Anna pounded on the locked door and cried in vain "Help! Someone please come back! Please help me!" Anna crumpled to the cold concrete floor and cried into her hands. She couldn't remember how long she had been held in the small dark room, but no one had come and delivered anything to her in what felt like days and she was tired and hungry and loosing hope that she would ever be rescued from the hell in which she was being faced to live in. She wanted out and she wanted to be free again. She succumbed to the darkness of sleep, vaguely aware that she might not wake up.

Captain Nathan Hale Bridger sat in his command chair of the SeaQuest looking out into the darken ocean floor. Routine inspection of the closed mining community was nearly complete. Checks on the all the buildings was UEO protocol when the mining shafts where to be closed.

One of the outer buildings still has it's life support and pressure systems still running. Sensor Chief Miguel Ortiz informed after some silence on the bridge.

"Do you think it's being used for some type of criminal activity?" Bridger asked as he stood and peered towards the buildings.

"I wouldn't be able to confirm that sir as I have no sensors reports of any submersibles in the vicinity." Ortiz shrugged

"Should we take a look? There has been some reports of looters in the area." Commander Jonathan Ford offered.

"Permission granted, just be careful as there could still be people in the building." Bridger nodded.

"I'll make sure we take all the necessary precautions." Ford agreed and quickly left the bridge in order to assemble his team.

Anna awoke slightly, was that footsteps outside the door or was she imagining it. Her hope was short lived as she felt fear return as she thought about the men. Did they come back? Would the beatings begin again? Someone tried to open the door and it didn't open. Anna backed away into the corner of the room, trying to gain space between herself and what might come.

"Sir, this door is locked. It's the only one in the entire building." Chief Manilow Crocker commented as he played with the doors handle. Ford came to the door and tried to open it.

"Break it down." Ford suggested while he engaged his weapon as a precaution to what they might find.

"I was hoping you'd say that." Crocker smiled and kicked the door in, both men shone their flashlights into the room and as the light fell on the young girl cowering in the corner, Crocker's smile faded. "My God!" he whispered as he watched the young girl's eyes roll back into her head and she collapsed further onto the floor. Both men rushed into the room and looked down onto the girl.

"She's still breathing," Ford assured and felt for her pulse, it was shallow but steady. "We need to get her out of here."

"Agreed, let's get her back to the shuttle." Crocker picked the girl up and carried her out of the room and out to the docking area. Once they were back in the shuttle and heading back to the SeaQuest, Ford radioed ahead.

"Captain, we found a young adolescent female locked in one of the back rooms of the empty building"

"Is she alright?" Bridger asked.

"Its hard to say sir, she was conscious when we entered the room, but she is currently unconscious. We'll need a medical team at the shuttle launch when we arrive." Ford reported.

"Understood." Bridger's voice returned before they broke off communication.

Doctor Kristin Westphalen was alerted to the survivor found and she rushed to the shuttle launch just as the pressure was returning to the port. She went into the shuttle and saw the girl laying on the bench, her face gaunt, her body covered in small bruises, her hair and clothes dirty and tattered.

"She's been like that since we found her pretty much. Her face when she saw us held a mixture of fear and panic. She reminded me of some abused animal. The room she was in was no bigger than a jail cell. Something really bad has happened to this girl. Crocker shared as they were able to get her out of the shuttle. A stretcher awaited them just outside the door and Crocker rested the girl down, the medical team covered her with a blanket and rushed her towards Sickbay.

Bridger looked in through the glass window of the treatment room in Sickbay. Westphalen hovered over the girl for a few more minutes before she looked up and saw Bridger standing there. The doctor came out of the treatment room soon after and moved away from the unconscious young woman.

"How is she doing?" Bridger asked.

"As well as can be expected I suppose. She was very undernourished and dehydrated. Her vitals are weak, but she's a fighter I think. She's been through a lot, several of her ribs have been broken and healed, she has had at least one concussion, she has cuts and scars that can be dated back for at least that last six to eight months. She has been tied up in the past for long lengths of time as she has rope burns on both her wrists and ankles. I could go on." Westphalen paused.

"No, that's enough thank you."

"I've had Ortiz run a search to see if she met any of the descriptions of the mining colony. So far nothing has been found. Do you have any idea on when she will be awake?"

"It's too early to tell, her body is trying to recover from it's trauma, only time will be tell."

"So for the time being the mystery continues."

"I'm not sure, but the way Crocker mentioned the girls looks when she saw them earlier I'm trying to keep people away for the time being." Westphalen started.

"I'll try to talk to Lucas." Nathan acknowledged.

"Thank you."

"Keep me posted."

"I promise."