Elle stayed between Kirk and Spock as they were escorted to a set of quarters. The Romulan commander swiveled in her chair and stood to greet them. She was beautiful. Fierce, as the kids say. The commander's eyes flickered over Spock and Elle and came to rest on Kirk. "Captain Kirk."
"Commander," he said. "I'm honoured."
"I don't think so, but we have an important matter to discuss. And your superficial courtesies are an overture to that discussion." She sent Spock outside with the two guards. "The matter of trespass into Romulan space is one of galactic import, a violation of treaties. Now I ask you simply, what is your mission here?"
"Instrument failure caused navigational error. We were across the Neutral Zone before we realised it, then we were surrounded by your ships before we could get back."
Elle resisted glancing up at him. That was terrible acting, and from their last reading of The Importance of Being Earnest, the captain was a great actor. She kept her gaze on the commander's desk as the two ship commanders circled around the topic of espionage-or-not.
"Your daughter is well-trained," the commander said.
Elle's gaze snapped up to her warily.
"Don't fear me, child, you are safe here," the commander said. "Safer than you probably were on the famous flagship."
"I don't think so," Elle said politely.
The commander's mouth quirked in a smile and she turned towards the door to call Spock in. "The captain has made his statement," she said.
"I understand," Spock said gravely.
"I must admit some surprise on seeing you, Spock. We were not aware of Vulcans aboard the Enterprise."
Oh, yeah. She had the hots for the Vulcan. Elle forced down a nervous giggle.
"Starfleet is not in the habit of informing Romulans of its ships' personnel," Spock said mildly.
"Quite so. Yet there are certain ships, certain officers, that are known to us. Your situation appears most interesting."
"What earns Spock your special interest?" Kirk asked sharply.
"He is a Vulcan. Our forebears had the same roots and origins. Something you wouldn't understand, Captain. We can appreciate the Vulcans, our distant brothers. I have heard of Vulcan integrity and personal honour. There's a well-known saying, or is it a myth, that Vulcans are incapable of lying?"
"It is no myth," Spock said.
"Then tell me truthfully now, by your honour as a Vulcan, what was your mission?"
Elle's head snapped back and forth as the Romulan commander and Spock traded insults and complliments, the tennis match strangely compelling. It was definitely the ears.
"We've been all through that, Commander!" Kirk said, cutting Spock off.
"We have not even begun! There's no force that I can use on a Vulcan that will make him speak. That is a fact. But there are Romulan methods completely effective against humans and human weaknesses."
Spock looked disdainful. "You would not resort to them, Commander. They would prove ineffective against the captain."
"Then they will leave him dead, or what might be worse than dead. But I will know your unspoken truths." She raised an eyebrow. "Would you leave this child without a father?"
Elle's eyes widened. Using her as emotional blackmail, nice. Very good. She resisted a golf clap. Distantly, she wondered if she shouldn't be more worried about this. I should probably talk to McCoy. I think I might have some form of trauma. She snorted silently.
Spock frowned. "I cannot allow the captain to be further destroyed. The strain of command has worn heavily upon him. He's not been himself for several weeks."
"Is this true?" the commander asked Elle, even as Kirk protested.
Elle nodded silently.
"As you can see, Captain Kirk is a highly sensitive and emotional person. I believe he has lost the capacity for rational decision," Spock said calmly.
"Shut up, Spock!"
"I'm betraying no secrets. The commander's suspicion that Starfleet ordered the Enterprise into the Neutral Zone is unacceptable. Our rapid capture demonstrates its foolhardiness."
Elle edged closer to Spock as Kirk howled, "You filthy liar!"
"I am speaking the truth for the benefit of the Enterprise and the Federation. I say now and for the record, that Captain Kirk ordered the Enterprise across the Neutral Zone on his own initiative and his craving for glory."
Elle cringed away as Kirk overacted his way into hysteria.
