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SUMMARY:
The crew beams aboard Gathorel Labin, or Gath for short, a representative from the planet Sikaris. His planet has a reputation for its hospitable inhabitants and he invites the crew there for shore leave. Janeway accepts the offer to visit Sikaris, where the residents welcome her crew enthusiastically.
Gath brings gifts of food delicacies
aboard Voyager along with an invitation for
the crew to take shore leave on Sikaris |
Janeway admires a fabric when she visits Sikaris |
Eudana enjoys Kim's story about how
Voyager ended up in the Delta Quadrant |
While Kim spends time with a woman named Eudana, he learns that her people place a high value on storytelling and that new stories are a precious commodity. Eudana is interested in Kim both romantically and for the opportunity to hear his stories. She uses a spatial trajector to take them to Alastria, a beautiful planet 40,000 light years away. |
When he realises that the space-folding device could bring the crew much closer to home, Kim insists on returning to Sikaris immediately, where he rushes to tell the Captain about his discovery. Janeway, in turn, asks Gath about using the trajector, but he refuses, citing the Sikarian canon of laws, which strictly forbids sharing technology with other species.
Eudana with Kim on Alastria |
Kim tells Janeway of his exciting discovery |
| During a meeting with the senior staff in Voyager's briefing room, Janeway remarks on how frustrating it is to be on the receiving end of another race's version of the Prime Directive, but realises that she must accept their laws. However, Tuvok believes that the Sikarians may be willing to make a trade for the technology, leading Kim to suggest that the ship's library would be a tantalising offer. | 
staff meeting |
Janeway dines with Gath, introducing him to pecan pie, and he expresses intrigue in the crew's library offer. But he puts off a response, citing that he will have to discuss it with the other magistrates. Later, Gath's associate, Jaret Otel, makes his own secret offer for the technology in exchange for the stories, claiming that Gath has no intention of pursuing the deal.
Janeway dines with Gath |
Jaret Otel shows Kim the trajector matrix |
After Kim tells Janeway about Jaret Otel's offer, she approaches Gath one last time. She eventually realises that Gath is interested only in the Voyager crew because they offer novelty, and has no intention of helping them as regards the spatial trajector, so she returns to Voyager and orders the crew back to the ship.
Gath orders Janeway and her crew to leave Sikaris, without the trajector
Although Janeway opts to reject Otel's offer, while the crew are slowly brought back aboard from shore leave, Seska, Carey and Torres plan to follow through and deliver a download of Voyager's library. As they prepare to beam down, Tuvok enters the transporter room, stops them and beams himself to the planet to carry out the deal.
Carey, Seska and Torres are unsuccessful in beaming
down to Sikaris with Voyager's library |
Tuvok arrives and takes Voyager's library himself |
Seska and Torres in engineering, during the attempt to use the spatial trajector |
Tuvok returns with the matrix for the trajector. But when the engineering crew secretly tries to use it, they nearly cause a warp core breach, as it is incompatible with Federation technology, not least because the planet Sikaris itself acts as an amplifier to create the neutrino envelope required, which means that as soon as Voyager leaves Sikaris they would lose the ability to traject. |
Although they can easily erase the evidence of their attempt, Torres prefers to accept the responsibility as Chief Engineer and admits the act to the Captain. Janeway warns Torres against any further transgressions, but is more concerned by Tuvok's participation. The Vulcan says that he was willing to sacrifice his own career so that the crew could return home without forcing Janeway to compromise her own ethics. Although touched by Tuvok's sacrifice, Janeway tells him that she relies on his advice as her moral compass and orders him never to go behind her back again (see quote below).
 | | JANEWAY TO TUVOK: You are one of my most valued officers and you are my friend. It is vital that you understand me here. I need you, but I also need to know that I can count on you. You are my counsel, the one I turn to when I need my moral compass checked. We have forged this relationship for years and I depend on it. I realise you made
a sacrifice for me but it's not one I would have allowed you to make. You can use logic to justify almost anything. That's its power, and its flaw. From now on, bring your logic to me. Don't act on it behind my back.
TUVOK: You have my word. My logic was not in error, but I was. |
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