This time, I'm not asking for a fanfic. Purely speculation.
On the list of missed opportunities of "Voyager" (much as I love it) was its failure to address any of the other ships taken by the Caretaker, until "Equinox." This thread is for brainstorming what other species may have been victims of the Caretaker, and why Voyager never ran into them.
The only specified ships we get from canon, are:
U.S.S. Hera (Geordi's mother's ship): In a TNG episode, Geordie La Forge learns that the ship his mother captains, the U.S.S. Hera, has vanished. This plot thread was dropped and never picked up, leaving both fans and poor Geordie hanging about his mom's fate. The Hera was captained by the human Silva La Forge, but was noted to have many Vulcans onboard. It was also a Nebula-class ship (my personal favorite design, for the record). Could the Vulcan population, and/or the different starship class, have influenced what course the Hera wound up taking?
A Dominion ship: I mean, there just has to be at least one. The Dominion owns the entire Gamma Quadrant, a forth of the galaxy. Vorta and Jem'Hadar onboard would have quite an adjustment period to go through, being separated from the Founders who they were created to literally worship and serve. Or, maybe being cut off from the Founders would allow them to start thinking for themselves, and they might choose not to return home, and begin new free lives in the Delta Quadrant.
A Romulan ship: At this point, the Federation and the Romulans weren't on the best of terms, so it's not far fetched that if a Romulan ship vanished, it wouldn't make headlines in Federation space. At this point, the Romulans are also still at odds with their telepathic Vulcan cousins, so it might be interesting to see what the Romulans would make of the Ocampa.
The question of course, for a Romulan or Dominion ship, is, why wouldn't they just hijack the Array and use it to get themselves home, as Seska seemed to think a Cardassian ship would?
A Klingon ship: I do wonder why "Prophecy" did just use this as the backstory for the Klingons in the Delta Quadrant, but that may not have worked for the story. In any case, a Klingon ship vanishing and not using the array to their advantage is more believable than any previous candidates so far. They'd probably be pleased to meet another warlike species in the Kazon, but be quickly disappointed in how easy they are to defeat. The Klingon ship might either use more aggressive methods than Voyager to get home, or they might decide to start a new empire in the Delta Quadrant.
Other Delta Quadrant species: Hirogen, Kobali, Krenim, Vaaduar, species Voyager wouldn't met for several more years, who would be about as screwed as an Alpha Quadrant ship to be yanked out there.
Tholians: The Caretaker was a glowing jelly donut who turned into a potato when he died, so why was he looking for humanoid mates to begin with? I'm not saying crystal crabs would be any more compatible, but they'd surely be no *less* so than Humans and Vulcans.
I'd love to hear your ideas.
On the list of missed opportunities of "Voyager" (much as I love it) was its failure to address any of the other ships taken by the Caretaker, until "Equinox." This thread is for brainstorming what other species may have been victims of the Caretaker, and why Voyager never ran into them.
The only specified ships we get from canon, are:
- U.S.S. Voyager
- The Val Jean (Chakotay's ship)
- U.S.S. Equinox
U.S.S. Hera (Geordi's mother's ship): In a TNG episode, Geordie La Forge learns that the ship his mother captains, the U.S.S. Hera, has vanished. This plot thread was dropped and never picked up, leaving both fans and poor Geordie hanging about his mom's fate. The Hera was captained by the human Silva La Forge, but was noted to have many Vulcans onboard. It was also a Nebula-class ship (my personal favorite design, for the record). Could the Vulcan population, and/or the different starship class, have influenced what course the Hera wound up taking?
A Dominion ship: I mean, there just has to be at least one. The Dominion owns the entire Gamma Quadrant, a forth of the galaxy. Vorta and Jem'Hadar onboard would have quite an adjustment period to go through, being separated from the Founders who they were created to literally worship and serve. Or, maybe being cut off from the Founders would allow them to start thinking for themselves, and they might choose not to return home, and begin new free lives in the Delta Quadrant.
A Romulan ship: At this point, the Federation and the Romulans weren't on the best of terms, so it's not far fetched that if a Romulan ship vanished, it wouldn't make headlines in Federation space. At this point, the Romulans are also still at odds with their telepathic Vulcan cousins, so it might be interesting to see what the Romulans would make of the Ocampa.
The question of course, for a Romulan or Dominion ship, is, why wouldn't they just hijack the Array and use it to get themselves home, as Seska seemed to think a Cardassian ship would?
A Klingon ship: I do wonder why "Prophecy" did just use this as the backstory for the Klingons in the Delta Quadrant, but that may not have worked for the story. In any case, a Klingon ship vanishing and not using the array to their advantage is more believable than any previous candidates so far. They'd probably be pleased to meet another warlike species in the Kazon, but be quickly disappointed in how easy they are to defeat. The Klingon ship might either use more aggressive methods than Voyager to get home, or they might decide to start a new empire in the Delta Quadrant.
Other Delta Quadrant species: Hirogen, Kobali, Krenim, Vaaduar, species Voyager wouldn't met for several more years, who would be about as screwed as an Alpha Quadrant ship to be yanked out there.
Tholians: The Caretaker was a glowing jelly donut who turned into a potato when he died, so why was he looking for humanoid mates to begin with? I'm not saying crystal crabs would be any more compatible, but they'd surely be no *less* so than Humans and Vulcans.
I'd love to hear your ideas.
