Part 2 - Unfamiliar Territory

Casey Martinez sleeps soundly on a bed in medbay. Its not long though before the sounds of a Puaran checking vitals wakes Martinez up.

(Puaran's were one of the first species encountered by humans after achieving outer system travel. Puarans apear very similar to humans except for a distinct long skinny tail.)

"Oh? You're finally awake! Good, good!" The chief doctor jots down some notes on her holopad.

"Doctor Be'Zro?.. Am I in medbay?.." A drowsy Martinez barely manages to form a sentence.

"That is correct, but first, I need your rank and name just to verify something." Doctor Be'Zro eyes Martinez curiously.

"Ensign Casey Martinez... is something wrong doctor?" Martinez looks puzzled.

"Ah, so you are indeed Martinez as we expected. Well Martinez, there was an incident during your transport. Parts of your biosigns were lost in a system power outage, and the only way to retrieve you was to fill in the gaps from the last transport..." Doctor Be'Zro pauses for a moment, unsure how to break the news to Martinez.

"What's happened Doctor?.." Martinez still drowsy begins to fully come to.

"Well, it seems that more of you was taken from the last transport than was expected... you should see for yourself.." The Doctor presses some buttons on the control panel by the bed which causes a wall mirror across from the bed to appear.

Martinez's jaw drops when she sees her new body. It takes a couple of minutes before she can speak.

"I- That's me?" Martinez looks over to the doctor while pointing at the strange woman in the mirror.

Doctor Be'Zro nods

"There has to be a way to reverse it!.. Right!?" Martinez's eyes begin to water.

"Even if we knew how, even if there were a safe way to reverse the effects using the transporter, it's honestly a miracle your DNA isn't scrambled eggs. I just can't sanction any kind of rash experiments, it would be too dangerous. Besides, the teleporters were damaged beyond repare after that stunt the engineers pulled trying to save you." The Doctor reaches out to place a hand on Martinez's knee and shakes her head.

"But! What about on earth! There's got to be someone who can help me once we head back!" Martinez looks hopeful for a moment but becomes worried when she sees the doctor's expression.

Doctor Be'Zro sighs.

"You've been out for a while, so you don't know yet... the damage to the ship, it was caused by a spacial anomaly. And it didn't just rock the ship, it sent us clear out to uncharted space. We haven't been able to place ourselves on even the largest star charts in the United Systems database. As far as I've heard, it could take decades before we'll see home again, and I'm afraid until we do, you'll be stuck like this..." The Doctor looks grim, and Martinez even more so.

"What!?... No... that's imposible... My home... My family..." Martinez begins to cry.

"I know this all incredibly difficult to process. As Chief Doctor aboard the Argo I'm going to give you a few weeks leave to get used to these new circumstances. You can go to your quarters now, good luck with your journey ensign Martinez." The Doctor places her hand on Martinez's shoulder.

"Thank you Doctor... I'll be going..." Martinez takes a final look in the mirror at her new face and body under her baggy uniform that no longer fits her. She then hops off the table and makes her way towards her quarters.

Along the way Martinez gets a few stares. And at one point she almost trips on her loose uniform.

"Ugh! I hate this!" Martinez mumbles to herself under her breath. "I'm gonna need a new uniform..." she thinks to herself before finally making it to her quarters. Nothing fancy, just a small living space with a tiny bedroom and bathroom. She kicks off her boots and sits down on the edge of her bed.

"What am I going to do? Am I really going to have to stay a woman until we get back home? We don't even know how long that will take..." Martinez stops herself before she starts to cry again.

"No.. I can't let myself mope around all day, I'm not going to let this get me down. So what if my body is a little different? I'm still me!.." Martinez jumps up to her feet.

"Yeah! That's right! Now let's see if I can find something that fits better..." Martinez heads to her closet filled with now much too large uniforms.

"Hmm.. maybe.. I had that one shirt that was a little tight..." Martinez reaches into her closet and pulls out a T-shirt that still appears to be a bit large for her new body. She tosses the shirt on her bed and rummages through her closet for some more clothes. She finds some briefs and some shorts.

"I can't wear this stuff on duty, but it'll have to do for now.."

Martinez tosses the briefs and shorts on her bed next to the shirt and begins to take off her baggy uniform. She slips out of it and finally gets a good look at her new body for the first time. She has a pair of small yet perky breasts, a slim frame, not too curvy.

Martinez looks away from herself.

"Okay... let's um.. let's just get some clothes on now..."

Without looking, she steps out of her boxers and into the pair of briefs, which despite being the smallest pair she had barely stayed on her hips. Then she slipped into the t-shirt which fit her more like a dress, and without a bra, her nipples were easily poking through. Then came the shorts which were still too large and refused to stay on.

"Ugh.. whatever..." Martinez tossed the shorts back into the closet. She went to her replicator and made herself a glass of water. She sat down at the edge of her bed and began to sip.

"I'll have to go down to the big replicator room to make myself some new uniforms and clothes." Martinez finished her water and put the cup down. She laid down on her bed and waited for sleep to take her.

But before she could fall asleep she heard a buzz at the door.

"Hello? Is this Martinez's room?" A familiar voice called out from behind the door.

Martinez got up out of bed and answered the door. It was the woman Martinez tried to help before.

She blushed "oh! I'm sorry! You must've been about to sleep." She was holding a bag.

"No it's fine, I don't think I'll be able to sleep for a while, my mind is still racing... I'm afraid I never got your name?" Martinez tried to put her at ease.

"Oh! I'm so sorry! My name is Jennifer Dawes, I'm an ensign too. I just wanted to thank you for trying to help me. I was afraid I'd die there under that rubble..." Dawes reached out nervously offering the bag she was holding.

"Here. I um.. I brought this for you, I figured you might need it now that.. well.. you know. Don't worry! it's all clean, I just had it all replicated." Dawes stood nervously at the door.

"You used your replicator rations for me? You didn't have to do that." Martinez took the bag from her and placed it on the table.

"It's really no big deal ensign Martinez.." Dawes looked away.

"You can call me Casey you know, we are the same rank..."

"Casey?... I'm not so sure that fits anymore, maybe... Cassie? Would it be alright if I called you that?"

"Yeah I guess I don't mind that. You can come in and sit if you want you know?" Martinez mentioned to the couch.

"Oh no no no, you were about to get some rest! I just wanted to give you that, I should get going, my shift starts pretty soon. Thanks again for saving me! Bye!" Dawes took off nervously.

Martinez closed the door and opened up the bag that Dawes had brought for her. It was filled with new clothes and uniforms.

"She must've used a few weeks of replicator rations for this! She shouldn't have.." Martinez smiled to herself.

"Thank you Jennifer." Martinez picked up some one of the uniforms and held it up, but instead of seeing the male jumper uniform Martinez was used too, it was a female short dress uniform instead.

"I can't wear this!" Martinez turned bright red. She tossed the uniform on her couch and looked through the rest of the bag, it was filled with a few more dress uniforms, frilly underthings, and off duty clothes comprised of more dresses and blouses and skirts.

"It's gonna be a long trip back home..."