Chapter 13 "The Return"
Janeway
"Morris to Janeway," a male crewmember's gruff voice called through my communicator as I completed my lunch with Neelix. It was an uncommon one, and therefore it piqued my interest.
"Janeway, here, " I delayed from taking a bite of the delectable meal the Morale Officer, Neelix, prepared for the day. His meals were exceptionally flavorful, but I learned not to ask for specific details about the ingredients. They usually grossed me out; I recalled putting the fork down on the table as my stomach felt extraordinarily complete.
"Captain, this is Mark Morris. I am part of Lieutenant Tuvok's landing party on security detail. We beamed to the Class M planet ...well, I am not sure how long ago," he diffidently conveyed.
"Good! Maybe we can finally have some more information since I cannot seem to connect with Tuvok anymore with our com devices. Perhaps his is not in working order anymore," I conscientiously thought.
"I am glad to hear you are well, Morris. Stand by for beam up. Lieutenant Torres, please lock coordinates on the crew members on the planet below and beam them up," I ordered, excited to hear an update about them.
A foreboding feeling crept over me as I considered the upheaval the landing party endured the past few days. Next, I felt a queasy sensation in the pit of my stomach that worried me, but I dismissed it. Rather, I plastered a smile on my face and congratulated Voyager's self-appointed chef,
"Neelix, you have outdone yourself with this meal. I will be right back after I retrieve the landing party."
Rising from my seat, I wiped my mouth with a napkin.
"Of course, I will have their meals prepared. And Captain, I am sure they are all unharmed," Neelix said reassuringly and smiled at me.
"You know me too well," I commented.
Briskly, I strode to the turbo lift and rode it to the transporter room, where B'Elanna Torres questioned me with a slight smile on her face,
"Shall I energize, Captain?"
"Yes, Lieutenant," I replied.
Mark Morris and Bert Wagner materialized on the transporter bay without a problem. They both appeared weary by their experience, which made it more intriguing.
The tall Black Vulcan, however, was not to be seen. Bewilderment settled in as I anticipated his appearance. At the same time, I turned to search Lt. Torres's face to see if there was a problem with the transporter. Shrugging, she checked her console while Mark Morris exclaimed,
"Captain Janeway! Oh boy, I am excited to see you!"
"Likewise. How are you, Morris? Wagner," I questioned the happy crewmembers.
They reported that they were OK, but I was only half listening because I didn't understand where my Vulcan friend was, although I was relieved to see them.
"What happened to Lieutenant Tuvok," I finally inquired.
"Hasn't he already beamed aboard?" the younger crewmember, Bert Wagner, questioned.
"No, have you seen him?" I commented, wide-eyed.
"Not since we rematerialized outside the pyramid," Morris remarked, shocked.
Although I desired to ask more questions, I knew our doctor would not allow me to interrogate them.
"Let me escort you to sickbay so the doctor can check you both out," I offered while the two men accepted
"Janeway to the Doctor," I announced, touching the cold metal of my com device on my uniform.
"The Doctor here," our emergency medical hologram responded.
" I am bringing two crewmembers from the landing party for a routine health examination after an away mission," I reported.
"Aye, Captain," the doctor immediately remarked without any emotion.
Making small talk, we rode the turbo lift to sickbay and arrived promptly. I impatiently held back the litany of questions I had for the crewmembers until the doctor examined both.
"Both are perfectly healthy, maybe a little malnourished and exhausted," the doctor divulged. He suggested that they eat food and then gain a good night's sleep. Meanwhile, I joined Morris and Wagner in the cafeteria to find out what I could about their three-day absences.
At first, Morris and Wagner ravenously ate their meals, and I drank from a large blue coffee cup. The curiosity was killing me.
"Would you be able to explain what happened or what you remember?" I asked after both men had ingested some food into their bodies.
"Yes, sir. I remember landing on the planet with Lieutenant Tuvok and Wagner. Someone or something attacked immediately, and I felt an injection into my... my neck. I saw a pyramid in front of us, and there was a terrible dust storm. I knew I was bound to a table, in and out of consciousness. I was drowsy, groggy even. Lieutenant Tuvok and Wagner were on their respective tables held down the same way, too," Morris started, rubbing his neck where the injection pierced his skin.
"I felt this device connected to my temple, and then I was out. Suddenly, I woke up outside of the pyramid," Wagner added.
Both had a similar story of what occurred after they landed, but that didn't make me feel better.
"How long have we been gone?" Wagner inquired in between mouthfuls.
