The Vulcan was staring at me for some reason. I shifted uncomfortably, staring at the orange thingy that shows how many decks you're passing. The trip seemed to take ages, but finally the doors opened onto the bridge.

I stepped out, then looked around self-consciously, wondering where I was supposed to be. I was spared the embarrassment of asking, however, because just then Picard stood up from the captain's chair and looked right at me. "Ensign, could I see you in my ready room?"

"Sure," I answered, nonplussed, and followed him. "What is it, sir?"

He looked extremely serious. Not a good sign. At least I remembered to say "sir" at the end of my sentence. "Ensign, I understand you tried to put in a priority one call to Starfleet."

Uh-oh. I wasn't supposed to do that, was I? "Um…yes sir," I said, staring at my feet. I was wearing black shoes. Funny how you never notice people's shoes on TV.

"Why did you do this?"

"Um…" Should I tell the truth? If not, what lie should I make up? Think fast, Ensign! "Um," I said desperately, stalling for time.

"Is this about Commander Riker?"

I had absolutely no idea what he was talking about, but it gave me an out, so I said, "Yes sir," and tried to maintain a neutral expression.

"Next time, you can talk to Counselor Troi or I. Meanwhile, please keep the frequencies clear."

"Yes sir," I murmured for about the thousandth time. I still had no clue what this was about. Maybe it had something to do with Riker asking me to ten-forward. Either way, I was free for the moment. Phew.

"Please go to your station." I left the ready room. The officer at the conn stood up, so I took his place. I hoped I'd be able to figure out the console.

Three hours later, I made my way to ten-forward. Nothing major had happened on the bridge; all I'd had to do was to set a course ("Four one zero mark one"), which was easy to figure out. We were traveling at warp two, I'd learned, on a research mission in some star system or other with a long complicated Greek name. It was now 1800 hours, or 6:00pm. Dinner time.

I sat at a table near the viewport where Picard goes in Starship Mine. I actually recognized a surprisingly large number of people from the show. Lieutenant Hawk was there, and Ensign Sito from Lower Decks. That made me sad, so I looked out the window at the starfield. It really was breathtaking. I was so boggled that I didn't notice Guinan behind me. She smiled and said, "What can I get for you, Ensign?"

I jumped slightly and smiled back. "Um…how about some hasperat? And tranya?" (Hey, why not? I was of age now.)
"Sounds good," she said, and disappeared behind the bar. It was fun to try new galactic foods. After this I was going to have a Tarvokian pound cake for dessert.

Luckily Riker wasn't anywhere around, but I did see Geordi and Barclay conversing with some other engineers at a table in the corner. Data was there too. Wesley was just coming in the door with Beverly. He looked over, saw me, and waved. I waved them over to my table. "Hi," I said.

"Hello, Ensign," said Beverly, smiling at me. "I don't see you in sickbay often. You must be very healthy."

Wesley rolled his eyes at me behind her back, and I had to suppress a giggle.

Just then my dinner arrived. Wesley raised his eyebrows. "Bajoran food?"

I shrugged. "I've never had it before. I'm trying a little of everything lately." Well, that was certainly true. Beverly looked disapproving at the tranya but didn't comment.

"Oh," said Wesley eagerly, "Have you ever had Regrean wheat bread?"

"No," I said. "I'll try it."

The med officer from the turbolift earlier had just walked into the bar. She stared at me again. What was wrong with her? I took a bite of hasperat and nearly choked.

At that moment my combadge made that weird little noise that means someone's calling you. "Anderson to Entipy." Entipy…must be my name. Same as my fanfiction screenname. 

Who was Anderson, though? That was my best friend's last name…suddenly something dawned on me. I looked at the Crushers. "Will you excuse me?…" I stepped out into the corridor. "Emma?"

"I've been looking all over for you!" shouted my friend. "Finally I looked at the crew files. It took me ages to find you!"

"Um…how on earth…I mean…" I stuttered.

Just then my combadge made that noise again. "Frizz to Entipy."

"What are you people doing here?" I shouted joyfully. A passing lieutenant looked at me very strangely, but I didn't care.

"Shuttlecraft," said Emma.

"I think it was Q," said Frizz.

"Well, anyway…let's meet somewhere. How about my quarters?"

"If I can find them," said Frizz cheerfully.

"Just use the computer thingy," I told her. "It's really useful."

Ten minutes later we all sat crosslegged on the floor of my quarters, and I introduced my friends to each other. "So how did you guys get here exactly?" I asked. "I just said 'beam me up' and here I was."

"Something like that," said Emma. "I got beamed up by an Enterprise shuttle that was apparently conducting a research mission on this planet Rios IV. I think I was part of the away team. I'm a science officer."

"Well," said Frizz, "I was sitting in my school cafeteria eating cookies, when all of a sudden this penguin appeared. I wondered what a penguin was doing in the cafeteria, so I asked him. He said his name was Fred and he had come to take me out of there. Good thing too, because I had math next."

"And?" I asked eagerly.

"So then Fred disappeared, and then I disappeared too, and I was in this white place."

"Like in Tapestry?" said Emma.

"Exactly. And Q was there, and he said he would grant me one wish. So I chose to be on the Enterprise. He thought that was a really dumb wish, obviously, but he did it anyway. Brought me here, I mean."

"That doesn't sound much like Q," I said suspiciously. "He's not really the type to go around granting people wishes like the tooth fairy or something."

"That's a genie in a bottle," said Emma. "You're acting weird. Are you okay?"

"Must be the tranya," I said. "I was about to have dessert. Want some? I LOVE replicators. They're awesome."

"You had tranya?" Emma groaned. "Oh, no."

"What? Do you want cound pake or not? I mean, pound cake. Sorry."

"Tranya is highly alcoholic. You're drunk."

"I didn't mean to," I said huffily. "Computer, Tarvokian pound cake."

"Ooh, Wesley had that in The Game," said Frizz, who didn't seem too fazed about my being drunk. I'd only had a few sips.

"With mint frosting," I added, just to make things interesting.

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