THE PRIME DIRECTIVE

STORIES INVOLVING THE PRIME DIRECTIVE

[Season 1: #4 Time and Again]

Episode Index - part of Ship's Logs which includes illustrated transcripts and synopses

In early 2371, while investigating the ruins of a pre-warp planet whose people have just been wiped out by a polaric energy explosion, Janeway and Paris are sent back in time to one day before the explosion. They need to decide whether to warn the planet's inhabitants of the devastating explosion that is about to occur. Janeway initially warns Paris against revealing what they know as it would violate the Prime Directive.

She changes her mind when she realises that they are already involved, for their captors bring forward their plan to attack the polaric energy plant and refuse to believe Janeway's assertion that they are not government spies. She reveals the truth but the polaric energy protestors initiate their plan anyway.

When Janeway is able to gain the upper hand by covering the protestors with a phaser just before they commit their act of sabotage, she suddenly realises that the explosion was actually caused by Voyager, specifically by Voyager's crew trying to cut through time to rescue her and Paris. If she does not somehow abort the rescue attempt, the cutting through will intersect a polaric energy conduit and cause the explosion. Accordingly she fires at the rescue hole being cut, and this reverses the damage to the timeline.

The timeline is changed.

It can be argued that Janeway attempts to uphold the Prime Directive, by trying to remedy its breach, by negating Voyager's involvement in the planet's development or, in this case, its destruction. Further discussion about this particular incident is irrelevant as it would lead to the involvement of other issues such as the distortion of the timeline and its consequences.

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