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Gathorel Labin was a Sikarian magistrate who invited the crew of the USS Voyager to his home planet in 2371. He preferred to be called simply "Gath".

He became attracted to Captain Kathryn Janeway, and spent much time with her on his planet. Janeway discovered that the Sikarians had a device called a spatial trajector, which folded space and made it possible to travel thousands of light years in seconds. After she asked Gath for this technology, he explained that his planet's prime directive prevented them from sharing their technology with less-advanced races.

Janeway asked Gath whether, if he would not give the technology to Voyager's crew, the Sikarians could send Voyager as far as possible in exchange for "stories", which were treasured on his pleasure-loving planet. Gath insisted on discussing the proposition with the other Sikarian magistrates, but he was in no hurry to do so. He did invite the crew to stay on his planet, but they refused. Disobeying orders, several members of the crew obtained the technology from the planet's black market, but it was incompatible with Federation technology. (VOY: "Prime Factors")

Background information[]

Gathorel Labin was played by actor Ronald Guttman.

When Gathorel Labin first appears in "Prime Factors", the second draft script of that episode states, "On the Viewscreen appears the smiling image of Gathorel Labin, a charming, attractive humanoid. Dressed in classy yet simple attire, he leans forward out of his command chair, exuding quiet confidence." The same script commonly refers to the character simply as "Gath".

Michael Piller ultimately regretted the casting of Ronald Guttman as Gathorel Labin. "It was a mistake casting a French actor as an alien villain," Piller complained. (Captains' Logs Supplemental - The Unauthorized Guide to the New Trek Voyages, p. 127)

In the Voyager novel trilogy "Dark Matters", Gath was mentioned as being infected by mutated dark matter. This had caused his selfish love of pleasure to degenerate into sadism. However, in the midst of considering killing a young woman he had severely beaten for sadistic enjoyment, the infection was removed by an alternate universe version of an evolved Kes, which also removed the sadism. He was last mentioned as being horrified over what he had done, and about to go and fetch medical attention for the young woman.

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