"Elle."

Elle lifted her head from her staring contest with Simba the Third. "What's up, Alexa?"

"The Enterprise has diverted course to Tau Cigna Five," the computer reported. "New mission parameters indicate we are to evacuate a human colony from that planet before the Sheliak Corporation arrive."

"The Sheliak Corporation," Elle said slowly. "I think this is an episode. Wow. It's only been a couple days, that's fast." She moved to the computer screen. "What's Tau Cigna Five like?"

"A planet in the de Laure belt, saturated with hyperonic radiation," Alexa replied, pulling up the survey information, "it is highly unlikely that there are actual survivors if humans did land there."

Elle frowned. "Wait... who's the only one on the ship that could survive sustained exposure to hyperonic radiation?"

"Commander Data."

Elle snapped her fingers. "I know this episode! I have to tell Sp-" She paused. Pushed down the ache in her chest. "I have to tell... who do I tell?"

"Your direct contact is Commander Riker," Alexa reminded her.

"Oh yeah." She tapped the com button. "Elle to Commander Riker."

"Riker here. What can I do for you?"

"It's about the Sheliak, sir, this is an episode and I have some information that might be helpful."

There was a slight pause. "We just redirected course, how did you even know?" Riker asked, suspicious.

"The computer alerted me," Elle said blithely.

"Ah. All right then. Meet me in my office."

"Aye, sir."

The first officer's office was tucked away on Deck 8 near his quarters, and besides some paintings of Alaska and a yeoman-ordered work calendar, the only other thing in his office were stacks and stacks of PADDs. "What do you got?" he asked.

"The ensigns of command," Elle said, sitting across from him. "That's the name of the episode. There are people on that planet, like, thousands of them."

"That doesn't make sense. That planet is full of radiation."

Elle shrugged. "Well then this whole episode is moot. But if there are people, you're gonna have to send Data down to talk to them. I like this episode because it forces Data and the captain to switch roles. Data has to appeal to the human emotions to make his case, and Captain Picard has to scroll through like three hundred pages of treaty and out-logic the Sheliak to give us more time to evacuate."

"Or you could just tell us the logic," Riker suggested.

Elle grimaced. "Something about stalling tactics. Um, a dispute mediator. Something like that."

"I see."

"Yeah. Appealing to their morals doesn't work."

Riker covered a grin with his hand. "I'll be sure to let the captain know that. Is that everything?"

"Uhhhhhhhhhh..." Elle scrunched her face up, trying to think. "Someone needs to give Data a pep talk before he goes."

Riker snorted. "Okay." He put down his datapad. "And how are you?" he asked. "You had your first couple days of school, right? Meet anyone interesting?"

Elle grinned. "Well, I met my first non-fancy Vulcans, which I wasn't expecting, and I have identified and befriended the heads of the civilian rumor mills."

Riker's grin increased. "You met Mr. Mott."

Elle giggled. "Yeah, I did."

"You really know how starship life works," Riker mused. "Have you discovered who the officer's rumor mill is?"

Elle folded her arms and leaned back in her chair. "Well, I would say Counselor Troi but she's not allowed to say anything, so... You."

Riker grinned. "How'd you know?"

"Who else would it be?"

"It could be Data," he said persuasively.

Elle wrinkled her nose. "He doesn't understand the dynamics yet."

"Dr. Crusher?" Riker challenged.

Elle shook her head. "Privacy laws."

"Geordi?"

Elle gave him a flat look. "Someone who's dating life is that bad is not allowed to be in charge of the grapevine."

Riker busted up laughing. "Just because you're right doesn't mean you're right."

Elle grinned smugly.

"Who was it on the Enterprise-D?" Riker asked.

"Sulu had the relationships, Uhura and Nurse Chapel had everything else," Elle said. "Or Rec Chief Tanzer. Who's the head of recreation on the Enterprise?"

"Guinan," Riker said.

"Ah. Of course." Elle blinked. That meant Guinan definitely knew about Moira, and possibly Alexa. Hm. Something to ask her about.

"Well if that's all, I should probably go give Data a pep talk."

"A real pep talk," Elle said, "with actual psychology strategies."

"Yes ma'am," Riker said, amused, and ushered her out.

-/\-

Elle kept tabs on the situation - she assumed Picard had gotten through to the Sheliak, since the Enterprise stayed stationed over Tau Cigna Five for the next three weeks.

Elle stayed busy choosing electives, making friends, and memorizing the ship's layout. She picked her favorite mess hall, her favorite rec deck, got a permanent slot once a week to watch stuff on the old-fashioned silver screen, and reserved her first slot on the holodeck.

"I've never used a holodeck," she told Satel, at their Iliad reading. "Is there anything I need to be aware of?"

"Don't attempt to override safety parameters," was all he said. "Voice commands should do the rest."

Nothing about "what to do if the holodeck characters come alive and things start trying to kill you." Maybe holodeck episodes were really exaggerated for plot purposes? After all, the proto-holodeck on the original Enterprise was always fine.

