“Violations” is episode twelve of season five of Star Trek: The Next Generation.
The Enterprise is transporting a delegation of Ullians, telepathic historians who do research by retrieving long-forgotten memories. In Ten Forward, the leader, Tarmin, is demonstrating on Keiko, retrieving a memory of her grandmother whilst Geordi, Dr Crusher and Commander Riker watch, along with the other two Ullians, Inad and Jev. Afterwards, Tarmin asks the doctor if she wants to have a go and Jev, his son, tells him off for probing without permission.
Data is speaking to Geordi about why humans would forget an important event. Geordi explains it’s different; Data records everything and then accesses the proper memory circuits. Data believes the human brain works in a similar way. True, but sometimes they can’t access the information. Geordi can’t remember his last birthday – truthfully, quite common – but can remember his first pet. Humans don’t just remember the pleasant memories either and forget the unpleasant. Data thinks there is no predictable pattern.
At a dinner with the senior staff, Jev starts explaining how they are collecting the retrieved memories from many different star systems when his father takes over. They plan to build a library of memories; history is the experience of the people who lived it. After years of work, they have done 11 planets in 8 systems. Dr Crusher talks about the demonstration and suggests the captain might have memories he’d like to recollect. The captain looks horrified. Tarmin suggests exploring Worf’s memories. Klingons do not allow themselves to be probed. No-one else takes up the offer either. Troi asks if all Ullians can do it and is told no. Tarmin is rather dismissive of Jev’s abilities.
Jev leaves and Troi follows. In the turbolift, Jev says his father finds it amusing to demean him in public. Troi says she knows how he feels; it’s not easy having an overbearing parent. Not because she’s an empath, because she can’t read Ullians. Because of her own mother. Troi has her own approach for dealing with it. It doesn’t work.
In her room, Troi is getting ready for bird when she starts having memories of something with Riker. Then Jev takes Riker’s place. Troi collapses.
In sickbay, Dr Crusher explains to the captain and Riker that Troi was found in a deep coma. She’s tried the standard methods of revival, but doesn’t want to do anything more extreme without knowing the cause. Captain Picard asks who the last person to speak to Troi was and Riker says she left with one of the Ullians. The captain wants them to be asked if they’ll consent to an examination, just in case they brought something aboard.
Riker finds Jev in Ten Forward and tells him about Troi. Jev may be the last person to speak to her; did he go with Troi to her quarters? Just trying to trace Troi’s steps. He’s not accusing Jev. Which is odd, because he definitely sounds like he is. Jev consents to an examination.
Riker spends some time in sickbay talking to the unconscious Troi until Dr Crusher orders him to go to bed. Riker returns to his quarters and starts having memories of an incident in engineering that sounds to have resulted in the death of an ensign. Jev appears in this as well. Riker collapses. When the captain tries to contact Riker the next day, this is discovered.
Two members of the crew have collapsed so far and they’re trying to work out what happened. It seems evident that Jev is responsible, but that’s rather hard to discover when everything was done telepathically to unconscious people.