A Starfleet engineer aboard USS Voyager who was passed over as chief engineer in favour of B'Elanna Torres and served loyally under her.
Joe Carey was a human Starfleet engineer serving on USS Voyager when it was flung into the Delta Quadrant and its chief engineer was killed. As a senior member of the engineering staff he was the obvious candidate for promotion, and he came into conflict with B'Elanna Torres, the former Maquis engineer, who broke his nose in a fight.
Captain Janeway ultimately chose Torres as chief engineer after she showed greater ingenuity during a crisis. Carey accepted the decision and became one of her most dependable officers, working in engineering throughout the voyage and occasionally joining away missions. He was also seen in Voyager's past when the ship was being prepared for launch.
In the final season, Carey was killed by hostile aliens during a mission to recover an old Earth probe, not long before Voyager made contact with home. His death was a reminder of the cost of the long journey for the crew members who never made it back to Earth.