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Kes in 2371
Kes (2373)
Gender: Female
Species: Ocampa
Born: 2370
Father: Benaren
Mother: Martis
Actress: Jennifer Lien
Kes in 2374
Kes (2374)

Kes was a female of the Ocampa species, born in 2370.

Childhood

Kes, infant

Kes as an infant.

When Kes was born, her mother expressed a wish that she would one day see the sun. Kes's father died not long after her first birthday.

Like most Ocampa, Kes was brought up in the underground city in the south of their homeworld. Unlike many of her race, she believed the stories about the Ocampa's legendary mental powers and she developed a yearning to see the outside world. As a result, she left the city in 2371, through some old tunnels, bypassing the security barrier that was placed by the Caretaker to stop enemies entering the city.

On reaching the surface, she was captured by members of the Kazon-Ogla sect, who had established a camp near the city. They kept her as a slave and tortured her for information regarding the entrance to the Ocampa city. During her time with the Ogla, she met the Talaxian, Neelix. The two fell in love, and Neelix promised to return and rescue her. He managed this with the aid of the USS Voyager and the two agreed to stay on the ship. (VOY: "Caretaker")

Time Aboard Voyager

The First Year

Kes child

Kes as a child in 2370

As one of her first acts on Voyager, Kes volunteered to establish a hydroponics garden in cargo bay two in order to provide fresh fruits and vegetables to allow for more variety in meals for the crew. Her requirement of multiple nitrogenated soil for her garden from Sickbay started her friendship and sympathy with the Doctor. (VOY: "Parallax")

Shortly after joining the crew, Kes began to exhibit some of the mental powers her species had long since lost. She experienced a telepathic vision of the destruction of a nearby planet by a polaric ion explosion. She also started to exhibit temporal telepathy while investigating the disaster. Ironically, the timeline containing the disaster was unravelled and only the echo of the original vision remained. (VOY: "Time and Again")

Kes quickly settled in to life aboard Voyager and began growing vegetables in her hydroponics bay. She also began to study medicine under the Doctor in order to become the Doctor's nurse. When Neelix was attacked by the Vidiians and they removed his lungs, she donated one of her own to save his life. After the operation, the Doctor allowed her to commence training to become his medical assistant. (VOY: "Phage")

Soon Kes started to help the Doctor in sickbay. She was shocked at the way the Doctor was treated by the crew. She also lectured the Doctor on his bedside manner. After explaining the situation to Captain Janeway, the captain agreed with her. Janeway told the Doctor that he was a member of the crew and she gave him control of the deactivation of his program. (VOY: "Eye of the Needle")

Telepathic Powers

Tuvok and Chakotay were attacked by an alien while returning from an away mission. After the two were beamed aboard, strange things started happening to the ship, with different crewmembers implicated as the culprits. Kes informed Janeway that she sensed an alien on board. Tuvok attempted a mind meld with her to help with her telepathic abilities in order to find the alien. It ended in failure when both were disabled by an energy surge like the one that hit Tuvok and Chakotay (although, this was later revealed to be a lie; in reality, Kes had been knocked out by Tuvok, who was possessed by an alien being at the time). (VOY: "Cathexis")

Kes's native telepathic powers continued to grow during her time in space, and she received training from Tuvok to control her powers. When Voyager encountered another group of Ocampa and the entity Suspiria, Kes's powers increased so fast that she began to lose control of them, incinerating the hydroponics bay and nearly killing Tuvok due to her new power of pyrokinesis. Fortunately, she saw how twisted these Ocampa had become and used her powers to fight them off. With the escape of Suspiria, her powers returned to their normal levels. (VOY: "Cold Fire")

In an artifically-created hallucination, it was Kes who telepathically sensed that Janeway's spirit was still present on Voyager, but attempts by Tuvok and Kes to make contact with her failed. However, Janeway soon learned that she was simply being pursued by an alien who was trying to convince her that she was dead and wanted her energy to feed off of, so this fact does not actually apply. (VOY: "Coda")

At the end of the year during the battle with the Borg and Species 8472, she could sense Species 8472. She warned an away team that they are about to be attacked by the aliens, and was able to determine that Species 8472 was planning an invasion of the Delta Quadrant. (VOY: "Scorpion")

