The Enterprise That Wasn't

[MAGolding]

I'd like to specifically single this point out. Ever since the first Okuda Star Trek Chronology book, it was assumed that the Valiant had warp drive, and that it was launched two centuries before the Enterprise found its recorder buoy (i.e. it was launched and then lost at the edge of the galaxy in the same year.) Even the model Greg Jein built for it had warp nacelles, to go along with the model he also built for Cochrane's warp ship, because he also assumed it must have had warp drive. But there's no evidence at all that the Valiant had warp drive, or how long it was already in space before it reached the edge of the galaxy by whatever means brought it there. Remember that this was just the second pilot of the show; they had no idea how far into the future Star Trek took place at the time. Saying that the ship was lost 200 years before would be meaningless if it was 200 years before the 28th century. But besides that, if Earth already had advanced sleeper ships in 1996 that could be lost in interstellar space only two hundred years before, then a ship with no warp drive could absolutely have reached the edge of the galaxy by 2065 if it had been launched at the same time as the Botany Bay....

Assuming that a sleeper ship from Earth could reach the edge of the galaxy in a mere 69 years from 1996 reveals a certain lack of basic astronomical knowledge as well as forgetting some Star Trek lore (and I don't mean Data's brother).

Space is big. Really big. You just won't believe how vastly, hugely, mind-bogglingly big it is. I mean, you may think it's a long way down the road to the chemist, but that's just peanuts to space.

• Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Space

There is a good reason why the adjective for large numbers is "astronomical".

An Astronomical Unit or AU is based on the semi-major axis of Earth's orbit around the Sun but is now defined as exactly:

149597870700 metres (exactly)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astronomical_unit#Development_of_unit_definition

That equals 149,597,870.700 kilometers or 92,955, 807 miles.

The planets in the Solar System have somewhat eliptical orbits and so their distances from the Sun vary a bit, bu their orbital semi-major axis in AU are:

Mercury 0.39

Venus 0.72

Earth 1.00

Mars 1.52

Jupiter 5.20

Saturn 9.54

Uranus 19.22

Neptune 30.06

So basically the longest interplanetary voyage in our solar system would be approximately 49.28 AU between Uranus and Neptune when they were on opposite sides of the Sun.

Of course the dwarf planet Pluto was formerly classified as a planet and ranges from 29.658 AU to 49.365 AU from the Sun. Counting Pluto as a planet, an interplanetary voyage between Neptune and Pluto on opposite sides of the Sun could be as long as about 79.425 AU.

The hypothetical Planet X or Planet Nine, if real, would have an orbital semi-major axis of about 400 to 800 AU.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planet_Nine

So if Planet Nine turns out to be real, it might be possible for an interplanetary voyage between Neptune and Planet Nine on opposite sides of the Sun to be a slong as about 830 AU.

In TOS "The Changeling" a map of Earth's solar system is seen:

SPOCK: Chart 14A, sir?
KIRK: 14A. (a diagram of our solar system comes up on a screen) Nomad, can you scan that?
NOMAD: Yes.
KIRK: This is our point of origin, the star we know as Sol.
NOMAD: You are from the third planet?
KIRK: Yes.
NOMAD: A planet with one large natural satellite?
KIRK: Yes.
NOMAD: The planet is called Earth?
KIRK: Yes.

That chart shows 8 planets in orbits which seem to share a plane, and a more distant planet in a tilted orbit, presumably Pluto.

https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Sol_system?file=Earth_solar_system,_The_changeling.jpg

So presumably when "Space Seed" was written the longest possible interplanetary voyage would have been imagined to have been about 80 AU between Neptune and Pluto on opposite sides of the Sun.

Aboard the Botany Bay in "Space Seed":

(Men and women are lying in clear-sided compartments, seemingly asleep.) KIRK: Scotty?
SCOTT: Definitely Earth-type mechanism, sir. Twentieth century vessel. Old type atomic power. Bulky, solid. I think they used to call them transistor units. I'd love to tear this baby apart.
MARLA: Captain, it's a sleeper ship.
KIRK: Suspended animation.
MARLA: I've seen old photographs of this. Necessary because of the time involved in space travel until about the year 2018. It took years just to travel from one planet to another.

