Elle went for a run around the Rec Deck track, joining a few people from Security and a few off-duty crewmen. She went back to her quarters, showered, and checked the mission status.

Still in orbit around Delta Rana.

Rana. "Doesn't that mean frog in Spanish, er, Latin?" Elle asked.

Simba the Third cooed contemplatively.

"Anyways," Elle said, and looked up who was heading up the Borg research project. Admiral whoever, blah blah blah, op, there was it, Commander Shelly. "Ah yes, the usurper."

What were the things that had defeated the Borg? Ablative armor, quantum torpedoes, biological pathogens, individuality, phase modulating weapons... what bout the transwarp conduits? No, that didn't apply to this quadrant. Not yet. It was one cube. One cube, able to take down an entire fleet of ships.

Elle frowned. Shield rotating frequencies... ugh. She was not qualified for this. Calm down, there's time. Breathe.

She focued on her breathing and pushed her thoughts toward the Borg episodes. Q... Wolf 359, Locutus, oh no... Hugh, viruses, Delta Quadrant... Species 8472... the Borg queen, what a wacko... Endgame, oh man we gotta do something about Voyager- no. Focus. Borg.

The problem, of course, was ethics. She knew that Borg could regain individuality once unplugged from the Collective. Could she recommend scooping up Borg survivors? Could she trust that Star Fleet (lookin' at you, Section 31) would actually rehab them and not accidentally recreate their own Borg army?

Elle shuddered at the thought. These were all good questions, but ultimately unproductive. The Federation held its own against the Borg just fine without her, and with any new advantgae their effectiveness would only go up. All Elle had to do was give them her information and consult on issues as they came up. That was her job after all.

She opened a memo and began to input everything she remembered.

After she was done, she checked the mission update. "Oh." The Enterprise was already gone from Delta Rana. It was all over, four hours after rummaging around her own brain.

Elle finished up her report and went to sleep. Eight hours wouldn't make a difference.

-/\-

"The Borg," Riker repeated. "That's handy." He reached out for the PADD.

Elle held onto it. "Wait!" She gripped it tightly. "Wait, I forgot. You can't- there's a section in here that's captain-eyes-only."

Riker's eyebrows went up. "Do you know how to classify and black out a specific section on this PADD?"

"Uh..."

He walked her through it and received the now-redacted information with a grin. His grin fell almost immediately. "Elle, you're claiming that the first encounter the Federation had with the Borg was in the 22nd century?" he demanded.

Elle shrugged. "Well, the first-first is still horribly classified, but this is the second-first. I think."

"...And these Borg were from the future?"

"Yup."

"And then the next thing is, a year from now?"

"Yup." Elle tilted her head. "He-who-shall-not-be-named was actually helping you. The Borg are already aware of the Federation."

"Why haven't they shown up before now?" Riker asked.

Elle shrugged. "I never found out. I don't think anyone really knew. They were just one of those good bad guys, in the show."

"Hm." Riker frowned down. "This is an interesting use of phase modulation."

"Yup."

He tapped his comm. "Riker to Picard."

"Picard here."

"Captain, Elle's brought up a, future event, we need to consult on," Riker said.

"On my way."

Picard arrived. Riker handed him the PADD. "Read that, and check out the classified section, captain," Riker said.

Picard's eyebrows went up. "The Borg?" he asked. "So Q's meddling had consequences after all."

"It was a warning," Elle said, "and just in time, too. The next Borg cube is going to make a beeline for Sector 001. If we weren't working on stuff, this time next year, the Federation is toast. Nice, crispy, cyborg toast."

"From our first encounter they regarded us as little more than insects," Picard said, "what changed? Especially this," he checked the PADD, "this time travel incident?"

"Two of them," Elle said, "both of them going back in time before the Federation existed."

"Why?"

Elle cleared her throat. "Well. This is just a theory, okay, I had a reddit account don't judge me, but possibly something having to do with that classified bit."

Picard scrolled down to that bit about omega particles.

Elle knew when he read it- his expression changed to one of alarm.

"It is possible," he said slowly, gravely. "If the Borg were looking for sources of boronite ore, they would have had to cut Earth's progress off at the knees to prevent scientists from experimenting with it. But why not send more ships, if the Delta Quadrant is indeed swarming with them?"

Elle shrugged. "Overconfidence? Lazy writing? Small budget." She grimaced. "It's the small budget aspect that really worries me. I honestly don't know in real life how many cubes went back in time, both times, or how many cubes will come a year from now. The Borg aren't constrained by special effects."

"We'll send this directly Star Fleet command," Picard decided. "If they are indeed coming in a year, or less than, we need to be prepared."

"I put in the suggestions that each ship should have the new designs as they roll out," Elle said. "We'll never match them otherwise. They can cut through us like tissue paper, as I'm sure you're aware."

Riker frowned. "I think I'll put Geordi and Data on this, too."

"Good idea, Number One. I will leave this in your hands" Picard turned to Elle and offered her a smile, trying to lighten up the mood and change the subject. "So, what have you been reading lately?"

"Uh, the Iliad. Satel, in my art class, has never read a Terran epic, so we're reading it together." Elle winced. "Also they totally know I'm from the past. Cat was out of the bag as soon as I told them my teacher was Spock."

"Ah, well, life on a small ship," Picard said. "It's not classified, per se, many people have come to this century through cryostasis, or accidents, or temporal anomalies-"

"Or death," Elle chimed in cheerfully. "Yeah. So it's not too weird."

Picard winced. "You didn't die, exactly," he said.

"I shook hands with the Eternal Sleep and ran away," Elle said.

Riker snorted.

"Danced in the field of the Faraway Bunny Heaven and got kicked out for tresspassing," Elle continued.

Picard rolled his eyes. "That's a new one."

"Why are there so many euphemisms for death?" Elle asked. "As a serious question."

"What do you think?" Picard asked, in the interest of cultivating her critical thinking skills.

Elle frowned. "Well, I don't know about the religious part, but there has to be something, where Q and the Organians and the Metrons and Trelane's people, and the Douwd, and the Greek gods, I mean, they're still alive, but they're just, using physical matter as a playground, so I don't know. I guess you'd have to define what 'dead' means."

"True, and many cultures say-" Picard stopped himself. "Did you say Greek gods?"

Elle grinned. "Yeah. Captain Kirk met Apollo. That was before I came."

"I see," Picard said.

Riker grinned at them. "Well, I'd love to join this discussion, but I have to go see about some rumors of time-traveling teenagers?" He left the office.

Elle and the captain graciously removed themselves to Ten-Forward, had tea with Guinan, and discussed the definition of 'death.' The Borg reported to Star Fleet Command, Elle put it firmly out of her mind. They'd get to it when they got to it.