When she accidentally touches a hot pot, Neelix believes Naomi is under attack. "Get down!" he shouts.

Moreover, all members of the away team seem to have memories of fighting and atrocities. At a meeting, they compare their fragmentary recollections, shown as brief flashbacks. It seems they had been soldiers trying to evacuate colonists, called the Nakon.

Their intentions had been peaceful, and the relocation was only temporary. But things turned ugly.

Twenty-four colonists were missing. Then there was phaser fire, and a panicked crowd. Amid much confusion, the soldiers fired again and again. Harry encountered a frightened couple in a cave and shot them too.

Altogether, 82 civilians died that day. An officer, Savdra, tried to cover up the evidence.

Janeway decides to take the ship to the system where all this supposedly took place

Meanwhile, B'Ellana tries to console Tom by suggesting a gangster movie (she mispronounces Al Capone's name) but finds him overwhelmed by feelings of anger, guilt and depression.

"I was there!" he shouts, rejecting her suggestion that his memory may have been altered.

They approach the M-class planet Tirakas. Now, even crew members who weren't on the away team are suffering post-traumatic stress disorder.

Janeway has a flashback of herself trying to stop soldiers from destroying corpses. She collapses in astrometrics, awakens in sick bay.

The Doctor and Tuvok want to turn back, reasoning that something in this system is causing mental problems. But Janeway's determined to get to the bottom of all this, and orders the ship into orbit.

"Guilt can be a difficult but useful emotion," says Seven, noting it helps prevent future wrongdoing. Neelix, somewhat reassured, samples the Talaxian stew and terra-nut souffle.

Voyager conducts scans of the greenish-yellowish planet. They detect an energy signature. Janeway and an away team beam down, heavily armed with phaser rifles. They find a bucolic landscape.

Searching the area, Harry, Tuvok and Tom enter the cave where Harry allegedly killed the couple. Harry hyperventilates but Tuvok remains calm. They go forward, finding two corpses -- which are over 200 years old.

Meanwhile, aboveground, Janeway and Chakotay find a tower covered with inscriptions. At the top, a roundish energy source pulsates dimly.

"I think we found our war," says Janeway, cryptically.

Words alone cannot convey the suffering.

The team returns to Voyager, analyzing the object from afar.

Several centuries old, the structure contains a "synaptic transmitter" that sends neurological signals into the planet's vicinity -- hence, the "memories" afflicting the crew.

The inscriptions proclaim that "words alone can't prevent atrocities such as happened here.

"It's a memorial," Janeway portentously intones.

In the beginning, the device probably transmitted memories of the massacre in full sequence, but ebbing power reserves are now causing it to provide fragmented memories.

"Fascinating," is the sarcastic response from Chakotay, who wants to shut it down. Tuvok too thinks that's the proper course of action.

Janeway initially agrees, but -- after Neelix passionately argues that the memorial must remain as a deterrent against future wrongs -- she changes her mind.

The monument will be fixed, its power restored, and a warning buoy will be placed in nearby space so that future passersby will now know what to expect.

None of this will change the crew's grim memories. Those are permanent.

After an away team solemnly attaches devices to the monument, Voyager gives it a much-needed recharge.