It is possible that Marla meant that even a "short" interplanetary voyage to Mars or Venus took at least one Earth year and required suspended animation. But assuming that actually only the very longest interplanetary voyages, such as from Neptune to Pluto on opposite sides of the Sun, took as long as one Earth year, to get the speeds of space ships as fast as possible, then we can calculate the speeds involved.

Assuming that a voyage of 80 AU took exactly one Earth year, the average speed in the voyage would be 80 AU per year, or about 0.219 AU per day, or 0.0091261 AU per hour.

Assume that the ship accelerated for half a year, and then turned over and decelerated for half a year.. In that case the maximum speed that the ship reached would be 160 AU per year, or about 0.4380 AU per day, or about 0.0182 AU per hour. And since the ship was able to decelerate from that speed, it would have enough fuel, and reaction mass if necessary, for its atomic engines to accelerate it to twice that maximum speed, and thus to a speed of 320 AU per year, or 0.8461 AU per day, or 0.0365 AU per hour.

When the space ship reached its destination it might gather fuel and/or reaction mass at the destination planet for its return voyage. But if the voyage planners didn't anticipate that fuel and/or reaction mass would be available at the destination planet, the ship would have to carry all the fuel and/or reaction mass necessary for the return voyage.

So if the augments took over a ship that had enough fuel for such a voyage they could have accelerated it to a speed of 320 AU per year using half of the fuel and/or reaction mass, planning to use the other half of the fuel and/or reaction mass to decelerate when they reached the destination star system.

But maybe the augments took along a device like a solar sail or a magnetic sail and planned to use it to decelerate when they reached their destination star. In that case they could have used all of the fuel and/or reaction mass to accelerate to a speed of 640 AU per year, or 1.7522 AU per day, or 0.0730 AU per hour.

And surely such a vast speed compared to present day space craft would be fast enough to reach another star system in two or three centuries. Right?

Wrong. Distances to stars are usually measured in two units, parsecs and light years.

A parsec is defined as the distance at which one AU would have a parallax of one arc second, or a distance of 206,264.806274096 AU. That equals 3.261563777 light years.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parsec

A light year is defined as the distance traveled by light and other forms of electromagnetic radiation during one Julian calendar year of 365.25 days. That is exactly 9,460,730,472,580,800 meters or 9,460,730,472,580.8 kilometers or 5,878,625,000,000 miles or 63,241.077 AU or 0.306601 parsecs.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Light-year

In our region of the galaxy, the typical separation between one star and its nearest neighbor will be several light years. For example, Proximal Centauri, or Alpha Centauri C, is about 4.244 light years or 1.3012 parsecs from Earth and the Solar System.

About 4.244 light years is about 268,395,13 AU and about 1.3012 parsecs is about 268,391.7658 AU. So at a speed of 640 AU per year, it would take a spaceship 419.3621 to 419.36739 years to reach Proxima Centauri.

Our galaxy is a sphere with a diameter over 100,000 light years. Most of the stars are concentrated in the galactic disc which is about 100,000 light years in diameter, and has a thickness of about 1,000 to 2,000 light years near the Sun.

So if the force field at the edge of the galaxy is wrapped around the galactic disc, the shortest distance to it would be to go "up" or "down" away from the galactic plane for a distance of about 500 to 1,000 light years from Earth.

A distance of 500 light years would be 31,620,538.5 AU, and a ship travelling at a speed of 640 AU per year would take about 49,407.09141 years to travel 500 light years. That is 716.04479 times the 69 years that you stated were enough for the Valiant to reach the edge of the galaxy.

