5.1.1 Lost in the Delta Quadrant

In the pilot of "Star Trek: Voyager", the new starship USS Voyager was taken to the Delta Quadrant by a powerful being called "the Caretaker" on her first mission to the Badlands near Cardassian space. Alone in a unexplored quadrant, Voyager attempts to find a way back home from the northern edge of the Galaxy, 75000 light years away from Earth. In this chapter, the seven year journey of Voyager and all its stations shall be examined more closely, and the discoveries about the Delta Quadrant, its planets, alliances, empires and astronomical phenomena, which were made during this time, shall be evaluated.

5.1.2 Starting points

While Voyager's journey through the Delta Quadrant was considerably better documented than for instance the subdivision of the Galaxy or the structure of the Federation at the beginning, and was more simple and logical than many other parts of the Star Trek Cartography, in the meantime this journey have rather complicated due to numerous continuity problems, contradictions, but also new basis information. The latter fact has lead to the problem that concerning Voyager's journey, one cannot simply use 1000 ly/year regularly travel distance per year plus the leaps made in the course of the seven year journey any longer.

How Rick Sternbach, the "keeper" of the official route of Voyager (that we unfortunately will not know exactly until the ST:VOY TM is published) recently remarked correctly, the distance of Sol to the Galactic core, the initial distance of Voyager from Earth and her bearing are decisive for a depiction of Voyager's journey. A further cornerstone of the Voyager cartography is also Voyager's average speed which has been officially fixed recently. However, the problem arises that all these "fixed values" aren't that fixed in the end. This even applies to the distance of Earth from the center of the Galaxy. Yet, I tried to use the most recent and least contradictious values.

1. Earth's distance to the Galactic core

Although NASA nails down this important distance with about 25,800 ly (7.9 kpc) , the out-dated, too high figure of 30,000 ly is still very common, and even the most recent Milky Way map in the ST:DS9 TM uses this value. Nonetheless, the more recent and precise distance shall be used as the basis for the calculations here, since otherwise, problems arise concerning Voyager's position with regard to the Beta Quadrant border since year five of the journey (further details later). 2. Initial distance of Voyager to Earth

Again there are two contradictious figures regarding this cornerstone: in the pilot [VOY] Caretaker still 70000 ly (a journey of 75 years) were mentioned, but newer episodes ([VOY] One etc.) and official documentations have established a distance of 75000 ly. Of course, one could assume that the first figure is the distance of the Caretaker from Bajor and therefore the distance between Bajor and Earth is responsible for the discrepancy. However, this would result in Bajor being located far above Earth, what is actually not the case. Therefore, in this analysis 75000 ly will be used, because in the end, this assumption is necessary to avoid the Beta Quadrant problem. 3. Voyager's heading home

This is the most uncertain figure, because we have not a clear on screen evidence, but can only measure in official maps. Although Rick Sternbach explicitly wrote in a newsgroup recently that these maps only lay down a preliminary course of Voyager that is about to change, we can actually only use the Milky Way view in the ST:DS9 TM. From this map, we can extract an angle of 23.36° for the line Earth-Voyager. If Voyager flew a course parallel to the Alpha/Beta Quadrant border, this angle would simultaneously also be the bearing relative to the forward direction of the vessel. However, courses are usually given with relationship to the center of the Galaxy. Voyager's actual azimuthal course therefore is 008 , although in the end, we only need the first figure for our calculations. 4. Voyager's average speed

Surprisingly, concerning Voyager's normal cruising speed some considerable changes were made recently, although both fans and official sources presupposed for years that Voyager covers, based on a journey of 75 years and the revised distance of 75000 ly, 1000 ly per year, what corresponds to warp 7.9. However, there hasn't been an explicit on screen evidence, which was finally made in [VOY] Pathfinder and caused some turmoil among the Voyager cartographers. Probably to avoid a too early approach to the Beta Quadrant, which was only about 500 ly away after the last leaps at the beginning of the 6th season, but which doesn't seem to exist in the Voyager universe, this speed was reduced drastically and therefore Voyager was pushed some thousand light years back into the Delta Quadrant. In fact, the figure o f warp 6.2 , mentioned in this episode, also seems to be more logical in view of the fact that due to constant breaks on planets and course deviations for exploration or delays because of hostile species, Voyager's cruising speed (said 1000c) is lowered considerably in the year's average. Because of this, it has been suggested to use both figures in calculations: to assume warp 6.2 (leading to 438 ly per year) for the actual distance covered in one year or subjective statements (journey cut off by 5 years / lengthened by 2 years) and still use 1000c (i.e. journey without breaks) for leaps of longer distances (like "journey cut off by 10 years by covering 10000 ly"). There are some special cases, however, caused by the shortened travel time in the first year and by avoiding Borg space in the 4th and 5th year; problems, that will be elaborately dealt with later in the text.

