**I own nothing. Also, my lore occasionally gets sketchy. True Believers, I beg thee, point out my mistakes and I will fix them.**

After McCoy had spent some time extricating the woman from her stasis prison and making sure she was stable, he ordered Sam to lift her in his arms and the three of them pinged Scotty for pick up. As soon as they shimmered into existence on the transport pad, McCoy was back to interrogation. Who is she, what is she, how does someone survive 110 years in stasis, what happened, why… Sam sighed tiredly, still trying to process the situation.

"Mom said I was named after her. Samantha Jameson Kirk." Behind them, Scotty choked on his tonic water.

"I'm sorry, who?" he spluttered.

"Um, Sam-an-tha Kirk?" Sam enunciated slowly.

"That woman, there?" The Captain nodded warily. "Any relation to THE Samantha Kirk?" Kirk and McCoy looked blankly at him. "You know. The woman who invented the Warp 5 Engine?" Scotty prompted, as if they were being intentionally dumb.

"Huh," said Kirk. "Well, Mom did say she was one of the best engineers of her age."

"WHAT?!" roared Scotty.

"For God's sake, man, are we going to take this girl to sickbay or wait for her to expire?" McCoy interrupted testily.

"Go, go!" Sam gestured. "Better ping the Vulcan. He'll want to see this."


"Tricorder indicates she's about 28 years old. But you say she was 24 when she disappeared." Dr. McCoy frowned at his instrument. "I've never heard of someone aging in stasis. Then again, 110 years…"

"It is far more probable that she was woken periodically," said the Enterprise's Vulcan Science Officer, startling both his superior and the CMO.

"Why do you say that?" Kirk ventured.

"For what other purpose would they abduct her?" Spock replied logically.

"Uh… not following you, sorry."

Spock's voice was infinitely patient. "Chief Engineer Kirk, who you claim this woman to be, headed Terra's Warp 5 program and was a primary consultant on the NX Project." The CMO huffed dismissively. Spock turned impassive eyes on him. "Do you recall when the Romulans first adopted Warp 5 technology, Dr. McCoy?"

"Who gives a damn?" snapped the physician, just as Sam said, "2155." Then his eyes widened. "Oh!"

"Yes," Spock agreed.

"But then, why keep her alive? After they'd got what they wanted, I mean."

"Two years is far more time than a Romulan seeker would require to extract the aforesaid information from a human mind. If my interpretation of Dr. Kirk's publications is correct, it is likely that they attempted to use her expertise on other development projects as well." He paused. "If everything attributed to her is indeed her own work, my assessment would be that your ancestor was remarkably intelligent for a Terran."

"The hell do you mean, for a Terran," McCoy snarled.

"My apologies, doctor. I did not mean to offend."

"Whatever," the CMO snapped, turning to his patient. He scanned her briefly, before manually checking her pulse and pupils. "Shouldn't she have woken up by now?" Sam worried aloud.

"Yes," McCoy said shortly. Then, "She ain't brain-dead. Her mind's going a mile a minute." He palpated her abdomen, checking for abnormalities. "No obvious trauma. Heart rate, breathing, kidney and liver function all within normal limits. By all counts she's fine, physically. Hmm…"

"Maybe she doesn't want to wake up," Kirk suggested.

"Don't be an ass," McCoy sniffed, but Spock once again looked pensive. "The Lieutenant may be partially correct. If Dr. Kirk has withstood psychological damage…"

McCoy paused, catching on. "If she's had Romulans pulling her in and out of stasis for mind searches, that's not entirely out of the question," he said slowly.

"You should go in there, then," Sam said tentatively. The other two men turned shocked eyes towards him. "That would be entirely inappropriate," Spock said coldly.

"Mind melds without consent are against Federation law," McCoy added angrily.

"So, what?" Sam countered. "You're going to leave her here to rot? That seems pretty... messed up to me." McCoy stilled, and Spock glanced artfully away. "Just a peek," Sam pushed in a softer tone. "Just to see what's wrong."

"I must consider carefully," said the Vulcan reluctantly.

