Equinox ( episode ) " Voyager " finds another Federation starship , the USS " Equinox " , stranded in the Delta Quadrant . But they also find that the " Equinox " crew is harboring a dark secret . ( " Season finale " ) Summary . Teaser . On the bridge of a Federation starship , all hell has broken loose ; nearly everything is wrecked . The only lights are the flashing red lights of a red alert and the flash of sparks from the wreckage . Seated in the command chair , the grim - faced captain hears an ominous report from an officer : the ship ' s deflector shield s are at 29 % ; whatever is attacking them is breaking through . The captain makes a decision : drop the shields completely and allow the shield emitters the 45 seconds they need to fully recharge ; a potentially suicidal action , but they have no choice , as they will all certainly be killed if the emitters run out of power . He and his officers immediately field phaser rifle s and aim at the air above their heads , and he gives the order . Instantly , upon the lowering of the shields , a dry , high - pitched screeching whine is heard . Portals appear above them . The officers fire into them and they close . But others appear rapidly , and they begin to be overwhelmed . A green , flying creature emerges from one , and immediately closes in on an officer . Three streaks of light slash across him . He collapses as his body immediately desiccates into a dried husk . The officers desperately fire at every portal and creature which emerges from it . Act One . Aboard the , Captain Janeway , Seven of Nine and Commander Chakotay look at an emergency transmission on the huge viewscreen of the ship ' s astrometrics lab , shown to them by Seven . They see a static - filled image of the same captain from the attacked ship , and listen to him as he urgently sounds a distress call : " " This is Captain Ransom of the Federation Starship " Equinox " ! We ' re under attack ! We need assistance ! " " Janeway recognizes the name : Rudolph Ransom , captain of the . Seven announces the signal was transmitted 14 hours ago . Janeway asks what the " Equinox " is doing in the Delta Quadrant . Seven surmises perhaps its mission is to find " Voyager " . But Janeway does not believe this , and explains that starships are short - range planetary research vessels , not designed for long - range tactical missions . She must be stranded here , like " Voyager " . Janeway immediately orders a course laid in toward the " Equinox " , 3 . 2 light year s distant , at maximum warp , with shields up and at red alert . As " Voyager " arrives at the " Equinox " location , Janeway orders Ensign Paris at the helm to drop out of warp . At the operations station , Ensign Kim puts the stricken vessel up on the viewscreen . The ship is hobbling in space , its shields clearly visible . It is still under attack but the attackers are not apparent , and the attack does not appear to be weapons fire , as there are no other ships nearby . At the tactical station , Lieutenant Commander Tuvok reports the heavily - damaged state of the vessel . They enter hailing range , and Janeway orders a channel opened . She identifies herself and " Voyager " . Ransom interrupts with yelled instructions to extend " Voyager " s shields around the " Equinox " , and Janeway orders it done immediately . Paris moves " Voyager " above the " Equinox " and Tuvok works to extend the shields . As this is being done , the same dry , high whine from before is heard again , as Seven of Nine ( at an auxiliary console ) reports the opening of portals – interspatial fissure s – on several deck s , including the bridge deck , Deck 1 . Tuvok finishes adjusting the shields , and a single , large shield surrounds both " Voyager " and the " Equinox " , then becomes invisible , indicating the attack has ceased . This is confirmed by Seven ' s announcing the fissures have vanished , and the ending of the noise . Janeway hails the " Equinox " , but gets no answer . She orders Chakotay to assemble rescue teams to beam over . The teams beam over . Chakotay , Lt . Paris and " Voyager " s chief engineer , Lt . Torres , form one team , and beam to the engine room . At Chakotay ' s order , Torres begins seeing about restoring power , as Paris finds the shriveled corpse of a crewmember . Scanning it with his tricorder , he finds every cell in the body is desiccated . Torres reports her bewilderment after examining the engine assembly ; it appears to have been totally redesigned from original Starfleet specifications . Chakotay finds a survivor