The Journey To Thairo

3000 years ago, on the Maji Homeworld, the planet was plagued by a curse. It all started after the king's funeral. He had been murdered by a man named Iinan, who had been secretly been seeing the king's fiance, Makia. She committed suicide not long after the murder. Nobody knew at the time that Iinan was experimenting with witchcraft. Princess Unu fell under his spell and she became involved with witchcraft too.

They both were captured and hung for murder and witchcraft. Unknown to the natives at the time, Unu and Iinan had cast a spell that would make them immortal. The three cities in the mountainous area became infested with Sbaracs, which could eat humanoid flesh. The cities were evacuated. It is still unknown to this day who buried the pair in two of the cities. Of course this wasn't the end of it all.

Both souls had reincarnated, but somehow half was left behind, and they are still haunting the three cities. It is prophesied that their reincarnations would return to the cities. Iinan and Unu would use their reincarnates to fully regenerate and destroy the planet.

That is why Maji ships stop any aliens from going near the city's area. They are worried that the reincarnates will wake them up.

 

"That's a load of rubbish! How could their souls reincarnate and yet still be left behind?" Morgan muttered as she slammed her walkman on the table in front of her.

"Morgan, please leave your questions to afterwards, the class wants to listen to the rest of the story," the Doctor said forcefully.

"The rest of the class? Doc please, there's only me, Naomi, Kiara and Bryan in this so called class," Morgan mumbled as she chewed on her pen.

"I'm well aware of the class size," the Doctor muttered under his breath.

Morgan just rolled her eyes in response. She placed her headphones into her ears, and she pressed down on the play button on her walkman.

Tani and Emma rushed through the doors, they quickly sat down at the nearest desks.

"Where have you been?" the Doctor asked.

"Working," Tani replied as she looked through her bag, which was full of make up.

"Drinking," Emma replied, with her usual cheery tone of voice. The Doctor sighed.

"I'll continue from where I left off. The only hope there is, if the curse is revived that is, is to find the Book of the Living. If the right passage is read their bodies and souls will disappear completely," the Doctor said. The silence was broken by the sound of Morgan's high pitched singing.

"Freaky Friday! Things ain't going my way!"

"Ooh, Freaky Friday, give me a listen," Tani said as she held her hand out towards Morgan. She didn't notice and she continued to sing.

"Janeway to Holodeck 1. I want Morgan, Tani and Emma to report to their duty shifts."

"Very well Captain. Class doesn't seem to be getting anywhere anyway," the Doctor replied. As soon as the words came out of his mouth Naomi, Kiara, Bryan and Tani rushed out. Emma walked up to Morgan's table. She pulled a headphone out of her ear.

"Time to go Morgan," Emma said loudly.

"About time, I was getting really bored," Morgan said and she picked up her walkman. She walked out through the main door, Emma followed.

*****
"Captain, is there any part of space that actually doesn't belong to anyone?" Tom asked. Kathryn walked up behind him and she placed a hand on his shoulder.

"I really don't know anymore, Tom," Kathryn replied, she sighed and she walked back towards her chair. Morgan, Tani and Emma emerged from the turbolift.

"What's going on this time?" Morgan asked.

"We've entered the area of space that belongs to the Maji. As expected we've been told to leave immediately, but we need supplies from the main planet," Chakotay replied. He stood up, and he stood beside Kathryn.

"We can't go to Thairo anyway. There's a scary curse on the planet," Tani said.

"Ooh, I'm scared," Morgan muttered sarcastically.

"Don't be silly you two. Curses only exist in horror movies like The Mummy, or in silly fanfiction stories written by crazy Voyager obsessed people who have nothing better to do," Kathryn said. Everyone looked really worried, Tom glanced nervously at Harry.

"Anyway we need someway to get to the main planet to trade for supplies," Chakotay said. Morgan and Emma walked over to the console behind the command chairs.

"I could take the Flyer, they might not notice it," Morgan said.

