Stardate-2301.45

Prologue

The tricorder bleeped and hummed as Elsie Tarsus scanned the area. "No life signs over here," she called unsatisfied. "None over here either," came the deep voice of Dr. Simon Tarsus, her husband.

"Over here!" Called Lieutenant Commander Russell, the leader of the away team. "I've got something, over this way!" Elsie and Simon ran over to meet him. "It's over that sand dune, about a hundred meters from here. Two life signs." The three began following the readings.

As they crested the hill on the M-class planet, Elsie wondered what they would find. They had been sent by their Captain to investigate a wrecked unknown, small ship that had crashed on this desert planet not far from the Neutral Zone. Earlier, their ship had received a general distress signal from the damaged vessel. They had scanned two life forms aboard, apparently humanoid. All attempts for communication had been futile. They had watched helplessly, out of tractor beam range, as the ship had plunged into the atmosphere.

Elsie was jolted from her thoughts as the group stopped and was joined by Lieutenant Torres, who was the final member of the team. Then together, they continued following Russell's tricorder.

Finally, they came upon the ship. It appeared to be some kind of shuttle craft, but it was in terrible condition. Phaser blasts had burned the exterior. Smoke was rising from it, and the whole front was smashed. Elsie was surprised that anything or anyone had survived this.

"I'm still getting two life signs," Russell said while trudging through the sand. "But one is very faint." He flipped open his communicator. "Russell to Austria."

"Captain here. Go ahead Commander." the instrument answered.

Torres cautiously looked over the outside of the craft. He was an expert on alien culture. "This ship is definitely Romulan. Probably some kind of shuttle craft," Torres pronounced solemnly and began scanning it thoroughly with his tricorder.

"We have located the wrecked vessel and it is definitely Romulan." Russell went on to the Captain. "We're about to attempt entry, I'll keep you updated. Russell out." He flipped his communicator down as he made his way closer to the ship.

"Torres, keep watch out here." Russell ordered. Then he gestured toward both Elsie and Simon. "Tarsus, come with me."

Elsie glanced carefully over the green, broken vessel as she followed Russell and her husband. She watched as the two struggled at opening the very, smashed door. That being unsuccessful, the two combined their efforts and used their phasers to cut a hole large enough for one at a time to squeeze through. Russell crawled in first followed by Simon and Elsie. Upon entering, Elsie gasped at what she saw. A female humanoid had collapsed on the floor and was covered in debris.

Simon, being the doctor quickly ran to her first. As a team, they started to yank off the rubble. Then Simon gently lifted the mysterious female up and began scanning her with his medical tricorder. Elsie crouched down beside them. The mysterious female was badly injured, Elsie could tell as much.

Simon looked up sharply. His blue eyes were stern. "She's human." Elsie looked confusedly around wondering why a human was on a Romulan craft. "Is she alive?" Asked Russell.

Simon put his tricorder back and carefully pushed a metal capsule that she had been laying on, over to the side. Yes," he replied. "But she is too badly injured. The best we can do is to make her comfortable."

Russell paced around the vessel. "Can you at least wake her?" Simon exhaled noisily. "I can try. Here, help me move her." Russell and Simon softly lifted the woman and carried her to a more comfortable spot on the ship.

Simon skillfully gave her a hypo in an attempt to wake her. She lay still.

"Try a higher dose." Russell commanded. "We have to know what she was doing on this ship." Simon did as he was told. The woman stirred and opened her eyes. She began to speak inaudibly.

"Come on, it's alright," Simon cooed.

"What are you doing on this ship?" prodded Russell. The woman gestured to the capsule. Even moving seemed to take great effort. "Save…save my-"A spasm of pain interrupted her and she cried out. Simon tried to give her another injection.

"No," She heaved pushing away his hand. "It's-too-late…for me." Then she gestured to the capsule again, more urgently this time. "Just-save-my-precious…" Her last word was lost to them.

"Your 'precious' what?" Russell urged.

The mysterious woman then slumped a little and closed her eyes. "My precious…" she muttered one last time, and then gradually lay still. Simon stood up. "She's dead." He pronounced gravely. All three discouraged, began to scrutinize the capsule.

Russell cocked his head to the side and began to inspect the container. "I wonder what's in that thing." Simon shrugged. "Could be anything." Russell nodded to Elsie. "See if you can open it."

Being in engineer and skilled in linguistics, she was the ideal choice for this particular assignment. She nodded and bent over to evaluate it. It was rectangular and a little more than half a meter in length. On the top was some sort of coded lock. There was some writing in the language of Romulans. She strained her eyes trying to read it. "Fragile...do not…drop."

"Well that's not helpful," observed Simon. Elsie glared at him. "It appears to have some sort of coded lock."

Suddenly, Russell's communicator spoke. "Captain to Russell." Russell flipped it open. "Russell here."

