Replace Voyager with a Star Destroyer

[Swindle1984]

I apologize if this has been done before.


Scenario: A year after Voyager has returned home, a wormhole connecting the Empire to the Delta Quadrant opens up near the Ocampan homeworld. An Imperial Mk. II Star Destroyer is sent through with orders to survey this new galaxy and send back regular reports (via probes) on what it finds.

The Star Destroyer has fuel, ammunition, food, and other supplies sufficient for six years of continuous operation and can send for supplies from the ships and bases that will be coming behind it if its survey indicates a galaxy worth invading (not necessarily via military conquest, but simply colonization). It has a standard crew complement and stormtrooper detachment, as well as a standard load of fighters, bombers, shuttles, and other small craft and ground vehicles.

After arriving in orbit around the Ocampan homeworld, the Star Destroyer studies the debris from the Caretaker's array, sends troops down to make contact with the Ocampans, and captures several Kazon ships and interrogates their crews. They discover the existence of a ship belonging to some political entity known as the Federation and learn that it is far more powerful and advanced than the locals.

Interested, the captain orders that their course follow the same as Voyager's, reasoning that it would be wise to find the most powerful military state in this new galaxy to determine how much of a threat they pose. The Star Destroyer will be traveling at relatively slowly in order to completely analyze and map this new galaxy for other ships following behind, as well to make contact with the locals and learn what sort of threat they pose/what they have to offer the Empire. This Star Destroyer will generally follow the same route as Voyager, following its trail by making contact with species it has encountered and asking about it.

How would the Imperials, embarking on such a mission, deal with the aliens they meet, assuming they encounter most of the same beings as Voyager (since they're following Voyager's trail)? Which species/political entities would they be interested in (mainly due to technology) and which would they ignore as primitives to be conquered (like the Kazon)?

[Napoleon the Clown]

A large number of capital cities are glassed to quell resistance, the Borg are annihilated, and the Federation surrenders within a few hours of the Star Destroyer telling them to. The Empire demands obedience, and has no issue with committing genocide to get it. Even in the Delta Quadrant there's no groups I know of that could give a Star Destroyer any problems at all, aside from superbeings such as the Q, and those groups don't seem too interested in who runs what.


Or did you want a longer version?

[Coalition]

Option #2 - Star Destroyer Captain is a prankster.

He uses his sensors to keep track of Voyager, and proceeds ahead of the course, telling every government not to bother the small scout ship behind him or he will be mad.

Voyager finds the travel to be much easier, no hostile governments, and everyone is willing to trade resources in exchange for scientific knowledge and cultural experiences, while hiding their terror with a smile.

[Teleros]

Even in the Delta Quadrant there's no groups I know of that could give a Star Destroyer any problems at all

There was that ship that went around screwing with the timeline*, never mind all the magical gas clouds and such. Still, if the ISD captain makes a point of not flying into singularities and avoids any clouds of weird gas, they'll probably be ok.

* Of course, on the mission proposed in the OP, it's unlikely that the ISD would come into contact with the ship. More, don't SW ships have some sort of time-manipulating devices for whenever they go near / above lightspeed? Something like that may offer some protection if they did meet up.

Which species/political entities would they be interested in (mainly due to technology) and which would they ignore as primitives to be conquered (like the Kazon)?

I can see them taking an interest in the Borg actually, mainly for information on ST transport and communication means. The Borg all communicate by some sort of unblockable subspace signal (or if you can jam it, I've never seen an episode where it happens), and their transwarp drives etc are the fastest things around. Their wonderful, over-centralised organisation would also help in getting the information required. Once the Empire has enough knowledge of them to develop countermeasures however (I mean, why allow the enemy to communicate etc if you can stop them?) I expect the Empire to tag the Borg for conquest / extermination.

[Darth Ruinus]

They have relativistic shields or something like that, too keep SW ships in correct time with the rest of the galaxy when they go into hyperspace.

[Ted C]

I can see them taking an interest in the Borg actually, mainly for information on ST transport and communication means. The Borg all communicate by some sort of unblockable subspace signal (or if you can jam it, I've never seen an episode where it happens), and their transwarp drives etc are the fastest things around.

The crew of the Enterprise were able to block signals to and from "Hugh" in "I, Borg".

[Morilore]

A large number of capital cities are glassed to quell resistance, the Borg are annihilated, and the Federation surrenders within a few hours of the Star Destroyer telling them to. The Empire demands obedience, and has no issue with committing genocide to get it. Even in the Delta Quadrant there's no groups I know of that could give a Star Destroyer any problems at all, aside from superbeings such as the Q, and those groups don't seem too interested in who runs what.

It's on a scouting mission, genius.

Option #2 - Star Destroyer Captain is a prankster.

He uses his sensors to keep track of Voyager, and proceeds ahead of the course, telling every government not to bother the small scout ship behind him or he will be mad.

