| ENT
-- Enterprise |
TOS
-- The Original Series |
TAS
-- The Animated Series |
| TNG
-- Next Generation |
DS9
-- Deep Space Nine |
VGR
-- Voyager |
| TTN
-- Titan |
SCE
-- Starfleet Corps of Engineers |
| Part
I: Chapter 1 |
Chapter
2 |
||
| Part
II: Chapters 3 & 4 |
Chapter
5 |
Chapters
6 & 7 |
|
| Part
III: Chapter 8 |
Chapters
9 &10 |
Chapters
11 & 12 |
Chapters
13, 14 & 15 |
| Epilogue |
|||
| Timeline Comparison Chart and notes |
|||
| Pg. |
|
| 176 |
From
The
Rebel, Part 5, "Moderation and Excess" (1951) |
| Part One: January-February 2374 | |
| Corresponds
to the late
third and early fourth season. |
|
| Chapter 1 | |
| 179 |
The
first four pages retell a scene from the penultimate act of "Scorpion,
Part 1"
by Brannon Braga and Joe Menosky. At this point, we are still
in the
"main" series timeline. |
| 180 |
The
name for Kes's department was rendered in scripts as "airponics," but
"aeroponics" is the more correct spelling, and the pronunciations are
close enough to be ambiguous. |
| Kes's
hair grew out quite suddenly between "Favorite Son" and "Before and
After," because Jennifer Lien stopped wearing a short-hair wig in favor
of her own long, wavy hair. This is not the first abrupt
change of hair length in the show (Janeway goes short-haired in
"Parturition" before going back to long hair the following week), but
it can be justified as a function of Kes's rapid metabolism. |
|
| 182 |
The
lines that form in Chakotay's mind (in italics) are his actual lines
from "Scorpion." Since in
the episode there's almost no pause between Janeway's "right here, right now"
and Chakotay's riposte,
I needed to assert that he was weighing responses "Even as she spoke." |
| 183 |
By
a nice typographic coincidence, the timeline diverges exactly at the
top of this page. Everything
from this point on is new. |
| 185 |
In
the original timeline, Voyager rendezvoused with
the Borg in this system before the 8472 attack. Janeway's
greater caution changes the timing and outcome of events. |
| 185 -86 |
A
Xindi planetkiller is, of course, the Earth-destroying weapon featured
in ENT's third season. Since blowing a planet apart is so
difficult to do, I chose to postulate a single distinctive
mechanism for it in both cases. The concept of a strong-force
reversal field bears some similarity to the Nova bombs of Gene
Roddenberry's Andromeda, which reversed gravity to blow a
star apart. |
| 186 |
The
wave-motion gun was
the planet-cracking weapon used in the anime series
Space
Battleship Yamato/Star Blazers. |
| 188 |
I
may have fudged the physics here. The overpressure shock from
an impact of this magnitude may
actually be sufficient to kill the occupants of the room. Contrary to
what
movies and TV show us, the atmospheric shock wave from an explosion,
not
the fireball, is the really deadly part. And an enclosed
space can
concentrate such a shock wave, making it even deadlier. This
is an
impact rather than an explosion, but the forces would be comparable. |
| Also,
I'm not entirely sure if the ceiling support beams of Voyager's
bridge are heavy enough to crush someone beneath them. |
|
| 188 -89 |
Why
kill Tuvok and Paris? For one thing, I didn't have room to
use the entire regular cast.
For another, the fatalities showed that all bets were off,
that anything
could happen. Also, I didn't want this timeline to be
unambiguously
better than the main one, so there had to be a serious cost.
Why Tom
and Tuvok specifically? Because they were the least affected
by the
change and thus gave me the least to work with storywise. Tom
was
happy flying a ship regardless of where it was, and had no real ties
back
home. As for Tuvok, the only arc I could think of involved
knowing
he wouldn't be home in time for pon farr, but the
show dealt
with that, however cursorily. Also, killing Tom let me take
B'Elanna
to a dark place and let Harry emerge as his own man. Similarly, killing
Tuvok
left Janeway without a key advisor while letting Kes outgrow her
apprentice
role and come into her own. |
| Chapter 2 |
|
| 190 |
I
wanted to include a sequence in which the crippled Voyager
used impulse drive to accelerate itself to relativistic speeds and head
for an inhabited system under high time dilation. The
short-novel format required me to abandon that
part. |
| 191 |
"Real
Life" told us nothing about the Vostigye except that they had a science
station that was destroyed. I chose to expand on this and
make them a space habitat-based civilization, both to tie into the
refugee theme and to let me borrow from the worldbuilding I'd done for
a similar civilization in an original novel I've been working on.
