When the starship Voyager crew transports to a heavily secured space station located on the edge of the Necrit Expanse to trade for supplies, Neelix meets up with Wixiban, an old Talaxian acquaintance who dupes him into using a Federation shuttlecraft to traffic narcotic substances. When Wixiban murders one of his drug buyers, Paris and Chakotay are implicated while a guilt-ridden Neelix returns to the ship.

James Nardini (Wixiban)
Carlos Carrasco (Bahrat)
Alexander Enberg (Ensign Vorik)
Steve Kehela (Sutok)
James Horan (Tosin)
Eric Sharp (Map Vendor)

• Neelix agrees to help Wix in order to obtain a map of the Necrit Expanse. Neelix has never been beyond the Expanse and fears that his usefulness as Voyager's guide has come to an end.
  
• Starting with this episode, Voyager carries the new "TV PG" parental guideline rating, which started in January 1997.
  
• This is the first appearance of engineer Ensign Vorik, who becomes a minor recurring character on Voyager, appearing on various episodes throughout the series. Alexander Enberg also played Vulcan junior officer Lt. Taurik in the Next Generation episode "Lower Decks".