“Parturition” is episode seven of season two of Star Trek: Voyager.
Tom and Kes are in a shuttlecraft that is in trouble. Or, at least, it appears to be. Kes is starting to panic over the right thing to do; Tom is not. She makes a suggestion and he gives one in return. After that simulation is resolved, Kes tells Tom is wasn’t fair. He tells her that as her flight instructor he needs to prepare her for everything, ready or not. Next the craft is attack, by Jem’Hadar ships, and Kes is thrown into Tom. He never said the simulation was finished. Afterwards, they leave the holodeck laughing. Neelix is watching out of sight. He isn’t happy.
Chakotay comes to see the captain; she hopes he has good news. Food reserves are at 30% of capacity. Good news and bad. There’s a planet with a high concentration of amino acids and proteins. It’s also a full day out of their way and long-range sensors cannot confirm any plant life. The planet is shrouded and electromagnetic interference is preventing a proper scan. The planet looks like a primeval Earth; Stellar Cartography have nicknamed it ‘Planet Hell.’ Captain Janeway orders a course change to the planet.
Harry is in his quarters playing a clarinet – he was seen with one in the alternate timeline of “Non Sequitur” when his door goes. Tom is on the other side and asks if that was Harry playing. It was. Tom is impressed. Harry remembered his mother telling him to practice, so he ate Neelix’s food for a week and used his replicator rations to create one. Tom wants Harry to play. Something not so cheerful. Harry wants to know what’s bothering him. Tom says he’s in trouble. What’s new? He thinks he’s in love. Again, what’s new? With Kes. Tom never saw it coming. With a whole crew full of women, why did he fall for one he can’t have? Why does he do it to himself? Because he enjoys it. That’s the only explanation Harry finds reasonable. Kes, meanwhile, is recounting the flight training to Neelix. She is chirpy; he is sad.
Voyager arrives at the planet which has trigemic vapours covering it. The Doctor contacts the bridge; he has been eavesdropping. Which wouldn’t be necessary, if he was includer as a matter of operational protocol. The vapours will cause severe humanoid skin irritation; he is whipping up some protection as they speak, but exposure should be limited. The captain a=wants the Doctor to go into more detail about this ‘eavesdropping.’ The EMH establishes commlinks to key areas when activated. Janeway suggests that the Doctor stops eavesdropping and Chakotay will discuss including him in the future. B’Elanna also says that the EM disturbances means that they can’t use the transporters and it will also interfere with the commlinks.
Harry and Tom arrive at the galley; Kes is already there. Tom wants to avoid Kes. Then Harry gets called to the bridge. Kes leaves, then Neelix confronts Tom. And throws food on him. Tom retaliates and the two start brawling. Then Captain Janeway contacts them both, wanting their immediate presence. Yes, immediate. Consequently, they arrive with food on them. No, they wouldn’t really care to explain. The captain has a mission for them both; take a shuttle down to the planet and look for food. Tom is their best pilot; Neelix is the expert in edible plants. Yes, it has to be both of them. Are there personal problems? Then solve them.
B’Elanna is still working on the transporter and Harry is making computer simulations of the EM disturbance patterns. There are occasional atmospheric windows, every 30 hours or so, possibly only for minutes. Which would allow the transport of food. Tom and Neelix need to collect as much as they can. Kes wants to know what happened; Neelix will talk about it when he returns.
Kes heads to sickbay and the Doctor asks if there’s anything wrong. She’s fine. He queries it and she repeats that she’s fine. With a death glare. The Doctor says that when he sees something wrong, he attempts to diagnose it. Kes explains that Neelix and Tom were fighting over her. The Doctor says that’s delightful. It’s a high compliment. He has autopsy results for duels dating as far back as 1538. No, he isn’t trying to be funny; Kes has always been interested in autopsies. Kes says that Neelix’s suspicions are unjustified. The Doctor states that Tom’s affection for Kes is obvious. Although he did originally think Tom was suffering from Tanzian flu. Back home, Kes explains, people choose a mate for life. The Doctor thinks their literature must be very dry. She asks what she can do. She didn’t do anything to precipitate this and she may not be able to do anything to resolve it either is the Doctor’s opinion.
Tom and Neelix are being very formal. And Neelix especially is being snippy. Then the shuttle runs into problems and Tom is unable to abort. They need to do an emergency landing. Otherwise known as a ‘crash.’ Voyager does detect Tom’s last pulse and they know the shuttle has gone down. They just can’t do anything yet.
Kes thinks Tom and Neelix have the combined skills needed to survive. If they don’t kill each other. She wants them to return so she can tell them both she’s never talking to them again. Then Voyager gets attacked by another ship who objects to their presence. Which could be because Tom and Neelix have just discovered a baby alien on the planet. The two will have to work together to stay alive, and keep the alien alive. You can guess how this episode is going to turn out; it’s essentially ‘filler’ intended to remove a couple of threads that weren’t proving popular.