The configuration of Kosnelye is similar to a large Bernal
sphere but
has its own distinct attributes. |
| The
Porcion are one of several species names glimpsed on a Nyrian
computer graphic in "Displaced." Since the graphic
was not meant to be
clearly legible, it used barely altered or unaltered English words such
as
Acacia, Bowsers, and Niacin. PoE references several of the
less ridiculous
names, including Calentar, Quitar, and Porcion. |
|
| 192 |
Since
the Vostigye have
four-fingered hands, and thus a base-eight numbering system,
"sixty-four"
is to them what "a hundred" is to us, the square of their numerical
base.
Rosh is therefore using the number as a rough figure for
rhetorical
effect rather than a precise one. |
| 193 |
Megon
is loosely based on a certain prominent American politician of Irish
descent who condemns immigrants in the same terms that were used in the
past to condemn Irish-Americans, apparently without recognizing the
irony (or hypocrisy, as the case may
be). |
| 195 |
The
"Groucho Marx" body
plan I describe for the Vostigye is based on one that was once proposed
in Scientific American as an "improved" anatomical
design for humans,
one better adapted to bipedal locomotion, less stressful on the
skeleton.
Since humanoids in the Trek universe are generally not built
this
way, I chose to make it a high-gravity adaptation. |
| 196 |
Lyssa
Campbell is a character from Christie Golden's VGR novels.
Chief Clemens, the hangar deck
crew chief, is from String Theory: Cohesion by
Jeffrey Lang. Since Voyager had a limited
crew size, I didn't create any crewmembers who hadn't been mentioned
before. |
| In
retrospect, I'm not sure Chakotay's "adapt to survive" viewpoint really
fits the Maquis mentality. But the Maquis existed because the
Cardassians wouldn't let the settlers in the demilitarized zone simply
adapt to their society, seeking to eradicate them instead.
The DMZ colonists were initially willing to adapt,
voluntarily giving up Federation citizenship to keep their homes.
It
was only when the Cardassian military made that impossible that the
colonists
fought back. |
|
| In
my "Frontiers in World History" course in college, one of the key ideas
that emerged in seeking a definition of a frontier was that it is a
region where established power structures (at least one's own) are
unavailable and adaptation is required. Frontiers are regions
where fascinating, complex processes of cultural blending, adaptation,
and compromise occur, because it's often the only
way to survive. VGR never really explored this idea, so I
chose to
put the crew in a position where they had no choice but to compromise
and
adapt. |
|
| Part Two: August-November 2374 |
|
| Corresponds
to the late
fourth season. |
|
| Chapter
3 |
|
| 201 |
its smoothness so unusual for those
of her heritage: "Juggernaut" showed us that B'Elanna's
back lacks the pronounced ridges seen on Worf's
back in TNG: "Ethics." |
| 202 |
B'Elanna
is clinically depressed here, as she was in "Extreme Risk" in the main
timeline. Clinical
depression is often a genetic predisposition, so it stands to reason
that
B'Elanna would be susceptible to it in any timeline. |
| 203 |
Voyager
saved the Nezu from the Etanians in "Rise." The Casciron are
my own creation. |
| In
the name Voenis, the "oe" is pronounced as in
"Joe," as distinct from the short o
in "Vostigye." Presumably Morikei rhymes
with "Kay." |
|
| 205 |
The
Pralor APUs were seen in "Prototype." |
| 207 |
The
Doctor's new state of being is similar to that of Andromeda from Gene
Roddenberry's Andromeda. Rather than becoming more
human, I wanted to have the Doctor fulfill his AI potential more fully. |
| Chapter 4 | |
| 212 |
Yes,
the plural used in
"Darkling" was "Tarkan" rather than "Tarkans." |
| 213 |
The
idea that prenatal Ocampa absorb knowledge from their mothers is my
own. I felt it necessary to explain how they could gain
enough knowledge to function in such a short childhood. It
also helps explain how Kes, who was barely a year old when we met her,
had such wisdom, such an "old soul," as Chakotay put it in Chapter 1. |
| 214 |
The
"original" timeline
discussed here is from "Before and After." This will become
important
later in the novel. |
| 216 |
The
suggestion that multiple births are common among Ocampa comes from http://www.ex-astris-scientia.org/inconsistencies/biology-other.htm#misc
(scroll to the bottom). |
| 217 |
Serotonin
was linked to
Ocampa telepathic activity in "The Gift." |
| 219 -20 |
My
original intent was for Kes to hook up with Zahir permanently.
