Chapter 1

The girls gaped for another moment or so, until finally one of them moved. Morgan leaned over and quickly switched off the TV just as the commercials were ending.

"Um…okay, what's going on?" she asked hesitantly.

"This is a joke, isn't it?" Faith gulped.

"I can assure you that this is most definitely not a joke," Picard said.

Kaitlyn gestured vaguely toward the television. "Then you…you're really…b-but you can't be Jean-Luc Picard!" she said in disbelief.

For a brief moment the captain looked surprised that she knew his name, but shortly that passed and he took a step forward. He half expected the frightened girls to take a step back when he did, but they didn't.

"But I am," he said. "Listen, I know this must come as a shock to you, but…everything you see, everything you read, everything you know about this…this 'Star Trek', is real. Or it will be. At least I believe so. I'm sure I don't know as much about it as you do."

"How can you not know as much about it as we do?" Kaitlyn asked skeptically, frowning. "If you are who you say you are, then you're living it."

"Yes," Picard said. "I know that, but this television show of yours is not common knowledge in my century. In the mid twenty-first century when it was realized that things were starting to be as it was said in the show, when it was also realized that it might continue that way, knowledge of the show was cut off from the public. By the turn of the century only select few knew it had even existed. I did not even know until recently, just before the Enterprise sent on this mission."

"And what is your mission? What are you doing here?" Morgan asked.

"From your uniform I'd say you're from the Dominion War era," Kaitlyn added helpfully. "Why would Starfleet be interested in the past while in the middle of a war?"

Again the captain looked surprised; this time much more so. After a moment he spoke.

"Actually, that is what I am here to talk to you about," Picard said. "Yes, the Federation is now at war with the Dominion. We are running extremely low on resources and personnel. That's where you come in. We've had to act on a last resort. And that is: finding people who are willing to help the Federation fight this war…though somewhere else."

"Whoa whoa whoa, rewind and freeze for a sec," Faith said. "Are you trying to tell us that you want to take us back to the 24th century?"

"Only if you want to go."

"But how could we help?" Morgan asked curiously. "We know nothing about technology in the 24th century, and we'd never be able to learn fast enough to be of any use. We'd have three and a half centuries of catching up to do!"

"So? We could do it. They wouldn't have to teach us 'everything', " Kaitlyn said. She looked to Picard for help. "Right?"

The captain nodded. "That's right. And also there will be others, hopefully, that will come as well. If we can gather a sufficient number of individuals, the extra personnel would certainly help Starfleet greatly. You would begin training once you arrived, and begin duty shortly after, once you knew enough. And even then, you would continue to learn while at the same time taking shifts." He paused, "It's not a perfect solution, but the Federation is quickly running out of options."

"But aren't you breaking the Prime Directive by being here and talking to us?" Kaitlyn said.

Picard looked uncomfortable. "Yes…but as I said, it could not be helped."

The three college girls looked at each other.

"You needn't decide right now. We'll be here for a week or more. You can let us know in s few days," Picard added.

They were silent for a few more seconds, until finally Kaitlyn spoke again.

"No…" she began, speaking slowly. "I don't think I need a few days. I know what I want to do." She took a step forward and took a deep breath. "I'll go."

Tiffany stepped up as well, "Me too."

Only Morgan hung back, unsure, still thinking. If they went, they might never come back. They could be killed. But then again, they would get a chance to do something no one else in their time had done before. Besides, she thought with a smile, she'd always wanted to know what it was like in the world of Star Trek. Now she could find out, and it would be real. Not to mention that the computer on board the Enterprise had who-knew-how-much info, and on the past from its point of view, too. If she searched it hard enough, she might even discover what was going on in Smallville. It might be able to tell her why all those weird things happened there. And, of course, going was the right thing to do if the Federation needed help.

Grinning, Morgan finally joined her friends.

"Count me in," she said with confidence.

Captain Picard smiled and moved closer to them, tapping his combadge. "Well then, we'd better be on our way. We can come back to gather your things in a few hours, once you've been briefed."

"Picard to transporter room; four to beam up." He paused briefly and said, "Energize."

And then transporter beams swept the four away, taking the three college girls to a place they had never before even dared to hope exsisted.