Fair Trade (episode)

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"Fair Trade"
VOY, Episode 3x13
Production number: 156
First aired: 8 January 1997
← 55th of 168 produced in VOY →
← 54th of 168 released in VOY →
  {{{nNthReleasedInSeries_Remastered}}}th of 168 released in VOY Remastered  
← 447th of 726 released in all →
Teleplay By
André Bormanis

Story By
Ronald Wilkerson & Jean Louise Matthias

Directed By
Jesús Salvador Treviño
Unknown (2373)
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A meeting with an old friend lands Neelix in an ever-deepening hole of trouble.

Contents

[edit] Summary

For some time, Neelix has also been trying to expand his usefulness; as an engineer, or a security officer, or something more official. As the crew of the USS Voyager arrive at a dense, menacing cloud barrier, the Nekrit Expanse, they stop off at a space station to take on supplies. Neelix advises caution.

During the away mission to the station, Neelix meets up with an old friend, Wixiban, who it is later revealed was in a smuggling operation with him a long time ago. After the jovial reunion, Wix and Neelix get to talking. While Neelix impresses his old friend with the tales of Voyager, he finally admits that (he thinks) he may not be needed anymore. His knowledge of space stops at the Nekrit Expanse, and he is no longer a guide. As a result, he has been trying to acquire a map of the area on this station.

Wix says he knows where to get one. He also tells a different story, one of great difficulty and burdensome debts. Playing upon Neelix's sympathies for him, he asks for a favor: he wants Neelix to get a Voyager shuttlecraft which he and Wix will use to complete a secret transaction. He explains that he is selling medical supplies, and wants to do it in secret to avoid the station master's 20% cut of the profits. All Neelix has to do is hide this information from the crew. Neelix agrees. What Wix doesn't explain is that the medical supply also has a non-medical use which is the reason for the revenue; it's a narcotic.

Unfortunately, this does not become apparent until they meet the buyer in a deserted part of the station. (The buyer is a drug smuggler, introduced to the audience earlier when he tries to sell some drugs to Chakotay and Tom Paris.) The buyer then attempts to get the drugs for nothing by trying to kill them. This results in a firefight, and Wix kills the buyer in self defense with a phaser he took from the shuttle. In a panic, the two of them beam out and fly the shuttle back to Voyager -- leaving the dead body to be found by the station commander. He later charges Chakotay and Tom Paris with murder, since a Federation phaser's energy signature was detected.

Neelix is furious at being betrayed, but Wix soothes him with more emotional manipulation, and convinces him to cover it up and not tell anyone on the ship. The supplier, not at all happy with the loss of their drugs, agrees to let them live if Wix can get some warp plasma from Voyager. Wix persuades Neelix in deeper, once again, but when Neelix tries to steal it, he can't bring himself to do it.

However, to save their lives, he has a plan, which Wix reluctantly agrees to. He and Wix tell the truth about the incident to the station commander, who is of course furious. But, they talk their way out of being put in cryostasis by explaining that these smugglers are defeating internal security, and that they will help catch the criminals when they return for the plasma. Expecting their attempt to be futile, the station master agrees.

Neelix gets a canister from him with tainted warp plasma, and deactivates the safeties. When the criminal arrives, accepts the canister, and finds it to be worthless, Neelix tells him the canister has been leaking plasma into the room; any energy discharge from his weapon will burn up the entire section. The station master attempts to arrest them, the supplier fires, and the plasma fire knocks Neelix unconscious.

When he reawakens, he discovers from the Captain in sickbay that Wix has gone on his way, and that the supplier has been killed. Only then does Neelix come clean to the Captain as to how the situation arose: he wanted a map, and got caught in a cover up. After a stern lecture, Neelix prepares to take leave of the ship, but is barely able to contain his excitement when the captain explains to him this is a family, and he cannot just walk away. He is unaffected when she sentences him to two weeks of cleaning out the warp plasma manifold.

[edit] Log Entries

  • Captain's log, supplemental. I have called a meeting of the senior staff to inform them of some very disturbing news I have just received.

[edit] Background Information

  • This episode marks the debut of the recurring character of Ensign Vorik, who was introduced prior to his character's central role in "Blood Fever" so that audiences would be familiar with the new crewman by then. Vorik reappeared at least once a season right up until the end of the series run.
  • The Voth scientists visit the Nekrit Expanse station in the episode "Distant Origin" while tracking down Voyager. The canister of warp plasma they acquire at the space station is an acknowledgement of the events of "Fair Trade", providing good continuity links between the episodes. However, the writers obviously forgot that Neelix destroyed it in the episode and that the warp plasma was a lower grade substitute.

[edit] Awards

[edit] Video and DVD releases

[edit] Links and References

[edit] Guest Stars

[edit] References

47; bio-mimetic gel; cryostatic suspension; deuterium maintenance; dilithium matrix; duotronic probe; environmental control; exhaust manifold; fire snake; gagh; gravitic caliper; impulse response filter; isonucleic residue; Kes; Kolaati; magnetic spindle bearing; Nekrit Expanse; Orillian lung maggot; pergium; type 2 phaser; pergium; plasma canister; plasma injector; plasma storm; reaction control assembly; replicator; rhuludian crystal; spectral analysis; toffa ale; Ubean; warp plasma; warp plasma particle

[edit] External Links


Previous episode:
"Macrocosm" 		Star Trek: Voyager
Season 3 		Next episode:
"Alter Ego"
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