However, in reviewing "Darkling," I realized Zahir was very
dull. I also realized that a more powerful Kes shouldn't be
limited in her life choices by the dictates of biology. |
| Chapter 5 | |
| 221 |
"So many excuses to throw an
anniversary party": This is meant as a
rationalization for "Homestead," wherein "First Contact Day" (April 5)
is celebrated late in the season, which should be around December
according to the chronological assumptions generally followed by Pocket
Books. The idea is that Neelix may have thrown that
celebration using a different calendar than ours; there may have been
multiple "First Contact Day" parties, or multiple parties for other
holidays or birthdays, thrown by Neelix at
various times throughout the year. |
| The
Bourget are another
race mentioned in "Displaced." |
|
| In
the main timeline, Lyndsay Ballard ("Ashes to Ashes") was killed by a
Hirogen hunting party on stardate 51563, some 2-3 months before this
chapter. Since Voyager never reached
Hirogen space in this timeline, Ballard got a new lease on life,
becoming the new chief engineer after B'Elanna left. |
|
| 222 |
Lauren
McTaggart and her singing ability were established in "Talent Night" by
Jeffrey Lang in the Distant Shores anthology. |
| 223 |
It's
actually fairly unlikely that abandoned skyscrapers would stand for
centuries. Had I written this scene after the recent slew of shows
and books
about what would happen if humans suddenly disappeared from Earth, I
would've depicted the city differently. As it is, just assume
their construction is extremely sturdy. |
| 226 |
The
subspace erosion problem is from TNG: "Force of Nature."
Although never stated onscreen, the behind-the-scenes
explanation for Voyager's pivoting nacelles was
that they somehow compensated for the damage warp drive caused to
subspace. |
| 226 -27 |
The
Aeroshuttle
(or Aerowing) was a support craft which Voyager's
designers integrated into the ship, but which was never used on the
show. Here I attempt to explain, not only why the Aeroshuttle
was never used, but why the Delta Flyer was created
instead. "Extreme Risk" establishes that Tom had proposed the
new shuttle many times before, so he could have already had the idea
as far back as the third season. |
| 229 |
The
"wise man" Chakotay
quotes here is John Lennon. His song "Beautiful Boy" includes
the
lyric "Life is just what happens to you / While you're busy making
other
plans." |
| Chapter 6 | |
| 231 |
Presumably
Voenis isn't
saying "thirteen," but "eight-and-five." I'm translating for
convenience. |
| 235 |
Chakotay's
comparison of the Voth to Ming China echoes that made by his
main-timeline self in my Distant Shores story
"Brief Candle." I was already developing the outline for PoE
at the time I wrote "Brief Candle," and what I set up about the Voth
there was meant to pay off, or at least be revisited, here.
Unfortunately, the short format kept me from delving into
Voth civilization as deeply as I would have liked. |
| 237 |
"We still don't know whether they
came here on their own or were brought here before they evolved
intelligence": Dialogue in "Distant Origin"
assumed the former, but it really doesn't make sense; any past
technological civilization on Earth would have left discernible
geological evidence of
worldwide changes on the atmosphere and climate, "sunken continent" or
not.
Also, "Distant Origin" establishes Voth history as no more
than 20
million years in length. Minister Odala's power base was
predicated on the Voth being superlatively ancient, so if even she
can't justify claiming they're older than 20 million years, there must
be irrefutable evidence
that they aren't. If they were already sentient upon leaving
Earth,
that 45-megayear gap before reaching the Delta Quadrant is hard to
justify.
Personally, I like to believe they were taken from Earth by
the same
Preserver-like race responsible for rescuing the ancestors of Clan Ru,
a
sentient raptor-dinosaur species from TOS: First Frontier
by Diane
Carey & Dr. James I. Kirkland. |
| 238 |
The
Doctor did make the
joke about the vicarious pleasure of regenerating hair in "The Gift." |
| Did
I choose to make the composer a Quitar because it looks like "Guitar?"
Perish the thought... |
|
| 240 |
This
scene more than any other makes me wish I'd had more room in this
novel. I always wanted to do a Danara Pel followup dealing
with the Doctor's memory loss from "The Swarm;" indeed, I developed a
pitch for the show, but was unable to use it
once the ship jumped 9,500 light-years beyond Vidiian space in "The
Gift."
I also pitched such a story to the Distant Shores
anthology.
Ultimately, I was left with this brief revisit in an
alternate timeline.
But I structured the scene in such a way that it could be
referring
back to some as-yet-untold "Swarm"/Danara sequel in the main timeline
--
just in case I ever get the chance. |
| Chapter 7 | |
| 243 |
Why
does the Voth ship drop out of transwarp at the border and proceed at
normal warp? Because I needed time to assemble the allied
fleet before the climactic battle.
The rationalization, however feeble, is that Haluk wants to
intimidate
the Vostigye and give them time to lose heart and surrender.
Perhaps
it's also a way of showing that the Voth don't consider the Vostigye
important
enough to warrant haste. |
| 249 |
As
far as I know, this is almost the longest speech Lt. Ayala has ever
had. Onscreen, his previous record was 17 consecutive words
in "Renaissance Man," 19 in the entire
episode. Altogether, he spoke only 29 words onscreen (33 if
you count
the time-travel replay of "Stop where you are!" in "Fury"), and he
speaks
27 words in this paragraph alone. The only other work of
professional
prose fiction I'm aware of in which Ayala gets to say much is String
Theory: Evolution by Heather Jarman. |
| 252 |
Ensign
Jenkins (played by Mackenzie Westmore, daughter of makeup creator
Michael Westmore) was not given a first name onscreen.
