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Kes

- 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: SingleKes 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.

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.

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.