TREKCORE > VOY > EPISODES > THE GIFT > Synopsis

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Having been severed from the Borg collective, the newest member of the Voyager crew, Seven of Nine, is having trouble adapting to her new life aboard the starship. She has trouble coming to terms with being an individual, without the voices of the collective keeping her company in her head. She again insists of her return to the Borg. But it is impossible with the circumstances that lie in front of the crew. Not only would it be unwise to head back into dangerous grounds, but her human side is beginning to reassert itself.

As Janeway, The Doctor, and Tuvok stand in front of the regenerating Seven of Nine in Cargo Bay 2, The Doctor informs her of the biological and technological war that is waging inside of her. Seven of Nine becomes more and more enraged at her situation, being consistently denied of her request to return to her kind. She becomes heated, so much so she collapses and she is brought to Sickbay.

While The Doctor examines further into Seven's condition, a new situation develops in Sickbay. Kes' telekinetic abilities seem to have taken on a new level. When Kes is requested to obtain a stimulant of anetrizine by The Doctor—without even needing to set astride towards the medical tray, a hypospray flies to her grasp. Curiosity quickly spreads through the room; The Doctor moves in to scan her, to find high serotonin levels—62 percent above normal, similar to the time during her communications with Species 8472. They become wary, but it is quickly dismissed and is thought of as nothing more than another evolving ability of Kes'.

On behalf of Seven of Nine, Janeway solves the Doctor's dilemma. As Seven's life rests in his hands, Janeway makes the decision to go ahead with the lifesaving operation of transforming her back into a human individual. But the operation does not go without a hitch. A Borg implant lodged inside Seven's colliculi causes her to go into synaptic shock.

The Doctor immediately orders for a neuro-sequencer to stabilise Seven's motor cortex, but Kes confidently expresses an alternative: the sequencer is not necessary; she will remove it with her telekinetic abilities. Leaving it to her, he watches her—poise calm, and eyes relaxed, but on the job. To his surprise, Seven stabilises brief moments later; Kes had done the job without even lifting a finger, disintegrating the problematic implant within.

With Kes' abilities becoming more advanced so rapidly, Tuvok suggests a meditation regimen to help her control this new power. He begins with a basic exercise in controlling the flame's intensity of a Vulcan lamp. She successfully completes the task, but her inquisitive nature sees her go a step further. She continues to stare at the flame, to find that she could see beyond the subatomic structure—swirls of reds, pinks and oranges intermingle with each other; a new level of reality she had described.

Meanwhile, Seven is unhappy with her new appearance. She wakes up in Sickbay to find pieces of Borg armour and plates removed—yet another unwelcomed surprise. Angered, she once again expresses her dissatisfaction in all of Janeway's decisions—that she'd rather die than to become the weak, pathetic beings humans are, and that Janeway and her ship could never offer her anything the Borg could. Janeway quickly disagrees, claiming she could offer a whole lot more and she, too, could do the same.

In Engineering, Torres and Kim are attempting to regenerate the warp core which was damaged during their battle with the Borg and Species 8472. Managing to obtain Seven's cooperation—rather, ordered by Janeway for her to comply, she is assigned to Kim to assist with the repairs on the Jefferies Tube.

Luck strikes Seven when she discovers her ticket off the ship in the form of a Starfleet communication node. She begins to tap into the systems as she erects a forcefield around her whilst she attempts to send a transmission to the Borg.

Security is ordered to converge on her position, but is unnecessary when Kes, still amidst her meditation exercises, informs Tuvok she was able to stop Seven from her current position. Once again, Kes proceeds calmly, eyes directed towards the wall she does her job. A visible path of her powers is seen travelling through the corridors—walls warping as it made its way towards Seven's console. A disabling surge of power is sent towards her.

As Seven is confined to the Brig for her latest deception, Kes is at a point where she is seriously contemplating her continual future aboard Voyager. With her power near a level beyond anything Voyager can handle, a level where it was threatening the crew's well-being, she begins to say goodbye to her colleagues and her friends. But her departure is not quick enough as everything in her presence becomes highly unstable. Her energy causes Voyager's structural integrity to buckle under pressure, consoles to explode, systems to fail.

No time for the crew to say a proper goodbye, Janeway, with the help of Tuvok's mind meld along the way, was able to quickly whisk Kes off to a shuttle. Back on Voyager, the senior crew listens to the final words from their friend before she finally makes her departure from her current existence, demolecularising into thin air.

But she does not leave without a parting gift, her gratitude for everything the crew of Voyager had given her in her years aboard the starship. She sends them 9,500 light-years from their current position, out of the dangers of Borg space—ten years closer to home.