"Sure, think on it. I'll see you guys later."


Four hours later Spock rejoined the ship's physician in sickbay. "There has been no change?" he asked.

Dr. McCoy did not like the Vulcan Science Officer.

He was superb at his job, masterful at analyzing foreign objects and technology under rapid-fire conditions, and dependable to a fault. He was also creepily cold-blooded and relentlessly blank. Even when his own planet had fallen to Nero and his parents, along with 90% of his race, had perished, the freak had barely batted an eye.

"None," McCoy confirmed heavily. "She's not even technically sleeping. The wave patterns are more akin to a night terror or a hallucination."

"Then I will make the attempt."

McCoy sighed heavily. "Should I call Pike?"

"If you believe it necessary," said the Vulcan, but his raised eyebrow indicated he found the question illogical. "Go ahead then," McCoy grumbled. "Carefully!"

"Yes," Spock agreed. He aligned his fingers against the woman's face and closed his eyes. He concentrated. "Anything?" the doctor prompted after a few moments.

"Silence would be -" Spock broke off as 'Samantha' stirred, making a distressed noise. All at once her right hand lashed upwards at him. He caught it neatly, betraying only faint surprise. "What the hell was that?" the doctor expostulated.

"She… reacted to my intrusion negatively," Spock surmised.

"She felt you? How is that even possible if she's not cognizant?" He pondered.

"Since we have already posited that her Romulan captors used her for information searches, it is probable that her reactions are defensive." He still held her fist in his hand, delicately, as though it were a bird or a small mammal. "She resists the meld quite effectively. Atypical of a psy-null species. While I hesitate to indulge in conjecture, I believe she is what you would call a… 'fighter.'"

McCoy sat down in his chair. "So she won't let you in, because she thinks you're a Romulan?"

"That is a viable theory."

"…Try again."

"Doctor," Spock said, betraying an unusual measure of agitation. "She clearly does not consent. I am already in breach of protocol."

"Try again, Spock. If she's blocking herself intentionally, she won't wake up until she knows it's safe. Unless you want her to spend the rest of her natural life in a nightmare, you have to try."

Pressing his lips thin, the Vulcan approached the patient once more. He pressed his fingers reluctantly but firmly to her face. He made the connection. Friend, he projected. Safe. Fear not. No war. Waken.

The woman shot straight upwards, her eyes flying open. She screamed and began to flail. He narrowly avoided being clipped on the ear. In a defensive gesture, he captured her arms and pinned her to the stretcher. The noises issuing from her did not resemble language so much as a series of animalistic sounds as she fought to free herself. An overwhelming fear pulsed off her, and too late Spock realized how much he resembled a Romulan to the untrained eye. "I am Vulcan!" he told her urgently. "This is a Federation ship!"

"Did the Federation even exist when she was alive?" McCoy shouted anxiously from the sidelines.

"A Starfleet ship!" Spock amended quickly. "Starfleet. Safe. Home." He felt her calm fractionally. "You are weakened," he told her as the adrenalin drained away and the blood left her cheeks, rendering her pale and fragile. "See your human doctor," he encouraged, jerking his head towards McCoy. "Feel your human clothing." Gradually her gaze flickered. She took in her environment warily. Her eyes returned to him after a brief few seconds. She tugged at her right wrist and he released it gently. She reached up quickly and laid her hand across his forehead, feeling… for brow ridges, he realized. He tolerated this unexpected touch stoically. "Vulcan," he repeated as her hand dropped away.

"I cannot tell you how much she comprehends," he said, turning his attention back to the CMO. "Her mind is fractured and stressed. Were she Vulcan, she would be required to spend a significant amount of time with one of our healers."

"Would they take her in?"

Spock considered. The aftermath of Vulcan's destruction meant that his race's healers were drastically overworked and, as an unfortunate rule, rather leery of outsiders. "Doubtful," he concluded.

"Then we'll have to do the best we can with what we've got. Including you," McCoy determined. Spock inclined his head. "Whatever is necessary," he affirmed.