The Kazon should have been a more comprehensible threat.
I like that they were 2 or three hundred years less advanced than the Federation, but they could have made up that shortfall with intelligence, sneakiness, man-power, and ships, thousands of ships tasked with destroying Voyager.
For their technology. It gave them motivation. They emulate Voyager, they acquire it, it transforms their society. They become more advanced, and Voyager is one ship versus an entire society. Do the Ocampa survive if the Kazon gain Voyager, transform their society? So, Voyager's crew has to protect them, again, by stopping again by destroying their own ship to stop the Kazon from transforming their society.
Then, the crew wishes to stay together, and acquires a ship to take them home. Can it make the journey? Kathy has sacrificed her crew, and some don't want to continue. The show gets new life by becoming a mis-mash of crews--Maquis, Starfleet, and Mercenaries--and the arc is for each crew to influence the other. It breeds interpersonal conflict. But, some of the mercenaries are able to guide the people from the Alpha Quadrant, some stay by their side through the entire journey. A Neelix effect without the campy, child-like happiness. Neelix can be a morale officer, but some know how to fly a ship, some are in-need of asylum, some are doing it for the exploration, others are just there for a time to be paid.
There's Janeway uniting them, guiding these people home. Making contact with Starfleet, they are sent a new ship. It becomes a tearful moment, a return of home of sorts. The corridors are a reminder of the life these people once had. It is filled with messages from home, and items from their previous lives. Pictures of Tuvok's family. The dog for Janeway to care for. Their trip will still be arduous, but they are back on solid footing. The only mercenaries are the ones that want to make the trip to the Alpha. Now, the roles reverse, and they must learn to use Federation technology.
The Voyager crew is on their way home when they discover an area of space with riches beyond imagination. The mercenaries didn't even know about it. They are conflicted, contact Starfleet says it's up to Kathy. They explore, only to find the Borg are about to invade.
Kathy, again, defends these people. This time, she shares all she knows with the races in this part of space. The technology transformation question turns on its head. They essentially give their technology to the Ocampa.
This defense, and exploration, again, tests the crew's loyalties to Janeway. But, this time, they pull behind her (the Borg must be stopped), and she dismantles the collective...for good. The Borg are no more.
After ending the Borg threat, and mapping all they can, gaining allies, and transforming societies, Kathy returns with this new ship logging 50,000 light years in five years.
As it flies into Earth's atmosphere, tears. They explored, saved civilizations, made friends, kept them together, this small group rewarded for their faith in Janeway, a great leader who conquered death, the loss of her ship, and did it all with Starfleet's ideals intact, tested. Lauded for ending the Borg threat permanently, Janeway becomes Admiral, rivaling Kirk, Spock, Picard, Sisko in the annals of Stafleet's great explorers.
The end.
