Elogium

Voyager encounters a vast swarm of creatures that live in open space and seem strangely drawn to the ship, clinging to its hull and disrupting its systems. Their presence has an unexpected effect on Kes: she enters the elogium, the single phase in an Ocampa's life when she can conceive, years before she should. Kes develops odd cravings, a fever and other alarming symptoms, and if she is ever to have a child, it must be now. Neelix struggles with whether he is ready to be a father, while Janeway and Chakotay debate whether a starship is any place to raise a family. The crew realise the creatures are trying to mate with Voyager, and when a much larger creature arrives, the ship escapes by adopting a submissive posture. Kes decides she is not ready to be a mother, and the Doctor suggests that her true elogium may still lie ahead. Meanwhile, Ensign Samantha Wildman reveals that she is pregnant.