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. Voyager The Val Jean (Chakotay's ship) U.S.S. Equinox Here are some other possibilities: 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.
I believe there was a Cardassian ship as well. It was never made clear if it was Gul Evek's ship (the one chasing Chakotay's raider when it was captured by the Caretaker), but since it was right there, and we never heard from Evek again, it's a good possibility that it was his ship.
Imagine a Romulan ship getting home in the ST: Picard-era. ROMULAN COMMANDER: Gosh, I can't wait to see Romulus again! FIRST GUY THEY MEET IN THE BETA QUADRANT: Ummmmmm...
The Maquis ship "Lynx" was taken Stardate 47941.7( 10 December 2370) by the Caretaker, more than 4 months before Voyager was taken at Stardate 48315.6 (29 April 2071). However, it took six years before the both ships encountered each other in the Delta Quadrant. From the story "Coming Home" at the Kes Website. The best Star Trek Voyager episode never made!
I still wonder how many ships the Caretaker brought to his part of the DQ, and how many ships he sent back after his 'research'. I can understand him not sending ships back by the time he abducts Voyager anymore since he was so close to dying and still hadn't found a compatible species but what about the years before that? He might have tidied up such loose ends a bit more back then.
A Cardassian ship would have made a really interesting premise, given the hostility between them and 1/4 of Voyager's crew. Would the two ships have sailed for home side by side? Gone their separate ways? Or just tried to blast each other out of space?
Holy crap, I never even thought of that, but now SOMEONE, canon or fanfic, HAS to do something with that!
I think Seska's statement about if it were a Cardassian ship they would already be home was more a statement of ego and pride in her fellow race than anything else. At the very least, they would not have been as restrained in ethical quedtions on what to do as Janeway or another Federation ship, but I'm not sure they would have been successful. Those are some pretty good ideas, actually. A candidate for this could have been the Varro ship from "THE DISEASE". Even though it was doing this for generations, it's possible the Caretaker was tinkering and thinking ahead long ago and started the process with them. Maybe he didn't send them home because it was the first group he tried this on.
Many of the crews he abducted were sent to Ocampa but died, only Harry and B'Elanna were the ones to escape.
He artificially inseminated 1 crewman per ship. Maybe back when he was healthier, he banged his way through entire crews with his cock rock. But that was then, and this is now, or more accurately, that was then and this is still then. Caretaker is a lump of stone. So is his genitalia. Cock Rock.
Well for the dominion ship. They would be cut off from the White so they'd be dead in a few months, probably take the vorta out just for spite
The Jem'Hadar were quite resourceful when not being backstabbed by their Vorta bosses. We saw not just one but two rebel factions in "To the Death": one was shown executing its Vorta, the other was implied to have done so. Death from lack of White did not appear to be much of a concern - but it might not have been an issue at all, as the Jem'Hadar might figure out not just how to bust open the White strongbox, but also how to replicate the stuff. I mean, there's no trick to that as far as we know. White is a weird substance, but nothing suggests Bashir couldn't have replicated it at will, after identifying the chemical. Sure, the Kazon were short on replicators, but once the Dominion ship got past that region of space, they might do well enough. Timo Saloniemi
In "The Maquis, Part 1" in season 2 of DS9 they go to the Badlands and there is some dialogue that establishes several ships had disappeared in that region of space. Since (if I'm not mistaken) the whole concept of the Maquis was to set-up Star Trek: Voyager, I've always assumed that the line about ships going missing in the Badlands was another seed they were planting. It did always bug me on Voyager that none of the species they encountered had any idea about Starfleet or the Alpha Quadrant. Just what route did the Equinox take from Ocampa that they never stopped at the same planets? I seem to recall episodes of Voyager where they encountered species that had already heard of them (I remember at least one episode where an alien race tells Janeway that Voyager has a "reputation" in the Delta Quadrant) but nobody ever mentioned another Starfleet ship out there. But of course I'm just being nitpicky here, lol.
The Equinox storyline always bugged me. I was thinking about it yet again the other day. I do agree it's odd they chose a totally different route home. I find it odd no other species ever encountered them. I also find it very odd that the Equinox never once encountered the Borg. I mean the Borg don't control every corner of the Delta Quadrant, but I mean c'mon, the borg knew of the Talaxians, the Kazon and the Vidiians for goodness sake. The Borg's reach was far and wide. So the Equinox never "saw so much as a cube since we entered the Delta Quadrant" is cannon....but it's odd. Maybe the Equinox was never really a federation ship, but a deception or a game played by a species that could imitate them?