I was randomly thinking about this, I can't remember the episode or even which show but they were describing a captain's achievements and mentioned the number of first contacts handled by them. Surely Janeway has the Starfleet record for first contacts?!? Every day in the Delta Quadrant! I know Kirk and Archer would have racked them up as well but they also had Starfleet stuff to do.
I'd wager that Janeway is close to the record, but someone else has her beat. For example, the USS Olympia, under the command of Captain Lisa Cusak, spent eight years exploring the Beta Quadrant and was presumably out of contact with the Federation (and apparently the Alpha Quadrant too) the whole time.
In the episode Friendship One HENDRICKS [on screen]: The Voth, the Kobali, the Vaadwaur. You've made first contact with more species than any captain since James Kirk
It's rather remarkable that Kirk would ever have held any sort of a record. I mean, he mostly sailed where others had gone before. And being in space for five or eight years or whatever shouldn't be the measure of anything much: Starfleet skippers would seem to have careers spanning decades before they end up with a desk job, so the length of any single mission would be but a piece in the bigger jigsaw puzzle. Perhaps the numbers get biased by the definition of first contact. Look at "Move Along Home", where a Vulcan ship encounters the Wadi, an apparent Bajoran ship takes them to DS9, and still First Contact officially only happens when Sisko shakes hands with them. Is it really a case of "This is the first time I personally meet a Mundanian - wow, a true First Contact on my service record!"...? Or is it a case of First Contact being a fuzzy affair possibly spanning weeks of interaction and hundreds or thousands of people, but only a select few people with special credentials get credited? It would still be difficult to see how Kirk, on well-trodden paths, could come anywhere close to Janeway here. Perhaps the "Friendship One" statement is a massive understatement, even if factually correct? Timo Saloniemi
I guess the concept of first contact is between an "official" Federation party and the new race which is why Sisko would get the run on the board for that first contact, yes Vulcans are in the federation but it was probably a civilian or non affiliated vessel. As for Kirk, Kirk's mission despite the episodes that we get to see where he deals in border disputes and other Federation assignments is a five year deep space voyage going where no one had gone before and during this time it was more of a cowboy diplomacy era where you see a new species that's warp capable then you just rock on up and say hi. Picard probably has to fill out a lot of paperwork before making first contact.
That's surely why she will avoid a martial court. Indeed, neither the Federation or Starfleet will pursue a woman who made more in 7 years, lost in DQ, than all capitains before her in a lifetime. Of course, she counts numerous breaches of the Prime Directive and others broken rules but what is it next to a better knowledge of a quadrant unknown until there and first contacts?! By making all these exploits, Captain Kathryn Janeway became Starfleet's poster girl and to be sure that she goes nowhere (althought I guess that after 7 years far from her family to which she is very close, she will try to settle even temporarily, before dreaming of a new capitaincy and a new mission), they will offer her the rank of vice-admiral so quickly.
Are there really grounds for a court martial? Are there any times when Janeway herself actually violated the prime directive?
...Or, significantly, did so "more than any captain since James Kirk" who got off scot free? Timo Saloniemi
Maybe the term of "martial court" was too much but Janeway will not escape a commission of inquiry full of Admirals/Capitains, and some of them, even if they were never in a similar situation to hers when they were themselves capitain of a vessel, will judge that some of her decisions were debatable and will put her on the grill to know the whats, hows, whys and the consequences. Of course, she will manage to convince a majority of the members of the commission of her good faith at the time of decision-making and that risks were calculated because well, it's Kathryn Janeway and that even when she was wrong, she was right!
Maybe it's possible to count exactly how many First Contact situations Kirk, Picard, Sisko and Janeway had during those series. There must be some TOS, TNG and DS9 fans who have that knowledge about each of their Captains. Plus the Janeway fans here of course.
Janeway: Ocampa, Kazon, Talaxians, Species 8472, Devore, Voth, the hierarchy, Vaadvuar, Turei, silver blood species, Krenim, Bo'omar, Cathexis alien, nacene(caretaker), brunali, bru'hari, Trabe, and many others. 15 in that list alone and probably many others I haven't mentioned or were said to have taken place off screen.
Not to mention the Alcawellians, Hachai, P'nir, Tutopans, Sperians, Drenarians, Televek, Verunans, Akerians, Furies, Sardalians, Kirse, Andirrim, Nograch, Urrythans, Ryol, Neffaler, Birsibans, Rhulani, Sshoush-shins, Rai, Subu who they had First Contact with in the Voyager books. I just had to mention it! I really love those Voyager seasons 1-3 Voyager books!
Books are not canon and should not count. There are many many many more TOS and TNG books and they would have Janeway beat in non canon first contacts. Here is an official list of said every first contact. If someone wants to count them up http://memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/First_contacts
I count the books because they are good and the events in those books fits perfectly into the Voyager timeline. Some of the stories in those books are actually better than some episodes and would have been exellent episodes if filmed.