Learning Curve ( episode ) Tuvok conducts a training session for Maquis personnel . Meanwhile , " Voyager " s bio - neural gel packs are mysteriously failing . ( " Season finale " ) Summary . Teaser . Captain Janeway is in the midst of a Gothic holonovel , dressed in Victorian clothing , when suddenly one of the characters abruptly disappears . She soon learns that there has been a disruption of power to one of the energy grid s . Approaching an open access panel on Deck 6 , Tuvok discovers Crewman Dalby emerging from the panel . Tuvok asks him what he is doing , to which Dalby cheerfully replies that he was in the area , noticed a malfunctioning bio - neural gel pack , and replaced it . Tuvok informs Dalby that Starfleet vessels operate under a protocol . Dalby , somewhat annoyed , defends his actions as justifiably the Maquis way , while Tuvok presses him on the inappropriateness of his actions , reminding him that he is no longer on a Maquis ship . Finally , Dalby gets into Tuvok ' s face , asking him to leave him alone . Tuvok is left in the corridor , perplexed at Dalby ' s reaction . Act One . In her ready room , Janeway discusses the malfunctioning gel pack with Chakotay and Tuvok , expressing her concerns about the limited number of gel packs that run critical systems on the ship and which cannot be replicated . Chakotay suggests that in the meantime they explore the possibility of switching some systems over to conventional isolinear circuitry . Tuvok takes the opportunity to bring up the issue with Crewman Dalby . He describes the confrontation with the crewman as insubordination , prompting Janeway to remember the name Dalby having come up before in other complaints . Tuvok remains steadfast , stating that a starship must operate under protocols . Janeway considers the situation and explains that Dalby is not the only Maquis who has had trouble adjusting . She maintains that it is not only a matter of attitude , but also of experience . She believes they have been unfairly expecting non - Starfleet crew members to operate as if they had attended the Academy . Instead of punishing them , she proposes that they take on the responsibility of getting those crew up to speed , instruct them in how to run a Starfleet vessel , and show them why they do things the way they do . She puts a somewhat reluctant Tuvok in charge of taking on a class of raw cadet s , pointing out that Chakotay doesn ' t have to earn the respect of the Maquis crew , but they , as Starfleet officers , do . In the first session in a cargo bay , Tuvok ' s rigid introduction is almost immediately interrupted by Crewman Henley , who demands to know why they have been singled out . When Chell also interrupts Tuvok , going on a diatribe about the unfairness of all this and how he has been misjudged , Tuvok assigns him to forty laps around the cargo bay , immediately raised to fifty when he blurts out another protest . Tuvok goes on to describe the nature of the class , but no one really seems to take him seriously . Dalby states that they all consider this course insulting , because they didn ' t ask to come aboard this ship in the first place . Dalby asks the class if they want to stay , and Crewman Henley says that she doesn ' t have anything to learn from Tuvok . After calling out for Chell , they leave , leaving Tuvok standing in the cargo bay . Act Two . The issue ends there – they take the class . At the second session , Tuvok hands out their study assignments and informs them of their unannounced exam schedules and then examines their uniform s , ensuring that their outfits are not in violation of regulations . Overall , the class is now compliant , if not holding back anger . Back on duty in engineering , Dalby talks to B ' Elanna Torres about the field training . He seems to think of it as a waste of time , if not punishment , but Torres says that it sounds like he ' s afraid of failing . While they are talking , an alarm sounds , indicating another power failure . Dalby identifies it as another bio - neural gel pack , and Torres informs the bridge that she is sending another repair crew . She then grabs a damaged gel pack and informs her staff she will be in sickbay if she ' s needed . Torres asks The Doctor to examine the pack ' s biological component , since there appear to be no problems with the mechanical components . The Doctor inform her that the gel pack has an infection . He predicts that the crew has not been infected , confirmed by Kes ' scan of Torres , but says that to contain the infection , all the affected biopacks will have to be isolated and quarantined until a treatment regimen can be initiated . Meanwhile , the " boot camp " continues . Tuvok has the class climb through over fifty Jefferies tube s and a ten kilometer run . The entire class struggles , sweating and straining to complete the exercise . Chell and Gerron struggle in particular , gasping for breath and even , as in the case with Chell , fantasizing that Tuvok will slip and plunge to his death . Crewmen Chell and Gerron , having been lapped three times at the end of the run , have to complete the course while the others gasp for breath after what Henley calls a " death march . " Panting for breath , the group learns that Tuvok increased the gravity on that deck by 10 % . Tuvok announces that they will be conducting this exercise again tomorrow and he expects " all " of them to better their performance . Act Three . The next assignment for the class is a war games simulation on a holodeck version of the bridge Tuvok has created . During the simulation , " Voyager " goes through a series of attacks by Romulan warbird s , before it is finally overpowered and shields start to buckle . When Dalby orders to keep firing in order to do as much damage as they can , alarms scream , sparks fly , and ruptured conduits smoke , leaving Tuvok to end the simulation . Tuvok announces that they are all dead and that their first command was less than successful . Dalby falls back into the captain ' s chair , remarking that it was a no - win situation . Tuvok asks them for reasons for the failure , and they all sit silently , insisting that they went by the book and are proud to at least have gone down with phaser s firing . Tuvok asks Dalby if the possibility of retreat had occurred to him , warning that while going out with phasers firing may seem heroic , in the long run , it is merely foolish . Retreat is often the best possible option . Dalby speaks for them when he quietly but sarcastically concedes that once again Tuvok has proven his point that they are not Starfleet material . The trainees are demoralized and file out , feeling as if they have failed . Tuvok is again left alone , this time seeming to wonder why his methods are not proving effective . This perception is confirmed as Neelix approaches a pensive Tuvok in the mess hall . When Neelix presses him about the Maquis trainees , Tuvok describes their lack of progress and their unresponsiveness , complaining that he cannot isolate the problem and is at a loss , further insisting that his methods are sound and time - honored . In response , Neelix takes Tuvok to look at some Keela flower s gathered in small glass vases near the kitchen . The flowers are remarkably strong due to their flexible stems , but occasionally on the same stalk are stems that are not so flexible . Tuvok interprets Neelix ' s demonstration as implying that the Maquis crew are rigid and inflexible , and that they will never adjust to Starfleet rules . But Neelix corrects him , stating that in fact it is the other way around , for it is Tuvok who is being rigid and inflexible . Neelix proposes that if Tuvok were to learn to " bend a little , " he may have better luck with his class . He suggests Tuvok get to know his students and try to find out what they are like inside . Tuvok doesn ' t know if he has the ability to " find out what they are like inside , " but then pauses as he begins to pick up an odor , turning to the plate of white food . Neelix inhales the potent odor with delight , informing Tuvok that it is Brill cheese , made from the schplict he recently acquired . Tuvok notes that to create cheese , one needs to cultivate bacteria . As Neelix agrees , he follows Tuvok ' s gaze to a ventilation intake located right above Neelix ' s food preparation area . . . Act Four . Torres reports that the cheese is full of volatile bacterial spores , and that it must remain isolated . As they talk , the lights flash and system power down and up , causing Torres to worry that the infection has spread to the environmental systems , at which point they would be in more trouble than they thought . As the investigation proceeds , Tuvok attempts to follow Neelix ' s advice and plays pool at Sandrine ' s with a recalcitrant Dalby in an attempt to get to know him better . However , that doesn ' t seem to be a successful approach , because Dalby doesn ' t appear very friendly or much interested in opening up to Tuvok . After some prying , Dalby tells Tuvok that he and his family lived on the Bajoran frontier where they had a hard life , that he coped by getting into a lot of trouble and was angry at everybody and everything . This continued until he fell in love with a Bajoran woman who then was viciously raped and murdered by three Cardassian s . This event prompted him to join the Maquis where he then tried to slaughter as many Cardassians as he could . After this deadpan delivery , Dalby bluntly tells Tuvok that he does not want to get to know him better nor be his friend . The Doctor continues to examine the cheese , finally concluding that the bacteria has been the host to the virus , and that there are thousands of viruses so small that they would have escaped detection . Kes begins to submit the gel packs to anti - viral agents . Kim reports to Janeway that the gel packs are beginning to fail sequentially and that they are losing systems faster than they can compensate with backups . Chakotay asks about the isolinear circuits , but Kim reports that Torres has not completed the changeover , and that they could not even maintain life support at this point . Paris announces that propulsion is down as Kim informs them that every critical system on the main grid is down . Meanwhile , Tuvok and his class are engaging in another activity in a cargo bay and affected by the malfunctioning environmental systems , end up trapped in the cargo bay , unable to contact the bridge . Act Five . The Doctor reports that heating the gel packs , similar to inducing fever to fight off infections , has proven