“Warlord” is episode ten of season three of Star Trek: Voyager.
Neelix is having his feet massaged by another Talaxian. He’s in the holodeck with Harry and Tom and explaining that where they are was the place to go on Talax for serious relaxation. You had to be rich and privileged to get in, or know someone who was who owed you a favour. Harry says it’s nice but he and Tom have some suggestions to improve it. Harry adds some people from one of his sports programs – three attractive young women. A volleyball team. Tom adds a steel band and different drinks. Neelix looks like he’s annoyed, but then is very happy. The other two get summoned to the bridge, though.
Kes is in her quarters when the Doctor contacts her, as they may have incoming casualties. On the bridge, an alien vessel is on the viewscreen. The warp core is leaking drive plasma and gamma radiation. Harry and Tom arrive and it seems they need to get closer to the ship in order to transport the occupants off it; the radiation is interfering with transporter lock. The three onboard are beamed out and Voyager raises shields before it blows. The ship is undamaged and the three passengers are in sickbay.
They aren’t in great condition and a woman wants to know how her husband is. He’s doing even worse. Kes reports his heart has stopped and the Doctor says his biochemistry is incompatible with their medications. He’s dead.
Captain Janeway talks to the two survivors, Adin and Nori, in her ready room. They say they were chased across half the sector; the area is notorious for mercenaries and thieves. Adin is a prominent physician and Nori is the cousin of the Autarch. Their homeworld, Illari is two days away, and Voyager is going to drop them off there. They are sure the Autarch will want to thank them personally.
Neelix is still in the new program and greets B’Elanna (of all the crewmembers who could use it, B’Elanna, in a rather skin-tight swimsuit, is the one seen first) but he’s looking for Kes. B’Elanna has made her own modifications to the program. As a man wearing even less than she is brings her a towel. Kes is in Transporter Room 1 with Adin and Nori when Neelix contacts her to see if she’s forgotten their lunch date.
Kes is picking at her lunch and she seems a little off. She says she’s promised to show Adin and Nori the hydroponics bay. Nori really needs a friend right now, so Kes will be busy the next few days. Neelix suggests they do it together and Kes says it’s typical of him. He can’t stand her making friends of her own; he has to involve himself. That Neelix doesn’t want her spending time with anyone but himself. She never realised relationships could be different as she’s never been with anyone but Neelix. Kes thinks they should spend some time apart. Well, that didn’t go well.
The Autarch is sending an official representative. Janeway is in the transporter room with Nori and Adin when Kes joins them. When the representative beams aboard, Kes takes out a phaser and shoots him and the transporter operator. That’s rather out of character. The others knock Janeway out and Kes tells them to seal the door like she showed them. On the bridge, they are notified that a shuttle is being beamed into space. In the transporter room, Kes has all three beamed to the shuttle, which warps away before they can stop it. Definitely not normal behaviour for Kes.
Kes is on the shuttle and she is heading somewhere where there are 400 men waiting for her orders. They beam someone onboard, who is told that Kes is someone called Tieran. The host body he was expecting is dead. Kes/Tieran explains that Kes was there at the right time and is a suitable replacement. They are going to attack. Kes/Tieran uses her mental powers to demonstrate she’s still capable of leading.
Demmas, the oldest son of the Autarch and his heir, is on Voyager. The two they rescued were known political extremists. As for Kes; well, he may be able to explain. She’s been inhabited by the consciousness of a very dangerous man. Tieran. Who wants to overthrow the government and reinstate himself as Autarch. 200 years ago, Tieran was a war hero and a brilliant military leader. In peacetime, he was not so great. Eventually, the people, led by one of Demmas’s ancestors, rebelled and defeated him. Tieran was obsessed by his own mortality and found out a way of transferring his mind to another body. Kes is lost. The captain will not accept that. Meanwhile, Kes/Tieran is attacking the Imperial Hall. She and her forces shoot their way in and kill the Autarch.
Tieran wants things the way they were in his time, and starts ripping down furnishings. Until he comes to a plant, which he spares. Which is rather Kes-like behaviour. Kes is not lost. She’s still inside, fighting. Tieran likes his new body’s powers and wants to keep it, even though he’s having problems inhabiting it. Kes is also making him rather unstable. Voyager needs to, somehow, rescue Kes from within her own mind.