Memorial ( episode ) After returning from an extended away mission , " Voyager " crewmembers inexplicably begin having horrific flashbacks to an atrocity that they seem to have participated in . Summary . Teaser . The " Delta Flyer " returns back to from a two week away mission to collect dilithium ore from various planet s in the star system . Aboard , Commander Chakotay , Ensign s Tom Paris and Harry Kim , and Neelix are rather cranky with each other . The men are tired , somewhat irritable , and unwashed . They grouse about the way each other smells , as they approach " Voyager " . Chakotay hails the bridge , requesting permission to return to the shuttlebay . Stepping into the corridor from the shuttlebay , they are greeted by The Doctor , the crew ' s holographic Chief Medical Officer , and Chief Engineer Lieutenant B ' Elanna Torres . Torres is especially glad to see Paris as she has a surprise for him , Paris and Torres go to Paris ' quarters . Paris is very surprised and most pleased to find that she has replicated a 1956 wood - grain finish television set . She happily presents him with the remote control . Pleased as he is , he points out that television sets from this era had no remotes , but she dismisses the discrepancy as poetic license . He does not mind in the least . She replicates popcorn and beer to complete the mood but notices that he is not paying attention . He has become completely engrossed in what is showing . Chagrined , Torres leaves him be . Time passes . Torres falls asleep on the couch . Paris continues watching television . A war scene comes on . He watches raptly , but then he sees something very strange : the combatants are using energy weapons . Then , suddenly , he sees himself on screen , taking part in the fighting . Act One . Paris stares in great alarm . He watches himself running through a wood , ducking fire and returning it . Then , to his horror , he finds himself actually in the battle , instead of watching an image of himself in it on the TV . Hands shake him and a voice calls him concernedly . He finds himself safely back in his quarters , Torres looking at him worriedly . He tells her about what happened , saying that he must have fallen asleep and dreamed . But , he notes tensely , it was the most vivid dream he has ever had . She concernedly suggests going back to cartoons , but , very shaken , he declines ; he has had enough TV for one day . He turns it off . Ensign Kim is working alone in a Jefferies tube . Suddenly he starts to hear sounds of war ; the screams and shouts of fighting , dying men , and the whine of energy weapons . He looks around in alarm . The Jefferies tube begins to stretch to eternity . He gets dizzy , and very frightened . He scrabbles desperately to a hatch , the sounds of war now deafening . He crawls out . The sounds fade away . He leans against a wall , hyperventilating . He immediately goes to the sickbay and reports the occurrence to The Doctor , who examines him . The Doctor diagnoses it as an anxiety attack , brought on by tiredness from the away mission . He orders him to take two days off to rest and recover . In the mess hall galley , Neelix is preparing meals for the crew . But he looks extremely uneasy ; he is sweating , and his face has a haunted look . When he hears a teapot on the stove start to whistle , he almost jumps out of his skin , holding a knife up defensively . Seeing that it is nothing , he returns to work , but does not calm down . Naomi Wildman enters . Neelix dotes upon her , but he is in no mood for anyone ' s company . She greets him and informs him that she needs to build a tetragon from ordinary materials for her geometry class . Neelix tries his best to listen and be appreciative , but struggles greatly at it . When Naomi lifts a lid off a pot to see what is cooking , and burns her hand a bit , Neelix immediately overreacts , checking her and almost screaming that she needs medical attention . He then shouts at Naomi to get down and behind him , as if they are under attack . A bloody battle is seen occurring at night in a forest . The whine and flash of energy weapons is heard and seen . But it appears to be a dream ; Chakotay is seen asleep in bed in his quarters , albeit restlessly , tossing and turning . In the dream , he tries to get the other soldiers to stop firing , but fails . He goes to see the commander , whom he calls by his name , Saavdra , as if he knows him . He enters the base camp and finds him . He angrily remonstrates with him about what they , himself included , are doing : their enemies are not soldiers ; they are , in fact , civilians in a settlement Saavdra , he and the soldiers are supposed to be evacuating . Instead , they are