Disclaimer: I don't own Star Trek, I don't own the terms that are canon. Pretty
much if you recognize it, I don't own it. Most of the characters are my own.
There is a quote that is said by Albus Dumbledore, which I do not claim, it's
towards the end.

Summary: The Ares detects a distress signal, and find
two aboard. Their ship was attacked by a very known
species to those of the Ares.

Special Guests:

Yeterna

Erasone

Itai

Unnamed Medic

The days had gone by peacefully since their mishap with Serren and the knowledge the Romulans might come through. The information of the wormhole was made public not long ago, and various societies were beginning to come through, though none had met with the Ares yet. As one could imagine the Romulans were upset by the keeping of a discovery of this magnitude a secret. Some in the Alpha Quadrant had expressed wished to collapse it, given the outcome of the last stable wormhole that was found. The Ares was sent back to the wormhole to oversee the construction of Andros I, a Federation space station in the Andromeda Galaxy.

"Captain we are picking up a distress signal, it's weak and on an odd frequency," Eris Landon stated to the captain, "Audio is corrupted, but here it is." At first it was simply gibberish to those aboard, until the Universal Translator found out how it worked.

"Help... aliens... destroy... not alone... dying," the audio recording said unable to understand anymore of what the person on the other side was saying. After a moment of silence the captain spoke.

"Tell Admiral Janeway about the situation, and tell her we will be leaving Andros I for a little while," the captain ordered, "Lieutenant Knight, lock onto the distress signal and engage at maximum warp."

"Aye Captain," the young helmsman answered pressing a few buttons before the Ares jumped to warp.

"The admiral sends a message of 'break a leg'. However this doesn't seem a very good message to me," Eris said looking up telling the captain, "Why would we want to injure?"

"It's an expression used on Earth," the captain laughed, "It means good luck." Eris nodded before returning to her console saying nothing more.

It didn't take long, maybe an hour to get to the distress signal at maximum warp.

"On screen," the captain ordered as they entered visual range.

"Sensors show that there is a ship of primitive design sending the distress signal. It looks to have the capabilities of the American Apollo ships in the 19th century, only about the speed of thrusters," Eris stated, "A lot of damage, power failures every where, two life signs, both very weak."

"Captain, it could mean if we beam them aboard it would violate the Prime Directive," Ciro noted, since it was primitive technology.

"Beam them directly to the infirmary, have Doctor Galen sedate them before they can see anything," the captain ordered.

"Aye, Captain," Eris responded. As soon as Eris responded, the small ship relaying the distress message blew up, sending pieces in each direction.

"Did we get them?" the captain asked.

"Yes Captain, we got them," Eris said slightly triumphant.

"Commander Rodriguez you have the bridge, I am going to go see our visitors in the infirmary," the captain stated, "Commander Iscani you're with me, just in case." Jemelle nodded following the captain. The two rode down to the infirmary in silence exchanging no words. It seemed two people who didn't talk often on this ship. Eris only talked on the job, and Jemelle seemed to talk little even on the job. But he was a good detective and the captain liked that.

The two entered the infirmary upon seeing the doctor, the captain walked up to the doctor for a report.

"I couldn't rescue the man," the doctor stated grimly, "But the woman is sedated, with severe burns, but she'll survive." The captain nodded walking over to the dead man. He looked just like a human, except his eyes, the pupils were completely black. The captain ran her fingers over his eyelids, shutting his eyes.

"I believe they are blind, but if I were to guess they could sense things with their other senses just as if they could see. I also believe that they weren't always blind, given they have eyes," Doctor Galen stated running a Dermal Regenerator around the woman's face, which seemed very badly burned. Jemelle simply stood in the back waiting for orders.

"Can you wake the woman?" the captain asked, "Have all of her senses other than hearing and ability to talk repressed. If you can of course."

