Kraylor • Kriosian • Ledosian (Ventu) • Neela • Neyser • Nygean • Seriareen • Species 8472 • Talaxian • Tamarian • Vulcan
- Referenced only
- Borg • Caeliar • Cardassian • Ferengi • Gorn • Hirogen • Kazon • Pahkwa-thanh
States and organizations[]
- The Eight • Indign • Project Full Circle • Starfleet • United Federation of Planets
- Referenced only
- Borg Collective • Caeliar gestalt • Federation Research Institute • Maquis • qawHaq'hoch • Starfleet Academy • Starfleet Medical • Warriors of Gre'thor
Science and technology[]
- akoonah • analgesic • anthropology • antiviral • benamite crystal • benamite recrystallization matrix • bioneural gelpack • carrier wave • catom • central processor • combadge • communications • compression rifle • cortical node • cytoplasmic life-form • dekyon beam • electrolyte • Emergency Command Hologram • Emergency Engineering Hologram • Emergency Medical Hologram • Emergency Security Gorn • Emergency Security Hologram • engrammatic scan • environmental suit • fire-suppression system • forcefield • gas giant • holodeck • holographic emitter • hydrospanner • hypospray • Irumodic Syndrome • isomorphic compound • lead • magnetic constrictor • microfilament • mobile emitter • nanoprobe • navigational deflector • neural inhibitor • nanoprobe • occipital lobe • omega molecule • oxygen • padd • palm beacon • phaser • phaser cannon • plasma conduit • psychology • quantum mechanics • Quantum slipstream drive • replicator • sensor • sociology • spatial mechanics • subspace corridor • subspace relay • Talaxian flu • television • temporal mechanics • transphasic torpedo • transporter • transwarp tunnel • tractor beam • tricorder • tritanium • warp drive
Ranks and titles[]
- admiral • biologist • cadet • captain • chief engineer • chief medical officer • commander • counselor • doctor • emperor • ensign • fleet chief engineer • fleet commander • lieutenant • lieutenant commander • mission specialist • nurse • science officer
Other references[]
- 20th century • The Adventures of Captain Proton • airponics bay • apple • astrometrics • banana pancake • Battle of the Azure Nebula • beef stew • belt • boot • Borg Invasion of 2381 • bread • butterfly • coffee • cranberry • crib • dashtenga yoga • dress • elephant • Federation Standard • Fluidic Peace Accord • fresher • hatha poses • hospice • hut • jacket • jazz • Jefferies tube • Kuvah'magh • leola root stew • mosquito • moth • The Munich Mannequins • navigation • opera • Pacrathar • parrot • plomeek soup • Prime Directive • raktajino • salad • salmon • scotch • sexuality • skirt • slacks • snack bar • strawberry pie • string bean • synthehol • Tamarian • tea • topical cream • Trojan Horse • trousers • tunic • urn • vegetable • violin • water • yellow alert • Yellow Labrador
Appendices[]
Related stories[]
- VOY novel: Full Circle - The mission to the Delta-Quadrant is started in Full Circle.
- VOY novel: Children of the Storm - The fate of the ships not involved in the encounter with the Indign is revealed in Children of the Storm.
- VOY novels: Acts of Contrition, Atonement - These two novels conclude the story of the Seriareen.
| Star Trek: Voyager novels set after the television series | |
|---|---|
| Homecoming • The Farther Shore • Spirit Walk (Old Wounds • Enemy of My Enemy) • Full Circle • Unworthy • Children of the Storm • The Eternal Tide • Protectors • Acts of Contrition • Atonement • A Pocket Full of Lies • Architects of Infinity • To Lose the Earth | |
Background[]
- The German translation of the novel was released by Cross Cult in 2015. It was translated by René Ulmer and featured new cover art by Martin Frei.
Character arcs[]
- Afsarah Eden - Eden is promoted to Fleet Captain and in charge of the fleet after the departure of admiral Batiste.
- Chakotay - Chakotay is promoted to Captain of Voyager.
- Harry Kim - After Kim learns that B'Elanna Torres and Miral Paris are still alive he gets angry and aggressive towards Tom. At the end of the novel he and Tom are reconciling their broken friendship with the help of Counselor Cambridge.
- Thomas Paris - After Voyager finds B'Elanna's shuttle and they want to leave Eden convinces him and B'Elanna to stay.
- B'Elanna Torres - After being found by Voyager and despite her scheme to build up a new life with Tom Torres is promoted to Fleet Chef Engineer.
Images[]
Connections[]
Timeline[]
The novel runs from May through June of 2381, the first month of the Full Circle Fleets 3-year mission in the Delta Quadrant. It begins three years and six months after the final Star Trek: Voyager episode, "Endgame".
| published order | ||
|---|---|---|
| Previous novel: Full Circle |
Voyager novels (Post-finale) |
Next novel: Children of the Storm |
| Previous novel: Full Circle |
Novels by: Kirsten Beyer |
Next novel: Children of the Storm |
| chronological order | ||
| Previous Adventure: Full Circle |
Memory Beta Chronology | Next Adventure: Children of the Storm |
Translations[]
- 2015
- German : Unwürdig, translated by René Ulmer. (Cross Cult)
External link[]
- Unworthy article at Memory Alpha, the wiki for canon Star Trek.