Up the Creek "
By: M'Ressha Mikaht, Fighter pilot , [RNPC]
Jonathan Wright, Executive Officer, [PC]
Teilani Dane, Chief Medical Officer, [PC]

Stardate: 58206.15 1300

Wright watched as the big Catian entered the holodeck. He had not had much experience with Catians so he was not sure what to expect. " Hello Lieutenant," he said, "How are you?"

Blitzer stopped and saluted, "I'm fine. Its an honor to assist you sir!"

The two of them turned and watched as the doctor entered the holodeck.

Blitzer stepped back and stood at attention.

"Hello doctor, are you ready for your flight lesson," asked Wright.

Teilani nervously wiped her hands on her trousers, swallowed a little lump in her throat. "I'm ready to give it a try Sir," she replied.

Wright turned to Blitzer, "This is Lieutenant Mikaht. Have you met?"

"Please, call me Blitzer," he added extending his paw.

She nodded, "Yes we have met, hello Blitzer.How is the tail?" He smiled because the doctor had remembered him. "Just fine Ma'am," he said with a slight bow.

"He will be your flight trainer. We will start with a simulation, and work you into real flight situations," said Wright. He turned to Blitzer,"Ready?"

"Yes Sir!"

Wright looked at the Catain, "Lieutenant, at ease. Let's give the doctor a good lesson."

Blitzer nodded, "Yes Sir!" he replied enthusiastically.

Wright cleared his throat, "Computer, begin Maquis Flight instruction level 1."

The room shimmered and the black and yellow grid was replaced by the inside of a shuttle bay. Several technicians hovered about a small shuttle getting it ready for flight.

"Doctor, your chariot awaits," said Wright, gesturing towards the shuttle.

Teilani grinned. "Seems I am missing the white horses Sir." She entered the shuttle craft and walked to the front.

"So what is what?" Teilani was a bit overwhelmed with the controls. Ok she had seen them before but now to go and actually learn to fly with it was a scary thought.

Blitzer sat down in the co-pilot seat, it looked like Dane was an eager student. "First we have to turn the shuttle on." said Blitzer talking in simple terms. Here are the control sequences for initializing the warp engine and sustainer field coils." He nodded for her to activate the display button.

Teilani sat in the pilot seat and carefully pressed the button Blitzer had indicated.

The shuttle lit up more and other displays came to life on the LCARS.

"It takes several minutes for the warp core to energize. You can initialize the impulse engines next," he said gesturing at the next set of display buttons.

"Ok so initializing warp engines and sustain field coils, then initialize impulse engines," Teilani mumbled as she pressed the next buttons. "You know I hope that this is written down somewhere."

Blitzer glanced back at the Commander, hoping he hadn't heard that. He wasn't sure if she was kidding or not.

"Here is the automated preflight check," he said pointing at another display button."

Teilani carefully pressed the button again. Again she noticed the shuttle making automatic checks and some lights turned on and off.

"When you are done, protocol requires you to clear with flight control."

He nodded for her to do so.

"You know, Teilani whispered. "I feel really stupid but do I have to ask if it is ok to fly?"

"Yessss." said Blitzer, politely pointing to a display button, the com center is here. Do you know how to use a standard com panel?" he asked with a suspicious squint.

Teilani rolled her eyes. "Of course I do, I just wanted to make sure. "Flight control this is training shuttle 1, request permission to depart."

"Shuttle 1 this is Flight control, you are cleared for departure."

Take off and landing is the most difficult process, we'll learn that later. For now, you can activate the automatic computer controlled launch sequence...here," he said pointing.

"Ah so only the preflight is manual and then you can tell the computer to do the rest?"

Blitzer smirked and nodded, "for now it will suffice, yes."

Teilani sat back a little and let the computer finish the launch sequence.

"You know this is so different from sickbay, but so far as I can see it seems rather easy." She shrugged and looked at Blitzer and Wright.

Wright watched as Blitzer patiently explained the operations of the shuttle to Dane. He silently wondered how attached Blitzer was to the Marine Corps. Perhaps he could steal the Caitian away from Madriani.

As the shuttle glided out the bay it began to drift in space.

"Okay," said Blitzer shifting in his seat, "Here are your starboard and port thrust attenuators. The controls for the repulsor system are here."

He pointed out of the view port and said, "Okay, see if you can navigate between each pair of those beacons."

"Ok," Teilani responded, her hands were moist and she rubbed them on her trousers again. Carefully she manipulated the port thusters to make the shuttle turn, but it was more difficult than it seemed and the shuttle hit one of the becons.

"Sorry," she mumbled and tried to make the shuttle go straight forward again, to the next set. Passing those went better but only with the back of the shuttle they hit the one of the beacons.

"How come that the shuttle is drifting a bit to the left?" she asked. "Do you need to compensate with both thrusters?"

"Nope," said Blitzer, "When you see the shuttle drifting you have to compensate but reducing the thruster on the side it is drifting and increasing it on the opposite side. Go ahead and try again."

Teilani tapped the controls and the shuttle glided to the right and neatly passed the two pylons. She got a bit confident and increased the speed a little, passing 2 next beacons. "Hey this is fun," she said to Blitzer.

Blitzer sat back and watch as Dane successfully navigated several beacons. "You are getting the hang of it," he said, "now, increase your speed to 1-quarter impulse." Blitzer pointed to the main thrust control.

"Ok," she tapped the designated button and the shuttle increased its speed.

The shuttle accelerated to twice the speed and everything was going along smoothly. Blitzer covered his eyes with his paws as the shuttle plowed head long into a beacon. The shuttle rocked slightly. He looked at Dane and smiled, "Its alright, you are doing great for your first lesson."

"oops that was not intended Sir," Teilani apologized to the big Cait.

"Its alright, you tried to use the thrusters to steer away from them, but they have a slow response time. See this system here? this is the repulsor system which moves the nose of the shuttle. It lets you turn more rapidly if the need arises. Go ahead and try it again."

She nodded and again she made the approach to the beacons, the speed was fast and Teilani had a hard time keeping her eye on all the lights and buttons.

This time as the shuttle approached the pylons Dane used the repulsor system but, the shuttle began to spin wildly out of control, Blitzer held on to his chair, "p-p-push the auto-correct button, th-th-there.."

Teilani was happy that she was properly strapped in and managed to reach for the display. Having tapped it the shuttle regained its calm course again.

Teilani grinned. "Heck that was even better then a rollercoaster, but not very well done."

Blitzer covered his snout with his paw to conceal his smile. "Just use smaller increments, its really sensitive."

Teilani sat up straight and re-did the maneuver again, this time the little shuttle listened to her commands and glided smoothly with sharp turns passed the beacons.

"You know I actually believe I m going to get the hang of this." She said to Blitzer

"You are a natural," said Blitzer with an encouraging tone of voice.

He watched as she continued to maneuver. After about 10 minutes he said, "That's very good. Now lets take a look at the warp system." For now we'll only worry about computer selected navigational inputs.

Here are the warp systems, warp envelop control and warp speed settings. Normally, you don't change the configuration of the envelop. Plot your course here on the navigational computer and then engage the drive. Ok, see if you can set a course for 180 mark 0.

"Right, so lets see....... so I lay in a course like this," Teilani tapped the console.... then speed... I think I got it." She looked at Blitzer

He nodded assuringly, "That's right."

The shuttle turned resumed the requested heading. "You know its not that difficult," Teilani stated. "Would you also be able to ask the computer to set a course? Without doing it manually?"

"Of course," replied Blitzer.

"So what is the best way?"

"Of course having the computer do it is the easiest way, but the Visual Flight Procedures are required knowledge so you have to eventually learn it both ways." He brushed the whiskers on his face as he pondered, "Besides, sometimes you can't always rely on the computer. Especially in areas of intense gravimetrical distortion or combat. You have to be able to pilot by instinct."

She nodded. "That correct."

Blitzer's console beeped. He starred at it for a moment in disbelief, then laughed with a bit of a snort. He covered his snout, embarrassed by his breach of professionalism.

"What is it Lieutenant," asked Wright

"I'm very sorry Sir," apologized Blitzer, "Its just an anomaly in the program."

"Explain," said Wright.

"Well, scanners are detecting a large fish off the starboard side. Specifically a...shark."

Wright was stunned, he could not believe this Marine would be so petty, Is that supposed to be some kind of a joke," demanded Wright, "Because if-"

Suddenly the shuttle controls shimmered and in the blink of an eye they had changed. Dane and Blitzer were now sitting at the helm of an ancient fishing boat. The long scanner turned into a simple green radar screen.

Wright look around him, it was Silvio's fishing program. The color drained from his face. Absently, he began to rub his formerly severed arm. Wright sat down, "Oh no," he said in disbelief.

