Denebians were tall. And wide. And just generally larger than humans, more intense, more cheerful- Elle couldn't stop smiling as the lieutenant escorted her and the Enterprise triumvirate to the Ineau's conference room.
It was a solid ten minutes of introductions to the various senior officers before they finally made it to somebody Elle knew. "S'task!" she said cheerfully, and gave the ta'al. "It is agreeable to see you again," she said.
"You as well," S'task said. "You may be interested to know the tribbles on the Intrepid have kept a stable population of 11 tribbles since the first litter."
Elle grinned. "One tribble per thirty-nine Vulcans? Why?"
"It is the optimum ratio to provide tribbles with the necessary attention," S'task said.
"Logical," Elle said, fighting back a smile.
"Indeed."
Kirk hid a delighted smile and greeted Captain Suvuk and First Officer T'Pel as they came over. "Captain Suvuk, a pleasure to see you again. You remember Mr. Spock and Dr. McCoy? This is our civilian mission consultant, Elle Wilcott."
"Live long and prosper," Elle said politely, in her best Vulcan.
Suvuk replied in kind, and added, "It is an honor to meet the matriarch of the tribble clan." He said all of this with a straight face, immediately endearing himself to Elle.
Kirk smiled.
The briefing proceeded without a hitch as they figured out patrol rankings. Elle sat there surreptitiously eating candy out of her pocket and watching the various officers interact. It just confirmed that everyone posted on a starship was indeed crazy in the best way.
As soon as the briefing ended, everyone began to scatter. McCoy got caught up with the Vulcans to discuss his latest paper on Vulcan nervous systems. Kirk went off with the other captains to play poker, and Spock went to speak to science officers about ion storms.
Elle beamed back to Enterprise. Something was niggling at the back of her brain, but no matter how much she concentrated, it wasn't coming up coherently. Oh, well. She took her schoolwork to the Rec Deck and posted herself near Lt. Freeman, who was again working on translating old TV programs to interactive holograms. This time it was the Third Doctor.
"You're not going to make the bad guys interactive, right?" Elle asked, watching plastic automatons chase the Doctor and Sarah Jane out of a factory.
Lt. Freeman smirked. "You don't wanna run for your life? A little light exercise ripping arms off of mannequins?"
"No?" Elle replied doubtfully. "Do you wanna rip arms off of mannequins? Because that sounds like a problem for Bones."
He blinked at her, surprised, and they both cracked up.
"No," Freeman wheezed, in between chuckles, "you're right." He put down his toolkit and leaned against the console, holding his stomach as he cackled.
Elle leaned back in her beanbag and laughed. "It would be cool to join the adventures though. Are you going to put the person in place of the Doctor's companion or are they going to be, like, NPC?"
"Just a viewer to start with," Lt. Freeman said. "Once we get them fully holographic then we can work on computer AI's to interact with the viewers. One day we'll have fully adaptive programs..."
Elle thought about the future holodeck. "I'm sure we will," she said confidently.
"Excellent," Lt. Freeman said, and got back under the console to plug his PADD into the main hard drive.
He went back onshift only ten minutes later, so Elle finished her schoolwork and went back to locker 43-A for her pottery supplies.
The Ugly Clay Pot was done cooling down, so she went next to the hotbox kiln and got it out.
"You've cracked under the strain," Elle told it, examining the hairline fracture with dismay. "You're fired." She realized the pun in her words and giggled. "Nice."
"Talkin' to inanimate objects?" Scotty teased, passing by on the way to the snack bar.
Elle showed him the clay pot. "I made it, what do you think?" she asked, hiding a smirk and giving him her best puppy eyes.
He eyed it. "Ehm, well," he said. "It's ah interesting piece, to be sure." He scratched the back of his neck. "Verra interestin'."
She broke into laughter. "It's awful, isn't it? I kind of want to give it to Spock as a present and see what he says."
Scotty sniggered. "Only if you sell tickets, lass."
"Nah, that'd be mean. I think I'll just recycle it and get more clay."
"No, don't do that," Scotty protested. "You should keep it, and later on when you've improved, you can take it out and compare your progress."
Elle blinked slowly. "Good idea." She put it in the pocket of her hoodie.
Over the next two hours she crafted another two pots, a little larger than the first one, and put them all side by side to compare. She picked up the last one. "Much better. Much less wonky. Maybe don't crack this time?"
It made no promises.
She placed it gently in the mini-kiln and closed the door. It locked and began to heat up. She squashed the other pot back into a lump of clay and put it in an airtight container with a damp rag to keep it safe. "Moira?" she asked, washing her hands in the nearest sink.
"Yes?"
"You were right. Smashing clay is a great stress-reliever."
The red alert klaxon whooped in her ear a moment later. "Good feeling gone," Elle gasped, as her adrenaline levels shot sky-high. "What's going on?"
