For this tale about Tuvok’s seeming demotion to make sense, we need to first recap this particular episode. “Prime Factors” takes place in Season 1, when Voyager’s plight–being stuck over 70,000 lightyears from home–was fresh on the crew’s minds. That’s why everyone gets excited to meet the Sikarians, aliens with exotic technology that lets them instantaneously transport themselves 40,000 lightyears away.
Needless to say, Janeway and the rest of the command crew are very interested in obtaining this technology and using it to get them closer to home. They quickly run into a problem, though: the planet’s laws forbid them from sharing their technology with outsiders. Janeway tries to negotiate a trade with the government, but someone on the planet offers a far less official exchange.