Stardate: undefined

- 1 -

The transition back to consciousness was a subtle one for Jana. Although she was certain that she had opened her eyes, everything around her remained dark.

Her head throbbed and her body ached almost everywhere. She lay there, uncertain whether she should move—should move. Experimentally, she wiggled her fingers and then her toes. Although they tingled faintly, they seemed still attached and functional. With cautious effort, she turned to one side. She found herself breathing heavily from the effort. Taking slow controlled breaths, she waited for her strength to return and took a quick mental assessment of her situation.

She was alive. Main power seemed to be out. That she was able to breathe at all, not yet freezing to death, or trying to breath vacuum told her that at least this part of the ship remained intact—at least for the moment.

How long have I been out?

The deck beneath her remained steady and still. Also absent was the usual hum of environmental and other support systems. That alone did not bother her too greatly. As long as there were no hull breaches, she could probably survive for days on the air available in the core engineering section.

Jana now realized that it was not completely dark. Scattered throughout the section that she could see where multi-colored dots of light from systems that were not completely offline. Gathering her strength, she rose to her knees and then began to stand. The faint sensation of something brushing against her hair slowed her ascent so that her head only lightly grazed something overhead, rather than slamming against it.

Reaching upward, she groped blindly overhead. She stopped when her hand encountered a broken span of metal. From the texture, she guessed that it was one of the bulkhead support braces. It had apparently sheared loose and fallen during the battle, forming a rough arch above her. It had likely deflected any additional debris, she realized, probably keeping her from being crushed.

Remaining in a low crouch, she worked her way slowly across the deck, trying to find a space not obstructed by large chunks of debris. Once, she collided with something soft that yielded only slightly against her boot. She reached down, her fingers brushing against the fabric of a uniform. She swallowed, fighting back a mild swell of panic and revulsion, and probed further. A moment later, her fingers encountered bare skin. From what she could tell, it seemed to be a neck, but she was could not be certain what species. Definitely humanoid, she decided—and quite dead. She could not feel a pulse or any signs of respiration.

Jana removed her hand and took a deep, sighing breath. Keep going, she told herself. Keep moving. At first, her legs refused to obey, but they finally relented to her will and she continued on.