Violations (TNG episode)

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Star Trek: TNG episode
"Violations"
Enterprise crew members suffer "Violations".
Episode no.	112
Prod. code	212
Airdate	February 3, 1992
Writer(s)	Pamela Gray Jeri Taylor Story by Shari Goodhartz T Michael Pamela Gray
Director	Robert Wiemer
Guest star(s)	Rosalind Chao Ben Lemon David Sage Rick Fitts Eve Brenner
Year	2368
Stardate	45429.3
Episode chronology
Previous	"Hero Worship"
Next	"The Masterpiece Society"

"Violations" was the 112th episode of the science fiction television series Star Trek: The Next Generation and the 12th episode of the show's fifth season. It was first broadcast on February 3, 1992.

In this episode, a member of an alien delegation travelling on the Federation Starship USS Enterprise molests members of the crew using telepathy.

1 Plot
2 Trivia
3 References
4 External links

[edit] Plot

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

As the episode opens, Enterprise Captain Jean-Luc Picard is noting in his log that while on a mapping survey the Enterprise is conveying a delegation of Ullians to Calder IV, the Ullians are telepathic historians who conduct their research by retrieving long forgotten memories.

In Ten-Forward, Tarmin, the leader and most skilled of the Ullian party, is helping Enterprise Botanist Keiko O'Brien recall the details of a memory from her childhood concerning a cracked porcelain cup. She eventually remembers that the cup was used for cleaning Japanese ink writing brushes by her grandmother.

With this success, Tarmin asks for further volunteers for the process, pointing out to Chief Medical Officer Beverly Crusher that he knows she is thinking about her first childhood kiss and asking her if she would like to remember more. Tarmin is rebuked by his son Jev, who reminds him that he shouldn't probe someone's memory without their permission. Tarmin agrees that Jev is right, but says its sometimes difficult to restrain himself when around a beautiful woman.

At a reception held later, the Ullians describe their research project, saying that their plan will involve the retrieved memories of many different races from various star systems. Tarmin says that they think of themselves as "archaeologists of the mind", adding that they believe that the history of a world is contained within the personal experiences of its people. He tells the assembled officers that the library which the Ullians plan would be a vast repository of these individual memories, saying the huge project will take years to complete, as so far the Ullians have only surveyed eleven planets in eight star systems. Crusher teasingly suggests that Picard undergo the memory retrieval process which obviously makes him uncomfortable and he declines. Tarmin then asks if any of the other officers at the reception would like to participate, but gets no takers. Asked by Ship's Counselor Deanna Troi if all Ullians can read memories, Tarmin tells her that doing so is a serious commitment requiring many years of training. He recalls how on one occasion his son Jev was unable to read some elderly Gentons, while Tarmin did so easily. This upsets Jev, who abruptly leaves the room.

Troi follows Jev, who apologizes for his "rudeness", and the two have a pleasant conversation in the turbolift, Jev explaining to Troi that his father finds it amusing to demean him in public and Jev reaches the point where he doesn't want to hear any more. Deanna replies that she can relate to his situation as she also has an overbearing parent. Deanna bids Jev goodnight, it being quite clear that the two are attracted to one another.

In her quarters Troi begins preparations to retire and starts brushing her hair. Probably due to the frame of mind brought about by her conversation with Jev, she starts to recall a romantic interlude she once had with the Ship's First Officer Commander William Riker. The recollection takes an ominous turn though, as Riker starts to become rough and forceful with her. She tries to resist him and suddenly in her flashback Riker is replaced by Jev, next she also seems to see Jev in her cabin for a second. She screams and collapses.

The next morning Troi is discovered unconscious in her quarters when she does not show up for an appointment and is diagnosed as having fallen into a deep coma. Dr. Crusher is unable to find any medical reason for her condition, and when standard revival techniques fail, Beverly decides to withhold any more extreme treatment until she can isolate a cause.

Riker questions Jev, who was know to be the last person to see Deanna before she fell ill, and passes along a request from Dr. Crusher that they allow her to examine them for any harmful toxins or pathogens. Jev agrees to allow these exams.

Later in his cabin, Will Riker starts to have the same kind of flashbacks as Deanna, and he too lapses into unconsciousness.

Beverly has no more luck with Riker's case than she did with Deanna's. She examines the Ullians and is unable to find any type of harmful agent or organism or any other cause relating to their presence. She meets with Picard and Enterprise Chief of Security Lt. Worf to report her findings and tells them that she did find an odd trace of electropathic activity typical of a very rare neurological disorder, Iresine Syndrome, in both Riker's and Troi's brain scans. Upon hearing this, Worf suggests a quarantine of the Ullians, since Riker and Troi were in perfect health before the telepaths came aboard, but Picard feels this would be premature. Crusher points out though that the residue she discovered was in the thalamus, the region of the cerebral cortex which involves memory function. In light of this, Picard decides to interview the Ullians.

Meeting with the Ullians in their cabin, Picard outlines his concerns and requests further examinations, perhaps performing some medical scans while one of them does a memory probe. Saying that they have nothing to hide, the Ullians agree.