5.1.3 Overview of the journey

After Voyager has been pushed to the North-Western part of the Delta Quadrant by a displacement wave caused by the Caretaker, from this far away position her voyage home begins, which would take them 75 years at maximum cruising speed, but will last the double till triple time because of course deviations, astronomic obstacles and other delays. In the first two years, Voyager travels through the territories of the Kazons and Vidiians and reaches in year three the Nekrit Expanse and therefore the frontier to a completely unknown part of the Galaxy. Here, Voyager encounters the Borg collective at the end of the third year, whose core territory she can cross without graver damages. However, until the middle of the 5th year, Voyager has to avoid the Borg and their flying routes. Nonetheless, in this year the crew manages to cover half of the entire distance by using new technologies such as slipstream and transwarp. Consequently, Voyager is now, in the 7th year of her journey, only a few thousand light years away from the border to the Beta Quadrant.

Description Episode Stardate travelled to Earth 1. Caretaker / Ocampa 001. Caretaker 48317 0 ly 75000 ly 2. Distance covered in 2371 48317-48999 300 ly 74700 ly 3. Distance covered in 2372 49000-49999 438 ly 74262 ly 4. Distance covered in 2373 50000-50999 438 ly 73824 ly 5. Crossing Borg space 069. The Gift 51008 9500 ly 64324 ly 6. Distance covered in 2374 51000-51999 438 ly 63886 ly 7. Travel with slipstream 093. Hope and Fear 51978 300 ly 63586 ly 8. Vortex through "the Void" 094. Night 52081 2500 ly 61086 ly 9. Travel with slipstream 099. Timeless 52144 10000 ly 51086 ly 10. Borg avoided in 1.5a 108. Dark Frontier I 51008-52619 -876 ly 51962 ly 11. Travel with transwarp 109. Dark Frontier II 52619 20000 ly 31962 ly 12. Distance covered in 2375 52000-52999 438 ly 31524 ly 13. Subspace corridor 126. Dragon's Teeth 53168 200 ly 31324 ly 14. Space catapult 128. The Voyager Conspiracy 53329 600 ly 30724 ly 15. Distance covered in 2376 53000-53999 438 ly 30286 ly

An extended route table of Voyager's journey with additional data, for instance the galactic positions in different coordinate systems, which could be interesting for own projects, you can find in the resource The route of the USS Voyager.

5.1.4 Calculation of the momentary distance

While the above table of course only shows Voyager's distance to Earth for selected key events, it is also possible to determine a precise distance at any time by not deducting the yearly covered distance abruptly at the end of each year, but distributing it equally over the whole year. We then get the momentary distance by deducting the already travelled percentage of the yearly covered distance from the appropriate table distance before the given stardate

For the calculation of Voyager's distance to Earth at a particular time (and therefore the distance of the regions of space crossed and the planets visited at this time etc.), you can use the following step-by-step instructions.

1. Look up the stardate of the episode, e.g. in the ST:VOY Guide.

Example: For [VOY] Message in a Bottle Stardate 51461.5

2. Choose a reference distance to Earth from the above table by comparing the stardate with the table stardates. Important: You have to ignore all yearly covered distances (Stardate xx0000-xx999)!

Example: Stardate 51461.5 is bigger than 51268 in 6., but smaller than 51978 in 8.; the reference distance to Earth is therefore 62134 ly.

3. Beside the now following normal deduction of the percentage of the yearly covered distance (1), 2 special cases have to be considered: (2) in the first year (stardate 48317-48999), Voyager only travelled 300 ly, therefore the yearly distance being accordingly smaller, and (3) between stardate 51008 and 52619, a Borg correction factor has to bee added to the distance, because during this period of time, Voyager's journey became 2 years longer because of avoiding Borg space.

Example: Stardate 51461.5 is between 51008 and 52619, thus variant (2) has to be used. Enter the stardate and reference distance 62134 ly at (2) and click on the button to calculate the momentary distance of Voyager from Earth at this time.

(1) General SD Dist (2) 48317-48999 SD Dist (3) 51008-52619 SD Dist

With the locations of Voyager's journey and a possibility to calculate her exact positions, we also know the positions of all planets visited by Voyager and the territories crossed by the ship. Consequently, the "official" Delta Quadrant is paradoxically much better known than the Alpha or Beta quadrants. Therefore, the following passages deal with the significant locations of the journey of the USS Voyager. Finally, at the end of the chapter a short prospect for the further course of the still continuing journey will be given.

5.1.5 The first year

1. Caretaker / Ocampa 001. Caretaker 48317 0 ly 75000 ly 2. Distance covered in 2371 48317-48999 300 ly 74700 ly

Since the USS Voyager was taken to the Delta Quadrant by the Caretaker not before stardate 48317 (that is in April 2371), the first "year" of Voyager's journey covers only 683 stardate units or 249 days. Consequently, at an average speed of warp 6.2 (438c), Voyager can only travel 300 ly out of the usual 438 ly in 2371. With such a short annual distance, the galactic surroundings has to remain the same to a large extent during this first year - and indeed, Voyager stays the entire year in the sphere of influence of the Kazon-Ogla, Vidiians and Talaxians, who they contacted already in the first weeks in the Delta Quadrant.