"Tricia" is an homage to the actress's great-aunt Patricia
"Pat" Westmore, a hairstylist on TOS. |
| Part Three: June-September 2375 |
|
| Corresponds
to the mid-fifth season. |
|
| Chapter 8 | |
| 261 |
In
"Hunters," Chakotay refers to the Dominion merely as "a species from
the Gamma Quadrant" that allied with Cardassia, implying that he had
never heard of the Dominion. But first contact with the
Dominion (or specifically the Vorta and Jem'Hadar) occurred in DS9:
"The Jem'Hadar" several months before VGR began. Therefore,
there would have been time for Janeway and Harry to become familiarized
with Jem'Hadar ships before "Caretaker." Presumably Chakotay
and B'Elanna didn't learn about them because they were fighting for the
Maquis at the
time and were thus not getting up-to-the-minute Starfleet briefings. |
| 262 |
Originally,
when I thought
this novel would be full-length, I devised a subplot in which a convoy
of
Caretaker refugees came to demand that Janeway be turned over and tried
for destroying their only way home (a plot point I ended up conflating
with
the Voth/8472 confrontation). This was also one of my pitch
ideas abandoned
due to the 9500-ly jump in "The Gift." I always felt the show
should
have followed up on this issue in some way. |
| 263 |
As
with many things in this novel, the timeframe of Janeway's search for
refugees is more compressed
than I would have preferred. Unfortunately, I felt
constrained to
fit the tale within a reasonable timeframe for the Borg/8472 war.
In
retrospect, perhaps I should have found a way to make that war last
longer
instead. |
| The
Carnelians are a civilization hinted at in TNG: "Legacy" and developed
in my TNG: The Buried Age. Vomnin and
Shizadam are from TTN: Orion's Hounds.
S'paaphonn are... well. |
|
| 264 |
Nemulye
was presumably the Vostigye seen at ops in Chapter 7. |
| 266 |
The
Vidiian Phage was eventually cured in the main timeline by Kurros's
group in "Think Tank." In
this timeline, the Phage was cured nearly a year sooner, or about six
months
before this scene. |
| 267 |
According
to A Vision of the Future: Star Trek: Voyager by
Stephen Edward Poe, "The
justification for the design" of Seven of Nine's catsuit "was that it was a dermal regeneration
device, a technological means of allowing her human body to heal from
all the scarring after the Borg armor and implants were removed.
The notion is similar to the full-body wraps applied to
severe burn victims." (p. 349)
I adopted and elaborated on that explanation a bit in "Brief
Candle,"
and go into more detail here. The suggestion that her high
heels contain
cyborg components of some kind is not original to me, though I don't
recall
the source. We can assume that by this time, her scars are
pretty much
healed, but she still needs the sheath for other reasons. |
| Chapter 9 | |
| 275 |
Neelix
carrying Kes's lung was a story I wanted to follow up on practically
since "Phage" first aired. Given the shorter life expectancy
the organ was adapted for, it always struck me as a temporary solution
at best. |
| 278 |
Kes's
monologue here reflects my own internal debate about whether pairing
her up with Neelix again would be a step backward. It's also
a bit of vicarious wish fulfillment
on my part, since I've been in a position similar to Neelix's
post-breakup
relationship with Kes. |
| 281 |
The
hidden data chip inside the globe of Earth was revealed in "Brief
Candle." There was no indication of its presence in "Distant
Origin," but it always seemed to me that it
should be there. "Brief Candle" established that what's
happened here
with the Voth also happened similarly in the main timeline. |
| Chapter 10 | |
| 286 |
Again
I may be fudging the physics; it would probably take more confinement
than described here to
achieve the scale of the reaction described. However, it can
be assumed
that the bulk of the damage is done by the "ignited" drive plasma,
whatever
that means. |
| 290 |
Cortical node error:
"Human Error" established that Borg cortical nodes are designed to shut
down drones who become too emotional. I'm assuming that
function isn't fully engaged in Annika's case, perhaps due to the
damage that led to her awakening in Unimatrix Zero mode. |
| 291 |
Seven
of Nine's thoughts are in italic small caps, Annika's in normal
italics, the Doctor's in italics within quotation marks. When
Borg-ish thoughts are expressed in normal italics, that represents
Annika herself internalizing Borg though processes, succumbing to their
influence. |
| 292 |
"I am large, and I contain
multitudes": The Doctor is paraphrasing Walt
Whitman's "Song
of Myself" (51st stanza). |
| Seven
assimilating humans was suggested in "Infinite Regress," in which she
refers to Ensign Stone of the starship Tombaugh as
"one of my victims," strongly implying that she was personally involved
in the assimilation of that vessel. The Tombaugh
was assimilated 13 years before the episode, or 2362, three years
before the Enterprise's official first contact.
