CHAPTER 9 Diverse Functions (Final)

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Tuvok walked into the Shuttlebay to observe quite a mess. There were fires. There was blood. Many crates were knocked over.

Some had curious modifications. Allied plants he did not recognize were growing in wood crates they had attained from Tlaxian traders.

However, his focus was on Kes, who was rocking in the corner, near where he had previously nearly captured the criminal known as Neelix.

Calmly, he sat down next to her after tapping his com badge and informing several parties about the situation, including the captain and security teams.

He observed that Kes was flooded with emotion while slowly repairing bits of the ship. She was repeatedly apologizing and seemed largely unaware of his presence. He decided to help her since Mr. Neelix was confirmed as no longer with them.

Without any prompting, he began a meditative exercise that he had frequently done with Kes before she had departed from Voyager, quietly counting his breaths as he slowed his breathing along with it. Surprisingly, or perhaps it was not that much of a surprise, he found the exercise soothing personally. He had not realized how much his mind had accelerated due to the adrenaline of the situation.

Before long, the constant stream of apologies coming from Kes slowed, as she began breathing in time with his counting, likely without realizing it.

When he had first entered the room, he had noticed scorch marks on the floor, in addition to the fires. Voyager's fire suppression systems were already dealing with those. However, interestingly, there was no apparent damage to Kes herself, beyond the obvious damage she was recovering from psychologically.

Had she indeed fought a Vidiian agent to the point he was forced to flee? Had she been close to the blast point? If so, it had not touched the Ocampan at all. Her control was improving. She was becoming quite formidable. Tuvok allowed himself to feel a brief surge of pride.

Presently, during his simple meditation, Kes turned her head to look up at him, although the repair of the materials continued.

"Tuvok?" She said, finally focusing on him. "I'm sorry if I caused a problem. I have full control when everything is calm, I promise. It's just he made me so angry, and I wanted to stop him, and I was channeling so much power that-

"There is no need to apologize, Kes," He said to her. He creased counting but he continued breathing slowly. He didn't say anything for a moment and just let himself breathe. Kes seemed to catch on, nodding, and returning her breathing to slow again, regaining control of her panic.

Reports came in, chirping through his com badge.

"Kes, can you tell me what happened?"

"Neelix was here," She said faintly. And pointed over to where there was burned skin and a little blood on the ground.

Her eyes finally started to focus as she turned to where Tuvok was controlling his breathing and she was following suit.

"We fought. I couldn't stop him."

Tuvok nodded, looking around.

"It appears that you fought him, and he narrowly escaped," Tuvok said, not noticing any damage on the form of Kes.

Anger erupted on her face but she immediately breathed through it.

"He triggered something in me, otherwise I would have captured him easily. I think it was a combination of not fully understanding what I'm doing yet, how my abilities work, and getting upset that I kind of shorted out. Sorry-

"Please do not apologize," Tuvok repeated emphatically. "It is not necessary."

Kes nodded again.

"What's going on Tuvok? What happened with Neelix? Did he hurt anyone else?" She suddenly asked, a look of guilt flashing across her face.

Tuvok held up a hand.

He stunned one of Voyager's security guards, but he was uninjured as Mr. Neelix used a federation phaser on a stun setting. We do not know his current location. As we speak, a security team is forming a search party to find and apprehend-"

"Tell them not to do it, Tuvok," She said, looking at him seriously. "He's cloaked himself, I've already tried. Even in my confused state, I reached out to him. He's dangerous. He somehow got the better of Seven. I think she may have drained him of some of his resources which is why well. I think I hurt him pretty bad. It's so hard to explain!" She said, shaking her head.

"But- I know he's going to lower his defense eventually-and then I'll find him easily. Some part of me is with him. I know it doesn't make any sense. But it's like I have a tether to him. I just can't connect it right now, and anyway- there's no time!"

Just then, the doors at the end of the bay opened, and Captain Janeway stepped through, widening her eyes at the sight before.

"Kes!" Janeway said, walking briskly in her direction. She lightly cupped Kes' head in her hands. "Are you alright?" She searched for hurt but didn't see anything. Janeway's eyes flickered in surprise to where Kes was slowly repairing the ship but didn't comment on it.

"I'm sorry everything is on fire, Captain," She said. There was less fire than before thanks to Voyager's system, but there was still more than a little fire around.

"Can you fill me in on what happened?" She asked, acknowledging Tuvok with a head nod that he returned.

"Well, as I was telling Tuvok, I discovered that Neelix was still here, and what he was doing. What we all missed. And well, as you can tell, we fought and-".

She took a deep breath again, closing her eyes.

"I just, I don't know. I wanted to make his face... different. To make him not Neelix anymore. To make him nothing like the man I first met those years ago. And then- It's like some part of me knew what to do. It was so weird, Captain. It was like I was giving an order to something else, some other part of me, and it just carried it out. Because- It's hard to explain. It's like I didn't even care how. I just wanted it to be different. Like I- I delegated it or something. Except it was still me, somehow. I'm sorry, I don't know."

