Mortimer Harren Mortimer Harren was a Starfleet crewman on the Federation starship . Harren was raised on the planet Vico V , a world known for its very celestially - active sky , which may have inspired his intense interest in the field of cosmology ( although he denied it ) . He earned five advanced university degrees in the theoretical study of the subject . He had an introverted personality , preferring solitude and the academic pursuit of his cosmology theories to socializing . In 2371 , he wanted to apply to the Institute of Cosmology on Orion I . However , he needed one year of " practical " experience in cosmological study in order to be admitted . Since such experience could easily be attained as part of a starship ' s crew , he signed onto the USS " Voyager " . Then , on her shakedown mission , " Voyager " became stranded in the Delta Quadrant , many tens of thousands of light year s from Federation space , by an alien device known as the Caretaker ' s array . ( ) Unable thus to attend the Orion Institute of Cosmology as he had planned , Harren became bitter . He treated other members of the crew with thinly - veiled contempt and avoided any away mission s . He worked in " Voyager " s engineering department under Lieutenant B ' Elanna Torres , the chief engineer . However , when she tried to give him responsibility commensurate with his ability , he refused to do the work , to her great annoyance . She therefore assigned him to the plasma relay room on Deck 15 , where his only responsibility was to route power according to Torres ' instructions . These instructions were usually carried to him , on a PADD by a crewman . This was the only time anyone interacted with him . This pleased him greatly ; he thus was able to spend almost all of his time alone , working on theoretical cosmology calculations , including trying to disprove a standing cosmological theory known as Schlezholt ' s Theory of Multiple Big Bangs . In 2376 , Seven of Nine , the head of " Voyager " s astrometrics department , conducted an efficiency analysis of the ship ' s operations . Her results , presented to the senior staff in a briefing , indicated that Harren and two other crewmen were not performing at acceptable levels , and were reducing the efficiency of the ship ' s operation . Concerned , Captain Janeway decided to take Harren and the other two crewmen , Tal Celes and William Telfer , on an away mission aboard the " Delta Flyer " , one of " Voyager " s shuttlecraft , in hopes of improving their performance . Because of the nature of his academic background , Harren was assigned to look for subspace particle decay , from which new information about star formation could possibly be extrapolated . During the mission , Harren was unfriendly toward his fellow team members , including Captain Janeway , acting toward her in a manner that fell just short of insubordination . She tried to bond with him but he rejected her attempts . As the mission proceeded , an unknown entity struck the " Flyer " , disabling her propulsion system and neutralizing 90 % of her antimatter . Harren suggested that the entity was a dark matter proto - comet , something he had theorized existed during his university studies . Since , according to his theory , the proto - comet was attracted to antimatter he urged Janeway to eject the rest of their antimatter to avoid further impacts . However , Janeway felt his theory was still an unproven hypothesis and desired more evidence before taking such a step , which would have left them unable to attain warp speed and return to " Voyager " . Later on , William Telfer , another of the three crewmen , was abducted by organisms that were thought to be dark matter lifeform s . Telfer was returned to the " Flyer " with one of the aliens in his body . This frightened Harren greatly . Soon after , the alien emerged from Telfer and began interacting with the " Flyer " s environmental systems . Panicked , Harren killed it with a phaser , eliciting an angry rebuke from Janeway , who surmised that the alien meant no harm , but was simply trying to survive . More of the aliens attacked the " Flyer " , presumably in revenge . Janeway ordered the three crewmen to leave in escape pods , but only Harren did so ; the others insisted on staying and seeing it through with Janeway . However , in a surprising act , Harren selflessly attempted to draw the advancing aliens to the pod to give the " Flyer " a chance to escape . However , Janeway took the " Flyer " to transport range of the pod and had Telfer beam it aboard . Harren was unconscious but unharmed in " Voyager " s sickbay , after " Voyager " found the disabled shuttle and the away team unconscious inside . ( )