"Shuttles and planets don't mix well," Emma pointed out. They both rested their hands on the console.

"I wouldn't do that!" Tom yelled out.

"Why?" Emma asked.

The console suddenly caught fire. It burnt Morgan and Emma's hands and it then died down.

"That's why," Tom muttered.

"What's wrong with that bloody thing!" Morgan growled.

"It's been acting up all day," Harry replied.

"It mustn't like being touched, maybe it's shy," Tom said.

"Oh very funny, Tom. If I laughed any harder I'd turn into a Vulcan," Morgan said as held her hand by the wrist.

"Morgan, I think you and Emma should go to Sickbay," Chakotay said, eyeing her hand.

"Then choose at least three people to go on your away team," Kathryn ordered. Morgan nodded her head. She bumped in to Emma slightly on her way to the turbolift. She stopped at the door.

"Jess, James, coming with?" Morgan asked.

"Er..." they both replied.

"I take that as a yes. I'll ask Craig to come too," Morgan said and she stepped into the turbolift.

"I wouldn't trust either of those people to pilot the Flyer," Tom muttered.

"At least I didn't crash the ship into that Borg ship," Jessie growled. Tom tried his best to look innocent.

"She always has to point that out," Tom said quietly.

*****
The shuttle bay was rather empty. The only ones there were James and Jessie.

"How long are they going to be?" James moaned.

"I don't know. If they're not here in five minutes I'm leaving," Jessie replied. They both heard the bay doors open and close. Tani had walked into the bay, she was coming towards them.

"Ohno, who invited her?" James muttered.

"Please tell me you're not going," Jessie said.

"Of course I'm not going," Tani said. She started staring at James in her usual way. "I just came to get my goodbye kiss," Tani said. Jessie groaned and she turned away. Tani walked closer to James, he backed away but the Delta Flyer got in the way.

"Er... sorry Tani, you can't because, er, I'm seeing somebody else," James stuttered.

"I'm not falling for that one again. I'll tell you what, I'll leave you alone if you prove it this time," Tani said.

"But, how?" James muttered. He looked around desperately. Jessie still had her back to him, and there was no one else in the bay.

"Come on, I'm waiting, who are you dating?" Tani asked and she folded her arms.

"Would you believe Jessie?" James asked. Jessie heard and she turned around.

"What?" Jessie said questioningly.

"Play along, please," James mimed. Jessie looked rather uncomfortable, she eventually nodded her head.

"Oh please, I've heard it all before, that's not proof," Tani said.

James and Jessie looked at each other with uneasy expressions on their faces. Tani got the surprise of her life, she was watching something that she never thought she would see; James was kissing Jessie. Tani stepped backwards and she headed back towards the doors.

The doors opened and Morgan & Craig stepped through them. The sound of the doors made James and Jessie stop what they were doing. Craig obviously hadn't noticed as he walked up to them. Tani had stopped Morgan at the doors.

"Sorry Morgan, he's already taken," Tani said.

"Er, who?" Morgan asked, she thought for a minute. For some reason she grew angry. "Never mind, get lost Tani," Morgan said. Tani didn't hesitate, she exited the room as quickly as she could.

"Ok, which one of you will help me get the Flyer up and running?" Craig asked. He obviously hadn't noticed that Jessie and James were looking rather uncomfortable.

"I'll go," Jessie replied quickly. Craig headed towards the Flyer's doors, Jessie followed. Morgan walked up to James. She waited until Craig and Jessie had gone into the Flyer.

"You kissed Jessie!" Morgan blurted out all of a sudden.

"Keep it down, or the whole ship will hear you," James said.

"What the hell were you thinking? Not to mention the fact that you did it in front of Tani, of all people!" Morgan yelled.

"Look, Tani was trying to come onto me again. I couldn't think of anything else," James said quietly.

"Oh this is what it's all about. That's a lot worse than I thought, one time is bad enough, but two! You're in for it now!" Morgan yelled.

