The Enterprise docked in orbit near K-7. Kirk and co beamed over to deal with business and the rest of the crew that didn't manage to get shore leave on Argelius were given leave on the starbase.
Elle went to the Rec Deck. She had gotten shore leave before, so she was trying to be mature about it and not beg for a field trip. She could play Minecraft all day and call it a staycation.
She selected a spot - beanbag facing the window- replicated a hot apple cider, and pulled a game console over to the beanbag. Perfect little corner to play in. She sat, and-
"Elle! How'd you like to go shopping with me and Pavel?"
Elle glanced up at Uhura in shock. "What, really?"
"Of course. Up, up, up, let's go. Young people need fresh air and adventure." Uhura tugged her out of the beanbag.
"There's no fresh air on a space station," Elle reminded her.
"Point still stands, sugar."
Elle grinned. "Cool."
Giotto cornered them halfway to the transporter room. "Hold it, missy. If you're right there's going to be Klingons on that station. Elle, protocol?"
She clasped her hands behind her back. "Stay with Lt. Uhura or Ensign Chekov at all times even for bathroom breaks. Do not approach the Klingons. Run away from kidnappers. When in doubt aim for the windpipe."
Giotto nodded. "Good job. You can go."
"Thanks, Chief." Elle gave him a grin.
They arrived on Space Station K-7 with little fanfare and decided to hit the shopping centers. There were three full decks for entertainment and commerce. "Ooh, toys," Elle said, making a beeline for the toy shop.
Pavel grabbed her by the hoodie. "Oh, no, we're not going in there."
"But engineering," Elle protested, walking backwards as Pavel tugged at her hood.
"Nope. We are here for Lt. Uhura first," he said firmly.
She sighed and turned around to cling to his arm. "You're a good friend," she said, mock-grumpily. Not that she minded the first store they went into was a beautiful clothing boutique...
Uhura picked up a gorgeous rich green and gold silk blouse. "What do you think, Elle?"
"You look like a goddess in anything," Elle replied honestly.
Uhura smiled at her.
Eventually they got tired of shopping for clothes and made their way to a lounge. They crossed paths with Kirk and Spock in the doorway. "Quadrotriticale," Kirk told Elle.
She grinned.
He handed her the vial of grain and left, muttering something about bureaucrats and headaches.
Elle sat at a table with a few crewmen from Ops while Chekov and Uhura went to the bar to order drinks.
Elle spotted Cyrano whats-his-name as soon as he entered the room. She almost shot out of her chair in anticipation, but she managed to restrain herself. She bounced in her seat impatiently as the trader approached the batender. She hid her mirth behind her glass of lemonade.
"What is so funny?" one of the Ops officers asked her finally.
Elle giggled into her glass. "Nothing."
He took the glass from her and sniffed it. "This isn't spiked, is it?"
"No," she retorted, rolling her eyes.
The tribble came out of the pocket.
Elle could hear it cooing from here. She stood up. "Scuse me." She started walking across the lounge and her gaze traveled over the other occupants of the room. She stopped on seeing the single civilian in the far corner. He looked familiar. "Odo?" Her eyes widened. Trials and Tribble-ations. TRIALS AND TRIBBLE-ATIONS was happening NOW. Elle took a deep breath and tried not to squeal like an idiot.
Odo frowned at her across the room.
Right. Leave him alone. They're looking for old Arne Darvin, which was a whole other thing. She forced herself to go over to Chekov and Uhura. "A tribble!" she cooed, as the trader pulled it out of his pocket.
"It's so cute," Uhura said, instantly enamored.
"Don't buy any," Elle advised the barkeeper. "They breed faster than you blink."
Cyrano Jones' face turned an interesting shade of red. "How do you know about tribbles, young lady? They're a mighty exotic species."
Elle smiled sweetly. "Exotic, and dangerous."
"Dangerous? A tribble? It doesn't even have any teeth!"
Elle snatched the little vial of grain away from the tribble on the counter. "Oh, no, you're not having any offspring," she warned it. She tucked the grain into her shopping bag and picked up the tribble to pet it.
It cooed and trilled happily.
Before she knew it, Elle had a tribble in each hand and Chekov was arresting Cyrano Jones for transporting dangerous animals into the Federation. "We still need at least two," she insisted to the security officer trying to confiscate her tribbles.
"That's ten credits a head!" Cyrano insisted, even as station security took him away.
Uhura checked the time. "All right, we ought to head back to the ship."
They got back to the Enterprise. Thirty seconds later, the Red Alert began to blare. "Enter the Klingons, stage left," Elle said dryly. "Gotta go find the captain." She tucked the tribbles under her arm and booked it for the bridge. She nearly ran into Kirk and Spock as she turned the corner. "Whoops, sorry."
Kirk blanched at the sight of the tribbles. "I thought you said those things were dangerous, Elle."
"Yes, but, you still need them to prove that Darvin is a Klingon." Elle gave him the tribbles. "They don't like Klingons."
Kirk sighed. "All right. Let's get this over with." He and Spock continued to hte transporter room.
Elle went back to the Rec deck, her stomach grumbling. They had shopped through lunch. "Potato and ground beef burrito," she requested from the synthesizer. "Cheese, salsa, and guacamole."
