In "Eye of the Needle" in the first season, Janeway told the Romulan from the past that "Any message we sent would take years to get there [to the Alpha Quadrant]." Shouldn't such messages have reached the AQ by now. The TNG Tech Man says that subspace radio travels at something like warp 9.999. Assuming the messages weren't somehow disrupted (which I suppose is certainly possible) do you think Starfleet has received Voyager's initial distress call or log entries?
There was never a mention of Janeway sending such a message which really surprises me but we have to assume she did. What do you guys think?
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Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :
I don't think so, no. Speed isn't the only factor here. Signal quality, for instance.
------------------ "And if we weren't good to you, Dave, you shouldn't take it all the way to your grave." -- Will Rigby
Posted by KXZ (Member # 119) on :
I have been thinking about the chip they gave the Romulan in "Eye of a Needle." There should be an episode where that Romulan's son (he was mentioned in the episode as a few month old baby) is going through a box of his father's possesions. His father has been dead for years, (Tuvok said he died in 2367) and he was never allowed to go near the box. Now that he is about 25 and his father is gone, he decides to go through the box. In it he finds valueable objects, but he also finds a Federation computer chip. He goes and gets it checked out by some Romulan scientists. They tell him the chip is about 25 years old, but the chip is of a style only made within the past 10 years. He decides to try to decode the chip, but finds it damaged. He has no way of recovering the data with Romulan computers. He knew the chip was important to his father. He decides to go to Starfleet with the chip. Starfleet is suspicious, but using their data recovery programs they are able to repair the damage. They realize these messages are from Voyager. They discover that they are from before Voyager contacted them using the alien comm array. They also find out about the micro wormhole. Even though these messages are old, the relatives find comfort in them. We could see Janeway's fiance Mark, Tuvok's family, Admiral Paris, etc. If the writers did it right, this could be a good episode, although it would not be set on Voyager.
------------------ All hands, abandon ship! All hand, abandon... BOOM!
Posted by Epoch (Member # 136) on :
I like it. Good, solid, and works darn well. I would really like to watch an ep like that.
------------------ Death before Dishonor! However Dishonor has quite a disputed defintion.
Posted by Montgomery (Member # 23) on :
Hardly worth it since Starfleet and the families already know Voyager's fate.
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Posted by Jim Phelps (Member # 102) on :
Subspace radio travels at Warp 9.9997, but I believe that you still need relay stations every 22.65 light- years to amplify the signal. The limit is still there according to the DS9TM.
But then again, Data did say in "Where No One Has Gone Before" that a signal would take 51 years to cross the 2,700,000 ly distance. Now if -that- is possible, then I don't know what's holding up Voyager's radio.
Boris
------------------ "Wrong again. Although we want to be scientifically accurate, we've found that selection of [Photon Energy Plasma Scientifically Inaccurate as a major Star Trek format error] usually indicates a preoccupation with science and gadgetry over people and story."
---a Writers' Test from the Original Series Writer's Guide
Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :
The signal could get there, sure. But how complex could it be?
------------------ "And if we weren't good to you, Dave, you shouldn't take it all the way to your grave." -- Will Rigby
Posted by TSN (Member # 31) on :
Monty: Yes, but that's all they know. They probably got a message from SF saying "We've found Voyager on the other side of the galaxy. If you wish to send a message to them, please reply within forty-eight hours. Thank you." In the case of the chip left w/ the Romulan, they would be reading actual messages from the V crew. Big difference...
------------------ "Alright, so it's impossible. How long will it take?" -Commander Adams, Forbidden Planet
Posted by Cartman (Member # 256) on :
By the way, how come La Forge says it would take the Enterprise-D 300 years to cover the 2.700.000 lightyears at maximum warp in "Where no one has gone before" while it takes the Voyager presumably 75 years to cover 70.000 lightyears?! That would mean that the E-D can travel up to 9000 l-ys a year non-stop but the Voyager would only manage 1000 a year! (always wondered about this). We're talking a 2364 Galaxy and a 2371 Intrepid class, mind you... great advances in propulsion have been made in those 7 years.
------------------ "Cry havoc and let's slip the dogs of Evil"
Posted by Jim Phelps (Member # 102) on :
I always thought that a careless writer misinterpreted Okuda's warp table here, by assuming that the maximum speed of the Enterprise is warp 9.99 or 7912c, which yields a 341-year trip.
Boris
------------------ "Wrong again. Although we want to be scientifically accurate, we've found that selection of [Photon Energy Plasma Scientifically Inaccurate as a major Star Trek format error] usually indicates a preoccupation with science and gadgetry over people and story."
---a Writers' Test from the Original Series Writer's Guide
Posted by Aethelwer (Member # 36) on :
BTW, I doubt great advances in propulsion would be made in seven years, unless the first starships started out using plastic rocket engines or something.
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