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Faster way Home...

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Captain
Captain
Would it have been faster for Voyager to try to make it to the Worm Hole in the Gamma Quadrant, which would have taken then right to DS-9. I have looked at Star Trek Maps, and it seems to me that it may have been a more efficient course to take, any comments...
 
Seems like this question comes up a lot. I think the basic reasons why not are; that they would still have to cross the galaxy to get there, and if for some reason the wormhole was no longer there, they'd be royally screwed. Then they'd have another 67 year trip back from there. Probably taking them near 100 years probably more given that contingency as opposed to 70 years just taking the direct route.
 
Not to mention the Dominion wasn't very friendly with the Federation. Granted, they weren't at war when Voyager left, but I think they'd at least heard nasty rumors. That and who knows how many Borg lay between the Caretaker and the Wormhole.

So, Janeway could a) take her chances through unknown space, explore, find other wormholes, and eventually run into friendly BQ species or b) head for Dominion space, through who-knows-what

The answer is, of course, that it would be silly to have two series about the Dominion. Also, there was so much that could be done in the DQ (which wasn't). If you ask me, the best route would've been to head to the center of the galaxy, because from there it is only a few hours from Federation space, according to STV.
 
Granted, they weren't at war when Voyager left, but I think they'd at least heard nasty rumors.

When Voyager left, she did so from DS9, the station next to the wormhole, commanded by Ben Sisko.

And it just so happens that the selfsame Sisko had just last week made it clear that he would blow up the wormhole at the first sign of trouble. In fact, he had blown up the wormhole, only it turned out afterwards that it had been a simulation.

Knowing this would not boost my confidence in the availability of the wormhole if I were Janeway. At the time of her departure and jump to Delta, the odds of the wormhole remaining open were at an all-time low, probably less than 5%. The odds of the Dominion violently opposing the passage of a Federation vessel through Gamma would in turn have been high enough, something like 102% or so...

In short, not a realistic option for a way home.

Timo Saloniemi
 
Did you work out those odds or are they just random? :p

Just on the issue of taking a different course home - it seems a lot of people thought they should have crossed the Beta Quadrant at some point but the producers thought it would be confusing to the view to introduce this change of setting. So, if Voyager stayed in the Delta Quadrant, does that mean they would've passed close to or through the galactic core? And if they did, do you think they'd use Star Trek V's idea of another energy barrier, just ignore it, or come up with a reason for it dissipating since the 23rd century? They made a reference to passing by/through the core in Course: Oblivion, but not the barrier itself... hmmm. (slightly off topic, I know)
 
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Did you work out those odds or are they just random? :p

So I didn't sound authoritative enough? ;)

...do you think they'd use Star Trek V's idea of another energy barrier, just ignore it, or come up with a reason for it dissipating since the 23rd century?

The odds of the writers bothering to do anything but "ignore" would be about 47%. :p

Really, if the ship had gone to the core, and no mention was made of the ST5 barrier, we could simply declare that the barrier was either short-lived or localized. It would be problematic for it to be either of those, though, as ST5 makes it sound as if the Barrier was there in order to guard the imprisoned God, and the God had been rotting there forever. A partial, short-lived jail just wouldn't do.

Of course, it may be that the Barrier was not the creature's jail, but merely an incidental astronomical phenomenon. And as such, it could be short-lived or localized - or then all-encompassing and eternal but essentially harmless, as pretty much demonstrated in ST5. People from Earth would have feared it in the 23rd century, but would ignore it in the 24th.

Personally, I'd like to claim that the Barrier and the God's prison were in the direction of the galactic core, but only a short fraction of the distance there. That wouldn't be in explicit conflict with ST5 dialogue, and that would allow approaches to the core from all other directions.

(Similarly, the trip to study the galactic core in TAS "Magicks of Megas-Tu" would be made towards the core, to a suitable vantage point, and not into the core. Hence, no future traveler to the core would necessarily have to meet Megas-Tu.)

Timo Saloniemi
 
On the only map of the ST universe I saw the wormhole was in the top left of the Gamma Quadrant and the area Voyager was plonked in was in the middle of the Delta...seems like it would have been the same or longer to get to the Bajor wormhole
 
I personally would have just used the caretakers array and to hell with the consiquences, They could have just left a timed bomb (or don't they have those in the future) The point is there are a ton of things voyager could (and probably should) have done to get home earlier, but they needed to stretch it out over seven years.
 
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