Tribble Trouble Stardate 2260.19

While Spock and Scarlett always maintained a professional air when on duty, in the privacy of their quarters they let their true feelings for each other show. Spock was quite...intimate and loving and he always seemed to know what she needed. Scarlett had been on her feet all day and so having Spock rub them like he was was quite pleasing. He seemed to enjoy doing such things for her and helping her to relax. Scarlett was feeling that things were going to turn more intimate very soon...that is until she heard Amara call her husband away. She was disappointed and Spock would be able to sense that through their bond. However, she could only hope that he would be back soon. 

"I wish you didn't have to go," she said as he stood up.

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Elyse had been quite pleased when Leonard had suggested that they take a shower together. She loved it when Leonard would massage her scalp...although she was hoping for more than just a scalp massage. She moaned softly as she felt his hands on her breasts and when he pressed up himself up against her backside she grinned. She was about to turn around to kiss him, when she suddenly heard Amara's voice over the intercom. She sighed, but she knew Leonard needed to go. She was curious as to why Amara was calling for both Spock and Leonard, but she wasn't about to question it. Amara was her friend and Jim's wife and though she outranked her, Amara was not one to cry wolf. If she was asking for their help then she genuinely needed it. Amara could usually handle herself easily.

"Hurry back," Elyse said with a grin. 

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Sofia was beginning to panic. She didn't know what was happening and when she saw one climbing up into the vent she knew they had a problem. She grabbed it and then looked at Scotty. "They might be getting into the machinery!"

"I know but no one is ever truly off duty on a starship," Spock reminded her and then began to get dressed. Eventually he arrived when Leonard did and they both saw all the Tribbles. McCoy had seen them at the dinner and bent down and picked one up. He began to examine one as Spock addressed Amara. "Apparently we have a population explosion. With this many here either they were pregnant when brought onto the ship or these...things reproduce extremely quickly," he said. McCoy and Sofia managed to get all they could find and they put them into a large plastic container. Scotty poked holes in the top of it and then together they headed down toward Engineering. When they arrived several crewman and women smiled and stroked the little furry things. They were enamored with them and there were several more than Sofia initially thought. One was not far from the Warp Core.

Scotty and Sofia had gathered up all of the ones they could find in her quarters and had located Amara. McCoy had located a large, plastic container and had poked holes in the top. They began to put all of the Tribbles that they could locate inside the container. However, they knew that there were probably more around the ship. They headed down to Engineering and saw that the crewmen and women had several of them there and were holding them. Sofia managed to quickly grab the one that was nearing the Warp Core and she breathed a sigh of relief. That would not have been good!

Amara looked over at Spock and saw he was holding one and stroking it himself. The Tribble purred from his touch. She couldn't help but grin a little. "Awww Spock, I didn't know you had it in you," she teased playfully.

Scarlett then suddenly appeared. She had several Tribbles in her hands. "I tried to use the replicator and got these instead of my tea."

Spock looked at Amara. "Amara, I think, perhaps, this issue requires the Captain's attention?" Spock said and it was not really a question. "Obviously these things reproduce extremely fast. If there are many unaccounted for, there could be hundreds in hours. We need to get on top of this quickly," McCoy said. "I'll take this one down to sickbay," he said and stepped away. Eager not to be around when the Captain was roused for this.

Spock's communicator beeped and he flipped it open. 'Spock, we've got these Tribbles all over Engineering. We need a team to help collect them all," Scotty said. "I'll be right there Mr. Scott," Spock said. "Amara, we need search teams to start collecting them and euthanizing them," Spock said and Scarlett gasped as she rubbed the one she held.

Amara did not want to wake James up for this. James was already stressed enough as it was. He needed to sleep and a situation like this wasn't going to help that. 

"Can we not figure this out without him? He desperately needs rest. He's barely gotten any in the last week."

Scarlett was stroking one of the one's she held and she gasped when she heard Spock suggest that they euthanize them. "We can't just kill them."

Amara decided that now she needed to get James involved. "Ok, no one is doing anything until I talk to James," she said as she headed back to their quarters. She hated doing this, but she had no other choice. She stepped inside and cringed when she saw that James was asleep. He hadn't even gotten undressed. He was just laying asleep, fully dressed on their bed. She walked over and sat down on the edge and lightly caressed his cheek.

"James...."

Just before Kirk woke Amara’s Communicator chimed. When she stood and moved into the other room to answer it, Kirk stirred but didn’t wake up. It was McCoy.

“Amara, I’ve done a few simple tests on these Tribbles. I believe there is a way to sterilize them and they are detectable by the ship’s sensors. I checked. Scotty should be able to use the transporter to transport them into a cargo bay. We could setup a containment area for them. They eat just about anything. If we use a food we have alot of, I can taint it with the sterilization medicine,” he said.

Amara felt a sense of relief from what Dr. McCoy told her. She was glad that James hadn’t woken up. This seemed easy enough to take care of now. “Ok, lets do that then,” she said. “Perhaps we could use the replicators to replicate some food. I’d rather not use fresh food after what they already ate.”