The Last Year on Voyager

On a visit to the Nechani homeworld, Kes was struck by an energy burst that put her into a coma. She had wandered into a sanctuary that only monks were allowed in. She was saved by Janeway who went through a series of tests of faith. (VOY: "Sacred Ground")

Tieran

Tieran, as he appeared in his mental confrontation with Kes

One of the most troubling episodes in Kes' life occured in 2373, when her body was taken over by the Ilari, Tieran. Although he found her physically weak, he discovered that he was able to put her budding psychokinetic abilities to dangerous uses and grew fond of her body. For the first few days, he concealed his presence and even ended Kes' relationship with Neelix.

After killing the Autarch's representative and Ensign Martin, he returned to Ilari and staged a coup, killing the ruling Autarch. During the next few days, Kes fought him mentally, causing increasingly erratic behavior. She even surfaced at one point, with the help of Tuvok, but she was unable to remove Tieran's influence.

As a civil war broke out on the planet, the crew of Voyager rescued Kes but failed to prevent Tieran from taking Ameron as a new host, although he was destroyed a short time later. Kes found the experience difficult to comprehend and blamed herself for the high death toll. It was clear that her time with Tieran had shaken her badly. (VOY: "Warlord")

Possibly as a result of her experience with Tieran, Kes began to question her continued presence on Voyager. She chose not to restart her relationship with Neelix and began to pursue other relationships instead. The first of these was with a Mikhal Traveler named Zahir. She fell in love with Zahir during a stay at one of their outposts, and seriously considered his offer to explore space with him rather than stay on Voyager. Meanwhile, the Doctor, who was experimenting with his matrix, caused an evil side to emerge. He became jealous of her suitor, attacked Zahir, and kidnapped Kes. During their time together, Kes realised that the 'dark Doctor' was not truly evil; despite his claims that all organics were pathetic, he seemed to care for Kes in a twisted manner. Despite this, when cornered by an away team searching for them, rather than be captured, the 'dark Doctor' jumped off a cliff with Kes. They were saved by the transporter beam as the dark subroutines in the Doctor's program finally collapsed, resulting in him being back to normal when he returned to Voyager. Eventually, she decided to remain with her friends. (VOY: "Darkling")

A scene where Kes and Neelix discuss their breakup was cut from "Fair Trade" for timing reasons.

Leaving Voyager

A few weeks later, Voyager entered the core space of the Borg and stumbled across the Borg-Species 8472 War. As a result of the telepathic nature of Species 8472, Kes began to experience visions of the future, and later began to communicate with the race. When they realized her nature, Species 8472 began reading Kes's memories. The communications ceased when the species retreated from the Delta Quadrant.

Kes the Gift

Kes becomes non-corporeal

Only a few days later, Kes began to undergo a massive surge in her mental powers. Although it was theorized that the exposure to Species 8472 caused these changes, there was little evidence for this. For whatever reason, Kes became telekinetic and was able to carry out delicate surgical procedures using only her mind. Unfortunately, she rapidly started to destabilize at the subatomic level and was causing massive damage to Voyager as a result. Taking a shuttle, she left the ship to explore her new condition and, as she left the corporeal world behind, pushed Voyager 9,500 light years closer to Earth as a parting gift. (VOY: "The Gift")

An Expected Visit

Kes fury

Kes in 2376

In 2376, Voyager received a distress call from a small ship. Sensors revealed the ship had one Ocampan lifeform on board. It was an aged Kes, who requested to be beamed aboard Voyager. When Janeway questioned her motives, Kes responded by ramming Voyager with her small ship and boarding the Starfleet vessel. She made her way to engineering, using her powers to cause extensive damage along the way. When she got there, she found the warp core offline. A hologram that she had recorded of herself before leaving Voyager was activated. The holographic image reminded her that she was responsible for her own fate. Kes responded emotionally and ceased hostilities. Janeway offered her a place on the crew but she refused, opting instead to return to her homeworld.

