"Captain's log, stardate 56932.4: It has been a little over two months since Shinzon had taken over the Romulan Empire in a coup d'état and subsequently been killed aboard his flagship in a battle with the USS Enterprise. Starfleet has increased patrols along the Romulan Neutral Zone and sent a task force to Romulus. The Minotaur has now been on patrol for almost ten weeks without any notable incidents. In another two weeks we will return to Starbase 10."
Captain Erica Walters, a middle aged woman with dark, shoulder length hair, finished her log entry as suddenly the OPS officer's console beeped.
"Captain, we are receiving an automated distress signal", the OPS officer, a male Bolian lieutenant reported.
"Lieutenant, can you pinpoint the source of this distress call?" Walters asked.
"I've got the coordinates. It is within our sector", the communications officer reported and sent the coordinates to the helm.
"Set course for those coordinates. Maximum warp. Sound yellow alert", Captain Walters ordered.
The officer at the helm, a Bajoran woman with the rank of junior Lieutenant, acknowledged the order with an "Aye, Captain" and pushed the buttons on the touchscreen of her console that made the Minotaur fly at maximum warp to the coordinates she had just received from the OPS officer.
The USS Minotaur, a Centaur class starship, entered warp and exited at her destination after a short flight that only lasted a few minutes.
"Sensors are picking up a heavily damaged ship on our starboard bow. It appears to be one of ours. I am also registering an unusually high amount of Chroniton particles in this area", the Bolian Lieutenant reported as soon as the Minotaur had exited warp.
"On screen", the captain ordered.
A heavily damaged starship of Federation design appeared on the main view screen. Its' saucer section was missing and one of its warp nacelles was flickering and venting plasma.
"Looks like the stardrive section of an Ambassador class or a similar ship. Can you identify it?" the Minotaur's first officer Commander Antonescu asked. Stefan Antonescu was tall, in his early thirties, and spoke with an eastern European accent.
"The signature in the distress signal says it's the USS Enterprise NCC-1701-C, sir" the Bolian responded.
"The Enterprise C was lost with all hands in orbit of Narendra III in 2344. The largest pieces we ever found were some chunks of the saucer section no larger than a runabout."
"I am detecting one human life sign on board the ship. It is very faint", the Bolian reported.
"Dr. Yokomoto and Lieutenant Commander Seltok, please report to transporter room two," the Captain spoke into the intercom.
"Captain, we have visual confirmation. It is the Enterprise-C", the OPS officer reported and enlarged a section of the view screen that showed the registry number on one of the ship's damaged warp nacelles.
The captain sent a five person away team consisting of Commander Antonescu, Chief Medical Officer Dr. Yokomoto, Chief Engineer Seltok, and the two security officers Lt. Alicia Harris and Ensign Rick Jacobs to beam over to the damaged ship.
The away team materialized on what was left of the Enterprise-C's auxillary bridge, which was located on top of the neck that would have connected the stardrive section with the saucer section, if the Enterprise-C still had had one. Dr. Yokomoto immediately noticed the unconscious woman on the floor next to the tactical station. She was human, but wore Romulan clothing. He rushed towards her and began scanning her with his medical tricorder. Close to her the away team saw another figure, a male who was also wearing Romulan clothing, motionless and pinned down under a support beam. When Seltok saw his face, he immediately recognized the man as a Soong Type android, albeit with Romulan features, including the pointed ears, slanted eyebrows and the typical Romulan haircut. It became immediately clear that the android had saved the woman's life. If he had not been, the support would have fallen on her and killed her. Dr. Yokomoto had finished scanning the still unconscious woman and tapped his com badge to request her and himself to be immediately beamed to the Minotaur's sickbay.
Several hours later the Minotaur had locked a tractor beam on the Enterprise after Chief Engineer Seltok had determined that the damaged Ambassador class starship was structurally sound enough be towed at warp without sustaining further damage or even disintegrating. First officer Antonescu was left in command of the Enterprise-C with a skeleton crew from the Minotaur. This skeleton crew consisted of a bridge crew and several engineering teams. Hull breaches were being repaired and systems were being brought back online.
Meanwhile Seltok and Yokomoto were reporting to Captain Walters in her ready room about their findings aboard the Enterprise-C.
"When we came aboard, the only area that had life support was the auxilary bridge. We have not found any dead bodies and no signs of the original crew. The damage to the ship has been caused by Romulan weapons", the chief engineer reported.
"That's what I had expected, expect the lack of dead bodies. The Enterprise- C had been lost defending Narendra II against the Romulans. Did you notice anything out of the ordinary?"
"The ship's interior has received some very peculiar "modifications" and it appears that the battle damage had been obtained during at least two separate incidents", the Vulcan answered.
Indeed, some of the original damage had been repaired with Romulan materials and then been damaged again.
"What kind of modifications?" the Captain asked.
"The modifications appear cosmetic in nature and do not affect the functionality of the ship. They are Romulan in design and include a large swimming pool, an early version of a holodeck, several artworks, and a bar stocked with alcoholic beverages mostly of Romulan origin. There are a number of what could be considered luxury items and several other facilities that serve recreational purposes. Most of them are incomplete and outdated by several decades."
"What about the survivors?", the Captain asked her Chief Medical Officer
"The woman is still unconscious. She has suffered serious internal injuries, but is in stable condition and I expect her to make a full recovery. We have identified her as Lieutenant Natasha Yar. What is strange is that according to the Starfleet database, Lt. Yar was killed in 2264 at the age of 27. We took a DNA sample and it was a 100% match. ", Dr. Yokomoto reported.
"She didn't look any older than that when we beamed her aboard. Shouldn't she be in her forties by now?
"According to our scans she is about 30 years old. But that is not all"
"There is more?", the Captain asked.
"She is anywhere between two and four months pregnant, but we can't clearly determine, because the baby is a half Romulan hybrid", Dr. Yokomoto continued.
"Does she have any living relatives?"
"The database lists a sister named Ishara on Turkana IV"
"Turkana IV? That planet had broken off contact with the Federation years ago. What about the android?", the Captain asked.
"A Soong-type android, it appears very similar to the one discovered by the Enterprise-E a few months ago.", the Vulcan responded.
"Can it be repaired?", the captain asked.
"To be honest, I am not an expert on androids. I would prefer to consult with Commander LaForge of the Enterprise. He would be a logical choice to assist me with damage assessment and possible repairs", the Vulcan chief engineer said.