It is unlikely the starship Voyager was decommissioned after its return to the Alpha Quadrant, no matter what wikis may report. The ship had only been in operation for seven years and had at least another 25 to 30 years of effective operation before she would become obsolete.
It is more likely she became an experimental ship which included within its crew complement a new collection of scientists and engineers who would continue to test and analyze the host of alien technologies retrofitted to it during its journey.
These multiple technologies encountered, successful or not, were likely stored in the ship’s databases, successful implementation or not, which would make Voyager a trove of technological capacities rarely equaled in the Federation. All of Voyager’s mission telemetry, scanner records and analyses would be an incredible trove of data to be studied by Federation scientists.
While many of the wikis report that Voyager was decommissioned after it returned from the Delta Quadrant, it is highly unlikely for the Federation to do so. The ship had been exposed to a variety of experiences which would likely leave traces that the Federation could, coupled with the ship’s records, recreate a number of these technologies to be added to the Starfleet databases for possible use at a future date.
It is more likely after the ship and its modifications were studied, refined and analysed effectively, those technologies which did not cause problematic feedback with standard Federation technology, were left intact, with additional telemetry, scanning and analysis equipment to monitor the technology for safety, efficiency and overall viability as potential upgrades to other ships in the Federation.
Voyager at the end of its journey had access to a number of technologies traded from the Borg during their alliance as well as a host of other technologies studied, scanned and experienced including technology taken from a parallel, future timeline which they acquired during their seven year journey. Such technology might be considered classified and only used in extremis, especially if it violated treaties already in place with Federation allies.
These technologies included:
In mid-2375, after surviving a battle with a Borg probe, the crew of the USS Voyager managed to recover several Borg data nodes containing, among other information, long-range sensor telemetry and vessel movements for a radius of thirty light years. Utilizing this information, Voyager was able to locate a damaged Borg sphere and steal a working transwarp coil from the ship’s transwarp chamber.
The coil was fitted to both the Delta Flyer and Voyager itself, providing twenty thousand light years of travel before giving out, shaving approximately fifteen years off Voyager’s journey home. (VOY: “Dark Frontier”)
These technologies would make Voyager one of the most valuable ships in the Federation and its experimental notation would likely be extended as the scientists and engineers studied the work of Belanna Torres, Seven of Nine and the rest of the crew’s work which was highly experimental and optimized under less than ideal conditions.
To take the ship out of commission permanently would be a waste of one of the fastest, most capable and potent starships in the Federation at that time.
TECHNOLOGY REFERENCES
Technology Voyager interacted with during its journey
-30-
Thaddeus Howze is an award-winning writer, editor, podcaster and activist creating speculative fiction, scientific, political and cultural commentary from his office in Hayward, California.
Thaddeus’ speculative fiction has appeared in numerous anthologies and literary journals. He has published two books, ‘Hayward’s Reach’ (2011), a collection of short stories and ‘Broken Glass’ (2013) an urban fantasy novella starring his favorite paranormal investigator, Clifford Engram.
The fight to save America from Fascist superheroes begins. WARNING: F-Bombs, lots of blood and…
British actor Bernard Hill who co-starred in LOTR as Theoden and in TITANIC as Captain…
"Peace is a lie. There is only passion." It's part of the first line of…
Join host Gene Turnbow as he welcomes Gregory A. McMartin back to talk game development…
Oscar-winning actress Michelle Yeoh is one of the recipients of this year's Presidential Medal of…
The world has leaned into May 4 as Star Wars Day, and now Lucasfilm has…
This website uses cookies.