under some debris - - a terrified blonde Human ensign whose name is Marla Gilmore . Other teams find survivors in other areas of the ship . On the bridge , Captain Janeway , along with Tuvok , find still more survivors , including Captain Ransom . Janeway speaks with him briefly . They establish that both ships came to the Delta Quadrant in the same way : courtesy of the . Though gravely injured , he refuses to leave his bridge , but Janeway insists that he go with her to " Voyager " ; they will compare notes further there . Reluctantly , he agrees . Act Two . As " Voyager " and the " Equinox " travel together , the crews of both ships gather in " Voyager " s mess hall . There , Captain Ransom performs a solemn ceremony commemorating the dead of his crew . He calls names : Lieutenant s William Yates , and John Bowler , Ensign s Dorothy Chang and Edward Regis , and Crewman David Amantes . The tone then changes , as Captain Ransom thanks Captain Janeway on behalf of himself and the survivors . Janeway warmly accepts them aboard , calling them the " " newest members of our family " . " Janeway then issues duty assignments : Ensign Kim and Lt . Torres are to lead efforts to repair the " Equinox " . Seven and Tuvok will work with Ransom ' s first officer , Maxwell Burke in analyzing the attacks on the " Equinox " and then dismisses the assemblage , and the crews mingle . As the crew dismisses , Gilmore walks with Chakotay to see if she can instead be assigned to " Voyager " . Seeing the state the " Equinox " is in , Chakotay thinks she ' s needed there , but could use someone with her engineering skills on the ship . She then starts remarking on how clean " Voyager " is and admits to being affected by her experiences on the " Equinox " . She ' s afraid to be on a turbolift , and calls for an emergency stop , preferring Jefferies tube s . Chakotay understands and goes with her . In the lab , Seven makes a disturbing discovery which she along with Tuvok and Burke show to Captains Janeway & Ransom : there are intermittent spots appearing in different areas of the shields which surround both vessels . Seven explains they are stress points , caused by interspatial fissures the " Equinox " attackers are opening , trying to come aboard . The attacks haven ' t ceased ; they are merely being successfully blocked . But this success will not last long ; Tuvok explains every opening of a fissure within one meter of the shields weakens them by 0 . 3 % . Janeway immediately comes to the alarming conclusion that at this rate , the shields will fail within two days . Seven comes up with an idea : bio - scans which Burke showed both her and Tuvok indicate the aliens cannot survive for more than several seconds in this realm , and if they can show the aliens they possess the ability to hold them here , thus killing them , it may stop their attacks out of self - preservation . Burke builds on the idea : in order to study their attackers , they had built a multiphasic force field chamber in the " Equinox " research lab to trap one for several minutes . Janeway decides to have a latticework of such force fields installed throughout both ships . But when she asks Ransom to allow them to examine the chamber , he and Burke evasively respond the research lab is flooded with lethal levels of thermionic radiation . Burke adds , the schematics are in their auxiliary data core . Ransom and Janeway leave for the " Equinox " bridge to download them to " Voyager " s computer . As work continues on " Equinox " bridge , Janeway and Ransom compare notes about their and their crews ' travails in the Delta Quadrant . Janeway speaks of " Voyager " s many run - ins with dangerous aliens , including the Federation ' s most feared adversary : the Borg . Ransom tells her he and his crew never encountered the Borg at all since arriving . Janeway ventures he and his crew are lucky . Ransom quickly quashes that with a recounting of what happened to them . Their first encounter , he recalls , was with a power known as the Krowtonan Guard . Upon their arrival , he , like Janeway , had ordered a course set toward Earth ' s coordinates , but the Krowtonan Guard warned them they had violated their territory and to leave immediately . Ransom ordered the course maintained and over the following week 39 crewmembers , half his crew , were killed in combat . After this , everything changed , he recalls . When they first arrived , he had told them they had a duty as Starfleet officers and crew - members to uphold Starfleet directives of exploration and expansion of