It s OK Kes. I'm sorry, I can't help but ask," She said, morbid curiosity fighting betrayed fury on her face. "'I just need to know, when you say- 'Make his face different.' What exactly does that mean?"

"I don't know, honestly I don't. Only, I know whatever I did, I don't think he can undo it. Ever."

"Good," Janeway said, surprising herself with how harsh it came out.

"Kes has requested that we do not go after Mr. Neelix," Tuvok told Janeway.

"Why the hell not?" She asked.

"Even I can't find him now. I don't think he's going to be bothering us again for quite a while Captain. I'm afraid I burned him pretty badly, in addition to what I did to his face. But- Seven needs our help, I can feel it. She helped us get rid of Neelix first. She made sure he couldn't cause any more damage to use while our back was turned. We took care of him, and I think he is- licking his wounds. So now we are free to find her without a fatal handicap."

"I can't even begin to fathom your abilities," Janeway said after a long moment. "Given what I've seen you do. Are you sure you can't find him?"

"He's hidden himself somehow, it's working even on me. Believe me, I've tried."

"So, you're sure there's nothing you can do? That you want to do? I feel like I should give the superpowered psychic some leeway here."

"I could destroy the entire planet he's on," Kes said offhand. "He's probably still on it. He's good at crawling on his belly and running away. I don't think we'll find him otherwise."

Janeway looked at Kes with some alarm.

"Kidding. I'm kidding," Kes said, struggling to smile.

"I'm sorry. I don't know why I said that. I'm not nearly that powerful. Even what I just did left my brain scrambled. I guess it still is. I would never do anything to hurt the ship, I promise."

Janeway let out a held breath after a moment.

"Well, given everything that's happened, you've come the closest to stopping someone who is clearly a stranger to us. The man we called Neelix obviously never existed, at least not the way we all thought."

Something moved in the corner of the room and Janeway turned in surprise and stood up.

"Oh don't worry, that's just Harvey," She said, stooping to pick up a snake that was moving across the floor. He's only existed for like 20 minutes now, but I think I might have made him hungry. Do we have any mice meat in the mess hall? "

"I'm sorry, what?" Janeway said, feeling a bit of whiplash from everything that was happening.

"I made him out of a Vidiian Harvester that Neelix was pointing at me. Or, I think I did? I'm still not sure. But that's where I got his name- Harvester, Harvey. I was reading about common names on Earth earlier. I don't think any Ocampan name would fit right."

Janeway took a few steps back. Then she shook her head and stared at the snake with a more critical eye as it wrapped itself around Kes, crawling up her leg.

"That's odd. It looks like a boa constrictor type but-"

"It has fangs and a poison sack too. I know. It's unusual."

"Did you, make it up completely? Did you make a new snake?"

"I don't think so, " Kes said, shaking her head. "I wasn't creating it- only, it felt more like I was selecting it from a list."

"What list?"

"I don't know," She said drawing her hand down Harvey's back. Harvey tasted the air briefly, then looked around like it sensed food nearby. It had silver fangs on a black body. There was some kind of red and blue patterning on its head and down its length. They looked like faint ovals and other shapes. It looked like the harvester device that Neelix had, in other words.

"I do know that it's different from other snakes. It can't feel exactly, but it seems to know who I am. It knows to not bite me. Don't ask me how I know, I still don't. All I do know is that this used to be a vicious weapon of selfishness and desperation. But now, Harvey is a reminder."

"Of what? Wait, you're telling me that thing used to be a Vidiian Harvester? Sorry, I'm just catching up."

"Yes, and it's a reminder that sometimes, you can't do anything about the bad things that happen. But, also sometimes- you can get something interesting out of it."

Tuvok looked thoughtful, but the Captain still looked a bit wide-eyed.

"Can we go save Seven now, Captain?" She asked hopefully.

Paris looked up immediately from his station as Kes led the way onto the bridge. The Captain and Tuvok each went to their stations.

"Kes!" Paris said. "What are you doing here? What's going on?"

"You can catch up later," Janeway said

I think I can help," Kes said, bursting onto the bridge. "I think I know where she is. Where they took Seven."

"How?" Janeway said, turning to look at Kes.

"I'm sorry Captain, I'm still trying-"

Janeway waved her hand at the air."You know what? It doesn't even matter. Give Tom the coordinates if you would. Let's go get her."

"I don't exactly know the coordinates," She told Tom when he looked at her expectantly.

Tom was about to open his mouth to say something when Kes just said-

"Can you just start turning the ship slowly, like in a big circle?"

Tom laughed and nodded his head.

"I think I can manage that much," He said.

Kes closed her eyes, feeling out, feeling towards- it was like trying to find herself, like following her own footsteps. Or- She just didn't know! But, Seven was out there, she could feel it. There was a tug, like from a golden thread through space.

After a moment she put up her hands and shouted, "Stop! Yes. That way!"

Tom looked at the Captain.

She smiled.

"You heard her, thataway," She said, pointing.

"Coordinates locked," Paris said.

DIVERSE FUNCTIONS END

Next Arc-

Harmony, Cohesion, Greatness

Part I