Blitzer turned and looked at Wright, "Sir? I'm sure it is just a minor malfunction," he said as he stood up. "Computer! Arch!" commanded Blitzer.

Several moments passed, he restated his request, "Arch!"

"It won't do you any good Lieutenant, "said Wright, "We are stuck in here, and if I am not mistaken, we are in for a big storm."

Teilani tapped her combadge. "Dane to transporter room, get us out of here acknowledge!!!" There is no response Sirs, we have been cut off.

Blitzer sat back down in the chair. As the boat rocked gently Blitzer pawed across all the controls, "I can't find the inertial dampening controls, Sir, they seem to be offline."

Before Wright could respond, the scent of the ocean reached his nostrils. "What kind of vessel is this Sir?"

"It's a fishing boat Blitzer," said Wright, "We are on the wide open sea."

Blitzer's eyes snapped up to looked out into the darkness beyond the window, he could see small white-capped waves in the endless darkness. "W-w-water?" said Blitzer with a gulp.

Wright nodded, "and one hungry shark." Wright looked out into the dark ocean. The waves were already starting to swell. At least this time he had both hands, he thought. "We need to develop a plan, and quick. There is a big storm coming."

Blitzer looked down at the Radar screen, "I think that is what this is Sir." he said tapping his claw on salt-etched glass above a blight green blur. "Do you want me to turn this vessel around?" asked Blitzer

"There is no place to go," said Wright," but if it will make you feel better go ahead."

Blitzer didn't answer, he looked down at the lever labelled "Throttle" and pushed it forward all the way. The boat's engines thundered to life churning the water behind it. He took hold of the wheel and turned it starboard. "Fishing boat, huh..." he muttered.

He spotted a compass on the instrumentation turning as the boat changed course. When it had come about 180 degrees he straightened the wheel. The operation of the vessel seemed fairly intuitive.

"Have you been in this SIM before Sir?"

"This is Birkoff's program. It is the one he trapped Silvio and I in. The one where I lost my arm," Wright involuntarily flexed his arm.

Blitzer turned and looked at Commander Wright. He could see he was visibly shaken. His tail thumped nervously on the wooden deck.

"Commander, you have in this program before and you got out, what did you and Silvio do to accomplish this?" Teilani said softly.

"Based on my last time here I would guess we have a two or three hours before the storm is full fury.," said Wright.

Blitzer turned back and faced forward, holding the wheel steady as she went. He familiarized himself with the the various gages, lights and switches. Some had labels like, temp, rpms, amps, oil and fuel. As the thought about it, he came up with a pretty good idea what they represented. There were other switches and lights he didn't have a clue about.

Wright stood up and looked at the sea, "He said he was going to batten down the hatches."

"Sir? what do you mean batten down the hatches?"

"Commander, I know it is difficult, but close your eyes and go back to that day. You had fun, and the storm approached. Water was probably running over the deck. What was the first thing you and Silvio did?

"I had fun," said Wright with a frosty tone in his voice, "I most certainly did not have fun that day.

"Blitzer, batten down the hatches means to shut all the compartment doors and seal them so that water does not run in," said Wright. "Silvio did most of the work since I only had one hand. Come on let's get started."

"There is one more thing we will need," said Wright, "I will be right back. Blitzer steady as she goes. Doctor you are with me.

Wright ran down the deck and into the living area of the ship. There he found an equipment locker. In it were several rain slickers, saftey harneses, and Silvio's first aid kit. He handed the Doctor a yellow rain slicker and the saftey strap, "Put these on," he said as he did the same.

Teilani calmly put on the coat and strapped the harness on.

Next, Wright picked up the med kit, "Silvio programmed this to look like a old first aid kit but he did not kow what should go inside it so he made it into a standard issue kit, complete with a tricorder. We might be able to use that. Wright opened the kit only to find that Birkoff had fixed Silvio's med kit. There was no tricorder in it, only bandages and ointment. Wright signed, "I guess Birkoff thought about that already," he said.

Wright and the doctor made there way back to Blitzer, where Wright handed him the slicker and safety belt. I am not sure how these will fit you Blitzer but do the best you can.

"The safetly straps work like that," said Wright as he demonstrated how the straps clipped to the side of the ship. "You will want to use these when the waves get big. It will keep you from getting tossed overboard."

"Blitzer, when the seas get rough you will need to strap yourself to these posts," he said patting the posts by the wheel, "unless you want me to take the wheel." Wright did not see much point in that, however, since he knew just about as much as Blitzer did about controlling this boat.

Blitzer turned the small knob he had discovered on the steering mechanism. It appeared to make the wheel immobile, apparently a primitive autopilot. He was pleased he was able to figure out most of the controls of this primitive craft.

"Sir, what you said before, about your hand? Does that mean the safety protocols are off?"

"I think it is safe to assume that they are off," said Wright, "I do not want to be the one to test them."

Blitzer swallowed his fear with a gulp and proceeded to step into the harness. He adjusted it to fit with little difficulty and then donned the slicker.

"Doctor, let's you and me start battening down the hatches," said Wright, "We will also need to remember to turn the pumps on in the engine room."

"Aye Sir," Teilani said and she followed Wright down below. For the next 1/2 hour they made sure that all the doors were locked, gear that was laying loose around stowed away so that it would not fly around and harm them.

"Sir?" Teilani asked. "I wonder, if Birkhoff fixed the med kit, did he also fixed the exit? I mean perhaps we should ride out the storm?"

"I hope not Doctor," replied Wright.

Blitzer watched the little compass as he paced back and forth. For now the boat was holding its course. He studied the instrumentation There was a switch that said bilge pump. He turned it on and could hear a new motor sound coming from the engine compartment at the back of the boat. "Must be the engine pumps." He noticed the lights dimmed as well.

Blitzer surveyed the control panel of the ship. He concerned with some of the gages which had changed. Some of the indicators had gone down, the one labeled barometer had dropped from 30 to 26. The other gages that had dropped were fuel, oil volts and amps. He switched the bilge pumps off. The Amps and Volt meter returned to their original position as did the lights. As he expected, the fuel and oil did not.

Some of the gages had gone up. The anemometer had gone from 10 to 35 and the temp gage had gone from 180 to 210.

He loosened the wheel knob and corrected the course. The rocking had increased. He had still not found any controls for dampening field or anything that seemed to serve as a stabilizer.

On the radar screen, the green blob had drawn another tick closer. There were still 6 ticks between it and the center. He looked at the ancient chronometer, at that rate, it would overtake them in 2.5 hours.

Blitzer examined the dark glass display next to the radar. It was labeled sonar. It was switched off. He flipped the switch on. The primative cathode ray device began to glow similar to the radar.

This displayed a triangle shaped pattern, inside of which was a small cigar shaped object that moved around rapidly. A dial on the the side of the display said 50 feet. For the life of him he couldn't remember how many meters that was.

Near the back of the bridge he spotted what looked like a storage locker. He checked is course and then opened up the lazerrette. He pulled out a device that looked like a primitive weapon. It had a pistol grip, some large springs and a point at the end of a shaft. He laid it on the console. Next to it was a box which he pried open. It contained another pistol looking object and a box of cartridges labeled "Flares."

Next he pulled out a pair of walkie talkies but he had no idea what they were. Perhaps the commander would.

There was a canvas sack in there but nothing else that appeared interesting.

He returned to his chair and check his course. The gages were all about the same.

About that time the Commander and the Doctor returned. "Sir I found some interesting things." He showed the commander the items. He also reported the status of the gages.

Wright hefted the harpoon, "This might come in handy," he said thinking about his encounter with the shark, "It is a harpoon. This barbed speer will fire from this gun."

Next he picked up the walkie talkies, "I am not 100% sure, but I think this is a early communication device." Wright turned one of them on and pressed the button. Nothing happened. He flipped it over and found a small compartment in the back, inside was a red and black wire with a connecting device. "It looks like there is no power source."

Wright picked up the box containing the flare gun and read the documentation on the box. "This is called flare gun, it says that you use it to let other know you need help. Wright shurgged and loaded the gun. Stepping out on to the open deck he pointed it in the air. He said to Dane who followed him, "I guess we need help," and pulled the trigger.

The flare burst from the gun and exploded brightly in the night sky, "Interesting concept," said Wright.

"Can I help you," said a mocking voice behind Wright. Turning Wright saw the unforgettable image of Birkoff. "Yes, you can end this program."

Birkoff laughed, "Request denied," he said still laughing, "This is too much fun."

"How is it that you managed to take over this holodeck," demanded Wright.

