Kah'Li rubbed at her eyes. She had worked through the night and early morning helping to repair the impulse engines. It was a problem with a auxiliary power converter that had led to a backup of problems. Unfortunately, no one on board knew how to repair it. So her and her mother had worked to try and patch it up as much as they could. They would have to find ship that they could ride with for a while, to try and get them to a closer spaceport. Personally, Kah'Li hated it when they rode piggyback on someone else's warp field. It seemed as if they couldn't take of of themselves, like a young child asking a parent to carry them. She didn't understand why they just couldn't *ask* someone for help. She sighed. Who knows what adults think.

She yawned loudly. //I need some sleep.// she thought to herself. She retreated to her room and collapsed on the bed.

~*~

Unfortunately, she didn't sleep long. She was awakened by the sound of weapons fire and of the ship dropping out of warp. She ran out of her room to see what was happening.

"What's going on?" she asked Officer Je'Tal.

"We picked the wrong ship to piggyback on, that's what." he said, furiously poking at his console. "Aisha! Why won't this stupid thing work!"

Kah'Li was watching the entire crew run back and forth, trying to repair some of the damage caused to their ship. Then Kah'Li heard it.

"The airlock!" she cried out, "Someone's trying to get in!"

She had no longer screamed out her warning when the hatch opened and everything went black.

~*~

"Good mornin' T'Pol." said Trip as he exited the turbo lift. "How are you?"

"I am well." she answered in her clipped, unemotional tone.

"Have you found anything yet?" he asked, resting his elbows on her console.

"No, I have not. I will tell you as soon as I do." she replied, then looked down at his elbows.

"Could you please remove your arms from my console?"

Trip hastily moved his elbows off. "Sorry." He left T'Pol and headed over to Communications. He was repairing a minor problem inside one of the bulkheads when he heard T'Pol's muffled voice.

"What? Speak up please, I can't hear ya from under here."

This time her voice was much closer and louder. "I said, I have found something that might be of interest for you."

Trip tried to get out so fast that he whacked his head against the inside of the bulkhead.

"Ow!" he cried out, rubbing his head.

T'Pol looked quietly at him, raising one eyebrow. "Perhaps when you are done injuring yourself you could come look at what I have found." She turned on one heel and returned to her station.

Trip watched her go, then got up and followed her, mumbling something under his breath about a helmet.

~*~

Kah'Li woke up slowly, as a feeling of nausea exploded in her stomach. //Where am I?// she thought groggily to herself. She was lying down on a bed of sorts, in a white, well lit room.

When her eyes adjusted to the light, she noticed a person standing near the door. He/She was tall, had light blue fur covering it's body and dark blue hair growing out of it's scalp.

//Wow,// she thought, //Aren't we complete opposites!//

"Excuse me?" she called out.

The alien turned to face her. "Jenath ikil rytiz vorite?" it asked.

"I'm sorry, I don't quite understand you." she said.

It pulled out a round device, and made an adjustment to it. "Jenath ikil rytiz vorite? Jenath rytiz understand me?"

Kah'Li was surprised. She had understood the last two words it had spoken. "Yes, I understand you!"

The alien grinned. At least, Kah'Li thought it was a grin. Who knows with other species.

He/she could be planning to kill her.

"You understand me?"

Kah'Li nodded.

"Excellent." the alien said, mostly to itself. "I wasn't certain that my translator would work with your language. My name is Hael, and I am a Cerassian. You are aboard the ship Zariel."

Kah'Li looked at Hael curiously. "Am I a prisoner here?" she asked.

Hael looked taken aback. "No, no! You are our guest here, until we can find one of your ships. You see, your ship got caught in the middle of a battle between us and a Vorilian ship; you were hit by a few stray shots. We boarded your ship to check for damage, unfortunately most of your crew was.. well, they were dead."

"Dead?!" Kah'Li said, clearly mortified. "Oh no!" She slid down onto her bed, thinking sadly to herself. Everyone was gone... Mother, the Captain, Je'Tal, even Pa'El.

Hael shifted nervously from foot to foot. Kah'Li lifted her head up and cleared her throat.

"What...what happened?" she asked.

Hael clucked it's tongue a few times, but Kah'Li didn't know what that meant in Cerassian culture. "When our boarding party entered your ship, we didn't know that our atmosphere was different than yours. Oxygen from our craft entered your ship, and we were powerless to do anything while everyone suffocated. Except you. You just collapsed, like the others, but gradually your laboured breathing turned normal. I think your body adjusted to the oxygen, although I don't know why."

Kah'Li was quiet for a moment, then replied. "It's because I'm half Human. I'm half Human and half Xryllian."

Hael stopped it's shifting. "This enables you to switch between environments?"

"I suppose so." she said.

Hael was silent a moment, then exclaimed, "Hey! You said you are half Human?"

She looked it. "Yes, I did. What does it have to do with anything?"

Hael looked very excited. "Our ship encountered some Humans only a few days ago. We can take you to them, if you like!"

Kah'Li's bright blue eyes widened until they seemed like they were going to pop out. "Yes please. Take me to them."

*How is it? Is it worth continuing? Hopefully I'll have 10 reviews by the next chapter!*