It must have been a deep-space vessel that disappeared
without explanation. |
|
| A
ring
singularity is the type found within a rotating black hole,
and can potentially serve as the terminus of a type of wormhole.
Thus, it is the logical category for Species 8472's "quantum
singularities" to belong to. However,
I think it's unlikely that a quantum black hole could have a ring
singularity. |
|
| Chapter 11 | |
| 295 |
In
"Scorpion," Kes said
of Species 8472: "They come from a place where they're alone. Nothing
else
lives there." The presence of their bioships in the same
episode argued
against that being literally true. |
| 296 |
"Cosmological
constant"
is a fairly antiquated term for what's now called "dark energy" (well,
actually they're distinct but somewhat overlapping concepts).
However,
"dark energy" itself is a fairly new idea that may not withstand the
test
of time, at least not under that name. So I chose to hedge a
bit by
using a term with a longer history. |
| Both
the cosmological constant and dark energy refer to a pervasive
antigravity force resisting the collapse of the universe. In
the case of dark energy, it actually appears to be increasing over
time, leading to the gradual and accelerating expansion of our universe. |
|
| 300 |
An
orbifold
is a type of topological transformation used in string theory.
Don't ask me to explain it in any depth, since it's beyond
me, and I think I
used it incorrectly here anyhow. |
| Chapter 12 | |
| 308 -09 |
This
Boothby is the same one seen in "In the Flesh," which established their
metamorphic abilities and their attempt to infiltrate Starfleet (as
well as Janeway's love of roses).
This is my second work of fiction featuring Boothby, although
of course
the first, Aftermath, featured the genuine article. |
| 310 |
When
I decided to use Species 8472 in this novel, I had to decide how
alternate timelines and parallel universes would interact.
Would the timeline split extend to fluidic space as well, or
be limited to our own universe? The physics of
fluidic space suggested the latter, as explained on the next few pages.
This gave me an opening to tell an alternate-timeline story
that
actually resolved threads from the main timeline (specifically,
explaining
why Species 8472 did not return after "In the Flesh"). |
| 310 -11 |
The
discussion of quantum physics on these pages is all essentially real,
or at least is my own best interpretation of the decoherence
model of quantum mechanics. Many physicists believe the
Everett-Wheeler "Many-worlds"
interpretation of quantum physics to be the correct
interpretation,
but to me it has the coherence problem I describe here; I believe that
the
multiple particle states are more likely to average out to a single
reality. |
| 312 |
Injecting
"subspace" into the discussion allows me to rationalize the Many-worlds
model for the purposes of this story, but of course in doing so I'm no
longer discussing real physics. Indeed, in Many-worlds, each
of us has only one physical form that's in multiple states of existence
simultaneously, so there's no way for two copies of oneself to
interact. Also, these parallel timelines cannot affect or
interact with one another, or else physics would break down. Subspace
works as a fudge factor to allow the interaction of timelines as seen
in
ST. |
| The fact that all quantum copies of
an individual
are actually facets of the same physical entity, combined with the
subspace
fudge factor allowing interaction, helps explain why different Trek
timelines
tend to contain the same individuals leading similar lives, even though
it's
highly improbable. In principle, if history diverged, many
couples
would never meet and conceive children, or if they did, the children
would
probably result from different combinations of gametes; so within a few
generations
of the divergence, you'd expect the populations of the two timelines to
consist
of entirely different individuals, not copies of the same ones.
But
the physical connection across different timelines means that there can
be
a sort of quantum resonance: the shared "inertia" of different quantum
facets
of the same being causes their lives -- and their genetics -- to
develop
along similar lines. This isn't so much an issue in PoE,
which covers
only two years following the divergence; but it helps to explain the
parallels
in other Myriad Universes installments, the Mirror
Universe, and other
alternative time tracks. |
|
| Was
it really necessary
to go to such lengths to explain why fluidic space doesn't have
alternate
timelines? Maybe not. But I didn't want it to seem
like an arbitrary
story contrivance. And I like my writing to be informative. |
|
| 313 |
It
didn't occur to me to rename Species 8472 "Groundskeepers" until I
wrote this scene. But it's just so perfect. |
| 314 |
"Extroverted suicide"
is a line from Monty Python's "Piranha
brothers" sketch. |
| 315 |
Though
it's not clear yet, the first timeline Boothby describes (where the
Omega molecules were detonated) is the "Before and After" timeline,
arguably the original one (since Kes lived an entire life there, then
went back and started over in late 2373). The second timeline
he describes is of course the main Trek timeline,
encompassing "Scorpion, Part 2" and "In the Flesh." But of
course
these characters would not think of it as the "main" one, which is why
I
didn't put it first. In this chapter and the next, when
comparing
timelines, I mostly place the B&A timeline first and the main
timeline
second, reflecting the order of their creation. |
| 316 |
I
believe PoE is unique
among Myriad Universes installments in that its
events actually
pose a danger to the main-timeline galaxy. |
| Chapter 13 | |
| 318 |
Once
I realized that "Before and After" fell into the timeframe of the
Borg-8472 war and would thus
be one of the timelines they visited, I wanted to figure out how the
events of "Scorpion" had gone differently in that timeline.
