“Ashes to Ashes” is episode eighteen of season six of Star Trek: Voyager.
A small craft is being pursued by a larger. The alien piloting the smaller one manages to disable the larger, then attempts to hail Voyager.
Mezoti, one of the Borg children rescued in “Collective”, sees an incoming transmission display and hears the alien. She answers. The alien thinks Mezoti sounds a little young to be working on Voyager. Meozti states she’s 8. Followed by her species number and name. She asks the alien what her species is. That’s complicated. The alien doesn’t know how long she can keep this transmission open and asks to be patched through to Captain Janeway. Mezoti will try, but her height might be insufficient. Mezoti ends the transmission by accident.
Tuvok enters and asks what she’s doing, then is followed by Seven and the other Borg children. She’d left them unsupervised because B’Elanna needed her help. Seven left them for less than ten minutes. Tuvok tells Seven she said she would maintain order. Seven is finding the children unpredictable. Mezoti says she was trying to talk to a woman, and states where they are. Less than 3 lightyears away. Tuvok tries hailing them, and the woman responds. Greeting Tuvok by name, saying it sounds as if he’s been promoted and that she needs to speak to Captain Janeway.
On the bridge, it’s clear the alien recognises them, and the captain asks if they know her. Yes; Ensign Lyndsay Ballard. She was a member of the crew, but understands why they might not recognise her. She can explain everything. The captain wants her to be beamed to sickbay; Lyndsay assumes behind a level 10 forcefield. Harry wants to come with; he was close to Lyndsay and if it’s her, he’ll know.
In sickbay, the Doctor is scanning Lyndsay as she recounts how she died, hit by a Hirogen neural disrupter whilst on an away mission with Harry. Which is how it happened (though this doesn’t seem to match with the timeline of meeting the Hirogen). Lyndsay woke up on a ship in a stasis chamber surrounded by aliens who used their technology to revive her. They are the Kobali, and they look like she does now. The Kobali procreate by salvaging the dead of other races. They wouldn’t let Lyndsay contact Voyager; that was her past life and she needed to forget it. Lyndsay played along for two years, then stole a shuttle. The Doctor has found traces of human DNA and they match Lyndsay’s.
The senior staff is briefed on the situation and they contemplate methods to counter the Kobali if they attack. Afterwards, Lyndsay talks to Harry. It’s been a strange day for him. It’s been a perfectly normal one for her.
Seven arrives in the mess hall with the Borg children, where Neelix and Naomi are. According to Seven, fun will now commence. Seven has a very regimented and timetabled definition of fun. All in all, it could have gone better.
Harry has got a lot of Lyndsay’s things that were in storage. He gave the eulogy at her funeral. She would like to hear it. Then the Doctor contacts her and asks her to report to sickbay. He explains that he can’t make her human again; there’s too little DNA left. He can do cosmetic changes though. Very quick acting ones, too.
It’s clear that Harry has feelings for Lyndsay – Tom has been keeping score of Harry’s doomed love life – and, oddly, he seemed to have those feelings whilst engaged to Libby. Seven is struggling with dealing with the children, and speaks to Chakotay about it. Their lives are so regimented that Chakotay thinks the children have no time for fun. They do; Seven has added it to the schedule. That’s not going to work. Lyndsay is struggling, as her Kobali side keeps reasserting itself. It seems most of the Kobali have no memories of their prior lives. It’s awkward for those that do.