Kirk took a seat across from Elle. "Guess what?" he said.

"Chicken butt," Elle replied automatically, and tacked on, "sir."

He snorted. "That's a new one. We have a new mission, by the way, and it's all your fault."

"Sorry?" she asked. "What are we doing?"

"Saving Khan and his people. The orders finally came through."

Elle winced. "That, uh, took a while."

He huffed a laugh. "Actually, by the standards of Star Fleet bureaucracy, that was a positively meteoric turnaround."

"Oh." She contemplated this. "So what are we going to do?"

"Relocate them to another planet." He made a face. "Sounds simple, doesn't it?"

"Not with super humans involved," Elle said wryly. "This is going to be interesting."

"You are not coming," the captain said.

Elle let out a surprised Pikachu noise. "What? But it's Khan!"

"Exactly," he said sternly. "Even if he accepts the offer to relocate, he'll be looking for our weak points and vulnerabilites. You will be his first and most vulnerable target. I'm not taking any chances and neither is Star Fleet. We're rendezvousing with Intrepid and you're going to stay with them until we're done and we're close enough to pick you up."

"But-"

"No buts, chicken or otherwise," Kirk said, and that was his I Have Decided, My Will Be Done face. "We're meeting them tomorrow morning, 0400, just long enough to transport you over."

Elle sighed. "Yes, sir."

He ruffled her hair. "Cheer up, you love those guys."

"Yeah, but, what if something happens?"

He sobered. "Then it happens, but at least you'll be safe."

She gave him a Look. "You're sending me to a ship that almost got eaten by a giant space amoeba. And then got abducted by Romulan mad scientists. My chances are better here."

"You're not staying."

She sighed again. "Fine."

The chime commed. "Spock to Captain Kirk."

Kirk tapped the table controls. "Yes, Commander?"

Spock cleared his throat. "Sir, the Intrepid has encountered a gravity well and has gotten trapped... their ETA is now two weeks, three days, as they must execute a slingshot maneuver to extract themselves, which will send them to the recent past."

Kirk sighed. "Of course they did."

Elle grinned. Par for the course for a starship. "I think the universe is trying to tell us something."

"Is it?" Kirk asked dryly. "Spock?"

"There are no other options close enough," Spock replied evenly.

Kirk sighed again. "All right, then. Kirk out." He tapped the control and looked at Elle. "Well, it looks like you will be meeting Khan after all."

She didn't do a victory fist-pump until she was in the turbolift by herself. There was a strong possibility she'd be a pawn in the upcoming battle of wills, but it was probably going to be fine. Did superhumans go after kids in the eugenics wars? It was probably going to be fine. Probably.

She pointedly did not look up anything about that time period.

-/\-

Rolling up to Ceti Alpha V, tension levels were so high one would think the Enterprise had been ordered to go steal something else from the Romulans.

"That's not funny," Christine Chapel said tiredly.

"It's a little funny," Uhura said.

"A very little," Sulu said.

Spock rolled his eyes.

Elle counted that as a win. This department meeting was too grim.

"Maybe they'll be grateful and won't cause problems," Chekov said.

Everyone in the conference room shot him a pitying look.

"There is a high probability that Khan will attempt to take over this ship, again," Spock said.

Chief Giotto spoke up. "Since the last time, we've reviewed security protocols since then and implemented stricter controls. I'm not going to say there's no way, but I am confident in our ability to override any of their attempts."

Kirk nodded. "Send these to all department heads. While the superhumans are onboard I want security on yellow alert."

"Yes sir. I recommend we also go to four shifts instead of three, as stress levels will rise considerably."

Kirk nodded. "Excellent. Implement as you see fit, Chief."

"Yes, sir."

"And I want aux control staffed at all times," Kirk continued. "They didn't get a look at it last time and I want an ace up our sleeve."

They discussed other measures for "super-proofing" the Enterprise.

"What do you think, Miss 21st Century?" Kirk asked.

Elle looked up. "I think that if Khan wants this ship there's nothing in the galaxy that could stop him. But he won't want this ship. So it's fine."