If a ship could travel 500 light years, the absolute closest possible distance to the edge of the galaxy, in only 69 years it would be travelling at a speed of 7.2463 times the speed of light. At such speeds voyages to the very nearest star systems would take less than one year. Such a speed would equal 458,268.6739 AU per year, or 1254.67125 AU per day, or 52.27796873 AU per hour. At a such a speed a voyage from Neptune to Pluto on opposite sides of the Sun that was 80 AU in distance would take only 1.530281339 hours, not years. At such a speed, even a voyage from Neptune to Planet Nine 830 AU apart on opposite sides of the Sun would take only 15.87666889 hours, less than one day, and not years.

However, it is possible that in the era of the Valiant ships could reach their destinations in less time that it would take travelling at the speed of light, without travelling faster than light or using warp drive. Possibly they found some type of space warp that a ship could enter and instantly appear in a distant star system, and used a network of those space warps to jump from star to star.

Thus interstellar travel in relatively short time spans could have been possible before the warp drive was invented.

 

[Dukhat]

So how did the Botany Bay reach interstellar space in only 250+ years with only atomic power? I’m assuming that the Enterprise didn’t just come across the ship right outside the solar system.

And how did the Pioneer probe reach Klingon space by the 23rd century, when IRL it wouldn’t have even traveled one light year 300 years from now?

And how did the Cryosatellite reach interstellar space 400 years after it was launched, even though the only power it had was to the life-support system?

And how did Voyager 6 reach the other side of the galaxy in only 300 years when...oh...wait...we already know that one

My point is, we simply cannot use IRL science to explain how old ships and probes could travel vast distances in the time periods given. The problem with the Voyager example is that if using ‘black holes’ or wormholes to cross those distances were a normal thing, then:

1. Why is this not common knowledge in the future, and

2. Why would ships even need warp drive if there were wormholes available to reach those far distances?

At least in the case of Cochrane and his 2063 warp ship launch, there are precedents for sublight vessels being able to cross vast distances without warp drive.

 

[Arpy]

TNG’s “The Price” shows that natural wormholes are not unknown, just unstable.

 

[F. King Daniel]

Sci-fi writers have no sense of scale. This is a given when watching Star Trek or any other sci-fi franchise.

 

[Henoch]

For the Valiant, we have two supporting pieces of information that makes its location at the edge of the Galaxy unusual:

1. Captain's log, Star date 1312.4. The impossible has happened. From directly ahead, we're picking up a recorded distress signal, the call letters of a vessel which has been missing for over two centuries. Did another Earth ship once probe out of the galaxy as we intend to do? What happened to it out there? Is this some warning they've left behind?
2. SPOCK: Decoding memory banks. I'll try to interpolate. The Valiant had encountered a magnetic space storm and was being swept in this direction. KIRK: The old impulse engines weren't strong enough. SPOCK: Swept past this point, about a half light year out of the galaxy, they were thrown clear, turned, and headed back into the galaxy here.

One, Kirk says "the impossible has happened". He may be declaring that it is impossible for an Earth ship to get this far out using the technology of two centuries ago. So, something unusual happened to get the ship out there. Two, Spock mentions the magnetic space storm swept in this direction. He may be providing the technical answer on how the ship go out that far. Kirk's comment about the old impulse engines not being strong enough implies he was talking about resisting the magnetic space storm, but maybe it was also applying to "being swept in this direction" or implying swept to this location and the impulse engines would not be able to transport the ship to that location. (Can a magnet space storm substitute for a wormhole? Could going into a wormhole appear to the Valiant as some sort of magnetic phenomenon to its early sensors?) Also, two centuries ago, I can't see any space mission to "go to the edge of the galaxy" using the technology of the time. Going to the closest star would be more in line. Conclusion: The magnetic space storm must be the special FTL means of transport of the Valiant past the edge of the galaxy and that she was not capable of traveling that far on her own.

