taken from the original game manual

Story Background

Lt. Commander Tuvok's Personal Log, Stardate 53843.2

Since our arrival in the Delta Quadrant, Voyager has been forced to defend itself from the aggressions of many hostile races. Although we have survived these encounters, each battle diminishes vital resources Voyager needs for its journey home. In an effort to minimize losses from future conflicts, I have proposed a plan to Captain Janeway that would establish an Elite Force of security personnel, named the Hazard Team, which could handle the most extreme situations.

The Hazard Team would be a division of Starfleet support services, related to security and damage control. Consisting of security and engineering crewmembers, the team would be specially trained to handle dangerous conditions and hostile environments. In addition to standard security and damage control training, they would receive special military training in infiltration, combat, stealth and varied weapons usage. This Hazard Team would operate under my authority. The team would be activated in the most extreme circumstances, for situations beyond the capacities of normal crewmembers.

After extensively studying performance histories, personal files, and psychological profiles of every crewmember aboard Voyager, I have compiled a list of final candidates for the Hazard Team. Although I have reservations about some of the individual members, I believe the group can function effectively as a unit. I shall endeavor to train them to overcome the perils we will encounter during our journey home.

The Forge

Lt. Commander Tuvok's Personal Log Supplemental

To assess the danger confronting Voyager, I have accumulated data from comprehensive sensor scans of the surrounding region. While most computer systems aboard the derelict ships are too damaged to retain any pertinent information, our sensors have gleaned pieces of information that may help the Hazard Teams prepare for their coming missions. After some extrapolation with the universal translator, I have discerned that the machine responsible for our capture is called The Forge. Its origin is unknown, but it is certainly hostile

The Forge has trapped vessels from numerous sentient races, all with one disturbing commonality – each possess advanced capabilities to wage a devastating war. One can only assume that whatever intelligence is behind our capture has chosen to attract different races to test and observe their combat skills, for a reason that has yet to be determined. From the available data, I have constructed a plausible model for the Forge's operation.

First, the Forge launches a Probe, like the one encountered by Voyager. If the beings that encounter the Probe survive the initial encounter and destroy it, the Probe's resulting explosion transports any vessels caught within the blast into the Forge region. Once captured by the Forge, ships are instantly affected by a dampening field to prevent escape.

Judging from the structural damage on the derelict vessels, a powerful force then attacks the helpless ships, capturing crewmembers and removing portions of the hull. I have reviewed multiple entries from the derelict ships' logs and found several references to beings called Harvesters. While nothing is known about the Harvesters, empirical evidence suggests that they are a truly formidable warrior species. I have detected the remains of a damaged Borg cube in this region. If the Harvesters were capable of defeating a Borg colony, then Voyager is in grave danger. It is imperative that we collect more detailed intelligence about these adversaries quickly.

Along with the Borg Cube, I have scanned other ships and logged reports about other possible adversaries the Hazard Team could face soon. I must ensure that each Hazard Team member becomes intimately familiar with this information.