Thirty Days

Paris has been demoted to ensign and sentenced to thirty days in the brig, and he records a letter to his father explaining why. Voyager had found a vast ocean held together in space by a containment field and home to the Moneans. Paris, delighted by the mission, took the Delta Flyer deep into the water and helped the Monean scientist Riga investigate why the ocean was shrinking. The away team found that the Moneans' own oxygen-mining refineries were destroying it, and that it could soon be lost. Their government, led by Burkus, would not risk the economy by acting. Convinced that only drastic action would work, Paris and Riga took the Flyer to destroy a refinery, defying Janeway's orders. Voyager stopped them before they could finish. Paris serves his sentence and finally completes the letter to his father.