Played By: Jennifer
Lien
Species: Ocampa
Current assignment: U.S.S. Voyager: airponics gardener, medical
aide/student
Full Name: Kes
Year of birth: 2370
Place of birth: Ocampa homeworld
Parents: Daughter of Benarem, her father
Marital status: Single
Profile Entry: Report by Capt. Kathryn Janeway Additional
Medical Notes: EMH Doctor, AK-1
Kes is a female Ocampa, the species with a life span of only nine
years whose home system Voyager was pulled to by the
"Caretaker" entity of the Nacene race; although she appears as
a twenty-year-old in human years, Kes is actually just two. A tough
survivor and a bit of a rebel despite her waif-like air, she came aboard
as Neelix's lover and to escape her abuse as a slave with the Kazon-Ogla
on the surface of her world, having fled her peoples' passive
underground existence to pursue the outside world and the mental
acuities rumored to have flourished among her ancestors. She did so at
the regret of leaving behind her wise father, Benarem, who died just
after her first birthday; she was very close to him and still feels his
presence as a guide.
Kes has already begun to develop her abilities, pursuing a
full-fledged medical training course with the EMH Doctor and studying
Vulcan mental disciplines with Tuvok. She has already led the ship into
a disappointing rendezvous with the "female Caretaker"
Susporia and a renegade Ocampa colony of advanced yet malevolent
brethren, who almost allowed her to lose control of her new powers and
kill her Vulcan friend. Kes' medical training has advanced so far that
she can now handle away team medical duties, a welcome relief for the
holographic doctor. She also helps Neelix in the kitchen and handles the
airponics bay gardening.
She had first met Neelix when he stole water from the Kazon-Ogla to
bring to her, and now absolutely adores him, standing by in his times of
crisis; while doing all she could to discourage his jealous streak she
was baffled when he and his perceived rival Paris came back old pals
from birthing a reptilloid infant, and was even fearful to tell him that
she and the Doctor were married in his holo-program malfunction. She has
indeed developed a close friendship with the Doctor, whose medical
teaching is repaid in a way by her encouragement on the road to his
increasingly human programming - including hints about bedside manner,
raising his level of respect by the rest of the crew, and a joint effort
with Paris to get him and Vidiian Dr. Danara Pel's hologram together for
a date.
Kes faces the greatest crisis of her young life when she became
prematurely pregnant with the elogium due to the electrophoretic
activity of nearby space-dwelling creatures and confronted with Neelix
the emotional roller-coaster of whether or not to conceive a child at
her young age. She opted not to, but the absence of the creatures and
remission of the elogium effects made it a moot point; she should be
fine at the right time. She would have chosen her father to perform her
rolisisin pre-mating ritual had she been home for it; her mother may not
be alive, since she is unmentioned.
DATABASE UPDATE, SD 50460:
Entry by K. Janeway
Our "youngest" crew member, aside from Samantha Wildman's
baby, continues to make incredible growth and contributions to this crew
as she nears her third Ocampan birthday. I do not know how we could have
survived without advanced medical skills if not for her independent and
quick-witted actions during the Swarm attack, when she initialized and
grafted on more memory to our EMH when its memory database overloaded
and began to degrade. It is too her humanity that she spoke out against
fully blanking the Doctor's acquired memory and personality, and I
understand she has more than risen to the challenge of aiding himin his
newly mobile state. This is why, apart from the personal note, I felt
the need to risk retrieving Kes from the Nechani
Since her premature elogium, the past year has been nothing but an
emotional rollercoaster for Kes as well, beginning with Neelix and
Tuvok's freakish transporter merger into one new lifeform, dubbed Tuvix,
and her disquiet with his residual attraction for her. Her reaction,
along with many other factors, led to the decision I made at that time
to try for the separation.
Closer to home, her body's possession by the Ilaran warlord Tiernan
has affected her perception of Tuvok, the Doctor, and even Neelix,
although it is to her credit that Kes' will and ethics fought through
the abduction. Still, I note with some sadness that she and Neelix have
embarked on a platonic relationship for now at her request; it is good
to know, for instance, that he still prepares her favorite meal of
Trellian crepes on Wednesdays. But I wish them well along whatever path
they choose.
DATABASE UPDATE:
Entry by EMH Doctor, AK-1
Kes has undergone a radical evolutionary process. Following contact
with the species known only by their Borg designation as
"8472", Kes began to exhibit extremely elevated serotonin
levels. After running a micro-synaptic analysis, I found no way to slow
the increase in telesynaptic activity. Kes continued to destabilize at
the molecular level and eventually became a being seemingly comprised of
pure energy. Kes left the starship Voyager at the time of her
destabilization, but imparted a gift to the crew; she propelled us 9,
500 light years towards home, completely circumventing Borg space. |