So why didn't Guinan or the Refugees mention the Borg?

[Mav]

I got to wondering if any information was compiled about Guinan's race, El-Aurians. So I looked them up in the ST Wiki and this passage came up;

 

In 2293, the Federation transported a group of El-Aurian refugees to Earth following their escape from the Borg. The two ships transporting the refugees, the SS Lakul and the SS Robert Fox, were caught in and destroyed by the Nexus near the Sol system. The USS Enterprise-B was able to save some of the refugees, including Guinan and Dr. Tolian Soran.

 

Now I'm sure of the canon since in Generations, we never know where the refugees were coming from (nor do I remember if they mentioned all the refugees being El-Aurians). Needless to say let's assume this information is right.

 

So out of all those refugees, Guinan included, they never once mentioned to Starfleet who attacked them? Guinan never thought to warn Picard? All those lives they could save, so many people died in the battle of Wolf 359 not to mention all the others...

 

It was what, 75 years later that Picard and crew began their mission on the Enterprise-D after the "death" of Kirk on the Enteprise-B, and then another two years (season 2 of TNG) that we first encountered the Borg (not counting the time paradox in Enterprise). Point being, plenty of time to be warned.

 

 

[GorunNova]

Just one of many inconsistancies that pop up when writers choose to add an event involving a critter in a time period earlier than when those critters are introduced in the series. Either that, or it's just one of many, many instances where continuity is thrown out the window in Star Trek. I wouldn't worry too much about it... of course, you're free to worry about something that is never going to be fixed, but I think it's just a waste of time.

 

... or, the refugees and Guinan all had trauma-induced amnesia until the proper points where their revelations should happen. Or, Starfleet thought they were nutbars and ignored them. Or, [insert rationalization here].

[Tenebrae]

Yeah, you can explain it away but I think it's going to amount to - bad continuity.

 

Maybe Guinan just didn't think it was necessary? They were a long way from the Borg, she wasn't exactly a member of Starfleet. I can see her just settling down and living out a quiet life for a while before going to pull pints on Starfleet vessels... it's debatable as to whether she would ever have been in a position to know about the Borg's movements in the Alpha Quadrant.

 

Also - I've just thought... how about Time's Arrow? Did she come to Earth and then go back to the Delta Quadrant and then back again?

[MrDad]

Nobody asked.

[Tenebrae]

Also - you could say "How come no one paid any attention to what Cochrane or Archer must have said about the Borg."

 

Maybe no one listened... although, haven't people said that there was some kind of people researching it... or was that just 7's maw and paw?

[subspatial]

Yeh .. i remember someone talking of:

 

"..the journals of Cochrane explaining about some cyborg aliens from the future, but it was dismissed by everyone as drunken ramblings and forgotton..."

 

or words to that affect :)

 

 

[Arktis]

I don't think it's a continuity error. As was said, the Federation wasn't supposed to meet the Borg until way later on. Think of it as being sort of similar to the Prime Directive - you don't want to interfere too much by share information unless it's totally necessary.

 

It makes complete sense. That's one of the reasons why Guinan and her people are such a mystery - they're obviously a lot wiser and more knowledgable than most of the races belonging to and encountered by the Federation. It would only be sensible for them to be cautious about volunteering any information. Doing so would only be interfering in the natural course/development of things.

[Tenebrae]

Strikes me as sensible really. The Federation were basically complacent and rather arrogant by TNG.

 

I suppose, kind of like the West these days. I honestly can't see why you wouldn't want to scare the Federation though. It would have averted a massacre and saved tens of thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands of lives.

[Annika]

It would have averted a massacre and saved tens of thousands' date=' maybe hundreds of thousands of lives.[/quote']

 

Well, you could question if that would have been a good thing though. There are many people who believe that you die when you're supposed to die and everything happens for a reason. Saving all those people could have changed history dramatically. What if some child that died would (if saved) have turned out to be another Hitler or Bin Laden for example? Maybe one of them (or his children that were now never born) could even have hit Janeway with his car later so that Voyager would not have been lost at all :p Ah... the horror :D

 

[MrDad]

It would have averted a massacre and saved tens of thousands' date=' maybe hundreds of thousands of lives.[/quote']

 

Well, you could question if that would have been a good thing though. There are many people who believe that you die when you're supposed to die and everything happens for a reason. Saving all those people could have changed history dramatically. What if some child that died would (if saved) have turned out to be another Hitler or Bin Laden for example? Maybe one of them (or his children that were now never born) could even have hit Janeway with his car later so that Voyager would not have been lost at all :p Ah... the horror :D

Worrying about changing a history that does not yet exist is illogical.

[Arktis]

As I said before, it's about not interfering with the natural course of history/development of a lesser race. Very similar to the prime directive.

 

Q did something unexpected by pushing up contact with the Borg much sooner than it should have happened. Guinan probably could have done a lot more than just advise when asked questions, but that would have been a further violation.

 

Guinan's interest in humans is obviously personal. Like Q has admitted concerning the continuum, she sees a quality in them to grow, learn and adapt, and has a certain 'faith' in them for lack of a better word. Her involvement with them is somewhat "on the line"... she is mysterious, doesn't volunteer too much, but yet takes a sublte advisory interest in certain people and issues when she sees the need, usually allowing the involved individual(s) to figure out on their own just exactly what it is she is trying to get across. This seems to me a lot like 'bending the rules'. Like when she was much younger and staying on Earth when she wasn't supposed to be (Time's Arrow). She was obviously there because she liked the potential she saw, and was fascinated and hopeful even in the face of mankind's capacity for ignorance. She didn't want to leave yet even though she was supposed to (implied in her first conversation with Data).

 

Is this making sense? I hope so.

[Annika]

Worrying about changing a history that does not yet exist is illogical.

 

Good thing she wasn't a Vulcan then :p