Connection & Discoveries

"Oh for fucking sake!!! One of you is coming with me!" Morgan screamed, her yelling nearly blew the two guys away. They didn't say anything, they looked incredibly freaked. Morgan sighed. "You two decide who goes with me, I haven't got the patience to right now," she said and she sat down next to Jessie.

"What about Rock, Paper, Scissors?" Craig asked.

"Sounds good," James replied.

Morgan rolled her eyes, she placed her hands on her face and groaned.

Craig played a rock, and James played scissors.

"Ha! I win!" Craig laughed.

"Geez, we're only going to go around a bloody city, I don't see what the problem is," Morgan groaned.

"Cities are big," James replied.

"Oh boo hoo, let's go," Morgan groaned and she stood up. Craig sat on the ground opposite Jessie. Morgan walked away, James followed.

*****
Morgan and James reached a dark passage, that led to the underground. Morgan took out her tricorder.

"We're in luck, it seems that the natives got their water from here," Morgan said.

"I don't see any water," James muttered.

"Stop being dumb. I mean there's a well underground. This passage leads to it," Morgan said and she headed inside the passage.

"I don't know, I have a bad feeling about this," James said.

"It's only an underground tunnel, stop being a coward," Morgan's voice echoed from the passage. James was forced to follow her.

"I'm not being a coward, I'm being cautious. All of these kind of horror movie's are the same," James said.

"Oh look a mummy!" Morgan yelled, her voice made James jump slightly. She started laughing.

"That was not funny," James pouted.

"Oh it was," Morgan laughed. She turned a corner, James followed. The corridor was pitch black. "We have a problem," Morgan muttered.

"Yeah, let's go back," James said.

"No, why bother, we're so close. I can use the tricorder as a source of light. It won't be much, but it'll have to do," Morgan said as she fiddled with her tricorder. Some light shone from it. Morgan continued walking further down the corridor. They both entered a small room which had a stone well in the centre. Morgan put the tricorder on the edge of the well and she looked down it. James walked over.

"Well, is there any water down there?" he asked.

"Good question, it's too dark to tell," Morgan replied. She picked the tricorder back up and she scanned the well. It started making beepy noises. "Yup, there's water, and lots of it. Maybe this is the reason why they built a city nearby a mountain," Morgan said.

"One more question, how do we collect it?" James asked.

"Er, there should be a bucket somewhere around here," Morgan replied, she looked around the small room, but she couldn't see anything.

"Maybe the natives kept their own buckets," James said.

"Maybe, we'll have to go back and find a few," Morgan said, she saw another door leading to a different passage. She headed towards it.

"That's not the way we came," James muttered.

"So? This looks interesting," Morgan said and she disappeared down the passage. James groaned and he followed.

*****
"Emma, you are not well, come back here," the Doctor commanded. Emma didn't listen to him, she just walked out the main door. She turned the corner and she bumped into Naomi.

"Hiya Emma, hey you look different," Naomi said.

"I'm Borg, isn't that so cool!" Emma laughed.

"Er, yeah, I suppose so. By the way have you seen Harry around anywhere?" Naomi asked. Emma started daydreaming. Naomi groaned and she walked away.

*****
"Eew, gross," Morgan groaned as they walked into another small room.

"It's just a room, Morgan. What's so disgusting about it?" James asked.

"No, it's not the room. For some icky reason I started thinking about Harry," Morgan replied.

"In what way?" James asked, he was getting rather worried.

"You don't want to know, or rather I don't want to say. Just forget it," Morgan replied and she walked into a stone object that was in the corner of the room.

"What's that?" James asked.

"I have no idea," Morgan replied as she looked at the strange, but big object in front of her. "It looks like some sort of container," she said. She walked around it, using her hand to feel the surface. She found what felt like a crack or an opening. "Here, give me a hand here," Morgan said. James walked over to stand beside her.

"Are you sure this is a good idea? You don't know what's inside it," James asked.

"Exactly, that's why I'm opening it," Morgan replied.

She started to lift the top of the container, James helped her. Eventually they both pushed the lid off onto the ground. Dust went everywhere, blocking their view. Morgan waved her hand around to push away the dust.

"Aw, cool!" Morgan giggled when the dust settled. Inside the container was a decomposing humanoid. "Here's our mummy," Morgan said and she held up the corpse's arm.

"Ok, let's go. This is getting too creepy," James said.

"It's only a dead body, stop being a wimp," Morgan said.

"Yeah but think about it, why would the natives plant some guy's coffin in the middle of a public tunnel?" James asked.

"Who knows, maybe this was a tourist attraction," Morgan replied.

