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

At what point do crew memebers start jumping ship? Wasn't really adressed in the series, but after constant attacks and chances of death, I would think some of the crew would be like, this is a nice planet, inhabited or not, in a nice area, we're done! If you get back, please let them know we're here and in some generations might be back, come for a visit.

 

They came across some friendly planets in those 7 years. Yet, Janeway apparently only gave them the opportunity to choose that one time they encountered a planet populated by humans (the 37's). Seems a bit specieist to me ....

 

Honestly? Janeway was fairly insistent on getting home regardless of the time involved and again it must be noted 24th century medical technology can ensure the crew won’t die before they reach earth(of old age that is).

Janeway would only evacuate to some M-Class planet if Voyager itself was destroyed and there was no other means of getting home(ferries, Q, wormholes, etc...) Basically you’d need extraordinarily bad circumstances for Janeway to give up.

And secondly once your on a ship that long, voyager is family, your mission is to get to earth, but at that point I don’t think people would be leaving. Except say Neelix or any other hypothetical aliens they picked up along the way. By 15 years? Basically everyone on the ship would generally know each other, 20-30 years? Voyager would pretty much be its self contained family.

 

True in principle, but there's a few things we don't know for sure. First, we don't know what actual age the 24th Federation human can hope to achieve (on average). There's the 'you'll die a 140 year old man in your bed' quote by Dax , but that could be their equivalent of 'you'll die a 100 year old'. Same for McCoy at 137 on the Ent-D, he could be exceptionally old even by their standards. But yes, it seems safe to assume they'lll live 20-40 years longer at least.

Then, most of the crew appear 20- or 30-ish. But that same miraculously advanced medicine could mean a lot of them are actually in their 50's or 60's. (Though I suppose we know the supposed ages of most of the main cast).

Finally, even if they mostly were 25 years or so, there still could be people saying: scr*w that, I'm not going to spend over half my life traveling on this claustrophobic ship at high warp only to live out my final last years at home, while I could be settling down, start a farm and a family and have a happy life right now on this beautiful alien world.

 

So during that time they never encountered a "Risa" type planet where the locals are welcoming.. VERY Welcoming.. that a few wouldn't jump ship? It wouldn't be everybody, but you would have some that would have a weak moment, tiered of the ship life, someone who originally decided to do maybe 5, 10 years in then get out and start a family, open a resterount, that space life isn't a priority, someone who doens't really have family, or isn't close, so don't really have an overwelming reason to get home.

 

No one jumps ship, because Janeway has insanely high charisma. Had she not become a Starfleet captain, she'd have started her own wacky cult down in Bloomimgton, and drawn thousands to her cause like iron fillings to a magnet.

 

The 37s is the closest to this scenario. At most I could see someone who absolutely had nothing to go back to, maybe a few of the Maquis, someone who didn’t have a family or friends, etc... asking to leave.

Then again, Janeway wanted to keep her family together. So...I don’t think she would have allowed members of the crew to exit the ship. For their own safety if anything.

 

I would think so too given how protective she generally has been written. However, the episode you mention seems to clearly indicate she was prepared to let them choose in that particular instance, as she walked to that shuttlebay with Chakotay at the end of the episode. Or do you think that, if there had been, say, 20 people waiting there in that bay, she would have lambasted them for opting to leave ship, put them under house arrest and left the surface?

 

I still maintain that a few people should have jumped ship. Even if it was just three or four, it would have made WAY more sense.

 

I never understood the reluctance some of the crew to leave when you had the episode Good Shepherd years later with the young crew members who simply didn't want to be on Voyager. You could say that maybe the 37s were actually not as advanced as made out to the viewer; the cities couldn't have been anything that special to warrant leaving the ship after a year but who knows.

I could potentially see crew members leaving once the communications equipment to contact the Alpha Quadrant was good enough to not need a ship to call Earth; in fact surely Neelix was given this to maintain contact in the Delta Quadrant with Starfleet?

 

The Good Shepherd crew members don’t strike me as being the types that would survive long outside the protection of Voyager.

Though in all fairness, if a few crew members actually did want to join the 37s, or otherwise leave, and Janeway was forced to either hold them against their will or let them go, she would let them go.

SFdebris Janeway would lock them up but actual Janeway? No. She’d beg and plead and do everyone in her power to convince them, to stay. And if she really generally believed they couldn’t survive-Seven for example. She’d claim guardianship over their free will.

Thing is the DQ is an alien quadrant with a lot of threats, and unknowns. Even the nicest M-class planet might have hidden risks. Or the threat of attack. To let the crew go, any of them-only for them to die, would be ultimately on Janeway.

Sure that’s their risk and choice, but Janeway would feel their loss as her fault. She would take the responsibility for it.

An infected crew member(with some sort of disease) a dangerous crew member(like Suder) or otherwise a crew member without the ability to make the calls for themselves-Seven, Naomi, Janeway would prevent leaving. If necessary through confinement. Both for their safety and to avoid indirectly interfering in the DQ.

Anyways, that’s my take on the issue.

 

The original senior staff hasn't made it. Neelix is Captain and every day is leeola root stew day.

 

Klingons and Vulcans have a life expectancy of 300 years.

A novel I read said that Klingons might be immortal, but no one has ever been able to test that theory because they've all got their heads up their asses about honor, and getting murdered over stupid petty shit all the time.

 

Tuvok is already something like 200 though? IIRC. Vorik has a long life ahead of him.

B’lanna given her human heritage may live a smaller amount of time. Though I definitely think assuming she didn’t die of unnatural causes, she’d still be kicking even if it took voyager 75 years to get home.

 

From Alice

 

Looking at Memory Alpha, Tuvok was born in 2264.

Which is, around a century or before Voyager.

Though, maybe that date is wrong.

 

Memory Alpha is generally the most reliable source, so Tuvok was a little past the century mark. If his neurological issues could be handled by the Doctor, he would be about 175-180 when Voyager got home.

We don't know what B'Elanna's lifespan is, though if Klingons last 300y, I would guess 200 or so.

 

"The cold open to the sixth-season episode "Alice" sees Harry Kim and Tom Paris attempting to guess Tuvok's age; they incorrectly guess at 162 and 133 respectively. Later that season, in the episode "Fury", Kathryn Janeway discovers Tuvok's birthday and tells him, "It's not long before you hit the big three digits"; this suggests that he is under 100 at the time of the episode; however, in the sixth-season finale, "Unimatrix Zero", Tuvok states that he was born on stardate 38774 (equivalent to the year 2264) on Vulcanis, a lunar colony belonging to the Vulcan people. The episode is set in the year 2376, which would make Tuvok 112 years old at the time"

 

Another reason to delete "Fury", as if we needed it.

 

The only way around it I can see he was 111 on the birthday in 'Fury' and Janeway's remark meant 'the big three digits' of 1 1 1 that he will be hitting later that day (maybe Vulcan's celebrate their age change at the actual time they were born). This then sort of makes the Unimatrix Zero line make somewhat more sense, if not completely accurate.