What if they STILL weren't home? 25 years in the Delta Quadrant

Hopefully an interesting talking point/thought experiment for a Coronavirus-lockdown Friday evening!

What if they STILL weren't home? We're 25 years from when Star Trek Voyager debuted on television, and in series we're 25 years on from when the Caretaker pulled the crew into the Delta Quadrant. A quarter of a century. Voyager has been making her way home ever since, maybe taking a short-cut here and there but broadly speaking still 40,000 light years or so from Federation space. Still a LONG way to go.

By now Janeway and Chakotay are in their mid sixties. Tom, B'Elanna, Harry are mid to late forties. Have they picked up new crew along the way in the same way that Neelix and Kes came aboard? Have they had to replace people who have died with crew from civilisations in the Delta Quadrant who were drawn by the allure of this journey to the other side of the galaxy?

Voyager is still relatively young for a Federation starship that probably was probably designed to be in service for a hundred years, but she's had a hard life and no major servicing (at least not from a Starfleet facility) other than what her crew can manage and perhaps visiting friendly ports. How long do warp cores last? Has Voyager had to be put back together once or twice using alien technology?

Have lots of people paired off and had children aboard. Has a school been set up? Are some of these children with an interest in following in their parents footsteps now cadets in their late teens? Have a lot of people left the ship to make lives for themselves in the Delta Quadrant instead of continuing to chase this unlikely dream of every getting home?

What sort of situation do you think we'd find the crew in if they were still there? :-)

 

Icheb would still be alive (hopefully).

 

We'd be at the future point from "Shattered" where Icheb and Naomi are officers. Perhaps Seven died as per "Endgame" and Chakotay has fallen into his (eventually terminal) depression. Tuvok's losing his marbles again, as per "Endgame". Poor Janeway's all alone at the top.

 

They could have an alternate timeline crew come back now... or still underway (with the same actors) - I'd watch it

 

In season 7 they were talking about the border to the Beta Quadrant.

 

Maybe Tom and Harry are her second and third in command by then.

 

Tom? Perhaps. Harry? Naah...still ensign

 

Tom and Harry have kids - Tom with B'Elanna and Harry forgot Libby and dated some weird Space Girl who is taken along. Neelix has become a teacher, along with Seven and Icheb. Naomi grew up rapidly and has three children of her own. Seven has kids, too. But not as a mother - but as surrogate mother for someone else who is infertile.

 

The two deep space vessels that were redirected towards Voyager would have met with them. No idea if they were manned or not, or if they were to escort Voyager back to Federation space.

 

Only thing certain is Kim is still a ensign. Actually if I was going to do it I would have Voyager traveling with a second ship they acquired over time though maybe smaller were you only need 10 to 12 people as crew. It would be for carrying extra supplies rebuilding things and stuff of that sort. Janeway would still be Captain and Chuckles would be still be first officer Tuvok's mental condition means he would no longer be a officer and would be required to stay in his quarters for his safety. The EMH would still be a doctor but we would have many more EMH's working around the ship all doing other jobs to supplant crew members who have died and also even one or two who are teachers for kids now living on the ship.

Seven would be in command of the other ship and also she would be dating one of the Delaney sisters who she would get to know since they served under her in Astrometrics. The other one is married to Kim. The one with the dimple. The EMH would still be around but would in a Synth body. He was always trying to improve himself with more and more changes so I see him wanting to take even another step. Icheb and Naomi would be married. He would be chief engineer and Naomi would be second in command to Seven on the other ship so it's kind of a long distance relationship but not really since it's really just a trip to the transporter to see each other and people would be beaming back and forth between ships all the time.

Paris would still be pilot and Torres would be chief of security. Their child would have died though on duty and are divorced. He is married to Celes and Torres is alone. The ship would have all sorts of alien tech mixed in with the Starfleet stuff. Plus they would still be in regular contact with Starfleet and they will have finally updated their uniforms to what people wear in Picard. All the shuttles would also be gone and every smaller ship would be a Delta Flyer ship and one alien ship picked on their journey that has a cloaking device and can only be flown the Doctor since the inside of the ship is toxic to humanoid flesh.


Jason

 

The good ship and crew would have pulled up, I'd like to imagine.

 

Didnt they get home in 23 years in the non-Admiral Janeway timeline?

By the way i just thought of a logical flaw in Voyager: Endgame I'd never thought of before. Young Janeway's desire to destroy the transwarp hub could easily be countered by Old Janeway. All she has to say, even if she's lying, is that the Borg have been very quiet for the last 25 years. In fact crippling their hub might attract a great deal of attention from the Borg. Who could easily destroy Earth any old ding dang time they wanted to.

According to the old theory, the Borg use Earth as the occasional upgrade. If i'm running an amusing experiment, and that experiment turns around and cripples me....the experiment is over.

 

At this rate, there have been 27 more alternate timelines explored.

Harry Kim has been a lieutenant JG 4 times, a senior lieutenant 3 times, a LCDR 5 times, a Commander 4 times, a captain 4 times, a Rear Admiral once, an ambassador, a chancellor, a Duke, a king, a star musician, and a Q.

All 27 of these timelines were deleted by the Reset Button, reducing Harry back to Ensign.

 

This is why I never bought into Admiral Janeway's story. It would have been more believable if the Alpha Quadrant Voyager returned to was in effect worse than the journey for them being in the Delta Quadrant. Heck maybe the transwarp hub led to a Borg invasion and destroyed Starfleet, and Janeway never forgave herself for ignoring it. Voyager continued its journey to a home that they found out when they arrived had gone or at least was a nightmare only time travel could end.

 

That bothered me, too. Janeway is at a party. There are kids scampering around. The surviving crew have had wonderful experiences and successes. Tom's a holonovelist. Harry's a captain. And Janeway's plan is to undo all of that, erase all those kids from existence. Basically to save three lives: Seven, Chakotay, and Tuvok. It's not quite Annorax's deletion of trillions of lives in an effort to restore one... but it's still pretty bad.

 

The above posts about the admiral's rationale are very good ones, but considering this is Janeway we're talking about it didn't hurt the believability of the story for me. 25 years in the Delta / Beta quadrants and she'd have enshrined herself on a throne of skulls at some point.

 

Even if Voyager was in the Delta quadrant for 25 years it would still look as good as it did the day it was launched, brand new.

 

Agreed, they should have had the poor girl show SOME wear and tear over the years. Nothing like "Year of Hell" just a few scars, chips, black marks, whatever.

 

At some point it's revealed that in a locked cabinet in Janeway's quarters, there is a literal magic reset button.

 

Next to the throne of skulls, the two-gallon coffee mug, and that Bride of Chaotica costume from the holodeck.

 

Hidden behind a wall panel like the tantalus device XD