system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
[DS9/Voyager] How might events have turned out differently if the Defiant had accompanied Voyager into the Badlands and become stuck in the Delta Quadrant with them as well?
gpt
Well, if the Defiant goes then thee are now three vessels to protect the caretaker including the Defiant, which would rip through the Kazon and drive them off. 

Janeway may still be leery about leaving the array, in case the Kazon are able to come back and stop the self destruct, but if the Marquis ship is still destroyed (which it probably wouldn't be) then they can leave that or the Defiant behind with a self destruct running and head on home using the array's technology. 

With the array self destruct running and a Federation ship on lock down and a self destruct running the odds of the array NOT being destroyed are tiny and so Janeway is happy enough to head home with a strange tale about Voyager's first journey. It all wraps up nice and neatly and everyone gets home in time for tea. 

In fact, it's probably more of an extended tale for the Defiant crew, perhaps a way to introduce new character's into that show, rather than an adventure involving the Voyager crew. Perhaps for the Marquis' good behaviour a few of them get to transfer over to the Deep Space 9 station to serve their time being useful on this far away platform full of people who also hate Cardassians.