The Romulan commander looked satisfied as Captain Kirk was subdued by security officers. "Tal, open a channel to the Enterprise. Attention, Enterprise, I am speaking to you from the Romulan flagship. The USS Enterprise, under command of Captain James T. Kirk, is formally charged with espionage. The testimony of First Officer Spock was highly instrumental in confirming this intrusion into Romulan space was not an accident. First Officer Spock's testimony was specific that your ship was not under orders from Starfleet Command or the Federation council to perform such a spy mission. It was Captain Kirk who was solely responsible. Since the crew had no choice but to obey orders, the crew will not be held responsible. Therefore, I am ordering Engineer Scott, presently in command of the Enterprise, to follow the Romulan flagship to our home base. You will there be processed and released to Federation Command. Until judgment is passed, Captain Kirk will be held in confinement."
Elle watched, wide-eyed, as Kirk was dragged out.
"What is your name, child?" the Romulan commander asked her.
"Eleanor Wilcott," Elle said, at a nod from Spock.
"And what do you know about the Romulan people?" the commander continued.
Elle clasped her hands in front of her. "You're related to the Vulcans, from the time of Surak. You share the same concept of honor and truth. The good ones, I mean."
"The good ones?" the Romulan commander asked.
"There are good and bad people in everyone culture," Elle told her.
"Wise words for one so young," the commander said, approvingly. "Spock is in charge of your education?"
"Some of it," Elle said.
"And why are you onboard the Enterprise instead of safe on your homeworld?"
Elle's scowl was real. "I lost my parents on my homeworld. It's not safe anywhere, so I might as well have adventures before I die." All true, eh? Eh? She was getting pretty good at this.
"So Captain Kirk is not your father," the commander mused.
"No, ma'am," Elle said.
"So they use orphans now, as test subjects," the commander continued, scowling in disgust.
Elle bit her tongue. "They're my family," she blurted, unable to let it stand. "Captain Kirk, and Mr. Spock, and, I wanted to stay with them. It's my choice to stay here. I wanna see the galaxy."
The commander's eyes softened. "I see." She gestured to the computer at her desk. "This is your chance, then. What do you wish to know about Romulan history or culture?" She pulled up a historical database. "Go ahead. Spock and I have things to discuss."
Elle shared a glance with Spock and he nodded. She sat down at the desk and one of the security officers took up a post behind her. Nobody puts baby in the corner, Elle grumbled silently, but the temptation of knowledge was too strong, and she opened the database. Gotta take advantage of a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, she reasoned.
She soaked in as much information as possible until the Romulan commander and Spock came back. They both looked solemn. Too solemn. "What's going on?" Elle asked warily.
"The captain," Spock said, and faltered.
The Romulan commander spoke. "Captain Kirk is dead."
Elle froze. "What?" she said, numbly. She'd forgotten about this part. "You, you said you wouldn't do anything to him, you promised-"
"He attacked Spock," the Romulan commander said gently. "He had no choice but to defend himself."
"Dr. McCoy has already beamed back with the body," Spock said.
Elle just kept staring. How was she suppose to react? "I wanna go home," she said suddenly. "Please. I wanna go back to the Enterprise."
The commander nodded and waved forward the guard. "Send her back to the Enterprise."
Elle followed the Romulan guard back to the transporter room and they beamed her back onto the Enterprise.
Scotty met her in the transporter room. "Lass," he said, his expression devastated.
Elle couldn't lie to him, so she just looked at him. "I have to do my post-mission physical," she said.
He followed her out. "Do ye know what's going on, lass?"
Elle shook her head. "I don't know. They sent me back."
"The captain's dead, Elle," Scotty said, his tone more gentle than she'd ever heard it.
"No," Elle said firmly. "He can't be." A shiver of fear inched its way up her spine. He wasn't actually dead, right?
Scotty sighed. "You go on to Medical, lass." He walked away.
Elle booked it to Sickbay and skidded to a stop inside the main ward. "Where's Bones?" she asked Chapel.
Chapel's eyes were red. "He's in his office," she said. "Elle, are you okay?"
"Bones, I just wanna see Bones," Elle said stubbornly, edging around her. She entered McCoy's office without knocking and closed the door behind her. "Bones!"
