=/\=

Stardate 50352

Something terrible has happened, and Dad is heartbroken.

Kes's mind and body were taken over by an alien named Tieran. For two hundred years, the alien had traveled from host to host to maintain his mental life. Once he reached his home planet, Ilaria, this Tieran instigated a revolt, while inside Kes' body and mind, by murdering its current rightful ruler. He turned the ruler's sons against each other. Before anyone knew Kes was not controlling her own actions, she ended her romance with Dad. Eventually, the crew overcame Kes, and Tieran's consciousness finally died as completely as his body did two centuries ago.

I was one of the Security officers on duty during these events. As a result, I learned about what was occurring as soon as any of the rest of our crew, including Father, learned of it. He was held prisoner by Tieran for a while on Ilaria. It was difficult for me to maintain my focus on my duties while he was a captive, but I'm glad to say I did well. Once the incident ended and Kes returned to Voyager, I assumed she would apologize to Dad and resume their romantic partnership.

I was wrong. Kes decided she wanted to be free to enter into other relationships, if she chose. Dad, needless to say, was devastated. I commiserated with him and told him that it was likely Kes would recover her sanity eventually. She'd realize she'd made a mistake and would come back to him. He's talked things over with her, however, and he isn't confident they'll get back together again. As he pointed out to me, their relationship began when Kes was barely a year old. Ocampa have an average lifespan of only nine years, so, while she was mature enough for a sexual relationship according to the way the Ocampa live their lives, it's very young for her to be bonded for life to another person. She's already had a "false" elogium. Even though that happened through unique outside influences, Kes believes she may never have a "real" elogium. If she never will have a child now, Kes told Dad, she doesn't really need a mate for life, either.

Dad feels she's a "different" Kes since this horrible experience. Kes has been meditating with Father, but she hasn't been able to get past her memories of the things she did when she was possessed by Tieran. "She doesn't want an old Talaxian for a mate anymore, even if I am still crazy about her," Dad told me sadly.

=/\=

Stardate 50425

While Dad was away with the captain, meeting a species known as the Tak Tak, everyone got sick, including me. Even the bioneural gel packs running the ship became infected by a virus that started out very small, but quickly grew to tremendous size. It was awful when those big things buzzed around us and herded us together. I thought I was hallucinating, but I was not.

Dad was infected when he returned to the ship with the captain. Actually, the captain caught the virus, too, but the Doctor had developed an antigen which he administered to her. He hadn't given it to any of us because he couldn't reach us. The huge viruses viciously attacked him whenever he tried. The antigen cured her, so she was able to set a plan in motion to get rid of the creatures permanently.

The Doctor reported that when these "macroviruses" tried to sting him, all they could do was make his photons flicker a bit. I think he was more worried about damage to his mobile emitter than he was of the creatures' attacks on his own form. Because of the way they went after the Doctor, however, the captain surmised the organisms were attracted to infrared radiation. Dad's holodeck resort program's holocharacters emit a great deal of infrared radiation when their programs are active. The captain opened the doors while the program was running, encouraging all the viruses to congregate there. It must have been very frustrating for these creatures when they were unable to incapacitate the holodeck characters. Once the captain judged all of them were on the holodeck, she released an "antigen bomb." That killed all of the organisms of any size at once. As soon as the environmental control system came back on line, more antigen was released though the vents, which took care of any small viruses which might not have traveled to the holodeck.

The Doctor and the captain administered the antigen to all of our crew, including me. It worked very quickly, I must say. I was feeling much better within a few minutes.

Once the illness was cured and the macrovirus population eliminated, we were actually more in danger from the Tak Tak. They communicate by gestures and can be offended by any offhand movement. Captain Janeway's habit of placing her hands on her hips was apparently some sort of profane comment in their language. The Tak Tak have a terrible fear of any infection (perhaps they've encountered these macroviruses before) and always "cleanse" any area they suspect has been affected by a disease. Voyager and her crew were almost "cleansed" into oblivion. It took a little time, but the captain was finally able to convince them that we'd dealt with the problem and were no longer carriers of any disease. They finally let us go.

The Delta Quadrant, I must admit, does have some very strange inhabitants.

=/\=