Voyager responds to a distress call of a heavily-damaged Malon freighter. Torres, Neelix, Chakotay, and the only 2 surviving Malon have 6 hours to stop a theta-radiation fallout which will destroy everything within a 3 light-year radius. The away-team must clear radiation section-by-section to reach the control room, and along the way they deal with unstable airlocks and the Vihaar, a Malon boogeyman who is more malicious than mythical.