Breakfast was a leisurely affair as classes were cancelled due to invasion of enemy space. What a thing to write on a report card... Elle stifled a giggle into her hot cocoa.

Captain Kirk came into the mess hall, followed by Ael. They both got coffees and proceeded to sit across from Elle.

"Good morning?" Elle asked.

"Thank you, Elle," Ael said formally. "I spoke to Tafv yesterday." She bowed her head over her coffee. "You were correct."

"I'm so sorry," Elle said, all enjoyment gone.

"He is in the brig until we can deal with him," Ael said. "He has refused to name his collaborators."

"What are we gonna do?" Elle asked.

"We may have to destroy Bloodwing and throw ourselves on the Federation's mercy," Ael said grimly.

Elle's eyes widened. "You can't do that!"

"It would not be preferable, no," Ael said.

Elle valiantly didn't add that Ael was supposed to be the Romulan emperor later, so she kind of needed to stay in Romulan space. "If Tafv isn't around to give orders, isn't it moot?" she asked.

"Perhaps."

The captain spoke up. "We've changed around the invasion roster, left slightly more people behind to watch both ships. We're keeping this quiet, though."

"Don't wanna pysch people out," Elle agreed.

Kirk gave her a teasing smile. "Are you psyched out, Elle?"

"No," Elle said stoutly.

Both commanding officers smiled at her.

-/\-

"You are the mission consultant?"

Elle looked up to find one of the Rihannsu, Uhura's bridge replacement, looking at her. "Antecenturion t'Khialmnae, right?" Elle asked, standing up from her Minecraft game.

"Aidoann, please," the woman replied, giving a wry grin. "Though your pronunciation is admirable."

Elle made a face. "I'm learning Vulcan."

"Ah."

Elle tilted her head. "Did you have a question, or need me for something?"

"Yes, well, my commander suggested I speak to the Enterprise mission consultant. I didn't think you would be so young." Aidoann appraised her with those large, doe-like eyes, behind which lay a razor-sharp intellect.

Elle grinned. "It's a really fancy way of saying I'm the comic relief."

"How did you know?" Aidoann asked abruptly. "None of us knew."

"About?"

"Tafv."

"Oh." Elle shifted uneasily. "I don't know. He just had that kinda vibe."

"Vibe?"

"A feeling," Elle explained. "Like intuition, or what my psych studies call thin-slicing, pattern recognition and information collation so fast that it only shows up as a feeling you get in your gut. I, my generation calls it a vibe."

Aidoann regarded her. "I see."

"You guys are the same age, right?" Elle asked. "Maybe? I know you age slower than us."

Aidoann's mouth lifted in a smile. "We are the same age, yes. As far as the career in the fleet, we grew up together. Our commander was, well, our commander."

Elle smiled. "Mother-figure to the whole crew?"

"Yes."

Elle's smile turned into a grin. "Yeah, I got that kinda vibe, too."

"And from me?" Aidoann asked.

Elle wrinkled her nose. "Are you using me as a psych test?"

"Maybe," Aidoann said, meeting her gaze.

Elle folded her arms, looked at Aidoann. Was the antecenturion nervous about later? She certainly wasn't going to betray Ael. She was completely loyal. Is that what she was looking for? "If I told you that you remind me of Spock, would that be any comfort?" Elle finally asked.

Aidoann inclined her head. "Of a sort," she said. "Thank you, mission consultant."

"Call me Elle," she offered.

"Elle, then." Aidoann wandered off to another part of the Rec deck.

Elle sat back down to her Minecraft game. "Well that was weird," she said.

"MNEUIRQITJFSSSSSSRUIPKLMOINIRERDUTOAAU!"

Elle fell out of her beanbag at the shout. "What in the Great Bird!" she yelped, barely catching her game controller. She tossed the controller into the beanbag and headed towards the sound of the shout.

The captain was there, along with Ael, Aidoann, Uhura, Lt. Freeman, and Dr. McCoy. "You've got a malfunction somewhere," the captain said, hiding a smile.

"A malfunction that shouts," McCoy added helpfully.

"It's not malfunctioning," Lt. Freeman said, diving back under the console. "It's doing exactly what we want it to do."

"Keyboard smash?" Elle asked, sliding up next to Uhura. "Isn't this the Doctor Who project?"

"It's the code for it," Lt. Freeman said, voice muffled from the console interior. "Okay, try it Nyota."