knowledge , as well as Starfleet principles , but after the Krowtonan Guard experience , they saw their only goal as one thing : survival . The talk segues into the Prime Directive – whether they have violated it to preserve their crews . Janeway admits having bent it on occasion , while her counterpart noncommittally admits to the same thing . They find among the wreckage the " Equinox " dedication plaque , and put it back up on the bulkhead . After finishing the download , the captains return to " Voyager " . Ransom finds Burke eating heartily in the mess hall , his first proper meal after two years on emergency rations . His words to Burke are ominous and conspiratorial : " " Don ' t get too comfortable . If Janeway is any indication , these people will never understand . " " He warns Burke to watch what he says to " Voyager " crewmembers . Burke cautions that they will " find out eventually " . Ransom responds they will be able to keep it from them as long as they can keep them out of the " Equinox " research lab . Act Three . Healed and back on his feet , the " Equinox " crewman rescued by Seven and Ensign Kim , Crewman Noah Lessing , goes to see Seven in the astrometrics lab . But as they are talking , the high screech is heard again . Lessing and Seven look above their heads in alarm . On the bridge the sound is also heard . Kim tensely reports to Chakotay that interspatial fissures are opening on three decks , including Deck 1 . Tuvok reports the reason : the lateral shields have gone down . Chakotay orders power routed to them . This brings them back up and the noise ceases . Chakotay orders an explanation . Tuvok gives it : the aliens began to focus their efforts , rapidly opening fissures along a single shield vector . This wore that shield vector down so quickly that it collapsed before auxiliary emitters could respond . Chakotay realizes that the aliens have changed tactics , and the Starfleet crews have less time than they originally thought . Janeway , Chakotay , Ransom , Burke and Ensign Gilmore meet with Seven and Tuvok in Janeway ' s ready room , where Seven and Tuvok report that the multiphasic force field chamber ' s schematics can be indeed adapted for general ship - wide use . But it will take fourteen hours to do so , and , as Gilmore nervously points out , the aliens may very well collapse a part of the deflector shields again before then . Chakotay suggests that they make a stand on one ship , thus halving the time . The logical choice is " Voyager " ; she is more powerful and in good working order . Ransom , Burke and Gilmore , however , are not keen on the idea of abandoning their ship . Janeway considers , and comes to the same conclusion as Chakotay . Ransom states that because they are 35 , 000 light - years from Earth , they should work to preserve both ships . She quotes a Starfleet regulation which basically says that when two or more ships fight alongside each other , in the absence of a flag officer , the captain of the ship that has tactical superiority is in charge of the group . In this case , that is Janeway . Ransom , aware of this , is forced to agree , and orders Burke , and by extension , the other " Equinox " survivors , to treat Janeway as their new commanding officer . The meeting ends . After the meeting , however , Burke goes to engineering . Alone , he conducts an unauthorized download of the proposed ship - wide multiphasic force field into a tricorder he has carried there with him . Torres enters and finds him , but he manages to deftly hide his act and distract her from asking pertinent questions as to why he is there with banter . Then Ransom calls all the survivors to meet him on the " Equinox " bridge . They meet and conspire to take the force field generator once it is built and leave . They have no intention of giving up their ship . So obsessed are they about surviving and returning to Earth that they are ready to do whatever is necessary to do so , at any cost , including abandoning their rescuers , absconding with the protection from their enemies that " Voyager " developed and leaving " Voyager " s crew to face them alone . They hash out their plan and prepare to enact it . However , while they are doing so , Janeway is having a meeting of her own with Tuvok and Seven . The two have found that , after all this time , the " Equinox " s science lab is still flooded with thermionic radiation . It should have dissipated by now . Further , they have found that three EPS conduit s have been rerouted to the lab ; they are emitting the radiation . They