In an alternate timeline, Kes killed B'Elanna Torres and used the warp core's energy to travel back to 2371, shortly after Voyager had become trapped in the Delta Quadrant. She attempted to prevent her younger self from developing her powers, making a deal with the Vidiians to attack and capture the ship, while taking the younger Kes back to Ocampa. This attempt was thwarted by Captain Janeway, who killed the older Kes when she was knocked off-balance during a Vidiian attack, and the younger Kes recorded a hologram that would dissuade the Kes of 2376 from making the time jump. (VOY: "Fury")

It's interesting to note that Kes's return to the Ocampa would coincide with the depletion of the energy stores established by the Caretaker.

Alternate Future

Kes giving birth

Kes giving birth to Linnis.

Kes, age 9

Kes, age 9.

In one possible timeline, Voyager was badly damaged during The Year of Hell conflict with the Krenim and the crew were exposed to chronitons. Kes lived through these events and eventually married Tom Paris, B'Elanna having died during the conflict. They had a daughter together called Linnis who, like her mother, grew up very rapidly. Linnis then married Harry Kim, giving Kes a grandson, Andrew. Eventually, Kes reached nine years old and began to age rapidly as she entered the morilogium, the final phase of Ocampan life. To save her, the Doctor placed her in a bio-temporal chamber in an attempt to make her cells younger. This procedure reactivated the dormant chronitons and the resulting temporal destabilization sent Kes back along her timeline, altering it along the way as she discussed her memories of the future.

The effect was halted in late 2373 when the Doctor used antichronitons to stabilize Kes; in her previous jump she had taken energy readings of the torpedo that had infected her, allowing the Doctor to work out a means of countering her infection. Over the next few days, her two sets of memories (one set from the past, up to 2373; and one set from the future, back from 2379) became a single coherent set. As a result of her experience, Kes was able to warn Captain Janeway of the danger posed by the Krenim. (VOY: "Before and After")

At least one of Annorax's later incursions removed this event from history as Janeway was unaware of the nature of the Krenim when she met them.

Relationships with Crew Members

Neelix

Although her relationship with Neelix was a romantic one, it seemed to cool during the trip on Voyager.

Alien creatures that attached to Voyager caused strange effects in Kes. She became fertile, which Ocampas do only once in a lifetime. If she wanted a baby she had to concieve while she was in this cycle. Neelix was willing to start a family, but Kes decided not to have a baby, since she felt she was too young. However, after the creatures were returned to their mother creature, the Doctor believed that her condition was a false fertile cycle, and that Kes could get pregnant in the future. (VOY: "Elogium")

Her friendly behavior with Paris caused a confrontation between Neelix and Paris. (VOY: "Parturition")

During late 2372, Kes suffered a major personal loss after a transporter accident claimed the lives Neelix and Tuvok. In their place was a new combined entity that christened itself Tuvix. Kes was deeply troubled by the loss, but worked hard to become friends with Tuvix. When Captain Janeway found a method of recreating the original pair, Tuvix asked Kes to intercede in an effort to save his own existence. In fact, Kes asked the opposite, giving in to her desperation to have Neelix and Tuvok back. (VOY: "Tuvix")

Following her possession by Tieran, Kes and Neelix broke up; although this was initially caused by Tieran, it has been speculated that Tieran was partially motivated by Kes' own subconscious desires, explaining why she never got back together with the Talaxian. Despite this, the two remained close friends.

The Doctor

File:TheDoctor.jpg

The Doctor

Kes would continue her efforts to help the Doctor relate to the crew and get in touch with his feelings. This evidently had a powerful effect on the Doctor; when his program suffered damage and he began to hallucinate that he was his creator, Dr. Lewis Zimmerman, his hallucination included a human Kes as his wife. Only the real Kes was aware of this, however, deciding to keep it between the two of them in case Neelix became jealous. (VOY: "Projections")

Over time, the Doctor and Kes quickly settling into an almost father/daughter role, with the Doctor teaching Kes as a medical assistant. Kes also trusted the Doctor enough to perform the role of her father in the rolisisin, a foot massage that was a precursor to the mating ritual, commonly marking the change in relationship between father and child as the child became a parent herself (VOY: "Elogium").

