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File:Maquis raider.jpg

The Val Jean

File:Val jean with galor.jpg

Comparing the Val Jean and a Galor class ship.

The Val Jean was a small raider-type craft operated by the Maquis during the early 2370s. The impulse engines of Val Jean were originally built in 2332.

In 2371, around stardate 48300, while under the command of Chakotay, the Val Jean was pursued by the Cardassian warship Vetar, Gul Evek's flagship. Chakotay ordered the ship into the Badlands to try to escape the Cardassians.

After eluding pursuit, the Val Jean was scanned by a coherent tetryon beam and transported into the Delta Quadrant by the Caretaker. Once there, the crew was abducted and subjected to medical tests to determine their biological compatibility with the Caretaker. One of the crew, chief engineer B'Elanna Torres, was removed from the others and sent to the surface of the Ocampa homeworld.

In order to recover his missing crew member, Chakotay reluctantly joined forces with Starfleet captain Kathryn Janeway of the USS Voyager, who had been sent to capture him but had instead been pulled into the Delta Quadrant as well. The cooperation proved successful, and both Torres and Voyager crew member Harry Kim were rescued.

Subsequently, both Voyager and the Val Jean were engaged in a dogfight by a small fleet of Kazon-Ogla warships, including a massive Predator-class carrier. Because the Predator vastly outgunned both Voyager and the Val Jean, Chakotay chose to perform a ramming maneuver to destroy the much larger ship and "take some heat off Voyager's tail." The ramming was successful; the Predator was destroyed after colliding with the Caretaker's array, and Chakotay was beamed out of the cockpit in the nick of time.

Following the destruction of their ship, the Maquis crew were accepted as members of the Voyager crew and given temporary Starfleet commissions. Although they came from hostile backgrounds, the two crews would have to work together to survive in the Delta Quadrant and return home to Earth. (VOY: "Caretaker")

Crew manifest

Background

File:Val jean.jpg

Teero's computer display

The name of Chakotay's ship, Val Jean, comes from "Repression", where it is seen on Teero Anaydis' computer. The ship was probably named for Jean Valjean, the hero of "Les Misérables". Michael Eddington also referenced him, comparing his situation to the Maquis in DS9: "For the Uniform".

Another popular name of Chakotay's ship, Zola, comes from a cut line in VOY: "Parallax" that was never aired. The name is therefore not considered strictly canon, similar to Liberty, which was the name given in Jeri Taylor's novel Pathways. This name probably comes from Émile Zola, a 19th century French novelist.

The cockpit of the Val Jean was a reuse of the Danube-class runabout, with older-style graphics.

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