Voyager finds the travel to be much easier, no hostile governments, and everyone is willing to trade resources in exchange for scientific knowledge and cultural experiences, while hiding their terror with a smile.

Why do people reply in topics without reading OPs?

[Illuminatus Primus]

They're still going to have to work hard to conserve fuel, especially because their fuel will be especially hard to come by and synthesize on the fly.

[Morilore]

Once the Imperials learn how generally primitive this galaxy is, they're going to start looking at things from the perspective of cheap labor, markets, and resources. They will probably try to find the most powerful government in any given region and open diplomatic relations, offering various trade pacts and so forth, with an eye towards eventually turning them into colonies. They aren't going to start gratuitous wars of conquest if only because the Star Destroyer captain would not want the headache.

[Darth Wong]

There was that ship that went around screwing with the timeline

The Krenim. None of the people who believe it was really altering history could ever provide a meaningful explanation as to why all of these changes magically undid themselves when the ship was destroyed.

[Morilore]

Also, if the Imps pay any attention at all, they will soon learn of forces more powerful than the Federation, like the Borg or possibly the Voth. They aren't going to travel halfway across the galaxy with limited resources when there is enough to look at right in the same neighborhood, and not knowing if they might get stuck dealing with powerful hostiles.

[Darmalus]

The SD has 6 years of supplies, plus it can go back and resupply, so I doubt they need to conserve anything if they feel the need to break out the big guns for anything.

Assuming the SD is good at its job, it can go from planet to planet, and assuming they spend a day or 2 at each to get reports on what this mysterious Federation ship did while they were there, which should be some very interesting stories, considering Janeway's behavior along the way. After pumping the locals for information, they can easily make up time jumping directly to the next target, and chart things out with their sensors while they are in orbit too. At these distances, everything is only a few minutes hyperjump away. Heck, they could probably pump a dozen planets at once for information, with the SD just making a loop to pick up the Imperial agents when they finish. So compared to Voy, they are gonna be screaming through the Delta Quadrant, even if the captain wants to here every damn rumor the local drunks know.

The only snag I can think of is when they reach the Borg. The Borg don't strike me as the conversational types, and if I remember right, Voy blew up the Borg HQ on their way out, making information gathering more difficult. Still, given past behavior, I wouldn't be surprised if every surviving cube knows where Earth is. So if the SD has a few hacker spooks onboard, maybe they can hack the Borg and take the needed information. And put them into a permanent macarana dance loop when they leave.

I don't see this taking very long before the SD is setting up Imp-Fed relations from Earth orbit.

[Morilore]

The SD has 6 years of supplies, plus it can go back and resupply, so I doubt they need to conserve anything if they feel the need to break out the big guns for anything.

They probably won't feel the need, except maybe if they stumble across the Borg.

Assuming the SD is good at its job, it can go from planet to planet, and assuming they spend a day or 2 at each to get reports on what this mysterious Federation ship did while they were there, which should be some very interesting stories, considering Janeway's behavior along the way. After pumping the locals for information, they can easily make up time jumping directly to the next target, and chart things out with their sensors while they are in orbit too. At these distances, everything is only a few minutes hyperjump away. Heck, they could probably pump a dozen planets at once for information, with the SD just making a loop to pick up the Imperial agents when they finish. So compared to Voy, they are gonna be screaming through the Delta Quadrant, even if the captain wants to here every damn rumor the local drunks know.

Why would it do this, though? The OP says the ship follows Voyager's trail under the assumption that it could lead them to a more powerful, and therefore more strategically important, society. When they encounter creatures like the Voth, whose stories about Voyager will recount it being a fragile eggshell in their hands, they will probably change direction. Plus, if the Empire is planning on establishing bases of operation in the Milky Way galaxy, they will probably want detailed information on the region near the wormhole, so the SD would probably spend some time sniffing around the star systems near the Ocampan homeworld.

[CaptainChewbacca]

I don't know what (if any) hard numbers for a Voth city-ship exist, but that bad boy seemed like it could take on a Star Destroyer.

[Darth Wong]

I don't know what (if any) hard numbers for a Voth city-ship exist, but that bad boy seemed like it could take on a Star Destroyer.

IIRC, we saw the Voth transport the entire ship, and hack into its systems to disable its weapons. I don't recall seeing them fire a single weapon, so we really have no idea what they can do, apart from transporting a Voyager-sized ship (which is fairly impressive) and hacking a Federation computer (which is not particularly impressive).

The fact that they can apparently hold off the Borg effortlessly is more impressive than anything they did to Voyager, but it still doesn't really let you determine much about their capabilities.

[Crossroads Inc.]

I don't know what (if any) hard numbers for a Voth city-ship exist, but that bad boy seemed like it could take on a Star Destroyer.

IIRC, we saw the Voth transport the entire ship, and hack into its systems to disable its weapons. I don't recall seeing them fire a single weapon, so we really have no idea what they can do, apart from transporting a Voyager-sized ship (which is fairly impressive) and hacking a Federation computer (which is not particularly impressive).

