[Celuien]

Noise from the battle continued to wash over the dormitory, and Panakeia remained firmly ensconced in her fortress of blankets. She was beginning to think that she would escape the fighting when a sharp rapping at the door made her heart skip a few beats. Panakeia stayed quiet and held her breath, determined to stand by the notion that if you ignore a problem long enough, it will go away. The knocking kept coming; her caller was persistent. But Panakeia still failed to respond. Finally, the knocking ceased. Panakeia started to breathe again, and a loud crash announced that her door and the couch had been pushed inward.

Three pairs of feet padded over the floor. Panakeia's heart sank. A Slan's messengers appeared to have returned. Maybe they wouldn't notice the shaking lump of fabric on the bed. No such luck. The footsteps drew nearer. Panakeia's blanket was pulled off of her head. She turned her face to the pillow and shut her eyes.

"Jim! Here she is! You no-good, scheming, rotten..."

"Stop it, Bones."

Panakeia's head spun around. Instead of A Slan's messengers, she saw Kirk, Dr. McBones, and Spockú of the formerly glorious brows. Panakeia was glad to see that he had the good sense to remove the brow Valde left behind. His face was even now, stubbly fragments of eyebrow just starting to form a scanty 'V" on his forehead.

"Captain! What are you doing here?" Panakeia cried. His toupee was carefully reattached to his head. Her package had evidently been delivered.

"The messengers came to us. They said there is trouble here. And that you follow me. We are here to solve the problem. Follow me."

"Wait. Are you with Anakron or A Slan?" Panakeia didn't want to get herself into trouble.

The Captain stood tall. "We represent the United Federation of Drekkies. I will always be on the right side. Come on!" He pulled Panakeia to her feet. "We're going to fight." And irresistibly, Panakeia was pulled out of her room in the direction of the raging battle. So much for neutrality, she thought.

Spockú spoke. "Captain, may I remind you that any interference in this matter is in direct violation of regulations? As well, may I remind you that you already have a considerable number of outstanding violations on record?"

"Regulations? Is that all that matters? We may violate a few orders, but I'm not going to stand by while the world is destroyed."

Dr. McBones said, "That's right. You cold hearted..."

He was interuppted by Spockú. "Really. You must learn to control your emotions, Doctor."

Dr. McBones' face turned beet red and he said something in reply, but it was drowned out by the noise of the battle, the brink of which they now stood on.

Panakeia moaned. "Please. I know that you have to do something, but can't you just leave me out of it? I'm no fighter. I'd be no help." She looked pleadingly at Kirk, but he ignored her.

"That's what we'll do," Kirk said. "We'll contact the ship and tell them to destroy the planet unless they stop fighting."

McBones and Spockú exchanged glances over Kirk's head. They stepped back a few feet.

"Do you think we should tell him?" whispered McBones.

"I see no logical alternative," Spockú replied.

They came back to Kirk. "Jim," McBones said, "Jim, there's something we have to tell you."

"What is it?"

"There is no ship, Captain."

Kirk's stared, an expression of despair on his face. "No ship? What do you mean?"

"We didn't have the heart to tell you before, Jim. There isn't a ship. There never was. Just a few cardboard sets in a fantasy world."

"No ship?" The look of grief on Kirk's face was beyond description.

"No. No ship."

That was enough. Kirk turned and ran off into some tall weeds at the edge of the battle, all the while sobbing, "No ship. No ship." McBones and Spockú set off in pursuit, leaving Panakeia behind.

Oh, what a bother! Panakeia ran after them, hoping she could help when they caught up to the Captain. She felt terribly sorry for him. And assisting the broken-hearted Captain would keep her away from the battle. She vanished into the weeds and leapt over a pile of discarded fast-food wrappers.

Suddenly, in a flash of light, time froze. Panakeia was suspended in mid-leap.

A disembodied voice echoed over the land. "Now, children, you know you shouldn't be fighting! Baa!"

"Illamatar!" Panakeia exclaimed. Or would have exclaimed had her mouth not been frozen.

"Yes, children. You shouldn't be fighting. Nor should you, parents. You, of all people, should know better. We just can't have this. I am very disappointed in you. All of you. You should be ashamed of yourselves. Baa!" There was another flash of light and a rumbling as the ground opened. Anakron's beasts vanished under the earth. Another flash of light transformed all of the weapons on the field into bouquets of posies. "Now I want all of you to behave yourselves. Play nicely with each other. Don't make me come back and give you another time-out. Baa!" The blinding light vanished, time unfroze, and Panakeia landed on the ground with a thud. She was torn between running to see what would become of the battle and continuing her search for the Captain. The decision was made for her by the reappearance of the Captain and his two friends. To Panakeia's amazement, Spockú and McBones were walking together, chatting and laughing.

"How could I have ever been so cruel to you? I can't believe it."

Even Spockú was grinning. "No, you weren't that bad. It was my fault for being stubborn." Both laughed and patted each other on the back.

If Illamatar's pronouncement had such an effect on the dueling pseudo-shipmates, what had it done to the battle? Panakeia raced to find out. She gazed out over the field and rejoiced.

Parents and children stood together, hugging, laughing and crying at the same time. They finally understood each other. For the time being. Flowers were tossed up in the air with the general air of good cheer.

But what of Anakron and A Slan? Panakeia searched for them in the crowd. Then she spotted them at the edge of the crowd, not far from where she stood.

"Um, sorry about all that, old chum," said Anakron. "About killing you before, I mean. And everything else. It was just a misunderstanding. Do you think you can forget about it?"

The Antilion looked at Anakron, wisdom and forgiveness in his kind eyes. "Of course I can. It has already been forgiven. But you must reform and learn patience, kindness and understanding."

Panakeia hurried away, not wanting to see the rest of the scene. She thought it was better to let Anakron and A Slan work out their problems alone.

She came up to the Captain. "Well, it seems that everything is going to end happily."

"Of course it is," he replied, a beatific smile on his face. "I came to help, didn't I?"

Panakeia decided to let him keep his dream.