Uhura looked over at the captain. "Say something, sir."

"Certainly. Aren't you supposed to be on the bridge?"

"RUIQOTEPIGIOLWETOURYIOWLCIOWASCORETYII," the console obligingly screeched.

Elle clapped her hands over her ears. "It definitely shouts," she said, unhelpfully.

"It's also the key to that little problem we had earlier," Uhura said. "When Battlequeen came to inspect us, we had to use crew as message runners because the comm system leaks. It takes too long to learn to automatically compensate for signal leakage with small-end encryption, so this is the blanket solution. Anyone who picks up any internal comm traffic from the Enterprise will get an earful of nonsense, and it'll just sound like a comm glitch."

Kirk frowned. "Can we hook up a transceiver with this program to an independent power source and use them as intereference buoys?"

Freeman and Uhura traded a glance. "Yes, sir," Uhura said.

"How many can you give me?"

"Four?" Freeman said. "We don't dare overdrain the parts bank."

"Get to it."

Freeman looked at Elle. "You want to help?" he asked.

"You know me, I like to sow chaos," Elle deadpanned.

"Do you?" Ael asked, a mischevious glint in her eyes.

"Madam, you haven't seen her go after an errant admiral," Kirk said dryly. "Talk about chaos."

"Hey!" Elle protested, a hot blush rising all the way to the tops of her ears. "I didn't start any fights."

"No, you finished it," Kirk told her, and pressed a kiss to her head. "Go make the Chaos Buoys."

It was a thrilling speed-run of parts assembly with all spare hands from Maintenance and Engineering. Elle was in charge of the finicky connections requiring small hands and delicate fingers.

"Okay, Elle, test this one," Freeman said.

Elle flicked the switch and spoke into the mocked-up comm system. "A peanut sat on a railroad track, his heart was all aflutter," she sang.

"RJYOELJLEERRTPEIJELYPBGSLSJWOCUYVETORSLIB," the final buoy shrieked.

Elle stuck a finger in her ear and wiggled it. "Is it just me or are they coming out more shrill?" she asked.

"All the better to hurt sensitive Rihannsu hearing," Uhura said. "Are you sure you're not Romulan, Elle?"

"I'm part bat, you know that," Elle sniffed.

"All right, let's get these up to the torpedo bays," Uhura ordered.

-/\-

Elle, her job done, wandered back up to the Rec Deck. They had two hours before the Enterprise and Bloodwing would breakaway from the Romulan escort and head to Levaeri V.

"Elle!" Lt. Wani called, from the pool. "We need one more, come play with us!"

Ah, Delta shift. The majority of them were going to hold the fort on the Enterprise, since, on the whole, they were more sleep-deprived than usual, and nobody needed sleep-deprived people with phasers.

Elle walked over to the pool. "What are you playing?"

"Water polo with a side of splashing," the lieutenant replied. "Something light to take our mind off the whole act of war thing."

Elle grinned. "Give me two seconds." She went to change into her swimsuit and a wrap dress over that, and went back to the pool. "Incoming!" she announced, and dropped into the pool.

The splash was marvelous. The entirety of the opposing team was completely swamped.

Lt. Wani grinned. "I think that's one point for us."

"We want her on our team!" Lt. Rombel protested.

"We're the ones that needed one more person," Wani replied.

Elle clung to the side of the pool. "You know I'm not very good at it," she said.

"That doesn't matter. It's the principle of the thing." And that was that.

They played and the other team won by three points.

Elle hauled herself out of the pool just as the yellow alert came on. "All hands, this is the captain," said the all-call, and all movement in the rec deck stilled. "One minute to battle stations. Repeat, one minute."

Everyone scattered, to get dressed or go to stations, or to direct their prayers to assorted deities.

Elle toweled herself off and tied the wrap dress on over her swimsuit. She didn't have time to go back to her quarters, and regulations were to stay put. She sank into the nearest chair, toweling her hair dry. Elements, whatever Commander Ael believes in, please let this work. I don't want to be brainwashed into a Rihannsu spy.

Red alert signaled the one minute. "Battle stations, battle stations," came the calm announcement, and in her bones she felt the almost subconscious register of straining engines, rumbling through the deck plates.

Elle chewed on her lip. They should've broken away. Why weren't they breaking away from the tow?

Before she could check the computer readouts, the Enterprise jerked violently to the left. They were free. Now to get rid of the four Romulan ships escorting them.