In 2371 the USS Voyager left the Federation station Deep Space Nine and set course for the hazardous region of space on the Cardassian border known as the Badlands.

The first of its class to be sent on an official assignment, the USS Voyager represented the pinnacle of Starfleet technology. The aim of Voyager’s first assignment was two fold. To recover Tuvok - a Vulcan undercover within a Maquis cell who had missed recent check-ins and to ‘flex’ Starfleet’s muscle in The Badlands in an attempt to intimidate some of those that were considered outlaws into surrendering or otherwise betraying their cause.

Unfortunately for Starfleet, as we all know now, the ship went missing within days of her departure.

This work has taken on many forms since I first put pen to PADD, when Voyager first went missing I was on one of the initial vessels searching the Badlands, on special assignment from McKinley station to help refine sensors to detect unique elements in the Intrepid hull composition.

I barely slept those first two weeks in the Badlands. What time I didn’t spend calibrating components, I spent getting under the feet of those working in the science labs. Looking back now I see that they were clearly humoring me by letting me go over the sensor data despite my lack of expertise but it made me feel like I was doing more to help. At the time that was what I needed, so I thank those scientists for their understanding.

But Voyager refused to give us a clue, beyond a bizarre increase in Tetryon emissions that we never figured out an answer for ourselves. She became an unsolved mystery. Another ship registry and list of names to add to the memorial to the missing at Starfleet headquarters.

When I returned to Deep Space Nine, while I would never dare compare an engineer's small contribution to the construction of a ship to the loss of a loved one, I felt a deep sense of loss. The Intrepid class development project was far from a smooth ride and my colleagues and I wanted nothing more than a smooth showcase of the abilities of the Intrepid Class.

Fortunately for me, others reeling from the loss of the ship and her crew both in the immediate aftermath and in the years to follow didn’t let their grief close their hearts or minds. I found comfort then and now in speaking to the friends and family of the Voyager crew, as well as my colleagues in Starfleet R&D. It was through these conversations that this project started and I extend my endless gratitude to the Voyager Friends and Family Support Group who have made indescribably valuable contributions to what you are about to read.

Since those earlier days my own career has taken many turns. Be it fortune or fate, all paths led back to Voyager. I went from R&D to Starfleet Communications, to Project Pathfinder, Project Voyager and then back to the ship herself with R&D, as we unpicked the mysteries, marvels and messes that her crew had made of the ship through their journey in the Delta Quadrant. This latter work was to help inform the Voyager Enquiry.

Be it fortune or fate. This has given me a unique perspective on the journey that ignited imaginations across the Federation and beyond.

Ultimately though this book isn’t for the USS Voyager. It’s not about her journey. It’s not for her crew, me, or my many colleagues through my Starfleet career. While I value my relationships with them all, ultimately this book is for those that kept the candle burning in the window for a crew thrown further from home than most of us could comprehend.

It is for them that this is being published more widely. To give voices to the friends and family of the crew who refused to let grief tear themselves, or each other apart. Who came together in the darkest of times and vowed to make sure that, whatever happened, that Voyager and her crew would never be forgotten.

To hear from them in their own words, I recommend skipping straight to Chapter 4.

For the full story though, I feel it’s important to start at the beginning.