5.1.6 The second year

3. Distance covered in 2372 49000-49999 438 ly 74262 ly

During the second year of her journey, Voyager seems to get on as slowly as in the first year, still passing colonies of the Talaxians, Vidiians and Kazons (mainly Ogla and Nistrim, but also other sects). The reason for this congruence are the diverse delays and course deviations due to the fights with the Kazons, which make a lower speed than the average warp 6.2 and therefore a annual distance of less than 438 ly plausible. However, there were further events in this year that delayed the voyage home, what is proven by the following example



Involuntary "shore leave"

On stardate 49690, the crew of Voyager had no choice but to leave Captain Janeway and Commander Chakotay on an uninhabited planet that they called ""New Earth", after on a routine mission, both had been infected through insect stings with a dangerous, extremely infectious disease, which does not break out only in the biosphere of the planet. When Voyager continues her journey under the command of Tuvok, already 17d have passed, during which the doctor unsuccessfully searched for a cure.

Only after six weeks, during which Voyager kept on flying with normal speed and, according to Tuvok, covered 70 ly in this time, what corresponds to an average speed of warp 6.8 , Voyager has the opportunity to get a cure from the Vidiians.

Although Tuvok set a speed of warp 6 after they escaped the Vidiian trap, it is unlikely that Voyager stayed at that speed for the whole time of the flight back to the planet, because then they would have needed a longer time than for the outward flight. Therefore, we can assume that it took Voyager between 3 weeks (at warp 8) and 5 weeks (at warp 7) to travel back to "New Earth".

Using the first, more optimistic figure, the crew therefore loses 80 d all in all, what corresponds to a annual distance shortened by 95.998 ly at an average speed of warp 6.2.

At the end of the episode, Captain Janeway resumed the course home at warp 8 in order to make up the lost time, but is this possible at all? Day 24 of the involuntary "shore leave" (probably counted without the 17d stasis) corresponds to stardate 49690.1 according to the episode, what places the resumption of the voyage home on stardate 49892.7 . In the remaining 107.3 stardate units or 39.1645d, Voyager could have indeed make up the lost distance of 95.998 ly with an average speed of nearly warp 8 ( warp 7.684 ) , and with an average speed of somewhat more than warp 8 ( Warp 8.66 ), she could additionally travelled the rest of the annual distance of 46.9974 ly that has still to be managed in the remaining time.

During her journey without captain and first officer, the crew has contact to the Vidiians for the last time, therefore Voyager definitely leaves the sphere of influence of this species. Provided that Voyager made first contact with the Vidiians on stardate 48532.4, their territory seems to cover at least 535 ly , although a large extension "above" Voyager's position at the time of first contact is not impossible.



5.1.7 The third year

4. Distance covered in 2373 50000-50999 438 ly 73824 ly

Despite no large leaps and the usual annual distance of 438 ly, the third year is a year of changes for Voyager's journey. After two years, she finally leaves the known space populated by the Kazons and Vidiians and ventures to new, unknown regions of the Delta Quadrant.

Leaving Kazon space

Already just at the beginning of the year, on stardate 50032.7, the crew of Voyager has the last contact with the Kazon, what seems to imply that they finally leave their "territory" (better called the space dominated by the - nomadic - Kazon sects). It is unknown how far Kazon space extends "above" the Ocampa homeworld, where first contact were made by the crew of Voyager on stardate 48317. However, this planets seems to be located in the border zone rather than in the center of their space, which is dominated by more powerful sects than the Kazon-Ogla, for instance the Kazon-Nistrim. Regarding the space crossed by Voyager within the last 2 years (since the arrival in the Delta Quadrant on stardate 48317), this leads to a diameter of about 750 ly , what can be considerably less (using a lower annual average speed of Voyager in the first year) or more (based on the assumption that Kazon space extends over several hundred light years above the Ocampa homeworld.

A diameter of this magnitude seems to be plausible in view of the fact that the Kazon, being nomadic living traders and conquerors, must naturally populate a larger region of space, what necessarily means that every single planet within this territory must be in their hands, but that the region can have larger "gaps". At any rate, these extensions of the influence spheres of the Vidiians and Kazons support the low annual average speed of 6.2, since based on the maximum cruising speed of Voyager (warp 8 = 1000c), the territories of this rather insignificant species would cover 1500-2000 ly.



The Barzan Wormhole

When Voyager reaches Takar II on stardate 50074.3, she has also reached the exact location of one of the termini of the instable Barzan Wormhole, which was used by a shuttle of the Enterprise-D and a shuttle of a Ferengi Marauder in 2366 to visit the Delta Quadrant. Therefore we have for the first time the opportunity to compare the calculated route of Voyager with the distances given on screen, in this case in the according TNG episode "The Price". However, in this episode, 70000ly were mentioned, while at the beginning of year three of her journey, Voyager should be still more than 74000 ly away from Earth. There are several possible explanations for this discrepancy: