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Part Three - Into the Darkness

Episode Synopsis
The New Earth colony is plunged into darkness after a heavy storm, Voyager meanwhile becomes under threat by a new foe.

Written
13th, 15th & 16th September 2003

Episode Based In
February - March 2372 (mid season 2)

 

Day 38:
Chakotay was busy sanding a bit of wood, Lisa was busy sunbathing and Ian was busy doing nothing. Kathryn emerged from the shelter, "I'm going to check the insect traps in beta four." She spotted Chakotay, she made her way over to him. "Oh, what are you up to now?"

"Making headboards," Chakotay replied.

"Headboards?" Kathryn said.

"I noticed you sometimes sit up in your bed to read. I figured you could use a comfortable back rest," Chakotay said.

Ian sniggered, "he sees her in bed, hmm."

"Shut up," Chakotay snapped.

Kathryn ignored them, "that's very thoughtful Chakotay. You've done so many things to make our lives easier here." She sat down near one of the trees, "the cooking for example, I hate to cook."

Chakotay put his sander down, he stood in front of Kathryn. "But what I do makes you uncomfortable, doesn't it? Everytime I add a personal touch to the shelter, you resist it."

"Sometimes it feels as though you've given up, that your focused on making a home here instead of finding a cure that'll let us leave," Kathryn said.

"I can't sacrifice the present waiting for a future that may never happen. The reality of this situation is that we may never leave here. So yes, I'm trying to make a home, something that's more than a plain grey box," Chakotay said.

"Someday I may have to let go," Kathryn smiled, she held out her hand. Chakotay took it and helped her up. "But not today ok." She headed off into the woods, "anyway I have a feeling, today might be the day I make a break through." Chakotay got back to work as she disappeared from sight.

"You can tell she's got coffee access again, right Chucks," Ian said.

Chakotay shook his head, "yes whatever."

"Seriously though, how's things getting on with her?" Ian asked as he went over to Chakotay.

Chakotay groaned, "well enough, now I know this is about the bet so you can cut it out."

Lisa sat up, she took off her sunglasses, "ok I knew it wasn't just me, is it getting darker?"

Chakotay and Ian glanced at each other, Ian looked up in the sky. "Yeah, it looks like it's going to rain."

It got very windy really quickly, Lisa stood up despite her hair blowing in her face. "Why is it always windy when it rains, really annoying." The whole sky clouded over, the whole area went as dark as night.

Chakotay pulled out a tricorder, "get inside, it's a plasma storm."

"What about Janeway?" Lisa questioned.

"I'll go and find her, you two just get inside," Chakotay said.

Ian meekly put his hand up, "has anyone seen James and Jess around?"

Lisa battled to open one of the doors, "they're inside stupid."

"It was just a question," Ian muttered as he headed towards the other shelter. He opened the door easily, well it nearly blew off in the process. "Oh crap," he groaned.

"What the hell is going on?" James asked.

"Storm, windy, help me close the door!" Ian yelled. James went over to the door, he helped close the door easily. Ian stared at him, "would you stop doing that, it's really embarrassing."

"Doing what? You wanted me to help," James said.

A little while later:
Lisa was underneath one of the tables, the door flew open suddenly. Kathryn and Chakotay stumbled inside, they both joined Lisa under the table.

"By the way, a few cups and stuff have fallen on the floor. Storm's fault," Lisa said.

"I know it doesn't matter, just stay here until it's over," Chakotay said.

A coffee flask fell on the floor, coffee leaked on the floor. Kathryn's eyes widened in horror, "ohno the coffee, nooo." Chakotay tried to stop her reaching for it. She looked like she was going to cry.

Half an hour later:
One of the shelter doors opened up, Chakotay, Kathryn and Lisa stepped out of. Chakotay and Kathryn started checking all of the equipment that was lying around. The other shelter door opened up, Ian fell out of it as it did.

"Who designed these doors?" Ian moaned from the ground.

James and Jessie ignored him, they both stepped over him. "That's it, I officially hate this place," James said.

"What did you lose?" Lisa muttered questioningly.

"Nothing," James replied. Jessie glanced over at him with a raised eyebrow. "Ok, Mr Pointy my favourite knife, that was on the window and blew away."

Lisa tried her best not to laugh, "I'll try to hold myself back there."

"That's what Danny said," Jessie muttered.

"Hey, my headboard has a knife through it!" Chakotay yelled.

James went over to him, he pulled a knife out of the headboard. He placed it against his chest like he was hugging it.

"Ok, what is wrong with that guy?" Lisa asked.

Jessie shrugged, "well he hates cuddly toys, in my opinion you've got to love some kind of object. You know like Ian loves his Disney CDs."

Ian tried not to cry, "my CD collection is partially ruined."

"None of the equipment is salvageable either," Kathryn said. She stood up, "there's no way I can continue to do my research."

"I'm sorry," Chakotay said.

Kathryn turned around, "well that's one way of letting go."

Day 41, the FVDA ship:
It was a 'normal' day off for the FVDA crew, four were all playing a game of pool. Johnny was meanwhile sitting around just sorting his hair out.

Damien leaned on the pool table, he aimed and then fired, the ball hit Justin right in the face. "Oh I'm sorry Justin," Damien said, not meaning it at all.

"Damien, we're never going to win this way," Gareth said.

"I know, I don't really care," Damien said.

The ship shook violently as Myleene was about to take a shot, all of the balls went into their closer hole. "Yey I won!"

"Oh screw it," Damien groaned, he smacked Justin over the head with the cue.

"What's going on?" Johnny asked.

"I have no idea, never seen them before," Damien replied. He turned around, "get to your station you bimbo."

Johnny sheepishly went over to the Tactical, "sorry."

"They're hailing," Myleene said.

"Fine, let's talk to the b***ards," Damien grumbled.

Some familiar people appeared on the viewscreen. "Watch that language Damien, we wouldn't want to stop a certain episode from being shown," one said.

"Oh my god, it's the Buffy crew!" Gareth squealed.

"Yes, from another Fifth Dimension we are," Xander said.

"Ok, why are you talking like that, you moron," Giles muttered.

"I don't care, what do you want?" Damien asked.

"We are members of the Fox Network now, we think Fifth Voyager is not good enough to be around. It's just as crap as Futurama," Dawn replied.

"Futurama wasn't crap," Damien said.

"Of course it was, what we say goes so there," another voice said. An unfamiliar guy stepped to the front of the group. "Mwahahaha, I'm the leader of the Fox Network, now because I feel like it Fifth Voyager is now banned."

"But you can't... I mean it's an internet fanfic series, not a programme on the worst TV network around," Johnny said.

"Oh but you know, we run everything. It's a known fact kid," the leader said.

"What's the problem? Weren't we trying to destroy this series, hence our title?" Gareth questioned.

"Of course we were but now that you put it like that, if the series goes then there won't be any me. We can't have that," Damien said in a panicky voice.

"Oh no, we can't have that," Xander said sarcastically.

Damien scowled, "screw you Harris."

"Don't mind him, we always hire the characters who are always cruel to the obvious best characters and/or the bad guys of the TV show, or just recruit the annoying ones of the show," the leader said.

"Oh god, you don't mean..." Damien stuttered.

"Yes, let me introduce the other members of my team; Ash Ketchum, Brock what's his name, Misty what's her name, Tracey Sketchit, one of the too many Officer Jenny's and the girl who can't sing, Casey," the leader said, he laughed in the most annoying way possible.

The annoying members of the Pokémon cast joined the prejudice Buffy castmembers. Misty and Casey spotted Dawn pouting as per usual, they instantly became best buddies, and went out of sight.

"Ok, how do you plan to destroy Fifth Voyager by attacking us?" Damien asked.

"Simple, you think you're the bad guys of the moment so we thought we could use you to destroy the ship. Preferably soon before all the expected soppy crap starts in this episode," the leader replied.

"Great, put non-romantics off the episode, good start," Damien groaned.

"I said the same thing earlier, hehe," Buffy laughed.

"Do you realise that your characters are out of character?" Gareth asked.

"Permission to beat the crap out of him," Buffy said to the leader. He nodded. Somehow she appeared on the bridge, she started to beat the crap out of Gareth.

"Ok so do we have a deal?" the leader asked.

"No, I love me, I can't imagine a life without me. Get stuffed," Damien replied. He turned to Johnny, "raise shields."

"Um what about the vampire slayer?" Johnny stuttered.

"Oh well that's easy," Damien muttered, he pulled out a phaser before shooting Buffy. "There easy."

"Uh you didn't kill her.. again, did you?" Myleene asked.

"Of course not, can you imagine all the people that would hate me if I did?" Damien replied.

"Beaming her back to her ship," Johnny muttered.

"Let's get out of here, we'd better warn Voyager," Damien said.

"Um yes sir," Myleene stuttered.

New Earth:
The sun was just rising as James went inside the shelter, he climbed into his own bed, ignoring Ian's snoring. A few minutes later an alarm clock went off, waking up Ian. He looked out of the window, "gee, it's getting darker everytime."

He climbed out of bed, took one look at James. "Lazy butt, it's eight wake up."

"Fine whatever," James muttered. He climbed back out of bed.

"Wait a minute, there's something I want to ask you," Ian said, folding his arms.

James headed over to the small kitchen area, "what?"

"I woke up about three, you weren't in bed. Where were you?" Ian asked.

James briefly glanced at him, "um couldn't sleep, I went for a walk."

"Don't look nervous, I was just wondering. Remember Janeway said not to go around on your own at night," Ian said.

"Yeah but we've been here for nearly a month, I think we're ok now," James said. He pressed some buttons on the replicator, "um it isn't working."

"What isn't?" Ian questioned.

"The replicator, it usually makes beepy noises when you press the buttons," James replied.

Ian shrugged, he joined him in the kitchen, "just order something, it did it to me once but I think it was because I had music on."

"Coffee, white," James ordered, the replicator didn't do anything.

Ian pulled a face, "coffee, you don't like the stuff."

"It has caffeine in it, and I used to like it ok. I'd better check the power thingy," James said. He stepped back outside.

Jessie came out of her room, "what's going on?"

"Replicator's not working," Ian replied. He leaned against the wall, "and James wanted a coffee."

"You must have really kept him up last night with all that snoring," Jessie said.

Ian blushed, "I don't snore."

Jessie stood next to him, she patted his arm, "yes you do."

James and Chakotay came into the room both looking worried. "Someone's cut the power," Chakotay said.

"What, are you sure?" Ian questioned.

"Oh yes. The metre is fine but the connection's been cut in a place hard to get at," James replied.

"It's not hard to get at, you're just a small person," Chakotay said.

"Why would anyone want to cut off the power?" Jessie asked.

Ian looked even more confused, "yeah and how did my alarm clock go off a minute ago?"

"Well the power must have been cut off just recently, that's impossible," Chakotay replied.

"There was a small storm last night, I doubt that would have affected it, right?" James said.

Chakotay shook his head, "no it's been cut with some kind of cutting equipment. Somebody did this intentionally but everyone were in their shelters at the time."

"Ian, does your alarm clock have back up power like batteries?" Jessie asked, eyeing the alarm clock.

"I dunno," Ian replied.

"Well it's still on," Jessie said.

"Oh it probably does then," Ian sheepishly said.

"This still doesn't add up, why would anyone want to disconnect the power?" Chakotay said questioningly.

"That's not the question you should be asking. We should be asking who was awake and around at some part of the night?" Ian said. He glanced at James.

James rolled his eyes, "yeah I cut the power off to get a kick, I was that bored."

"He confessed, case solved," Ian said.

Jessie tried to keep a straight face, "you said it was a hard place to get at for small people. Is a tree nearby or anything?"

Chakotay nodded, "yes why?"

"Maybe it was a monkey," Jessie said.

"You've just woke up haven't you?" Chakotay questioned.

"Uh yeah," Jessie said.

"It shows," Chakotay muttered.

"Just a thought, how long will it take to fix it?" James asked.

"Well we have a few hours of daylight each day, in total it'll probably take two to three days," Chakotay replied.

Day 42, Voyager:
"Captain Tuvok," Harry said loud enough to get attention.

"I'm picking up a convoy on long range sensors, it's the Vidiians sir," Harry said.

"Distance?" Tuvok said.

"About 1.5 lightyears," Harry said cheerfully.

"Miss Scott, alter course to another heading. I don't want to risk them detecting us," Tuvok commanded.

Danny nodded. Harry stood up, "sir the Vidiians."

"Yes?" Tuvok said.

"They're in hailing range. We can ask if they know anything about that illness," Harry said.

"You remember that Captain Janeway left exact instructions not to make contact with the Vidiians," Tuvok said.

"It's not like we went out of our way to find them. It would be, taking advantage of an opportunity that's presented itself," Harry said, raising his voice.

"That bit of sophistry is not terribly convincing Ensign," Tuvok said calmly.

Harry stepped away from his station, "sir how could we turn our backs on this chance to do something. Don't we have to try, don't we owe that to those six crewmembers stranded on that planet?"

"The matter is closed Ensign, return to your station," Tuvok ordered.

Harry sighed, he glanced around the room for some help. "What's wrong with all of you? You know I'm right!"

Tuvok stood up, "Ensign Kim. You are relived of duty, leave the bridge or I will have Security come to remove you."

Harry sighed, "fine." He left the room.

The Mess Hall, later that night:
Neelix was busy cleaning up his pots and pans, while an odd few crewmembers were scattered around on different tables finishing off drinks. Danny and Kes entered the room, they walked straight over to Harry's table and sat down on both sides of him.

Harry passed them both confused looks, "ok, is there something you two want?"

"Danny told me about you getting sent off duty," Kes said.

"Oh, come to laugh at me then?" Harry muttered.

"Maybe in different circumstances yeah," Danny replied.

"Look we think you're right about the Vidiians, we have to contact them," Kes said.

"Yeah, they'll kick our a** but it's worth it. I'd do a lot of things to get my friends back," Danny said.

"And Ian," Kes commented.

Danny shrugged, "well he sort of goes into the friends category."

"I wouldn't mind taking the risk too, but Tuvok's made his decision. Three crewmembers won't change his mind," Harry said.

"Don't you mean about one hundred and fifty crewmembers?" Danny said.

Harry's eyes lit up, "really?"

"You kidding, another seventy years with Tuvok changing our shifts so we have to work at late or really early hours and I'll go insane. For the past year we've had the same old duty shifts, everyone's pretty tiffed about doing something different," Danny replied.

Kes nodded her head, "yeah and I think Tom's feeling the worst of it."

The three glanced at Tom's table, he was shaking madly while trying to drink a cup of coffee. He glanced to the left, "call Buckingham Palace, Janeway's pinched the soldier's wigs."

"Yeah, what's up with that?" Danny asked.

"I think he misses insulting Chakotay, Janeway, Jessie.. actually everybody that's on that planet. I guess all the insults he thought up just come out even when he's alone. It's very sad," Kes replied.

"Ok, I think I have an idea," Harry said.

"It doesn't involve setting the Doctor onto Tuvok wearing a tutu does it? Cos that's my idea and you've stole it," Danny said.

Harry stared blankly at her, "um so much for that idea. Anyway, I have another plan."

"Ohno, not Neelix streaking again," Danny said. Kes and Harry shuddered.

"Danny stop that, I have a normal people plan. We're not desperate yet," Harry said.

"That rules out the murder option," Danny grumbled.

Meanwhile, the FVDA ship:
Saddam was cheerfully skipping down the corridor with his toilet cleaning gear. He went through one of the doors, and stopped in shock, "oh my.."

R Kelly and Osama pulled away from each other, Osama stood up. "Saddy I can explain.."

"No you can't.. I should have known you'd make a move Kelly," Saddam stuttered.

R Kelly stood up, "you should have man, we're madly in love."

"I don't love you at all R Kelly, you saying that you understand how I felt, well it made me feel wanted.." Osama said.

Saddam gasped, "and I don't make you feel like that. I thought we looked after each other's evilness, this guy only has porn.. he's not as evil as us."

"I don't do porn man," R Kelly said, looking around nervously.

"You're right, Saddy. Will you take me back?" Osama questioned.

"Hmm well cheating is evil, ok let's get back together," Saddam replied.

R Kelly sulked, "damn trippy. I'm so glad I have my por... porshe, yes that'll do." He ran out of the room.

Tuvok's Quarters:
Tuvok raised his eyebrow, "ok.. that was just not necessary."

"I'm sorry but after reading that article about R Kelly with the word soulmate and Osama Bin Laden in it, well I just couldn't resist," Marill said, looking innocent.

"You're one very disturbed child, aren't you?" Tuvok commented.

"Now you notice?" Marill muttered, shaking her head.

The door chimed, "enter."

"That reminds me, I have to be writing this don't I?" Marill said. She disappeared.

Tuvok raised his eyebrow again, "interesting."

Harry strolled into the room, "can I have a moment sir?"

Tuvok stood up, "it's 0100 hours Ensign, don't you have the early shift this morning?"

"Yes sir, no thanks you.. um this is important," Harry grumbled.

"Very well," Tuvok said, sitting back down.

Harry sat opposite him, "firstly I want to apologise for my behaviour today."

"Apology accepted, I know this is a difficult time for you," Tuvok said.

"I'd like to suggest a plan, it's something a few others have worked on too," Harry said. Tuvok nodded. "We have a big bargaining point when it comes to dealing with the Vidiians. Firstly there's the one that Doc treated in an ep that doesn't exist, Denara Pell. They were very close so I'm sure she'd help us if she could. Secondly, B'Elanna's DNA leads to a cure for the Phage, we can give them some in exchange for the cure to treat the six on the planet."

"It makes you think this season should have included some more original episodes from the original second season," Tuvok commented.

Harry coughed, "ahem."

"Those are, as you say, points in our favour. But you may have forgotten that we were responsible for the destruction of a Vidiian ship, an act that killed over three hundred of their people. That alone should stop us from contacting them," Tuvok said.

"Sir, you should know a lot of people on this crew disagree with you. Everyone I talked too thinks we should give this a try," Harry said.

"The people you talked to do not have the ability to command this vessel, I do.. the safety of this crew is paramount. I must not allow the feelings of the crew to dominate my decisions," Tuvok said.

"Don't you think for a second that for once you should follow the feelings of the crew? Our plan could help the Captain and.." Harry raised his voice.

Tuvok stood back up, "Mr Kim, I'm going to say this once, and once only, if you argue with my orders again, you'll be relived of duty permanently. The next words I expect to hear from you is yes sir."

Harry stood up, he gave Tuvok the most evil glare he could, "yes.. sir."

Day 43, the Ready Room:
The door chimed, Tuvok looked up from the computer, "come in." Kes walked in.

"Do you have a moment?" she asked.

"Yes, please sit down," Tuvok replied.

Kes sat down opposite him, "I'd like to talk to you, about my father."

"Your father?" Tuvok said.

"He was a very wise man. More than anyone he shaped the person I am. If it hadn't of been for him I would never have questioned my people's beliefs, I would never have left our city. I'd never have met all of you," Kes said.

"Then we owe him a debt, it's difficult to imagine this journey without you," Tuvok said.

"When he died I had just turned one year old and.." Kes said.

"Wait, wasn't he alive when you left the planet?" Tuvok said questioningly.

Kes looked nervous, "um ok you caught me.. he didn't die, at least I hope he didn't. I had just turned one then, and he could have died in a cut scene.."

Marill reappeared, "don't even think of blaming me for that, I'm pretty sure Jeri Taylor was a bit drugged during some of the writing for this... and of course I've had to try and fix everything. Of course I'm bloody sick of writing 'said', 'asked' and 'questioningly' so much. I mean what kind of term is 'said questioningly', ugh."

Kes and Tuvok glanced at each other with raised eyebrows, they glanced back at her. "You think you have problems," Kes commented.

"Ok you have no idea how hard this is without having to figure out all the dates, mix the storyline with my extra scenes, try and work out plot holes that nobody would agree with.. right I need to quit drinking coffee, it's so depressing and it makes me rant more," Marill stuttered before disappearing again.

"I was getting sick of 'asked' and 'questioningly' too," Kes said.

"Indeed," Tuvok said raising his eyebrow.

"Ok, Marill can't write an entire original scene mostly exact for very long, so I'm to convince you another way," Kes said. She stood up, "follow me."

Tuvok, looking pretty confused, stood up and followed her out of the room. As they entered the bridge they saw Tom pacing the bridge, while pointing at people he was yelling insults at them.

He pointed at Harry, "sort that huge hair out Janeway." He then pointed at Faye, "you are so gay you don't fancy any gender."

Faye pulled a face, "meanie."

Tom starting crying into his hands, as he fell to his knees, "it's not fair, it's not fair. I can't insult, maybe I'll just be nice to people."

Kes glanced at Tuvok, "do it for Tom.. he's dying."

Tuvok sighed, "very well.. ahem, now I'll do a speech."

"Can we do it without the speech, I'm only on a little bit of caffeine today," Faye questioned.

"Very well," Tuvok sighed, looking really disappointed. He threw away a PADD, since he was standing next to the Ready Room door it was still open, and the PADD flew inside, knocking Janeway's favourite cup to the ground.

"Quickly, before he notices and changes his mind," Kes whispered to Danny. She nodded while keying in commands at the helm.

New Earth:
James was standing on some wood planks while he was fiddling with that pipe thing, all the others except Lisa were clearing away branches.

"I don't see why I have to do this," James muttered.

"Cos it's really a guys job in my opinion," Ian said.

"Yep, and that job is fiddly, smaller hands do the job," Chakotay added on.

"Why don't you get Lisa or Janeway to do it, some girls have small hands," James said.

Lisa laughed, "me working on electricity? Do you have any idea what it would do to my hair? Not in this life bub."

"I was going to say a similar thing. Though it is quite dangerous, shouldn't there be some kind of protection for this job?" Kathryn said.

Lisa burst into a fit of giggles, "that's a good one."

Jessie glanced in her direction, "I don't see how it's a 'good one' Danny Junior."

"Oh come on, you don't get why it's funny?" Lisa muttered, shaking her head.

"No, but it's obvious that it's a dirty kind of funny," Jessie said.

James walked away from the pipe, "can we go on a day without you laughing at something, thinking it's dirty?"

Lisa pretended to think about it, "nope."

"People.. can we talk about something else, please?" Chakotay grumbled.

"Blame Lisa, it was her fault," James said.

"No way, Janeway made me laugh," Lisa grumbled.

"There's something about that sentence that doesn't really make sense, what bit is that?" James said.

Kathryn put her hands on her hips, "I can be funny, I'll tell a funny story.."

"Ohno," everyone but Chakotay groaned.

"Stop complaining, as soon as we finish working you can do whatever you want," Chakotay said. He stepped on a barrel to get to the roof of the shelter.

Kathryn smiled, "thank you Chakotay, but I'm not in the mood for a funny story now."

"I was thinking we could make some more living space using some of this wood," Chakotay said.

"We can build a log cabin, I've always wanted to see one of those," Lisa commented.

"I think I'll play around with electricity," James muttered. He went back towards the pipe thing.

"That's an idea, I built a few of them when I was growing up. My father thought it was important for me to learn how," Chakotay said.

"That's nice, my dad thought it was important to beat the s*** out of me," James said.

Kathryn dropped one of the branches on the ground in shock, "oh.. that's not nice. Anyway getting away from that, when I was young my parents took me on back packing trips. I hated it, no beds, no replicator.."

"No coffee," Jessie commented.

"No bathtubs," Chakotay added on.

"Exactly," Kathryn laughed. "I guess I was always a 24th century girl."

"You might say those camping trips prepared you for life here," Chakotay said.

"Ohno, life here is much better than that," Kathryn said.

Chakotay smiled, "that's the first time I've heard you say anything positive about living here."

Kathryn was about to respond but the sound of the monkey interrupted her. She turned around, Chakotay jumped down from the barrel, and headed over. "Well hello there," Kathryn said in a funny voice.

"Well hello there," Lisa imitated Kathryn's voice.

"I haven't seen you in a while, where have you been?" Kathryn questioned, while kneeling down.

"You expect him to answer you?" Chakotay asked.

"Not yet, but I sense intelligence in him. I swear he tried to warn me about the first plasma storm," Kathryn whispered. She put her hand out, "come on little fella, come here." The monkey ignored her, he climbed back up the tree.

"I doubt he can be domesticated, at least not very easily," Chakotay commented.

"Yeah it took so long to domesticate Chakotay," Ian said quietly to the others. Chakotay glared in his direction.

"Well we have plenty of time.. the rest of our lives," Kathryn said, she glanced at Chakotay.

He nodded his head, "that's a long time, at least I hope so."

Kathryn laughed, she placed a hand on his arm, "well I can't give any of you orders anymore but I suggest we all get back to work."

"Aye aye Captain," Chakotay said as he stood up.

Ian came up behind Jessie to whisper in her ear, "we're going to win, did you see that?"

Jessie looked confused, "see what?"

Lisa rolled her eyes, "oh for god's sake, she touched his arm. Big deal."

Kathryn turned to James, "how's it going anyway?"

"Well I haven't been shocked yet, so obviously not very well," James replied.

"That makes me feel better," Kathryn muttered.

"Yep, another night in complete darkness," Lisa moaned.

"We had candles, and one torch," Jessie muttered.

"Yeah well I don't like candles, I hate fire," Lisa said sheepishly.

Ian again whispered in Jessie's ear, "she set fire to her living room with one."

Lisa gasped, "hey, that was our secret!" Ian just shrugged his shoulders.

