A/N: Man this chapter fought me. I've been on an Avengers kick, and I got distracted :P Anyway, here we go.

"Yeah, I mean, well, go down, there's a tunnel," Elle led her fantasy character to the tunnel and went in, "if you're gonna go for bioinformatics you should go for it."

"It's not too out of my specialty?"

Elle rolled her eyes fondly. "We're sixteen, you can have more than one specialty." She gestured with her controller. "That's a bad guy up there, we have to get past him."

"How do I access my carry-all?"

"Green button."

"Oh. Hey, I have a cloak."

"Put it on," Elle instructed. "It's a cloak-ing device."

"Nice."

The yellow alert began to sound. "Moira, pause," Elle ordered. She looked at the nearest wall panel. "Status?"

"Unknown energy field," the computer replied.

"You need to go to the bridge?" Nicole asked, sitting up.

Elle shook her head. "I don't think so. It's probably just another ion storm, they're frequent in this area, Data said something about space eddies, I-"

She woke up on the floor, next to Nicole, who was slumped over in the beanbag. There was a smell of salt in the air. Elle rubbed at her forehead, confused. "Did I just black out?" she asked.

"What was that?" Nicole asked, shaking her head.

"I don't know, I'm gonna go up to the bridge, see what's going on."

The Yellow Alert switched to a Red Alert. "Intruder Alert. Intruder Alert. Security to the bridge."

Elle's stomach rolled, either from whatever happened or from nervousness.

"Is this an episode?" Nicole asked, huddling into the beanbag.

"I don't know," Elle said slowly. "I don't recognize anything so far." It wasn't worth going up to the bridge at this point. If there were hostiles, she needed to stay out of hostage-taking range. And with Nicole here, she couldn't ask Alexa what was going on.

The Red Alert turned off a minute later.

"That's weird," Elle said. "No all-clear."

"But it got turned off," Nicole said. "So we must be okay."

"Yeah," Elle said, relieved. She wiggled around in the beanbag chair. "I think I'll just go check what that was-"

There was a flash of light.

-/\-

Elle woke up with a gasp, and her head immediately started to throb. "Ow," she groaned, dropping her head to her knees.

"Elle?"

She turned her head to the side to see Nicole, who was also gripping her head. "You okay?"

"Feel wobbly," Nicole said. "What was that?"

"I don't know, that was so weird," Elle said. She tested her legs and stood up. Wobbly, but stable. "Whew. Alexa, what was that?"

"Unexpected wormhole that sent us across the system," Alexa replied. "The entire crew was stunned by the effect."

"How long were we out?"

"Approximately 30 seconds."

Elle blinked. "Huh. Cool." She picked up the game controller and turned towards the screen. The idle animation rotated slowly. Game Paused. 25 hours, 2 minutes, 37 seconds. 38 seconds. 39... "Alexa, I thought you said we were out for thirty seconds," she said slowly.

"You were," Alexa said.

Elle hit save on the game and turned it off. "Well, after that little excitement, I'm going to go see if Geordi needs any help with diagnostics," Elle said, helping Nicole stand. "Maybe you should eat something, you look a little pale."

"Ugh, Elle, you sound like my mom."

Elle poked Nicole in the side. "Lies and slander. I am the cool wine aunt."

"You don't even like wine."

"I like dessert wine!" Elle protested.

Nicole went to get something to eat and check on her sisters.

Elle waited till the doors shut. She looked up to where the camera pickups were. "Alexa. We were out for an entire day, weren't we?"

"I cannot tell you that," Alexa said.

The video game console turned itself back on. "She already knows, Alexa, just tell her." It was Moira, the games computer. She sounded exasperated.

"Alexa?" Elle asked again.

There was a deep sigh, filtered through the room's microphone with a whoosh. "All right, yes. You were out for an entire day."

"It wasn't a wormhole, was it?" Elle asked. "It was an alien or something. And they wiped our memories."

"Yes. They escorted us out of their space and revived the crew."

Elle nodded slowly. "Except for you, and Moira, and Data. Right?"