Additionally, I needed to explain the inconsistency created
by "Year of Hell": given
that Kes had evolved and pushed the ship 9500 light-years forward,
something
that wouldn't have happened in the original "Before and After"
timeline,
shouldn't they have bypassed Krenim space and avoided the Year of Hell
altogether? Conversely, if Krenim space was so far beyond
Borg space, how did Voyager get there if Kes didn't
evolve? The salvaged
transwarp coil provides an answer. |
| 320 |
Just
to clarify, what Harry's thinking of as the "Year of Hell" timeline is
the one from "Before and After" which encompassed a version of the Year
of Hell, not the main-series timeline encompassing the "Year of Hell"
2-parter. Confusing, yes. Sorry. |
| 321 |
"something special about you, your
function in the hive": I originally
intended to suggest in Greater Than the Sum
(written right after
this) that Seven was being groomed as a potential replacement Queen.
This
passage was meant to foreshadow that. Although the idea
didn't make
it into GTTS after all, I still consider it a valid explanation for her
differences from other drones. |
| 322 |
As
someone with a family history of clinical depression, I was always
bothered that B'Elanna's depression was never followed up on after
"Extreme Risk," as though it were something temporary rather than a
long-term condition. The best I could do
to address that was to imply that B'Elanna in both timelines needed
medication to treat the condition. |
| 325 |
Neelix's
death and revival are from "Mortal Coil," and I've used that
resurrection to explain why
Neelix's Ocampa lung never became a problem in the main timeline. |
| Chapter 14 | |
| 334 |
The
concept of "field density" increase preventing travel between universes
comes from TOS: "Mirror, Mirror," although there it refers to travel
between timelines. (Despite being called the Mirror Universe,
it is still a different timeline of the main universe by the
definitions used herein.) Assume that a similar principle
applies in both cases. I confess I have no scientific excuse
for
this bit of technobabble, but at least there's a Trek precedent. |
| Chapter 15 | |
| 338 |
Again
I'm using the Voth as an analogue for China. If European
envoys had been willing to kowtow to the Chinese emperor, if they had
recognized it merely as a ceremonial gesture, then Sino-Western
relations over the centuries would have gone
far more smoothly. Imperial China prided itself on its
generosity,
on being wealthier than anyone else and thus always giving more than it
got. A nation that offered the pretense of subordination to
the emperor
would be richly rewarded. But the nationalist pride of the
British
and other Europeans made them unwilling to offer even token submission,
costing
them considerably in the long run. |
| 342 |
Kilana's
choice not to kill the Voth crew of the ship proves moot, as it turns
out. |
| The
Voth's arbitrary decision to make Kilana come to them is necessary to
justify giving the protagonists enough time to stop Kilana.
As a rule, I don't like relying on the antagonists' stupidity
to make things easier for the heroes, but I think it makes sense in
light of the Voth's pride and ossified worldview. |
|
| 347 |
In
case it isn't clear,
the rest of the crew isn't in Starfleet uniforms anymore, but in Delta
Coalition uniforms. |
| 352 |
Kilana's
fate is a bit cruel by my standards, don't you think? Not to
mention those poor Voth
crewmembers. But then, I prefer to look at this as a tragedy
rather
than a comeuppance. Like Voyager the
series, Kilana
got too caught up in the pursuit of home and lost sight of more
worthwhile
goals. |
| Epilogue: February 2376 |
|
| Corresponds
to the early sixth season of VGR and the period between the end of DS9
and the first post-finale DS9 novel. |
|
| 359 |
Technically,
the location heading is incorrect, since the scene is from the
perspective of Janeway, who's still physically in Coalition space.