"I think so, their anatomy is much like humans, from what I take," the doctor stated, "Run this Dermal Regenerator over her, while I get some things ready." The captain nodded taking the device and slowly running it down the woman's arms, and around the burnt flesh as the doctor quickly prepared a couple of hyposprays.

"This one for the pain," the doctor said using one, "This one for the senses," he did another, "And this one to wake her up." He sprayed the last one into the woman's neck and she slowly woke up, opening her black eyes. She began trying to move, but her body wasn't working very well.

"W-what's going on?" the woman yelled.

"Shhhh, it's going to be alright," the captain said looking towards the woman with a smile, the woman probably couldn't see, "You're safe, you're going to be alright. You're companion however, did not make it."

"Erasone? He's... He's dead?" the woman trembled.

"Yes, he died of severe burns and inhalation of smoke," Doctor Galen stated calmly, taking a few items from his stand and slowly working on her burns as the captain used the Dermal Regenerator. He did have medics, but at the moment they were all off duty.

"Erasone..." the woman whispered with a tear falling from her cheek, "W-where am I? Am I home? Did you rescue me?"

"You're... in a safe place. We rescued you from your ship," the captain explained, "Can you tell us what happened? Who are you?"

"M-my name is Yeterna. W-we were exploring space, and then this huge ship came and attacked us, we didn't know it, and the technology was something we hadn't ever dreamed of. We tried escaping, and we managed to get out of there, because another ship came in and distracted the attacking ships, but our ship was so damaged, we tried fixing it, but we couldn't do anything else, so we sent a distress message to our planet, but nothing came," the woman explained, slowly but surely.

"Could you describe your attackers and the ones who came in?" the captain asked.

"Well both ships were of the same design, a perfect cube shape," Yeterna said, making the captain back away.

"Are you sure?" Galen asked continuing his work.

"Positive, we never met any aliens before like this...," Yeterna said, "Are you aliens? Why can't I feel anything?"

"Yes, we are aliens to you, and you are aliens to us," the doctor replied slowly, peering up to the captain who was speechless, and jumping to conclusions, "I gave you something to suppress your senses, otherwise you would be in extreme pain. Stay calm, or it'll take longer to heal your burns."

"So... so you come from another planet?" Yeterna asked, but then answered her own question, "Of course, like the Hernaga... they live not far from my home planet. They have much faster ships than us, they travel at speeds faster than light, we can only manage going 1/16th that fast, but we are working on matching them."

"That's very interesting... do you think you could tell us anything more about your attackers?" the doctor asked.

"Only that they contacted us, and said that they wanted to do something like, I think the word they used was something like simulate us?" Yeterna said with a deep breathe out trying to remember every detail about it.

"Assimilate?" the captain interjected once more, still sitting on a med bed next to them, trying to stop herself from falling and hurting herself.

"Yeah, I think so, but they didn't sound very confident, almost like they were lost," Yeterna sighed.

"I see... you must be tired, if you want I will sedate you again," Doctor Galen suggested.

"I suppose that is true. I appreciate everything you are doing," Yeterna thanked with a slight yawn.

"Good," Doctor Galen pressed a hypospray against her neck slowly putting her to sleep. The captain simply stared at Yeterna as if she had said something very offensive or stunning. "Captain?"

"Borg, even without their queen they are still a threat," the captain whispered.

"We've fought them before, and they probably are weaker now, we probably could defeat them if they pose a threat," Doctor Galen stated.

"You don't get it... we lost so many people to the Borg," the captain said not releasing her stare at the sleeping Yeterna.

"We can fight them off, we don't have to worry about loosing so many people this time," Doctor Galen stated, but then walked over to the captain, sitting next to her, "Did you loose someone to the Borg?"

"It doesn't matter," the captain said breaking her gaze and then standing up, "I'm a Starfleet Captain, I shouldn't act like this. Come on Commander Iscani, let's go back to the bridge." The doctor followed her to the door, talking the whole way.

"It's only human to act like this, loss happens to all of us," the doctor stated, but the captain kept on walking. William Galen sighed and watched the captain and her security chief walked away.