Birkoff laughed some more, "I am buried so deep in your systems you will never get rid of me," he taunted.

Teilani steadied herself on the railing as she tried to maintain standing. It was good that she had not eaten that much, she felt her stomach being upset by the movement of the ship.

"Sir, why cant we just say abort program, there must be some protocol which he has forgotten about.."

The image of Birkoff replied, "And who have we here?" it shimmered and momentarily appeared translucent. "Doctor Teilani Dane, Chief Medical officer, USS Zion." The image of Birkoff put his hands behind his back in a confident, arrogant gesture and began to walk around Dane as if inspecting her, "...born on Mars, in the year 2050, your parents are divorced. You entered Star Fleet academy to be a pilot and left a doctor. How quaint."

Birkoff seemed to shimmer and flicker again, "you recently performed restoration surgery on..." Birkoff stopped, and looked at Wright, "...Commander Wright, to repair his severed limb."

"It is only fitting that you can die with him this time. I assure you Doctor, I am a fully contained AI, I have patched the previous errors in the code and have waited patiently for the Commander to returned. There are no interrupt protocols I have overlooked. Once I have confirmation of your demise, I will reinfect the ship and destroy it."

“Why you arrogant, self-centred, pompous piece of targ poo,� Teilani bursted out in anger. “I am not planning on dying anytime soon and certainly not here. You seem to forget how resilient people are when their lifes are at stack and believe me we will get out of here.

"That was not a nice response," admonished the hologram. "Had you knelt down and begged for your life, I would have considered it. Now, you leave me no choice."

The image Birkoff shimmered away as if he were beaming out. Suddenly it began to rain.

"Well Commander, he might than be some sort of highly advanced AI, but I am not going to let myself be intimidated by just a hologram." Teilani snarled. “Oh go away Birkhoff you annoy me!

Wright and Dane took cover back inside the boat's cabin.

Blitzer turned and greeted them, "Uhm, I have more bad news Sir, suddenly the storm advanced 4 ticks and another shark appeared on the sonar. Furthermore, the fuel gage suddenly dropped to almost empty.

Blitzer looked around as Birkoff's insane laughter mingled in chorus with the rumble of thunder. "What was that?"

continued.....

Uh-oh, We Have a Problem "
By: Jeff Westfall, Tactical Officer, [PST]
Ian Hunter, Commanding Officer, [PC]
Giuseppe Silvio, Chief Engineer, [RNPC]
Maxine Lucinda Tapert, Computer Specialist, [PC]

Stardate: 58206.15 1330

--Bridge--

Silvio sat at his console on the bridge and watched the warp drive harmonics. The ship's systems were funcitoning but not at the levels that Silvio would have liked. He really needed to get her back to QulTuq for repair. Silvio fought the urge to nod off, he had not allowed himself to sleep much and he was feeling the fatigue.

"Captain Hunter, I've got power fluctuations at main plasma coupling from Deck 10. I've run a level one diagnostic on the control sub-system, and everything's within specification, so it's a real problem. It's about five minutes old".

"Deck 10?" replied Hunter turned to Silvio, "Chief?"

"Ensign Tapert please report to the bridge immediately" Westfall paged.

"Tapert 'ere. On m'way." Maxine responded immediately.

"Sir, we've just lost communications to Holodeck 1. Doctor Dane, Commander Wright and Blitzer are in there. Damn it. Safety protocols are off-line as well".

"Computer Emergency over-ride Engage Holodeck Safety Protocol Westfall Gamma Gamma two one seven Zulu".

Unable to comply, the over-ride protocol is off-line

"Captain we have a "Safeties Off" condition in Holodeck one--Emergency over-ride protocol is off-line, and I don't understand how or why".

SIlvio scanned deck 10, "Captain, I confirm that the holodeck is malfunctioning." His fingers moved accross his console, "I will try to shut down power to the holodeck." Silvio paused as he waited for the results of his scan.

"Main power, has been shut down captain, but the holodeck has backup fusion generators for use in emergency situations." He looked for a way to shut them down, "It's totally self contained, we cannot shut them down from here."

Hunter nodded, "Okay, see what you can do, keep me posted."

Suddenly, the main view screen filled with the now all too familiar face of Birkoff. The image laughed, "I have you again. I am buried so deep in the system you will never get rid of me."

Maxine had stepped onto the bridge a moment before the main view screen came to life. "Oh bullocks.." she muttered and stepped forward. "Tapert reporting as ordered."

Silvio grabbed his tool kit and headed for the turbolift. As he walked past Max he said, "Please come with me Ensign, we are going to go down to deck 10 and see if we can get them out from there."

"Rioght... Erm.. *Them*? Get who out of where, sir?" Maxine asked as she followed the Engineering Chief.

"Commander Wright, Doctor Dane, and that Marine pilot called Blitzer," said Silvio, "Birkoff apparently had another virus planted. It has taken control of the holodeck."

They rode the turbolist to deck ten and headed to holodeck 1. At the entrance Silvio tapped a few keys on the console. THe computer responded with a rude series of beeps. "So much for the easy way," said Silvio.

Silvio moved down the corridor until he found a jefferies tube. He opened it. "I am going to see what I can do to shut down those fusion generators," he said, "see if you can get back computer control."

"Rioght, sir..." Maxine nodded and hooked up her PADD to the holodeck's computer console. "Krystal, execute infiltration program maxim-one."

The little hologram that had materialized when they arrived at the holodeck disappeared as a poof of gold pixie dust and zipped into the computer console at Max's command. It was a moment later when she was literally spit out with a high-pitched squeal and a much bigger spray of dust at her angry shake.

"It looks like he has used some sort of encryption on the program to keep us out," said Silvio as he climbed into the tube.

"Aye sir..." Max watched Krystal with a quirked brow. "It looks like that's just what t'blighter did," she agreed. A frown of concentration formed on her brow as she attached the console herself, her fingers fairly flying over the keys as she worked.

"It looks like layers of encryption, sir," Maxine called out to Silvio. "Let's see if I can distract the computer long enough t'isolate the system from t'mains. Maybe we can get Krystal inside t'holodeck."

"Great," said SIlvio as he made his way farther down the jefferies tube. His plan was to deactivate those fusion generators and casue the system to shut down. He came to a bulkhead door and pucched in his access code. The doors opened and he continued on his way. Finally, he reached the correct junction. SIlvio removed an access panel and got to work. If he could establish a conneciton to the holodeck emergency generators he should be able to tell them to power down. That was the theory anyway. THe problem was that it was going to take a bit of time.

Maxine kept the comm. line open between her and Silvio as she worked. "'e's a crafty devil, sir," she commented. "M'good, but the blighter's got moves I've never seen before.... Encryption on top of encryption on top of encryption. And each one is linked to t'next..." she rattled on. "M'down a couple layers... M'going to try and get Krystal in now, sir... So 'eads up..." she warned.

SIlvio pulled several isolinnear control chips out and reinserted them in a dofferent order., "Ok, Max. Let me know if it works. I am not having much sucess down here."

"Roight sir... m'sending her in now..." Max announced and nodded to Krystal. The Pixie hologram waved goodbye, sparkled into a shower of golden pixie dust and slipped into the computer console.

"She's in, sir... Not sure for 'ow long. The 'olodeck's fighting 'er and trying t'spit 'er back out..." she told him as her fingers flew over the computer controls. "M'tryin' t'distract it."

"He must have installed some sort of AI then," said SIlvio through their comm link, "Perhaps you can take a page from his book and set up some security to keep him from rejecting Krystal."

"Workin' on it now, sir," Maxine agreed whole-heartedly with the Engineer. "We're building a puzzle," she grinned. "'e won't be able t'get through the layers unless 'e 'as the right order. And at the moment I'm more concerned with 'im *absorbing* 'er and rewriting 'er programming... which 'e *shouldn't* be able t'do anyway."

"Good," replied Silvio trying to hide his frustration. Every time he got close to the generators something in the holodeck rerouted him away. WHen this was over he was going to reccomend that Captain hunter purge the Zion's memory core. This Birkoff was way to clever. What if this had happened during combat. SIlvio closed the access panel, "I'm coming back to you. This is not going to work."

Silvio turned himself around and headed out of the Jefferies tube. Silvio closed the hatch and then walked over to where Max was working, "How is it going," he asked.

"I think I've just about got it..." Max glanced up at him. Krystal faded into view and then popped back out again. "You're right about the AI. It keeps spittin' her back out," she nodded to the disappearing hologram. "But m'just about t'put the blighter in an endless loop every time 'e tries t'circumvent my encryption," she assured him.

"I'M IN!!!" Krystal squealed and clapped her hands as she popped fully back into view looking like a drowned rat. "It's wet in there," she told them and then shook like a dog, spraying holographic water droplets and pixie dust every where.