Jessie went over to James, "you're never going to get a day off at this rate."

James pulled a face, "typical, I was the only one who betted on them." He stepped away from the pipe thing.

Jessie smiled smugly, "Janeway and Chakotay seem to be getting closer everyday, so you'd better get practising the foot massages."

James folded his arms, "I thought someone else would do that? I mean I've never done it before, I'd probably break a bone."

Lisa came over, "what was that I overheard, foot massages?"

Jessie rolled her eyes, "ugh my god." She walked away.

Lisa tried to look innocent, "what, what?"

Later that night:
"It's not fair, just because pansy James is afraid of the dark we have to finish off his work," Lisa was busy grumbling.

Ian shook his head, "you always had to complain about everything."

"Well I don't know what I'm doing, and what if I get electrocuted?" Lisa said.

"You're just passing me the equipment when I need it, I'm the one in danger here," Ian muttered.

Lisa shrugged her shoulders, "fine."

One of the shelter's windows opened up suddenly, Lisa and Ian jumped a mile as a result. James popped his head out, "sorry, did I scare you?"

Lisa placed her hand on her chest, "oh my god, of course not. It's pitch black in the middle of the woods, a loud noise happens and well that's not scary at all."

"Ok," James muttered.

"Before you ask, no we're not getting anywhere," Ian said.

"Yeah, so you're going to have to light up more candles if you're scared," Lisa said, still trying her best to calm down.

"Weirdly enough I'm not scared, and since when did Lisa know about my dark fear?" James questioned, looking in Ian's direction.

Ian looked behind him, "who are you talking to James? It's not me cos I have no idea what you're talking about."

Lisa grinned, "he's so cute when he's nervous."

"Um.. if you're not scared, why aren't you fixing this?" Ian asked.

"Ooh, are you and Jessie on a date or something, please tell me you are. My back's killing me," Lisa said.

James raised his eyebrow, "no.. since when did we start betting on people going on dates?"

"Not like there's anywhere to go, really," Ian muttered.

Lisa shrugged, "just wondering.."

"I was actually going to have another go at fixing the power," James said.

"Well you can't do it there, unless you have stretch arms. That would be freaky," Lisa said. Ian shuddered, Lisa glanced at him looking worried. "Oops, I forgot about your fear for Inspector Gadget."

Ian glared at her, "my secret fear."

James tried not to laugh, "wow, I'm not the biggest wuss anymore."

Ian pouted, "it's not my fault he's so creepy, ok."

"Ok Ian, I'll be right out. First I'll check your Disney CDs, he might come out of them," James said. He disappeared into the dark shelter.

"Oopsie," Lisa muttered, glancing at the ground.

"You'd think you've embarrassed me enough, but obviously not," Ian grumbled.

"I'm sorry, how many times do I have to say it," Lisa pouted.

"Should I come back later?" James asked as he came up behind them.

They both jumped a mile again. "For god's sake.. put some noisy shoes on next time you sneak up on us!" Lisa cried.

"I said I was coming out," James said.

"It's ok, we're going inside anyway," Ian said.

"We are, great," Lisa said.

"Great, I know when I'm not wanted," James muttered.

"No it's just we haven't really talked, we need to talk," Ian said.

Lisa looked worried, "I'm not that good at the talking."

James looked confused, "but you talk all the time."

"Ugh, you know what I mean," Lisa groaned. She stormed into the shelter, slamming the door behind her. She passed the table which Kathryn and Chakotay were working at, before going into her room.

Kathryn tried to massage her own left shoulder, "ugh, you can tell I'm not used to this kind of work. My knots are getting knots."

Chakotay smiled, he climbed out of his chair, "here let me help." He walked over to stand behind Kathryn's chair. After pushing her hair to the side, he started to massage her shoulders.

Ian walked into the room quietly, he spotted what was going on, quickly he went into Lisa's room. She walked up to him, "what you in a hurry for?"

"Shh, I had to get in here quickly because those two were having a moment," Ian replied quietly.

"Oh you mean James and Jessie?" Lisa whispered.

"No, Janeway and Chakotay duh. They're the ones who live here after all," Ian replied.

Lisa clicked her fingers angrily, "I knew I should have betted on them. It wasn't anything too bad was it, they were just flirting right? Making out's never good."

"Well he's giving her a massage," Ian said.

"Oh that's ok then.." Lisa muttered. Ian looked confused.

Meanwhile:
James was leaning on the window again, except he was on the opposite side than before, trying to reach for something in the shelter, "for crying out loud, damn gravity." Eventually he brought a bag out through the window.

The monkey jumped down from the trees, he started pointing behind him.

"Hey pervert, what's up?" James said quietly.

The monkey continued to point behind him, it then ran off in the direction he was pointing at. James then followed him into the woods. A dark figure came out from behind a tree. "Oh it's you, have you seen a monkey running around. That was my lunch," Frenit said.

James pulled a face, "eew, stop saying it like that."

"I take that as a no then," Frenit muttered.

"The last time you came here you weren't monkey hunting, what's up this time?" James questioned.

"Ok you caught me, I've came to tell you something," Frenit said, smiling deviously.

"That sounds interesting, what is it?" James said sarcastically.

Frenit folded his arms, "I wouldn't use that attitude when the Masters visit you tomorrow at sunset, they don't like to waste time talking."

