Thirty Days (Star Trek: Voyager)

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Star Trek: VOY episode
"Thirty Days"
Tom Paris serves 30 days in the brig
Episode no.	103
Prod. code	202
Airdate	December 9, 1998
Writer(s)	Scott Miller Kenneth Biller
Director	Winrich Kolbe
Guest star(s)	Willie Garson as Riga Benjamin Livingston as Burkus Alissa Kramer as Jenny Delaney Heidi Kramer as Megan Delaney Warren Munson as Admiral Paris
Year	2375
Stardate	52179.4
Episode chronology
Previous	"Nothing Human"
Next	"Counterpoint"

"Thirty Days" is an episode of Star Trek: Voyager, the ninth episode of the fifth season. The episode has an average rating of 4.7/5 on the official Star Trek website (as of August 5th, 2007).[1]

[edit] Plot

This episode is mainly Tom Paris's retelling of a mission on a water world while he is in the brig.

The episode begins with the Voyager's meeting with a new race that originates from a planet that consists of nothing but water. They find out that the "planet" was losing mass at an alarming rate and would be destroyed in 5 years if nothing was changed. The inhabitants believe that something at the center of the planet is responsible for its destruction; however, their best ships cannot reach that depth. Tom Paris convinces the captain to allow him to take the Delta Flyer to the center of the planet. During this conversation, he also states that he often read Jules Verne's Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea when he was a child.

The Delta Flyer's journey is cut short when an undersea animal, similar to an electric eel, attacks it; however, it is determined that the reason for the planet's loss of mass is the mining of oxygen from the planet.

When Paris reports back to Captain Janeway, he is told that the planet's government will do nothing about it, and they must stop because of the Prime Directive. Paris then disobeys the captain's orders and returns back to the planet to destroy the oxygen-mining facility. Before he can, Voyager fires a depth charge at the Delta Flyer, disabling it.

Tom Paris is then demoted to ensign and sentenced to thirty days in the brig for disobeying Captain Janeway.