Prime Factors

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For the mathematical concept, see prime factor.

Star Trek: Voyager episode
"Prime Factors"
The alien teleport device
Episode no.	10
Prod. code	110
Airdate	March 20, 1995
Writer(s)	Michael Perricone Greg Elliot
Director	Les Landau
Guest star(s)	Tarik Ergin as Lt. Ayala Josh Clark as Lt. Carey Ronald Guttman as Gath Yvonne Suhor as Eudana Andrew Hill Newman as Jaret Otel
Year	2371
Stardate	48642.5
Episode chronology
Previous	"Emanations"
Next	"State of Flux"

"Prime Factors" is the tenth episode of Star Trek: Voyager.

1 Plot
2 Notes
3 Trivia
4 External links

[edit] Plot

Voyager encounters a very hospitable race known as the Sikarians and the crew are invited to visit their homeworld. Shore leave is organised, and during the visit, Ensign Kim and an alien friend transport themselves to another planet. Kim notices that the planet has two stars and must belong to another star system. The alien describes the location of the planet, and Kim deduces that the teleport device has transported them 40,000 light-years across the Delta Quadrant.

Captain Janeway is informed, and asks Gath, the leader of the Sikarians, if they could modify their technology for Voyager. Gath states that they are forbidden from sharing technology, however, by their own version of the Prime Directive. Janeway makes an offer however: the transport technology in exchange for Voyager's entire library of literature. This is an offer Gath finds difficult to refuse, but must refuse on principle.

However, an alien civilian offers to bypass the law and give Voyager the technology anyway, in exchange for the literature. Janeway is unable to authorise this, so Chief of Security Tuvok goes to the surface to make the exchange without Janeway's knowledge or permission. He returns to Voyager with the transport device, and requests that the engineering team, who are also willing to undermine Janeway's authority, do not attempt to use the device until Tuvok has spoken with Janeway.

However, the engineering team discover that the technology relies on neutrino emissions from the planet, and as Voyager is about to depart, they activate the device. The attempt fails, the device is destroyed, and it transpires that the device was never compatible with Federation technology.

Tuvok and the engineering team are disciplined by Janeway for undermining her authority, and Voyager continues its journey.

[edit] Notes

Trivia sections are discouraged under Wikipedia guidelines.
The article could be improved by integrating relevant items and removing inappropriate ones.

Tuvok presumably is demoted after the events in this episode, to Lieutenant, given that he is promoted back to Lieutenant Commander in "Revulsion". There is debate regarding this, however. While his uniform shows the rank of Lieutenant Commander for several episodes during season 1, he is never referred as Lieutenant Commander until Revulsion. The same thing happened with Tom Paris's rank during the 1st season.

B'elanna presumably is also demoted after the events in this episode, back to Jr. Lieutenant, which she originally adorned before being named chief engineer(and thus, promoted to Lieutenant in "Parallax"). This is hard to debate, however, because she would be referred to as Lieutenant either way.