But I didn't want to give that away too soon. And
arguably her awareness is "in" her holographic body at Starfleet HQ in
the same sense that B'Elanna's was "in" her hologram in Voyager's
engine room in Ch. 15. |
| 360 |
Starfleet
needed to build a relay station because, as seen in "Message in a
Bottle," the relay network's far limit was outside the border of
Federation space, so that only one
starship far out in the reaches could receive its signals. |
| Shannon
Sekaya Janeway is named for Janeway's ancestor Shannon O'Donnell
("11:59") and Chakotay's
sister Sekaya (named in the Christie Golden post-finale VGR novels). |
|
| According
to "Brief Candle," the Distant Origin Theory has not gained as much
acceptance in the main
timeline as in this timeline, since Voyager and the
Coalition are
not present to exert influence on the Voth. |
|
| 361 |
The
Breen attack on San
Francisco was in DS9: "The Changing Face of Evil," and some of its
long-term
effects were seen in SCE: Aftermath. |
| The
Starfleet doctor who discovered the Founders' disease was DS9's Julian
Bashir. In the main timeline, the Breen-Dominion alliance
held, so the Federation was in too vulnerable a position to be willing
to offer the cure in exchange for ending the war (although Odo's
sharing of the cure, along with his decision to return to his people,
did end the war, but only after a longer, bloodier conflict).
Despite being in a state of civil war, Cardassia is probably
far better off here than in the main timeline. |
|
| 362 |
In
the main timeline, Morjod also staged a coup, but against Martok rather
than Gowron, as seen in DS9: The Left Hand of Destiny
by J. G. Hertzler and Jeffrey Lang. In DS9, the Breen's
energy-damping weapons affected all the allies
except the Klingons, and Gowron exploited the situation to wage
reckless
battles for personal glory, leading Worf to unseat him and erect Martok
in
his place. Here, with no Breen involvement, those events
never occurred
and Gowron remained chancellor. |
| The
Federation, or rather Section 31, actually did infect the Founders with
the disease, but Janeway doesn't know that. |
|
| Date | "Before and After" timeline | Main ST: Voyager timeline (post-11/73) | Places of Exile timeline |
| 2373 |
(Main series timeline prior to
11/73) |
||
| Aug |
Borg
penetrate fluidic space; Species 8472 begins to retaliate; Voyager
has initial encounters with Borg presence ("Blood Fever," "Unity") |
||
| Sep |
Kes
meets Zahir ("Darkling") |
||
| Oct |
Kes lets her hair grow out |
||
| Nov | "Nothing
unusual happened today." |
Start of divergence: Kes jumps back from the future (see col. 1, 2/79) | |
| Dec | Professor Gegen discovers Voyager, Voth quash his discoveries | Gegen discovers Voyager, Voth quash his discoveries ("Distant Origin") | |
| 2374 |
|||
| Jan | Borg alliance against 8472 proceeds as planned; Seven not liberated by Voyager | Borg alliance against 8472 begins; 8472 senses plan thru Kes, destroys cube; Seven beams to Voyager, alliance broken; Borg don’t get nanoprobes ("Scorpion") | Start of divergence: Voyager crippled in 8472 attack, Paris & Tuvok killed; Seven has no contact with Voyager |
| Voyager gives nanoprobes to Borg after passage through their space, but is double-crossed and escapes during an 8472 attack; Kes doesn't evolve and stays with ship | Seven joins crew; Kes evolves and leaves; Kes sends Voyager 9,500 ly past Borg territory ("The Gift") | Voyager drifts through space for weeks | |
| Feb |
Paris, Torres hook up; caught in Borg/8472 conflict, Voyager finds transwarp coil in Borg wreck and jumps past Borg territory | Paris, Torres hook up ("Day of Honor"); 8472 leaves this timeline alone for now due to lack of attacks | Voyager rescued by Vostigye; Voyager crew must spread out to different jobs to make their way; Doctor begins spreading self through Vostigye medical net; Kim, Torres join Ryemaren crew, get involved; 8472 continues fighting Borg |
| Mar |
Ongoing
8472 war prevents Borg from assimilating Arturis' people |
Astrometrics
lab goes online; brief encounter with Krenim ("Year of Hell" -- see
notes);
the Borg, no longer weakened by 8472 war, assimilate Arturis' people |
Ongoing
8472 war prevents Borg from assimilating Arturis' people |
| Apr |
Borg Cooperative planet (“Unity”) assimilated; Kes, Zahir become involved | ||
| May |
Year of Hell begins: Janeway, Torres are killed by Krenim; Doctor goes offline; Voyager is crippled and makes little progress through space | Neelix
killed, revived by nanoprobes; his Ocampa lung is regenerated as a
result ("Mortal Coil") |
|
| Jun |
In
Alpha Quadrant, Prometheus is successfully
captured by Romulans;
Hirogen relay network remains intact |
Discovery
