“Prime Factors” is episode ten of season one of Star Trek: Voyager.
B’Elanna and Seska are in the galley and B’Elanna is eying up one of the other crewmen. Seska makes a comment but B’Elanna says he is seeing one of the Delaney sisters. Seska says he isn’t, not since Harry and Tom made their move. B’Elanna is sure Harry would have told her – so asks him if it’s true. Harry wants to know is what true, and just what Tom has been telling people. Tom points out they did take that trip to Venice. Which apparently only lasted 15 minutes. Although Tom wants to know what happened when Harry and Jenny disappeared in a gondola. They talked – then Harry fell over the side. Captain Janeway is dining with Tuvok; it is finally beginning to happen, she comments, both crews are getting along. Tuvok approves. This will improve performance and maximise efficiency. Then Chakotay contacts the captain about a distress call.
On the bridge, Harry says the ship the distress call is coming from reads five lifesigns and Tuvok says it is heading to intercept. When hailed, the ship says they have no emergency. Yes, they sent out a distress call – because the Voyager is in distress. He introduces himself as Gathorel Labin of the planet Sikaris. He wants to welcome the crew and has gifts and a proposal he thinks they will find irresistible. Janeway agrees that he can come onboard.
Janeway, Tuvok and Gathorel – Gath – enter the galley; Neelix has heard of the incredible hospitality of the Sikarians. Gath has heard of the Voyager, a ship from another part of the galaxy. He wants to offer them respite. A vacation. Kes says that shore leave would be helpful and Neelix that Sikaris has a huge variety of edible plants they could get seeds from.
When they arrive, Gath is trying to get the captain to get a new wardrobe and Harry talks to a girl using what seems like a musical instrument but is actually an atmospheric sensor. Janeway wants to organise teams to gather plants and seeds. Later, Harry is talking to the girl, Eudana. She considers his story a noble one and wants permission to share it. Stories are essential to everyone. She invites Harry to a private place to hear more stories, and takes him to what appears to be a transporter pad. They arrive somewhere just before dawn, and there are two suns in the sky. Because Alastria is a binary system. Sikaris is not; they have transported at an interstellar range. Harry needs to go back and wants to know everything about the platform.
Janeway and Gath are getting along very well, until Harry interrupts. He explains about the transportation device which works by folding space. No-one in the Federation has ever been able to develop such a technology, though it has been theorised. The spatial projector allows the Sikarians to travel to all the planets in the sector. Alastria is at the edge of the range, nearly 40,000 light years away. More than halfway home. The technology has never been used to move something as large as Voyager, but size should be irrelevant. Gath says they cannot share the technology, as it could be abused by someone else. Their canon of laws forbids it; if they undermine one precept, it will undermine everything they believe in.
Back on Voyager, the senior staff are talking about it, but Tuvok reminds them the Sikarians have already said no. The captain comments that this is the first time they have been on the other side of the fence. The fence made of binding principles. How many times has the Prime Directive stopped them from interfering in other cultures, and how do aliens feel about this enlightened principle when the Federation could have helped them? It’s mentioned that sometimes Starfleet officers also override the directive at times. When asked what they could possibly offer in exchange, Harry suggests stories. They are an important part of the Sikarians’ culture, and they have a whole library of them.
B’Elanna wants to poke around at the technology, but it’s felt that this could cause problems. Seska later tells her, after thinking of home, that there’s no harm in theorising, and Carey agrees. It’s only theorising, after all. More than a few problems arrive as the prospect of shaving decades off the journey home comes into conflict with the principles the captain holds. More than a few are tempted, especially when an offer is made to them that could gain them access to the technology.