"Congratulations," Worf said gruffly. "Your pilot's license, Enterprise helm certification, and phaser recertification are complete. All that's left to certify you for away teams is first-aid recertification, your self-defense certification, and your survival skills."

"How close am I to being done for self-defense?" Elle asked.

Worf loomed over her. "If you can take down one of my security officers, you pass."

"Does nerve pinching count?"

"If you can get close enough to drop him, yes," Worf rumbled. "Although I will be testing you on the full scale."

Elle grinned. "Does your mok'bara class count to it?"

"You're still in my beginner class. No."

"Aww."

-/\-

"Angosia Three," Picard said.

Elle looked up, taken abruptly out of mid-20th century New York. "Captain?"

"We're on our way to Angosia Three, to review the planet's application for membership in the Federation." He sat down across from her. "Have you heard of it?"

"Uhh," Elle racked her brain. "We covered the Tarsian War in history class a while ago, they were one of the main participants, weren't they?"

"Yes they were," Picard said. "They have recovered well from the war and they have invited us to tour their capital city. We will be making a report to the Federation based on our observations."

Elle raised an eyebrow. "It doesn't sound like anything episode-related, unless we uncover some sort of dastardly scheme."

"Yes," Picard said, "and in that case I would expect you to assist us in any case, but I think it would be good to follow this process closely."

Elle tilted her head. "Why?"

"Because it is highly likely that you will become a highly-successful diplomat in the future," Picard said, "and you should continue honing your skills."

Elle poked at her discarded math homework. "Well I'm certainly not going to become an engineer." She looked up at him eagerly. "What do you want me to do?"

"If you could review the application, read up on their recent history, and any news articles of note, please. I'd like you to assist Mr. Data with the briefing."

"Cool! Yes, sir." Elle grabbed her book, her pile of PADDs, and kissed his cheek on her way out of the room. She froze, blushing. "Um. Sorry. Habit."

Picard had a hand up to his cheek, and his eyes were very soft. "When I was young, if I left without kissing my mother on the cheek, she would be mortally offended."

She smiled at him and escaped, grinning.

On her way out, Riker offered her a subtle thumbs-up from the bar. Pssht. Stalker.

-/\-

Data's preparation for running a briefing was exhaustive, down to the last detail. Working with him was like working with Spock. Elle felt right at home.

Data put her onto news articles. "You have a better grasp of intuitive pattern-recognition, which will enable you to find more obscure references to the planet and its recent history."

Elle pored over the news articles. "Hmm, thriving arts communities, lots of art outreach programs for neighboring systems..." She scrolled down, skimming through randomly. "Hm. Aftereffects of Tarsian War... ' Angosia seems untouched by violence, all destruction renewed and rebirthed, bringing new life to old buildings. Vibrant murals have taken over once placid walls, and the military has disbanded completely. Only the veterans have not been able to find peace on Angosia, preferring life in a nearby colony, where they can create art in a way that expresses the horrors of war that they have seen'..." She trailed off. "Data, how many colonies does Angosia have?"

"Two," Data said. "One on a neighboring planet, comparable to Mars, and one on a starbase on the outer edge of their galaxy."

"Not a lunar base?" Elle asked.

"No." Data looked it up. "There is a military base called Lunar Five, but it is not a civilian colony. It is a prison."

Elle's eyes widened. "Ohhh, this is an episode, Data, and we have uncovered a dastardly plot. You know, I'm actually impressed with my subconscious, I knew it."

"And what is this dastardly plot?" Data asked, intrigued.

"They Winter-Soldier'ed their people without consent and after the war was done they put 'em all in this penal colony instead of reintegrating them with society with like, therapy." Elle searched up the Tarsian wars. "I remember this episode 'cuz my dad went on a huge rant about returning veterans and their lack of care. His dad was in World War 2, but he never talked about it."

Data blinked at her. "I am glad you are here in the 24th century, Elle."

"Me too," Elle said, "why?"

"Because you would have had to live through World War 3."

Elle suppressed a shiver. "I just hope it doesn't happen in my universe. Not like that."

"Are there aliens in your universe?" Data asked.

Elle laughed. "I don't know. There's all the conspiracy theories but no one's ever had definitive proof. If there were aliens though, I don't think they'd touch our dumpster fire of a planet with a ten-lightyear pole." She tapped through the search results and sighed. "The Angosians really locked down on their soldier programming, there's not a single wartime news article about it."

"We do not have a linkup to the Angosian planetary database yet," Data said, "our research will be limited. This will greatly affect their application to the Federation."

"It better," Elle grumbled.

They went to the briefing. Data took point, reviewed the salient points, and then said, "And Elle has some further information for us. This is an episode."

Worf sighed.

Elle placed her hands on the table, trying not to fidget. "In the episode, a prisoner from the Lunar Five military base escapes. He was a soldier. During the Tarsian War, these soldiers were programmed without consent both chemically and psychologically to be the ultimate survivors, able to commit acts of incredible violence when threatened. Once the war was over, their government did nothing to help them, they just dumped 'em in that colony and left them there."

"They didn't attempt to reverse the programming?" Dr. Crusher asked.

"Not in the episode."

"And does Angosia not have therapy?" Troi asked.

"Angosia does indeed have an entire guild of psychologists," Data said.

"Probably the same ones that programmed these guys in the first place," Elle said dryly.

"If this is true," Picard started gravely.

"The Lunar Base prison exists," Data said. "However, we cannot access any other information about these soldiers yet."

"Hm. Commander Riker and I are beaming down to the Angosian capital in a couple hours, we'll be able to ask investigate this claim, and get a link to the Enterprise's computers then," Picard said. "Thank you, Elle, for bringing this to our attention. If there's nothing else? Dismissed."

-/\-

Elle missed the entire thing due to her chemistry exam. By the time she was done working through the problems ("If I never have to see another twenty-chain molecule again it'll be too soon"), one of the Angosian soldiers had already escaped Lunar Five and headed down to the main planet with a group of other prisoners.

"And you didn't assist Angosian security to stop them?" Elle asked.

Riker smirked. "As the captain said, it was a matter of internal security. We have no right to interfere. You should've seen the Prime Minster's face when Captain Picard asked him about reintegration of veterans. It was priceless."

"Nice." Her PADD beeped. "Excuse me, commander, I've gotta go. Dr. Crusher's running the first aid course this week."

"Don't wanna be late," he agreed.

Elle skidded into the holodeck, where the various crewmen and civilians were waiting. She went over to Tyler. "Hey."

"Hey."

She frowned at him. "What's wrong?"

He scrubbed at his hair with both hands. "It's midwifery this week."

"And?"

"And I don't wanna see any of, uh, that," he said, gesturing wildly.

"What if you get stuck in a turbolift, or a grocery store during a terrorist attack, or a cave, with a person who starts going into labor? What are you gonna do, tell it to wait?"

Nurse Ogawa looked over at them. "Elle, how do you know the opening speech of this segment?"

Elle grinned. "This first aid course was designed by Dr. McCoy and everyone on the Enterprise had to take it. To recertify I have to take this specific one again."

Tyler groaned. "I should've done the civilian standard first aid course."

"Still have to cover childbirth," Nurse Ogawa said, mercilessly.

"It's okay," Elle said, throwing her arm around his shoulders. "You're much too panicked to notice the blood."

"Oh Great Bird."

...

Tyler survived, barely.