Why were the temporal police so concerned with Janeways earlier infractions but totally left her alone when she came back to rescue voyager earlier, turbo fucked the borg and brought future tech with her in the finale? Any fun headcanons or observation there?
I am going through a Voyager rewatch at the moment and I hit the two parter where they go back to 1996. Was thinking about this a bunch. Here’s my headcanon.
The Temporal Police exists to make sure a the timeline is kept consistent. Any random deviations that occur are problems that must be corrected and they’re usually fixed with zero hesitation. However certain deviations are considered “legitimate” for a whole host of different reasons. Some are for paradoxical reasons like needing time travel to be created/used in order to make sure the Temporal Police are created. Others are okayed because the Temporal Police are the ‘victors’ that write history and get to choose the good things and leave behind the bad. Then there are countless other reasons.
When it came to Admiral Janeway, she fell under the two main categories I mentioned. The first is that her actions in using this time travel tech was integral to the creation of the Temporal Police. Could be something as simple as this being a case study in why such a police force was needed. In which case you couldn’t police it or wipe yourself out in a paradox. The other is that her actions greatly benefited the timeline. The Borg were an enormous threat and by going back in time and annihilating them, she made the timeline safer for all Temporal Agents.
tl;dr They couldn’t stop her because she timetraveled so hard she’s the reason the Police were even created
All they care about is the general well-being of the temporal federation. Perhaps it’s so difficult and wiggly wobbly that it’s worthwhile letting one of your temporal agents languish in the 1900s for decades if in the end it works out for the timeline. Especially if strange circumstances somehow strengthen their position in the temporal wars.
Or the borg achieving time travel tech was an inevitability and Janeway destroying them was a necessity to keep the borg from assimilating all life in a manner similar to First Contact (thus negating the existence of the temporal police).
I think the scale of change, and also displacement, are both factors. Going back 3 days to change who wins a bet isn’t going to piss off the temporal police. Maybe going back and fucking with your own timeline a bit is the same. Maybe that’s why Red Foreman got away with his shit even when it started to impact humans.
Because they’re more concerned with the Federation continuing to exist as a major player in the galaxy than they are with the timeline remaining unblemished. For whatever reason, Voyager getting home early is better than the alternative.
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