Disclaimer: I don't own anything involving the Star Trek Franchise.

Chapter 1

The first thing that returned was my hearing. A steady, yet dull beeping was close enough to my ears to be annoying, and jerked me out of sleep.

My body, not realizing it was in fact confined under a life support system, reacted as if it were still sitting at the helm of a dying ship. My eyes flew open, being blinded by the glaring overhead lighting, and my body attempted to shoot up into a sitting posture. I was stopped not only by the solid structure that had been situated over my chest and abdominal region, but also by the pain that bloomed through my entire torso at the movement.

I crashed back on to the soft surface that was under me, my eyes frantically trying to adjust to the lighting so I could identify my surroundings. The beeping that had been so steady earlier was now erratic and piercing. I was gasping for breath, nearing a full blown panic attack when my vision finally began to clear.

The walls were a light beige color, almost close to white, and as it turned out the lights were not as bright as they originally seemed. Even in my delirious state, I felt confusion. This certainly wasn't death. It wasn't any type of afterlife or peaceful resting place. This was a sickbay. How had I wound up here?

I turned my head to the left and noticed body on the bed next to mine. The only difference between us was that this person had a sheet over their head, and no life support system. They were dead.

I couldn't help but stare at the body laid out next to me, it was almost as if I was stuck in a trance. In that moment, lying in a sickbay of an unknown starship, apparently fighting for my life I realized the fine line between life and death. How quickly that balance could be upset, and how closely we as Starfleet officers, walk that line.

I was so lost in thought that I didn't notice someone coming up on my right-hand side until they touched my arm. My head whipped around so fast that the muscles went into spasm. Standing there was a lovely middle aged woman with red hair, and the kindest blue eyes I'd ever seen.

"Take it easy" She said with a small smile.

"Where am I?" My throat was dry and scratchy, and it hurt to speak but I needed answers.

"You are on board the Starship Enterprise, in sickbay. You're a very lucky girl."

I rolled my eyes, "Yea….lucky."

She walked away and grabbed a glass of water from the replicator, which I must say I drank in a very unladylike manner.

"You are!" She states, "You managed to hold of a Dominion battleship, and you lived to tell about it. If that's not luck I don't know what is."

She seemed so adamant about it, I almost believed her. But I didn't. She didn't know what had transpired aboard that ship in in the last few hours of its voyage.

"It could be skill to you know." I replied raising an eyebrow.

She began to run a scanner over my head, probably checking for another concussion, "Yes I suppose it could also be skill."

"I'm sorry Doctor, but you haven't mentioned your name yet."

"Doctor Beverly Crusher."

"Acting Cap….I mean Cadet Aniah Kahn. Sorry, slip of the tongue."

Dr. Crusher smiled again, "No worries, you've been through a lot lately, I don't think anyone can fault you for a slight slip of the tongue."

It was only then that I realized something, "I'm sorry did you say Crusher?"

"Yes, Why?"

"I knew someone with the same name in the Academy. He must be your son, or nephew, Wesley?"

"Yes Wesley is my son. He's actually on board right now. He just got back for leave before his last year at the Academy. Do you know him well?"

I couldn't help but blush a little. Wesley and I did know each other well, we were actually pretty good friends, but there was no denying the fact that he was a good looking young man, and the fact that I'd always been quite attracted to him. The only problem was that we were both too focused on the work we were doing, him on engineering, me on operations, and both of us on flying and navigation.

"We knew of each other."

"Ah. Well I'm sure he knows your on board and he'll come down to see you then. It seems like you concussion is gone which is good. I managed to stop the internal bleeding and mend you arm, but you're going to be sore for a while, and no strenuous activity for at least three weeks. But other than that I think you'll be able to be out of here in the next few days. I want to keep you for observation though, just to make sure nothing goes wrong."

"Thank you very much . I appreciate it." I gave her a smile.

"Oh wait Doctor! Is…is Kahn alright? I can still feel her, so I know she's alive, but…is she healthy?"

"Yes, your symbiont is fine. Your isoboramine levels were pretty low, but we were able to stabilize you. Like I said, you got very lucky."

She then left me and returned to her office. I looked at the ceiling, and thought about the last few hours….or had it been days at this point. I never did ask what the stardate was. I couldn't help but think about my classmates, my friends. Did they find someplace safe to land? Were they onboard the Enterprise?

It was then that I thought about Tim. I had forgotten that he had been on the bridge with me, though he had been unconscious at the time. But now that my head was clearer head I realized that I hadn't seen him.

"Um excuse me…Doctor?" I called out to the empty sickbay.

Dr. Crusher emerged from her office, while checking over some readings on her tricorder. She looked up at me and asked what was wrong.

"What happend to the man I was beamed aboard with? He's about 5'7", brunette, brown eyes. His name is Tim Watters. You haven't seen him have you?"

Her face became grim by the end of my sentence, and her bright blue eyes shifted to the bed next to me, and I was finally able to piece things together.

"No." I whispered shaking my head, "No, no, no."

I felt tears involuntarily run down my cheeks as I looked over at the bed next to me for the second time, only this time it felt different. I didn't feel a insightful or like I had just learned a great lesson. No, this time I only felt pain, a blinding sorrow that consumed my entire being.

I barely heard Dr. Crusher express her sympathies to me, I could barely hear anything in fact. There was a rushing sound in my ears, mingled with the sound of my breaking heart. I could feel myself hyperventilating and my vision was growing dark around the edges.

I felt a hand on my arm again, but nothing could pull me out of the sea I was drowning in. And to be honest I didn't want anyone too. I now didn't know if I had saved anyone. The crew from the ship wasn't here so I assumed they had either flown to another location or didn't even make it past the Jem'Hadar ship, and were killed on sight. And now Tim was dead. As far as I knew, I was the only survivor of the U.S.S Valiant, and for some reason that thought terrified me.

Let me know what you guys think!