State of Flux

State of Flux is the 11th episode of the television series Star Trek: Voyager. It first aired on 10 April 1995.

Story line

Template:Spoiler The crew of Voyager are foraging for food on a planet when Voyager, in orbit, detects a cloaked Kazon ship. Kazons are also discovered on the planet while the crew is evacuated to Voyager.

A few days later, Voyager detects a distress call from the Kazon ship they previously encountered, and discovers that a piece of equipment has caused a catastrophic failure on board, killing all but one crew, who is comatose. On investigation they find that the equipment bears resemblances to Starfleet technology, and realise that the technology must have been given to the Kazon by a member of the crew during the visit to the planet.

Captain Janeway realises that the comatose Kazon may be the only chance of finding out how the technology came into their possession. Another Kazon ship arrives, and after attempting to convince Voyager to stop meddling in their affairs, the captain demands to see the Kazon crew member. During this visit, the captain covertly assassinates the comatose Kazon.

Investigations reveal that a message was sent to the Kazon to organise a meeting on the planet. The nature of the time of the message implicates a member of the engineering team. The senior crew members set a trap to identify the crew member, and Ensign Seska falls for the trap.

Seska explains that the Kazon are a powerful race in this quadrant and by giving them technology, Voyager will gain a powerful ally. Janeway retaliates by informing Seska that such careless sharing of technology could change the balance of power in the Delta Quadrant, and is forbidden by the prime directive.

Seska, however, has pre-programmed a transport into the computer, and is beamed to a Kazon ship. Voyager is initially sent in pursuit, but more Kazon ships arrive and Voyager retreats.