We don't really know if they know what lies there, either. The far end of the wormhole was identified by our heroes on the basis of the "Quadros 1 probe" mission; possibly, a probe named Quadros 1 once flew from the UFP to this neighborhood, then, and no doubt charted all the highlights between A and B as well.
However, that's not the only possible interpretation. Everything else in Gamma besides the Idran system (either the nearest to the Gamma mouth, or then the nearest identifiable system to the Gamma mouth) came as news to our heroes - unlikely in the scenario where a UFP probe once studied the area. Perhaps the Quadros 1 probe was a mission of remote observation, conducted by machinery located solidly in UFP territory? We know that such observations never reveal anything interesting or relevant (such as the blowing up of entire planets in "Doomsday Machine" or ST2:TWoK), so that would be better in keeping with the rest of the show.
Or perhaps Quadros 1 was a physical probe spacecraft, but one long predating the formation of the UFP? That would allow it to travel to Gamma at a conventional speed rather than hypersuperwarp and still make it to Idran before the DS9 pilot episode. And perhaps most of the data from that ancient mission conducted by no doubt mysterious and secretive aliens was lost to the UFP?
Timo Saloniemi
