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In the Star Trek Voyager episode Living Witness (S4E23), a backup copy of the Doctor finds himself 700 years into the future. At that time, the Kyrians and Vaskans do not appear to have had any contact with the Federation.

Based on other episodes and expanded universe books involving the future of the Federation, it appears that by that time the Federation has expanded its reach and influence far beyond the Alpha Quadrant. Is there anything that might hint at why the Vaskans and Kyrians have not had contact with the Federation in all that time?

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  • There's a lot of planets out there. We know that the Federation can travel to the Delta Quadrant by the 29th century, but that doesn't mean they've had time to investigate, never mind contact, every planet.
    – Harry Johnston
    Commented Oct 14, 2015 at 0:04

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The Federation likely left them alone after the initial poor encounter with Voyager (assuming the Federation exists).

Of course, one possibility is that the Kyrians and Vaskans have had no further contact with the Federation because the Federation may have ceased to exist at some point prior to the 31st Century. (The character of Daniels from Enterprise was born in the 31st Century, which confirms that humans still exist at that time and are aware of the Federation. Also, the existence of the Federation Timeship Relativity in Voyager demonstrates that the Federation existed canonically to at least the 29th Century, )

For the remainder of the question, let's assume that the United Federation of Planets still exists in the 31st Century, and that it still follows the same guiding principles.

The USS Voyager

makes it home in the final episode, "Endgame",

which means that Starfleet and the Federation have access to all of the data collected by Voyager and its reports on encounters with various Delta Quadrant species.

Given the clear history of unrest and warfare between the Kyrians and the Vaskens, and the boarding attempt by the Kyrians that resulted in the deaths of three Voyager crew members and the kidnap of Seven of Nine and one other, it is reasonable for the Federation to conclude that opening further lines of communication with the Kyrians and Vaskens would have to be considered very carefully, if at all. As significant progress towards stabilizing Kyrian / Vasken society seems to have been made only towards the very end of that 700-year period, contemporary Federation intelligence may not present a better outlook than the original Voyager reports, and even if the Federation noticed the signs of progress, they would proceed very cautiously (possibly with secret observers, for which there is precedence in the TNG episode "First Contact").

In particular, the Federation would note that attempts at forming ties with the Kyrians and Vaskens might ultimately involve taking sides with one or the other, a situation that the Federation would prefer to avoid.

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    Except that 700 years is a reeeeaaaaally long time. No one would assume any intelligence that old means anything at all. Does anything about the Dark Ages allow you to extrapolate anything about society today?
    – ThePopMachine
    Commented Oct 13, 2015 at 4:30
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    @ThePopMachine : You are misreading my answer. I am saying that peace between the Kyrians and the Vaskens seems to be only a few years old in the future, and so the Federation may not be privy to the developments on the planet around the time the backup Doctor was activated, i.e. their intelligence may be a few years behind (but not 700 years behind).
    – Praxis
    Commented Oct 13, 2015 at 4:43
  • @Praxis, except you are proposing that the Federation extrapolate about them based on 700-year old history right there in your second paragraph.
    – ThePopMachine
    Commented Oct 13, 2015 at 4:53
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    @Politank-Z : Possible, but Daniels from Enterprise was born in the 31st Century, and so it seems the Federation still exists then.
    – Praxis
    Commented Oct 13, 2015 at 5:07
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    Captain Braxton of the from Future's End specifically states that he is captain of the Federation time ship Aeon and that they are from the 29th century. So the Federation still exists that far into the future.
    – BBlake
    Commented Oct 13, 2015 at 13:01

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