The fact that they can apparently hold off the Borg effortlessly is more impressive than anything they did to Voyager, but it still doesn't really let you determine much about their capabilities.

One thing in particular is how many "Cityships" do the voth have? If they have only ONE, then being able to effortlesdsly take on the borg becomes a much more impressive feet...

Now again, we know NOTHING of its weapons systems.. but we can assume a fairly heavy minnum range at least... or, I think we can...

[Illuminatus Primus]

The SD has 6 years of supplies, plus it can go back and resupply, so I doubt they need to conserve anything if they feel the need to break out the big guns for anything.

It does not have six years of fuel if it runs its drives at full intensity ever, does many hyperjumps, or executes BDZs or other heavy firepower events. The ISD's maximum peak power performance duration is in the day or so, and its maximum duration of maximum acceleration is in the hours.

[Darmalus]

The SD has 6 years of supplies, plus it can go back and resupply, so I doubt they need to conserve anything if they feel the need to break out the big guns for anything.

It does not have six years of fuel if it runs its drives at full intensity ever, does many hyperjumps, or executes BDZs or other heavy firepower events. The ISD's maximum peak power performance duration is in the day or so, and its maximum duration of maximum acceleration is in the hours.

But is there anything in the Delta Quadrant that could even make a SD operate at peak for a full day? The mission the SD is on in the OP is scouting and information gathering, I was assuming that until the Borg (or maybe the Voth) show up, and few shots from the light turbolasers would be enough to keep any hostile natives at bay (or reduce them to ash). Or maybe like in Poe's movies, where they just sit there and ignore the incoming attacks until they get annoyed with the booming noise.

[Swindle1984]

I meant to post this last night, but my internet connection died.


The SD is following Voyager's trail more out of convenience (picking a direction to explore in) than anything else. It's useful to try and locate the more powerful political entities in this new galaxy, but if the SD comes across something more interesting than Voyager they'll either forget about Voyager temporarily or even entirely.



Do the Voth have more than one city ship?

What other civilizations have held off the Borg successfully? Besides the Hirogen, who probably wouldn't pose much of a threat to a Star Destroyer.

And are the Borg even a coherent civilization any more, or are they all like Hugh now?

[NecronLord]

And are the Borg even a coherent civilization any more, or are they all like Hugh now?

As of 'now,' in the canon, after the Voyager finale, the borg have been exterminated. They're dead.

[Darmalus]

And are the Borg even a coherent civilization any more, or are they all like Hugh now?

As of 'now,' in the canon, after the Voyager finale, the borg have been exterminated. They're dead.

WHAT?! I knew that the Borg HQ was blown up, and Janeway gave them the computer virus, but they actually confirmed that the Borg are toast? I had thought it was one of those "This should exterminate them, but anyone who could confirm it is dead." type loose ends.

[Swindle1984]

And are the Borg even a coherent civilization any more, or are they all like Hugh now?

As of 'now,' in the canon, after the Voyager finale, the borg have been exterminated. They're dead.

Where'd you get that?

[Darth Wong]

And are the Borg even a coherent civilization any more, or are they all like Hugh now?

As of 'now,' in the canon, after the Voyager finale, the borg have been exterminated. They're dead.

Where'd you get that?

It wasn't necessarily proven beyond a shadow of a doubt, but it was certainly the logical implication of the events of the episode. Janeway got a "root exploit" by going to the very top of the Borg command structure at Unimatrix 01 and infecting the Queen with a virus that killed her and appeared to be propagating throughout their entire collective.

[Anguirus]

^ On the other hand, I thought that the events of "Descent" and First Contact had taken out the Borg at those respective periods of time. The writers don't seem able to leave well enough alone.

[Illuminatus Primus]

The SD has 6 years of supplies, plus it can go back and resupply, so I doubt they need to conserve anything if they feel the need to break out the big guns for anything.

It does not have six years of fuel if it runs its drives at full intensity ever, does many hyperjumps, or executes BDZs or other heavy firepower events. The ISD's maximum peak power performance duration is in the day or so, and its maximum duration of maximum acceleration is in the hours.

But is there anything in the Delta Quadrant that could even make a SD operate at peak for a full day? The mission the SD is on in the OP is scouting and information gathering, I was assuming that until the Borg (or maybe the Voth) show up, and few shots from the light turbolasers would be enough to keep any hostile natives at bay (or reduce them to ash). Or maybe like in Poe's movies, where they just sit there and ignore the incoming attacks until they get annoyed with the booming noise.

Anything like moderate acceleration very rarely and many hyperjumps will cost them. I'm sure ISDs have somesort of hypermatter synthesizing plant, but it'll take a lot of fusion to generate the potential energy of hypermatter. They'll learn to be very economical and to mooch off of local allies and to use small craft to pursue and widen their reach.