"These men in their mid-twenties sure could put back the food," I wrily observed.
"Three days."
"But I lived three months working on the oil well Spindletop during summer of 1901 in Texas. It was awful, and there wasn't any electricity," Wagner protested, disquieted.
"Were you there too?" I queried them further.
"No, I fought in the battle in the Vietnam war in 1968 as a U.S. Marine for three months. The things I saw were horrendous," Morris stammered in shock. His face turned as white as a sheet as he recalled the moment, and he shuddered visibly.
"So, Lt. Tuvok wasn't with either of you?" I clarified, still mystified.
The two men shook their heads back and forth and simultaneously answered, " No, sir."
"How are these things related? What was the commonality," I contemplated, exhibiting empathy toward these men's bizarre predicament? They both had distressing divergent experiences.
"What is going on?" I pondered.
"At one point, I think I heard someone say that neither of us found what they were looking for in the sandstorm," Wagner stated.
"Then we woke up, outside the pyramid again," Morris reported.
"Did anyone talk to you about anything?" Who were the aliens? Were they humanoids?" I questioned.
"I don't know, Captain. I wish I did, sir," Wagner admitted, with Morris nodding in agreement.
Both men looked weary, so I told them they were off duty for the next twenty-four hours. They can report their experiences at the senior staff meeting tomorrow.
Like wildfire, word spread around Voyager that Morris and Wagner had returned without Tuvok. I exhibited uneasiness about our chief tactician's disappearance. The next day finally came, and Morris and Wagner filed their reports of their experiences.
Reading the reports, the senior staff sat in the conference room except for Tuvok.
"How were you transported to the past? It doesn't mention any transporters?" B'Elanna inquired, putting the multi-page report on the conference table.
"I don't know. There was a small electronic device attached to the right side of my temple, and my hands and feet were bound so that I couldn't move. When I awoke in BASIC training for the Marine Core in 1968, " Morris acknowledged, unsure.
"I did some research on this planet, sir. It seems that humans lived there peacefully for more than a century. Their disappearance has only occurred in the last sixty years," Ensign Harry Kim informed.
"Humanoids in the Delta quadrant in 2211? How?" I skeptically questioned, glancing at the faces around the table.
"Maybe the Borg forced them here -like us," Chakotay hypothetically responded, with a questioning arch of his eyebrow.
"Are there any records of a Federation mission to the Delta quadrant?" Lieutenant Torres asked.
"I am still digging through the research," Kim confessed.
"Maybe it was a rogue mission?" Lt. Tom Paris suggested, giving me a puzzled look.
"Keep digging, Harry. I think it is time that we pay our friends on the planet a visit or attempt a communication," I thoughtfully remarked.
An hour later
"Open all frequencies and place a friendly message to anyone on the planet that may receive it in all languages," I ordered.
"There are signs of life appearing on the planet now," Kim declared confusedly, "but they haven't been there for the last few days."
"Someone is responding," Tuvok's replacement, a Tellurite man, announced.
"On screen. This is Captain Janeway of the United Federation of Planets. I come in peace," I proclaimed.
The screen displayed an elderly gentleman.
"Greetings, Captain Janeway. I am Malakye, one of the lone survivors of the planet Rumara," he remarked in a deadpan voice.
"Was this funny to him?" I thought, feeling my anger swell. A missing officer wasn't humorous to me.
Scrutinizing Malakye's face, I viewed deep lines running on his forehead and wrinkles on the rest of it. There were also bags underneath his eyes. Malakye appeared humanoid, but an uncanny birthmark caught my eye. His gray button-down shirt was opened, and there was a strange triangular-shaped thing on the right side of where his neck and shoulder met. It was a combination of pink and brown in color. The stranger noticed that I studied it and inquired my reason for my hail with a bemused expression.
"Greetings, come to inquire about why three of our crew members were captured when they landed on your planet. We are missing one still," I earnestly demanded, putting my hands on my hips.
"Our sincerest apologies, Captain. We need participants to return in time to find our ancestors to propagate our species," Malakye drily disclosed. He did not seem too perturbed by my concern.
"Without their permission," I incredulously snapped.
"Well, we do not receive many visitors here," Malakye chuckled. Aghast, I didn't respond as I tried to gain my composure. Something didn't sit right with this situation.
"Can we arrange a meeting at oh-eighteen hundred hours to discuss what happened," I finally requested?
"Sure, I will give you the coordinates, Captain Janeway. See you then," Malakye promised with a sly half-smile.
The screen went dark, and the communication ended, leaving me to feel discombobulated.