"State of Flux" is the eleventh episode of '' Star Trek: Voyager'', which was a science fiction television show that ran from 1995-2001. Recurring Voyager characters Seska and Lt. Carey star, along with the show's main cast, in an episode that sees the return of the

Kazon The Kazon () are a fictional alien race in the ''Star Trek'' franchise. Developed by '' Star Trek: Voyager'' series' co-creators Rick Berman, Michael Piller, and Jeri Taylor, the Kazon serve as the primary antagonists during the show's firs ...

aliens previously introduced in "Caretaker". This episode features events with ''Star Trek'''s replicator technology. This episode aired on the United Paramount Network (

UPN The United Paramount Network (UPN) was an American broadcast television network that launched on January 16, 1995. It was originally owned by Chris-Craft Industries' United Television. Viacom (through its Paramount Television unit, which prod ...

) on April 10, 1995.

Plot

The crew of '' Voyager'' are foraging for food on a planet, when the ship detects a cloaked

vessel and they are ordered to return.

Chakotay Chakotay is a fictional character who appears in each of the seven seasons of the American science fiction television series '' Star Trek: Voyager''. Portrayed by Robert Beltran, he was First Officer aboard the Starfleet starship USS ''Voyage ...

is left behind to search for

Seska This is a list of minor fictional characters from the science fiction television series '' Star Trek: Voyager''. Characters here are members of the crew, or passengers, on the starship ''Voyager'' as it makes its way home through unknown space du ...

. As soon as he finds her, he is fired on by two Kazons, who are stunned by return phaser fire, allowing Chakotay and Seska to escape. Back on ''Voyager'', Seska serves Chakotay mushroom soup and tells him that she and other Maquis raided

Neelix Neelix () is a character in the science fiction television series '' Star Trek: Voyager'', played by actor Ethan Phillips since the series' inception. Neelix is an alien native to the distant far side of the galaxy, who has joined the crew of th ...

's kitchen to make the soup. Chakotay is furious and threatens harsh disciplinary measures. Seska, having once been romantically involved with Chakotay, attempts to placate him, but Chakotay rebuffs her and leaves. Moments later, ''Voyager'' detects a distress call from a Kazon ship. On investigation, they discover that a piece of equipment on the Kazon ship has caused a catastrophic failure on board, killing all but one of the crew, who is comatose. Because the equipment bears similarities to

Starfleet Starfleet is a fictional organization in the ''Star Trek'' media franchise. Within this fictional universe, Starfleet is a uniformed space force maintained by the United Federation of Planets ("the Federation") as the principal means for conduc ...

technology, the crew realize that the Kazon must have obtained it from someone on ''Voyager'', and Seska falls under suspicion. Seska takes matters into her own hands and beams over to the Kazon ship, explaining that she must retrieve the equipment to prove her innocence. While on the ship, Seska is injured and is reprimanded by her superiors when she returns. Captain Janeway realizes that the comatose Kazon might be the only chance of finding out how the technology came into the Kazon's possession. Another Kazon ship arrives, whose captain, Culluh, demands to see his comrade. Culluh and his bodyguard arrive in sickbay where the Doctor is treating their compatriot. Suddenly, Culluh's bodyguard kills the patient. Disgusted, Janeway orders both Kazons off ''Voyager''. Kes finds Seska has

Cardassian The Cardassians () are a fictional extraterrestrial species in the American science fiction franchise '' Star Trek''. They were devised in 1991 for the series '' Star Trek: The Next Generation'' before being used in the subsequent series '' S ...

blood, which Seska claims was the result of a bone marrow transplant from a friendly Cardassian woman. Investigations reveal that a message was sent to the Kazon from Engineering, and from the time of the message the two most likely suspects are Seska and Lt. Carey. The senior crew set a trap to identify the traitor, and Seska falls for it. She explains that the Kazon are a powerful race in this quadrant and by giving them technology, ''Voyager'' will gain a powerful ally. She escapes to a Kazon ship using a pre-programmed beam-out. Janeway orders a pursuit, but more Kazon ships arrive and ''Voyager'' retreats. Later, Chakotay asks Tuvok if he was naive for being fooled by Seska. Tuvok admits being fooled as well, reassuring Chakotay.

Reception

This had Nielsen ratings of 6.5 when it was aired in April 1995. "State of Flux" is noted in ''Star Trek and Sacred Ground: Explorations of Star Trek, Religion, and American Culture'' as an example of an episode that shocks the viewer by having a character go against the Federation's

. Out of the 16 (15) episodes in Season 1 of ''Star Trek: Voyager'' which was broadcast in the spring of 1995, only "Eye of the Needle" and "Caretaker" (Part I and Part II) had a higher rating than "State of Flux" on TV.com as of 2018. Both of those episodes had a rating of 8.7 surpassing "State of Flux" which had a rating of 8.5 as of 2018. "State of Flux", with its rating of 8.5 was higher than "Faces" and "Time and Again" which were rated 8.3 as of 2018. In 2020, ''

Gizmodo ''Gizmodo'' ( ) is a design, technology, science and science fiction website. It was originally launched as part of the Gawker Media network run by Nick Denton, and runs on the Kinja platform. ''Gizmodo'' also includes the subsite ''io9'', whic ...

'' listed this episode as one of the "must watch" episodes from season one of the show. In 2020, ''The Digital Fix'' felt this episode had some of the "most ambitious storytelling" in season one of ''Star Trek: Voyager'' along with "Prime Factors" .

References

External links

* {{Star Trek Cardassian stories Star Trek: Voyager (season 1) episodes 1995 American television episodes Television episode directed by Robert Scheerer