"Well can you think of another way to escape from Tani's advances?" James asked.

"Yeah, I'd punch her in the face," Morgan replied.

"I don't punch girls," James said.

"So I've heard. Anyway you punched Annika, and as a matter of a fact Tani's a demon," Morgan said.

"Well, so is Annika," James said.

"Good point," Morgan muttered and she put one hand on her hip, she then looked at the floor in mid thought. She looked back up at James. "Anyway, if I were you I would avoid Jessie after that little incident. I doubt she's happy with you," Morgan said.

"It was the best I could think of at the time, I'm hoping she'll understand," James said.

"Boy, you've got it bad. You just think up any excuse to kiss her, don't you," Morgan said as she shook her head.

"That is ridiculous!" James muttered.

"Is it? What I find most disturbing is the fact that she actually kissed you back. I didn't think my theory was accurate about her," Morgan said.

"Look, me and her, is all in the past. She didn't have a thing for me, and I've gotten over her. End of story," James said.

"Really, so Tani was right," Morgan said.

"What?" James asked.

"I take it's true that you and Jess were seeing each other five years ago," Morgan replied.

"Er, yeah, but how did Tani know?" James asked.

"Oh I'm not going into that Temporal Prime Directive joke again, it's getting tiresome," Morgan replied.

"Anderson to Morgan. We're ready to go."

"Ok, we're on our way," Morgan said.

*****
Emma walked into Sickbay, she looked incredibly pale. The Doctor emerged from his office.

"Emma, this is a pleasant surprise," he said, he noticed how pale she looked. "Or maybe not," he said.

"I don't feel right," Emma muttered.

"Lie down on the biobed," the Doctor said. Emma slowly made her way over to the nearest biobed and she sat down on it.

*****
"Are we nearly there yet?" Craig asked as he sat at a console on the Flyer.

"Craig, if you don't shut up, you won't be alive when we get there!" Jessie snapped.

Craig sighed and he headed over to the helm. He took over from James. He headed over to Jessie's station. She went over to the replicator. A Cherry Coke bottle shimmered into existence at her command, she then picked it up and opened it. Without uttering a word she headed back over to her station. She sat down not daring to look at James.

"Er... I take it you're still mad about that kiss," James said quietly.

"Well, if you call that a kiss, then yes," Jessie muttered without even looking at him. "So, er, by the way, why did you have to kiss me?"

"Tani was going to kiss me, I didn't know what else to do," James replied. Jessie stood up and she stormed off. She headed to a different console. "What? What did I say?" James asked himself.

"Er... guys, I think we've been spotted," Craig muttered as he looked out the window. The others glanced out the window too. They all saw a very large ship flying towards them. Weapons emerged from it and they came closer to the shuttle. The entire shuttle shook at impact.

"They spilt my Cherry Coke! They're going down!" Jessie growled, she rushed back over to her original station.

"Wait, Jess. Craig, open a channel to the aliens," Morgan ordered.

"But, my Cherry Coke. This isn't my day," Jessie muttered.

The screen on Morgan's station came on showing the face of an human looking alien. He had what looked like spiritual marks on his forehead.

"Withdraw from our space, we cannot let you come any further to our planet," the alien said in a strange accent.

"We're just here to trade for supplies on your homeworld, we're not here to cause any trouble," Morgan said.

"Speak for yourself," Jessie muttered.

"Keep away from our homeworld, or you'll regret it," the alien said. The screen switched itself off.

"That dick head's going to pay for my spilt Cherry Coke," Jessie growled.

"Oh for god's sake. You can replicate a new bottle but we can't replicate another one of these shuttles," Morgan said angrily.

"Yes we can, where do you think all the other shuttles come from?" Craig asked. Morgan shot him an icy glare, Craig visibly winced and he turned away from her.

The shuttle shook violently as the aliens continued firing upon them.