"James you really need to be more careful," the doctor laughed with a smile.

"Well it was Jace's idea, I mean he wanted some fresh blood to fight, not just Kordak," James shrugged as the doctor scanned his arm.

"You've broken your arm," the doctor stated, "I am surprised you aren't in extreme pain right now."

"I dunno, it just feels stiff," James replied with a smile, "I seem to have high pain tolerance. Is there something wrong with my nerves not transmitting the pain or something like that?"

"Don't go diagnosing yourself, you aren't a doctor. No, I think it's just that your brain ignores the pain, which isn't a good thing at times, and great when you, say break an arm fighting a Half-Vulcan," William Galen replied with a smile.

"Yeah, it does seem that way," James replied with a smile as well, "Doctor, do you think you could tell me something?"

"Numbers ending in 1, 2, or 5 are the only numbers always divisible by the number they end in," Doctor Galen stated, then spotting James' face of confusion, "You said you wanted me to tell you something."

"Not like that," James chuckled, "I want to know about the captain. Something in the past few days has been upsetting her, and I want to ask if you know." The doctor finished healing his broken bone and walked over to Yeterna looking down at her.

"When this lady arrived she gave us some very unsettling news," the doctor began.

"That the Borg are in the Andromeda Galaxy?" James asked, "Word spreads, I pick up various rumors... Oh watch out for Ensign Eastman, she's starting to spread rumors about you and the captain."

"Yeah... why would Eastman do something like that?" the doctor asked.

"She said anytime she would mention the captain you'd go silent or something would change about you," James shrugged, "But it doesn't matter, shouldn't have mentioned it. Anyways, what about the Borg?" James didn't want to get into all of the rumors he heard about, it was almost like he knew almost everything that was going on, except what was very secret.

"Well," Will Galen began eying James suspiciously, but continuing on, "The news of the Borg hit the captain very hard, and I think... never mind it's just speculation."

"No I want to know," James said standing on the other side of the med bed where Yeterna lay sedated, mostly healed up by now, since it had been a couple of days since her arrival.

"I-I think the captain lost someone important to her to the Borg. I've tried finding out what happened to her previous ship, the Sirius, but I can't get into the information," Doctor Galen sighed looking down at he woman on the med bed.

"If you want I could ask around, find it out," James suggested.

"No it's fine," the doctor said with a smile which looked quite charming on his worn face.

"As you wish," James said walking over to the door, "I'll return to the mess hall if you want to talk."

"We are being hailed by an unidentified ship, they are calling themselves the Hernaga," Eris stated.

"On screen," the captain ordered. The screen flashed to see a very odd looking insectoid alien, almost like an over-sized red ant.

"I am Itai. We know you have the one known as Yeterna of the clan Orso, and Erasone of the clan Orso. We demand you hand them over," the Hernaga stated in a very frustrated tone.

"Why? I mean no disrespect, but what do you wish with them?" the captain asked standing up and adjusting her uniform ever so slightly.

"We wish to return them home. They are escaped slaves, Regalian in origin. They are slaves who escaped from Regalia, we request them back,"Itai explained.

"I am sorry to say that Erasone died, and Yeterna is in our custody," the captain said, "I must talk with Yeterna before releasing her into your custody."

"No, you will give her to us, or we will take her. It's too bad for Erasone, but Yeterna will bare both consequences of their actions," Itai demanded his antenna dropping closer to his head, making him look slightly mad.

"What exactly will her punishment be?" the captain asked.

"Pain then death," Itai said his red face staring down the captain.

"Give us some time to decide, and talk to Yeterna," the captain requested.

"In respect to what ever customs you may have we will allow you half an hour to hand over Yeterna. I do wish for our peoples to get off on the right foot," Itai said then ending the transmission. The captain looked around the bridge, before ushering for Jemelle to follow her down to sick bay.