"Avast ye landlubbers!" she exclaimed when she was done and poofed into a little pirate outfit complete with eye patch, thigh-high boots, and wielding a cutlass. "Shark off the port bow, Skipper!"

Out of the Frying Pan, and Into the Fire "
By: Guiseppe Silvo , Chief engineer , [NPC]
Jonathan Wright, Executive Officer, [PC]
Krystal, Hologram, [RNPC]
M'Ressha Mikaht, Fighter Pilot, [RNPC]
Maxine Lucinda Tapert, Computer Specialist, [PC]
Teilani Dane, Chief Medical Officer, [PC]

Stardate: 58206.15 1500

==Holodeck 1==

Waves began to crash over the bow of the boat. Blitzer could still hear the echo of Birkoff's laughter ringing through the thunder. A big storm was certainly on the way.

He hoped the Commander and the Doctor were able to "batten down the hatches." It was assumed that the holodeck safety protocols were off and they were all in grave danger.

The Commander looked as if he had seen a ghost, indeed, Birkoff had returned it seemed.

"Did you see that, his holomatrix flickered, there must be a power fluctuation somewhere, if we can find it perhaps we can use it to short-circuit this program."

It was as if on cue that Krystal popped into full view near Blitzer. "I'M IN!!" she squealed in excitement. It was in quick order that she became soaked. "Wet, wet, wet!" she giggled and shook like a dog before poofing into a little pirate outfit. "Shark off the port bow, Skipper!" she called out to Blitzer and then turned to grin at Dane. "It flickered cause it was trying to keep me from getting in!" It was quite evident that she was proud she'd made it.

"Krystal!" exclaimed Blitzer grabbing her and squeezing her like a teddybear, causing her to squeal and giggle in delight, and then setting her on the dash of the boat.

Wright looked at the soaked pixie, "Can you shut down the holodeck," he asked.

"No sir!" she shook her head. "Not yet, but we're working on it."

Wright took that in stride, "Can you stop the storm," he said.

"Not yet," she told him, frowning now and drooping because of her inability to do what he wanted.

"How about making us a really big life preserver," he asked in exaperation.

"I can't yet...." Krystal answered.

"What can you do for us," asked Wright.

"Right now I can talk to Maxine and Mr. Silvio for you. They're just outside the door trying to get through Birkoff's encryption so they can shut down the program.

"Is there any time estimate on how long this is going to take," asked Wright.

"I'll check!" she held up a 'just a minute' finger and looked up. A moment later she looked back at Wright. "Maxine said the blighter's good and the way it's going now, she thinks it might take and hour or so."

Wright looked out into the dark night and listened ot the sound of the rolling waves, "Alright then, we are going to have to ride this out until they can stop the program." He turned to look at Blitzer, "You are going to have to keep us afloat. The Doctor and I will go to the engine room and keep the pumps clear."

Wright turned and started making his way back to the engine room.

"So you can talk to Max and the Chief Engineer?"

Krystal nodded to the big Cait and began pacing along the dash. "I'm not part of the programming here so I can be in both places at the same time," she told him. "Maxie's trying not to cuss in front of the Chief," she confided.

"Tell him that the fuel gage says E and ask him how much time we have left," instructed Blitzer.

Krystal saluted and clicked her boot heels. "Hang on, I'm checking..." she told him as she popped into the corridor and relayed the message from Blitzer. After a moment she blinked and frowned a bit. "The Chief says, to switch to the auxiliary tank. You should find the switch on the right side of the helm control."

Blitzer searched the instrumentation right side. He clumsily fiddled with a switch labeled "tank." Suddenly the fuel gage rose to a quarter tank. "Better," he said.

The waves were now tossing the ship around. Wright was forced to use the safety equipment. Privately, Wright did not think that Birkoff would allow them to ride out the storm. The key to getting through this was in getting some control over the holodeck again and that was up to Silvio and Max.

Quietly Teilani walked down below and looked at the engine room, it was pretty dry and the pumps were pushing the access water out. The ship rolled and buckled trying to keep ahead in the storm.

She absentmindedly kicked some of the equipement and muttered under her breath. " I'm not going to die here on this brig, no way. I have too much to do, too many things to accomplish........Somebody shoot Birkhoff before I get my hands on him.........Toink toink......... toink......Luckily the casing was made of solid material otherwise it would surely be dented now.

Wright checked the pumps. He noticed that the Doctor was muttering under her breath and kicking the equipment in the engine room. Wright was suddenly not so sure that the doctor was a good candidate for command. She seemed to have a hard time controlling herself in a crisis situation. "Doctor, has the motor casing done something to offend you?"

"Not really, its just a mental outlet at the moment Commander," Teilani said as she looked Wright in the eyes. "Let's try to keep this boat afloat shall we?"

Wright reached past Dane and checked a pump. The water in the Bilge was beginning to rise as the ship rocked hard to port. He braced himself so that he did not fall and then removed a clog from the pump. The pump began pumping out water again. "Please try to direct your mental outlet toward something other than the only working equipment we have at our disposal."

***

Silvio had taken over monitoring the security measure that Max had placed around Krystal while Max pressed her attack against the Birkoff program. He was impressed at the solid coding that she had done. He was alarmed at the frequent attacks that the Birkoff program made against the pixie. So far, it had been unsucessful. "Krystal is holding her own, any luck on your end?"

"M'getting' close," Maxine told him. "Just a few more...." her voice trailed off The look of intense concentration on her face was amazing. The code was reflected in her eyes as she worked.

Krystal popped into view, soaking wet once again. "Oh Hurry, Maxie! Hurry! Flyboy's soaking wet, the sharks are getting closer and closer, I think one bumped into us and took a bite!! The waves are rocking the boat so hard it's liable to tip over, and I think the XO and doctor got sucked into the bilge pump!"

"Hush, pixie. Go distract the blighter, would ya so I can get past this part here..." Maxine told her. And with a nod and wave to Silvio, the hologram disappeared, only to reappear on the bow of the boat.

"Distract the blighter, she said!" Krystal announced, and then looked around for something to distract Birkoff with. "Don't go anywhere," she told Blitzer and wiggled her fingers at him before diving into the ocean only to jump back out as a dolphin and laugh at one of the sharks, hoping to lure it away and chase her. It was the only distraction she could think of that her programming would allow and Birkoff couldn't stop.

"Got it..." Max glanced over at Silvio. "The storm should be slowing, and indeed inside the holodeck the storm seemed to be easing up a bit. Enough so that the boat was gaining a bit of a lead on it.

"Ah Blast!" Max exclaimed in frustration after a few moments. "The blighter's wise t'us. 'E just locked me out," she told Silvio, glancing over at him. "Keep a good eye on Krystal, sir. 'E may go after 'er with a vengeance now. M'gonna try another attack."

***

Wright poked his head out of the engine room. It looked the the storm had lost some of its punch. "It looks like the storm is calming," said Wright, "I will be right back." Wright left the engine room and made his way to where Blitzer stood. "Things are looking better," he said to the soggy Caitian.

"Yes Sir,"

Wright was about to reply when suddenly in front of the ship where there had once been nothing but open sea appeared a large jagged coral reef, "Blitzer," shouted Wright," Reef dead ahead!"

Blitzer turned the wheel around but the strong waves carried the boat closer and closer.

There was no possible way to avoid it thought Wright. They would get hung up in the reef and the waves would crush them against it.

"BRAAACE for IMMPACT" yelled Blitzer in a loud roaring voice.

The ship's keel scraped the reef hard, causing the boat to list sharply. A large waves crashed down on the boat driving farther in. Chunks of hull splintered across the razor sharp coral, sending water gushing in.

"That is not good," muttered Wright to himself. The ships was rapidly sinking. Remembering that Silvio had inflatable life raft on board the last time he was in here, he ran to the compartment and grabbed it. He did not think it would last long against this sharp coral but maybe they would get lucky. He tossed the raft overboard where it activated and it started inflating. "Abandon ship everyone. Let's get out of here."

Blitzer grabbed the canvas bag and began throwing supplies into it. The flare gun, the first aid kit, a flashlight and some containers and any other object he could find.

Teilani still working in the engine room, by now slightly covered in grime from the engine and keeping an eye on the pumps was thrown forwards and the impact with part of the floor and the wall caused her to break 2 of her fingers.

She clenched her jaws as she got up and wading through the water she made it to the stairs and climbed back on deck. Supporting her throbbing hand she asked "What happened?"

Then she noticed Blitzer and the reef....

"We hit something called a reef," said Blitzer. "It appeared out of no where."

"What happened to you? asked Blitzer.