Moira didn't answer.
Elle raced to her quarters and hopped on the computer. Three Romulan warbirds had crossed the Neutral Zone. Oop, one down, one fleeing from the last warbird- Elle gaped as the final warbird, an older model, shot its own fellow. The Romulan ship went out in a blaze of plasma.
Elle gaped as the final warbird wheeled around to face the Enterprise. Nothing else happened.
She put on her shoes and headed for the bridge. The turbolift opened with Kirk and Spock inside. "Going somewhere?" Kirk asked.
Elle got in. "What's going on?" she asked.
"Commander Ael t'Rllaillieu of Bloodwing apparently has something to tell us," Kirk said mildly. "We're about to meet her in the transporter room. You sure this isn't an episode, Elle?"
Elle stared at them. "You said Ael t'Rllaillieu? Of Bloodwing?" She started to grin. "This is a book! Oh man, I'm so excited."
"Why, what?" Kirk asked.
They got out of the turbolift and Elle hurried to keep pace with them. "Oh, this is gonna be so good," she said, beaming. "Ael is awesome! Oh man, oh man. Oh, except the Vulcan thing, we gotta warn the Intrepid-" They entered the transporter room.
"One tick, captain," Chief Kyle reported.
"Understood." Kirk met Elle's gaze. "Is she going to be an ally?"
Elle nodded eagerly. "You really need to listen to her."
Kirk nodded. "All right then." He raised an eyebrow at her. "You're excused."
Elle's jaw dropped. "What? But she's so cool!"
"And you're highly classified," Kirk said, amused. "Dismissed."
Elle gave the heaving sigh of the teenage unimpressed, and left just as Dr. McCoy came in. "Whatever," she muttered petulantly, and went up on the bridge to sulk.
"What are you doing up here?" Sulu asked, surprised.
Elle folded her arms and leaned against the empty captain's chair. "I can't meet the Commander yet because I'm 'classified'."
"Ah, right."
She studied the lines of the Romulan warbird hovering off their bow. "That's an older ship, not like the Klingon castoffs," she said.
"You're right, it's a classic ship, good eye," Sulu said. "We've had quite a few skirmishes with this ship."
Elle nodded. "Cool."
"Just one potshot?" Chekov asked.
"No," Sulu said firmly.
"A leetle one. Half-power."
Elle stifled a giggle. "You can't blow up our ticket," she said.
They turned to her interestedly. "You know what's going on?" Sulu asked.
"Oh yeah. You're not gonna like it."
"Well don't just leave us on a cliff-hanger," Sulu protested.
"Hold on," Uhura said, and put a hand to her earpiece. "I'm getting a message from Intrepid, a data burst. They've hit a bad ion storm."
Elle's levity dropped. "The Intrepid. They're about to be attacked by Romulans."
"Uhura, raise them," Sulu snapped. "Warn them."
"I can't get through, the storm is interfering with communications," Uhura said. "Bridge to Captain Kirk."
He answered the hail. "What is it, Lt?"
"Sir, the Intrepid is about to be attacked by Romulans," Uhura reported.
"Who's closest? Constellation? Get them on the horn, direct them to Intrepid's position immediately," Kirk said.
"We're closer sir," Sulu said.
There was a tense second of silence. "No. We need to stay with Bloodwing," the captain said. "Kirk out."
Everyone on the bridge looked at Elle.
She shook her head. "I can't say anything else until the captain agrees. Sorry." She chewed on her lip. They better not kill my tribbles, she thought fiercely. "Bloodwing won't do anything though."
"Quarter-power, they won't even feel it," Chekov said abruptly.
Elle laughed.
The comm whistled. "Elle to the Briefing Room," Kirk's voice said, in the Not Happy tone of voice.
Elle's eyes widened and she nodded at Uhura.
"She's on her way, sir," Uhura told the captain.
-/\-
Elle entered the briefing room and found the captain, Spock, and Bones staring tensely at the Romulan commander. "Captain," Elle said, going to stand next to him.
"Thank you," Kirk said. He gave the Romulan a cool smile. "Commander, as requested for this briefing, our civilian mission consultant."
Ah. Elle turned to the commander, bowed in the Rihannsu manner appropriately enough for a youngster to an elder, and said, "I am honored, commander. I am Elle Wilcott."
The commander returned the bow and gave her an odd little smile. "I am Ael."
"Ma'am," Elle said politely.
Ael's smile widened. "You used your few minutes of access well, I see," was all she said.
"I did my best," Elle said, and sat in between Kirk and Bones.
"Do you know why I asked for your presence, Miss Wilcott?" Ael asked, calmly ignoring the adults.
Elle raised an eyebrow. "I'm assuming you wanted the presence of someone easier to read than Captain Kirk. And, someone vulnerable enough to use against him."
"Are you easier to read?" Ael asked, amused.