 

[uniderth]

For the Valiant, we have two supporting pieces of information that makes its location at the edge of the Galaxy unusual:

1. Captain's log, Star date 1312.4. The impossible has happened. From directly ahead, we're picking up a recorded distress signal, the call letters of a vessel which has been missing for over two centuries. Did another Earth ship once probe out of the galaxy as we intend to do? What happened to it out there? Is this some warning they've left behind?
2. SPOCK: Decoding memory banks. I'll try to interpolate. The Valiant had encountered a magnetic space storm and was being swept in this direction. KIRK: The old impulse engines weren't strong enough. SPOCK: Swept past this point, about a half light year out of the galaxy, they were thrown clear, turned, and headed back into the galaxy here.

One, Kirk says "the impossible has happened". He may be declaring that it is impossible for an Earth ship to get this far out using the technology of two centuries ago. So, something unusual happened to get the ship out there. Two, Spock mentions the magnetic space storm swept in this direction. He may be providing the technical answer on how the ship go out that far. Kirk's comment about the old impulse engines not being strong enough implies he was talking about resisting the magnetic space storm, but maybe it was also applying to "being swept in this direction" or implying swept to this location and the impulse engines would not be able to transport the ship to that location. (Can a magnet space storm substitute for a wormhole? Could going into a wormhole appear to the Valiant as some sort of magnetic phenomenon to its early sensors?) Also, two centuries ago, I can't see any space mission to "go to the edge of the galaxy" using the technology of the time. Going to the closest star would be more in line. Conclusion: The magnetic space storm must be the special FTL means of transport of the Valiant past the edge of the galaxy and that she was not capable of traveling that far on her own.

Interesting analysis. However, personally I think that the FTL means that got them to the edge of the galaxy was missing as part of the burned tapes. If it was a wormhole, they would have gotten caught up in the magnetic space storm after passing through it. I prefer this idea because it allows the magnetic storm to be a sub-light phenomenon that the crew correctly identified, rather than some unknown FTL phenomenon that they mistakenly thought was a magnetic storm. Whatever currents were moving the ship still could have been too strong for their old "impulse" engines.

I also think the Valiant had warp drive. However that was probably disabled either by the wormhole or the magnetic storm.

 

[Orphalesion]

TNG’s “The Price” shows that natural wormholes are not unknown, just unstable.

Yeah but it sometimes seems like pre-warp Earth spacecraft couldn't go past the Kuiper Belt without being swept up by a wormhole/alien civilization/whatever and being flung across the galaxy

 

[Arpy]

Yeah but it sometimes seems like pre-warp Earth spacecraft couldn't go past the Kuiper Belt without being swept up by a wormhole/alien civilization/whatever and being flung across the galaxy

Oh I’m aware. Just keeping all the facts in mind.

 

[Dukhat]

For the Valiant, we have two supporting pieces of information that makes its location at the edge of the Galaxy unusual:

1. Captain's log, Star date 1312.4. The impossible has happened. From directly ahead, we're picking up a recorded distress signal, the call letters of a vessel which has been missing for over two centuries. Did another Earth ship once probe out of the galaxy as we intend to do? What happened to it out there? Is this some warning they've left behind?
2. SPOCK: Decoding memory banks. I'll try to interpolate. The Valiant had encountered a magnetic space storm and was being swept in this direction. KIRK: The old impulse engines weren't strong enough. SPOCK: Swept past this point, about a half light year out of the galaxy, they were thrown clear, turned, and headed back into the galaxy here.

One, Kirk says "the impossible has happened". He may be declaring that it is impossible for an Earth ship to get this far out using the technology of two centuries ago. So, something unusual happened to get the ship out there. Two, Spock mentions the magnetic space storm swept in this direction. He may be providing the technical answer on how the ship go out that far. Kirk's comment about the old impulse engines not being strong enough implies he was talking about resisting the magnetic space storm, but maybe it was also applying to "being swept in this direction" or implying swept to this location and the impulse engines would not be able to transport the ship to that location. (Can a magnet space storm substitute for a wormhole? Could going into a wormhole appear to the Valiant as some sort of magnetic phenomenon to its early sensors?) Also, two centuries ago, I can't see any space mission to "go to the edge of the galaxy" using the technology of the time. Going to the closest star would be more in line. Conclusion: The magnetic space storm must be the special FTL means of transport of the Valiant past the edge of the galaxy and that she was not capable of traveling that far on her own.