She finished her burrito and was contemplating a fruit salad when Kirk and Spock entered the rec room. Spock had one of the tribbles firmly in the crook of his arm, absently petting it. Kirk looked like he was two seconds away from laughing-or taking a picture.
Elle bounced up from her seat and approached them. "Hi," she said. "Where's the other tribble? Didja get the Klingon in disguise?"
"We did," Kirk said, sighing. "Of course, Captain Koloth disavows any knowledge of either the spy or the poison on Darvin's person. He was about to poison the grain when we found him."
Elle grinned. "Did you sic the tribbles on him?"
Kirk snorted. "Something like that. But, since that part of the chaos is over, we have no right to kick the Klingons off the station so there's still a chance something might happen to the grain."
Elle made a face. "I bet what's-his-face isn't happy."
"That is a massive understatement," Kirk replied.
"Where's the other tribble?" Elle asked.
"In McCoy's lab," Kirk said. "Technically it does fall under 'new species'."
"And this guy?" Elle asked, reaching out to pet the tribble.
"Well, someone had to take care of it," Kirk said. "Right Spock?"
Spock didn't even look embarrassed. "It is illogical to leave it in a cage," he said.
"Of course, commander."
Elle thought back to her memories of Trials and Tribble-ations. She really, really wanted to say hi to Sisko and Dax for funsies, and she knew that at some point they were going to end up in the same hallway. "Uh, captain?"
Kirk winced. "Something you've remembered?"
"No, I just, was wondering, since things are changed, can I like, shadow you for the rest of the episode?"
He raised an eyebrow. "You want to just follow me around?"
"Yup."
Kirk sighed. "Sure. If anything else happens you can give us advance warning."
"Cool."
The two senior officers ate and discussed paperwork and Elle played with the tribble. Then Spock took back the tribble and the trio left the rec room. "What're you gonna name it?" Elle asked.
Spock raised an eyebrow. "Name it?"
"You can't just keep calling it 'the tribble'," Elle pointed out. "That's not logical."
"There is no logic in naming it as this and Dr. McCoy's specimen will be returned to the starbase, to be returned to the tribble homeworld," Spock replied.
"Oh." Elle looked at the tan tribble. "I'm gonna name it Simba."
Spock gave her a Look.
Kirk disguised his laugh as a cough and cleared his throat innocently when Spock turned to glare at him.
The nearest wall comm whistled. "Bridge to Captain Kirk."
Elle glanced around. Now. Sisko and Dax were somewhere around here... she spotted them and sidled away from Kirk and Spock. She walked up to Sisko and Dax. "Hi."
They glanced at her, startled. "Who are you?" Sisko asked.
"I'm classified," Elle said cheerfully. "I just wanted to say hi, because you guys are really cool. I didn't get a chance to talk to Odo, but can you tell him hi for me? And Worf and O'Brien and uh, everybody else."
They gaped at her and Sisko pulled her into the adjacent hallway. "Who are you?" he hissed. "Some kind of temporal agent?"
"Captain, I'm like, thirteen," Elle pointed out.
"How do you know who we are?" Dax asked.
"I told you, it's classified," Elle said. She glanced over. "Okay, they're talking about swarms of Klingons, I have to go." She paused. "And, if you actually wanted to approach him, captain, it should be fine. In disguise, of course." She gave them a smile. "Oh, and say hi to Kira. She's cool." She walked away from them, leaving Sisko sputtering and Dax grinning.
Elle rejoined the captain and Spock. "Let's make a deal," Kirk told her. "I'll let you go literally anywhere on the ship, and you steer us away from any episodes with bureaucrats. Deal?"
Elle laughed at him. "Sorry, captain, I don't think Star Fleet would let me do that."
"Darn," he said, mock-disappointed.
-/\-
"The air vents," Elle said, facepalming. "I forgot about the air vents."
Kirk gave her a Look. "You couldn't have remembered before I ended up neck deep in tribbles?" he demanded.
Elle bit her lip. "Sorry," she choked out, trying her hardest not to laugh. "I guess it's just a fixed point." She shuffled behind McCoy to hide her shaking shoulders.
A tribble fell onto Kirk's head and let out a piteous squeak.
Elle excused herself to go laugh.
Turns out, just one tribble sneaking out of Cyrano Jones' pocket could still cause a huge mess. One might even say, a tribble-ocalypse. Or a, tribble-ation? Elle snickered to herself.
Cyrano Jones was charged with disruption of a Federation starbase and given cleanup duty.
And, the grain was still poisoned. The Klingons vacated real quick after that. And considering that none of the tribbles exploded, Elle figured the Deep Space Nine crew handled their paradox and left as well.
-/\-
Somehow, the tribble named Simba managed to hide away in a storage room for three days before a maintenance ensign found her. By then it was too late to send it off the ship.
"I wonder how it got past the internal sensors," Kirk said, giving Spock a squinty-eyed look.
Spock looked like a veritable saint. "I could not tell you, captain," he said.
Elle hugged the tribble to her chest. "So can I keep it? Please? Please? I promise I won't let it reproduce."
"Having a pet is actually good for a young person," McCoy pointed out.
Kirk sighed. "Fine." He pointed a finger at Elle. "First litter it has, it's off the ship. Understood?"
She nodded. "Understood, yes, sir, absolutely captain."
McCoy stood up. "C'mon, Elle, we can set up a little biodome for your room."
She waited till they were in the hallway to fist-pump in silent victory.