Humble Beginnings

Author: The Passionate Admiral

Rating: K+

Disclaimer: I own nothing in the Star Trek Universe, but I do own a great many things that will be put in this story. I will say which things I own at the beginning of each chapter that they are introduced in. I own all the characters mentioned in this chapter, as well as the Federation starship USS Gainesville.

Note: This story is my first attempt at making my own Star Trek fanfiction mini-series. If it is successful enough, it may even make a fulltime fanfiction series. It takes place in the Prime Universe (Not the alternate one from the new Star Trek movie where Vulcan has been destroyed. This takes place after Romulus was destroyed in the Prime Universe). I know that this first chapter seems somewhat dark, but it won't get this dark again after this chapter.

Ashley Sanderson was lying on her bed in her holding cell at the penal colony near Starfleet Headquarters. She was trying to get some sleep. But she found that for the past nineteen weeks she just could not sleep. She could not tell why, but she did know that there could only be reasons. Either her brain would not let her sleep… or it didn't want her to.

She concluded that it was most likely the latter. She then realized that the nightmares had been returning to her with more frequency than ever before. Granted she never exactly had "sweet dreams" ever since she was put in the cell, even if the guards had sarcastically wished them to her when she was preparing to go to sleep. All the same, the nightmares she was suffering from at this point were troubling her the most.

Finally, Sanderson was able to go to sleep.

But she still dreamed the same nightmare, only in a worse environment than ever before. She was back on the bridge of the Gainesville. The bridge was on fire; debris was everywhere. She was one of the few members of the bridge crew that was still alive. Being the highest ranking officer available, she naturally took command of the bridge. An alarm sounded from the tactical station. "What's triggering the alarm?" Sanderson asked the person at the station.

He meekly replied "There are two alien vessels approaching on an intercept course!"

"Their configuration?" asked Sanderson.

He examined the given data, and then replied "One is Cardassian, and the other is Breen."

"Shields!" shouted Sanderson.

"They're barely holding at twenty-four percent!" he notified her.

"What about our weapons?" she inquired.

"Phasers are offline!" he said. "We only have five photon torpedoes left!"

Another person from the ops station announced "They're within visual range!"

"Onscreen!" shouted Sanderson. The viewscreen came up and they saw the two vessels approaching. But the Gainesville was not in any condition to confront even one of them.

"Target the Breen ship first!" Sanderson ordered the person at ops.

"Target locked." he notified her.

"Fire!"

The Gainesville fired one photon torpedo at the Breen engine room. But it just bounced off the ship's deflectors. Both ships came about and locked their weapons on the Gainesville.

"They're about to fire their weapons!" yelled the person at ops.

Sanderson shouted over the com system "All hands, brace for impact!"

When the Gainesville was hit, the ops station erupted in an electrical outburst. The person there was killed by the blast and dropped to the ground.

Sanderson looked at him, and then back at the viewscreen. She then shouted "Lock all four torpedoes on the Breen ship!"

"Armed and ready!" he announced.

"Fire!"

All the torpedoes went flying through space. They hit the Breen ship in several key locations. A few moments after impact, the Breen ship blew up from the inside.

"Breen ship destroyed!" said the tactical officer with a note of satisfaction in his voice.

Just then, the Cardassian ship fired back out of nowhere. When its weapons hit the Gainesville, the tactical station exploded, killing the man posted there. The force of the explosion threw Sanderson off her feet. She landed on her stomach on the ground and just lay there. Then she looked up and around the bridge. She was the only person there that was still alive. Finally, she looked back at the viewscreen. The Cardassian ship was getting closer. Then it fired weapons again. The Gainesville had finally sustained its maximum tolerance of damage. All around Sanderson, the ship was exploding. She shouted as the explosions were about to engulf her body…

Then she woke up. She sat up and started breathing heavily. When she had caught her breath, she noticed that somebody was standing inside the cell with her. She also noticed that the forcefield was down. Looking up at her visitor, she recognized him as Warden Cline.

He was holding a PADD in his hand. He handed it to her and said "Ashley Sanderson, your ten-month sentence is over. When you have cleaned yourself up and donned some fresh attire, please meet with me and Captain Ewotto at the time and place specified on that PADD."

She looked at the PADD and skimmed through it. She was a bit confused over a few of the details listed there, and said to Cline "Sir, the last paragraph here…?"

"All that will be clarified in time." he assured her. "Right now, please get cleaned up, and then we will discuss the content of the PADD."

Not wanting to debate in her current condition with the warden, Sanderson nodded and stood up. She followed him out of the holding cell. The person who had been standing guard at the terminal gave her a bag which contained a uniform for her to change into later. Then Sanderson walked down the corridors by herself to the washroom to wash herself up.

The washroom was empty at that moment. She was glad; she wanted some time to be alone, even though she had had no contact with anyone outside the detention center for close to a year.

Sanderson placed the PADD and the bag down on a counter. Then she slowly began to undress, placing her clothing next to the PADD and the bag. After she had removed her clothing, she stepped into a shower stall and she activated the water.

She took time to enjoy herself as the hot, clear liquid began cleansing her body. She closed her eyes to savior the fact that this would be the last time she would be using the showers in that building. While she showered, she took some time to reflect on the past ten months. Those months had been designated as time for her to "think about the possible consequences of her actions." She had spent plenty of time sitting in that cell thinking about what could have happened, but underneath all that pondering, she still had no regrets about what she did.

Well, what do you think so far? Please review at least one of the chapters as you read.