Not to mention the obvious: there’s no way that even the Enterprise, which did have warp engines, could have traveled to the edge of the galaxy in so short a time. Just like there’s no way the Enterprise-A could have traveled to the center of the galaxy in just an hour.

 

[Arpy]

Not to mention the obvious: there’s no way that even the Enterprise, which did have warp engines, could have traveled to the edge of the galaxy in so short a time. Just like there’s no way the Enterprise-A could have traveled to the center of the galaxy in just an hour.

They were using their Brophydrive.

But honestly, this is where you have to chalk it up to quaint TOSness. Like of course they can zip to the edge of the galaxy. Or the center of it.

In-universe, I’m guessing there’s some other phenomena at work here. Some warp superhighway having little to do with tech and just the curvature of the universe or something. At least with the edge you could say they warped up the z axis, but how the hell did they get to the center of the galaxy in TFF?

Anyway, there’s a supermassive black hole at the center of the galaxy in the real world, right? So they must have only traveled to a planet on the outer edge of that? The Great Barrier must be wider than we think. Though, would that then cause problems with the reality that we’d be able to see that large a phenomenon via telescope?

 

[uniderth]

Maybe all these worm holes that keep swollowing so many things up have to do with the Fermi Paradox. A defense system left by an ancient civilization. Nothing in nothing out. Obviously this doesn't apply in every situation, but still interesting.

As far as the center of the Galaxy thing is concerned I think it's obvious from the movie that they didn't travel to the exact center of the Galaxy. They passed the Great Barrier and as soon as the most cleared they were at the planet. So the planet was lying just inside of the Great Barrier. However, the Great Barrier itself could be massive. Maybe it encompasses everything within a radius starting a few hundred light years inward from earth.

 

[Mytran]

Not to mention the obvious: there’s no way that even the Enterprise, which did have warp engines, could have traveled to the edge of the galaxy in so short a time. Just like there’s no way the Enterprise-A could have traveled to the center of the galaxy in just an hour.

The horizontal edge? That would be quite a journey, even by the much speedier Warp velocities usually depicted in TOS.
The top or bottom edge? That's only a few hundred light years, well within the range of the Enterprise (again, sticking with TOS onscreen speeds)

 

[Timo]

And of course, any "edge" to our galaxy is for Star Trek to define, and Trek does the defining by drawing a bold purple line in space. This could be right next door to Sol for all we know.

In Kirk's universe, going to the edge was a major feat for a ship from 200 in the past. We never quite learn whether it was one also for a ship from his own time, and later events would suggest it wasn't. If all sorts of 23rd century ships can visit the place at will, why is Kirk the first to his knowledge? Perhaps because the purple barrier doesn't really stand between Earth and anything known to be interesting. Due to things beyond being uninteresting till that day because they are so far away and there's a lot to do closer to home still? Or due to the purple veil only obstructing a very narrow swath of space (as seen), and ships regularly going farther out without braving this local challenge, which only piques Starfleet's interest because humans love challenges, or because humans find worth in the specific things beyond, or whatever?

Any alternate ringship Starfleets might fly rings around this phenomenon, depending more on their aims than their tech.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[F. King Daniel]

The horizontal edge? That would be quite a journey, even by the much speedier Warp velocities usually depicted in TOS.
The top or bottom edge? That's only a few hundred light years, well within the range of the Enterprise (again, sticking with TOS onscreen speeds)

Kirk calls it the "rim" of the galaxy in a later episode, plus its drawn as a horizontal barrier which makes no sense visually if it's the top or bottom of the galaxy.

It's Disco-level retconning to make it fit with Berman-era Trek.

