AUTHOR'S WARNING: This fic throws canon out the window for the sake of story! Generations didn't happen, Enterprise-D never got destroyed, Data hasn't put in his chip yet, Worf moved to DS9 anyway. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!!!

DISCLAIMER: Star Trek characters aren't mine. Elise Blucodet is. Tauren, Azeroth, Horde, and Alliance aren't mine, they're Blizzard's. Yes, I'm that much of a geek to be putting World of Warcraft references in a Star Trek fic :P

One more thing... Y'all might remember "Basics of Humanity," which was a story about Data being turned into a human. DISREGARD THAT FIC. I'm about to scrap it because the plot was going absolutely nowhere and I didn't like how alot of it was turning out (and from the reviews, neither did some of y'all). I think this story will work much better even though the same thing happens here in later chapters. So please, forget I ever wrote "Basics of Humanity."

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Captain's log, Stardate 49xxx.x: Since Lt. Commander Worf has transferred to Deep Space 9, we have traveled to Starbase 47 to pick up our new Chief of Security, Lt. Elise Blucodet, who is half-Tauren. The Tauren are a species from the planet of Azeroth who resemble minotaurs from ancient Earth mythology. They are well known for their strength, being almost as strong as Klingons, but fortunately they have much milder tempers.

"Energize," Picard ordered to the transporter chief. The transporter beam shimmered and brought in a rather tall woman with thick shoulder length brown hair and brown eyes. She looked very strong without being super muscular, but other than that she looked completely normal.

"Greetings, Lieutenant," Picard said, approaching Elise with an extended hand, "I am Captain Jean-Luc Picard. Welcome aboard."

"Hello Captain," Elise replied, shaking Picard's hand.

"And this is my first officer, Commander Will Riker," Picard continued, gesturing towards Riker, who also extended a hand.

"Hi," Elise said, shaking Riker's hand.

"Nice to meet you," Riker said, "Though I somewhat expected you to look… well…"

"More like a Tauren?" Elise finished. "Yeah, I get that a lot from people when they find out what I am. You'd be surprised exactly how much I DID inherit from my dad…" she trailed off as a long, brown cow tail swished to one side behind her. Picard and Riker hadn't noticed it there before (well, it was behind her) but they certainly noticed now.

"A tail?" Picard commented. "I must admit, you don't see too many humanoids with tails these days…"

"Yeah…" Elise sighed, "I had horns as well when I was born but thankfully mom had the doctors remove them. Dad drew the line at the tail though... said I needed something to always remind myself and others of my heritage. I tried to hide it when I was in the Academy but my fellow students found out eventually. I was teased a little at first but then everyone started to think it was actually kinda cool. That's what I love about Starfleet, y'all accept everyone for who they are and I don't feel the need to hide anything around anyone. Much better than how I was treated on Azeroth… being the spawn of two races from opposite factions despite the fact that the war between the Horde and Alliance ended decades ago."

"Ah yes," Picard said, "I've found the history of your planet to be quite fascinating. I would absolutely love to discuss this with you later, but right now I'm needed on the bridge. Commander Riker will show you to your quarters and there will be a senior staff meeting before we leave the station at 0800 hours. In the meantime, please feel free to wander around the ship and get a feel for your surroundings."

"Will do, sir," Elise replied, grabbing her luggage, which consisted of a suitcase, a duffel bag that she already had hanging by its strap from her shoulder, and a cat carrier that contained one fairly large orange cat with black stripes. The cat meowed as Elise picked up the carrier.

When everything was settled, Riker asked "Shall we?" and gestured towards the door. Elise followed him out of the transporter room and to her quarters.

"I see you brought along a companion," Riker said, looking at the cat carrier.

"Oh, yeah," Elise said, lifting the carrier a little higher. "This is Truman. He's very friendly, though he has an annoying habit of chasing my tail. He thinks it's a toy or something. At least he's been declawed."

"Really?" Riker asked. "Lt. Commander Data, our second officer, has a cat. She's not so friendly towards anyone other than Data or Lt. Barclay. And she hasn't been declawed…"

"Meow-row?" Truman meowed from inside his carrier. Clearly, he was wondering where the heck he was being taken.

"Oh hush," Elise said to the cat. "You'll be out soon enough."

And she was right. They'd finally arrived at her quarters. The door opened and Riker gestured for Elise to go inside first, which she did after thanking him.

"Hmm, nice place," Elise commented while setting down the suitcase and the carrier. She let Truman out so he could explore his new surroundings and he immediately jumped onto the couch and laid down.

Riker gave Elise a brief explanation of where everything was located, and then asked if there was anything else she needed.

"No sir, I'm good," Elise replied. "Thanks. I just gotta start unpacking."

"Very well, I'm sure you'll want this time to get settled and to get in touch with those who will be reporting to you. I'll see you at the meeting tomorrow," Riker said. He left, and Elise began unpacking while Truman wandered off to check out the rest of the room.