Authoress's notes: All characters featured in this story are my own creations, in the Star Trek universe. When I wrote this, I didn't research to see if a Federation ship had been named
USS Sarek
, so the ship in this story is also mine, and not the real one. I hope that everyone enjoys my story. Please leave me positive feedback, public or through email.
*
Ensign Michelle Carter was as happy as she could be. She had just transferred to the USS
Sarek
, a
Voyager
-class ship, as the assistant counselor. With 212 crew members, she was busy more often than not, but she loved her work. Michelle had only been on board a few weeks, arriving just before the ship was sent to patrol the Romulan/Federation neutral zone. Now she was getting ready to go to bed. She closed down her computer terminal, climbed into bed and dimmed the lights.
A couple of hours later Michelle was suddenly awaken by being thrown out of her bed and across the room. She hit the wall and fell to the deck. Alarms were screaming as she came to her senses. Michelle rose to her hands and knees as the deck jerked beneath her, knocking her back onto her stomach. She heard a horrible explosion, and then, the captain over the com system screaming for all hands to abandon ship. Ensign Carter scrambled to her feet, and out the door. She stepped into the corridor, and looked to the right, only to see the bulkhead slammed closed.
Michelle quickly turned to the left, and ran the dozen or so meters to the nearest escape pod, and as soon as the hatch opened, jumped in. She didn't know how long she should wait, or even if anyone else was coming. She looked back out into corridor, and saw bulkheads closing off the corridor both ways. Giving up in dismay, Michelle ducked back in, and pressed the button that would secure the hatchway to the pod. As she began securing her crash webbing, she realized that she was stark naked.
Survival instinct took over, and she finished securing her webbing and hit the actuator for the escape pod. Michelle felt it kick out from the ship, and then an electric charge hit the pod. Warning lights popped up on the simple control panel in front of her. Since she was a counselor, Ensign Carter didn't know a lot about escape pod repair, but she knew enough to see that her com and sensors were out, as well as most of the power systems. Now she didn't know where she was going, and couldn't contact anyone else. She had no idea what had happened to the ship, or if anyone else had survived. Since the escape pod was built for eight, she knew that she had an ample supply of food and water.
Her chronometer said that almost an hour had passed when her view port rotated around and she saw a sight that sent a surge of fear through her; a Romulan ship. She wondered if it had attacked the
Sarek
, then she felt the tingling of a transporter beam. When her vision came back, she was sitting on a transporter pad looking up at a Romulan warrior. She thought back to her training at the academy, and prepared for the worst. What she got was not it.
"Welcome aboard the Romulan warship
Kelsor
, I am Major Levik" he stated calmly.
"Am I a prisoner?" asked the scared young Starfleet officer.
A look of confusion crossed his face. "No, not at all. We have rescued you."
"Did you rescue anyone else?"
The Romulan frowned. "No. Unfortunately, we were unable to rescue anyone else from your ship. We did detect life signs on board, but we had to leave the area do to multiple sub-spatial disturbances."
"My name is Ensign Michelle Carter. I need to contact Starfleet command immediately."
"Yes, that will be arranged as soon as possible, Ensign Carter. For now, we need to find you something to wear," he said as he openly looked down her naked body. Michelle looked down, reminded of her current state of undress. In spite of her fears about her crew mates, she couldn't do anything for them right now.
With that, Major Levik escorted the naked Starfleet officer out of the transporter room. He took her on what seemed like a long trip for a ship this size. She counted at least fifty Romulans along the way, and they all seemed to be staring at her. When she commented on this, his reply was to ask if she would rather stay naked. They finally arrived at a small room that looked like an over-sized closest. There was a small piece of fabric lying on a chair. She picked it up and looked for the rest of her clothes.
"I am terribly sorry, Ensign, but we do not normally carry stocks of civilian clothing for humans, and it is forbidden for you to wear Romulan military uniform. It is possible that we can find something else later on." Figuring that anything was better than nothing, she put the small . . . thing on. It was made of some kind of stretchy material, and was very tight. The leg portions only came a few centimeters past her butt cheeks, and the top was a tank top. She had a little trouble breathing, in it, but she didn't want to make a fuss. After another, shorter walk, they entered into a turbolift. There, a female Romulan was waiting for them.
"I'm sorry Ensign, but fleet regulations state that only Romulan Star Empire personal are allowed in sensitive areas without being properly secured." With that, she displayed a pair of formidable looking manacles about six centimeters wide. Michelle was understandably hesitant.