By Steven Goodrick. This article was runner-up in our Star Trek journalism competition.

Kes: Ocampan Innocent or Femme Fatale?

We were first introduced to Kes (played by Jennifer Lien) in the pilot episode of Voyager. She was the Ocampan child who was regretting her curiosity for the barren upstairs world. After leaving her peoples� subterranean idyll, she was captured by the Kazon who dealt her some of their unique hospitality. The Voyager crew were deceived into rescuing her by her rather implausible boyfriend, the Talaxian salvager, Neelix. Ill feelings forgotten, the two refugees became bone fide crew members relishing the adventure ahead with a toast of moon-ripened Talaxian Champagne.

Once aboard, Kes replicated herself a Deanna Troi style, ill-fitting purple pant suit and lunged head first into her new role as the Doctor�s assistant; usurping the vocally unenthusiastic Tom Paris from the position. Kes undertook her new role with a distinction and earnestness which bordered on nauseating, only relieved by her innocence and Lolita-like appeal. Such resoluteness and dedication remained unabated, even in the face of her body being possessed by alien entities, losing half her pulmonary capacity to the lungless Neelix and, despite her unflattering attire, the over-friendly advances of Tom Paris - much to the chagrin of her Talaxian beau.

During her period on Voyager, Kes developed from the child progeny of a closeted race into an integral member of the crew manifest. Years of cosseting by the Caretaker entity had held back the natural evolutionary development of all her species. Once freed, she progressed exponentially, especially in her mental capacity and in her rather paltry nine year life expectancy. Also pivotal in her development was the dumping of Neelix from their seemingly asexual relationship. She went on to indulge in a highly passionate tryst with a charismatic alien which caused her to question her destiny and heralded a new maturity in her character. These new pheromones even aroused the ardour of the seemingly impervious Doctor.

Kes�s developing telekinetic abilities intermittently caused problems during her period on Voyager, especially for Tuvok (who temporarily sported a melted face as a consequence) and for her experiments in hydroponics (which suffered a more frazzled fate). In fact, her burgeoning mental capacity was her eventual downfall. As her gamine crop was supplanted by a Dynasty-esque hairstyle too big for the sick-bay, so her presence became too much for Voyager - the ship�s sub-molecular structure to be precise - forcing her to leave before destroying the vessel completely.

Dispatched in her shuttlecraft, Kes disappeared into a ball of light, throwing Voyager nearly 10,000 light years towards home and safely beyond the realm of Borg space. As Kes disappeared into the ether, a chapter was closed in the Voyager log. Her honest, fresh-faced, girl-next-door appeal gone forever, to be replaced by the blatant brazenness of Seven of Nine. Albeit in a better fitting catsuit.