slaughtering them . Saavdra , however , retorts that they had weapons and were firing on the soldiers , and thus the soldiers have no choice . Suddenly he wakes up , drenched with sweat , hyperventilating . He responds to a repeated hail by Lt . Commander Tuvok informing him of a " " security breach in the mess hall " " . Neelix is crouched behind the counter . A frightened , uncomprehending Naomi Wildman is held firmly in his grasp in a protective manner , while he fires at the officers with a phaser , shouting that he will not let them hurt her . Tuvok tries to talk him into standing down , but Neelix will not hear it . Chakotay arrives . Tuvok explains that Neelix is apparently hallucinating . Neelix repeats his defiance , shouting that he will only calm down once " Saavdra calls off his attack . " On hearing this name , Chakotay realizes that what he experienced was not merely a dream , and Neelix is experiencing it as well . He assures Neelix that Saavdra has indeed called off the attack , and finally succeeds in getting him to stand down . Both head immediately to sickbay . Act Two . Neelix lies anesthetized in sickbay . Captain Kathryn Janeway is present . The Doctor reports to her and Chakotay that Neelix is suffering from post - traumatic stress disorder . Chakotay tells The Doctor of his dream , and informs them that Neelix appeared to be reliving those same bloody events . This causes The Doctor grave concern . He informs them of Ensign Kim ' s earlier visit for an anxiety attack . Chakotay says that nothing irregular happened during the mission . However , The Doctor quickly scans him with a medical tricorder , and begs to differ : what Chakotay experienced in his sleep was not a dream ; it was , in fact , a memory . Janeway surmises that they could have been abducted and brainwashed . She decides that the best place to start understanding what is happening is with retracing the mission . She orders Chakotay to minutely review the " Delta Flyer " s sensor logs . In the briefing room Chakotay , Paris , Kim and Neelix discuss the memories with Captain Janeway . They each recall the memory , telling her what happened : they were , so it seems , members of a military unit that was assigned to evacuate a civilian population of a people called the Nakan s . Saavdra was the commander of the unit . The events are seen unfolding , with all four of the men supposedly present . The soldiers are tired , the civilians passively hostile . As they round them up in a clearing in a forest , they realize that some are missing . These missing ones begin firing at them from the trees . The soldiers begin firing indiscriminately , killing the civilians . Men , women and children are seen getting shot as they run , crying out in pain and terror before falling dead . Neelix tries to save some of the children , but they run away from him . Kim , overwhelmed , runs away himself , into a cave and finds a couple hiding there , unarmed . They beg him to spare their lives . He threatens them , telling them that he will only do so if they show him the way out . They do , and he moves to leave . Then he sees the man reaching for something . In a panic , Kim raises his weapon and fires on them both . In the briefing room , Kim watches his hands in horror . Tears are on the verge of running down his face . Paris and Chakotay try to calm him down , but he is inconsolable . He is finally taken to sickbay as Janeway watches in shock . Her shock changes to abject horror as Chakotay informs her of the exact thing that they ' did ' that night . They massacred the civilians ; all 82 of them . Act Three . Paris lies on the couch in his quarters , haunted by the horrific memories of the massacre . Torres comes to see him , and tries to comfort him , telling him that there is no evidence that these memories are actually his . But he refuses to be comforted , and , unable to deal with anyone , including her , he angrily sends her away . In astrometrics , Captain Janeway and Chakotay are reviewing the " Flyer " s sensor logs . Assisting them is Seven of Nine . They peruse images of planet s scanned , surveyed and visited , along with alien s met , including one Bathar , who tried to sell them a formula that would supposedly stop aging . But then a new image stops her snickering . A flash of violent memory passes through her mind . She recognizes the planet . She names it : Tarakis . She is seen on the planet as a member of the military unit that committed the massacre of the Nakans . Bodies are being piled up . Soldiers are fanning out , looking for survivors . . . not to transport them but to kill them . Saavdra has ordered the entire thing covered up , and the soldiers are going along with it . They want to kill all witnesses . Hearing weapons fire , Janeway goes toward the sound . She finds Saavdra supervising the vaporization of the bodies . She is shocked and horrified beyond measure , and tries to get them to stop . Saavdra orders her not to interfere . Consumed with rage and guilt , at both at herself and the other soldiers , she screams at him that trying to cover up the massacre makes their actions doubly wrong . Saavdra angrily orders her to stand aside , insisting that it was self defense , but others would not understand . She tries to appeal to the soldiers , but they agree with Saavdra . They raise their weapons at her . Furiously and helplessly , she withdraws . She wakes up hyperventilating in the mess hall . The room is dark . Lines after lines of cots are there , each with a crewmember , broken by the strain of dealing with these horrific memories , and the guilt of seemingly being a part of what happened . Tuvok informs her that 39 crewmembers have joined Chakotay , Paris , Kim and Neelix in the experience . The entire crew is beginning to be affected . Act Four . Janeway realizes that the situation is now critical and that her crew is being incapacitated . Janeway ' s memory of the atrocity includes the location of the planet where it was committed . She orders Tuvok to set a course to it . Seven speaks to a despondent Neelix , after bringing him a plate of his favorite food . He is very worried that Naomi Wildman is now afraid of him , and refuses it . Then , however , he asks her how she deals with her guilt over the atrocities she committed as a Borg drone , seeking a way to cope with his guilt over the massacre . She responds that her remorse helps her remember what she did , so that she does not ever do anything like it again . Guilt , she muses , can be a difficult , but useful emotion . He thinks about what she has said , which lifts his spirit a little . He starts to eat the food . " Voyager " is seen approaching Tarakis . Tuvok scans the planet and reports there that there are no life sign s . But , acting upon Janeway ' s order to run a full spectral scan , Tuvok reports the presence of a power signature . Janeway , Chakotay , Tuvok , Ensigns Paris and Kim , a security officer , beam down to the planet , in the general vicinity of the power signature . The senior officers remark that , though the place looks very familiar , it does not look like the horrific killing zone they remember . They break into groups and begin searching . Tuvok , Paris , Kim and the security officer find the cave where Kim remembers killing the couple . Meanwhile , Janeway and Chakotay detect the power signature , and head in its direction . Tuvok , Paris , Kim and the security officer reach the cave . As soon as he sees it , Kim begins to hyperventilate , his face flushed with fear . Tuvok orders Paris and the security officer to stand guard at the mouth , and he and Kim enter . As they go deeper inside , Kim struggles to keep down his panic ; he is terrified that he will find that he had indeed murdered the couple . When they reach the cavern , they find the skeletons of the victims . Tuvok ' s scans reveal that they died over 300 years ago . Thus Kim was not responsible . His relief is palpable . Janeway and Chakotay close in on the power signature . They enter an open , grassy field and find it : a towering monument . Atop it is a yellow globe that pulses weakly . One side of the base is covered with writing . Janeway remarks that they have found their war . Act Five . In astrometrics , Seven scans the monument . She finds that the structure contains a synaptic transmitter , powerful enough to permeate the entire star system the planet is in with neurogenic pulses . These pulses transmit vivid visions of the Nakan massacre into the minds of anyone within range of the transmitter . Thus anyone who enters the system experiences the visions as if they were their own memories ; they remember the massacre as if they participated in it . Chakotay has Seven translate the writing found on the base . It speaks of mere words neither being enough to convey the horror of what happened , nor enough to prevent it being repeated . Actual experience of it is necessary . Janeway realizes that the monument is a Memorial to the massacre . But this Memorial does more than simply bear testament to the massacre , Chakotay notes with anger ; it thrusts unsuspecting innocents into the horror , making then feel as if they were actually a part of it . Janeway muses that perhaps that is the point of it , to leave an indelible memory of what befell these people with passers - by . But the monument is losing power and will soon shut down . She decides that , given that the