"Wake Yeterna up," the captain ordered hurrying into the sickbay, surprising the on duty medic and the doctor.

"Yes sir," the medic replied picking up a hypospray and injecting it into the human looking alien. The doctor came out of his office and was quite confused.

"What's going on?" Doctor William Galen asked curiously.

"I need to speak with Yeterna,"the captain explained as Yeterna woke up slowly, "Tell me about the Hernaga, the whole truth." Yeterna turned her head for only a second towards the captain, having regained her senses and therefore her 'sight' as it was.

"Ten years ago the Hernaga conquered my people, and enslaved us. Erasone and I escaped from our enslaved lives, escaping together... we loved each other and wanted to make a family together away from the Hernaga. But then we were attacked by those you called the... Borg I believe James said?" Yeterna explained sitting up slowly.

"There is a Hernaga named Itai who has requested we give you up to him," the captain stated, and waited for a reaction. Yeterna was silent for a second before standing up quickly.

"Bring me to him. Give me up. Otherwise he will attack this vessel and perhaps injure many of your people. You have already done more than I could ever imagine possible for aliens to do," Yeterna said in a demanding sort of way.

"You do realize he means to kill you," the captain stated.

"Yes, I do. Punishment for something like this is always used as an example to why we don't rebel or try to escape," Yeterna stated, "I don't need to live anymore, Erasone was my life, now that he's gone, and you are in danger if you keep me, I might as well give myself up. Everyone dies eventually." The captain looked at the woman's deep black eyes, knowing she wasn't going to budge.

"Don't make this decision because it would endanger us, we can handle our own against the Hernaga," the captain said, "But if you wish to still go through with it... there is nothing I can, or will do."

"But captain!" the doctor interjected.

"But nothing Doctor," the captain said definitively peering at the doctor.

"I will go through this, if I don't it would only delay the inevitable. To the well organized mind, death is but the next great adventure," Yeterna said with a worried smile. The captain returned the smile, but with a bit more confidence.

"I wish I could have gotten to know you better," Captain Richards said softly.

"That'd be hard given I was asleep or sedated most of the time. Recovering from those injuries was very tiring. Your mess hall attendant, James is very nice. Tell him I will miss him," Yeterna said keeping her worried smile, then started heading for the door.

"Commander, bring her to the transporter room, and have her beam over to the Hernaga ship," the captain said looking towards Jemelle, who simply nodded taking her arm and escorting her away. The medic looked at the captain, who sat on the med bed at this time, but then walked away tending to her own duties. The doctor, on the other hand, decided to sit on the med bed in front of the captain.

"She's doing this at her own free will you know," the doctor said trying to put on a reassuring smile.

"I know... Yeterna is a very strong person, almost reminds me of Trinoge. Why must so many people die?" the captain said looking down at the floor.

"The leading cause of death is life," Doctor Galen replied not sure how he could cheer up the captain.

"True... James better not hear about this," the captain commented looking back up, "I can't have a rumor about me not being strong. I am the captain and I do have an image to keep up." The doctor's smile grew like a forest fire on a dry day.

"Of course, but I can't stop Ensign Eastman from spreading her rumors, it might get out," the doctor chuckled.

"I'll make sure to have a talk with Ensign Eastman," the captain laughed, "Rumors won't be a problem again."

"Oh don't get her in trouble," the doctor said with a smile.

"We'll have to see. As for Yeterna, I hope death is the adventure and paradise she wants," the captain said then returning her thoughts back to the woman who was most likely going to die in the next few days.

"It will be," the doctor replied.

"How do you know?" the captain asked.

"Because then you can escape from the pains of life, though life is not to be wasted, life can be hell, and death isn't, unless you were evil in your life," the doctor replied then getting up and walking to his office, leaving the captain to think. After a few seconds the captain left as well.

Hope you liked it! I hope you'll keep reading on!
Please! R&R please! I love any and all feedback!

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of how I picture each character, just send me a PM, or
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