Child's Play

Seven of Nine has been caring for the young former drones taken aboard in “Collective”, so she is shaken to learn that Icheb's parents have been found. On the Brunali homeworld, a society that lives cautiously after repeated Borg attacks, Leucon and Yifay welcome their son back, and after some hesitation Icheb decides to stay with them. Seven finds the parting hard, and her doubts lead her to look into how Icheb was assimilated four years earlier. The story his parents told does not hold up. Voyager turns back to find that they have sedated Icheb and sent him in a shuttle towards Borg space. A Borg sphere seizes both the shuttle and Voyager, but Seven rescues Icheb, and a photon torpedo detonated inside the sphere destroys it. Medical analysis then reveals the truth: Icheb was genetically engineered to carry a pathogen deadly to the Borg, a living weapon created by his own parents. He remains aboard Voyager.