What if Voyager Were Stranded on Purpose?

[Red Ranger]

People,

This idea just popped into my head when I started thinking of how noble Janeway's actions seemed, stranding Voyager in the Delta Quadrant to save the Ocampa.

But suppose the stranding was intentional, by either Starfleet or by Janeway? Frankly, I think it opens up all kinds of possibilities -- resentment by Janeway that Starfleet knew about the Caretaker. We see a message at the end of the premier from some ambitious Admiral who wanted to expand the Federation's reach by intentionally sending Voyager so it would survey as much of the Delta Quadrant as possible to prepare the Federation for the Borg Threat to come.

I'm not sure if Janeway should be in on it from the beginning, but that would open a whole other avenue for her character development. She is the only one who knows about the secret mission to explore the Delta Quadrant and gather as much intelligence as possible before returning to the Alpha Quadrant, but the info Starfleet gives her on the availability of transwarp conduits is mistaken.

Eventually, we'd see this Admiral's secret plan exposed and we could still have the Pathfinder project, only it would be fueled by Starfleet Command's guilt that one or more admirals plotted this behind the backs of the top brass, and that they owe Voyager a return trip home.

There would certainly be more angst as it becomes public knowledge among the crew of Starfleet's treachery.

What say you all?

Red Ranger

 

[chancellorjake]

Have you been watching The Voyager Conspiracy?

 

[Red Ranger]

Have you been watching The Voyager Conspiracy?

No, I guess I should be! Fill me in, please. -- RR

 

[Red Ranger]

Oh, boy. I completely forgot about this episode, as I'm not the biggest VOY fan. You all are going to jump all over me now! Still, I think it would've been a more interesting set-up to the series than the accidental, lost-in-space origin. So please weigh in! -- RR

 

[Bill Morris]

Oh, boy. I completely forgot about this episode, as I'm not the biggest VOY fan. You all are going to jump all over me now! Still, I think it would've been a more interesting set-up to the series than the accidental, lost-in-space origin. So please weigh in! -- RR

That notwithstanding (if the writers didn't have UPN acting as backseat drivers, bitching that requiring viewers to watch every episode from the beginning of the series in order to understand any of it was ratings suicide while they were trying to build a new network), the trick in this scenario might be not admirals or Janeway but Section 31, who engineered Voyager's getting stranded and had some exclusive means of monitoring Janeway's logs and data from Voyager's main computer, and perhaps the ability to feed information to Voyager's computer in order to manipulate them into checking out certain things and even to get Voyager out of trouble or point them toward resources once in a while just to keep them on the job.

 

[erastus25]

Let's say there is some huge conspiracy, a la The Voyager Conspiracy, why would Section 31 send only one ship? The odds of that ship surviving seem pretty low (I know, Voyager did survive and with no permanent damage!, but I think that was pretty unlikely). Why not send five or six ships into the badlands and then zap all of them over?

 

[Crewman47]

Let's say there is some huge conspiracy, a la The Voyager Conspiracy, why would Section 31 send only one ship? The odds of that ship surviving seem pretty low (I know, Voyager did survive and with no permanent damage!, but I think that was pretty unlikely). Why not send five or six ships into the badlands and then zap all of them over?

There's the USS Equniox and Capt Ransom, maybe there plans were also set by S31 to get sent the DQ and then there Ransom's use of the Aliens for fuel which could imply that he was part of S31's plans. It could also be that S31 might not have intended for Equinox and Voyager to meet and do there own things seperatly without interference from each other.

 

[erastus25]

Let's say there is some huge conspiracy, a la The Voyager Conspiracy, why would Section 31 send only one ship? The odds of that ship surviving seem pretty low (I know, Voyager did survive and with no permanent damage!, but I think that was pretty unlikely). Why not send five or six ships into the badlands and then zap all of them over?

There's the USS Equniox and Capt Ransom, maybe there plans were also set by S31 to get sent the DQ and then there Ransom's use of the Aliens for fuel which could imply that he was part of S31's plans. It could also be that S31 might not have intended for Equinox and Voyager to meet and do there own things seperatly without interference from each other.

Even still, that still wouldn't make much sense. It seems like the most likely scenario would be for both ships to get destroyed and never make it back to Fed. space, thereby losing all the data they had collected.

 

[kimc]

It's an interesting idea, imo. In fact, I recall a fanfic or two around this premise but don't remembe the titles.

 

[Bill Morris]

I did mention that the S31 angle was dependent on their having some exclusive technology to monitor the computers of ships sent out there. So any data and new tech that Voyager and other ships gained would be picked up by S31 whether those ships ever made it back or not, and certainly years before Voyager got home. Maybe that monitoring system would have something to do with the Borg or the Hirogen.

 

[erastus25]

I did mention that the S31 angle was dependent on their having some exclusive technology to monitor the computers of ships sent out there. So any data and new tech that Voyager and other ships gained would be picked up by S31 whether those ships ever made it back or not, and certainly years before Voyager got home. Maybe that monitoring system would have something to do with the Borg or the Hirogen.

You're right. I missed that when I typed my response - my apologies.

 

[Red Ranger]

People,

Thanks for being forgiving. I really had completely forgotten about that ep where Seven goes all paranoid -- had to look it up on Memory Alpha -- but I guess it must have been in my subconscious. It guided me to post! Uh-oh, now I'm getting paranoid!

You know, one possible answer why only two ships wound up in the Delta Quadrant due to the machinations of Section 31 or some Starfleet Admiral could simpy be they tried it a few times before Voyager but the ships wound up being destroyed instead of sent to the DQ. And then it could be established that Equinox was only the second successful trip triggered by Section 31.

Red Ranger

 

[Red Ranger]

I did mention that the S31 angle was dependent on their having some exclusive technology to monitor the computers of ships sent out there. So any data and new tech that Voyager and other ships gained would be picked up by S31 whether those ships ever made it back or not, and certainly years before Voyager got home. Maybe that monitoring system would have something to do with the Borg or the Hirogen.

Makes sense. If such a remote communications system was based on Borg technology, it would probably be related to their system of transwarp conduits. -- RR