Onscreen, Voyager pushes her limits in one episode only: in "Threshold", when she gives chase to the supershuttle, Chakotay commands warp 9.9, and the computer immediately declares that they are "nearing maximum warp velocity" and their horrible deaths are "imminent". Chakotay waits for a couple of seconds, during which the supershuttle accelerates to warp 9.97 and the computer predicts fiery death in 45 seconds.
If we are generous here, then, we can say that Chakotay's helmsman accelerated to warp 9.97 without specific command, and this was the speed that could be sustained for 45 seconds. The ability to sustain warp 9.975 would thus probably be limited to 44 seconds or less: a fancy definition for the word "stable" (which is what Stadi appears to say in "Caretaker", although the script/cc says "sustainable")... Then again, Janeway herself in "Relativity" considers warp 9.975 "top cruising speed" instead, without any claims of sustainability, yet still with that annoying "cruising" there.
What the heroes were able to sustain in "Threshold" was warp 9.5. Possibly due to damage that never was repaired, although we never hear this explicated.
Barclay's estimate of progress at an average of warp 6.2 necessarily involves all those days spent at standstill or moving in the wrong direction, and isn't all that relevant to attempts to estimate ship performance: the VOY heroes aren't making average progress through space, as far as we can tell.
In turn, Janeway's initial estimate of sailing home in seven decades was "even at maximum speed". We are left guessing whether she refers to
1) a speed they might hope to sustain for 75 years, considering all the damage they have taken, and all the hardships they can expect (so the "even" means "we can do that, but none of us will live to see home, save perhaps for Tuvok, so we're not doing that"),
2) the speed they could have sustained for 75 years as per specs, had they not been shot to hell by the Caretaker and the Kazon (so the "even" additionally means "too bad we can't use the theoretically highest speed this type of starship could give us for our trip home"),
3) the maximum speed / dash speed / emergency speed of the ship after all the damage, much higher than cruise, and not even theoretically sustainable for 75 years straight (hence the "even" means "we can't really do that because obviously we can't sustain maximum speed"), or
4) the maximum speed of the ship without factoring in the damage, still not sustainable for 75 years (hence again the "even" means "we can't do that because we can't sustain maximum speed").
The wording could be made to fit all four alternatives, although personally I'd like to think that "maximum speed" is a technical term for dash, and not a layman expression for "the best we can do in the circumstances". Our choice then affects how we feel about the ship's warp performance. If we go for the "best we can do in the circumstances", then we can say that Janeway is suggesting puttering home at warp 8 or 7 or 6 or whatever. If we go for "full throttle", then either warp 9.975 is that slow - or then the ship can only do warp 9.5 or 9.1 or 8.2 now, or then Janeway is being realistic and combining mad dashing at warp 9.975 with the subsequently necessary pit stops, both of which interpretations allow for warp 9.975 to be insanely fast.
On screen, the frequency of teasers where the ship is at impulse might favor the "Janeway always felt like dashing and then cooling down" interpretation, and her "even" then meant "too bad we won't live to see home that way, but by golly, I will be doing maximum warp towards Earth, while also looking for wormholes".
However, the writers probably wrote the "even" there preemptively, explicating and excusing why the heroes won't be doing this thing.
Timo Saloniemi
If we are generous here, then, we can say that Chakotay's helmsman accelerated to warp 9.97 without specific command, and this was the speed that could be sustained for 45 seconds. The ability to sustain warp 9.975 would thus probably be limited to 44 seconds or less: a fancy definition for the word "stable" (which is what Stadi appears to say in "Caretaker", although the script/cc says "sustainable")... Then again, Janeway herself in "Relativity" considers warp 9.975 "top cruising speed" instead, without any claims of sustainability, yet still with that annoying "cruising" there.
What the heroes were able to sustain in "Threshold" was warp 9.5. Possibly due to damage that never was repaired, although we never hear this explicated.
Barclay's estimate of progress at an average of warp 6.2 necessarily involves all those days spent at standstill or moving in the wrong direction, and isn't all that relevant to attempts to estimate ship performance: the VOY heroes aren't making average progress through space, as far as we can tell.
In turn, Janeway's initial estimate of sailing home in seven decades was "even at maximum speed". We are left guessing whether she refers to
1) a speed they might hope to sustain for 75 years, considering all the damage they have taken, and all the hardships they can expect (so the "even" means "we can do that, but none of us will live to see home, save perhaps for Tuvok, so we're not doing that"),
2) the speed they could have sustained for 75 years as per specs, had they not been shot to hell by the Caretaker and the Kazon (so the "even" additionally means "too bad we can't use the theoretically highest speed this type of starship could give us for our trip home"),
3) the maximum speed / dash speed / emergency speed of the ship after all the damage, much higher than cruise, and not even theoretically sustainable for 75 years straight (hence the "even" means "we can't really do that because obviously we can't sustain maximum speed"), or
4) the maximum speed of the ship without factoring in the damage, still not sustainable for 75 years (hence again the "even" means "we can't do that because we can't sustain maximum speed").
The wording could be made to fit all four alternatives, although personally I'd like to think that "maximum speed" is a technical term for dash, and not a layman expression for "the best we can do in the circumstances". Our choice then affects how we feel about the ship's warp performance. If we go for the "best we can do in the circumstances", then we can say that Janeway is suggesting puttering home at warp 8 or 7 or 6 or whatever. If we go for "full throttle", then either warp 9.975 is that slow - or then the ship can only do warp 9.5 or 9.1 or 8.2 now, or then Janeway is being realistic and combining mad dashing at warp 9.975 with the subsequently necessary pit stops, both of which interpretations allow for warp 9.975 to be insanely fast.
On screen, the frequency of teasers where the ship is at impulse might favor the "Janeway always felt like dashing and then cooling down" interpretation, and her "even" then meant "too bad we won't live to see home that way, but by golly, I will be doing maximum warp towards Earth, while also looking for wormholes".
However, the writers probably wrote the "even" there preemptively, explicating and excusing why the heroes won't be doing this thing.
Timo Saloniemi
