Scenes in the present, i.e. year 2376, are shown inthis style. Scenes in the past, early in the year 2371, are shown inthis style.
Younger Kes is working in the Airponics Bay.
The doors open. Older Kes has entered but Younger Kes has her back turned to the door and does not see who has entered.
Younger Kes calls out: "Hello? Neelix?"
There is no response so, assuming she had imagined it, Younger Kes resumes her work.
Swiftly and quietly Older Kes comes up behind her and sedates her with the hypospray.
Younger Kes falls to the ground. Older Kes stoops over her and takes her combadge for herself. With Younger Kes incapacitated and now with her combadge, Older Kes' disguise is stronger than ever.
Messhall.
Paris: "You know, Neelix, if you want to put your own stamp on it, maybe you should give it your own name, like 'the Greasy Neelix'," Kes enters the Messhall , "or er 'the Double Talaxian with cheese'."
Neelix: "It has a nice ring to it. Thank you, Lieutenant, I'll keep that in mind."
Paris leaves to devour the cholesterol, and Neelix sees Kes (Older Kes). "Sweeting, what'll it be? The usual?"
Older Kes: "I'm not hungry. I thought that I'd bring Captain Janeway some coffee."
She goes into the Galley, and he follows and remarks: "That's very thoughtful."
He takes the main pot of coffee and gets a smaller pot. He starts pouring from one into the other.
Neelix: "I'm looking forward to tonight."
Older Kes: "Actually, I have a lot of work to do in Sickbay."
Neelix, disappointed: "But I already reserved the Holodeck. I thought we could take a moonlit stroll through the marshlands of Oshionian Prime."
Older Kes: "Another time, I promise."
Neelix detects her serious mood: "Something wrong?"
Older Kes: "Bad morning."
Neelix, concered: "Anything I can do?"
Older Kes remembers that in this time period they were romantically involved. But she also remembers that it was his being overly interested in her that she eventually found quite irritating (she explained it to him in 2373, in [#52 Warlord]). She cannot avoid saying rather shortly: "I'll be fine."
Neelix, trying to lighten her mood: "I'm not having a great day, either. Nobody seems to like today's menu. I tried blaming it on a replicator malfunction but no one believed me. Wait, I, I think I see something." He pretends to tap his combadge. "Neelix to Security. Kes' frown is losing its structural integrity. Red alert."
Older Kes gives a small smile.
Neelix: "I'm detecting a smile. That's my Kes."
He is unaware of the irony - she is not his Kes, not the Kes of that time period when they were romantically involved.
Older Kes, keen to leave: "The coffee?"
She collects the flask, not looking at him.
Captain's Ready Room.
Chakotay: "That last attack nearly cost us our impulse drives. Fortunately, B'Elanna found a way to reroute power from the deflector."
Janeway: "A good choice for Chief Engineer if I do say so myself." In this time period, Torres was only recently appointed Chief Engineer, over Lieutenant Joe Carey who was the Starfleet officer next in line for the job - the circumstances of her promotion are seen in [#3 Parallax].
Noticing what is on her personal computer screen, Chakotay: "Getting to know your enemy?"
Data on her computer screen is about the Vidiians, the species that suffers from the deadly tissue-destroying phage but which survives by forcibly harvesting the organs from (and thus killing) unwilling aliens. Voyager encountered them recently, when two Vidiians stole Neelix's lungs (in [#5 Phage]).
Janeway: "I feel like I already do. Remember the old story? A man goes to Risa, where he meets a beautiful woman who invites him over for an evening of passion." The planet Risa is a weather-controlled planet pleasure resort located just inside the Beta Quadrant near the Alpha Quadrant.
Chakotay: "He wakes up in the morning, feeling wonderful, until he discovers he's missing a kidney."
Janeway: "Every Cadet about to go on his first shore leave hears that cautionary tale - doesn't seem so outrageous any more, does it."
Chakotay: "No, but the Vidiians are more than just your garden variety monsters. I've been studying their culture. They were a lot like us before the phage."
Janeway: "Do I detect a note of sympathy?"
Chakotay: "Makes you wonder what we'd do under the same circumstances."
The door signal sounds.
Janeway: "Come in." Older Kes enters. Seeing the coffee pot in her hand, Janeway says: "Oh, you read my mind."
Having given his situation report, Chakotay leaves for the Bridge.
Older Kes, like Chakotay noticing what Janeway is working on: "Vidiians?"
Janeway: "I'm afraid so. We've picked up two more ships on long range sensors. I've gone to full tactical alert, taking every precaution."
Older Kes: "I'm sure you'll get us through it safely."
Janeway: "Thanks for the vote of confidence. Tuvok thinks he's found a way to penetrate their shields. The next time they attack us, it won't be so easy."
Older Kes: "That's good to hear."
The com. signal sounds. Tuvok, via comms: "Captain to the Bridge."
Janeway, via comms: "On my way."
Older Kes spills some coffee as she pours it into Janeway's mug. "Oops, I'm so clumsy, I'm sorry."
Janeway, getting up: "Don't worry about it." As she edges around the desk: "This desk has seen its share of coffee spills, believe me."
She departs for the Bridge, leaving her to clean up the spill.
As soon as Janeway has left....
....Older Kes, having created the coffee spill deliberately in order to be left alone in the Ready Room, sits at the desk and accesses the Captain's computer.
Bridge, at the science station.
Tuvok: "Ensign Wildman has an intriguing proposal."
Ensign Samantha Wildman, a xenobiologist: "We've been analysing the Vidiian bio-readings from the last attack. Their immune systems have been compromised by the phage. We could synthesise a neural agent that would incapacitate them without affecting us."
Janeway: "Might come in handy if we're ever boarded."
Wildman: "Exactly."
Janeway: "Work with the Doctor. When you've got something, find a way to deploy it through the environmental systems."
Wildman: "Aye, Captain."
As they converse, Tuvok sees Older Kes cross from the Ready Room to the turbolift. She has taken the data she wants from the Captain's computer and is leaving - if Janeway sees her she would merely assume she had cleared up the coffee spill. But Tuvok is profoundly disquieted. He and Kes are both telepaths (in the future, he will tutor her and assist her to focus and control her mental powers). He senses something strange emanating from Older Kes, but he does not know what it is. They catch each other's eye for a moment.