"Elaborate," Spock said, after a startled silence.

"He plays chess of the brute force kind," Elle said. "The fact that we're showing up to help them out means Star Fleet is aware of them. If they try and take this ship or if they do take this ship, Star Fleet will nave no compunctions about blasting them to smithereens. He won't want that for his people. He wants a planet, an empire. Can't do that if you're dead."

"An empire of super-humans?" Sulu echoed, looking horrified.

Elle waved a hand. "Once Khan dies they'll self-destruct trying to fill the power vacuum, it's fine. And if not, that's future-Fleet's problem."

They stared at her.

"Okay," Kirk said, "no more psychology lessons for you."

"Hopefully she's right, though," Bones said, the purveyor of said psych lessons.

"Can't we just put them back in cryo till we get to their new planet?" Scotty joked.

"Unfortunately not," Kirk said. "But from Ceti Alpha to Oppo Minor is only a week, gentlefolk. We've handled much worse. Brief your teams, prep the security protocols outlined for your departments. We'll make planetfall tomorrow, ship's noon. Dismissed."

Elle looked at Giotto. "What's my security protocol?"

He handed over a PADD. "As Civilian In Charge of Altered Maintenance Equipment-"

"That's not my title," Elle replied.

"-It is now. You give a hoover life, you deal with it-"

Which, fair point.

"-and as such your job is to take the actual knife from Commander Stabby and give him back a prop knife."

Elle blinked. "But wouldn't having a secret weapon to deploy at superhumans be an advantage? I mean, they might be superhuman but getting sliced in the Achilles Heel..." she shrugged expressively. "You can't walk, you can't walk."

Giotto stared at her. "I was thinking more along the lines of 'don't give superhumans easy access to a knife."

She stared back at him. "They have enhanced strength. They don't need knives, they can kill you with their pinkie."

"...True." Giotto took the PADD back. "All right, I guess that finishes that." He signed off on it. "Excellent work."

-/\-

"This is Captain James T. Kirk calling the colony on Ceti Alpha V," Kirk said, his voice devoid of emotion even though his hands were definitely sweating.

Elle stifled a nervous giggle and leaned on the railing near Spock's chair, trying not to be distracting.

"The great Captain Kirk," said a voice with an Indian accent. "What a pleasant surprise. What brings you to our humble planet?"

Elle froze. Was that him? It didn't sound like the character she knew. But of course, the real Khan wasn't of Hispanic origin. Right?

Kirk replied. "We've been keeping an eye on this solar system, and the planet next to you, Ceti Alpha VI, is dangerously close to leaping its orbit. If that happens your entire colony could be destroyed."

"And that would solve your problem quite nicely," Khan said. "Don't tell me you've come to save us?"

"As a matter of fact, we come with an offer of a new planet," Kirk said. "One that doesn't have rogue sister-planets."

There was a silence on the other end of the comm. "Have you really?" Khan drawled, quite at ease. "I see."

"You are, of course, welcome to stay where you are and take your chances," Kirk said. "As enhanced as you are, I'm sure you'll be able to handle it."

Elle shot him a look.

Khan, on the other end, chuckled. "I'm sure we could, but if your Federation is offering us a free passage to a new land, then why not? We do, of course, have children to think of. On behalf of my people, Captain Kirk, I accept your offer."

"Very well then. We'll arrange for transport when you've finished preparations."

"Understood, captain." The comm channel cut out.

Kirk let out a deep breath. "One interaction down. Lt. Uhura, alert the transporter rooms and security teams to standby."

"Aye, sir."

-/\-

Elle bounced in her chair nervously. She wriggled around and then stopped. She bit her lip.

"You got ants in your pants or something?" Lt. Kerry asked her.

"No, sorry. I just, they're onboard, right now! I kinda wanna meet them." Elle added a layer of granite to her Minecraft house.

Lt. Kerry shook her head. "You should stay as far away as possible, kiddo. It's not a game."

"I know, I know." Elle wriggled around again and put a granite chunk in the wrong spot. "Oop." She glanced at the clock. "Okay, I need to go to Bio class anyway. See you later!"

