"Five survivors?" Captain Jean Luc Picard asked in amazement. "The group of colonists numbered well over one hundred five years ago. What happened?"

"We're trying to figure that out still, what we can determine is that some other life form overtook the settlement and either removed or killed all the others. The five young children are the only surviving members. They have appeared to be kept as captives or slaves according to their appearance and demeanor to those with authority..." Worf shared his security briefing. When it came to Beverly she looked shaken by what she heard.

"The children are stable." Beverly started. "The oldest girl, Elizabeth known to the group as Eli, is recovering from injuries sustained on their trek to the science station. She is almost 17 years old, yet on scanning her she has repetitive strain in shoulders, arms, elbows and hands that would lead me to believe that she completed tasks that were physically draining and done often. Caleb will be 18 in about a month. He too has signs of hard physical work. His mother and I went to Medical School together, he remembers me from many years ago." Beverly looked sad as she had the memory of her school mate and her family and she paused to take a breath before she continued. "The other three children all too have injuries that reflect labour meant for stronger and older people. All the children are underweight and malnourished to the standards of human children in the Federation. Their diet is of mostly beans and some meat that they have hunted for."

"They all appear to have survivor's trauma, none of them want to talk about what has happened. The only files we have of these children is what the colonists provided with their manifest. The pictures of the children are all over five years old. The youngest Jessa, appeared to be only four years old when they were attacked, she would have little to no memory of the life she had before. Daisy was seven and Tobin was 8." Counsellor Troi shared as Beverly took a moment to regroup from her report.

"Do any of the children have living relatives?" Picard asked.

"We're looking as we speak." Data shared.

"Where are the children now?"

"I've released them to quarters. They have chosen to stay together, I had wanted to keep Elizabeth a little longer in sickbay but she was becoming distressed with the possibility of being separated from the others." Beverly returned.

"We have another problem though." Worf started.

"What is that?" Picard asked.

"They all wear some form of ownership jewelry." Worf started. "We can't figure out how to remove it without injuring the children."

"Is there any form of tracking system with the jewelry?" Picard asked concerned.

"We are unsure, as we haven't been able to remove any of it from the children to analyze." Geordie who had sat quietly through the debrief admitted.

"Well continue with the process as soon as you can." Picard encouraged. With a nod of his head he dismissed his team. They all stood to return to their prospective tasks.

Eli rested quietly on the couch, she was still tired from her ordeal, but felt safer with the others so she had convinced the nice doctor that she would be fine if she was to stay with them. She had made sure the younger two had had a shower with water, not the sonic whatever it was called style either. They had scrubbed down and their hair had been washed and conditioned with oil that they had been given to make sure they ended up with no knots, then Eli had braided their hair again, even though she was so tempted to just cut it shorter so it could stay down. Jessa had done as she was told, but it had been difficult as washing and grooming wasn't something that the Georgians made easy, so Jessa struggled through the process. By the time Eli had managed to wrangle the hair and got them to put on some new sleeping clothes, she was relieved to put them into a bed together and watch them fall asleep.

Eli had climbed into the shower afterwards and completed the same task with herself, although she chose not to braid her hair as the position her arms were needed caused them to fatigue to soon. She'd have Daisy braid it when she woke. So now, Eli rested, her eyes catching the stars as it orbited the planet in which they had lived for five years. They still hadn't left orbit, and Eli suspected it had something to do with the fact that entire colony had been killed, outside of the five of them. Caleb knocked softly on an inside door. The quarters were separated for girls and boys, much like they were below. Caleb came in and saw Eli laying on the couch and came to her.

"How's Tobin?" Eli asked as Caleb sat down.

"He's sleeping." Caleb assured. "Jessa and Daisy?"

"Sleeping as well." Eli repeated and they smiled. "I'm not far behind them. They put another bed in the room with the girls and I'm going to go there."

"Yes, Tobin and I will share a room as well." Caleb agreed just as they paused in their words a chirping sound came from the main door. Caleb stood to answer it. A lovely looking lady stood in the hallway.

"My name is Deanna Troi. I was hoping to come and talk with you if you think it's a good time." The woman introduced. Caleb welcomed her in and she came and sat across from Eli and Caleb sat in another chair. Eli started to get up.

"Would you like something to drink?" Eli asked. Deanna waved her hand, and shook her head. It was obvious that the young girl was still healing from her injuries and she didn't want to cause any more movement then necessary. Deanna noticed that both young people looked cleaner, and less travel worn than when they first arrived, Eli's hair was damp and resting around her shoulders. The colour was a dark shade of brown and her eyes, there was something familiar in her eyes that she had to pull herself back to the moment in order to start the questions she had.

