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SUMMARY: Seven of Nine starts the difficult journey toward regaining her Humanity. Kes evolves powerful mental powers that endanger Voyager.
Seven of Nine is referred to as "Seven" on this website, in accordance with the way the crew mostly refer to her from [#71 Day Of Honor] onwards. In this Synopsis, however, as events occur before that episode and to emphasise that she feels more Borg than human, she is referred to as Seven of Nine.
When Seven of Nine learns that her link to the Borg Collective has been severed, her demands that she be returned fall on deaf ears. Investigating the former drone's past, Janeway learns that she was assimilated as a young girl named Annika Hansen. With her human physiology already re-asserting itself, Seven of Nine's immune system begins rejecting her Borg implants, leaving the Doctor no choice but to remove them. Meanwhile, Kes begins to experience a startling increase in her telepathic abilities.
PADD record of Annika Hansen |
Seven of Nine is angry and frightened when she discovers the Doctor has removed numerous Borg implants |
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| Janeway refuses Seven of Nine's demands and offers her an alternative - life among Humans, life on Voyager |
Torres and her engineering staff are working hard to repair the ship and remove the unwanted Borg modifications made to the ship (made when Borg drones, including Seven of Nine, commandeered Cargobay 2 in [#68 and #69 Scorpion]). Janeway orders Seven of Nine to assist. Torres makes plain her contempt for Seven of Nine's past life as a Borg drone. However, while working, Seven accesses the subspace transmitter, trying to communicate with the Borg Collective. But Kes senses her actions, and with her new enhanced abilities, she prevents Seven of Nine from completing the transmission.
Janeway brings Seven of Nine to Torres in Engineering |
Seven of Nine tries to contact the Borg Collective |
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| Kes remotely causes an energy discharge to strike Seven of Nine and thwart her attempt to contact the Borg |
Seven of Nine is confined to the Brig to prevent any further attempts to contact the Borg. Over the drone's objections, Janeway says she will make her fully human again, believing that the end will justify the means. Meanwhile, Tuvok becomes alarmed when he finds that Kes' new abilities are endangering the ship, weakening it structurally.
Janeway tries to bond with Seven of Nine |
in the Messhall, for a moment Kes goes into a state of cellular flux |
The ship's sensors reveal that Kes is periodically going into a state of cellular flux, with her atoms destabilising at the subatomic level. Janeway's attention is divided - she is concerned for Kes but she also needs to spend time helping Seven of Nine who is fighting against her assimilation into human culture every step of the way.
With the ship's defences compromised by her transformation, Kes decides it will be best for everyone if she leaves Voyager permanently, and further explore her new state. With parts of Voyager destabilising and exploding around them, Tuvok finds Kes' powers too strong for a Vulcan mind-meld to mitigate these effects. Janeway barely gets Kes to a shuttlecraft before her molecules completely destabilise and she evolves into pure energy.
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| Kes and Janeway say farewell |
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| Janeway takes Kes to the hangar deck |
The now non-corporeal Kes uses her transformation to bestow a final gift on her Voyager family. Using her advanced telesynaptic powers, she makes ship repairs, brings the warp core online, and hurls Voyager safely beyond Borg space and ten years closer to home.
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| Kes evolves |
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| Kes hurls Voyager beyond Borg space |
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The Doctor finishes extracting most of the Borg technology from Seven of Nine, leaving her with a human appearance and, Janeway hopes, the instincts to complete her own difficult transformation. Seven of Nine will have to spend a few hours each day in a Borg alcove in Cargobay 2 until her healing metabolism can function on its own. |
Tuvok places his meditation lamp, which was used during his meditation sessions with Kes, in the window of his private quarters as a signal recognition of his regard for Kes, with whom he had developed a special bond.
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| Tuvok places his meditation lamp on the window sill of his quarters that look out into space |
 | | JANEWAY: I've got an Ocampan who wants to be something more and a Borg who's afraid of becoming something less. |
| | JANEWAY TO SEVEN OF NINE: One voice can be stronger than a thousand voices. Your mind is independent now, with its own unique identity. I'm just giving you back what was stolen from you. The existence you were denied, the child who never had a chance - that life is yours to live now. |
| | DOCTOR: Her condition is escalating. We must find a way to suppress it or the last we see of Kes could very well be her molecules blowing through the ventilation ducts.
JANEWAY: Tuvok, enhance the structural integrity fields throughout the ship. If she has another incident I'd like to avoid a hull breach. Doctor, maybe it's time we broaden our horizons. This appears to have gone beyond medical science. We're into particle physics now. |
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