Amara and Scarlett used two replicators to replicate some salad greens and fruit and vegetables. Sofia helped Scotty with the transporter while Spock kept an eye on the sensors to ensure they got them all. Dr. McCoy prepared the sterilization.

All of this still took time, hours to set up. They had several teams collecting the Tribbles and putting them in large, plastic containers. There had to be hundreds of them already. Scotty and Sofia had their hands full with just trying to keep them out of Engineering. Crewmen and women brought them by the armful out of Jeffry’s tubes, crawl spaces and Engineering compartments. They were everywhere.

Hours later…

The cargo bay already had hundreds of them brought in even before Scotty began to transport them there. The especially treated food was in their holding containers which resembled large, clear rectangular fish tanks. After he thought they had gotten them all, they still checked the internal sensors to make certain. Just one not where it was supposed to be could mean thousands in just a day. “I hope this works,” McCoy said under his breath.

Amara was exhausted, but she knew that everyone else was too. She was just glad that she hadn't woken James up. They were all highly intelligent and capable of figuring things out on their own. She stood next to McCoy by one of the containers and she looked at the Tribbles. "I guess the next step will be figuring out what to do with the ones we have. I'd rather not kill them if we don't have to."

“You and me both,” he said as the last of them appeared. Spock frowned at Scarlett who had been holding the one she had for quite some time. She hadn’t put it down since they started and she had to let it eat the treated food. He gave her a nod of approval when she did set it Into one of the crowded tanks.

“After this Sofia, we’ll make sure you get one to keep ok?” He said with a grin. He knew she still wanted one.

A few hours had passed and though they had had an increase in their population, it wasn’t a very large increase and no others were reported on the ship.

Kirk stirred as Amara finally came to bed. “Oh, I must have slept in my clothes,” he said as he yawned. He looked at the time. “Wow, I was out for hours...did anything interesting happen?” He asked.

They all knew that they couldn't make any final decisions regarding the Tribbles without James. With all of the Tribbles contained and the population increase slowing significantly, they all decided to get some rest. It was close to 2 am now and Amara was exhausted. She didn't even take off her clothes as she got into bed. She felt James stir next to her and she looked at him and started to laugh a little when he asked if anything interesting had happened.

"Yeah...I'll tell you all about it after I get some sleep," she said and then she curled up in his arms and they both fell back asleep. 

The following morning, after they had showered and were getting dressed she told him about their Tribble trouble. 

"So, we've gotten them all contained and they shouldn't be reproducing anymore. There are hundreds of them, but I really don't want us to have to kill them. What do you think about letting crew keep them as pets? We would have to figure out containment, but since they wouldn't be able to reproduce anymore they would just live out their life and die of natural causes."

Kirk's eyes goggled when he saw the colorful display of what looked like little, furry balls. They were all in the same container. Kirk had gotten a good, long sleep and he felt pretty good right then. He nodded and didn't really have much else to say about it. "Well if the crew are happy, I'm happy. If they pose no threat to the ship...I see no reason not to keep them. Carry on," he said and shrugged and stepped away toward the turbolift.

On the bridge everyone seemed to be a pretty good mood. They were headed toward the Parigraen system were supposedly there was a class M planet, Parigraen VI that 'could' have a warp faring civilization on it. Kish'et also noted in his logs that Parigraen III had some interesting ruins and they they should definitely check it out. Kirk knew that he would.

Amara was quite pleased that James agreed to her plan. He appeared fresher and less agitated than he had been the past few days. She was glad that she had not awoken him the night before. She stepped away with him into the turbo lift and they made out a little until they reached the bridge. She then straightened out her uniform and walked over to relieve Uhura. She took her seat and took over monitoring communications as they headed towards the Parigraen system. 

Word soon got out about the Tribbles and some rules had to be set. If a crew member took a Tribble then they were entirely responsible for it. They would have to keep it in their quarters and it must be contained when they are on duty or not able to keep a close eye on it. In order to prevent any problems like this arising in the future, Scotty and Sofia were already working on a mess screening system to go inside the vents in crew quarters. This way, they could be certain that the Tribbles would not escape. 

Sofia took back her original Tribble and then she picked another one with brown hair, like Scotty's, for him. "I think you should keep this one," she said with a smile.

Scotty took the Tribble uncertainly. "Well I don't know, I'd prefer to play with..." He began but just then others came and he wasn't able to finish his thought. But Sofia knew it was not anything appropriate.

McCoy was surprised that after his shift was over, Elyse was sitting on the bed with her Tribble. She was reading her department reports as it dozed on her shoulder. He just grunted and began getting ready for the evening. "I wonder if there's a cure for Tribble fever...." He said dryly as he began to undress. He did not notice the grin on Elyse's face.

Sofia raised an eyebrow at what she knew Scotty was going to say. She then grinned and kissed his cheek. "Maybe later," she whispered into his ear and felt him grin.

Elyse had gotten off of her shift early and she had happily gone to get her Tribble. She had given her original Tribble to Scotty to give to Sofia and she had picked out another one. She was back in their quarters with it when Leonard walked in. It was on her shoulder as she read through some reports. She grinned at him.

"Think of it as practice for a real baby." 

She saw him look over sharply at her and she laughed. "No, I'm not pregnant."