"Broke my fingers," she said with a painful face.

Blitzer reached into canvas bag and pulled out the primitive first aid kit and handed it to the Doctor. He frowned in disappointment that he wasn't very good at treating such injuries.

He turned to Wright, "Sir? I can't swim very well," he confessed.

Wright looked down and saw a strange dolphin poking its head out of the water. The dolphin appeared to be covered in pixie dust. "I don't suppose you could turn this reef into an island could you?"

"I'll try!" she jumped out of the water and disappeared.

***

Silvio and Max were now working feverishly. Birkoff's program was trying hard to eliminate Krystal's program. Suddenly a tiny dolphin appeared. Silvio watched as the dolphin morphed into Krystal.

The soaked pixie shook like a dog before she started speaking. "The Commander Wright wants an Island!" she told them. "The boat ran into a reef and it's sinking! Abandon Ship! Abandon Ship! And Warrior Toes doesn't know how to swim!! Can we make an island, Maxie?"

"'Ang on... Right now m'just trying t'keep the blighter from snuffin' you out," Maxine told her.

"Snuffing me out?!? OH NO!" The little pixie grabbed at her chest dramatically. "Don't let him, Maxie!! Don't let him!!" she pleaded almost hysterically.

"Stop it," Maxine flicked the air in front of the hologram with her fingers, disrupting the pixel arrangement momentarily.

"Hey!" Krystal blinked and then distractedly preened herself back into proper order. "Thank you," she said after a moment.

"Roight. See if you can access the data banks and give them that island now," Max instructed and the pixie hologram disappeared into a puff of pixie dust.

Silvio could see that Max had gotten past Birkoff's security on the Holodeck library, however, no sooner had she gotten in than Birkoff's program began trying to lock them out. "This is gettin' bloody ridiculous..." Max muttered her frustration.

Silvio and Max worked together to try to isolate the library the way they had for Krystal, but in the end Birkoff managed to regain control. "Damn," swore Silvio, "I hope she got what she needed before we lost it."

"Roight," Maxine agreed wholeheartedly. "This is what happens when AI's run amuck. And the blighter's *good*. Every time we get a foothold, 'e shoves us off t'rock. But I 'ave an idea, sir...." And the pair in the corridor went into a strategy conference.

****

Teilani fixed her fingers by stablizing them with a piece of bandaid from the primitive medkit, tying them together. It hurt but it would have to do for now. She could not risk taking any painkillers. Trying to keep her footing she climbed of the now quickly sinking ship and entered the liferaft. The raft looked tiny and fragile compared to the big waves and the treathing reef ahead.

Suddenly the reef transformed into a sand bar that extended from the lagoon of an island. Blitzer squinted to make out what it was between the strokes of lightning. "Look!" Blitzer pointed at the trees.

"She did it," he exclaimed.

Even though the fierce waves continued to crash down on the boat, it was lodged in the sand which kept it from teetering back and forth so violently.

Blitzer quick surveyed the situation, the damage to the boat was very severe, it was still disintegrating with with each wave.

He looked down at Teilani who was trying to keep upright as the big waves rocked the little rubber raft. He could at least swim from the boat to the island but, considering the large carnivorous predatory fishs lurking somewhere, the raft seemed to be the best method. He slung the canvas bag over his shoulder and climbed down and joined Dane. "How does this thing work?" he asked seeing there were no control systems.

Wright climbed into the raft and found a set of paddles strapped to the side. He handed one to Blitzer, "We have to paddle our way in, but with the waves as strong as their are it is going to a fast wile ride to shore." Wright placed the end of the paddle against the sandbar, "Is everyone ready?"

Dane nodded.

Wright shoved off the sandbar. He and Blitzer paddled frantically towards He safety of the lagoon and the island ahead.

"SHARK OFF THE STARBOARD BOW!" The little pixie squealed and pointed to the rather *large* fin approaching the raft as she popped back into view.

"Never a dull moment," sighed Blitzer. As he frantically padded he realized he was staring at the spear thing sticking out of the bag, he could hear the Commander's voice in his head, "....This barbed spear will fire from this gun."

Blitzer spoke slowly to himself, "haarrpooon." Setting down the paddle he pulled the device from the bag and turned around, "Here Sir, maybe..."

Wright set his paddle down in the raft and took the harpoon. He carefully took aim at the approaching shark. He waited until the shark was very close to the raft and pulled the trigger. His aim was true and the harpoon plunged into the shark. The shark thrashed around. Wright then realized his error. Looking at the harpoon gun he noticed there was a cable attached to the harpoon. Just as he realized that, the shark jerked hard and Wright was pulled off balance. He stumbled and fell over the side of the raft.

Blitzer crawled across Dane and reached to help the Commander back into the raft. He looked up as the shark continued to thrash about. The other shark's fin surfaced and headed toward the commotion. Blitzer crawled back over Dane and picked up his paddle.

"Let's get to shore," said Wright has he picked up his paddle. The two of them began paddling furiously. About 30 meters from shore, Blitzer's paddle hit the soft sandy bottom, he jumped out of the raft and grabbed the rope which was attached to the top of the raft and began to pull it ashore.

Wright jumped out and helped Blitzer pull the raft out of the water. Once they were safe on dry land Wright dropped to the ground in exhaustion. The stinging rain pelted his face as the wind howled around them. The storm was beginning to build again. Lightning flashed all around them.

Blitzer helped Dane from the raft and turned the boat sideways to protect them from the driving rain. "I hope this island doesn't disappear."

After resting for a few minutes Wright got up. He looked aroudn and noticed a small jungle nearby, "Let's get off the beach and try to find better shelter."

"That looks like a good place," Teilani said as she pointed to some palmtrees.

Pacifica #162"
By: Q, security officers , [NPC]
Samantha Carter, Security Officer, [RNPC]

Stardate: 58206.15 1615

Sam had been doing her rounds when she was alarmed by screams coming from one of the crew quarters. Not thinking anything off it she ran to the direction the sound came from and found herself in front of the door.

“ Computer override doorlock Carter alpha 2,3,4.

When the door opened Sam thought she had landed in some sort of a nightmare, a Klingon female was squatted to the floor and howled as another contraction hit. It was Ro’sha the wife of Q’tor one of her fellow security klingon officers.

Sam walked up and kneeled down; the klingon woman grabbed the front of Sam's uniform and pulled her closer. "NEVER HAVE CHILDREN!" She screeched at Sam who felt about to cry herself. She pulled Ro'sha' braids away from her face again and tried to soothe her as best as she could.

"Where is the doctor?" Sam asked the nurse who had come in shortly after her, the nurse was somewhere around Ro'sha's knees doing something Sam was sure she didn't want to know about.

"She's on her way, don't worry. If it gets too close we'll call up the holodoc, but everything is going just fine. This is all perfectly natural-" The nurse tried to explain when Sam interrupted.

"The *hell* it is! People don't go through this kind of pain in this century! It's not the dark ages! The kid has to be ripping her apart or something!"

The two nurses chuckled which made Sam all the angrier. Another few minutes and she'd grab K’tor’s ceremonial knife and demand at the top of her lungs that someone help *her* patient. As if sensing her nerves Q’tor put a large hand on her shoulder and gave Sam a conciliatory shake.

"Why don't you take a few minutes to yourself?" He told her, giving her a gentle nudge towards the door.

"SHE STAYS!" his wife ordered

Q’tor’s hand went back to her shoulder. "Sorry, you stay. Can I get you a drink?"

Sam looked hopeful. "Vodka? Double shot? No? I'm fine then." She wiped her brow then did the same for Ro'sha. "I just need one as *soon* as we're done here." Q’tor mumbled a few gruff words but she could almost swear there was a 'me too' in the mix.

Ro'sha screamed again, verbally stripping away Sam's last few nerves. Her eyes were wide, mouth pursed to launch into a stream of threats at the nearest nurse when the other finally called up Bones to intervene. It took a moment for the simulation to pick through the various audio assaults going on in the room, but eventually it turned to address Ro'sha who was already in the process of bearing down.

"Good." The hologram told her, his hands clasped behind his back. "You're doing exactly as you should do-"

Sam didn't hear the rest. She was far more focused on the fact that she couldn't feel her hand Ro'sha was squeezing it so hard and there was a sudden large amount of blood. In it's midst was a squirming wailing pale brown form that sounded somewhat like a mix between an angry wild cat and a red alert klaxon. It hissed. It screeched. Sam wasn't at all sure that it was supposed to do that, didn't babies just cry like everyone else did?