"Can we go now? We have no use for a mummy," James asked.

"Mummy's only exist in Egypt, silly. I was only joking on," Morgan replied as she continued to fiddle with the corpse's arm.

"Well you could at least stop playing with the thing, don't you have any respect for the dead?" James said. Morgan giggled for no reason. "Oh, what now?" James asked.

"I think it moved," Morgan replied, she giggled again. James looked terrified.

"Let's go," he said.

Suddenly the body sat up! James backed against the nearest wall, but Morgan just burst out laughing.

"Damn, you didn't scream," Morgan laughed.

"What? Is that thing alive?" James asked, in a stuttering voice.

"No of course not, see," Morgan said. She moved her hand to the side, and the body fell back into it's coffin. She moved her hand again and it sat back up. "Telekinetic powers, remember," Morgan giggled.

"Don't ever do that again," James said.

"Oh, you're no fun," Morgan moaned. She started giggling again. "You've got to admit though, that was funny," Morgan said in between giggles.

"Let's go," James said and he walked through the door they came through before. Morgan, still in a giggling fit, followed him out.

Morgan turned the wrong corner and ended up in a different room. James stopped when he heard her giggling again. He headed back the way he came and went into the room that Morgan had gone in.

"Look what I found!" Morgan exclaimed as she picked up two medium sized bottles. James took a hold of her arm and dragged her out of the room. "Looks like wine," Morgan giggled.

They finally reached the steps leading up to the surface. Morgan pulled her arm away and she stopped in her tracks.

"Eew, I don't feel too good," she muttered. James walked up to her.

"What's wrong now?" he asked.

"Why the hell am I thinking of Harry?" Morgan replied.

"I don't know, and I don't want to know," James said.

"Ew, that feels strange," Morgan groaned.

"Let's go, you're really creeping me out," James said.

Suddenly Morgan pushed James against the wall, and she started kissing him. James quickly pushed her away in panic.

"Morgan, what the hell are you doing!" he yelled. Morgan stared at him in shock.

"Oh... my... god, did I just do that," Morgan muttered. She hid her face with her hands. "Oh my god, I'm so sorry. I don't know what came over me," she said in a shaky voice.

"Anderson to Morgan & Stuart."

James slowly tapped his commbadge. "What?" he replied.

"We have some visitors, you guys better get up here now."

"Gladly," James said and he headed up the steps. Morgan waited until he'd got to the surface, and then she went up.

*****
James and Morgan arrived at the camp site. About ten Maji officers were standing near Craig and Jessie. The Maji Captain walked up to Morgan and James.

"Which one of you is in charge of this group?" the Maji Captain asked.

"Who cares," Morgan groaned.

"I think I am, now," James muttered.

"I will only give you a word of warning. You have until midnight to leave this area. Any later then you'll be risking not just your lives but everyone else's on this planet," the Maji Captain said. Craig walked over.

"That isn't as simple as it seems, our shuttle is damaged and we can't leave without it," he said.

"You have until midnight to leave this area, no excuses," the Maji Captain said. He pulled out a strange black communicator. "We're ready for transport." The Maji officers disappeared in a shimmer of lights.

"I wonder what he meant by us endangering everyone else on the planet," Craig said. Morgan ignored him and she pushed passed him. "What's her problem?" Craig asked.

"Believe me, you don't want to know," James replied.

"How come whenever I hear people say that I get rather worried," Craig muttered.

Morgan sat down next to Jessie, she handed one of the bottles she picked up to her.

"Here, knock yourself out," Morgan said and she opened the bottle she was still holding.

"Where did you get this from?" Jessie asked as she looked at the bottle's label.

"From an underground pathway, believe me I'm going to need this," Morgan replied, she took a drink from the bottle. Craig and James walked back over to the camp site.

"I don't think it's a good idea to drink alcohol in the day. Why don't you wait about ten minutes, the sun will have set then," Craig pointed out. Morgan stood back up.

"You don't tell me what to do, ok!" she yelled. She took another drink. "I'm going to the Flyer," she said quietly and she headed towards the shuttle.

"It'll still be rather hot in there," Craig said. Morgan turned around and glared at him.

"Shut up, smart arse!" Morgan yelled, she took another drink.

"Morgan, what on earth's wrong with you?" Jessie asked.

"Why don't you ask him? I can't be bothered," Morgan replied. Jessie and Craig looked over at James.

"She says that like it was my fault," James muttered.

"What was?" Jessie asked.

"It was partially your fault! You shouldn't have been there!" Morgan yelled.

"You told me to come," James pointed out.

"Shut up, smart arse!" Morgan yelled and she took another drink. Craig walked up to her and he took away the bottle.