"No, I'm good. I don't need anything. I was hoping to chat with you two without the younger ones present. I have some hard questions to ask, please just answer what you can." She leaned forward and looked at both of them. They were guarded and tired, as well as confused and scared, it was hard to weed out the emotions of the situation with the emotions of being a teenager.

"We have nothing to hide." Caleb assured and waited for Deanna to ask.

"Can you tell me what you remember from the attack on the planet five years ago?" Deanna asked.

"I was with my mother in the infirmary. The rules for the colony at the time was that every person had a job. My mother was the doctor of the community so I was helping put away supplies. Someone came running into the infirmary and announced that a ship had just crashed close to the settlement. My mother gathered her emergency supplies and followed the person out. I was told to stay at the infirmary to help if needed when she came back." Caleb sighed, "I didn't have to wait very long since the attack on the main settlement happened within the next hour. I hid in the infirmary as long as I could, and only came out when one of the Georgian's found me and pulled me into the square along with the other kids. I don't think I was more than 13 years old. Not the oldest in the square, but not the youngest that's for sure." The memory wasn't hard to share, it was the same one that went through his mind all the time.

"What about you Elizabeth." Deanna asked.

"Eli, I haven't been Elizabeth since I was 12." Eli started. "I was working in the public garden with my Aunt. She'd been my guardian for two years at that point."

"Where were you parents?"

"My mother passed away from a strange virus that swept through Tretrian IV. I don't think I was more than 7 when it happened. My father hadn't been in the picture up that point that I can recall. I lived with my Grandmother for a bit, then my Aunt Hetti arrived and shared about the idea that was being talked about for the settlement on Heathro. She was so animated and alive about the idea of living the experiment of isolation from modern Federation Life, that she convinced my Grandmother to join them and then took over my legal guardianship so I could go as well."

"Ok..." Deanna was caught up with the facts now and wanted to see if the young girl would finish the story.

"Hetti and I were in the gardens, when we saw the ship come down just over the settlement. We were so shocked that we didn't really know what to do. My uncle Gracin was up at the science station when it happened so Hetti just followed the crowd out to the crash site." Eli paused. "I stayed with Grandma... I don't think it was more than an hour later when I was separated from my Grandmother and taken to the square."

"So, what happened then at the square?" Deanna asked. Both Eli and Caleb looked at each other at that point Deanna sensed some reluctance. "What happened?"

"They held us in the square for two weeks at least." Eli started.

"Who was held in the square?"

"Those that were too young to mate I heard one of the guards say." Caleb shared, he cleared his throat. "It looked like the children. Anyone under 18 years of age… At the start there were fifteen of us"

"You were held in the square for two weeks? What happened during that time?"

"We stayed in the square, we waited. Sometimes we were fed, sometimes we weren't, we had a small spot where we were able to go to the bathroom but we waited, in the clothes we were collected in. We huddled together during the nights, boys on one side, and girls on the other. During the day they made us stand and sit when they said…" Caleb started. "The youngest ones…"

"Lucas was 2 and Baby John wasn't even 1..." Eli stopped talking as the memory of the time flooded back. "They didn't have the food they needed… The nights were cold and they…"

"The older girls held onto them for as long as they could, but they couldn't keep them safe…" Caleb choked. Eli reached out and rubbed Caleb's back and looked at Deanna.

"We weren't very old ourselves." Eli started. "Polly and Jasmine were the oldest… They tried to fight with them, Quinton helped too…"

"They were restrained and given no water for days… Any of us that went near them were pushed back with whips and phasers."

"So they too were killed." Eli sighed and rubbed her forehead with the memory of the terror that they witnessed.

"After two weeks there were ten of us left." Caleb sighed. "We were weak, and Kismat was almost catatonic."

"Jessa was wild by then... She couldn't understand what had just happened… She stopped talking for almost two years." Eli shared and Deanna could sense that although they were sharing their story they had detached themselves from the actual events like most survivors do.

"I think I've heard enough for today." Deanna shared. "I'd like to come back and talk to you about the jewelry you are wearing."

"If you can figure out how to take it off I would be very grateful." Caleb said strongly. "The ownership stones make me sick to my stomach. I would tear it off with my own hands if I was strong enough."

"The stones, designated who we were in servitude too. It was way of keeping us in line. The bracelets were used during training and punishment." Eli shared. "We look forward to having them removed."

"Once again, I'm thankful that you are sharing your story with me. Is there anything I can get for you before I leave?" Deanna stood and Caleb did as well.

"No, you've already given us hope." Eli whispered wisely. "That is more than what we've had for five years." When Deanna had left, Caleb helped Eli stand and then made sure she had made it to her bedroom.

"Sleep well Eli the wise."

"The same to you Caleb the brave." Eli returned and lay down in the bed and quickly drifted to sleep. Caleb sat in the main area for a while longer before retreating to his own side for sleep.