Neelix was stressing. Voyager had told him that Kes had been beamed back, but she had told him about her people’s closed minded views. He was sure that she would be affected by her brief time down there. He looked out the window and saw that Voyager was breaking orbit.
“Voyager, what are you doing?” he asked.“Returning to the Array,” Voyager answered. “We still need to talk to the Caretaker.”
“But, he told you to leave him alone, didn’t he?”
“He did, but we don’t have any other choice.”
Kes returned to the Observation lounge.
“How are you, sweetie?” Neelix asked.
“It reminded me why I left. But I’m fine.”
Even so, Neelix hugged Kes.
Voyager interrupted. “A heads up; Kazon ships are also approaching the Array. There may be battle.”
A klaxon sounded, and red lights flashed along the wall. The words Red Alert! started flashing on the bottom of the viewscreen.
Voyager powered her weapons systems and raised shields as she and Talon approached the Array and the two vessels. She hailed one of them.
“Have you come to investigate the entity's strange behavior too, ship?” Jabin asked.
“We want to get home, Jabin,” Voyager responded. “I was about to try to talk to the Caretaker to arrange that.”
“I’m afraid I can’t permit that.”
“We have no dispute with you.”
“I have a dispute with anyone who would challenge us,” Jabin said.
“This is ridiculous. We have no intention of challenging you.”
“I have no intention of letting anyone with your level of technology contact the entity!” He then cut off the transmission.
I’m going to beam Kes to the Array, Voyager said to Talon. Can you hold off the Kazon?
I think so, Voyager.
“Someone has to beam over to the Array. I doubt the Caretaker would be receptive to a DOT projecting a hologram,” Voyager said to Kes.
“I’m ready,” Kes said.
“Are you sure, sweetie?” Neelix asked.
“I have to. Voyager can’t, and I don’t think you want to.”
Neelix couldn’t argue with that. “Just be careful.”
When she had materialized inside the Array, Kes saw that it looked similar to the city she had called home. But she knew that it was a holographic environment, as the records stated that the Caretaker had based the underground city on existing Ocampa architecture. She took out the tricorder Voyager had given her and picked up the sporocystian lifesigns ahead. She looked closer at the display and saw that they were weakening. “I need to find him.”
Kes entered a large room.
“You’re nothing, if not persistent, Kes,” the old man present said. Kes knew that he was the Caretaker.
“Voyager and Talon need to be sent back where they came from.”
“That isn't possible. I've barely enough strength to complete my work.”
“You’re dying,” Kes realised, after glancing at the tricorder again. “That’s why you have given the Ocampa the extra energy and are now sealing the conduits.”
“If I don't, the Kazon will steal the water. But in several years, when the Ocampa's energy runs out, it won't matter. They'll be forced to come to the surface and they won't be able to survive.”
“You did something to cause the catastrophe, didn’t you? That’s why you have looked after us all this time?”
“We're explorers from another galaxy. We had no idea that our technology would be so destructive to your atmosphere. Two of us were chosen to stay behind and care for you,” the Caretaker answered.
“There’s another? I never heard that.”
“Not anymore. She went off to look for more interesting places. But I didn’t supress the historical information. It was your ancestors who did that.”
“But why were you bringing ships here, inflecting people with a fatal illness? How would that help the Ocampa?” Kes asked.
“Oh, they didn't die of an illness. They died because they were incompatible.”
“Incompatible?”
“I've been searching the galaxy for a compatible biomolecular pattern. Now, in some individuals I found cellular structures that were similar, but I…” the Caretaker began.
Kes interrupted. “You have been trying to procreate?”
“I needed someone to replace me. Someone who'd understand the enormous responsibility of caring for the Ocampa. Only my offspring could do that.”
“Maybe the Ocampa could take care of themselves.”
“They’re children!” the Caretaker said dismissively.
“Because you’ve coddled them. They need to grow up.”
“Voyager to Kes. Another, much larger, Kazon vessel has arrived. It’s out powering us. You have to be quick.”
“Give me another few minutes,” Kes said.
Talon noticed the Kazon ship damage Voyager’s weapons arrays. It would take her time to affect repairs. ‘She has a better chance of returning to the Alpha Quadrant alone if Kes doesn’t come through than I do.’ He knew what he had to do. It was what the Maquis had designed him to do. The Kazon were no better than the Cardassians.
DOTs were repairing the damaged systems, and a transporter lock on Kes was being maintained (even if the sporocystian life signs were no longer registering on her sensors).
