Moments later they were in sick bay. Harry went to set the woman down on the nearest sickbay bed, but the doctor redirected him.
"No, Harry, this one" and he moved quickly towards the intensive care bed on the far side of sickbay. Harry laid her gently down, and the doctor immediately moved a body scanner over her.
"Harry, you might want to let the Captain about this." Harry nodded and went to the other side of the room to one of the consoles. A moment later, Captain Janeway's face appeared.
"That was quick Harry, good grief, what happened to you?"
Harry's hand moved to his nose, winced, and saw sticky, half-dried blood come away in his hand.
"I'll explain in a moment. Captain, we found the cause of the explosion. An active stasis pod on Deck 12."
"Active? You mean someone was inside?"
"Yes. When the panel exploded ago, the pod became inactive we barely got to her in time. The Doctor is checking her now." Harry glanced up and saw that the doctor was scanning the woman's head while the scanner worked on the rest of her. The woman still lay unconscious. "He said she's stable for now."
"I see." Janeway leaned back, and looked away, looking a little sad. "A stowaway. She's a long way from home."
"I don't think so Captain. She's wearing a Starfleet cadet uniform."
Janeway's head whipped back towards the screen, her face intent. "You mean she's one of my crew?"
"Yes, at least" Harry glanced up. The doctor had moved to the far side and Harry could see the prone figure in a cadet's uniform lying still. "At least it looks that way. But neither I nor the doctor have ever seen her."
Janeway reached for something and a moment later Harry could see she was holding an information tablet. She looked up. "Was she the one who gave you that bloody nose?"
The doctor had come over to Harry and he chose that moment to lean into view "Yes, she did." Harry gave him an annoyed look. "Take these Harry" He put into one of Harry's hands a damp cloth, and into another a cold compress, and went back to his patient.
"I think I'd better get up there. I'm on my way. Janeway out"
The screen flickered off. Harry began to wipe his face, wincing only slightly. Wiping the blood, he walked back over to the sickbay bed, the compress now held to his face. "The captain's on her way."
"Good, maybe she can tell us more about her. I'll run her DNA against Starfleet records now, we should find a match." He walked over behind his desk and began transferring the data. While he worked Harry looked at the woman. She was small, but Harry remembered, vividly, the strength behind the punch. She had a small round face, and her skin was heavily freckled and had an iridescent hue to it. There were slight ridges on the sides of her neck, and Harry could see she was not entirely human. Her hair was a dark brown and seemed to be coming loose from a bun on top of her head.
"What have you found so far?"
"Well, she's half-human, half of a race called Bartumi, an ocean swelling species from the Alpha Quadrant.
"Her skin looks almost, like pearls."
The doctor rolled his eyes and came back over. "Please pay attention please Mr. Kim. Notice the ever slight ridges on both sides of her neck. Those are her gills. Also," he moved to her side and gently raising her right hand , "notice her slightly thickened palms. The skin is simply holding an additional layer of webbing. It will fan out between her fingers when she is in water."
Harry looked at the doc. "You mean, she's a mermaid?"
"No, Mr. Kim, she's a Bartumi. Mermaids are a myth."
"But this woman isn't." Janeway came striding into the room and over to the table, she was holding a tablet in one hand. "Doctor, good to see you again. You said your patient is a Bartumi?
"Half, Captain, so I believe, but I don't have an ID yet."
"I may." Janeway had made her way to the woman's side and was looking intently down at her. She handed the doctor her tablet, and Harry looked over his shoulder. It displayed a Starfleet record of the same woman. A bright banner across the top read "Starfleet Cadet Nesamya Resa. USS Voyager NCC-74656. Missing, presumed killed on Stardate 48315.7"
Harry looked at the record.
"But this woman was never on our crew."
"Oh yes she was Harry. Look at the Stardate again. Do you remember? It's just a few days after we met the Caretaker." She looked down at the woman's face "It was so long ago, but I remember one cadet reported for duty, and then just disappeared in all the chaos. I'd hoped she had been left behind, it has been known to happen, and I did not want to label her as a deserter. I chose to give her the benefit of the doubt that she was missing or dead. That is how she was listed on the Starfleet records we sent ahead of our arrival."
"Captain, we scanned our ship thousands of times on the way home, we never found her stasis pod."
"That's something we'll have to look into Harry."
"I'll need B'Elanna."
