Random Thoughts ( episode ) B ' Elanna Torres is imprisoned for having violent thoughts on a planet of peaceful telepaths . Summary . Teaser . The is in orbit around a planet of telepath ic lifeform s called the Mari . Down on the planet , Lieutenant jg B ' Elanna Torres and Captain Kathryn Janeway are doing business with a man called Guill . The captain is attempting to negotiate a reasonable price for what she wants to buy . Just as they reach an agreement , a man bumps into Torres . She gets angry for a second as the man apologizes but she accepts his apology . Guill comes over and asks if she is all right . She says yes and Janeway finishes her transaction . A short while later , they hear screaming in the streets . They run over to find the man who bumped into Torres beating another man bloody . The beaten man is severely injured as Janeway stops the aggressor . The aggressor seems surprised at himself and says he does not know why he did that . While all of this is happening , Lieutenant Commander Tuvok and the city ' s Chief Examiner Nimira talk of security and maintaining order . Nimira says there has been no violence in their society for year s . She is one of the last security officers among the Mari . Tuvok offers to transport her aboard " Voyager " to demonstrate their ways of security enforcement . Act One . On " Voyager " , Tuvok and Nimira walk out of the brig while Nimira comments on what an odd concept the brig is : keeping a person in confinement as a punishment . Tuvok explains more on how their security system works . When they hear of the incident on the street however , they both beam back to the surface to investigate . Back on the planet , Nimira asks Janeway , Neelix and Torres routine questions about the incident because they were all witnesses . While asking questions , she telepathically observes their minds . As she is interrogating Torres , the incident where the man bumped into her comes up . Torres admits that she was angry at him and felt like hitting him back for a split second . Upon hearing that comment , Nimira puts Torres under arrest for having violent thoughts . Act Two . Nimira justifies her decision by stating that Torres ' images were transferred to the man earlier that day in the split - second when she had her violent thoughts . Because of this transfer , it was Torres ' fault that the crime took place . Janeway tries to defend Torres , saying that the Mari could not possibly incarcerate Torres for her " thoughts " because the man who committed the act ought to be held responsible for his own actions . However , Nimira refuses to accept Janeway ' s argument and schedules an engramatic purge of Torres ' s memory to remove those images . Janeway tries to stop Nimira but she refuses and apologizes , stating that this practice is necessary and part of the Mari legal and law - enforcement system . Janeway and Tuvok begin their own investigation of the crime to find a way to stop the engramatic purge which could cause Torres serious brain injury . They cannot seem to find any convincing evidence except that the man , Frane , had been charged numerous times with possessing violent thoughts . Nimira says that this information is irrelevant . Later that day , while Neelix and Seven of Nine are on the planet ' s surface talking , they hear a scream . They rush over to the source . They find an old woman with a bloody knife standing over Talli , a woman with whom Neelix had become friends . Talli is dead . Act Three . Neelix is deeply upset that Talli was killed and , on " Voyager " , asks Tuvok to do everything in his power to find who was responsible for this act and bring him to justice . Tuvok and Nimira have no doubt that the murder and the beating have a connection . Nimira is still certain that it is Torres ' s fault but Tuvok decides to interrogate Torres for himself and decides to do a mind meld with her . The meld is not very deep but Torres starts to remember exactly what she was thinking when the man bumped into her . She suddenly remembers something very disturbing about Guill that day , when he asked her if she was alright right after that man had bumped into . Tuvok later decides to interview Guill . The way Guill answers him makes Tuvok suspicious so that when Guill leaves to supposedly have dinner with his family , Tuvok follows him . He finds him and another man , Malin , talking . Malin hands him a case of what appears to be money and Tuvok confronts them . Based on the conversation he had earlier with Guill , he realizes that Guill is in the business of sharing and collecting violent images between people . Tuvok offers to share his violent images with him . Guill is initially skeptical , but sends off his buyer and goes with Tuvok . Act Four . Since Tuvok has no intention of really going through with this , he first engages Guill by accepting some violent images from him under the pretense that he wants them . When Guill finishes , Tuvok feigns fatigue while he questions Guill on his operations . It appears there are many willing to buy , sell , or simply exchange , including unwitting alien visitors . Tuvok turns to Torres ' thought , and Guill claims he doesn ' t have it . When Tuvok presses the issue , citing the evidence , Guill gets impatient and wants to go on with getting Tuvok ' s thoughts . Tuvok finally gives it up and starts to take