Disclaimer: I do not own any characters from the Star Trek franchise, nor have I profited from this story.

The Awakening

Chapter 1

The sun rose slowly, gracefully filling the room from one end to the next, until if finally settled softly upon her. When she heard the door open with a creak, she looked up from the pallet that had been her bed these last three days.

"It's time," a masculine male voice announced.

She rose slowly from the stone floor of the ancient building, to face her fate. She didn't fear the outcome of the trial, what ever her long awaited fate, was nothing compared to the pain of having to face her family and friends. Because of her, the elders had been forced to bring the city together, and start an ancient tradition that dated back centuries, but had not been used for several generations.

She walked in silence beside her guard for several minutes before he turned to look at her.

"Have you nothing to say?" he asked hastily.

"What needs to be said," she answered quietly.

"Why did you do it, Capathia," Morkai pleaded. "We were going to be joined."

"I'm sorry for you," she answered softly.

"But not for yourself," he said angrily.

She shook her head. "No, Morkai," she said. "Not for myself."

He led her across the grounds of the ancient city to the capital building, where the rest of her people waited. Morkai led her threw the crowd and brought her to the foot of the council table, the elders awaiting her arrival. Capathia held her head high, and her eyes fixed straight ahead as she stood before them. The eldest of the five men seated before her rose to his feet, and addressed the girl in front of him.

"Capathia, woman of the city of Desai, you have been found guilty of blasphemy," he stated, agitated murmuring went through the crowd. "It is the decision of this council that punishment should commence immediately."

Her whole body went numb, but she was comforted by the knowledge that she wouldn't have to wait for the sentence to be carried out. It was better to get it over with quickly, better for her and for her family. Morkai roughly took a hold of her right arm and led her into the courtyard just off the council chambers. He brought her to the middle of the yard, upon the ground was a large circle, and inside of it was a picture of a sun. Steadying her in place, he looked at her sadly before backing away. Outside of the circle that she stood in were five smaller circles with the same sun picture as hers, and these the elders came to stand in. Morkai brought each elder a basket full of stones and placed it reverently in their hands. Roughly an hour later she lay at their feet, battered, bloody, and dead.

(Three months earlier)

Capathia walked along the edge of the forest in deep thought; her father had just informed her that Morkai had asked to join with her, a marriage proposal. She liked him well enough, in fact of all her recent suitor's he would have to be one of her favorites, but she didn't realize that a proposal would come so quickly. The decision was really her father's more so than hers, but he had gone against tradition and consulted her before answering. She smiled inwardly at the thought of her father doing this, he had always been a stickler for tradition, but it was a well kept secret that he respected his daughter, so much so that he would ask her opinion on several matters since his wife's passing.

She didn't realize how far she had gone into the forest until she came to an unfamiliar thicket; she was just about to turn back when something caught her eye, she moved deeper into the forest to investigate the mysterious object. She reached out and touched the side of it; it was smooth and cold to the touch. Circling it she went in search of the entrance, she quickly determined the object was lying on its side and looked as thought it had fallen from the sky. The door had been torn almost completely off and she had to climb on her hands and knees underneath it to get inside.

Once inside she quickly realized the interior was completely alien to her, she went slowly forward to the front of the shuttle. She ran her hand along the control panel excitedly; she had never seen anything quiet like this. A groan from behind her startled her back to reality and she quickly turned to peer into the darkness. Lying in a corner of the shuttle was a being clearly not from Desai, which was startling enough, but what made it even more so was its appearance. In the dimly lit interior she could make out pointed ears, and to her horror, it was bleeding green blood.