As the shockwave of the explosion rumbled through Voyager, Captain Janeway struggled to her feet next to Kes' body and looked at the young woman with great sadness. She hit her combadge. "Bridge, report."

"Paris here, Captain. We've suffered minimal damage to the Bridge itself, but life support is at half power, the nacelles heavily damaged, long-range sensors and transporters are shot, and the warp core had to be ejected. There's no way we can go after Tuvix now."

"Acknowledged." She hit her combadge again. "B'Elanna, how soon can we start repairs and how long could they take?"

The hybrid Engineer's voice came back. "Anywhere from four to eight weeks, Captain."

Janeway sighed exasperatedly. "Understood." As she began to stare at Kes again, the medical team entered the Shuttle bay. She turned to them solemnly. "She's dead."

Lieutenant Tyal ran his medical tricorder over Kes, then scratched his horn. "Captain, Kes is alive."

Crewman Evans' mouth dropped open in shock. "How is that possible? I just examined her."

Tyal turned to the Janeway and Evans. "When Kes first came aboard Voyager, I asked her if their were any physiological differences unique to her people, on a medical standpoint."

"And?" The desperation was evident on Janeway's face.

"Kes told me of nothliit. It is a condition in which an Ocampan's body shuts down almost completely, using only enough energy to remain alive. To most people, they would seem dead, as crewman Evans assumed. But I know what to look for."

Janeway stared at the tricorder, seeing only a flat line. "What?"

Tyal pointed out a barely visible blip in the flat line to a confused Janeway. "That is.."

"Kes' life signs," Tyal finished.

"So, she's all right?" Janeway asked hopefully.

"No, her heart was very badly damaged. She will die if we don't get her to Sickbay," Tyal pointed out.

"All right, get her to the Doctor immediately." Tyal and the rest of the med team got Kes onto a transport gurney and hurried to Sickbay.

As they left, Harry Kim's voice came over the COM frequency. "Captain, just before they blew, the sensors were tracking Tuvix..." He paused.

"Harry?"

"...and he was heading deeper into the Delta Quadrant, away from home." He finished.

Janeway hit her combadge. "B'Elanna, the propulsion systems are top priority. Get them running."

"Acknowledged."

"Tom?" Janeway addressed Voyager's helmsman.

"Yes, Ma'am?"

"When repairs on the propulsion systems are far enough along, plot a course back into the Delta Quadrant. We're going after Tuvix."

"Understood."

Tuvix scanned his long-range sensors. No sign of Voyager, he thought joyfully. That bomb I left in my quarters stopped them. A pang of guilt hit him hard from the part of him that was pure Neelix, and shame from the part of him that was pure Tuvok. "Shut up!" He raged to the feelings within him. He scanned his long-range sensors again.

Satisfied that Voyager was temporarily out of the way, he walked to the back of the shuttle and opened the miniature cargo bay. Inside was a glass container the size of an adult. Inside the glass case was a humanoid fetus of an indeterminate species. "Yes, yes. Grow my sweeting. Grow!" He smiled a mad smile.

Suddenly, more guilt washed over him, but Tuvok's methods of emotional suppression quickly buried it. I shot Kes. No, no, no. It was necessary. She never loved me. She was trying to stop me to get her precious Neelix back. But I won't let them kill me.

With those thoughts fresh in his mind, he recalibrated his long-range sensors to scan for a sparsely populated M-Class planet.

TBC

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