She nearly fainted when they snipped the cord then wrapped the baby in a blue swaddle cloth to hand it to the smiling Ro'sha who had recovered from life-altering pain far too fast. For a brief second Sam reaaaalllly was upset with her. She'd left bruises all over her arms, probably broke her hand and held her hostage via guilt and the woman looked about to bust a seam she was smiling so wide.

Q’tor looked equally smitten with the little wriggling bundle. He took the baby from his wife and tucked it into his arms. The baby looked so small and in it's father's arms it was very nearly comical. Sam was caught in the moment, unaware that Q’tor had focused a proud look on her and was moving closer until the bundle of blankets was being shoved into her arms. "Take Bra'tac."

"No no no no no.. I can't- No!" She wrapped her arms awkwardly around the baby. One look down in the blankets and she was enchanted by the tiny nose and mouth and perfect little face. She was absolutely in love. "Ohhhh, Q’tor he's is so cute.."

Q’tor put an arm around Sam, nearly crushing her bruised arm. You witnessed his birth and you can tell him about it if we should die so he would not forget us. You will do this for us, yes?"

Sam rocked instinctively from side to side, rocking the fussing baby. "Uh huh, yeah.." Not that she heard two words that were said to her. She was suddenly struck dumb by the wonder of nature and how something so perfect had suddenly been thrust in her arms.

One of the nurses took the baby from Sam who was grinning like an absolute fool when Q’tor steered her back to the edge of the bed. Ro'sha took her hand which at that point in time registered in Sam's mind that yes: it was in fact broken. She winced, turning towards the nurse only to see the proud papa draw his blade for the third time that day and motion meaningfully towards her.

"Damitt all! Why does everything you people do have to include someone bleeding?"

Who's Island is This? "
By: M'Ressha Mikaht, Fighter pilot , [RNPC]
Teilani Dane, Chief Medical Officer, [PC]
Krystal, Hologram, [RNPC]
Maxine Lucinda Tapert, Computer Specialist , [PC]
Giuseppe Silvio, Chief Engineer, [RNPC]
Jonathan Wright, Executive Officer, [PC]

Stardate: 58206.15 1920

Silvio watched as Max did her best to secure the island. Just as she had locked the pixie into the game she was now attempting to isolate the island.

"Any luck," he asked.

Maxine glanced up at him and nodded. "I think so, sir.... Birkoff 'asn't broken through my last lock and m'beefin' it up now. 'E seems to 'ave a bit of trouble with four dimensional thinking, and m'using that to our advantage.." she told him.

"That's good news," said Silvio, "it looks like Birkoff's program has stopped its attack on the pixie and is now trying to get by your island code."

"T'island's a distraction then, which is good. The less 'e mucks with 'er, the more insidiously she can work 'er way into 'is programming," Max nodded.

"I think that may be the key," observed Silvio, "His programming seems to want to focus on one problem at a time. What if we give him several breaches in his security to worry about."

"Mmm.. Good thinking, sir. Did y'ave any ideas?" she asked. "I think the more automated systems would be easier t'infiltrate."

Silvio ran his hand through his hair, "Could you trap him inside the island program?"

"We can try. If 'e doesn't figure out what we're doing we'll be successful," Maxine agreed. "'Is attention should be on t'island now. If we can keep it there and slowly block off everything else...." she looked to Silvio for his input.

Silvio nodded, "If we can do that, then we are half way there. Then we just need to figure out how to get our crew out of there. Let's give it a try."

"Aye sir. And if we get 'im trapped, getting our crew out of there should be exponentially easier with 'im not thwarting our every move," Max said as she began to systematically shut down systems and isolate them from the holodeck while Silvio kept pressing an attack on the island front.

***

Huddled and shivering together under a half deflated rubber raft in the torrential rain storm, Blitzer, Dane and Wright waited for the next thing the Holographic Birkoff could throw at them.

It would be totally dark if not for the faint glow the Pixie gave off.

Suddenly Blitzer turned with a start. His ears began oscillating back and forth like little scanners. "I hear someone," he whispered.

Blitzer stirred and ducked out from under the raft where he could hear a little better with out the sound of heavy rain pattering down on the rubber. He took a couple steps into the forest, he nodded at the sound and turned toward the Commander and the Doctor, motioning them to follow.

A moment later he was bounding through dense brush with silent grace. He saw a man walking away from them, he was carrying something hunched over and covered with a piece of tarp.

"Wait!" said Blitzer, causing the person to stop. "We want to talk to you."

The shrouded person slowly turned around and pulled the tarp off his head. He stared wide-eyed and slack-jawed as the Caitian approached. He was very skinny and lanky and wore a red shirt and had a white sailor's cap. He carried a large bunch of bananas which soon dropped to the ground. Before Blitzer could say another word the man turned and ran yelling, "Lions Skipper! Lions Skipper! Help! Lions!"

Blitzer frowned and ran after the man. He soon chased him down and tackled him. The man rolled over as Blitzer stood back up. He chewed on his finger tips as if he were frightened.

"We just want to talk to you, my Commander and the Doctor, we need shelter," said Blitzer.

The man stood up as the Wright and Dane approached. The man was visibly shaken, "Don't run," said Blitzer, "We're friends."

As Wright, Dane and the Pixie approached his jaw went slack again and his eyes widened.

"Wait, don't run," Blitzer reminded him vainly. The man had already turned and was sprinting off yelling, "Skipper! Pirates ...pirates Skipper! And lions Skipper!" Blitzer shrugged at Wright

"Wait," yelled Wright, "We are not pirates." Wright ran after the man. They followed in the direction the man ran. A trail seemed to be worn into the foliage.

Soon they came up to a clearing Blitzer motioned the Commander and the Doctor to crouch down as he did too. A large portly man stood outside a cave with twig man. He was wearing a blue shirt. "See, there's nothing out here Gilligan, now where are those bananas?"

"The lion ate 'em Skipper" he answered.

The large man took his hat off and slapped it on the other man's head. "Get inside," he said. The man looked around one more time, shaking his head before disappearing into the cave himself.

Wright, Dane and Blitzer moved to the mouth of the cave Wright looked at the pixie hovering next to the big Cait, "Just where did you get this island from." he asked.

"From the holodeck data banks," she answered promptly. "They're castaways!" And then she began singing the theme song from Gilligan's Island.

Wright was not sure about this Gilligan's Island and he was hoping that the pixie had not been infected with a virus. He looked at the big Cait, "I think it is best that you and the pixie stay outside. The doctor and I will go in and tray to get this sorted out."

"Good idea, Sir." said Blitzer, "Me and Pixie will go and get the supplies."

"Aye, aye, Sir!" Krystal agreed.

"Good," said Wright turning to the doctor, "Let's go and find out what is in here. Be careful doctor."

"Yes Commander." Teilani shivered again as she carefully entered the cave. It was cold but dry.

"We have supplies?" Krystal could be heard asking the big Cait as the two headed back to the cove.

The Professor was the first to spy the new arrivals. "Gilligan did see something," he casually announced, pointing between the Skipper and Gilligan. "Look."

There were seven of them, who in a comical way as a group approached them cautiously.

"Hello," said Wright cautiously eyeing the group. They did not seem to be dangerous, "I am John Wright and this is my Doctor Teilani Dane. We have been stranded here by the storm."

Teilani brushed a strand of wet hair from her face. "Hello."

The group all began to talk at once asking questions, "where are you from? how'd you get here? where's your boat? is there anyone else with you?"

Finally, the professor whistled, "now now, everyone, one at a time."

The castaways fell silent for a moment, then everyone started asking questions again, "Does anyone know you're here? Do you have a radio?" How...what...where... all clamored into a steady drone of chatter. Wright raised his hands in a claming gesture, "Let's calm down folks."

When the castaway's chatter settled down, the professor approached Dr. Dane, "A Doctor eh?" The professor had a smug look on his face, "Well, I'm very pleased to meet you."

"Same here Professor." Teilani said as she tried to hide the shivering creeping up her back.

Seeing Doctor Dane was shivering, he said, "come warm up by the fire," he said gesturing toward the warm glow at the back of the cave, "and you too Mr. Wright."

As Dane and Wright walked toward the fire, the castaways huddled in a tight circle and whispered among themselves.

When they broke, the one called Gilligan could be heard, "but Skipper, but.. Skipper."

The Skipper responded with his arm stretched out pointing toward the mouth of the cave, "Get going Gilligan.........Now!"

Gilligan disappeared out of the cave.

The professor turned to Wright and Dane, "Gilligan is going to get you some dry clothes."

The Skipper took up a spot next to the professor and added a comment off the side, "..if our huts are still standing."

*** Blitzer returned to the spot where the rubber raft was. He turned it over and picked up the canvas bag, slinging it over his shoulders. He dragged the bright yellow raft as they made their way back.

