Voyager responds to the distress call of a heavily-damaged Malon freighter. Torres, Neelix, Chakotay and the only two surviving Malon have six hours to stop a theta-radiation fallout that will destroy everything within a three light-year radius. The away-team must clear radiation section-by-section to reach the control room. Along the way they deal with unstable airlocks and the Vihaar, a Malon boogeyman who is more malicious than mythical.
—Meribor