"Correct."

Elle nodded again. "And I only remember the events of the episode, because it was an episode." She stretched her neck. It felt stiff. "I'm going to go talk to Data."

She found Data in his quarters, staring fixedly at a spot on the wall. "Data?" she asked.

"Elle!" He jerked his head up, stared at her with wide eyes. "Do you require assistance?" he asked.

"I know about the "wormhole"," Elle said, making finger quotes in the air. "It was an episode."

He slumped and put his face in his hands. "In other circumstances, I would regret your knowledge as it places us in danger, but on this occasion, I could use the assistance. I am a terrible liar with all these emotions."

Elle stifled a laugh. "That's not a bad thing," she assured him. "Quick question though, did Worf break his wrist?"

"Yes, he did. Dr. Crusher healed it, however."

Elle winced. "Ah. Yes. Well, unfortunately, everybody's gonna figure it out."

"Elaborate, please."

"We left too many clues. I figured it out because my video game was counting how long it had been paused. Worf's wrist is gonna hurt, things in the lab will have cultured or grown unexpectedly, that sort of thing."

"Ah." Data frowned. "That is not good."

"No," Elle said, "but we just have to keep the Enterprise from returning to that area. If we return then we'll have to do it all over again."

"We're the two worst liars on the Enterprise," Data said. "This is going to be difficult."

"We shouldn't lie," Elle said. "We should, uh, tell the truth. From a certain point of view."

Data, even without having actual lungs, sighed deeply.

Elle could sympathize.

-/\-

It didn't take long. Picard called Elle to his ready room only four hours later. "Elle, good, sit down. Have you noticed anything, odd, lately?"

Elle blinked. "Besides blacking out and waking up a day's travel from our original location?"

"Besides that," he prompted.

"Uhh, you mean like possibly remembering that we encountered a xenophobic race of aliens that escorted us out of their solar system and erased our memories so that we wouldn't bother them, which you agreed to, to keep the peace, and then going on our merry way with a deep lingering suspicion that something was wrong? You mean like that?"

Picard stared at her for a moment. "Possibly, yes," he said, deeply suspicious.

"Yeah," Elle agreed, keeping her gaze somewhere near the ceiling of the fish tank, "somethin' like that."

"On a scale of one to ten," he said in an idle tone, gaze also set on the ceiling, "how important is it to retrace our steps?"

"Negative seven," Elle replied, inspecting her nails. "There's nothing new to learn, just another trip down 30-second amnesia lane and a heckin' amount of chronos to reupdate."

"And theoretically, if these xenophobic aliens were to pose a threat..."

"Nah."

Picard rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Thank you Elle, for this er, productive, conversation."

"A pleasure," she drawled, and stood up.

"Who else knows, by the way?"

"Data."

"Ah." He seemed satisfied. "Dismissed."

"Sir." Elle left the ready room and went back to her quarters. There was a comm waiting for her from Bones.

You missed our call yesterday, you okay? Do I need to call the cavalry? Or the Vulcans?

Elle winced. If they really had missed twenty-five hours, that means she missed Sunday entirely. "Whoops. Alexa, call Bones."

The call rang for about half a second before Bones' face was on the screen. "She lives," he grumped, masking the concern in his eyes. "What happened to Sunday? Too busy playing to call your doctor?"

Elle smiled. "Too busy being thrown out of sovereign space with the rest of the ship. Sorry Bones, we didn't even realize it had been a full day until a little bit ago."

"Hmph. You okay?"

"Peachy."

He gave a final harrumph and waved a hand. "So besides that, what've you been up to?"

-/\-

"Data?"

"Yes?"

"Are we really not going to say anything?"

"No, we are not," Data said calmly. "I have already spoken to the captain about this hypothetical race of aliens and we have sent back a series of sentry probes to warn other ships about unstable wormholes in the area. The Paxans' wish to be left alone will be respected, as will their wish for secrecy."

She sighed. "Okay."

