"Okay, but who are the Preservers? There's no record of them."
"Yet," Elle pointed out.
"That's not helpful!" Commander Samir pointed out, equally unhelpfully.
"There are a few legends," one of the archaeologists said slowly.
-/\-
"Do re mi fa so-"
"No, it goes ru do mi sa fe li-"
"No, that's only for people with three vocal chords-"
"But the scale is base seven, not five-"
Elle stayed away from the musical theory office after that. Too much cacophony.
-/\-
"Shore leave, Jim."
"We're already skirting the edge of the Prime Directive as it is, doctor, we can't risk being seen."
"But the natives haven't settled the entire planet, only part of it. I'm speaking as a pyschologist, captain. Sitting here doing nothing while the engineers fiddle with pianos is making the majority of the crew antsy. Stress levels are going up all over the ship, and being so close to a duplicate Earth is making all the newer crewmembers homesick."
Kirk sighed. "If we find an area of the planet that's not populated, we can revisit this topic," he said.
"Good. Come on, Elle."
Elle pouted up at them. "I'm in the middle of a level," she whined.
"The computer will save," McCoy replied. "Come on. You shouldn't be staring at a screen all day."
"But if I help you I'll just be staring at more screens," Elle complained.
Kirk put a hand over his mouth, obviously hiding a smile. "She's got a point, Bones," he remarked.
"You hush up," Bones retorted. "Elle, c'mon, don't you want to go down to the planet and have a vacation?"
"No, I wanna beat the level."
"Well, too bad. Come on."
Elle groaned dramatically and closed her game. "Okay, mom."
McCoy gaped at her. "I am not your mother," he said, aghast.
Kirk burst into uncaptain-like giggles.
Elle grinned at them both.
-/\-
"So we have three potential spots, and a backup," McCoy said, satisfied. He transferred the data to his PADD. "Thank you for your help, Elle."
"You're welcome." It was interesting, filtering planetary scans for signs of life and potential vacation-time.
"See?" he said, as they walked to the mess hall for dinner, "wasn't that better than playing video games all afternoon?"
"I guess," Elle said grudgingly.
They entered the rec deck. "SURPRISE!" shouted a hundred crewmen, plus four people tooting merrily on kazoos.
Elle gaped at them, her meal card frozen mid-exit from her pocket. "What?" she breathed.
"It's been a year since you've joined us," Kirk said, grinning. He plopped a party hat on her head. "Happy one-year anniversary with the Enterprise!"
Elle's eyes welled with happy tears. "Oh my goodness, you guys..." She looked over at McCoy. "Bones..."
"Hadta get you out of the rec deck so they could decorate," McCoy said, grinning shamelessly.
Elle gave him a hug, and then hugged all the senior officers, and anyone else she could reach.
Lt. Harb Tanzer escorted her to the buffet table where her favorite foods were nestled among general 'party food' selections, and everyone filled their plates to eat. "You know us," he said, giving her a grin, "any excuse for a party."
Elle beamed at him.
Kirk and McCoy sat on either side of her as everyone dug into their food. The Enterprise's band club set up in the corner, jamming merrily. "Best year of the mission," Kirk said, nudging her shoulder with his. "Certainly the most interesting. We couldn't let it pass."
"I didn't even remember," Elle confessed, grinning at him.
He smiled and pressed a kiss to her forehead. "To our Civilian Mission Consultant," he said quietly, and they clinked soda glasses.
"You get one glass and then I'm switching you to juice," McCoy warned her.
"Booones, it's a partyyy," she said, giving him her best puppy eyes.
He grumbled at her. "If you get a cavity after this I reserve the right to lecture you."
"Noted," she said solemnly, and took another swig of soda.
There was a small pile of gifts waiting in her quarters after a long evening of snacks, music, dancing, and game night. Also cake. So much cake.
Elle approached the gifts curiously. A few new clothes from the nurses (they had her growth chart), some nice combat boots with a knife hidden in the heel from security (she was on the whiteboard of shame for Most Times Abducted As Leverage), a few tacky fridge magnets for her mini-fridge from assorted crewmembers, and someone in the Knitting Club had made her and Simba matching sweaters. And someone had gotten her some amazing earrings (Uhura, probably, we all know why).
Elle wiped at her eyes, smiling so hard her cheeks hurt. A full year on the Enterprise had passed in the blink of an eye. Her parents would be so proud of... her joy dimmed slightly. Her parents. She hadn't thought of them in days. But they would be happy for her. They would probably be overjoyed she had found a family here in this universe, in this time and place.
She kissed Simba's furry coat and went to bed with her new pajamas.
-/\-
"We have cracked the cypher."
Elle held her hand up, Uhura obligingly gave her a high-five.
Kirk beamed at his Chief Science Officer and Head of Linguistics. "Excellent work, you two."
The beamdown plan was hatched. Elle went to her classes. No drama here. "Which is good," she said, "but the one-year anniversary of my death is the most exciting thing that's happened."
Chekov choked. "Can we not call it that?"
"Too soon?" Elle asked.
"You did not die," he said.
"One-year anniversary of my not-death," she said. "The one-year remembrance of my close encounter with the eternal sleep." She grinned. "Ooh, I like that. I want a banner with that on it."
Chekov sighed. "You are very strange child," he said.
-/\-
"They were transplanted less than a thousand years ago which means the Preservers, or their successors, are still active. Doesn't this bother anyone?"
"Nope," Elle said, popping the 'p' sound. "There are so many other agencies and civilizations on higher planes of existence doing stuff, this shouldn't even bother you. It's small potatoes."
The senior officers exchanged a glance. "Okay, that statement bothers me," Sulu said. "What other agencies and civilizations?"
Elle blinked at him. "I think that's so classified if I tried to tell you they might sniper me."
"That is terrifying and you are never leaving the ship without a two-man guard," Chief Giotto said immediately.
"Hey!" she protested. "I just said I wasn't going to say anything!"
"Too late."
Elle groaned and looked at the captain.
He held up his hands. "Protection of civilian consultants is Security's jurisdiction," he said.
Elle sighed.
Spock and the anthropologists took over the rest of the meeting, and it was decided to leave the 'natives' of this planet in peace, as it was impossible to determine if the native tribes knew of other worlds or not.
"We'll keep an eye on them," Kirk said. "A survey team every few years, until we can determine if their civilization would be skewered."
"They have a good thing going," McCoy agreed wistfully, as Kirk ordered the helm to leave orbit. "Almost like paradise. Be a shame to ruin it."