As Nora fought her way through a crowd to lunch, she hoped - fervently hoped - that her day would improve. Her shoulders and back hurt from the ship war, but physical pain was the least of her troubles. OFAS sounded like a dream come true - a school where the teachers were Star Trek characters. She hadn't expected that they'd hate her.

Oh well, at least her day couldn't get worse.

Smack!

Nora was thrown forward as a student ran into her from behind - right onto her bruises.
"Ow," she moaned.

"I'm so sorry!" someone cried. Nora turned to see a blond, green-eyed girl wearing a blue TNG uniform giving her an apologetic look. "I just want to get into the hall," she said.

"Don't we all," Nora replied, wincing as someone else bumped into her shoulder.

"I wonder why they can't just beam us in," the blond mused, nearly slamming into Nora again as she avoided colliding with a Vulcan girl. "Or there's always…" A dreamy look crossed her face. "Q."

"Sure," Nora said. "So, what's your name?"

"Hannah Stone," she said. "You?"

"Nora Greyson."

"Pleased to meet you. Will this crowd ever move?"

"It'll never move," Nora groaned, starting to feel claustrophobic.

Suddenly, a rushing sound filled her ears, and her vision went white. Had she triggered something? Nora felt weightless for a brief moment, then her vision cleared. She was sitting at a table with a group of students in TNG uniforms.

"That was convenient," Nora said to no one in particular.

"Yeah, Q is helpful," Alli, who was sitting across from Nora, agreed. Nora looked down, and her eyes alighted on a tray sitting in front of her, containing a scoop of unidentifiable brown glop.

"What is it?" Hannah said, picking up a convenient spoon and prodding hers.

"Leola root stew," a voice said behind Nora. She turned.

"Ensign Lin!"

He nodded. "It is my duty to inform you that the stew is the food you will receive for lunch."

"But there are replicators! We used them for breakfast!" Hannah protested.

"Besides, isn't there somebody else on Star Trek besides Neelix who can cook?" Alli asked, giving the stew a disgusted look.

"Riker cooked in one episode, I think," Nora said. "But only Worf and Data ate it because it tasted bad."

"I regret to inform you that the replicators are offline, and Neelix was the only person who volunteered to cook," Kenny said in a dry monotone. Businesslike wooden Starfleet ensign all the way. "Excuse me, I need to tell everyone else."

He walked away, and Alli sighed. "Why didn't someone on Voyager tell Neelix it was bad?" she moaned. "It was a running joke in the series!"

"Maybe that's because it wasn't that bad, and they were just joking," Hannah said, and took a spoonful. Her face contorted as she put it in her mouth, but she chewed and swallowed. "It's edible," she declared. "But that's all."

Nora gave it a look, then put a spoonful in her mouth. An alien taste assaulted her tongue. It was like nothing she'd ever tasted before.

And nothing she wanted to taste again.

But Hannah was right - it was edible.

"You know," Alli said, once they finished eating, "Where do the teachers go after class? If we can find out, we could meet them!"

"They probably just beam back up to their ships," Nora said. "Kind of hard to follow them."

"What about a transporter room?" Hannah said. "We could sneak onto the pad."

"They'll see us," Nora said.

"What about Ensign Lin?" Alli said. "Maybe we could get him to beam us up."

"I don't think so," Nora said. "He didn't seem that friendly just now."

"Can't hurt to ask," Hannah said. "Nora…?"

Nora got up, and looked around the room, spotting Kenny near a table of Klingons. She walked over and tapped him on the shoulder. He turned.

"Could you beam me and my friends up to the ship?"

He gave her a look. "What?"

"Could you beam -"

"Yes, I heard the question," he said. "Do you think I'm allowed to help fangirls with their plots?"

"Well, no, but we'd prove that fangirls aren't as bad as you think!" Nora said. "We won't stampede!"

Kenny shook his head. "I can't help you."

"Please? You helped me before!"

"Yes, I got reprimanded for that. Everyone was hoping they didn't have to teach today! No, the captain gave us very specific orders regarding fanbrats, I believe his exact words were 'if anyone from my crew lets fanbrats into the staff section, I will personally make sure that they are stripped of rank and given plasma conduit scrubbing duties, is that understood?'"

Only one phrase made it into Nora's mind. "Wait…staff section?"

"Dammit," Kenny said, a look of alarm crossing his face.

"That means it's connected to the school! We don't have to beam in!"

Kenny relaxed. "Oh, of course you wouldn't beam in. Good luck getting past the defenses."

"Defenses?"

Kenny nodded.

"What sort of defenses?"

"I can't tell you."

"Oh, of course. Thanks anyway."

He raised his eyebrows. "Sure."

Nora walked back to her table and reported her findings.

"It's so close!" Alli squealed. "We can get in no problem!"

"There are defenses, though," Hannah said. "And we don't know where it is."

"Well, to find it we can just not think about it," Nora said. "It's the defenses I'm worried about."

"They're probably minis," Alli said. "We could bribe them with bacon!"

"The replicators are offline," Nora pointed out.

"They'll fix them," Alli said.

"But there are probably more defenses. There's a lot of scary stuff in Star Trek," Hannah said. "And my Q can do anything." She smiled dreamily. "Maybe he could be persuaded…"

Nora and Alli exchanged looks. "Is Q your Lust Object?" Alli asked.

Hannah nodded.

"Q isn't going to help us," Nora said. "We'll have to come up with another plan…"


A/N I am a lazy procrastinator. On the bright side, the next chapter WILL be up after next week – it's written, and I'll be on vacation, meaning plenty of time to get it typed and beta'd. Which I promise to use for typing (can't vouch for my beta, though I will try to get it to her quickly).

Applications are still open, but don't expect them to be more than a one-shot character.