"We're in luck, we may not have to replicate a new shuttle after all. Thairo is only two minutes away," James said.

"Craig take us down anyway, we're landing whether they like it or not," Morgan commanded.

"Yes ma'am," Craig replied.

The Delta Flyer flew into the planet's atmosphere, the Maji ship followed them. The ship fired another weapon, it hit the back of the Flyer. The impact made the shuttle spin out of control. It fell further into the atmosphere. The Maji fired again just as the shuttle smashed against the hard surface. The torpedo exploded against the hard sandy ground only a few metres away from the crash site. A cloud of dust and sand overwhelmed the area, most of it settled on the shuttle.

The Maji ship swerved to the right and flew back out of the atmosphere, and back into space.

Inside the shuttle it was surprisingly dark. Consoles had gone off, one had obviously exploded in the attack since it was a blackened mess. Morgan, Craig and James were lying on their consoles, Morgan and James were unconscious. Jessie was lying unconscious on the floor, only a few feet away from her station.

Craig pulled himself off the console he was resting on. He looked around the shuttle to see how everyone was. He got off from his chair and he headed straight over to Morgan. She woke up, and she pulled herself off the console.

"Where the hell are we?" she asked in a groggy voice. Craig tried to look out the window but dust had covered it. He went over to the helm.

"I don't know, the sensors don't have any power," Craig replied. Morgan walked over to James, she started shaking him roughly.

"Wake up you lazy so and so," Morgan muttered. James eventually woke up, he looked at Morgan funny.

"What are you doing?" he asked. Morgan stopped shaking him, and she walked away.

"Somebody had to wake you up," Morgan replied as she walked over to Jessie. She knelt down and checked Jessie's pulse. Then she started shaking her roughly. Jessie woke up.

"Morgan, quit it," Jessie moaned. Morgan stopped shaking her and she stood up.

"Is it just me or is it getting awfully hot in here?" Craig asked.

"No, it's not just you," Morgan muttered and she walked into the back room. Craig followed her.

Jessie tried to stand up but a sharp pain took over her left foot, she gently sat back on the floor. James walked over to her.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"I think I've just twisted my ankle, I'll be fine in a few minutes," Jessie replied. Morgan and Craig walked back in.

"Ok, do you want the good or the bad news first?" Morgan asked.

"Actually, Morgan, it wouldn't make any sense if you said the good news first," Craig pointed out. Morgan sighed.

"I suppose so. We've crashed somewhere in a desert. The shuttle is attracting a lot of heat, if we don't leave we'll probably dehydrate," Morgan said.

"What's the good news?" James asked.

"For some reason, the natives thought it'd be a good idea to build a city in the middle of a desert, next to a mountain. It's long abandoned but it's good shelter," Morgan replied.

"There's more bad news though. The shuttle doesn't have much water and food supplies, and I doubt a long abandoned desert city is going to have anything," Craig said.

"How long do we have then?" Jessie asked.

"I think about two days, we're lucky the water supply isn't Cherry Coke though. If it were we'd only last two hours," Morgan replied.

"I'll start packing what supplies we have," Craig said and he walked back into the back room.

Jessie tried to stand up again, she used the console beside her to pull herself to her feet. The pain kicked in again, and she stumbled forward. Morgan caught her by the arms and she helped her onto the chair.

"James, get a tricorder," Morgan commanded. James looked around, he spotted a conveniently placed tricorder. He picked it up and he handed it to Morgan. She opened it up and she started scanning Jessie. "I thought as much. She has a minor fracture in her foot. She'll have to try not to put any weight on it," Morgan muttered.

"We can't leave her in the shuttle," James pointed out.

"I know that!" Morgan snapped. James and Jessie stared at her funny, Morgan groaned. "Sorry, I didn't mean to yell," she said quietly.

Craig came back into the room carrying two bags.

"Are we ready to leave?" he asked.