successful in his experiments . However , he says that he does not have the power to heat all the gelpacks ship - wide . Torres proposes that they could accomplish this by infusing the gel packs with a high - energy plasma burst from a symmetrical warp field , which Janeway confirms would be generated by inverting the warp field towards the ship , however in order to accomplish this they will need to heat up the whole ship . Janeway orders the crew to proceed . Back in the cargo bay , the trainees and Tuvok recognize the change in the environmental systems . Tuvok assigns Gerron to check if the console in the control room is still functioning , sending the young man up a ladder to the small room while he and the rest go to try to access a Jefferies tube from the forward bulkhead . Soon " Voyager " is hot enough to initiate the plasma burst , although Lieutenant Torres warns that it ' ll blow out several conduits throughout the ship . The trainees open an access panel only to be blown down by an exploding conduit . As plasma gas begins to seep in , Tuvok announces the room will become poisonous within minutes and orders them to leave immediately through the Jefferies tube . Dalby reminds him about Gerron . They all look up to see the young man slumped over the rail , unconscious . Dalby tells Tuvok that they can ' t leave him , but Tuvok orders them all into the Jefferies tube , stating that it is always tactically correct to sacrifice the few for the many . Dalby is furious and lunges up to go get Gerron himself . However , Tuvok pins his arm behind his back , threatening to break it if he doesn ' t get into the Jefferies tube as ordered . As Dalby accuses him of killing Gerron , he climbs into the tube , which Tuvok seals , himself remaining inside the cargo bay . Coughing from the plasma gas , Tuvok runs to Gerron . While the heat and gas continue to build , Tuvok climbs the ladder to reach Gerron , then placing him over his shoulder and beginning the climb back down . Overpowered by the plasma gas , Tuvok falls from the ladder with Gerron . He attempts to crawl while dragging Gerron , but ultimately collapses from inhaling toxic plasma gas . When The Doctor finally informs the bridge officers ( who had all nearly passed out from the heat ) that the bacteria have been destroyed , Janeway orders Kim to start getting the vital systems back online . In the cargo bay , through the billowing gas clouds , the door is forced open by the trainees . Henley and Dalby run in and pick up Gerron and Tuvok and drag them to safety . Back in the corridor , gasping and drenched in sweat , the trainees collapse , smiling in success . Holding Tuvok up , Dalby says that he thought Starfleet rules said that was an unacceptable risk . Tuvok responds that it was , but that he recently realized that there are times when it is desirable to bend the rules . Dalby responds amicably , saying that if Tuvok can learn to bend the rules , then he can learn to follow them . With that , they support Tuvok and Gerron to sick bay , while " Voyager " continues on its course home . Memorable quotes . " " There ' s the Starfleet way , and there ' s the Maquis way . " " " " Come with me . I want to show you something . These are Keela flowers . They ' re beautiful and remarkably strong . The stem is flexible . It ' s impossible to break . But , occasionally , on the same plant , there ' s a bloom whose stem is not so flexible . Ah , here ' s one , see ? And when the stem is brittle , it breaks . " " " " You ' re saying that the Maquis crew is rigid and inflexible , that they will never adjust to Starfleet rules . " " " " No , Mr . Vulcan . I ' m saying that " you " are rigid and inflexible . But maybe if you learn to bend a little , you might have better luck with your class . " " " " I don ' t want to get to know you . . . and I don ' t want to be your friend . " " " " Get the cheese to sickbay . " " " " Uh , you missed a spot . " " " " Maquis trainees getting you down ? " " " " This conduit ' s getting hot . " " " " So am I . " " " " Lieutenant , if you can learn to bend the rules , I guess we can learn to follow them . " " " " You are " all " dead . " " Links and references . References . antimatter ; apple ; Bajoran ; bio - neural circuitry ; bio - neural gel pack ; Bolian ; brig ; brill cheese ; ; Burleigh ' s wife ; Cardassian s ; Cardassian rapist - murderers ; cargo bay ; chafing ; Chez Sandrine ; Circassian fig ; class M ; curriculum ; Dalby ' s lover ; ; ; death march ; Delta Quadrant ; distress call ; emergency power ; evasive maneuvers ; Ferengi ; fever ; field training ; holodeck ; holonovel ; hull breach ; humanitarianism ; inertial damper ; " Janeway Lambda one " ; Jefferies tube s ; Kazleti ; Kazleti homeworld ; Keela flower ; Kelvin ; kilometer ; " Kobayashi Maru " scenario ; Latin ; Laurelian pudding ; lead ; logic ; macaroni and cheese ; magneton scanner ; manual override ; Maquis ; mathematics ; mess hall ; micro - resonator ; Mister Vulcan ; morale officer ; murder ; nacelle control system ; Napinne ; needlework ; " Paris 3 " ; plasma burst ; pool ; putillo ; rape ; red alert ; red giant ; repair crew ; sampler ; " schplict " ( grakel milk ) ; Sequence Beta 93 ; Starfleet ; Starfleet Academy ; tea ; " Val Jean " ; varmeliate fiber ; viscount ; Vulcan