"What was that song you were singing?" asked Blitzer. "It's a theme song from the Gilligan's Island show," Krystal answered as she helped tug on the raft with him. Then she launched into the song again.

When she was finished, he complimented her, "that was very good. So, these people here... what's their story?"

"Oh, they're an allegory," she told him. "Silly people went out when there was a storm and got stranded on the deserted isle. So they're in exile from civilization," she explained. "Every week they have a problem they have to solve or get through during the episode. Maybe we're it this week," she giggled. "I wonder if we'll 'be continued'."

Blitzer paused to consider the pixie's words, but opted not to hear all the details.

He chuckled as he came to the spot where the twig man had dropped the bananas and picked them up.

"Ooohh.. bananas are good!" the pixie hologram nodded her approval.

"Is that what these are?" He set them down on the ground and pried one off the bunch. Taking a sniff he took a chomp of it. It was tough and sinewy. He chewed a little bit and then polity turned away and spit it out. "Yech!" he said. "That's terrible."

Krystal blinked as she watched him try to eat the banana and then fell into a fit of giggles after he spit it out.

Blitzer looked curiously at the Pixie wondering if she had played some kind of trick on her.

"Nononono..." she finally managed. "You peel the skin off and eat what's inside! Maxie loves them. She says she thinks she was a monkey in another lifetime," she added helpfully.

Blitzer reached down and pulled another and looked at it. He looked up at Pixie for assurance. Using his claw he sliced the peel away but before he could take a bite he heard someone approaching, "Shh!" he gestured.

He crouched down and a twig suddenly snapped a few meters up the trail. He turned in the direction of the sound and stood up. It was the twig man. He was carrying something else this time. His jaw dropped and his eyes widened.

Suddenly a flash of lightning and a loud peal of thunder appeared. The young man threw the articles he was carrying at Blitzer and ran past him, "lions Skipper! lions!"

Krystal giggled and looked at Blitzer. "You should roar," she told him with a mischievous grin.

Blitzer leaned toward the Pixie, "Meow!" he said with a grin.

"You're so great! No wonder Maxie likes you so much!" Krystal giggled and clapped her hands, spraying pixie dust everywhere and then impulsively placing a pixie kiss on Blitzer's cheek.

******

"So where did you study?" asked the professor of Dane.

Teilani huddled close to the fire, it helped a little but she was still cold. "I went to medical school in San Francisco. You are a professor right, in what?"

"Physics!" said the Professor, "MIT '59" he said with a boasting voice.

"How did you end up here?"

"Well!" said the Professor, "I was in Honolulu for a convention and next thing I know, I'm on a 3 hour tour. The weather started getting rough. The tiny boat was tossed. If it weren't for Gilligan and the Skipper, the Minnow would have been lost. But, the ship hit ground on the shore of this....tiny deserted island...with the 7 of us."

The Professor looked deep into Dane's eyes with admiration.

"It must have been difficult for you to survive here. Haven't you ever tried to find a way home?"

"Oh, yes, many times..."

"So tell me, Mr. Wright. What is it that you do exactly?" Mr. Howell asked.

"I command a millitary vessel," said Wright, "I guess you could say I am on vacation."

"Aren't we all," Mr. Howell grinned, but it came off as more of a smirk. "We've been on vacation for three years now," he told Wright.

"I do wish you'd think of some way to get us off this island, Captain," Mrs. Howell addressed Wright. "I'm three years behind in the designer fashions!"

Ginger scooted closer to Wright, "Ooh! I love a man in uniform," she said batting her eyelashes.

Wright was a bit uncomfortable, "So, ah, you are an actress," he asked.

"Oh yes," she said softly, "enough about me though, tell me ore about you." . . Suddenly Gilligan came barging in. The Skipper, seeing Gilligan empty handed, asked, "Gilligan! where are the clothes?"

"LIONS SKIPPER, LIONS! The Lions ate them!!" Gilligan announced and pointed back the way he came. "Big huge lions with huge teeth and glowing eyes!"

"Calm down Gilligan, enough with the lion nonsense." said the Skipper, "Where are those clothes I sent you to get?"

"The LIONS ate-- Skipp-- er..." Gilligan's voice trailed off at the look on the Skipper's face.

During a lull in the conversation Blitzer entered the cave. He set down the bananas and the canvas bag, the rubber raft which was now mostly deflated and the clothes Gilligan had thrown at him.

Krystal flittered in behind the big Cait, leaving a trail of golden pixie dust in her wake and twittering excitedly in a high-pitched voice.

"SEE!!! LIONS!!" Gilligan yelled and hopped around and ducked behind the Skipper's bulk.

Skipper looked at the strange creature, "That is not like any lion I've ever seen," he said.

Ginger shrieked and jumped up on a bench while Maryann fainted and slumped to the soft sandy floor of the cave.

The professor stood frozen in awe staring at the "lion" and the pixie.

Krystal giggled and waved to them all. "Hihihihi!"

Teilani giggled as she noticed the startled looks on the Castaway's faces.

The professor jumped up and stood in front of Dane as if to protect her, "Don't worry," he said, "be perfectly still."

Teilani stood up and walked over to Maryann, kneeling down she gently tapped her face. "Wake up, its alright, they are harmless."

Maryann opened her eyes, as Dane continued to assure her. "What is that?" she asked in a quiet, subdued voice.

"A circus lion?" guessed Ginger.

"He has a mighty roar," Krystal giggled, and then added proudly; "He's a fighter pilot." She flittered about Blitzer's head, keeping very close to him.

Gilligan peeked out from around the Skipper. "See.. Told you... A lion..."

"Thurston... I feel faint..." Mrs. Howell pressed the back of a hand to her brow and Mr. Howell took his hat off to helpfully fan her face.

Teilani helped Mary Ann to her feet. "I do apologize if Blitzer startled you. He is infact my patient. Unfortunately for his condition we have been unable to find a cure. So Blitzer perhaps you can introduce yourself?"

The little pixie looked from Dane to Blitzer with wide eyes. "You have a *condition*???" her little voice gasped and her hands covered her mouth in the classic 'Oh NO!' pose. "What is it?? Is it serious?? I'll tell Maxie!"

"Krystal!" Teilani said with a little warning.

Krystal either didn't understand the warning, or completely missed it altogether, because she was fretting over Blitzer ad buzzing around him like he had some kind of virus she needed to detect and eradicate. "Oooohh... Maxie's gonna be soooo worried..." she fretted.

Skipper pulled Gilligan out from behind him, "Don't just stand there Gilligan, get Mrs. Howell something to drink."

"Oh! Right Skipper!" Gilligan jumped and ran out of the cave and right past the water bucket.

"Remarkable," commented the Professor taking a close look, "But what is that bird thing that talks? Some sort of parrot?"

"Indeed professor, it a newly discovered species." Teilani said with a small wink to the pixie.

Krystal looked up from her examination of Blitzer to blink at Teilani. "I'm not a parrot! I'm a pixie!"

The Professor snapped his fingers as he looked closer at the pixie, "Its some sort of ventriloquist puppet," he waved his finger at, "that's very clever."

"Krystal, these good folk do not know what a pixie is and it is complicated to explain it to them. Remember who put us here?" Teilani said gently.

"Actually, statistically speaking, people of the 20th century have a much better grasp on the idea of pixies and faerie-kind than people of the 24th century," Krystal pointed out as she went into educational mode. "They are still under the literary influence of Walt Disney and his tales of Peter Pan and Tinker Bell, The Brother's Grimm and their collection of Fairy Tales.... And Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels and the tiny Lilliputians... Just to mention a few...."

Teilani shook her head, obviously it was no use talking to the pixie, thus she turned back to the professor. "Its complicated," she said with a re-assuring smile. "But she is harmless."

The professors eye brows arched in almost a comical way, "Indeed!" he said.

Gilligan came racing back into the cave carrying a coconut shell cup that most of water had managed to spill out of by the time he skirted around the "lion" and the talking parrot to come to a halt before the Skipper. "I got the water, Skipper..." He kept looking back over his shoulder just in case it was a real lion.

Blitzer gave Gilligan a sly smile and a wink.

Depressed part 1 "
By: Craig Witmore, Engineer, [RNPC]
Cohen , engineer , [NPC]

Stardate: 58206.15 2000

Cohen was sitting in the lounge, watching the stars. He held up his glass of synthehol and watched the stars reflect through the scintillation, swishing liquid. He sighed the sort of long sigh that was a clear indication. Should anyone be listing, that he was depressed about something. So depressed that the desperately wanted to talk to someone about it, but likewise too depressed to get up the energy to discuss it with anyone.