"What happened?" he asked calmly. Morgan snatched the bottle back and she took another drink.

"It's nothing, I just kissed him," Morgan muttered.

"What!" Craig and Jessie yelled and they looked back at James, then at Morgan.

"Why?" Craig asked angrily.

"I don't know. First I was thinking about Harry, then I got this weird feeling in me. Then I felt this really big urge to kiss the nearest guy to me," Morgan replied and she took another drink.

"Damn, if I had played paper it would have been me," Craig muttered.

"I wish I had played paper now," James said quietly.

"Now if you'll excuse me," Morgan said and she headed towards the shuttle. Jessie and Craig looked back at James.

"Stop looking at me like that. It wasn't my fault," James moaned and he sat down.

"You know, you've just made an enemy," Craig muttered and he folded his arms.

"I didn't do anything wrong, it was her that did it," James protested.

"Yeah, yeah," Craig muttered.

"Tell me, did you kiss her back?" Jessie asked.

"No, of course not!" James snapped.

"You don't need to yell, I can hear you fine," Jessie muttered.

"Anyway she was acting really strangely down there," James said.

"In what way, moron?" Craig asked.

"I don't answer to moron," James replied.

"Oh geez, I'm sorry," Craig said sarcastically and he turned his back on him.

"What was she doing?" Jessie asked.

"We found a coffin in one of the rooms. We opened it, and she started playing around with the body inside it," James replied. Craig turned back around.

"A dead body, and she wasn't bothered about it, that's strange," Craig said in mid thought.

"Far from bothered, it was like she had found a new toy," James said.

"That really is strange," Craig said.

"How so?" Jessie asked.

"As you know Morgan doesn't have many weaknesses, but one of her biggest ones is dead bodies. She can't stand the sight of them. Once the body has been dead for a day, she can't bear to look at it," Craig replied.

"Actually she reminded me more of Emma than Morgan," James muttered.

"And Emma has a weird thing for Harry too," Jessie said.

"Maybe she's accidentally sensing Emma's mind," Craig said.

"That's not possible. Emma is lightyears away, and this wouldn't explain her behaviour change," James said.

"Then what could be wrong with her?" Jessie asked.

"I don't know. I'll talk to her tomorrow, when she's sober," Craig replied.

"Good idea, she's not exactly easy to talk to now," Jessie said.

"By the way, what did you guys find?" Craig asked. Jessie held up the bottle Morgan gave her.

"We found a well. The problem is we don't have a container to collect the water," James replied. Craig took the bottle off Jessie and he looked at the label.

"What's in the bottle anyway, I can't read the label," Craig asked.

"Morgan said it was wine, white wine to be precise," James replied.

"I suppose this could help us get through the night," Jessie said and she opened the bottle.

"Didn't that Maji guy tell us to leave at midnight?" Craig asked.

"We can't leave. The shuttle will take days to repair, if we had the materials, but we don't. And it's not a good idea to wander the desert," Jessie replied.

"She's right, we'll have to stay here. I think that captain was just exaggerating when he said we're risking the lives of the people on the planet," James said.

"How could we, that's just silly," Jessie pointed out.

"Yeah, I suppose you're right," Craig said.

*****
Kathryn walked out of her ready room and she headed towards her chair.

"What seems to be the problem?" she asked. Chakotay stood up and he faced her.

"The Flyer hasn't made contact in hours, they were supposed to contact us two hours after they'd left," Chakotay replied.

"And they've been gone three hours," Tom added. Kathryn tapped her commbadge.

"Janeway to Astrometrix," she said.

"Anderson here."

"Triah, can you trace the Delta Flyer's flight path, we need to know where they are," Kathryn asked.

"I'll try Captain."

"Keep me informed, Janeway out," Kathryn said.

"How far are we from Thairo?" Chakotay asked as he turned to face Harry.

"About an hour away, and a couple of Maji ships are monitoring the entire area," Harry replied.

"Hail the closest ship," Kathryn ordered.

"Yes ma'am," Harry replied and he continued to work at his station. The viewscreen changed it's view to show the insides of the Maji ship. The Maji Captain came into view.

"What do you want now, Captain?" he asked.

"One of our shuttles is missing, have you seen it?" Kathryn replied.

"Was it in our space?" the Maji Captain asked.

"No, it wasn't," Kathryn replied.

"Well then you must have two missing shuttles because we detected one near Thairo," the Maji Captain said.

"What happened to it?" Chakotay asked.

"It was vaporised when it entered the atmosphere, those storms over our North Continent are pretty hazardous," the Maji Captain replied.