"Elle!" He rounded the desk and grabbed her shoulders gently. "Are you all right? Do you know what's going on?"
"Yeah," Elle said. "He's not really dead, is he?"
"No, just very, very unconscious," McCoy said. "He'll wake up in another twenty minutes or so with a beautiful migraine but he'll be fine."
Elle sagged in relief and leaned forward to hug McCoy tightly. "Oh, good," she said, into his shoulder. "I was worried for a minute, there."
"I cannot believe they used you in their little covert mission," McCoy said, leaning back to look her over. "Are you all right?"
"I'm fine. Me going over there was not planned, at all, but I did learn some cool stuff about Romulan history so that's neat." Elle let him run scans.
"Well, it did you no harm," McCoy said. "All right. Go on, Elle. This is still highly classified, so don't go spilling the beans, all right?"
"Yes, doctor," Elle said. "I think I'm gonna go hide in my quarters."
"Good idea."
Elle left sickbay and went straight to her quarters. She took Simba out of its biodome and hugged it tightly. "Let's never do espionage," Elle said, flopping backwards on her bed. "I'm not good at it."
The plan was to stay in her quarters until either Kirk or Spock announced they were back in Federation space, but only forty minutes later, Elle's stomach started to growl.
"No way," Elle told her midsection. "We're staying put."
It growled again.
Elle sighed. If something unexpected happened and she was running on an empty stomach, reaction times would be slow, thinking ability impaired... McCoy's lecture on blood sugar came back to her in full force. "Fine," she said, putting Simba back in its home. "Mess hall, here we come. Don't mess this up, Elle."
The atmosphere in the mess hall hit Elle like a lead fist in the gut. Everyone present looked half-dead themselves, stricken with grief and worry. They all turned to look at Elle in various stages of worry and disbelief.
"Is it true?" Lt. Riley asked Elle, stopping her at the food slot.
"Um, I'm not allowed to say anything," Elle said, clutching her meal card to her chest. "I'm sorry."
He stepped back, defeated.
Elle ordered a hot dog and milkshake. If they were going to be prisoners of war, she was going out on a stomach full of junk food. She inhaled her food as quietly as possible and tried to leave without attracting attention.
Three Macgyver episodes later, Kirk's voice announced over all-call, "All hands, this is the captain. As you may have heard by now, reports of my death were, premature. We have returned to Federation space, heading for Starbase 67. Kirk out."
Elle released a stormy sigh of relief and lay down flat on the floor to breathe for a minute. "Thank goodness," she said. She headed down to sickbay.
Kirk was just entering at the same time. "You all right?" he asked, checking her over.
Elle couldn't stop staring at his ears. She started to laugh.
"It's not funny," he protested.
Elle cackled. "It is, too," she wheezed, clutching at her ribs.
McCoy grinned as he came over. "Your ears are top priority," he assured the captain, sniggering behind his tricorder.
Kirk, dare she say, pouted. "Anyway," he said, glaring as McCoy tugged at his ears, "Elle, the Romulan commander is in quarters on deck two, so stay away from there, understood?"
Elle stopped laughing. "What?"
"She beamed aboard at the last second with Spock. A fool thing to do, but we're dropping her, and the cloaking device, at 67."
Elle's jaw dropped. "Ohhh, I forgot about that."
"Seems a pretty important thing to forget about," Kirk said mildly.
"What's going to happen to her?" Elle asked.
"She'll be extradited back to the Romulans," Kirk replied.
That's what starts the Rihannsu book series, right? "She'll be stripped of her rank, her honor, her name," Elle said, all the light-hearted feelings draining away.
"She knew what she was doing," Kirk said tiredly.
Elle bit her lip. "I guess. We can't just, keep her?"
"That's unethical," Kirk said.
"Oh."
"All done," McCoy said. "Presenting, the original Captain Kirk, better than new."
"I still have a headache," Kirk complained.
"Go to sleep," McCoy advised.
"Excellent suggestion," Kirk deadpanned.
Elle gave him a hug. "I'm really glad you're okay. Let's never do that again."
Kirk hugged her tightly and smiled at her. "Agreed."