The Array trembled around them.
“I have set the self destruct,” the Caretaker said. “You must go, Kes.”
“But you’ll die alone,” Kes objected.
“Your people will be in my thoughts to the last.”
“I don’t doubt that,” Kes said sadly.
Voyager noticed that Talon was on a collision course with the large Kazon ship, whose basic AI was still screaming threats at her.
Talon, what are you doing?
Giving you a chance. Be ready to receive my logs.
Your logs aren’t you.
I know, but you have more of a chance. Bye Voyager!
Talon accelerated as he approached the ship. He transmitted his logs and ejected a buoy for good measure at the last minute. The Kazon ship only realized at the last minute and screamed at him.
Talon was gone in an instant and the Kazon ship was out of control. It soon crashed into the Array.
The room shook and the holographic environment disengaged. Kes saw that the Array was naturally white, and that the Caretaker’s true form wasn’t remotely humanoid, and… shrinking.
More like dying…
“Voyager to Kes. A Kazon ship just collided with the Array. Are you alright?”
“I’m fine, Voyager. Stand by,” she said as she approached the Caretaker.
“The self-destruct programme has been damaged. Now this installation will not be destroyed,” the Caretaker said as he continued to shrink. “But it must be. The Kazon must not be allowed to gain control of it. They will annihilate the Ocampa.” The Caretaker then completely shriveled up and died.
Kes picked up his remains and tapped her commbadge. “Kes to Voyager. One to beam back.”
Kes materialized in the Observation Lounge. She placed the Caretaker’s remains on the table before rushing out to the Bridge.
“Kes?” Voyager asked as she put the Array on screen. “I’m sorry that the Caretaker is dead.”
“I’ll grieve later, but now the Array needs to be destroyed.”
“Otherwise the Kazon might get their hands on it,” Voyager concluded.
Voyager considered her options after beaming aboard Talon’s buoy. She checked over her weapons load out. Two Tricobalt Devices. Starfleet had given them to her in case she either came across an obstinate Maquis base or a subspace phenomenon in the Badlands that she needed to get through. But they would be effective against the damaged Array.
She hailed the remaining Kazon ships. She saw that Jabin was still in command. “I warn you to get to a safe distance. I’m going to destroy the Array.”
“You can’t do that!” Jabin objected.
“I can. I warned you as a courtesy. Remember that.” She then broke the transmission and withdrew to 400 kilometers from the Array. Once she was in position, she fired.
Kes was still on the bridge when Jabin hailed again.
“You have made an enemy today,” he said before ceasing the transmission again.
The Kazon ships withdrew. Voyager withdrew herself, back into the Ocampa system, to repair herself and prepare for the multi-decade journey back to the Alpha Quadrant.
A few hours later, Voyager had finished her repairs. Kes had wandered her corridors while Neelix had stayed in the quarters he had occupied when he had first arrived on the ship. She then called them both to the Ready Room.
“I am about to set course for home,” Voyager said when both of them had arrived. “I have supplied Baxial with water, Neelix. It’s ready to go.”
“Well, you see, that's what we wanted to discuss. We'd like to go with you,” Neelix said.
“Sorry, I’m not a passenger ship,” Voyager responded.
“We wouldn’t be passengers,” Kes said. “We would be friends, colleagues, like we have been already. I know that you would be lonely, taking the journey by yourself.”
“Whatever you need is what I have to offer. You need a guide? I'm your guide. You need supplies? I know where to procure them. I have friends among races you don't even know exist. And Kes persuaded me.”
“Then welcome aboard,” Voyager responded. “I knew that I would be lonely on the journey.”
“Thank you,” Kes said.
In the Shuttle Bay, a DOT connected Talon’s buoy to a secure dataport, to copy it’s data to a system separate from the rest of Voyager, so she could check it over securely before storing it in her core systems. Unknown to her, a Cardassian symbol flicked on for a second on a screen on the bouy’s side as the data was transferred.
Soon, Voyager was ready to go to warp. Kes was on the bridge as she approached the edge of the system.
“Setting course for Sector 001. Estimated time of arrival: 75 years. But I’m not willing to settle for that,” Voyager said.
“There is the other one, who left the Caretaker to explore,” Kes said.
“There are also spatial rifts, wormholes or new technologies that could help us. Somewhere along this journey, I’ll find a way back.”
Voyager then jumped to warp.
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