"See you, Elle."

The superhumans were being nominally treated as a civilian colony: their things were in the cargo bay, and the families were given the largest guest quarters. The rest of them were in barracks set up in cargo bay 2. It was highly unlikely Elle would even see any of them during the week.

She entered sickbay, and slammed straight into someone's back. "Oof." She stumbled back, shaking her head. "Sorry-" She stared at the knife- the leather vest- the turban- "Excuse me," she said, and edged around Khan Noonien Singh further into sickbay.

He put out his hand, stopped her from advancing. "I am Khan," he said, and gave a short bow of the head. "And you?"

"Elle Wilcott," she replied, bowing her head in reply.

"I didn't know that your starships carried civilians," he said. "Whose child are you?"

"Nobody's," Elle replied. "My parents are gone."

"Ah." He raised an eyebrow at her. "You know who I am?"

"Yes."

"Then why don't you fear me?"

She cracked a grin. "Honestly I'm just glad you're not a skinny white British guy."

He raised his eyebrows and unsubtly flexed his massive biceps. "An odd thing to be thankful for."

"I watch a lot of tv," she replied.

"That stuff will rot your brain," he said, which as a person coming from the sixties, was a reasonable thing to say.

"Probably," Elle replied. "Are you okay?"

"My son is having a checkup," Khan replied, and gestured to the nearest biobed, where a redhead was holding a tiny baby.

Dr. McCoy caught sight of Elle and nodded.

Elle took the silent direction. "Scuse me," she told Khan, and walked away from him. She felt his eyes on her back until she turned the corner to the nurses' break room. Hopefully this did not mean another hostage scenario in the near future. Those were getting tiresome.

"Ready for your lesson on the variable nature of spleens?" Chris Chapel asked, distracting Elle from her thoughts.

"Yup!"

-/\-

Elle left sickbay and almost bumped into the Singh family again in the hallway. "Have a good day," she said, skirting politely around them. She stopped to coo at the fussing baby. "Aw, did someone get a shot?"

The baby stopped fussing a moment and cooed at her, reaching pudgy hands for her loose hair.

She dodged away. "Whoops. No hair pulling, thank you." She gave them an awkward smile. "See you around." She walked away, feeling Khan's eyes on her. She stifled a shiver.

Elle went to Engineering next; she needed to Lt. Matthews' permission to use his five-dimensional simulation with Pavel in their next math class. She passed an empty room.

"- you from, Mr. Scott?"

"Och, well, lad, I was born in Glasgow but I grew up in the Highlands, in a village so small you could walk right through it and not even notice," Scotty said in his best burr.

Elle stopped walking. What.

"I stayed there, livin' with mah grandparents, till ah was about ten, then ah moved back t'the city with mah da to work on the ships passin' through."

The new ensign looked suitably impressed. "Since you were ten?"

"Aye, lad. Move along, now. T'engines won't tend themselves."

"Yes, sir!"

Elle stayed frozen, gaping at the open door. Had Scotty just lied? Or, a terrible thought struck her. Had Scotty lied to her?

The ensign came out fo the room and raised an eyebrow. "Hello," he said. "Looking for Scotty?"

"Uhh-" Elle hurried away, her head spinning. She left engineering and went to find Pavel.

"Ah, Elle, you are early. Do you have Lt. Matthews' simulation?"

She waved it away impatiently. "Pavel, have you ever asked Scotty why his accent's so thick?"

"Of course not," Chekov said. "That would be ridiculous."

She blinked. "Why?"

"I grew up in Russia, I have my accent. He grew up in Scotland, he has his accent."

"Yeah but he grew up speaking English!" Elle pointed out.

"Ah. True. Perhaps you should ask Scotty directly."

"I already did," Elle almost wailed.

"Then ask Hikaru," Chekov suggested. "Or one of the yeomen. You know they know everything."

"True."

"But we will finish our study of five-dimensional space first," Chekov said firmly.

Elle groaned. "Do we have to?"

"Da."