Data pressed a kiss to the top of her head. This was part of his new 'platonic affection' subroutines, ones he'd instituted when he realized that casual touch was a large part of stable relationships, both platonic and romantic. He'd seen Picard kiss her head when she'd hugged him goodnight, and spent an entertaining ten minutes asking Picard 'in what circumstances do you give someone a kiss on the head'. (Elle had the conversation squirreled away in her personal drive, and had sent a copy to Wesley, who'd sent back a very long string of emojis.)

Elle smiled, which was probably his goal. "Thanks, Data."

"Ethical considerations are a large part of interacting with other cultures and species," he said placidly. "Will you be able to keep it a secret?"

Elle grinned at him. "I think so, Data, don't worry."

-/\-

Ethical considerations came up again a few weeks later. "First contact with an alien species," Elle enthused. "This is the first time we've actually initiated it, and not just kinda stumbled onto it."

"We've been monitoring this planet for quite a few years, waiting for them to get their warp drives right." Picard looked out the window and took a sip of tea. "Better for us to talk to them on their own planet before we meet randomly in space."

"True," Elle said, "So the Prime Directive ends when they reach this point?"

"Just about," Picard said. "If they are not ready in one way or another, then it stays in place."

Elle studied the mission packet. "So there's three teams down on the planet, undercover. We're just gonna comm them and be like 'hey, we're here, get your stuff?"

"Essentially," Picard said, smothering a grin. "If in a less casual manner."

"Cool. Can I come? I'm very good at putting people at ease."

When Picard grinned, it was all fondness. "If you promise to behave and all goes well, you may meet the Minister of Science."

"Nice."

Elle read the entire file on the Malcorians, and by the time Picard and Troi beamed down to speak to the Minister of Science, she was ready. She dressed semi-formal, matching what the Minister would probably be wearing, and practiced her best 'harmless and cute' expression. It was very good if she did say so herself.

They beamed back to the conference room, Minster Yale in between them. The Malcorian looked flabbergasted. "What..."

Picard stepped forward and extended a hand to Elle. "Minister Mirasta Yale, this is Elle Wilcott, one of our young interns who live and work on the ship with us."

Elle bobbed her head in greeting. "Welcome aboard, Minister Yale."

"You live here?" Mirasta asked, gazing around in awe. She stepped towards the floor-to-ceiling windows, drawn to the view. "It's everything I've ever dreamed of. When I was a child, my parents would take me to the planetarium and we would sit in the dark and it was as if I was on a spaceship, on my way to another world to meet people on other planets."

"Me too," Elle said, grinning. "And now we're here."

"And now we're here," Mirasta echoed. "Part of me keeps waiting for the lights to come up and the program to end. How did you know about me?"

Picard explained the process of gathering information, sending in specialized reconnaissance teams, trying to understand how their people thought and worked.

"That's amazing. And there are more species out there?"

"Over four hundred species in the Federation alone," Picard confirmed.

Mirasta rubbed her hands over her face. "I can't believe it." She sat back in her chair, pensive. "I don't think the rest of my people are going to take it very well," she said, after a long moment. "My people believe we are the center of the universe, that all life and wisdom came from our planet. To find out that it didn't, that there are hundreds of different aliens out there..."

"First contact with the wider galaxy is always overwhelming," Troi said, giving Mirasta a smile. "It's all right."

"The Chancellor would believe you," Mirasta said. "But the other ministers? The Minister of Security and Defense?" She grimaced. "I don't know."

"We will take it at your pace," Picard promised. "If we could, however, there are several teams that need to be returned to this ship. Could we beam down one of our officers, made up to look like one of you, to coordinate their retrieval?"

Elle's eyes widened. "Were you thinking of sending Commander Riker?" she asked suddenly.

Both the captain and Troi gave her a Look. "Yes," Picard said slowly.

Elle cleared her throat. "We may, want to hold off on that," she said diplomatically. "Commander Riker tends to find himself in interesting situations, whacking his head, ending up in the hospital, ruining his cover, accidentally causing an alien scandal and massive infiltration conspiracies..."