Everyone glanced at the nearest person with horrified expressions planted on their faces.

"Now if that is all, have a good day, Captain," the Maji Captain said and the viewscreen switched itself off.

"Anderson to Janeway, I have something."

"I'm on my way," Kathryn said as she tapped her commbadge. She nodded at Chakotay and Tuvok. She stepped into the turbolift and Tuvok and Chakotay followed her.

*****
Kathryn, Chakotay & Tuvok walked into the Astrometrix Lab. Kathryn & Chakotay stood at Triah's right side, and Tuvok stood at Triah's left side.

"What do you have?" Kathryn asked. Triah typed in some commands. The viewscreen changed to show a map of the region. The flight path was displayed by a thin red line.

"This was the original flight path of the Flyer," Triah said and she typed in some more commands. A yellow line came onto the screen, it followed the red line exactly. Triah typed in some more commands. The screen zoomed in on the planet. "The Flyer was supposed to land in the Northern Continent, as you can see they didn't," Triah said. The yellow line was no where near the red line. It went down into the southern part of the planet.

"Why would they take the Flyer down there?" Kathryn asked.

"According to the sensor logs, the Flyer entered the atmosphere a lot faster than the safe speed. They increased speed when a Maji ship entered orbit," Triah replied.

"They must of attacked the Flyer," Chakotay said.

"At that speed the shuttle could of crashed and severely damaged the hull, the awayteam could be badly injured," Tuvok said.

"We're lucky it's the Flyer, it's hull is tougher than the other shuttles. Our real problem is the whereabouts of their crash site," Triah said.

"What do you mean?" Kathryn asked. The viewscreen zoomed in on the planet again. It showed a desert landscape.

"If the shuttle's flight path is right they probably crashed here," Triah said.

"In the middle of a desert," Kathryn muttered.

"They won't last long there," Chakotay pointed out.

"We have to find someway to get into Maji space and rescue them," Kathryn said.

"Easier said than done, the Maji have really powerful weapons at their disposal," Triah said.

"Commander, when is the Dellia due to rendezvous with us?" Kathryn asked.

"Tomorrow at 2300 hours," Tuvok replied.

"The Maji have the fire power I suppose, but with the Dellia Fleet at our side we have a bigger chance at succeeding," Kathryn said.

"Captain, may I remind you of the Prime Directive..." Tuvok said.

"I don't give a crap about the Prime Directive, Mr Tuvok! Those people attacked our shuttle, and if we don't rescue it I may lose my daughter, and several other members of my crew. I cannot allow that to happen!" Kathryn yelled. Tuvok just raised his eyebrow in response.

"As you wish, Captain," he said.

"Kathryn, even with the Dellia Fleet at our side we will be no match for them," Chakotay pointed out.

"We'll see, Chakotay," Kathryn said.

*****
It was now night time on the planet. The camp site now had a fire in the centre of it.

Craig held the bottle out to James.

"Want some?" he asked in a drunken manner.

"No, I told you, I don't like wine," James replied.

"Don't be stupid, everyone loves wine!" Craig yelled as he waved the bottle around. He took a huge drink and he stumbled backwards. Jessie snatched the bottle of him and she sat down clumsily next to James. She put her arm around him as she took another drink.

"Hi," she said.

"Jessie, you've said that five times already," James muttered.

"So?" Jessie said and she started giggling for no reason.

Craig started waving his hand at the Delta Flyer.

"Ooh, here comes Morgan!" he yelled.

Morgan stumbled over to Craig.

"I can't take it anymore. All I keep hearing is oh Harry, oh Tom, it's driving me crazy!" Morgan yelled. She suddenly turned pale. "Eeew!" she squealed.

"What?" Jessie asked in a fit of giggles.

"Somebody's thinking about my dad, is it you Jessie?" Morgan yelled.

"Nah, I don't fancy a monkey right now," Jessie replied while she was still giggling.

"I hope it isn't one of the lads, coz if it is I'm going to be sick," Morgan said.

"I like only you Morgan," Craig giggled. Morgan looked at James.

"No, it's not me, I'm not bloody gay," James said angrily.

"Ah, ok, that's strange," Morgan said and she took another drink from her bottle. She squealed again. "Er, whoever's thinking about my dad is now thinking he has a cute butt," Morgan said.

"That's more than I wanted to know," James groaned.

"Monkeys aren't cute, but I know what is," Jessie said in the middle of a giggle.

"What, me?" Craig asked.

"Nah, you're goofy looking," Jessie replied.

"I think he looks adorable!" Morgan cooed.

"Pass me a bucket," James muttered.

