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SUMMARY: Once dead, now 're-animated' by the Kobali, Kim's close friend Ensign Ballard returns to Voyager.
As a tiny Delta Quadrant shuttle outruns a larger vessel, the shuttle's pilot tries to radio the U.S.S. Voyager. When she does contact Voyager, she claims she is Lyndsay Ballard, a former shipmate who has been dead for three years. Nobody on Voyager initially believes her story because she no longer looks human.
the Kobali shuttle that Ballard pilots to Voyager |
confined behind a forcefield in Sickbay, Ballard is scanned by the Doctor |
She tells Captain Janeway and the crew that a Delta Quadrant race known as the Kobali had found her body drifting in space and 're-animated' it. The Kobali procreate by altering the DNA of the dead they salvage from other races. Her best friend Harry Kim was with her when, on stardate 51563, she died in the Vyntadi Expanse in an ambush by a Hirogen hunting party that had reconfigured power cells to give off false readings of dilithium so as to lure them. Ballard was hit by a neural disruptor and did not survive. Kim believes her story based on the facts she gives about her death. The Kobali have a multispheric brain (with six lobes) and a binary cardiovascular system, and after they found her they spent months altering her DNA. However, the Doctor then finds traces of human DNA in her, which convinces Janeway she is telling the truth.
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| Janeway listens to Ballard's story |
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| once her story is authenticated, Ballard and Kim hug, delighted to see each other again |
Seven, placed by Janeway in charge of the four children formerly Borg, plans every hour of their day, including one hour exactly for fun (which she terms "recreational activities"). She does not understand why the children are so rowdy. Azan and Rebi misbehave during a game of kadiskot, using their neural interfaces to telepathically exchange useful tactical information towards winning the game, i.e. they cheat. Mezoti notices and informs Seven, who implements punishment protocol 9-Alpha, ordering them to stand in a corner. However, Icheb refuses to participate in the kadiskot game if the twins are excluded. In a burst of temper, he accuses Seven of not allowing any of the children to do what they want; he pushes the game counters on the floor, and refuses to obey any punishment protocol, walking out of the room.
the kadiskot game |
Icheb turns on Seven |
A genetic pathogen in Ballard's bloodstream converted most of her DNA into a Kobali protein structure and the biochemical changes have affected every system in her body. As there is not enough of her human DNA left to make her human again, the Doctor does make cosmetic changes using an inaprovaline compound. But the pathogen is very strong, and ultimately she will have to see the Doctor twice a day to keep up with the cosmetic treatments. After the first treatment, Ballard does begin to look more human, but the medication makes her feel sick.
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| Ballard's appearance changes after medication, with the Kobali skin pigment becoming less pronounced |
With Kim's help, Ballard devotes herself with energy to her life on Voyager, much as she did before on Voyager, her motto being "own the day". As they spend time together, often reminiscing, it becomes clear that Kim felt a strong affection for her. He gave the eulogy at her funeral. He put all of her possessions in storage, without throwing any of them away. He claims that he used to request baryon sweeps of his dorm room (because he lived across from the sloppy Ballard).
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| Kim and Ballard spend time together |
While she was with the Kobali she devised a list of things to do on her return. She sets about ticking off the items on the list. For instance, one item is to dazzle Lieutenant Torres, and she does so, not only by turning up on time for a duty shift for a change but by solving an engine problem: Torres notes that an alignment error has been showing up in the dilithium matrix. Ballard sees the problem immediately using the Kobali word "vyk'tiote", which translates literally into "crumpled dance" to explain it, and she easily corrects the error but speaks Kobali while doing so. She is chagrined to be told that she was speaking Kobali.
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| Ballard discovers that she speaks some Kobali while talking with Torres about an engineering problem |
And when Neelix prepares a Jibalian fruit salad, the eating of which is also on her list, she finds that it tastes funny, probably due to her Kobali biological changes. However, she does not achieve the item: "Make Tuvok laugh."
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| Ballard says that the berry salad has a kind of metallic flavour and does not taste as she remembers it |
Seven asks Chakotay if she can be relieved of her duty as guardian of the Borg children. Chakotay tells her that she is treating the children like they are on a Borg cube, when instead she should be treating each child as an individual. He denies her request. The next group recreational activity that Seven devises for the children is a clay modelling session (possibly inspired by the one that Janeway gave her about two years ago, in [#74 The Raven]). When Mezoti rebels against the brief to model a geometric shape and instead creates a likeness of Seven's face, Seven does not rebuke her but is pleased with her streak of individuality.
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| Seven is disconcerted that children and disorder go together, and Chakotay points out that fun for the children, which is scheduled to a specific time slot on the Activity Schedule Seven has drawn up, is not something that can be so scheduled |
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| after making not a geometric shape as instructed but a clay sculpture of Seven's head, Mezoti's "disorder" is not punished by Seven, but instead encouraged |
Ballard is invited to dine with the Captain, but the evening does not go well.
Ballard and Janeway have peanut butter and jelly sandwiches
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| Ballard believes she has offended Janeway and that she has talked about inappropriate subjects |
Ballard dreams that the Voyager senior staff tell her that she should not have returned, and she also dreams of her Kobali father, named Q'ret, who calls her by her Kobali name Jhet'leya.
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| Ballard dreams about her Kobali father |
When Ballard visits Kim in his quarters to talk about her feelings of conflict between her Voyager and her Kobali life, Kim ends up confessing his love for her. He has always been attracted to her. At Starfleet Academy, he re-arranged his classes to be around Ballard, and he let her teach him how to ice skate even though he hates the cold. She feels attracted to him too, and they share a passionate kiss.
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| Ballard discovers that she returns the feelings Kim has for her |
A Kobali vessel that has been pursuing Ballard catches up and makes contact with Voyager. The vessel's commander, Q'ret, asks to speak with Ballard. He is her Kobali 'father', and he calls her by her Kobali name, Jhet'leya. He attempts to convince Ballard to return with him. Q'ret accuses the Voyager crew of setting her adrift like trash and telling her that her Kobali sister misses her. However, Ballard refuses to go back with him.
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| Ballard confronts Q'ret |
As Kim talks with Ballard, she admits that now she feels more at home with the Kobali. When her human appearance suddenly reverts for a short time, she fears she will never fit in on Voyager if she looks Kobali. But Kim refuses to recognise her conflicted emotions because after years of missed opportunities, the two have finally admitted their mutual romantic interest for one another. When Q'ret brings more Kobali ships and they fire on Voyager, gradually overcoming the ship's defences, and insists he will not stop until Ballard comes home, she decides to return to the Kobali and save Voyager. Unwilling to let her go, Kim, without orders, wants to fire on the Kobali ship, but Chakotay orders him to stand down and he relents at Ballard's insistence. Ballard says that at least this way they have a chance to say farewell. Accordingly, the Doctor stops Ballard's treatments, allowing her body to revert to Kobali physiology. Kim and Ballard share a tender goodbye and she returns to her Kobali family.
Kobali ships attack Voyager |
Ballard, determined to return to the Kobali, tells Kim he has already lost her but this way they have the chance to say goodbye |
the final farewell kiss |
Ballard beams out - off Voyager and out of Kim's life, this time forever |
 | | BALLARD: Since the day I got back here I haven't felt right. First I thought it was Voyager. Things had changed so much, I thought if I just gave myself more time I'd get used to it. But it's me. I've changed. And the more I try to deny it, the more I feel like a ghost. I'm sorry, Harry, but I can't keep fighting any more. |
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