Elle stood at the entrance to the holodeck. "Hey Moira?" she asked, accessing the simulation database. "Is there a Swiss Family Robinson type of treehouse on file?"

"There is," Moira replied. "There are three diferent styles, one copied directly from the books."

"That one, please," Elle said.

"Loading."

Elle bounced on the balls of her feet, waiting. "Moira?"

"Yes, Elle?"

"If something goes horribly wrong you'll save me right?"

Moira sounded amused. "Yes, I'll save you."

"Okay, cool."

"Enter when ready," the computer announced, and the doors slid open to reveal a tropical paradise with the largest, most complicated treehouse Elle had ever seen. It was perfect.

She walked in and tilted her head up to feel the sun on her face. The ground was uneven under her feet, and she tripped over a root branch. It smelled like dirt, and fresh air, and green living things. Her shoulders dropped, and everything in her relaxed at the sound of bird calls and buzzing insects.

"This is so cool," Elle breathed, walking under the massive branch that held the first "room" of the treehouse. "So cool." The bark of the tree scraped against her fingers, and she spotted a tiny ant crawling among the grooves in the trunk. "Fascinating," she intoned, peering at it.

Elle plucked a leaf from the tree. It felt like a leaf. She climbed up the rope ladder and took her sweet time exploring the treehouse. It looked just like it had in Elle's mind. You couldn't even hear the low thrum of the ship's engines over the sound of the rustling leaves and the whistling birds. "Can I live here?"

"No," Moira told her. "You can save this in your favorites, however, and add modifications to the program."

"Save it to my faves, please," Elle said. "What else is on here?"

She cycled through seven different environments pulled directly from books. And, "Moira? Could you recreate an environment pulling street maps?"

"Possibly," Moira said. "When and where?"

"Earth, approximately 2018, the town of Milton, Oregon, United States of America," Elle said.

"One moment," Moira said.

Elle chewed at her lip nervously.

"I'm sorry, Elle. The town of Milton, Oregon was destroyed in WWIII and the Federation no longer possesses records of that area during the 21st century. Perhaps you could describe the house and I could show you similar items?"

Elle sighed. "No, I think I'd better not. It was a wild guess, anyway. Thank you." She smiled faintly at the crystal caverns of Mexico. "We'll do that one next time, maybe. A little light spelunking."

"Sounds good."

Elle walked to the exit. "Computer, end program." She left the holodeck behind.

-/\-

Elle's PADD buzzed violently on her desk.

"Tablets on silent, please," the teacher intoned from the desk.

Elle grabbed the PADD off the desk and silenced it. She looked at the message. "Yellow Alert, Enterprise emergency response to colony distress call," she read, and tapped open the full status alert.

The colony on Delta Rana, under attack, immediate assistance requested...

Delta Rana... hm. Elle frowned. After the nanites were the ensigns were the... "The old people and the music box," she said aloud, and blushed when the other ten students turned to look at her. She looked down at the PADD. Delta Rana wasn't too far, and they would arrive in only a couple of hours... She had to go talk to Commander Riker right now.

"Problem, Miss Wilcott?" the teacher asked, as Elle stood up.

"I have to talk to my officer liaison," Elle replied. "Something's come up."

He raised an eyebrow, looking amused. "Just because you don't want to do seven-dimensional math..."

She looked at him flatly. "Sir, this is my actual job, it is time-sensitive, I need to speak to Commander Riker about the distress signal."

The teacher frowned, his amusement turning into concern. "Go then. Don't worry about the math."

Everyone watched Elle leave the classroom, but behind her Jetta called, "Mr. Mike, I think I got the wrong imaginary number in this fraction?!" and promptly distracted everyone.

"How did you get an imaginary number-"

The door closed behind Elle. She tapped at the nearest comm on the wall. "Elle to Commander Riker."

"Don't tell me," he replied, sounding amused, "it's an episode."

"It is an episode," Elle said, "and we have to go faster. I think the whole colony might already be destroyed."

There was a pause. "Understood," Riker said. "Come up to my office."

"Aye, sir."

Elle made her way up to his office. Counselor Troi was there, and they had out schematics and plans for colony disaster relief. Elle sat next to Toi on the sofa. "It's, well, in the episode, by the time we get there, everyone's dead, the whole planet's been turned into wasteland, except for this tiny patch of green grass and a house."

"Not suspicious at all," Riker said dryly.

"Right? So you go down, and there these two old people. One of them is a not-humanoid being who is a colonist, the other one is an illusion of his wife that he made after she died in the attack. And while we're there, Counselor Troi, you really shouldn't do any psychic or empathic probing."

"Why not?" Troi asked.

Elle blinked. "Because in the episode the being uses a music box tune as an active psychic blockade and drives you crazy."

Riker held up a hand. "Hold on, go back to the beginning, you're not making any sense."

