An exobiologist, Captain Rudy Ransom commands the U.S.S. Equinox, a vessel which -- much like the U.S.S. Voyager -- is stranded in the Delta Quadrant. He finds industrious but ethically questionable uses for trans-dimensional aliens who take the form of a nuclear-type substance handy to his ship's warp drives. This breach of high Federation standards runs afoul of Voyager Captain Kathryn Janeway and her crew.