A/N: Two days late, apologies, but iffy wifi and general exhaustion are my excuse, so... have some space amoeba.

"Tilek svi'khaf-spol t'vathu - tilek svi'sha'veh."

Elle copied Lt. Uhura's precise diction. "Tilek, uh, svi'khaf-spol t'vathu, uhh."

"Tilek svi'sha'veh," Uhura supplied.

"Tilek svi'sha'veh," Elle repeated.

"Good job. You remembered the fricatives. Now what does it mean?"

Elle chewed on the end of her stylus. "It means... okay, that means heart, um, oh. The spear in the Other's heart is the spear in your own - you are he."

"Good job. We'll make you multilingual and a philosopher to boot."

Elle smiled at the sincere praise. "Nice." She looked at the next phrase. "You know, I read that when I was twelve."

"Read what, sugar?"

"Surak's teachings. They were in my favorite book called Spock's World. Man, I loved that book. Went to visit my mom's family once, and I took that book with me. Read it like four times in row while everybody else was napping."

Uhura smiled. "That would explain some things."

Elle grinned charmingly. "You mean my logical brain?" she asked.

"Sure." Uhura glanced at the chronometer. "Alright, let's do two more phrases and then wrap it up. We're on four shifts instead of three since everyone's been so tired lately. Only a few more days to R&R, Elle. Then we can go swimming under violet skies. Starbase Six has the best resorts."

"Ooh, nice." Elle cleared her throat in preparation for the next phrase. Then several details fell together in her brain and compiled into one cohesive pattern (and yes she needed to stop hanging out with the programming geeks from engineering). She almost choked on her own spit. "The Intrepid," she said, between coughs. "This is now. The amoeba."

"What?"

"We're on our way to Starbase Six," Elle said, her stomach sinking. "We're all tired. And the Intrepid is heading towards a giant space ameoba that's going to kill all of them."

Uhura put her PADD down and pulled her boots back on. "Let's go find the captain."

They found Kirk and Spock in one of the Rec Rooms, playing chess. "Lt," Kirk said genially, and then sat up straight at the looks on their faces. "Elle?"

"The Intrepid is in danger," Elle said. "That whole system that they're in."

"Gamma Seven-A," Spock supplied.

Elle pointed at him. "Yes! That one."

"In danger from what?"

"A giant space ameoba that eats energy," Elle said. "Sounds weird I know but it's true. We need to get the Intrepid out of there before it's too late."

Both men stood up. "Lt. Uhura," Kirk said.

"Yes, sir."

They all went to the bridge. "Alert Starbase Six and then get the Intrepid on the horn," Captain Kirk ordered. "Elle, can the Intrepid fight back in some way?"

"They need to get out of there," Elle insisted.

"We've been ordered to sector 39J," Uhura reported.

Kirk sighed and looked at Elle. "Can we just send the solution to the Intrepid, Elle? I don't know if we can take another mission."

"We kinda have to be there," Elle said, wincing.

"I can't get the Intrepid on the comm, sir," Uhura said. "And Starbase Six isn't responding either."

Elle grimaced. "They might have already been drained of too much energy."

Kirk sighed. "All right. Mr. Quinn, set a course for 39J, warp eight."

"Aye sir."

"Elle, what kind of time frame are we looking at?"

Elle glanced at Spock. "Uh, I don't know. They haven't died yet or exploded, so..."

"How do you know that if we can't get a hold of them?" Kirk asked.

Elle pointed at Spock. "He knows."

They all turned to look at him and then turned to look back at Elle. "What do we need to do?" Kirk asked. "How do we fight an energy-sucking amoeba?"

"I don't remember. I just know I can't afford to lose 400 Vulcans."

Spock raised an eyebrow. "And what are you going to do that requires 400 Vulcans?"

"Change the galaxy, I hope," Elle replied.

He nodded. "Very well, then. I will assist you."

"You have an hour," Kirk told them.

Elle and Spock went to the conference room and sat down. Elle let her mind drop into a meditative state and didn't even flinch when Spock joined her in a shallow mind-touch. It was familiar now, and their shared consciousness skimmed over the episode. Elle felt Spock mentally cringe at his actor counterpart's overacting and hastily fast-forwarded to the main plot.

Spock fell silent as they watched Kirk choose who would go in the shuttle.

Elle felt his silent resolve to spare Kirk the choice of sending one of his closest friends to his death as if it were her own conviction. Is this what made you do it? she couldn't help asking, thinking of the Wrath of Khan.

Their shared mental desktop began to change into the events of the second movie.

"No!" Elle panicked and started to pull away, out of the meld.

Peace, young one, Spock directed, holding her still mentally. He imposed an image of the Vulcan desert. "Come back to the events happening now," he directed.

Elle stopped flailing mentally but it was hard to refocus, like not thinking of a blue elephant after you've already thunk it.

That is not proper grammar, Spock said dryly.

She giggled and tried to bring herself back to Immunity Syndrome. Giant ameoba. Giant amoeba. Spock helped her find the place they'd stopped watching and then removed himself from the equation, maintaining a farther presence so as not to distract.

The episode finished and they both drew out of the meld. Elle looked at him nervously. "Did you see?"

"Only the events of this mission," he said. "You have become quite proficient at shielding."

"Okay. Good. That's, that's good." She refocused. "So. Antimatter."

"Yes." He stood up and helped her to her feet. "Shall we?"

"Now that we have the solution like way earlier, you're going to rig something to remotely blow the antimatter pod, right? Nobody's gonna take a header with a shuttle, right?" Elle tugged at his sleeve. "Right?"

"That is logical."

They reported to Captain Kirk and he ordered Sulu to increase speed.

"Entering Sector 39J," Chekov reported.

-/\-

"Elle."

She jerked her head up at the sharp tone. Just cuz they knew what the problem was, they couldn't not go rescue the Intrepid in the depths of the amoeba. Hence the power drain, from both the engines and the people. "I'm not asleep," she declared.

"Good. Go get some coffee."

"Can't," she said miserably. "I reached my max. Computer won't give me more."

Bones sighed. "If I give you a stimulant now, you're going to crash all the harder later."

"I'd rather crash than die," Elle replied honestly. "Which, coming from a Gen Z-er is saying something."

"Good point." He took up a hypospray. "Arm, please."

The stimulant took effect like a shot of espresso, not that Elle actually knew what that was like, but she had a basis for comparison now.

"I'm going to go play Mario Kart now," she announced. "I bet my reflexes'll be like super fast now!"

McCoy snagged her sleeve before she could wander off. "Hold on. Stay in sight of others, okay, and don't sleep. If it wears off come find me or Christine, okay?"

She gave him a sloppy salute. "Yes, sir."

"Don't call me sir," he griped.

"Yes, sir, Doctor Bones, sir," Elle said, giving him an innocent smile.

He squinted at her. "Out of my lab," he ordered. "Scoot."

-/\-

It was officially two hours past the twenty-four hour mark and Elle was now at the point Bones described as 'pure toddler punch-drunk'. Everything was equal parts hilarious and world-ending, including the fact that Kirk was very, very Iowan twang when exhausted.

-/\-

"All hands this is the captain. The space amoeba has been destroyed. Everybody not on the skeleton crew go to sleep."

Elle cheered. "Can I go?"

Yeoman Barrows flapped a hand. "Get."

She got to her quarters and faceplanted into the sofa. "I'mma take a nap right here," she quoted, and couldn't even get a laugh out before she fell asleep.