When a Vidiian scientist, Denara Pel, was beamed onto Voyager dying from the Phage, he transfered her synaptic pattern to a holobuffer and created a holographic body for her without the ravages of the Phage. Subsequently, Kes encouraged the Doctor to tell Denara about his feelings for her, and she subsequently worked with Tom Paris to set the Doctor and Denara up on a date in the holodeck (VOY: "Lifesigns").

The next year Kes helped save the Doctor's matrix when, due to his program having been active for far longer than it was designed for, he began to lose his memories and skills as a doctor. After Torres activated a hologram of Dr. Lewis Zimmerman, he explained that the Doctor had been online too long and was deteriorating. Kes persuaded Dr. Zimmerman to graft his matrix onto the Doctor, restoring his mental capabilities (VOY: "The Swarm"). When the Doctor's program developed a secondary, evil personality, the 'Dark Doctor' still appeared to care for Kes, albiet in a more twisted fashion than the normal Doctor. Not only did he try to kill Zahir, the alien who Kes had developed feelings for, because he wanted Kes to remain on the ship, but he also claimed, during his capture of her, that she needed his help due to her naivety (VOY: "Darkling").

Tom Paris

File:TomParis2377.jpg

Tom Paris

As Kes' role on the crew developed, Tom Paris began to develop feelings for her; in an alternate future, he admitted that he'd had a crush on her from the moment she joined the crew. Tom introduced her to new forms of food and drink, including spinach juice which she enjoyed. (VOY: "Eye of the Needle") At her second birthday party, he sacrificed two weeks' worth of replicator rations to give her a beautiful locket as a present (VOY: "Twisted").

His feelings for her grew when he became her flight instructor, prompting a brief conflict between him and Neelix, but the two of them resolved their differences after saving an alien infant together (VOY: "Parturition"). Kes and Paris were also closely involved in helping the Doctor cope with relationships; the two of them helped the Doctor arrange a date with Denara Pel, a Vidiian the Doctor had developed feelings for. When Paris left the ship as part of a ploy to expose a Kazon spy, Kes was one of the three people who came to say goodbye to him directly, the other two being Neelix and Harry Kim. (VOY: "Investigations")

In an alternate future, Kes and Paris married during The Year of Hell conflict, following the death of B'Elanna Torres, the two going on to have a daughter, Linnis Paris, who married Harry Kim and had a son called Andrew Kim. This timeline was erased when exposure to temporal radiation sent Kes travelling back in time from the moment of her death, and any feelings she may have developed for Tom in the course of her jumps were never fully explored before she finally departed the ship. (VOY: "Before and After")

Tuvok

Tuvok became Kes' mentor and tutor in establishing her mental abilities. He used mind melds in order to teach her to control her powers, but sometimes became 'frustrated' (As much as any Vulcan can) with her 'emotional outbursts', such as giggling, when she used her abilities. Nevertheless, they were close companions, which made the creation of Tuvix in a transporter accident that much harder for Kes; if Neelix had died, Tuvok would have offered her spiritual guidance, while Neelix would have supported her emotionally if Tuvok was lost, but with both of them gone, she had nobody to help her (VOY: "Tuvix"). When Kes was taken over by Tieran, the dictator even attempted to seduce Tuvok in Kes' body, but Tuvok denied that he had ever desired Kes (VOY: "Warlord").

Apocrypha

In the String Theory trilogy, Kes was called to Ocampa's distant past to help the Doctor and Q oversee the birth of an Ocampa/Nacene hybrid; the Ocampan mother lacked the life energy to carry the child to term, so Kes 'merged' with the woman to act as a kind of surrogate. This also revealed that the Kes who attacked Voyager in "Fury" was not actually the future Kes, but was instead the personification of the anger and rage in Kes' soul, created when she was forced to seperate herself from the Ocampan she had merged with while fighting a rogue Nacene. As a result of the improper seperation, Kes' 'dark side' merged with the body of the Ocampan, although the spirit of the Ocampan herself passed on peacefully. Kes subsequently returned to Ocampa, where she and the hybrid were able to bring rain back to the planet once more.

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