"I think we'll need to get a few more crew members back."
"There's something else Captain." Harry turned back to look down at the woman "I don't think she went into that pod willingly. When she first regained consciousness, she sounded like she was trying to fight someone off. She said "Don't put me in there, you promised! This wasn't our deal!' She sounded absolutely terrified."
"I was."
Harry almost jumped out of his skin and Janeway and the Doctor came closer. The woman's eyes were open, and she was looking calmly from one to the next of them, though a little blearily.
"I didn't desert Captain."
"Cadet Resa, I'm Captain Janeway. Do you know where you are?"
"Yes Sir, thank you Captain. Is this sick bay?"
"Yes. How do you feel?
"I'm not sure. I can't seem to move. Captain, did you catch them? My uncle's guards, did they get away?"
Janeway looked at the Doctor, he ran a quick check of his instruments.
"She appears to be no danger" he moved the body scanner out of the way, and she was able to sit up, although h she leaned heavily on the edge of the bed.
"I don't seem to have much strength right now."
"I wouldn't say that." Harry had put the compress down by now, and a bruise was forming along one side of his nose.
"Oh, Sir, I apologize, I…"
Harry realized he'd embarrassed her and said quickly "Oh, don't mention it, I'll be fine. It's, ahh, it's good when a women can defend herself."
Janeway gave him a look. Harry figured he'd better stop talking.
The woman only nodded and said, "I thought you were one of my uncle's guards."
Captain Janeway spoke. "I'd like to hear this. Is that who put you in the stasis pod?"
"Yes. I ran into them on Deep Space Nine, they told me they had a special message to deliver. Something about a traditional farewell for good luck and they took me to a room on Voyager. I remember seeing the open pod, and realizing I'd been tricked. I tried to fight, I was good in combat training, but all I could do was scream in the end. I was forced in; they activated the device and the last thing I remember was mist filling the chamber." She gripped the side of the bed and looked angry "My uncle broke the deal I made with him. I was to have one real Starfleet assignment before taking up my official duties." Her head lolled to the side a bit and the doctor adjusted a medical tricorder, scanning her again. He asked, "Official Duties?"
"Cadet, with your permission?" Janeway looked at her and she nodded "Gentleman, may I introduce you to her Royal Highness, Princess Nesamya, of the house of Resa of the Tarmoth sea on the planet Bartum.
Harry's jaw dropped. "A princess?"
Nesamaya rolled her eyes. "Just call me Nesa. Kind of, yes, but up until six months ago I had no official standing. I'm illegitimate. Then some tech race or maybe even a tech war started, I was never clear on the full details, but I was given full royal status and ordered to marry for an alliance. But I struck a deal with my uncle. I'd already been accepted onto the Voyager crew, and I could have one full year of service aboard Voyager and then I would resign my commission and leave for Bartum for a political marriage."
Janeway put her hand on her hip. "I knew nothing of this. I knew only of your new rank, and that you wanted it kept as quiet as possible. Why wasn't I informed?"
"I was told that you were."
"No." Janeway turned away, folding her arms in thought.
"Why would they want to put you in stasis in the first place?" Harry asked.
"The bloodline. If anything were to happen to me, it would be cut off completely. My uncle cannot have children. Apparently a bastard like me," and she shook her head and rolled her eyes "has some uses."
Janeway turned back, and her tone made everyone look up "Nesa, how much did you overhear just now? Did you hear about our Voyage home?
"No, only that you hadn't wanted to report me as a deserter."
"Then there is something I need to tell you; this is very important, and I want you to listen to me carefully. You were not in that stasis pod for one year only. You were in stasis for seven years. Voyager was flung to the Delta Quadrant on the first day of our maiden voyage and we fought every day to make it home. We'll need to figure out why our scans never detected you, but first, we need to inform Starfleet and get our people back to help sort this out. Harry, get on the coms, I want B'Elanna and Tom, tell them they can bring the baby. Doctor, you contact Tuvok, I'll need him for security. After that, get on to Chakotay and Seven, they won't be pleased, but I need Seven's technical knowledge on that pod.
"You will not be touching the pod or anything else that belongs to the Bartumi. Stand aside from her Royal person!"
All four heads whipped to the sickbay doors. There stood three fish-like humanoids, each with a small tank of water around their necks, each with a large silver phaser weapon, trained on them.