entire crew was affected , she cannot make that decision without hearing their input . She calls a meeting of the senior staff to discuss it . At the meeting , Chakotay , Paris and Kim argue that it should be shut down . No - one should be forced to relive a tragedy that they were not a part of . But , surprisingly , Neelix , who was most traumatized by the effect , is against shutting it down . He himself was a victim of a massacre ; his family and the entire population of his people on his birthplace of Rinax were killed in a war by a weapon of mass destruction . He thus understands fully why the monument was made and given this power , and is very much in favor of keeping it running , to ensure the victims ' story is never forgotten . The argument becomes very heated . Chakotay , Paris and Kim demand of Neelix why innocents should experience an atrocity they did not commit . Neelix responds with equal vehemence that that is how people will learn not to let such a thing happen . Tuvok counters that the logic al thing to do is shut it down , given the danger it poses , but Neelix angrily insists that logic is irrelevant here . Captain Janeway listens to both sides , and comes to a decision : throughout history , she tells them , monuments have been built in memoriam of tragedies . These Memorial s are honored , as this one should be . They will not shut it down , nor will they leave it to run out of power . Chakotay tries to argue , but she sternly makes it clear that the discussion is closed . However , the concerns about its effects on unsuspecting crews is valid . Therefore , she decides , after repairing the power to the transmitter , they will place a warning beacon in orbit around the planet , so that anyone who approaches the system will be informed of what to expect before they enter the transmitter ' s range . The senior officers who were affected by the signal beam down along with Neelix . As Janeway watches , they silently install power cells onto the monument , to replace the dying ones . When they finish , they step away . Janeway looks at them and tells them that , though this was hardest on them , if they had not stopped at this planet , the tragedy that occurred there 300 years ago would have been forgotten . The 82 Nakans , she finishes , would be grateful to them . With one more somber look at the monument , they beam back to the ship . The monument ' s orb , formerly pulsing , begins to glow with a steady light as its power transmitter returns to full function , transmitting its signal and the lesson it was designed to teach . Memorable quotes . " " Words alone cannot convey the suffering . Words alone cannot prevent what happened here from happening again . Beyond words lies experience ; beyond experience lies truth . Make this truth your own . " " " " It ' s given us the chance to bond . " " " " The bonding stopped when the sonic shower went offline . " " " " Everything is perfect , except for one tiny detail . " " " " What ? " " " " You forgot the beer . " " " " It was a shame that we had to cut the lecture short , but the warp core overloaded and then the Borg invaded and we were all assimilated . " " " " Uh huh . " " " " You haven ' t heard a single thing I ' ve said , have you ? " " " " Oh , look at that ! " " " " Maybe this was a bad idea . " " " " They always said television was a bad influence . " " " " WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING ? ! They ' re already " dead " ! ! " " " " This isn ' t about logic ; it ' s about remembering ! " " " " The obelisk at Khitomer . The fields at Gettysburg . Those were other people ' s memories too , but we don ' t honor them any less . " " Links and references . References . airponics bay ; Apatosaurus ; assimilation ; beer ; Bathar ' s species ; biohazard ; ; carrot ; cartoon ; Casper Caveman ; celery ; champagne ; chocolate ; class M ; claustrophobia ; colony ; continent ; " Daffy Duck and the Dinosaur " ; " Delta Flyer " ; Delta Quadrant ; dilithium ; epinephrine ; Farley ; ; geometric sensor ; geometry ; Gettysburg ; hockey ; Hodos ; insect ; Jefferies tube ; jingle ; kettle ; Khitomer ; logic ; memory engram ; Nakan ; Nakan massacre ; natural satellite ; ; neural suppressant ; neurogenic pulse ; norepinephrine ; obelisk ; particle weapon ; physical ; pizza ; plasma ; plasma leak ; plasma residue ; popcorn ; post - traumatic stress disorder ; power cell ; red alert ; remote control ; shield generator ; shoe polish ; shuttle lag ; sickbay ; snoring ; sonic shower ; spectral scan ; spotter ; ; synaptic transmitter ; Talaxian stew ; Tarakis ; television ; Tera nut soufflé ; tetragon ; Toranius Prime ; translation matrix ; tripolymer enzyme ; " " ; warning buoy ; welcome mat ;