"Unlike somebody I know and don't love," James said.

Frenit looked pretty annoyed, "didn't you hear me? The Masters, grrr aargh, scary original vampires. They'll kick your arse, that's if they decide to fight. They may just get right to the point."

"Wow when you put it like that I'm even less scared than before," James muttered.

"It was the grrr aargh thing wasn't it?" Frenit questioned. James nodded his head. "I knew it, I just wanted to be taken less seriously."

"It's ok, I never really did. I think it was your name," James said.

"Like yours is any less weird," Frenit grumbled.

"Well it's been um swell talking to you, bye now," James muttered, he turned back the way he came.

"You don't even try to kill me now, that's a shame," Frenit said.

James stopped, "I only tried once."

"Yeah and I killed you, and I'm only fifty years old. The Masters are over three hundred," Frenit said.

"Well then, I'll use their walking sticks to stake them," James commented.

"Vampires don't age and you know it," Frenit said.

James turned around again, "so why is age so important in this argument?"

"Because they've spent three hundred years killing innocent people to feed, killed Slayers just for fun and revenge, they're not pushovers," Frenit replied.

"So, tomorrow then?" James said.

"Yes, they'll probably slaughter you and then decide to eat your friends just for the hell of it. Every Slayer they've found has been killed, if I were you I'd run and hide," Frenit said.

"So you've already told me," James muttered.

"Look they told me to give you the message to meet them at the lake at sunset, or they'll come for you. If you hide they'll probably find your friends, if you don't they may not be found," Frenit said.

"How do I know that you're not just making this up as a trick?" James questioned.

"It doesn't matter, whatever you do will result in someone dying. Whoever that'll be is up to you," Frenit replied. He backed off, and went out of sight.

Voyager, the bridge:
Danny glanced towards opps, "how long now?"

Harry sighed, "another twelve hours."

Danny pulled a face, "how long have I been on duty?"

"A ship's coming towards us, they're powering weapons," B'Elanna said from tactical.

"The Vidiians?" Danny said.

"No, I don't know who they are," B'Elanna said. The ship shook gently. "Just a warning shot."

"They're hailing," Harry said.

"On screen," Tuvok ordered.

The Fox crew appeared on the view screen. "Mwahahahaha, Fifth Voyager, prepare to be banned," the leader laughed.

"What.. again?" Danny muttered in disbelief.

Harry pulled a face, "again? Did I miss something?"

"Well didn't the site get closed after just a little amount of time at Envy?" Danny replied.

Faye shook her head, "such a sad chapter in our small history. Then again Envy would ban a cutely designed adoption site if they were given a false tip like we were."

"Speak as characters in a series, please.. headache coming," Harry moaned.

"I'm afraid that's not possible, as we are banning the lot of you from ever appearing on computer screens again," the leader said.

"Um, how are you going to do that?" Harry asked.

"Well we did the same to Futurama as what we'll do here," Brock replied.

Everyone gasped, "not sports coverage!"

"Yep, also we'll do episode cancellations, series delays.." Giles said.

"That happens all the time anyway," Harry commented.

"..and release episodes in the wrong order," Giles finished off.

"Season One & Two," Harry commented.

"Oh shut up," B'Elanna growled.

"Meh screw this, let's just destroy the ship. This episode's pretty crap anyway," the leader said. The other Fox people nodded their heads. The viewscreen changed back to show the ship firing on them.

"Well at least with Futurama they were more merciful," Danny muttered.

"Miss Scott, evasive maneuvers," Tuvok commanded.

"Wait, they're not firing," B'Elanna said.

The Fox Ship:
"What the.. who are you, and how did you get here?" the leader asked.

"Well as long as you're in this dimension, and a few others, I can kinda control anything," Marill replied.

Ash stepped forward with Misty on his arm and Pikachu on his shoulder, "stop causing trouble you loser, we just want to cancel some dumb show."

Marill smiled sweetly, "oh what a cute Pikachu, can I pet it?"

Ash calmed down instantly, "oh sure." He happily skipped over to Marill, and handed her his Pikachu.

Marill held it by the tail, "oh what do you know, it bounces up and down."

"Hey stop that, waaah!" Ash cried.

"Ok, catch," Marill said, she threw the Pikachu at Ash, it hit him right in the head.

"You hurt my boyfriend.. friend, go Pokéball," Misty screeched. Marill quickly wrote something on a notepad, the pokéball turned into a bowling ball just as Misty was about to throw it. It dropped right to the ground, bringing her with it.

"Hey, this is fun," Marill giggled in her usual hyper way.

"You think you can beat us by doing that? Fat chance missy," the leader snarled.

"Hey, if I can think of a new way way of saying asked that's not as dumb as 'said questioningly', but still dumb, then I think I can handle this," Marill said. A remote appeared in her hand, she used it to switch on the viewscreen. She quickly put on some huge earplugs before keying in some numbers. "There, your viewscreen can now play the Box, Kiss and Smash Hits at the same time!"

"That's not so bad," Buffy commented.

Justin Timberlake's new video 'Senorita' came on, also Pharrell Williams' 'Fronin' and Gareth Gates' 'Sunshine' came on at the same time. Marill disappeared just as she pressed the mute button to unmute the sound. The 'music' came on full blast.

