Consciousness came with a pounding headache, a stiff neck, and the eighty percent possibility that something fuzzy had died in Elle's mouth. She rolled off the sofa onto the floor and closed her eyes again.

The next time she woke up, her eyes pulsed in time with the drum inside her brain. Furry things had definitely died in her mouth and decayed considerably.

Oh no. Simba.

Elle popped to her feet and fell onto the sofa in the resulting headrush. "Uuuurgh. I need water."

She pulled herself to her feet much slower this time and tottered over to Simba's pen. "Simba?"

The tribble purred at the sound of her voice, seemingly unharmed by any soul-sucking amoeba.

"Okay. Good. Good girl." She pet it for a minute and then couldn't stand it anymore.

She brushed her teeth, showered, brushed her teeth again, and dressed in sweatpants and a soft cotton shirt. She still felt like cozying up to the nearest horizontal surface so she pulled on an oversized hoodie she may or may not have stolen from Lt. Riley.

She tucked Simba into one pocket and her meal card in another. First stop, Sickbay.

McCoy waved her over, looking more hollow-eyed than usual. "I forgot about the puffball," he said by way of greeting. "How do you feel?"

"Big headache," Elle said, passing him the tribble to scan.

"Drink lots of liquids and make sure they have electrolytes," Bones said, running a scan on her, too. "Stimulants dehydrate and so does sleep deprivation. Classes are cancelled until we reach Starbase Six. I think all of us are pooped out. Oh, and no caffeine."

"Cool."

"Well, you and Simba are good to go. Don't forget to drink lots of water."

"Okie-doke." She picked Simba up and carried it in her arms. It trilled peaceably.

She stepped into the Mess Hall and froze upon seeing approximately twenty Vulcans in the Mess Hall. They all turned to look at the purring tribble and the person holding it.

Elle blushed. "Good morning," she said to the room at large, and beelined to a table with Uhura, Chekov, and Sulu.

Uhura pulled out a PADD and and snapped a picture of her before Elle could sit down.

"Hey!" Elle protested.

"Sorry," Uhura said. "You just look too adorable, all sleep-mussed and holding Simba."

"You guys are in loungewear too," Elle complained. "How come you make it look cool?"

Sulu tugged at one of her braids. "Because we have presence. And no pigtails."

"Chekov could pull off pigtails," Uhura decided. "He's still round-faced."

"Hey!" Chekov protested.

"They're not pigtails," Elle grumbled mutinously.

Uhura snapped another picture of Elle's not-pout. "Go get breakfast," she advised.

Elle wrinkled her nose at the annoying grownups and went to the food selector. "Blueberry waffles, honey yogurt, and coconut water, please."

The selector replied promptly with her tray.

"Thank you."

"There is no logic in using polite manners with standard computer commands," said a Vulcan standing in behind her in line. He looked like he needs another solid twelve hours of sleep, too.

"I want to stay on the computers' good side when they gain sentience and the AI uprising begins," Elle replied, completely serious.

The Vulcan blinked at her. "Logical," he decided, after a moment.

"I'm Elle," she said.

"S'task," he said, nodding. "Second officer of the Intrepid."

"Nice to meet you."

"May I ask why you are on the Enterprise?" he asked. He was looking at her fuzzy slippers.

"They're testing civilian presence on starships for future implementation," Elle said, remembering her cover story. It was, in part, true, so it wasn't like she was lying. "Do you like my slippers?"

"They are illogical," he decided. "The outer surface does not cushion the feet and provides no insulation."

"But they're fluffy," Elle said. "That's the point."

"I see," he said in the same tone Spock had when he meant let-the-crazy-human-spawn-have-her-way-before-my-brain-implodes-from-illogicalness.

She excused herself and went back to the table. She dug into her tray and gave Simba one blueberry.

To her surprise, S'task came back over, cup of tea in one hand. "What is that?"

"A smoothie," Elle wanted to say so bad it hurt. "A tribble," she said instead.

He sat next to Chekov and across from Elle. His fingers twiched on the handle of the tea-cup.

Elle bit her lip. "Can you hold it?" she asked, plopping Simba on his side of the table. "I fed her already and she can't get into the food."

He picked it up gingerly and pet Simba's fur. As soon as Simba purred, the Vulcan melted.

Elle and Uhura shared a small smile.

The Fleet officers talked about space amoebas and the Intrepid's upcoming rehaul while Elle focused on her breakfast. Something came to her after a minute. "Wait," she said, accidentally interrupting Sulu, "wasn't S'task like Surak's greatest pupil and then the leader of the Sundered?"

S'task raised an eyebrow. "The names of the Sundered were never released," he said, giving her a Look.

Ehehehe, open mouth, insert foot. "Cmdr Spock is teaching me history?" she tried.

His expression cleared. "Of course. The principal family of the House of Surak would have access to that information."

Is this what a Vulcan fanboy looks like?

Now that one Vulcan had pet the tribble, the others took it as mandatory to seek the tribble, and therefore Elle, out. She got to practice speaking Vulcan and one person even said her accent was satisfactory.

"Hey, captain?"

"Hm?"

"Would it be bad if we gave a couple of tribbles to the Intrepid?"

Kirk fixed her with a captainly glare. "Did That Tribble have a litter?" he asked.

"No, sir. I was just thinking, you know, Vulcans really love tribbles and they all almost died, and, it'd be nice. And Vulcans aren't going to let the tribbles multiply because that would be illogical."

Kirk studied her for a moment and then smiled. "It's a nice gesture," he said. "Fine. Permission granted. But when we get to Starbase Six the only tribble on this ship had better be Simba."

"Yes, captain."

-/\-

"You realize you now have four hundred Vulcans wrapped around your fingers, right?" Sulu asked Elle, as they watched Intrepid head off into the black.

Elle grinned. "All part of my plan to rule the galaxy," she deadpanned dramatically.