Trying to explore all avenues in her search for an explanation, Beverly also examines Keiko, but can find nothing amiss. After Keiko leaves, Crusher continues to research the problem, but then begins to have the same type of memory flashbacks Deanna did, concerning the death of her husband Jack Crusher. In her mind she sees herself in the morgue with Picard, going to see and identify her husband's body. Suddenly in her flashback Picard is replaced by Jev, and she screams in pain as he invades her mind.

Meanwhile, Chief Engineer Geordi La Forge has been attempting to fulfill Crusher's request to find or identify any possible environmental cause to the comas. After a couple of hours of intensive investigation he comes up empty. He goes to Sick Bay with Operations Officer Lt. Commander Data to report his findings to Beverly, and the two of them find her in her office, slumped over her console.

With Crusher now also in a coma, Picard meets with Data and Geordi and orders Data to assume the investigation, asking him to check the medical records of all the planets the Ullians have visited while doing their memory research, looking for any unexplained cases of coma. As the three men wrap up their discussion, Picard get a call from Sick Bay informing him that Troi has regained consciousness.

Unfortunately Troi is not of much help. She can't remember anything other than that she was brushing her hair and suddenly woke up in Sick Bay. Deanna is alarmed to find out that she has been unconscious for three days and asks what is going on. Picard can only disappointingly reply that they were hoping she could tell them.

Picard goes to visit the Ullians again and while emphasizing that the crew of the Enterprise has done all they can to explain the comas, having investigated every possible cause and found nothing, at this point he is requesting that the Ullians "voluntarily" confine themselves to quarters until the mystery is unraveled. Jev asks that he and his people be allowed to prove their innocence. He asks that he be allowed to memory probe Troi in an effort to help her regain the missing memories of exactly what happened when she fell into her coma. Picard agrees, but points out that Troi will have to volunteer her cooperation for such an experiment.

On the Bridge, Jeordi and Data start work on Picard's assignment, contacting the various worlds visited by the Ullians. They find no unexplained cases of coma, but La Forge realizes that the physicians on those worlds might not have been as through as Dr. Crusher and simply attributed the comas to other causes. Repeating the search for cases of Iresine syndrome they quickly find two cases occurred on Hurada III while the Ullians were present.

In Deann's quarters, Jev begins his memory probe of Deana, with some of the other Ullians as well as Picard and Lt Worf present. Deanna remembers with Jev's help that right before she fell into the coma she had memories of someone touching her hair, and recalls that in her flashback she was with Will Riker, finally she also recollects that Riker was replaced by Tarmin.

Sometime later Jev meets with Picard in the Captain's ready room. He informs Picard that he has contacted his home world and that the authorities there are ready to support prosecution of Tarmin. Picard replies that an invasion of one's memory is not a crime in the Federation, but Jev replies that since his civilization is a telepathic one, such incursions were abolished on his world centuries earlier. He adds that the punishment is quite severe. As he leaves, Jev tells Picard that even though Tarmin strenuously maintains his innocence his telepathic activities are now being monitored and he won't be allowed to assault anyone else.

Geordi and Data continue on with their research, and discover that Tarmin wasn't present as part of the Ullian delegation on two of the worlds where there were coma victims.

Jev comes to Deanna's cabin to tell her goodbye and apologize for all his father put her through. He also tells her that at one point he hoped that they could have been friends, but understands that this would be almost impossible now in light of all that has happened. Deanna sees that he is very upset and asks if he wants to stay and discuss the matter. Suddenly Jev's attitude changes. Saying that Deanna is "so nice", and asking why she has to be so nice, Jev becomes agitated and initiates another mind probe. Troi finds the flashbacks starting again, and she realizes that it was Jev, not Tarmin who mentally invaded her earlier. Jev grabs her and begins to assault her physically, she tries to fight him off but without much luck. Suddenly the door to her quarters opens and Data, Worf, and other security officers enter. Worf quickly fends off Jev, and Data explains that he and Jeordi discovered Jev was the only Ullian uniformly present during all of the onsets of coma.

The Enterprise sets course for the Ullian home world, on the way Riker and Crusher awaken and begin the recovery process. Tarmin meets with the command staff to tell all the effected officers that physicians from his home world will meet with each of them upon their arrival to help them with their healing process. He adds that its been three centuries since they have had to treat anyone for the type of "mental rape" which Troi, Riker, and Crusher suffered, and ruefully adds that such attacks are almost unimaginable to the advanced Ullian society of today, his people having thought that they had moved beyond such terrible and violent ways long ago. Picard assuages him by pointing out that humans in the past were also once violent and savage, and that even though - like Ullian race - humans have evolved, they all still contain the seeds of that violence. He adds that this violence is still capable of consuming them, as it apparently did Tarmin's son.

[edit] Trivia

The concept of telepathic rape would again be examined in the 2002 movie Star Trek: Nemesis
When Counselor Troi and Jev enter the turbolift, the outside reads "03", for Deck 3. When Troi gets out, supposedly on Deck 8, it still reads Deck 3.