If The Journey Did Take Decades...

[Farscape One]

A thought occured to me.

Say no shortcuts happened, and it really would have taken them 75 years to get to Federation space. Obviously, they would need to have kids to keep the ship going.

However, if there are enough children taking over the jobs on the ship, is it right to force them to make the journey to Federation space, a place that they have never known? What if a bunch of them never want to go that way? How do you think this would have been dealt with?

 

[Kilana2]

They could have been forced to settle down on a planet. Voyager would continue the journey home provided that there would be enough members of the crew left to run the ship.
For those who stay behind: they would form a colony without Starfleet. I don't know if they would be interested in reestablishing contact. They would miss the Dominion War and another Borg Invasion (litverse). They would be confronted with other threats, though. Fighting off enemies and forming alliances...... Would be interesting to see such things happening.

 

[Nyotarules]

Well Captain Archer's crew had a more than 100 year deadline to meet, it seemed most of the crew stayed on ship and multiplied, including Archer. It never made sense to me why Janeway refused to pair up with someone, if it did take 75 years she would be visiting Fair Haven a lot.

 

[thribs]

Over time, the distance to Earth shortened considerably and so it probably felt there was a lesser need to procreate.

 

[XCV330]

I think they would have just settled down and maybe scouted out some way to establish communication with the Federation. AS it happened, the federation would have established communication with THEM eventually, and they would just grow into a far flung colony, the Pitcairn of the UFP.

 

[cosmic mouse]

There would invariably be a percentage of the "next gen" crew that had no interest in reaching the AQ, for whatever reason, so the crew might have dwindled before that quadrant was actually reached. I'm sure some of them would hang in there for the long haul in order to see the land of their ancestors, or some might still have family on Earth. Or maybe some wouldn't have anything better to do in life after being born drifters... going where the galactic tide takes them.
So I think Voyager ultimately would have made the journey, but with a truncated crew and possibly some new, alien faces that joined the entourage along the way: the Cosmic Wizard of Oz perhaps...

 

[darrenjl]

The kids would have been brought up as Federation citizens and educated to the Starfleet ideal in order to run the ship- of course they would continue to get the ship to Earth.

 

[Sophie74656]

There may be several of the original crew left on the ship too. Some non human people would surely still be around. Even some humans if they were younf enough. Harry might still be around. We know that people live longer in Trek. Also B'elanna may still be around due to her Klingon half. Definately any Vulcan crew member would still be around.

 

[Nyotarules]

I think they would have just settled down and maybe scouted out some way to establish communication with the Federation. AS it happened, the federation would have established communication with THEM eventually, and they would just grow into a far flung colony, the Pitcairn of the UFP.

Hopefully not, bad example

 

[XCV330]

Hopefully not, bad example

what has happened in the last few years on Pitcairn is deplorable (and also immediately after its founding) but it did flourish, and there are far more descendants of Pitcairn living off the island in other places like Norfolk Island, than on Pitcairn itself. I'd call it a successful colony even if a troubled one.

 

[Relayer1]

It wouldn't really be that the Delta Quadrant would be the children's home, Voyager would have been, regardless of which random but if space it was passing through.

I hardly think they'd have thought of a particular planet or part of the DQ as home. They could have decided they would rather live on a planet, and have choosen one, but that is not the same thing.

 

[Nyotarules]

^Janeway would have seen that as a failure on her part.

 

[Tenacity]

The kids would have been brought up as Federation citizens and educated to the Starfleet ideal in order to run the ship- of course they would continue to get the ship to Earth.

indoctrinate all you want, humans will alway make their own decision, sometimes just to buck the one true way.

 

[darrenjl]

Well I didn't see Naomi exactly wanting to stay in the Delta Quadrant?

 

[WraithDukat]

Humans average a 140 year lifespan in the 24th century. The original command crew would probably still be there barring an accident.

 

[XCV330]

indoctrinate all you want, humans will alway make their own decision, sometimes just to buck the one true way.

And half the crew were Maquis with no real vested interest in returning to face trial anyway. one of the more unrealistic parts of the show. If Chakotay had owned a spine he would have taken the ship at first opportunity and forced them to find a suitable planet to settle down on. Might have kept him alive longer.

 

[darrenjl]

The Maquis were still Federation citizens. The Alpha Quadrant was all they knew.

The bigger picture for them was getting home from the other side of the galaxy. They knew they had to work with the Starfleet crew to accomplish this, and that it may end up taking 75 years.

As happened, any resentment between the two disappeared as both realised their disagreements were worthless in the Delta Quadrant, being thousands of light years from conflict, and that they had bigger fish to fry surviving the Delta Quadrant than arguing over semantics of the Federation Cardassian treaty and whether the Maquis were justified or not.

I imagine if they had got home in a week, or a month, they would have been handed over to the authorities and faced trial, albeit I expect with some kind of caveat from Janeway that they did at least work together as one crew to get home, but after seven years and the complete genocide of the Maquis and the Federation colonies in Cardassian space I can't imagine many at Starfleet felt much reason to imprison them- although I expect there was probably a bit of questioning from certain Admirals if they should retain their ranks.

 

[Sophie74656]

Well I didn't see Naomi exactly wanting to stay in the Delta Quadrant?

Really? Did you watch Bliss? She is not affected by the "pitcher plant" because she does not want to go to the Alpha Quadrant

 

[Sophie74656]

And half the crew were Maquis with no real vested interest in returning to face trial anyway. one of the more unrealistic parts of the show. If Chakotay had owned a spine he would have taken the ship at first opportunity and forced them to find a suitable planet to settle down on. Might have kept him alive longer.

Chakotay and the maquis had just as much reason to want to go home as anyone else. Presumably they all had families and friends there (except for B'elanna who said she didnt). They would also have wanted to go back to the AQ to continue to fight for their cause

 

[XCV330]

Chakotay and the maquis had just as much reason to want to go home as anyone else. Presumably they all had families and friends there (except for B'elanna who said she didnt). They would also have wanted to go back to the AQ to continue to fight for their cause

They were facing arrest and trial once they returned home. They had plenty of reason not to, also.