"Report." The Captain responded.

"Captain, we've found a human female aboard who was clutching a capsule that we are attempting to open."

"A human? Aboard a Romulan vessel?" The Captain gasped. "What is her explanation?"

Russell sighed. "There is none. She's dead. All she would say was that we were to save her 'precious' something."

"Curious," was the response. "Let me know if you find anything. Captain out." Russell flipped his communicator back then nodded to Elsie. "Carry on."

Elsie continued her examination. It seemed to be a letter or number password. Closer examination of the Romulan markings revealed that only letters were available. She looked up at the two officers. "I need a password."

Russell looked thoughtful. "How about…Romulans? Or Romulan?" Elsie tried the idea, and then shook her head. "How about fragile?" suggested Simon. But it failed as well.

"Oh this is going to be impossible!" complained Simon. "There are a thousand things it could be. Let's just take it up to the ship and have an expert deal with it."

Suddenly, an idea occurred to Elsie. She quickly typed it in. She heaved a sigh of relief as the lock clicked off. Russell and Simon looked astonished.

"What was it?" They both asked at once. Elsie smiled. "I typed in her last word, 'precious'." Russell and Simon looked annoyed.

"Why didn't I think of that?" Simon threw his arms up as he asked the wall. Elsie grinned as she pulled the lid open. Loud cries filled their ears. Startled, Elsie peeked inside.

A small baby wrapped in blankets lay within. Elsie gasped and gently lifted the child. Russell and Simon hurried over.

"What? A child?" Russell leaned over to look. Simon began to scan it with his medical tricorder. He shook his head as he put his tricorder away. "This just keeps getting more and more mysterious."

"What's the matter? Is it alright?" Asked Russell. Simon stared at the child. "He's a Romulan."

Elsie softly pushed the baby's hair back. It was true. His ears were slightly pointed and his eyebrows were ascending. She smiled at the baby and he stopped crying for a moment. He gazed at her with eyes that were so soft, so trusting. In that moment she felt herself bond to him. She set her heart on making him her own child.

"He'll probably be fine", Simon interrupted her thoughts. "But I'd like to get him to sickbay as soon as possible in case he goes into shock."

"What was a human doing on a Romulan ship, with a Romulan child anyway?" Elsie questioned softly.

"Perhaps it's her child too?" offered Russell.

"A DNA test would confirm that." Simon nodded.

Just then, Torres poked his head in. "Everything alright?"

"Yes Lieutenant." Russell nodded to him. "We're just about to beam back." He flipped open his communicator once more. "Russell to transporter chief, six to beam up."

Simon Tarsus strolled into sick bay to find his wife Elsie hovering above the Romulan child. She looked up as he entered the room.

"Did the Captain contact the Romulans?" She asked. Simon ran a hand through his dark hair. "Yes. They refuse to claim the child. They even went so far as to accuse us of making up the story." He crossed his arms. "Then they said if we didn't leave the border to the neutral zone in one hour, they would fire on us for trespassing!"

Elsie shook her head. "This is a small starship, no threat to them. Obviously there is something about this child that alarms them."

Simon crossed his arms. "Well, the DNA test came back positive, so he is half human. Maybe that idea didn't go over well with them." Elsie began walking over to him. "What will happen to the child now?"

Simon chose his words carefully. "Well, he'll probably be adopted by a human family." Elsie looked at him with a gleam in her brown eyes.

"Oh no." he objected knowing what was coming. "Don't even ask."

"Please Simon!" she pleaded. "It would be better for him if he was adopted by someone from the away team who rescued him."

"Elsie!" He scolded. "We have a career in Starfleet that we've both worked hard for. Do you really want to give that up?"

"You knew when you married me that I wanted children someday." Elsie pointed out.

"Yes but that's someday, not right now." Simon looked over at the child. "Besides, he's a Romulan."

"That doesn't make a difference! Please Simon, I love Derrick." Elsie gestured to the child. "Look how sweet he is."

Simon stared at her, exasperated. "You didn't name it. Did you?"

"Just look at him for a minute." She insisted, ignoring the question. "He needs someone to love him; someone to take care of him." Elsie pushed her auburn hair behind her ear then took a deep breath. "That someone could be us."

Simon looked at the child. He smiled. "He is kind of cute." Hearing himself falling for her ruse, and he threw his arms up in defeat. "Alright, alright! I'll think about it."

Elsie squealed for joy and ran to hug him. "Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!"

Simon exhaled noisily and pulled her back to look her into her chocolate colored eyes. "There is no saying no to you is there?"

"You're not going to regret this one." She whispered, beaming. "I love you."

Simon gazed at her lovingly. "I love you more." Then he kissed her affectionately.

AN-By the way I use the stardate system from the new movies. It's easier to keep track of.