report this to Janeway . The conclusion is that the lab has been intentionally contaminated ; Ransom does not want them to enter it . Janeway decides that a check of just what is in there is necessary ; Ransom is obviously hiding something . Since the radiation level is too high for an organic to survive , she decides that they will send in , without Ransom ' s knowledge , the one Voyager crew - member who will not be affected : The Doctor . The Doctor beams into the lab . Maintaining a comlink with Seven and Tuvok in the astrometrics lab , he slowly moves through the lab , examining it . Act Four . The lab contains the force field equipment which was used to intentionally trap the aliens , so that they would die . However , as The Doctor discovers , this was not for defense ; it was so that their nucleogenic bodies could be used to boost the warp engines ' power , due to their high antimatter content . The Doctor finds other equipment which supports this conclusion ; equipment to convert the remains into a crystalline compound that the engines could use , once they were suitably modified . The " Equinox " crew was thus intentionally killing the aliens to boost the power output of their warp drive , in order to cross the vast distance home more quickly . Janeway is immediately informed . On " Voyager " , Ransom and Burke walk along a corridor , discussing final preparations for their plan . But they run into two of " Voyager " s security officers , who have been instructed to detain them . They try to head for a transporter room , but instead meet an armed Tuvok , who is " Voyager " s security chief as well as Janeway ' s chief tactical officer . He is accompanied by more of his security officers . He informs Ransom of Janeway ' s " wish " to speak with him . Ransom goes without resistance . Ransom sits across from Janeway in the briefing room . Sitting at the head of the table , Janeway stares at him in palpable anger . She informs him of what The Doctor has found , presents him with a sample of the crystallized remains , and cuttingly asks him how many more of the aliens he would have needed to kill to return to the Alpha Quadrant . The aliens , she accuses , are not aggressors ; they are only defending themselves from him and his crew . Ransom does not deny it , and defends his actions by quoting a Starfleet regulation that authorizes a captain to " preserve the lives of his crew by any justifiable means " in the event of imminent destruction . Janeway has none of it . What they did was wrong in every sense , morally , ethically and , according to Federation law , legally , she insists . He defensively outlines how they started on this course of action : starving , with the " Equinox " all but destroyed , they managed to find an class M planet where they hoped they would find food . The planet was inhabited by a peaceful and generous race called the Ankari . They thought the nucleogenic aliens were spirits of good fortune and , after giving Ransom and his crew food and some supplies , invoked them to bless their journey , using a device to open interspatial fissures through which they emerged , flew around the crew and returned to their realm . Scans showed high antimatter content in their bodies . Seeing a possible way to " turbocharge " their engines for faster warp flight , thus letting them return home , they bartered with the Ankari for one of the devices in exchange for an energy converter . They constructed a multiphasic force field chamber in the ship ' s lab to hold one of the aliens , summoned one and tried to study it but it died ; it could not live for more than several seconds in this realm . But its remains were found to have retained the high antimatter content . With a bit of modification , the engines could use them ; they would increase the power output and thus their speed . And so they began summoning the aliens intentionally to use their bodies in this manner . Ransom insists that they were left without a choice . Janeway again has none of it . She relieves him of command and orders that he and the other survivors be confined to quarters . She then goes to the bridge and orders The Doctor to return to the lab and retrieve all the data he can find on the aliens . She also orders Seven to go to the " Equinox " ' engine room and take the modifications off - line . Perhaps , she muses , they can make contact with them themselves and explain that Ransom and his crew will be punished for what they were doing to them , and thus convince them to stop their attacks . Chakotay has Gilmore