Mirasta blinked, horror dawning on her face. "If they were discovered undercover like that, you're right. It would be chaos."

Troi nodded, reading Elle's determination. "We shouldn't send anyone down, captain. It's too risky."

Mirasta leaned forward. "I'll help. Tell me who your people are pretending to be, I can gather them up and you can use your, uh, your transport sparkles, to bring them up here."

Picard smiled. "Thank you, Minister. That's very kind of you."

Mirasta smiled back. "You've opened my eyes to the whole galaxy," she said, "it's the least I can do."

Picard nodded. "Counselor Troi, if you and Elle would gather the pertinent details. Minister Mirasta, would you like a tour of the ship?"

"I would love one."

Picard offered his arm as per Malcorian customs and escorted the Minister of Science out.

Troi looked at Elle. "This is an episode."

"Yup." Elle leaned back in her chair. "Their minister of defense or whatever it is will seriously wig out if he finds aliens in disguise."

"Understandable," Troi said.

"Yeah, but, the Malcorians aren't ready for first contact." Elle sighed. "Dang it. I should've remembered."

Troi squeezes Elle's shoulder comfortingly. "You can't be expected to remember everything," she said, "and we'll make that decision once we've picked up the survey teams."

"Yeah."

They compiled the information on the teams and their disguises, and beamed Minister Yale back to her office. "And now we wait," Picard said.

-/\-

Minister Yale was good at her job. Within two days, she'd located all three teams and called them to her office under the guise of meetings and conferences.

There were entire pages full of extraction procedures for long-term undercover assignments like these. Elle got tired just reading them. "This is why we have an entire Anthropology team on every starship," she told Satel. "It's fascinating."

"I know," Satel said. "That's what we did on Earth."

Elle snorted. "I'm amazed that you guys really didn't run screaming."

The corner of Satel's mouth quirked upwards. "If we had run, we would not have screamed. That is illogical."

Elle side-eyed him. "Whatever."

Once everyone was safely picked up, Minister Yale took the next steps and spoke to the Chancellor of their planet. Captain Picard agreed to meet with him. The meeting was short. Elle counted thirty-five minutes from the time Picard beamed down, to the time that he beamed back up, Minister Yale by his side.

"How'd it go?" Elle asked.

Picard shook his head.

Minister Yale sighed. "My people are not ready. We may have the technology, but we do not have the right attitude to encounter the real galaxy."

"Minister Yale will be returning with us," Picard said. "Elle, would you show her to guest quarters?"

"Yes, captain. This way, Minister."

"Call me Mirasta," the scientist said, following Elle. "I'm no longer a Minister of anything." She frowned. "Does your Federation need more scientists?"

"Always," Elle said dryly. She gave Mirasta a comforting smile. "But, you know, you don't necessarily have to jump into the workforce. You can explore the galaxy first."

"And the economy?" Mirasta asked. "How does your society deal with money?"

Elle grimaced. "I've only been in the Federation for four years, I don't know how to explain it at all. But all your basic necessities are provided for, no worries."

"Where were you before?" Mirasta asked. "You look, er, like a human? Is it impolite to ask someone what species they are?"

Elle stifled a giggle. "Not really, as long as you do it respectfully. But I'm human, just, uh, I grew up on another planet that didn't have the Federation."

"Ah. So you and your family emigrated?"

Elle conjured a smile. "No. No, just me. So I know what's it like to leave everything behind. You'll find your feet, I promise."

"Thank you."

Elle got her set up with guest quarters, showed her how to work the replicator, the shower, and the voice controls for the computer. "Would you like to look around the ship, maybe eat a meal in one of the mess halls or lounges?"

"I think," Mirasta took a deep breath. "I think maybe tomorrow."

"All right, sounds good. I'm available if you would like a friendly tour guide. Just ask the computer for whatever you need. Good night."

"Good night. Thank you."

Elle left the guest quarters and took a deep breath. It was weird, to be helping someone with Elle's exact same problems from when she arrived in this universe. At least she could take some small comfort in knowing this was a common problem in the galaxy.