Warning: contains spoilers forStar Trek: Defiant#17!
After 58 years,Star Trekreveals why it uses quadrants, despite the universe being infinite. The galaxy is a vast place, much too big for one starship to travel in a lifetime. The sheer size of the galaxyhas forced the Federationandother galactic powers to devise a system of “quadrants” to divide it up, and nowStar Trek: Defiant#17 reveals how and why it was created.
Thus, to allow computers to crunch the enormous amounts of data needed to navigate a starship, galactic powers, including the Federation, created a system of quadrants.
Star Trek: Defiant#17 is written by Christopher Cantwell and drawn by Angel Unzueta. Chief O’Brien, now a lecturer at Starfleet Academy, is lecturing on automata theory. O’Brien quizzes the students on the theory’s limits, stating that it breaks down when confronted with infinity. The galaxy is large and full of unpredictable elements. Thus, to allow computers to crunch the enormous amounts of data needed to navigate a starship, galactic powers, including the Federation, created a system of quadrants.
O’Brien concludes by stating it is a matter of acknowledging limitations and devising workarounds for them.
Star Trek’sQuadrant System’s Origins Have Never Been Explained–Until Now
TheStar TrekUniverse is Vast
The quadrant system is integral to theStar Trekuniverse, but it has not always been used consistently. In early episodes of the classicStar Trekseries,the terms “quadrant” and “sector” were used in a seemingly interchangeable fashion.AsStar Treklore solidified, a consistent system was created based on four different quadrants: Alpha, Beta, Delta, and Gamma. Quadrants are massive: inStar Trek: Voyager’sseries premiere, the ship was hurled from the Alpha to the Delta. It was estimated it would take nearly 80 years forVoyagerto get home–at maximum warp.
A Guide to the Quadrants of theStar TrekUniverse
Delta
The Borg
As a way to make the vast quadrants even more manageable, the Federation and other galactic powers divided them up into sectors, with Earth at the center of Sector 001. Creating sectors within quadrants allowed starship computers to run their calculations even more efficiently. Not only is it the perfect example of a workaround for the limitations of automata theoryas explained by Chief O’Brien, but a testament to the creativity inherent in all species. Critics charge the system is very Earth and human-centric, but the quadrant system is still a useful tool.
Star TrekProducers Should Adopt This Origin for the Quadrant System
The Origin Is Real-World Plausible
The origin of the quadrant system is a neat bit of world-building within theStar Trekuniverse, explaining a key piece of lore. Since this revelation occurred in the comics, it is, per the policy of Paramount, non-canon. However, certain elements from licensedStar Trekmedia, such as novels, have made it into the canon, such as Sulu and Uhura’s first names. The origin of the quadrants, as laid out inStar Trek: Defiant#17 are grounded in real-world scientific theory, and futureStar Trekshowrunners could easily adapt this theory to the screen.