decrypt the " Equinox " engine modification schematics in the astrometrics lab , and Seven beams over to begin dismantling them . However , in the " Equinox " research lab , The Doctor is having trouble accessing the data he is after , even though he has decrypted it . The ship ' s computer informs him that authorization from the ship ' s EMH is needed for access . The Doctor activates the EMH . It is a Mark 1 , exactly like The Doctor . The Doctor informs him of his crew ' s arrest . The " Equinox " EMH asks The Doctor how he is able to leave his sickbay , and The Doctor shows him his mobile emitter . He sternly informs the " Equinox " EMH of the criminal experiments that have been happening in the lab and is shocked to learn that the " Equinox " EMH designed them ; the crew deleted his ethical subroutines . He suddenly strikes The Doctor ' s arm , deactivating the mobile emitter . The Doctor goes off - line . The " Equinox " EMH puts the emitter on . Act Five . As the " Equinox " EMH returns to " Voyager " , pretending to be The Doctor , on the bridge , Captain Janeway and her bridge officers note with consternation that the shields are weakening even more rapidly ; the aliens have stepped up their attacks . While Seven works in the " Equinox " engine room , Tuvok and Lt . Torres are in the astrometrics lab , almost ready to bring the ship - wide multiphasic shielding on line . But in the sickbay , The " Equinox " EMH queries the computer for Ransom ' s location . Once he gets it , he packs a bag of hypospray s and goes there . He tells the guards outside that the " Equinox " crew has been infected with a virus and he has been authorized to inoculate them . They let him in . Once inside , he surreptitiously informs Ransom of his real identity . He is going to help them escape . In the astrometrics lab , Tuvok and Torres attempt to activate the shield grid . But nothing happens . They try to find out what is wrong . What is wrong is that Burke , while in engineering , had done more than steal the multiphasic field generator ' s schematics ; he had also reconfigured intended power couplings to the device , then reconfigured the sensors so that this would not be detected . Tuvok and Torres work to undo this , as Ransom and his crew overpower their guards , take their weapons and enter the corridor . They head for a transporter room . On the bridge , at his station , Ensign Kim reports detection of phaser fire on the deck the " Equinox " crew were confined on . Janeway immediately orders security to seal off the deck . The aliens step up their efforts , rapidly wearing the deflector shields down . As the shields degrade , Kim reports an unauthorized transport . Janeway orders him to block it but he fails . He reports that the " Equinox " crew have beamed onto their bridge . Attempts to call Seven of Nine fail ; Seven is lying unconscious in the " Equinox " engine room , Ensign Gilmore standing over her . On the " Equinox " bridge , Burke reports with chagrin that Torres has erected a force field over the multiphasic force field generator ; he cannot beam it off " Voyager " . He tries to override the command codes . This works ; he beams it onto the " Equinox " . Janeway hails the " Equinox " and , seething , warns Ransom that if he does not desist in his action , both ships will be destroyed . But he will not hear it , responding that that would be better than thirty years in her brig . She threatens to fire on him . He ends the communication . Torres calls Janeway and reports that the " Equinox " crew have taken the generator . Thus , " Voyager " is defenseless against the aliens . On the " Equinox " , Ransom orders their escape at warp , but in engineering , Gilmore reports Seven ' s attempt to dismantle the warp engines , and that she , Gilmore , is undoing it . Burke integrates the multiphasic field generator into the ship ' s computer . " Voyager " s shields fail . The dry whine is immediately heard . Kim agitatedly reports fissures opening on all decks . Janeway and the bridge officers field weapons . On the " Equinox " , a fissure opens . But Burke succeeds in getting the generator up . Instantly , as an alien comes through , it finds itself trapped by a force field . It rushes frantically about , bouncing from field to field , then collapsed and dies . Ransom orders it taken to the lab . Crewman Lessing reports engines are on - line . Satisfied , Ransom orders a course set for the Alpha Quadrant . The " Equinox " pulls away from " Voyager " , taking Seven and The Doctor , who are still aboard , with