Chakotay and Janeway were walking down another corridor in silence. Janeway was thinking about what she should do. Seeing Tuvok die had been hard, and she knew several of her crew had died in the Delta quadrant. Tuvok might be saved if the plan worked, but the others would still be dead. Chakotay appeared convinced that his plan was best. The Temporal Prime Directive agreed with him, but her heart was having a harder time agreeing.
They reached the turbolift. She decided to break the silence.
"Where are we headed top next?"
"Aeroponics," he replied.
Janeway had decided that saying Voyager didn't have an aeroponics was pointless, Chakotay would just say they had built one. So, were would they have put an aeroponics, it seemed they were headed to a cargo bay. That seemed a reasonable choice.
They arrived and entered. Janeway looked around, this was an aeroponics bay, the plants seemed well tended and healthy. Most she didn't recognise, but they hadn't taken many seeds with them, so most of the plants would have to be from the Delta Quadrant.
Chakotay was headed to the panel while see had been looking at the plants. He had seen it before so he had been less surprised.
"Hello," came a feminine voice from behind a rack of plants. Janeway was surprised, but managed to keep from jumping. She looked at Chakotay, he started to heard the direction of the voice. He didn't appear worried, so she hoped this wasn't going to be another dangerous situation.
"Hello," he said.
"Chakotay," the voice replied. She recognized him.
"Yes," he replied. She looked back at him. His face was impassive, but she thought he recognised the voice.
Movement from behind the shelf brought her attention back as a young woman moved out from behind the rack. She wasn't wearing a Starfleet uniform, so Janeway was less surprised that she didn't recognise her. She then noticed her ears, not human she added to her mental description, she didn't recognise her species. She appeared only to be in her early twenties.
She clearly knew Chakotay and he knew her
"Kes," he said softly.
She then looked at Janeway and smiled
"Hello Captain," she said. Janeway was not surprised to be recognised and at least this was going better than some introductions with her future shipmates.
"Hello Kes," she replied.
"Captain what is going on?" she asked. "Everything feels strange, I can still sense the crew, but none of them are clear, not even Neelix. I went into the corridor but I sensed something, so I took a sensor and threw it down the corridor and it disappeared. So I went back here."
"Kes," Chakotay said, getting her attention. "The ship has been shattered into different time zones. The Captain is from a time before Voyager entered the Delta Quadrant."
Kes turned back to her. Janeway noticed she didn't appear very surprised. Chakotay noticed as well.
"Did you know?" he asked.
"I could tell you didn't fully understand me and you didn't feel the same as you had earlier today. I didn't know why," she replied more to Janeway.
Janeway realised Kes must be telepathic in some way and Chakotay knew.
"When are you from, you also feel different, but not in the same way," Kes asked Chakotay.
"Further in the future," he said, clearly not intending to clarify that.
Kes nodded accepting his answer.
"What happened to me?" she asked.
"What do you mean?" Chakotay asked.
"You didn't expect to see me here," She said.
Janeway had noticed he had seemed surprised by her appearance.
Chakotay realised he couldn't really expect her to not to pick up on his surprise, especially with her telepathic training.
"You leave Voyager when your abilities increase," he said. After all if this worked she would have no memory of this, hopefully.
Kes seemed to accept this answer.
"I need to inject this serum into that panel," Chakotay said, motioning to where the panel was and going back to the problem at hand.
"What will it do," Kes asked.
"It will allow us to get the ship back into one time zone, just before the accident that caused this happened and then I can prevent it from occurring," He said.
"Have you seen Neelix?" she asked.
"Yes, he's fine, he's in a different time zone," Chakotay replied.
"I could sense him, but he felt so different, I was worried for him," Kes explained.
"He's in the time zone just after the accident," Chakotay said.
Janeway had stayed quiet during this conversation, putting pieces together. Obviously Kes had some link to Neelix. Chakotay also seemed to trust her, and then she had left the ship.
Chakotay then had an idea. He knew Janeway wasn't convinced that putting this ship back into temporal sync in his time zone was the best idea, maybe Kes could convince her. They had been friends before she left and Kes wouldn't had developed as she had if Voyager hadn't been there. She would have remained a slave of the Kazon.
"Kes, the captain is not sure returning to my time zone is a good idea. She has seem some of the dangers of the Delta Quadrant and thinks returning the ship to her time zone would be safer. You could tell her how Voyager affected your species and you," He said.
Kes nodded and he left to inject the panel.
Kes lead Janeway to some seats and they sat down.
"When you arrived in Delta Quadrant I was a slave of the Kazon-Ogla. I had left my people because I was curious about the surface and I wanted to see the Sun. my people live underground. I found some of the old tunnels we had used to go underground and managed to get past the barrier. I then covered were I had emerged. The Kazon found me moments later. My people live underground because a long time ago there was a disaster on my planet. It never rains. The only water on the planet is underground. The Kazon cannot reach it. They live on the surface and mine ore. They tried to make me tell them how to get down. Nearby there was a space station were a being we called the Caretaker lived. He had been part of the group who caused the disaster and he had stayed behind to look after us. They had constructed the underground city we lived in and he continued to send us energy. He was dying of old age so he had been captured ships from all around the Galaxy when he found beings who's genetic codes might be compatible. That was how your and Chakotay's ships ended up here. Kim and Torres had been sent to my people underground. You and Neelix rescued me from the Kazon and then I helped you find Kim and Torres. The Caretaker had run out of time, he put his space station on self destruct but the Kazon had arrived to investigate and in the battle the station was damaged, the self destruct destroyed. The Caretaker died and to save my people from the Kazon you destroyed the station. Neelix and I went with you as you set off back to your home. You showed me space. With you I saw nebulae, supernovas and alien planets. I made this aeroponics bay and I learnt medicine with the doctor. I taught him how to interact with the crew better. I had so many more experiences than I would have had if I had stayed with my people, or if I had remained a slave."
Janeway hadn't interrupted, even when Kes had slowed at points during the story. The idea of the young woman at her side being a slave, her people being attacked by these Kazon was unpleasant to her. It was harder now to think of sending the ship back to her time zone. There was a face to the people who would be affected.
Kes knew she had said enough. The Captain would send the ship back to Chakotay's time.
Chakotay had finished injecting the panel a while ago and had been listening to Kes, but he had stayed mostly out of sight.
Now she had finished he needed to get the Captain so they could finish the ship. They were almost finished, excluding Engineering. He had been considering what do about that while listening to Kes.
Janeway didn't know what to say in response to Kes's story.
She seemed to understand and said "You helped me through so much, you effectively became family."
Then stood and then Kes hugged her. She then picked a flower from a nearby plant and gave it to her.
"I was getting some plants for your ready room, do you like these?" she asked.
Janeway looked at the flower. It was blue, deep blue at the edges, lightening to almost while at the centre.
"Its lovely." She said and Kes placed it in a nearby vase Janeway hadn't noticed.
Chakotay came round the rack.
"Captain, we need to finish injecting the ship," he said.
"Understood," she said, then she turned back to Kes
"Thank-you," she said.
"It was nice to see you again Kes," Chakotay said as the Captain moved towards the door.
"Goodbye," she said to them both.