of Hirogen relay network; contact with Starfleet; rescue of Prometheus
by EMH ("Message in a Bottle"); relay network trashed
("Hunters") |
Harry
saves Morikei Voenis at Calentar; Kes begins work at Moskelar Station;
in Alpha Quadrant, Prometheus is successfully
captured by Romulans; Hirogen relay
network remains intact |
| Jul |
Kes, Paris become involved |
Lyndsay Ballard killed; Voyager encounters
8472 survivor hunted by Hirogen
("Prey") |
Lyndsay
Ballard supervises rebuilding of Voyager's engines |
| Aug |
Kes, Paris marry | Hirogen
capture Voyager, use holodecks for training |
B’Elanna quits Vostigye service to help Casciron; Kes initiates Tarkan peace process; Annika liberated from Borg in 8472 attack, with Unimatrix Zero memories/persona intact |
| Sep |
Kes enters elogium | Voyager crew
defeats Hirogen ("The Killing Game") |
Kes uses her growing powers to defer elogium, leaves Zahir |
| Oct | Kes gives birth to Linnis | Voyager
encounters Omega molecules ("The Omega Directive") |
Annika, other Borg survivors found; Doctor avatar reaches Vidiian space, meets Danara |
| Nov | Voth city-ship confronts alliance and is destroyed by 8472; Voyager relaunched | ||
| Dec | Arturis
tricks Voyager with fake Starfleet slipstream
vessel to avenge the loss
of his people ("Hope and Fear") |
Doctor, Danara cure Vidiian phage | |
| 2375 |
|||
| Jan |
After
over a year fighting Borg invasion of fluidic space, 8472 uses Omega
molecules in Borg space, crippling Borg; Seven of Nine most likely
killed; Arturis' people probably destroyed or stranded at sublight |
Voyager
enters Void |
|
| Feb | Doctor back online by this point | With
Borg defeated in other timeline, 8472 works to infiltrate Starfleet,
blaming them for nanoprobe weapon |
Delta Coalition founded; 8472 leaves Coalition relatively alone due to being busy in other timelines |
| Mar |
Voyager
leaves Void ("Night") |
Voyager begins Caretaker-refugee search | |
| Apr |
B'Elanna diagnosed with depression ("Extreme Risk"); Voyager makes
peace with 8472, "Boothby" ("In the Flesh") |
||
| May | Voyager leaves Krenim space; Year of Hell ends (note that Voyager is now approximately 1 year behind its progress in main timeline) | “Boothby”
tries to convince 8472 leaders to keep peace w/ Starfleet |
|
| Jun | Neelix's Ocampa lung fails; Doctor devises replacement lungs | 8472
hardliners push for eradication of galaxy in all timelines, but
“Boothby”’s politicking gets this timeline left alone for now |
Voyager encounters Kilana |
| Jul | Voyager
remains unaware of slipstream technology |
New timeline divergence occurs due to Voyager's slipstream experiments ("Timeless" -- see notes) | Neelix's lung fails in Casciron attack; Kes regenerates his Talaxian lungs; Kes & Neelix get back together; B’Elanna turns herself in for arrest |
| Aug | Discovery of Hirogen relay network; no contact with Starfleet since Dominion War keeps its ships elsewhere (thus Project Pathfinder never exists) | Chakotay negotiates with Voth; 8472 escalate attacks on this sheaf of timelines; Annika accesses Borg memories to help devise anti-8472 tactics | |
| Sep | "Boothby" makes contact with Voyager to negotiate peace; Voth, Kilana attempt to collapse fluidic space; Voyager stops them | ||
| Oct | Think
Tank cures Vidiian Phage ("Think Tank") |
Kes gives birth; Janeway gets pregnant | |
| Nov | Breen attack San Francisco, become powerful Dominion ally | Breen attack San Francisco, become powerful Dominion ally (DS9: "The Changing Face of Evil") | Kes travels to Earth, repels Breen attack; Breen retreat from alliance, weakening Dominion forces in AQ |
| Dec | Dominion War ends | ||
| 2376 |
|||
| Jan | Dominion War ends | Dominion War ends (DS9: "What You Leave Behind...") | |
| Feb | Voyager
travels through Void, but is too late to save its natives from
extinction at Malon hands |
Voth
observed
showing the flag in distant territories ("Brief Candle") |
Delta Coalition makes contact with Alpha Quadrant |
| Apr |
Voyager
leaves Void through Malon subspace vortex, but without slipstream or
Borg transwarp, it will remain in Malon territory and vicinity (between
Carina and Crux arms) indefinitely |
Contact
regained with Alpha Quadrant ("Pathfinder") |
|
| Jul |
Voyager
rescues
Borg children ("Collective") |
Janeway
gives birth |
|
| Oct |
An
aged incarnation of Kes attacks Voyager ("Fury" --
see notes) |
||
| Dec |
Regular
contact with Starfleet established ("Life Line") |
||
| 2377 |
|||
| Jan |
Seven learns of her past in Unimatrix Zero ("Unimatrix Zero") | ||
| 2378 |
|||
| Jan |
Voyager returns home ("Endgame" -- see notes) | ||
| Jul | Linnis gives birth to Andrew | ||
| 2379 |
|||
| Feb | Kes enters morilogium; bio-temporal chamber begins her jumps back through time |
