The ship was in an uproar for almost a week after the beautiful female was pulled from deep space. Everyone on board had to see her at least once, some insisting on dropping by daily to take a look at her unconscious form. Doctor McCoy found the traffic around his sick bay extremely annoying as he worked on healing the girl's wounds and placing some of her shattered bones back in place. With every day that went by and every wound that was healed, the girl simply became more and more beautiful. Within three days of her arrival, all her surface wounds and bruises had been cared for, and she seemed flawless.
She had shoulder length bronze hair and straight bangs cropped to right above her sultry curved eyebrows. Beneath her petite, sculpted nose rose plush red lips and a stubborn chin. Her face was oval, yet very soft, like a child's. She had a well-built figure, long and lean with luscious curves. On each hand were long, delicate fingers that were tipped with calluses – a sign that she was some sort of instrumentalist. Her skin was a peachy tanned color, though she seemed rather pale due to her confinement, and would have been unblemished were it not for the occasional scar that riddled her body.
Her beauty would have led one to believe that she must have had some sort of high status but, from the finger shaped bruises on her thighs, and lacerations on her sensitive womanhood, McCoy deduced that she had once been a sex slave. He assumed that her injuries hadn't healed over the year she was in the shipment pod because her body had gone into a form of hibernation, and had shut down all repair systems. Now that she was given a hypo regularly, which contained the essential nutrients she had been living without for months, her body returned to a normal functioning cycle and began to heal itself.
The crew's interest in the girl kept up for a week or so, but slowly began to wane as the girl gave no indication of awakening any time soon. It was not until three weeks later that the strange female awoke for the first time ever on the new ship. She was sleeping on the medical bed as always, and McCoy had just administered another nutritional hypo when the doors to the sick bay swished open and the captain stepped in.
"Bones, would you stop worrying over her like a mother hen? We are passing by a star base in 5 days, and I am already making accommodations for her there. You can't do any more for her than you've already done!"
"I just don't understand it Jim! She is healthy enough to be conscious… Yes, she still has a couple healing bones and she's terribly emaciated, but her condition has improved so much over these past weeks. Even her brain function has increased! But she just… wont… wake… up…"
Kirk walked over to his doctor and friend, and gently placed his hand on the man's shoulder, "Bones, c'mon. Take a break, you're starting to worry me. Even you can't perform miracles…"
With a sigh, McCoy relented and began to stand up, getting ready to leave the sick bay for a long awaited nap. He looked at the sleeping girl and gently swept a finger over her forehead, moving a stray strand of hair off of her face and behind her ear. He hated not being able to help. Kirk placed a reassuring hand on McCoy's arm and was about to lead him out of the room when a soft moan issued from behind them. The captain stiffened and knew what was about to happen. He would bet his lunch for a month that McCoy would give him that puppy dog look (yes, check), and then he will yank out of Kirk's grasp (check again), and he will scurry over to the bedside and began scanning the girl only to mumble angrily when he realizes that nothing has changed (and check once more). Kirk sighed at his friend's predictability, and readied himself to have to literally carry his friend out of sick bay when a soft sound issued from the girl's lips once more as her eyes began to flutter. Turning around quickly and following McCoy to the edge of the bed, Kirk frowned and tried to mediate what would happen next.
The girl's head lolled to the side and her eyes scrunched for a moment, creating a rather endearing expression, and then she rolled her head back straight as her eyes finally popped open. They were a brilliant shade of green and yellow, reminiscent of the eyes of a cat. She looked from McCoy, who was now frantically running his tricorder over her body, to Kirk who was still staring at her expectantly, wondering what she would do. Opening her mouth, the girl issued a hoarse string of words in a strange language, "Ithalik atun alistathin n'nouk?" McCoy stopped what he was doing for just a moment to look at Kirk, puzzled, "Did you catch any of that, Jim?" But Kirk just snorted and shook his head, replying somewhat incredulously, "Not a word Bones… not a word. Man, things would be so much easier if she spoke English…!"
The girl turns her head slightly to follow the human males' conversation, listening to the language they were using, and trying to remember what it was called. Ah, he said it… English… I can speak English! Maybe I shouldn't tell them… no, they are my new masters. I have to tell them everything or I'll just get beaten again… Frantic thoughts rushed through the girl's head as she stuttered out, "I… I can speak English…. I… I'm sorry if my other language d-displeased you master… I will not u-use it again if it does n-not please y-your lordship…"
Kirk's eyebrows flew up and he tried to stifle a laugh, what was this girl talking about?! Though it was a pleasant surprise that she could speak English, he could not say that he particularly liked being called "master". He put one hand on the table and leaned forward, "No one here is your master, you got that? My name is Captain James T. Kirk. That is Doctor McCoy. You are on the star ship USS Enterprise. We found your containment unit floating in deep space. After analysis, we concluded that the ship that was transporting you was destroyed, which was how your pod got so badly burnt. Do you remember anything?"
The girl shrunk back at the onslaught of words. Was she really expected to remember and know so much on the first day of her new assignment…? Wait… did… did he just say that he ISN'T my master? My transport ship was destroyed? But… but that can't be… I can't be free… this doesn't make sense?! Her eyes glazed over with fear and she began to tremble slightly until Bones spoke up, standing over her protectively, "Jim! Don't throw so much at her all at once…! Sheesh, she has just woken up for the first time in probably a year and you expect her to be hopping about!"
Kirk leaned back and took his hand off the table, looking somewhat ashamed that he had scared the girl so badly. Perhaps it was just the undying curiosity that had plagued him for weeks about this girl's identity that had made him so forceful. He looked around the room and then back at McCoy, "I guess I'll let her get used to being awake before I start asking questions then… take care of her Bones… but make sure you take care of yourself too! And that's an order!" And with that, Kirk turned on his heel and marched out of sickbay and back to the bridge.
The girl watched in fascination as the doctor stood over her so protectively, and wondered if perhaps he was her master. But the lord captain had seemed so in charge, surely she would be assigned to attend to him? All of these thoughts were much too confusing, and her head was already hurting. She turned her head to get a better look at the Doctor, but there was a sudden sting in her arm, a gentle hiss, a spreading warmth, and then comforting blackness.
McCoy was carefully following the girl's vital signs throughout the entire encounter, and noticed when she started to get a headache. So, just as she turned her head to get a better look at the doctor, he stuck her gently with a hypo, inducing sleep. As she slipped away into oblivion, McCoy shuffled over to the cot he slept on when he couldn't leave a patient alone in the sickbay, and lay down for the much awaited nap…