"Do ya Morgan, you're adorable too!" Craig laughed. Jessie burst out laughing again.

"Oh yuck, somebody is imagining themselves kissing Harry," Morgan said.

"Who?" James asked.

"Emma, eew gross. I need to get that picture out of my head," Morgan replied, she looked at Craig. "I know!" Morgan yelled.

"What?" Craig asked. Morgan pulled Craig to her, and she started kissing him.

"Oh, get a room!" Jessie yelled, and she burst out laughing.

Morgan and Craig stopped what they were doing.

"That's better, the image is gone," Morgan said happily.

"Let me know when you get those images again," Craig said and he winked at her. Morgan just giggled at him.

"I'm going back to the Flyer, it's cold out here," Morgan said and she headed back towards the shuttle. Craig waved at her again. He tried to sit down but instead he fell flat on his back. He sat back up again as he burst out laughing. Then he collapsed. Jessie burst out laughing again, and she pointed her finger at him.

"Hehe, he fell down," she giggled.

"Now I know why we get drunk at the same time," James muttered. Jessie just giggled again.

"I'm bored. Can I have a kiss?" she asked and she giggled.

"No," James replied.

"Why not?" Jessie asked.

"I've had enough for today," James replied. Jessie looked at her watch, it said 23:58.

"Ok, two more minutes and then it's a new day so you won't have an excuse," Jessie said.

"If you're bored just go to sleep," James said.

"Nah, that's boring," Jessie giggled as she continued to watch her watch. "One minute, aw to hell with it," Jessie said, she quickly kissed him. "See, that wasn't so bad was it," she said, and she giggled. She looked at him, and she stopped giggling. "Can I have another one?"

"No, go to sleep," James replied.

"Oh come on, that last one only killed two seconds of my time," Jessie moaned.

"If you go to sleep, it'll kill a few hours," James said.

"Oh come on, what's the problem. I know you have a crush on me," Jessie said.

"Go to sleep," James said.

"Oh please," Jessie moaned.

"No!" James said a little too loudly, he looked over at Craig. He moaned slightly, he turned over and started snoring quietly.

"Please, just one, and I'll go to sleep," Jessie said.

"Jessie, you're drunk," James said.

"So?" Jessie muttered, she put her other arm around his neck. She started kissing him, a few seconds later he kissed her back. They stopped a few seconds later, then she fell asleep on his shoulder.

*****
Emma and B'Elanna were sitting at a table near the door.

"I feel like I'm going to be sick," Emma muttered.

"Do you mind, I'm eating," B'Elanna said, she placed her fork back on the plate.

"Sorry, but Morgan was kissing Craig last night," Emma said. B'Elanna looked at her strangely. "She was drunk," Emma said quickly. B'Elanna picked her fork back up and she continued eating. "She kissed James yesterday too," Emma blurted out. B'Elanna dropped her fork onto her plate.

"What?" B'Elanna said questioningly.

"I was thinking about, er, Harry at the time," Emma muttered.

"That explains everything. Now if you'll excuse me," B'Elanna said as she stood up.

"But you haven't finished your food," Emma pointed out.

"I know," B'Elanna said and she headed towards the door. She passed Kiara and Bryan as she stepped through the doors. Kiara and Bryan walked up to Emma's table and they sat down.

"Is it true that you're connected with my sister?" Kiara asked.

"Yeah unfortunately," Emma replied.

"Did she actually kiss James?" Bryan asked. Emma went pale again.

"Yeah, that was disgusting. I'll think twice next time I look at Harry from now on," Emma said.

"I wonder if she did it on purpose, I know what she's like," Kiara said.

"Eew, who'd want to do that to James on purpose," Bryan said.

"I mean to get Emma back," Kiara groaned.

"Oh, right," Bryan muttered. Suddenly Emma screamed for no reason. Everyone looked her way. She stood up, but she quickly collapsed. Kiara and Bryan went over to her. Kiara tapped her commbadge.

"Janeway to Sickbay, there's something wrong with Emma," Kiara said.

"Ok, stand by, I'll beam her here."

*****
Kathryn and Tuvok walked into Sickbay, and they made their way over to the Doctor and Emma.

"Report," Kathryn ordered.

"Emma's in a coma, but there's nothing physically wrong with her," the Doctor replied.

"Do you think Morgan could be in danger?" Kathryn asked.

"Yes, no doubt. As far as I can tell Morgan is in the same state as Emma is in now," the Doctor replied.

"We cannot wait for the Dellia any longer. Tuvok send them a message, tell them to get here immediately," Kathryn ordered and she walked out of Sickbay.

"Aye Captain," Tuvok said.

PART I  ||  PART III