Elle shrugged. "I mean, I am fourteen, so... yeah."
"I did not ask you here as emotional blackmail against your captain," Ael said. "I asked for you because you are the civilian mission consultant, and you were among Rihannsu for a brief time, and you will be able to tell that I am telling the truth."
Elle resisted the urge to bite her lip. "I see," was all she said.
Ael turned to face the adults. "Captain, do you know of a planet named Levaeri V?"
"It's in Romulan space," the captain said.
"Yes. The planet is uninhabited, but there is a research station orbiting it. The Empire has been looking into the nature of genetic material that governs and transmits life along with various messenger segments."
"DNA and RNA," McCoy said.
"Yes. The research is nearly complete and if it allowed to be completed, it will destroy both my civilization and yours. Specifically, this research has been targeting Vulcan genetic material."
Spock sat up straight. "For what purpose?"
"To give Romulans the paramental abilities of trained Vulcans," Ael replied.
Elle dropped her head into her hands, thinking of the Intrepid. "Oh, no."
They discussed the specifics, what kind of RNA transmission was possible, what kind of mental gifts would pass over.
Bones looked ill at the possibility. "But you would need-"
"Donor tissue, yes," Ael said. "Brain tissue, cerebrospinal fluid cultures, from mentally talented Vulcans. A great deal of it. So the researchers began, er, borrowing, Vulcans."
"That's why they're after Intrepid," Kirk said sharply.
Spock nodded. "That would also explain why the amount of lost Vulcan ships in the area was so high. I could not find the correlation between ion storms and the amount of Vulcan ships going missing."
"Now you have," Ael said.
Bones was almost trembling with suppressed rage. "This is monstrous," he said tightly.
"Certain it is, doctor," Ael said. "What honor is there in taking one's enemies by stealth, giving them no chance to fight back? But teher's worse to come. Can you imagine, in the corrupt High Command, the Senate, and the Praetorate, all with the abilities of Vulcans, if Surak had never shown Vulcans the logics of peace and ethical behavior?"
Spock looked grave. "A world with no freedom, only ruthless opportunity and domination. War..."
"Worse than war," Elle said faintly. "No one would be able to even think in opposition to the rulers."
Ael nodded. "A world in which honor and trust would swiftly become devalued. The process has already started. There is infighting already as they vie to become the first or the only to have those powers." She gave Kirk an assessing look. "I will be open with you. I am a warrior, and I find peace very dull. But honor I cherish, and if this new power is allowed to rise, it will destroy the very Empire to which I swore my loyalty. I will not stand by and let it die. The resarch station at Levaeri V must be destroyed before the information and materials there can be distributed through the Empire."
Kirk glanced over at Elle.
She nodded. This was the real deal.
Kirk looked over at Ael, and frowned. "Commander, you have come a long way to warn us. But why tell us this?"
Ael shook her head. "There is no help to be found among friends. At such a time, one must recourse to one's enemies. And of all my enemies, I esteem you highest. You are a fierce combatant, but you have never been less than courteous."
Elle glanced from one to the other.
Kirk raised an eyebrow. "I assume you want the Enterprise to help you destroy the station?"
"Yes."
"Therein lies the problem. While I am willing to overlook your breach of the Zone, there is no way your High Command will overlook the Enterprise crossing over. How do you propose to sneak us over?"
Ael leaned back in her chair. "I was thinking to capture the Enterprise. Would you mind?"
As McCoy sputtered in outrage, Kirk turned to give Elle a Look that meant 'I cannot believe you didn't give me prior warning and you better not say anything confidential or you're grounded for life.' For being completely psi-null, the captain was exceedingly eloquent in non-verbal communication.
Elle grinned.
Kirk rolled his eyes and turned back to Ael to regard her with a flat look. "If that was a joke, it was in poor taste," he said crisply.
Ael grinned. "It was no joke, and no trap. Do you think I am mad, to threaten you while two starships hang off the bows?"
Elle hid a grin as she watched the Rihannsu commander tell them her proposed plan of action. It was insane. It was brilliant. It was the only possible way to do it.
"How do we know you're not lying?" Kirk asked. "Or if you haven't been brainwashed to truly believe what you're proposing?"
Ael lifted her chin. "Ask your Mr. Spock to mindmeld with me."
Spock agreed, and led Commander Ael away.
Kirk and Bones looked at Elle. "I cannot believe you didn't tell us," the captain said.
"Well, I didn't realize it until Bloodwing came," Elle retorted, crossing her arms defensively. "Star charting was boring!"
"True," Kirk said. "Is this the real deal?"
Elle nodded.
"All right." Kirk took a deep breath. "Go on, get something to eat, and get ready. If we agree to do this, we're going to need everybody on their top game."
"Yes, sir," Elle said, and exited to the musical tones of Bones' angry Southern ranting on the topic of 'fool-headed something-or-others'.