Did the Voth Stop at Cardassia Before Ever Reaching the Delta Quadrant?

Cardassia becomes interesting to me for one specific reason: it is one of the very few major humanoid civilizations Star Trek consistently presents with unmistakably reptilian characteristics. That detail is the entire seed of this theory, and once I noticed it I could not stop turning it over.

Why I Don't Think the Voth Flew Straight to the Delta Quadrant

The question I had never really asked myself before is whether the Voth traveled directly to the Delta Quadrant. We tend to assume they did, but when I actually think about the situation they were in, that assumption starts to wobble. They were not an established interstellar civilization setting out on a carefully planned expedition. They were survivors fleeing an extinction event aboard what was certainly a salvaged colony ship.

They were not navigating towards a known destination, they were escaping, and escaping and navigating are two very different things. Because of that, the idea that they somehow traveled tens of thousands of light years in one uninterrupted journey may actually be the least likely possibility of all.

Refugees Don't Usually Cross the Galaxy Without Stopping

My reasoning here comes from how refugee civilizations tend to behave. They settle, they rebuild, they establish new homes, and naturally some of those settlements succeed while others fail. Applying that pattern to the Voth, the Delta Quadrant may be where they eventually ended up, but it does not have to be where their journey really began.

That opens up the possibility that there was another civilization standing between those two points. In fact, I think that civilization could have been Cardassia. What if, somewhere during that unimaginably long migration, the Voth stopped there, not forever, but long enough to leave behind an influence before continuing their journey across the galaxy?

Why Cardassia Specifically

At this point it is fair to ask why Cardassia and not any of the countless other inhabited worlds scattered across the galaxy. It does not.

The reason Cardassia becomes interesting to me is simply that it is one of the very few major humanoid civilizations Star Trek consistently presents with unmistakably reptilian characteristics. That is the whole basis for picking Cardassia over anywhere else. If contact between the Voth and an early Cardassia occurred, a number of long standing observations suddenly become much easier to reconcile for me.

What a Brief Contact Could Explain

This idea is not something canon states outright. It only takes one speculative step to arrive there, and every piece leading up to that step already exists in canon as I see it. The question I keep coming back to is whether contact with a dinosaur descended civilization during those missing millions of years could have left behind traces that shaped the Cardassians we eventually meet.

I want to be careful about how far I am taking this. It would not be enough to replace billions of years of evolution, but it could be enough to influence development in ways that still echo into the 24th century. That is a far more modest claim than saying the Voth simply became the Cardassians, and to me it is also a more interesting one.

A Legacy Bigger Than the Delta Quadrant

If the Voth really did stop on Cardassia during their flight, then I think their greatest legacy was not the civilization they eventually built in the Delta Quadrant at all. It was another civilization completely, one they may never have intended to influence.

That civilization went on to become one of the Alpha and Beta Quadrant's most consequential powers.

Do you think a brief, unintended stop on Cardassia is enough to explain the reptilian traits we see in the Cardassians?