A Whale of a Time

A dumbfounded Kayuli paused and thought about Eroga's odd request, "You want a bunch of Cetacean whales, dolphins, and porpoise scientists to retake the ship from pirates?"

"If you are the only crewmembers that have the ability to move about the ship freely," Eroga stated, "then the ship's safety and security are quite literally in your flippers."

Kayuli sighed heavily, "Many of the Cetacean crew have never seen a single moment of combat, much less retake a ship from pirates."

"If anything, Doctor," Lusaalli piped in, "you may just need to intimidate the pirates. I know I would be terrified if a Tulkun Whale came charging at me in the hallways."

"And," Heluna added, "you would all be holographic. The pirates can't actually hurt you. Just modify the holographic safety protocols to interact with anyone or anything."

"Ok… so…" Kayuli sighed and put his hands on his hips. "Any place we should reclaim first, Commander?"

"We need to get this," Eroga leaned over the dead Orion captain's body, picking up a vial, "this is the antidote. We need to get it to the Captain so he can unlock the computer system, then get it to Engineering to spread the antidote through the ship."

Kayuli nodded, reaching for the vial. "Captain first, then to Engineering."

Eroga handed Kayuli the vial, only for it to fall right through his holographic hands and tumble to the floor.

"Problem, Commander." Kayuli looked down at the ground, "Remember the whole, 'can't interact with things'?"

"Yes," Eroga sulked, picking up the antidote. "I guess it's crawling through the Jefferies tube to the Melting Pot for me…" she sighed, realizing how far she would have to crawl. "Thirty floors below us and at the rear of the ship…"

"We'll try our best to clear the way," Kayuli replied, holding out his hand. "Just a quick uniform change." With magical light and sparkles, his Starfleet uniform holographically transformed into a purple mage's robe and staff. "Hah! Who said all that time role-playing on the holodeck wouldn't add up to something?" He chuckled and grinned with glee. "Now I need to go inform the Cetacean crew. We have a quest to complete!" He swung his robes in a flamboyant flourish and holographically fizzled out.

Shaking her head at what she had just witnessed, Eroga held the disruptor in her hand. "Heluna and Lusaalli, the bridge is yours. I have a long… crawl ahead of me…" She sighed, leaning down to the bridge's Jefferies tube port near the rear of the bridge. "Eroga to Kayuli, I am entering the Jefferies tube system. I would like a clear path from the exit point on deck 30 to the Melting Pot. Clear the way."

—

A holographic mage Kayuli materialized in the hallway on deck 30, directly under the bridge. "Acknowledged, Commander," he replied to his combadge, "clearing you a pathway!"

Beside him, Yolec, the manatee-like Xindi Aquatic scientist, and a trio of bottlenose dolphins, all in blue Starfleet uniforms with phasers strapped to their heads, holographically materialized.

"OK team, you heard the commander," Kayuli instructed his teammates, brandishing his mage's staff. "We are fully holographic. I am setting 'Safety Systems' to minimum, so our holographic phasers and weapons should work as usual, and they won't be able to hurt us."

Yolec and the holographic floating dolphin crewmates nodded their heads and swam through the air as the small team made their way down the hallway, following Kayuli in his mage's robes.

With magenta balls of magical bolts and orange phaser fire, any pirate on the deck was immediately apprehended and disintegrated into nothing.

The team soon came across fully awake female members of the Nexus crew, scaring them half to death.

"Hey, hey! Ensigns, it's ok! It's me, Dr. Kayuli!" He held his hands up in a display of no offense.

"Dr. Kayuli, Dr. Yolec… What are you doi—" she then paused, seeing his lavish magical garb. "Kayuli… What are you wearing!?"

"We are holographic projections, Ensign," Kayuli bluntly explained. "For your own safety, get to your quarters and stay there until further notice. And anyone you come across, let them know the same."

"Yes, sir!" She nervously nodded. "But I already tried the transporters. They didn't work."

Motioning to the Jefferies tube porthole, "Those still work," Kayuli advised.

Nodding hesitantly, the Ensign proceeded into the depths of the ship's interior, crawling into the tube network.

—

The squadron of Cetacean officers approached the doorway to the Melting Pot, but due to the computer being down, the door was locked shut tight.

"Locked. Well, there is one way inside, but we don't know how many or what we are getting ourselves into in there." Kayuli looked around the rim of the door.

"We can transfer projections inside the Melting Pot," one dolphin suggested.

"That we can, but we don't know how many are inside…" Then Kayuli paused. "But we can also be… any size." A mischievous grin appeared on his face. "Kayuli to Cetacean Observations crew." He tapped his combadge.

—

The Melting Pot, with its entrances locked and unable to leave or exit, was filled with lavishly dressed pirates who had lined up all the comatose Nexus crew while they passed the time.

Then, small centimeter-tall fizzles of light silently appeared, as all the Cetacean officers materialized as tiny holograms all around the Melting Pot lounge.

"There seems to be about two dozen pirates inside the Melting Pot," Kayuli elucidated over his comms.

"Nicely done, Doctor." Eroga said, panting and out of breath as she continued climbing down and down. "I just passed deck 24, six more flights to go. Hold off until I make it to deck 30. Then, when I am making my way toward the Melting Pot, apprehend all intruders inside."

"Will do!" Kayuli nodded, standing on a table, a centimeter tall, looking up at a massive pirate before him. "Kayuli to all crew in the Melting Pot. Everyone pick a pirate or two. On Commander Eroga's signal, each of us needs to take out our pirate within seconds."

After a few moments, each Cetacean officer swam through the air towards their respective pirates, still hidden from the view of the distracted and impatient raiders.

Kayuli stood on a couch, the Captain's dark hair like a mountain of dark brown fur before him. "Kayuli to Eroga. All Cetacean officers are in place and waiting for your orders."

"Acknowledged, Doctor." Eroga replied, walking steadily down the empty halls of the Nexus. "I'm a bit away still, but I see the Melting Pot's entrance. If you're going to do anything, Doctor, I suggest you do it now."