Cetacean Surprise

All around the Melting Pot, the lady pirates of the Liberia's Grace sat, lounged, and sighed the time away. They had received no word from their leader, and there was no way to leave the locked lounge hall. The planned heist of the USS Nexus had gone almost to plan.

It was a clean and smooth operation until Captain Praxas locked the entire system down with his last gasp of consciousness. Since then, no one could go anywhere or do anything that required any semblance of technology. Even the doorways remained locked tight.

Unbeknownst to the pirates, centimeter-tall holographic projections of whales, dolphins, and other aquatic members of the USS Nexus surrounded the vicinity of the Melting Pot.

Back in the Cetacean Observations pool, the aquatic crew members floated at their stations, with headsets specially designed for each of their unique forms. These headsets allowed them to traverse the ship via the extensive holographic projectors scattered throughout the vessel, enabling the Cetacean crew to mix and mingle with the other members. Universal translators converted their chirps and whistles into easily understood speech, just like the hundreds of other languages spoken on board.

—

"On my mark," Kayuli instructed, his tone resolute and determined as he aimed his staff forward. "Mark!"

Suddenly, scattered throughout the Melting Pot, all the Cetacean officers grew to full size.

From two-meter (six feet) long bottlenose dolphins to the massive ten-meter (thirty feet) humpback whale, all adorned in blue and black Starfleet uniforms tailored to their unique physiology.

The sudden appearance of massive aquatic lifeforms in the lounge took the pirates by complete surprise.

"FIRE!" Kayuli yelled as a bolt of magenta energy blasted from his mage's staff at a shocked Andorian pirate, disintegrating her into nothing.

With flashes of orange light from phasers strapped to their aquatic heads, the crew vaporized all the pirates into nothing before a single pirate had time to react.

In a matter of seconds, the Melting Pot was secured.

"Kayuli to Eroga," he said, resting his staff, "Melting Pot is secured. Come on in whenever you wish."

The door creaked and groaned as Eroga pried it open with her Klingon strength. "Well done, Doctor," she said, stepping through. Then her eyes caught the passed-out Captain. "Let's get this antidote to the Captain, and then we need to retake Engineering."

Kayuli nodded as Eroga knelt down next to the unconscious Captain.

After a quick dose of the vial's hypospray, Captain Praxas gasped for air as he suddenly regained consciousness.

"Wha… What happened?" Anzyl asked groggily, sitting up. "Where am I?..." Then his eyes looked up and saw his Klingon officer and science officer dressed in purple mage robes. "Kayuli… Why are you in your mage robes?"

"Welcome back, Sir," Eroga patted him heartily on the shoulder. "But before we continue, can you unlock the computer system first? We are still locked out of everything."

"Oh…right… that," he shook his head, trying to stand up, but fell right back down to the ground. "Computer, disable Kappa Cabbage, authorization Praxas-Epsilon-7."

"Authorization accepted. Computer systems unlocked," the computer voice acknowledged.

Eroga's badge chirped, "We have all systems back, Commander!" Heluna's excited voice came over.

"Perfect, Heluna. The Captain is awake and a little groggy but awake," Eroga stood up. "Are the transporters working?"

"Yes, ma'am!" Heluna replied.

"Good. I need to get this vial to Engineering right away. Scan for life signs in Engineering," she instructed as she walked towards the now-lit transporter pads.

"Several non-Nexus pirates are trapped in Engineering," Heluna replied.

"Make them go away," Eroga said, standing upright on the pad. "Main Engineering." And in a flash of white light, she disappeared.

—

Eroga materialized in Main Engineering just as the half-dozen pirates looked in surprise as each of them were transported out with flashes of white light.

"Nicely done, Heluna," Eroga said, standing in the empty Engineering bay. "Do I want to know where you sent them?"

On the bridge, Heluna and Lusaalli looked out through the main view screen as half a dozen frozen bodies floated aimlessly in space. "I forced them to chill out…side," the Romulan officer chuckled.

Eroga chuckled to herself as she sat at an Engineering console. "Eroga to Kayuli, I honestly don't know what I'm doing here. Can you give me a hand?"

"Sure can," he said as he materialized right beside her in his blue science officer's uniform. "Although it might be better to wake my brother up so he can do it."

"I don't have enough antidote for another dose and the ship," Eroga stated bluntly. "We need to get it replicated in the computer and spread throughout the ship."

Nodding, he sat down at the console. "But I think I have enough of his mind in me to know what I'm doing." He elucidated as he typed away at the console, "Place the vial on that pad over there, please," his long blue fingers pointed to a small, round, lit-up pad.

She placed the small vial on the pad, and it lit up with a bright white light.

"OK, it's scanned," Kayuli said, typing away. "Good. It can be replicated. Having the computer replicate it and add it to the air filters around the ship."

"Start in the Melting Pot and Security barracks," Eroga instructed. "Let me know when you can sense the Jem'Hadar are up and awake. I have need of their skills," she said, standing up and heading towards the transporter pad. "Then do the primary systems: Engineering, Sick Bay, etcetera."

"Will do," Kayuli nodded. "Where are you going?"

"There is a massive cruise ship off our port bow I want gone," she replied, standing on the transporter pad. "Bridge," she stated, and in a flash of white, she disappeared.