"Yeah we just need to sort a problem out. James, you help Jessie get to that city. There problem solved, let's go," Morgan said and she rushed out the shuttle. Craig, Jessie and James exchanged confused looks.

"What's her problem?" Jessie asked.

"I don't know. She seems a little, how can I put it?" Craig muttered.

"Bad tempered," James replied.

"Not just that, she seems a little eccentric," Craig said.

"Maybe the heat's getting to her," Jessie said.

"Yeah, maybe. Let's go," Craig said and he headed out the shuttle.

James helped Jessie back to her feet. He put his arm around her waist, she put her hand on his shoulder, and they slowly made their way out of the shuttle.

"I take it you're still mad at me," James said.

"What gave you that impression?" Jessie asked.

"It was just a hunch," James replied.

*****
The Doctor shook his head as he tapped his commbadge.

"Sickbay to Janeway," he said.

"Janeway here."

"Please report to Sickbay, we have another problem," the Doctor said. He picked up a tricorder and he started scanning Emma who lay unconscious on the biobed.

Four minutes later Kathryn walked through the main door and she headed over to the Doctor.

"What seems to be the problem?" Kathryn asked.

"See for yourself," the Doctor replied as he looked at Emma. Kathryn looked at Emma too, she quickly became horrified with the sight she was seeing.

"Doctor, how is this possible?" Kathryn asked.

"I have no idea. All I know is that the nanoprobes entered her bloodstream through a burn wound on her hand," the Doctor replied and he headed over to the console nearby the biobed. Kathryn slowly turned away from the biobed and she walked over to the Doctor's side.

"Who's nanoprobes are they?" Kathryn asked.

"You can rest assured that it wasn't a drone's nanoprobes," the Doctor replied as he worked at the console.

"I will repeat, who's nanoprobes are they?" Kathryn asked.

"Morgan's," the Doctor replied. Kathryn stared at him, with a stunned expression on her face.

"It must have happened when the console set alight," Kathryn muttered.

"Well it doesn't matter how it happened in the first place. The thing we have to find out is is how to disconnect Emma," the Doctor said.

"Disconnect her? From what exactly?" Kathryn asked.

"Morgan," the Doctor replied.

"Doctor, did you just turn over two pages at once, because I'm sure you didn't mention anything about a connection," Kathryn said questioningly.

"I apologise Captain. Usually when a Borg drone is assimilated, they are automatically connected to the hive mind. But in this case, Emma became slowly connected to Morgan," the Doctor replied.

"So this means that they are both hearing each other's thoughts," Kathryn said.

"Yes, but that's not all," the Doctor said.

"What do you mean?" Kathryn asked.

"In the hive mind, all drones are connected. This means that they hear each other's thoughts, and work as a collective. I fear that this maybe the case in this situation," the Doctor replied.

"You don't mean..." Kathryn muttered.

"Yes. Emma may start acting like Morgan, and vice versa. Since this collective is small it shouldn't be as consistent," the Doctor said.

"Well we're lucky that Chakotay, Harry & Tom aren't on that away mission with Morgan, or they would have been in for a bit of a shock," Kathryn said.

"That's not actually accurate Captain. If Emma gets her usual, ahem, infatuation with the three men you mentioned, Morgan may feel it herself, for the nearest men in the vicinity," the Doctor said.

"Ohno, this is worse than I thought. Craig and James are with her," Kathryn muttered. She hid her face with her right hand.

"Exactly, if we don't find a way to disconnect them, those two will get a shock of their lives," the Doctor said.

"I'm not worried about them. I'm worried about Morgan, what if she goes for Craig, everybody knows that he has a crush on her," Kathryn said.

"There's nothing we can do until Morgan returns from her mission. I have to have both patients before I can disconnect the two of them," the Doctor said.

"They shouldn't be long, they're only on a simple trading mission. I'm hoping nothing will happen," Kathryn said.

"You're not the only one, Captain," the Doctor said.

PART II