 

[Orphalesion]

Not to mention the obvious: there’s no way that even the Enterprise, which did have warp engines, could have traveled to the edge of the galaxy in so short a time. Just like there’s no way the Enterprise-A could have traveled to the center of the galaxy in just an hour.

It was the Pilot episode, so I'm inclined to just file the Galaxy's edge stuff und3ler "early installment weirdness, since they hadn't figured out their universe yet.
And TFF is best ignored anyway :-p

 

[Timo]

It was in the third season, too, so perhaps all of TOS should be discarded as "early installment weirdness"...?

There's no particular problem in dropping the purple ribbon at any spot X that we think fits the bill the best. If we want to loosely associate it with the "shape" of the galaxy (even though there really is none), we can place it at the "edges" of the spiral arms (even though, well, there really are none), and have those at a convenient distance from Earth (even though there is no particular distance ITRW that would be more relevant than another).

And all this before we even consider the fact that the purpleness apparently is only visible up close, and clearly doesn't form an insurmountable barrier when literal surmounting is so painfully simple. Perhaps the purple ribbon is a lens flare of sorts associated with an invisible surface that indeed extends thousands of lightyears in every direction? But it could well be a narrow band physically, too, in which case associating it with "the rim of the galactic disk" is pretty foolish because that rim sure isn't just 1,270 meters tall! Rather, it would then be another Nexus filament, with Kirk perhaps indeed braving it to see if it's safe to go to the other side that way - but with "the other side" being the other universe one reaches by carefully smashing into this tiny filament...

Timo Saloniemi

 

[uniderth]

And of course, any "edge" to our galaxy is for Star Trek to define, and Trek does the defining by drawing a bold purple line in space. This could be right next door to Sol for all we know.

My thought is that the purple ribbon is just an example of chatoyancy. It's really a large object but the position of the observer causes it to appear as a ribbon.

Timo Saloniemi

Kirk calls it the "rim" of the galaxy in a later episode, plus its drawn as a horizontal barrier which makes no sense visually if it's the top or bottom of the galaxy.

It's Disco-level retconning to make it fit with Berman-era Trek.

Rim
noun
the upper or outer edge of an object, typically something circular or approximately circular.

Retconning is not needed to redefine Rojan's statement about the rim of the galaxy being the "upper" edge. That's because we don't need to redefine anything. "Upper edge" is an acceptable usage of the word "rim."

 

[Mytran]

If the galactic barrier were on the horizontal edge then Rojan and crew passing through it in By Any Other Name wouldn't make a lick of sense as the Andromeda galaxy is located in a vertical position in relation to the milky way.

In BAON at least, the barrier would have to be located in an "up" direction - and Kirk strongly implies that it is the same one they faced in WNMHGB.

 

[MAGolding]

Not to mention the obvious: there’s no way that even the Enterprise, which did have warp engines, could have traveled to the edge of the galaxy in so short a time. Just like there’s no way the Enterprise-A could have traveled to the center of the galaxy in just an hour.

Imagine that each stars system in the galaxy has at least three, and possibly more, wormhole mouths or other entrances to space warps leading to other star systems, so when a space ship exits that interstellar gateway in a new star system, there will be at least two other gateways leading to other star systems that it will be able to enter.

So if each star system has three gateways, someone who enters it through one would have two others to chose from.

If there are three gateways at the sol system, there would be three star systems reached by going through one gateway from Sol.

There would be 6 systems reached by going through 2 gateways, 12 reached by going through 3 gateways, 24 reached by going through 4 gateways, 48 reached by going through 5 gateways, 96 reached by going through 6 gateways, 192 reached by going through 7 gateways, 384 reached by going through 8 gateways, 768 reached by going through 9 gateways, 1,536 reached by going through 10 gateways, 3,072 reached by going through 11 gateways, 6,144 reached by going through 12 gateways, 12,288 reached by going through 13 gateways, 24,576 reached by going through 14 gateways, reached by going through 15 gateways, 49,152 reached by going through 16 gateways, 98,304 reached by going through 17 gateways, 196,608 reached by going through 18 gateways, 393,216 reached by going through 19 gateways,786,432 reached by going through 20 gateways, 1,572,864 reached by going through 21 gateways, and so on.