him to see Nimira . He doesn ' t get very far before they run into Guill ' s associates to subdue Tuvok by force . Because Tuvok has not returned to " Voyager " , Janeway has no evidence to stop Nimira . Further , she won ' t permit a search team . Nimira promises Janeway she will begin the procedure , over Paris ' objections , and ends the communication . Nimira and her security then take Torres to begin the engramatic purge , sedating her and strapping her to a chair . Act Five . Guill ' s helpers take Tuvok by force and make him expose his violent thoughts . Tuvok convinces Guill to come closer and locks him in a mind meld that gives him what he wants . However , Vulcan emotions , which nearly destroyed the race before they ' d learned to suppress them in the Time of Awakening , are extremely intense compared to many other humanoid s and Guill is overwhelmed by the violence and savagery of Tuvok ' s deepest , darkest thoughts . Tuvok returns to " Voyager " with Guill during the procedure , prompting Janeway to contact Nimira again with this new evidence . Nimira is reluctant but agrees to stop the purge while presented with the findings of Tuvok ' s investigation . Tuvok explains to Nimira that it was in fact Guill who caused all the incidents the previous day . He explains that Guill is a big merchant in a black market in which the Mari sell violent thoughts to each other . Apparently , the Mari are not as enlightened as initially thought . Their attempt to outlaw violent thoughts has not made violence go away – all it has done is force people to share it in back alleys . Tuvok tells Nimira that it appears as if the Mari have a somewhat more serious problem than the random thoughts of a single alien . Nimira is extremely surprised and has difficulty believing what she hears but she completely stops the engramatic purge of Torres . After leaving orbit , The Doctor reverses the effects that the partial engramatic purge had on Torres . In the corridor , Tuvok explains to Torres that investigating this case has given him a new respect for her inner struggle : burdened as she is by her primitive Klingon psyche . Tuvok explains that it is a wonder she is able to keep her violent thoughts under control as much as she does . Torres seems amused , questioning whether Tuvok complimented her and thanks him for his help . Later , in the captain ' s ready room , Seven complains to Janeway that this crew ' s philosophy of exploration and first contact exposes " Voyager " to constant risk . She suggests that they avoid all extraneous contact with outsiders and maintain a direct course for home in order to increase their chances of getting there in a timely manner and in one piece . However , Janeway explains that they seek out new races because they want to , not because they follow protocols . Their experiences with the Mari , for example , gave them insights into a culture they have never encountered . Even though Seven finds that irrelevant Janeway explains that this is how they gain knowledge . She tells Seven their mission is not going to change . Somewhat confused , Seven accepts the captain ' s explanation , even though she disagrees . Memorable quotes . " " Your brig , it ' s a puzzling concept . Shutting someone away as punishment . Do you find that it rehabilitates the prisoner ? " " " " The brig is primarily used as a means of ensuring the safety of others . " " " " In what sense ? " " " " For example , if we find ourselves with a hostile alien in our custody we may need to confine the individual until we can locate the proper authorities . " " " " I see . " " " " And on rare occasions we have been forced to incarcerate a crew member who has committed a serious infraction . " " " " I ' m surprised that one of your people could be capable of doing something serious enough to warrant imprisonment . " " " " It ' s extremely rare . In any case , the brig has been occupied for less than one percent of our journey . " " " " Forgive me , Tuvok , but it seems barbaric . " " " " If all species were as enlightened as yours and mine , there would be no need for prisons . " " ( telepathically ) " " B ' Elanna , please try to relax . " " " " Oh , you ' ve got to be kidding ! " " " " You don ' t understand the truth of violence . Its darkness . . . its power ! " " " " Where we come from , people are responsible for their own actions . " " " " And here , people are responsible for their own thoughts . I ' m sure you can understand how that ' s necessary for a race of telepaths . " " " " Tom – I may have let you sit in the captain ' s chair , but remember – she ' s still the boss . " " Links and references . References . Alpha Quadrant ; assimilation ; Bank of America ; beating victim ; black market ; blood ; brig ; cerebral cortex ; chief engineer ; Chief Examiner ; chief of security ( aka chief security officer ) ; cologne ; diplomatic protest ; Doberman ; Earth ; engramatic purge ; Guill ' s children ; interrogation ; interrogation room ; Kes ; Klingon ; lobotomy ; logic ; manacles ; Mari ; Mari Constabulary ; Mari homeworld ; marketplace ; memory engram ; mouth ; multiphasic bioscan ; neurogenic restructuring ; nightmare ; pacifist ; pie ; preserves ; produce ; renn ; Reptohumanoid ; resonator coil ; supper ; talchok musk ; telepathy ; ; Vulcan ; ; Vulcan mind meld ; waterplum ; Whisker ; witness statement