“Elogium” is episode four of season two of Star Trek: Voyager.
Chakotay arrives at a turbolift which opens, revealing a couple inside making out. Tom and Kes arrive afterwards, carrying baskets of vegetables, and Tom asks what was going on. An example of indiscrete shipboard fraternisation. Tom is sorry he missed it. He and Kes take the vegetables to Neelix; Kes thanks Tom for his help but Neelix is wearing his jealous face. Neelix finds something on the cabbage and asks what it is; a spawn beetle, according to Kes. There are used for cross-pollination. She thinks it’s beautiful; Neelix says, in a snappy way, that he doubts the captain would think so if she found it in her salad. Kes wants to know what is wrong and gets Neelix to speak about Tom. She says he is imagining things that aren’t there. Neelix sees the way Tom looks at Kes; he used to look at women the same way and knows what it means. Then Captain Janeway summons senior officers to the bridge.
There is a magnetic disturbance and they want to take a closer look. Janeway speaks to Chakotay; he seems preoccupied. Chakotay explains about the couple. The captain thinks they could have used more discretion, but it’s always been Starfleet policy not to regulate people’s personal lives. Chakotay says they are in a unique situation, and problems could arise that aren’t seen on another ship. The captain says they are a long way from home and all they have is each other. It’s only natural people will start to pair off. Including the captain? As captain, she doesn’t have the same luxuries as others.
The disturbance has what appears to be life inside and Voyager is brought closer to study it. In the hydroponics bay, Kes places a beetle on a plant then reaches out for a handful of beetles. Then eats them. When she picks up a second handful, she realises what she’s done.
On the bridge, they are continuing to study the lifeforms. In her quarters, Kes is eating, a lot, and when her door goes, she hides the dishes. It’s Neelix, and he has a bunch of flowers as an apology. He explains that he trusts Kes; he just doesn’t trust Tom. Whilst looking for a vase, Neelix stumbles across the hidden bowls. Mashed potatoes in butter; Kes says it’s delicious. Neelix thinks it tastes awful. Kes can’t stop eating; she’s had six bowls already. The odd taste is because she added soil to them. Also, she ate some spawn beetles. Neelix contacts sickbay and Kes is insisting she is fine, as she eats apples and then the flowers Neelix brought.
Captain Janeway asks Tom to back away from the swarm of space life, but Voyager ends up being dragged closer. Helm control goes down, as do shields, then they are dragged inside the swarm. The warp core is still online, but using that could hurt the creatures. B’Elanna suggests a targ scoop; something Klingons mount on the ground assault vehicles that emits a tone to drive targ out of their path.
In sickbay, Neelix is panicking. He wants to know what’s going on. That’s what the Doctor is trying to find out. Neelix is not being helpful and the Doctor tells Neelix he is making it impossible to think, let alone treat Kes. And ejects him, threatening to call security if Neelix doesn’t leave.
Neelix then heads to the bridge to speak to the captain, top complain about being thrown out of sickbay by a hologram. Janeway wonders if Kes is being affected by the swarm, then the Doctor contacts her and asks her to come to sickbay. Kes has got into the Doctor’s office and activated the forcefield. Janeway explains the swarm may be having an effect; unfortunately, they can’t back away. The Doctor has found a strange, tumorous growth on Kes’s back, unlike and he’s seen before. It wasn’t there the last time he examined Kes. The captain talks Kes into lowering the forcefield. It seems that the growth is where Kes’s child would grow, but she’s too young. It also occurs only once (that is not a survival mechanism), so if Kes wants to have a child, it has to be now.
The captain explains the matter to Chakotay; they have 40-50 hours to decide. There may be risks; they have no idea if Kes and Neelix are genetically compatible. Chakotay says that procreation is an inevitable outcome of fraternisation. And, if the voyage does last 75 years, they will need a replacement crew in half that time.
There are no easy answers regarding children and there are unknows regarding Kes. Neelix starts panicking at the thought of becoming a father, and asks Tuvok for advice, given that Tuvok is a father. Of four children, which makes Neelix panic even more. Kes herself ends up second-guessing whether or not she wants a child. And, whilst all this is going on, they are having problems with the space creatures.