them . On " Voyager " s bridge , fissures are opening all over . Janeway and her officers fire into them as they open , but more open immediately elsewhere . Then Chakotay shouts a warning to her . She whirls round , and one of the aliens heads directly at her . TO BE CONTINUED . . . Memorable quotes . " " Drop . . . shields " ! " " " " I thought we were the only Humans in the Delta Quadrant . " " < br > " " That ' s what " we " used to think . " " " " BLT ? " " " " Bacon , lettuce , and tomato . It was a nickname . " " " " A nickname ? " " " " My initials " " " " Oh , how romantic . " " " " We broke up ten years ago , Tom . There ' s no need to go to red alert . " " " " How about yellow alert ? " " " " You ' re cute when you ' re jealous . " " " " Who ' s jealous ? ! " " " " Well , " Turkey Platter " , what do you say we go to work ? " " " " I ' m going to miss this ship . " " < br > " " Once we get back to Earth , there ' ll be plenty of women . " " " " May I ask you something , captain to captain ? The Prime Directive : how often have you broken it for the sake of protecting your crew ? " " " " Broken it ? Never . Bent it , on occasion . And even then , it was a difficult choice . " " " " We call them the life of the Delta Quadrant . They see every first contact as an excuse to throw a party . " " " " Starfleet Regulation 3 , Paragraph 12 : In the event of imminent destruction , a captain is authorized to preserve the lives of his crew by any justifiable means . " " " " I doubt that protocol covers mass murder . " " " " In my judgment , it did . " " " " Unacceptable . " " " " We traveled over ten thousand light years in less than two weeks . We ' d found our salvation . How could we ignore it ? " " < br > " " By adhering to the oath you took as Starfleet officers – to seek out life . . . not destroy it . " " < br > " " It ' s easy to cling to your principles when you ' re standing on a vessel with its bulkheads intact , manned by a crew that ' s not starving . " " " " It ' s never easy , but if we turn our backs on our principles , we stop being Human . " " " " I ' m putting an end to your experiments . And you are hereby relieved of your command . You and your crew will be confined to quarters . " " < br > " " Please , show them leniency . They were only following my orders . " " < br > " " Their mistake . " " " " You said you wanted to learn more about Humanity . I guess we ' re not exactly prized examples . I ' m sorry . " " < br > " " On the contrary . You ' ve taught me a great deal . " " " " In case you are unaware , your crew has been running criminal experiments here ! " " " " I know . I designed them . " " " " You ? That ' s a violation of your programming ! " " " " They deleted my ethical subroutines . " " " " A shower and a hot meal . . . I guess that ' s all it takes for some of us to forget what ' s at stake here . We ' re going home ; we can ' t let " Voyager " stop us now , not when we ' re this close . " " " " Captain ! " " Links and references . References . Alpha Quadrant ; ; amputation ; Ankari ; Ankari homeworld ; antimatter injector ; astrometrics ; azimuth ; auto - initiating security grid ; bacon ; BLT sandwich ; Borg Collective ; ; brig ; ; checkers ; chestnut ; claustrophobia ; confined to quarters ; deck plate ; dedication plaque ; Delta Quadrant ; dilithium ; dilithium matrix ; duet ; Earth ; Emergency Medical Hologram ; emergency ration s ; EPS conduit ; ; ethical subroutine ; exobiology ; Federation ; field generator ; holodeck ; initials ; inoculation ; internal sensor ; interspatial fissure ; intruder alert ; ion storm ; isogram ; Jefferies tube ; kemocite ; kilometer ; kiloton ; Krowtonan Guard ; laser scalpel ; lettuce ; M class ; Maquis ; matter conversion technology ; mercurium ; meter ; multiphasic chamber ; multiphasic force field ; mutagenic virus ; neural pattern ; nucleogenic energy ; neural interface ; ; " petaQ " ; plasma injector ; plasma torch ; poetic justice ; polaron grid ; Ponea ; post - traumatic stress syndrome ; power coupling ; Prime Directive ; red alert ; ; rescue team ; sandal ; security grid ; sedative ; shield emitter ; sonic shower ; Starfleet Academy ; Starfleet oath ; Starfleet Regulations ; stasis chamber ; submolecular resequencer ; subroutine ; sweater ; synaptic stimulator ; thermionic radiation ; thermographic analysis ; thermolytic reaction ; transport enhancer ; triquadric algorithm ; tomato ; tricorder ; tuning fork ; turbolift ; universal translator ; Vulcan ; warp core ; warp plasma manifold ; waverider ; ; yellow alert ; Yridian s