100,663,296 systems would be reached by going through 27 gateways,

1,610,612,736 systems would reached by going through 31 gateways,

103,0799,210,000 system would be reached by going through 36 gateways,

And 412,316,860,000 systems would be reached by going through 38 gateways,

Our galaxy, the Milky Way Galaxy, contains many billions of stars:

It is estimated to contain 100–400 billion stars

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milky_Way

So if there are three such gateways in each star system, every single star int eh galaxy should be reached by traveling through 36 to 38, or fewer gateways.

The time it would take to travel between gateways within a star system would depend on the distance between them and the speed of travel between them. The total time of a voyage through a series of gateways would be the average time traveled between gateways within a system multiplied by the total number of gateways traveled through.

Once the total systems of gateways was mapped, and there was not need for further exploration, the length of a voyage between two mapped systems would depend on the average time to travel between gateways and the total number of gateways and systems traveled through. So if the average travel time between gateways within a system was between 1 minute and 1 hour, the maximum length of an interstellar voyage would be between 38 minutes and 38 hours (1.583 days). If the average travel time between gateways within a system was between 1 hour and 1 day, the maximum length of an interstellar voyage would be between 38 hours (1.583 days) and 38 days. If the average travel time between gateways within a system was between 1 day and 1 week, the maximum length of an interstellar voyage would be between 38 days and 38 weeks (266 days).If the average travel time between gateways within a system was between 1 week and 1 month, the maximum length of an interstellar voyage would be between 38 weeks (266 days) and 38 months (about 3.166 years).If the average travel time between gateways within a system was between 1 month and 1 year, the maximum length of an interstellar voyage would be between 38 months (about 3.166 years). and 38 years.

If starships didn't travel any faster than the official TOS warp scale ( which might not be canonical or accurate) a starship could travel a distance of one light year in:

0.125 Earth years or about 45.65 days at warp factor 2.

0.037 Earth years (13.527 days) at warp factor 3.

0.0156 Earth years (5.7070 days) at warp factor 4.

0.008 Earth years (2.922 days) at warp factor 5

0.0046 Earth years (1.690 days) at warp factor 6, the fastest safe sustained warp speed .

0.0029 Earth years (1.064 days) at warp factor 7, emergency speed.

0.0019 Earth years (0.7122 days) at warp factor 8, the highest emergency speed.

0.0013 Earth years (0.501 days) at warp factor 9, used in one or two episodes.

At warp factor 6 it would take 8.45 days to travel 5 light years, 16.9 days to travel 10 light years, 25.35 days to travel 15 light years, and 33.8 days to travel 20 light years. And possibly every longer voyage than that would be made using the system of gateways.

At warp factor 6, the fastest TOS warp factor for sustained speed, the TOS Enterprise could reach the edge of the galaxy, at least 500 light years from Earth, in at least 845 days, or about 2.334 years, and reach the central point of the galaxy about 26,490 light years from Earth in about 44,768.1 days or about 122.56837 years, and reach the far edge of the galactic disc in about 129,268.1 days, or about 353.916 years.

So it would e a lot faster to take a route through the gateways, if such a route was known, to reach such distant destinations.

 

[uniderth]

Ok. I just had a great idea. Ok. The Voyager probe, Botany Bay, the Charybdis, et al, all encountered work hole gateways around the solar system. Maybe this was an active system built by some ancient civilization. Then Zefram Cochrane was able to specifically discover one of these space warps and used it to develop a theory of faster than light propulsion used in the Phoenix. At some point later this worm hole/space warp defense grid was deactivated allowing space craft to freely expire beyond the solar system. That sounds like a great story just begging to be told.