Extended summary: Set after Star Trek 2009. Not long after the Enterprise's voyage begins, the crew intercept a distress signal which comes from a ship from the year 2082. Only one crew member remains: a young woman in a cryonic status pod, who wakes up with no memory. This is her journey as she slowly becomes a member of the Enterprise family. Possible Spock/OC romance later.

Chapter One

It had been four months since the U.S.S. Enterprise left the space station with her new captain at the helm. James Tiberius Kirk sat in the captain's chair on the bridge as Lieutenant Uhura patch through a transmission she picked up a few minutes before.

Amid a great deal of static, word that were definitely not Standard could be out.

"What language is this, Uhura?" Kirk asked as the static faded out for a few moments.

"Russian!" Ensign Chekov shouted out excitedly from his navigator' s chair. "Keptin, zat's Russian!"

"I agree, sir," Uhura added. "It's a distress signal..." Without thinking, Pavel Chekov surged to his feet, listening intently.

"Zheir power ees failing..." He translated, despite Uhura being perfectly capable of doing it. "Zey fear losing life support...eet ees a scientific wessel on an experiment..." The young Russian's brow knit in confusion.

"What is it?" Kirk asked, leaning forward in his chair.

"Ze date, Keptin..."

"They aren't using stardates," Uhura said. "They are saying that the date is June 24, 2073."

"2073?" Kirk repeated softly, looming to his first officer, Commander Spock. The Vulcan stood with his hands behind his back, as always, and eyebrow raised as he listened.

"I am not sure what to make of this transmission, Captain," he answered. "Does it say anything else?"

"No, sir," Uhura shook her head. "It just keeps repeating the same message."

Kirk turned to Uhura. "Have you located where it's coming from?"

"Yes, sir. It's coming from a point just beyond Taurus IV."

"Mr. Chekov, please plot a course to intercept."

"Yes, Keptin."

Kirk comments the Med-bay. "Bones, get yourself ready to be part of an away-team. We are heading toward a science vessel from 2073 that is still emitting a distress signal."

"Where is this science vessel, Jim?"

"Taurus IV."

"Earth had civilian space travel that far out back then? That's two hundred years ago!"

"I didn't think so, but apparently the Russians did."

When the Enterprise found the ship, it was drifting, completely dead, scorched, and gaping with holes. The bridge was quiet as they surveyed the damage.

"Scan the vessel, Spock. See what we can find about it," Kirk ordered softly. Spock turned to his console and scanned the ship for any information he could get.

"The vessel has no name listed," Spock reported. "It is marked as a science vessel, but has an unusually high number of weapons for a vessel of its type." Suddenly, he whirled around. "Captain, I am reading a life form on board," he said, tone the closest any of them had heard to awe from him.

"Uhura, hail the vessel," Kirk ordered.

Uhura nodded and sent a standard hailing message. After a minute, she turned back to Kirk. "No response, Captain."

"Prepare a boarding party, Mr. Spock," Kirk said. "Be sure to take McCoy. I want to know how someone could be alive on that ship."

"Yes, sir."

Twenty minutes later, Scotty beamed Spock, McCoy, and two ensigns aboard the nameless Russian ship. The hallways were empty. Spock and Ensign Henderson split off to find the bridge while McCoy and Ensign Brighton continued on to the crew quarters and hold.

In both the bridge and crew quarters, mere skeletons met the Enterprise men.

"Do you hear that?" Ensign Brighton asked McCoy. A faint humming met their ears.

"Sounds like it's coming from the cargo hold." McCoy answered. "Spock, we're investigating the hold," he comments the Vulcan.

"Very well, but use caution. There is still something or someone alive on this ship." came the reply.