Elle sighed and plopped into a chair to put her thoughts in order. She traced a line through the air with her finger. "Well, in the episode everything was all out of order, so I have to go backwards," she murmured, half to herself, half to the phantom-version of Spock in her mind's eye. She sat up. "Okay. I got it."

"The distress signal," Riker prompted.

"That's totally real. These really violent aliens came and attacked the colony, killed the old dude's wife along with everyone else, and he killed them back in return."

"A being capable of destroying a ship from the surface of a planet," Troi murmured, startled.

"No, you don't understand. He killed all of them. And now he's just hanging out on the planet with the recreation of his wife."

Jaws dropped.

"When we get there, Counselor, you can't use your empathy to try and read him, or he'll use some sort of psychic feedback, like I said, and you'll go crazy. The captain figured out what was what, because of this phantom ship, or whatever, and he got the alien to heal you, but otherwise, we really just need to leave him alone."

Troi and Riker shared a glance. "You have some vacation days coming up," Riker said, offhand.

Troi rolled her eyes at him, fond. "Or I can stick to using situational cues to read people, like everyone else does," she said dryly.

"Or that," Riker agreed easily.

Elle watched them, smiling. They're so cuuuute.

Troi turned to her, amused. "And what's that face for?" she asked.

"Nothing," Elle said, fighting down a blush.

Riker shook his head. "Thank you for the information, Elle, but I really don't think the captain's just going to let the destruction of an entire colony go. We're at warp 8, we'll be there in a few minutes, and we might even be in time to save some people."

"I don't know," Elle said doubtfully. "But you know, besides the whole genocide thing, he doesn't want to hurt anybody. And I think that broke him, no matter how immortal he is."

Troi tilted her head to the side. "Do you remember the name of his species, Elle? Or what kind of being it is?"

Elle scrunched up her face, trying to remember. "I think he said, hm. Well he's not a letter-that-comes-after-P, if you know what I mean, but he's something similar. Immortal, omnipotent, that kind of jazz. Uhhhhhh, it sounded Celtic but it wasn't, it was like, Douwd?" She looked up at them expectantly.

"Never heard of them," Riker said.

Elle sighed. "Next time we see what's-his-name-that-comes-before-R, we should ask him for a list of immortal beings who ought to be doing their jobs but aren't. I feel like we could strike half the episodes off that way."

Riker laughed at her. "You don't have to avoid saying his name, Elle, he's not Macbeth."

Elle gave him the stink-eye. "The Romulans were right about that kind of stuff and I'm not kidding," she said firmly. "He can stick to his own episodes."

Riker laughed. "All right, then. Going back to our present omnipotent being, the captain's going to want proof."

Elle laughed. "Well, if you do go down to the planet, Commander Riker, don't get stuck in the old man's snare trap and hang upside down. It's not very first-officer-like."

Counselor Troi sniggered, most unprofessionally.

"I'll do my best," Riker said, grinning. "Thanks for the heads-up." He sobered. "I hate having to quarantine planets."

"Well, it's not like it'll be useful for anything," Elle said.

"We'll see," Riker said, optimistically.

-/\-

The Enterprise arrived at Delta Rana. From orbit, through the observation window, it looked like an orb of slag metal.

Elle's heart sank. Even with warning, they weren't in time to save anyone else. I knew it, she said to herself glumly. That meant the attacking aliens were also all dead. Everyone except the Douwd.

Elle's gaze traveled across Ten-Forward and rested on Guinan. Hmm. Elle slid off her chair and went to the bar. "Hey Guinan?"

"Need a hot cocoa refill?" Guinan asked cheerfully.

"Sure. What do you know about the Douwd?"

Guinan's eyebrows went up. "Well, if you're asking do I know of their existence, yes. Have we found one?"

"You haven't sensed him?"

Guinan smiled that enigmatic smile. "It's dangerous to be aware at all times, Elle. You should know that."

Elle frowned. "Okay, but, what do you know about them?"

"Not much," Guinan admitted, leaning her elbows on the counter. "They're not chaotic, like some people we could name-"

Elle snorted.

"-But they are very powerful. Mostly content to wander."

"Why don't they join the other purely-energy beings?" Elle asked. "Aren't there like, dimensions, where those people hang out?"

Guinan sighed. "Some people can't let go of the realm of matter," she said. "If he's lost everything, like I imagine he has, considering the planet, he might go do that, now."

"Do you think I could point him in the direction of the Borg?" Elle asked, half-joking.

Guinan fought back a smile, aiming for stern. "You shouldn't weaponize people. That's not polite."

Elle nodded. "I wouldn't. He's got enough grief on his plate." She paused. "The Borg." She looked at Guinan, her eyes widening. "I've got to warn them, about the Borg."

Guinan put her hand on Elle's wrist. "Maybe let them take one powerful being at a time," she suggested.

"Yeah," Elle agreed. She wiggled on her chair, suddenly restless. "I think I'm gonna go for a run."

"You do that."