"Oh my god.. make it stop!" Dawn screamed. Everyone fell onto the floor in absolute agony.

Voyager:
Marill appeared in the bridge, "um guys.. go, fly yeesh. I just risked my butt to distract them."

"Um ok," Danny said, sounding confused. She keyed in some commands.

New Earth:
Lisa and Ian were sitting on her bed talking with a torch lying next to them. "I don't care what you think, I'm not a freak," Ian was saying.

"I had to think of a word for it, I mean what I did, I did it cos I thought you weren't a freak. Get my meaning," Lisa said.

"I didn't care about that, and not in a bad way either," Ian said.

Lisa smiled nervously, "I wish I knew that a lot earlier."

The two sat in silence for a while, voices in the next room then caught their attention. "Ooh, this maybe it," Ian said, looking too sure of himself.

Lisa rolled her eyes, "oh please, I doubt it. He only gave her a back massage."

"You seemed interested in the fact that Jessie wants a foot massage if she wins, which she will," Ian said.

"Yeah well a foot massage is different," Lisa said.

"How is it a better kind of different? Feet is just things you walk on, and kick people with," Ian questioned.

"People always touch people on their arms, and shoulders. They don't touch feet, it's different to normal you see," Lisa said.

Ian pulled a face, "it's feet."

"Anyone can give someone a back massage, it doesn't usually mean anything. I swear," Lisa said.

"I guess.. well I know that but.." Ian muttered. He slapped his own leg, "damn it Lisa, I saw them.. that wasn't just a friendly back massage. Stop trying to annoy the J/Cers."

Lisa shrugged, "well if you really think that, I'd be trying to figure out what they're talking about."

Ian nodded, "good idea." He stood up, and hung around the door.

Lisa tried not to laugh, "I wasn't serious."

Meanwhile:
James stepped through the main shelter door, he dumped the bag on the chair nearby.

"Been somewhere?" Jessie asked from the bedroom doorway.

James jumped in shock, "Jess, I didn't see you there."

"Well I don't really have any light with me, so it's obvious you didn't," Jessie said.

James glanced around the room, "Ian still with Lisa?"

Jessie shrugged, "I guess so. Anyway, been somewhere?"

"Oh I went for a walk," James replied.

"Weird, you never had this many walks on Voyager. Something up?" Jessie commented.

"No, not really," James replied.

Jessie nodded, "ok." She turned around, went into her room.

James followed her into the candle lit room, "actually there is something up."

Jessie turned around, "oh, what is it?"

"Well it's something that's been bugging me for months now," James replied.

"Then why didn't you talk to me about it?" Jessie asked.

"Because we tried, and well I needed a long time to think about it. Now we're talking about it," James replied.

Jessie tried her best not to look confused, "um, I'm not following you."

"Well to be honest it doesn't matter if you don't, cos well I dunno. Can't explain it without sounding like.." James said.

"Sounding like you're making this up as you go along. You only do this when you're nervous," Jessie said.

James stepped closer to her, "I'm not actually.. that's the thing. When we first talked about it, I was, I'm not now. I was actually worried that I'd sound like a jerk."

"There's only one thing I can think of that'll get you worried about something like that, and it can't be that," Jessie said.

"I think you actually got it there," James muttered.

"Oh.. but what about the bet?" Jessie questioned.

"They'd have to know about it, besides I do work every day anyway," James said.

Jessie briefly looked down at the ground, "when you put it like that, it doesn't really matter does it?" They both started kissing.

Meanwhile again, the other shelter:
Kathryn and Chakotay were sitting opposite each other at the table. Chakotay was doing his speech, you know which one. If you don't, where have you been? "..The angry warrior swore to himself that he would stay by her side, doing whatever he could to make her burden lighter.  From that point on, her needs would come first, and in that way, the warrior began to know the true meaning of peace."

Kathryn smiled, "is that really an ancient legend?”

Chakotay smiled too, "no, but it made it easier to say."

Lisa's room:
Lisa glanced over at Ian, he was asleep against the door. She rolled her eyes, "oh my god.. Ian, wake up."

Ian woke up suddenly, "what.. what?"

"You just missed this really nice speech," Lisa said.

"Nice, speech? I didn't think those two words went together," Ian said.

"Oh Ian, stop annoying the J/Cers," Lisa said, she winked at him.

Ian didn't look happy, "ohno, what else has been said?"

"Nothing much, I can't hear anything.. that's always promising," Lisa replied.

"That's just great, I can't leave unless they're still in there," Ian said.

"Climb out of the wind.." Lisa started to say.

"No, I'll keep listening," Ian said quickly.

Meanwhile:
Kathryn stood up, she walked over to where Chakotay was sitting. She leaned down and kissed him on the lips.

The monkey appeared on the open window screeching his head off. Kathryn and Chakotay pulled away, Chakotay not looking very chuffed at all. Kathryn looked over at the monkey, "what's up little fella?"

The monkey continued to screech, he started making funny symbols with his hands. Kathryn gasped in horror.

Chakotay stood up, "what is it? Storm coming? Somebody missing, Borg crashed here, what, it better be good?"

Kathryn turned around, glaring in her usual icy way.

 

****THE END****

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