Neelix and others are on a planet where Janeway is negotiating for supplies. Neelix is collecting herbs and other foods for the mess hall. He has some food that spoils easily and needs to get it back to Voyager as soon as possible. Janeway agrees to let him use a shuttlecraft, and as he gets ready to return, some of the people from the planet request a tour of Voyager. Since Neelix is leaving, he offers to transport them. As Neelix and the aliens approach the station, he a warning light appears on his panel. He moves to compensate for the malfunction, and when he does, the shuttlecraft goes completely out of control, plowing into the shuttlebay. Emergency force fields go up, but the damage is extensive - all the aliens are killed and Neelix is barely clinging to life. As Doc and Kes struggle to keep Neelix alive, Janeway orders Paris and Kim to investigate the crash and find the cause. The computer is severely damaged and only a small amount of data can be retrieved. From this data, they find a suggestion of the original malfunction, but little else. There is little flight data remaining. Sensor logs from the ship also reveal little. Paris has an especially hard time with the investigation, since he and Neelix have become friends of late. Neelix has flown ships all his life. Paris just can't see how his friend could have made this great of a piloting error. As the investigation ensues, an alien delegation beams to Voyager and demands to know what has happened. They ask hard questions - why was someone like Neelix allowed to transport their colleagues rather than a "real" pilot? They are holding Janeway and Voyager responsible for the deaths of the others. Janeway does her best to calm this increasingly hostile situation, but without more data about the crash, there's not much she can do. Paris bristles at the alien's accusations, and Janeway must keep him in check as well. Neelix continues to barely hold onto life. Paris, anxious to clear his friend's name, asks Janeway to allow him to attempt a possibly dangerous experiment - to recreate the malfunction in flight and see what really happened. Using the flight data and station's sensor logs, they try to recreate the events as accurately as possible. However, when they cause Neelix's malfunction and compensate for it as he did, nothing happens - it looks more and more like pilot error. The aliens find out about this new information, and are further incensed. They demand Neelix's life in return, even though he may die anyway. It is all Janeway can do to hold them off. When things look like they are going to get out of hand, Paris has an idea -- they've never exactly re-created the accident because they've never flown the tests with the aliens on board. Perhaps this is the missing factor. It takes a great deal of convincing, but the aliens finally agree, and several of them are brought on board. This time, the shuttlecraft goes wildly out of control. Paris barely avoids slamming into Voyager himself. They do some tests, and find out that the aliens give off a fairly strong bio-magnetic field. This affected Neelix's instruments, and is what caused the crash! Paris and the crew are overjoyed - it was not pilot error! This gets Neelix off the hook with the aliens, and he finally pulls through... Piller's comments: He didn't think this story was enough to be sustained for a full episode.
Menosky's comments: He said about the same thing...