Maria glided several paces towards him, and then stopped short. She raised a nonexistent eyebrow and pursed her lips. Her eyes twinkled no less then the starts through Cohen’s glass as she stepped back and then moved diagonally across the bar.

She had not seen Craig come in; her back had been to the door at the time. She didn’t need to have seen him, though, to know that he was there.

“Craig Witmore,” she said softly.

Craig looked up and smiled. “Maria,” he said cheerfully. “Problem?”

She inclined her head slightly. “Him.”

“Who?”

“Cohen.”

He glanced in the direction she’d indicated.

“Cohen?”

“Yup.”

A smile broke across his face, and he shook his head. “We going to be talking in one-word sentences all night?”

Maria smiled in return. “Maybe.”

“What’s with Cohen?”

“He seems a little down.” She told him. “Since he is one of your crew, I thought you might want to cheer him up.”

“Isn’t that your department?” he asked, but he was already getting up from behind his table.

TBC

Depressed part 2 "
By: Craig Witmore, Engineer, [RNPC]
Cohen , Engineer , [NPC]

Stardate: 58206.15 2030

“’Man stuff”?” he said with a touch of amusement.

“You know,” and she raised her arm in a flexing gesture. “‘Man’ stuff.”

“Right,” he agreed, flexing in return. Considering the knack that Maria had for sweetly strong-arming people into doing things, he had a sneaking suspicion he knew who had the stronger muscles.

Walking across the lounge, he took notice of the way Maria paced him a couple feet away, only to break off and head in another direction as soon as he got near Cohen. He heard Cohen sigh loudly and knew the tone of it. He’d heaved a sigh or two like that himself.

“Cohen?” he asked.

Cohen looked up at him. “Oh hey Sir. Hello.”

“Hello.” Craig replied, sliding down into a chair opposite. “Call me Craig. We’re off duty, and we’re all friends here.”

“Sir, Craig,” said Cohen uncertainly.

“And I should call you - ?”

“Cohen.”

“Oh” Craig paused a moment. “Something got you down, Cohen?”

Cohen raised an eyebrow. “You could tell that.” Cohen asked. Impressed. “Wow. You know, I saw you come in, but you were way over there, and I didn’t think you’d even noticed me. How were you able to tell from way over there?”

Somehow, Maria told me wouldn’t sound impressive. “Call it a knack,” Craig replied.

“So…. You want to talk about it?”

Depressed part 3 "
By: Cohen , Engineer , [NPC]
Craig Witmore, Engineer, [RNPC]

Stardate: 58206.15 2045

“Okay, “ said Craig and he started to get up.

“I’m so depressed. My life stinks,” said Cohen. Craig sat back down again. Cohen stared into his glass, and Craig said, “you want to elaborate on that?”

“Life in general.”

“Ah.”

“And women.”

“Ah,” said Craig , this time with more understanding.

“Look at me Sir,” said Cohen, and then he quickly amended. “I mean… I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to offend you…….”

Craig laughed. “Look’ isn’t a dirty word, Cohen.

“Yeah, yeah I know. Look at me, then. I’m thirty four years old today, Sir.”

“Happy birthday!:” said Craig. “I’m sorry, I should have-“

Cohen waved it off. “That’s not the point. I’m thirty-four years old. My hair is thinning. I’ve put on some weight – look at this. My suit’s getting tight around the waist. That’s embarrassing. And yesterday I broke up with Technician Jackson.”

“Jackson, huh?” said Craig who vaguely remembered a nice looking young woman from Operations. “She is cute. You two were a couple?”

“Eight months,” said Cohen sadly. “Eight months down the Jefferies tube. Look at me; I’m wasting my life. All I ever explore is the engine room.. I never make any sort of discovery. We never get on away missions. I’m just…. Just there. I’m a grunt. Look at what I’ve got.”

“Yeah,” said Craig. “Yea, let’s look at what you’ve got. Look out there,” and he pointed out the view port.

TBC

Depressed part 4 "
By: Cohen , engineer , [NPC]
Craig Witmore, Engineer, [RNPC]

Stardate: 58206.15 2055

“The stars.”

“The stars. Great.” said Cohen dismally. “So what? What do they have to do with me?”

“You live among the stars, Cohen!” said Craig with enthusiasm. “do you have any idea what that’s like? Centuries ago, people stared up at the stars, their feet unable to leave the earth. They never saw outer space. Your ancestors never went to Mars, which was practically next-door. The kind of life you lead – it would have been the most incredible flight of fancy to them. The things you take for granted.” He nudged Cohen’s shoulder. “You don’t know what you’ve got.”

“What have I got?” said Cohen. He still looked sceptical.

Craig leaned back in the chair, his arms folded.

“Why don’t you tell me?”

“This is silly,” Said Cohen.

“consider it an order, “ said Craig, still friendly.

Cohen stared at him, trying to figure out if his Boss was kidding or not. He did’nt seem to be.

“Tell you what I’ve got.”

“Right.”

Cohen gave it some thought. “Nothing comes to mind.”

Craig blew air through his lips. “You help keep this ship running,” he said. “That’s one thing. There’s a thousand people on this ship that depend upon the engineering department – more than any other – to get them where they’re going. Now, maybe you consider your duties to be routing, even humdrum. But it’s the ability to stay on top of those duties, even when they’re tedious, that makes you a good and valued crewman.”

“I suppose,” said Cohen slowly. “I mean…. I can look at it with an eye that all these people need me.”

“Right!” said Craig.

“And, well, I do get shore leave, occasionally. And with the holodeck….”

“Exactly, “smiled Craig. “You can simulate anyplace you’d want to go and only the very latest starships are out fitted with the finest holodeck technology.

“And it’s not like I’ve got a dead end job.” Said Cohen. “I mean, there’s room for advancement.”

“Now your getting it.”

TBC

Pacifica #170"
By: Cohen , Engineer , [NPC]
Craig Witmore, Engineer, [RNPC]

Stardate: 58206.15 2100

=old=

“And it’s not like I’ve got a dead end job.” Said Cohen. “I mean, there’s room for advancement.”

“Now you’re getting it.”

=new=

“I mean, it’s not like I’m the senior engineer. Now that’s a dead-end job.”

Craig opened his mouth and then closed it again.

“Oh! No offense!” said Cohen quickly.

“None taken, Craig said evenly. “I suppose some people might perceive that job as such, but I assure you ---“

“Oh, you don’t have to assure me of anything.” Cohen told him. “I understand fully.”

“Well good,” Craig smiled. “We were talking about you.”

“About good things, yeah.” Cohen was looking back out the view port. “When I see the stars, it reminds me of Jackson’s eyes. She has the most gorgeous eyes. When she would look at me in that way, with her yes twinkling – there was nothing like it. You know what I mean?

“Sure I do,” said Craig. “There’s nothing like it. You’re right.”

“And I could always have something done about the hair, right?” he said, running his fingers through his thinning pate. “And just work out more to drop those extra points. It’s not really a big deal, is it? Just self-discipline.

“Just a little self-discipline,” Craig echoed.

“And even if Jackson and I did break up – well, heck, we did have all that time together. And when we were together, it was fantastic. Fantastic woman, great conversationalist, awesome sex. There’s noting like a relationship when it’s working, hug, Craig?”

=I haven’t had a serious relationship in close to two year, Craig thought= “Nothing like it,” said Craig.

Cohen stood, filled with new confidence. “You know, Craig. I’m going down to engineering just to run a routine systems check. I mean, it’s not due for another two hours but, hell, you can’t be too careful, right?” As Craig nodded silently, he went on. “And then I’m gong to see Jackson and tell her just what she’s missing out on. And if she still wants to keep it broken off, well, there’s lots of fish in the sea, or start in the skies. Right?”

“Right,” whispered Craig.

Cohen got up, clapped Craig on the shoulder, and strode out of the bar. As he exited Rafe entered. He nodded briefly in acknowledgement and Cohen tossed off in a jaunty salute.

This surprised the hell out of Rafe since salutes were not required and he certainly did not hold any rank higher then ensign. Cohen walked away, arms swinging, whistling softly.

Rafe glanced at the table where he and Craig customarily sat, but he didn’t see his friend. Then he spotted him on the other side of the bar. He was staring out of a view port when Rafe walked up and dropped into the chair across him, straddling it. “Hey buddy, ? Something wrong?”

Craig looked at the jolly face of Rafe. “I’m so depressed,” he quipped…

Head Games "
By: Ian Hunter, Commanding Officer, [PC]
Krystal, Hologram, [RNPC]
Maxine Lucinda Tapert, Computer Specialist , [PC]
M'Ressha Mikaht, fighter pilot , [RNPC]
Giuseppe Silvio, Chief Engineer, [RNPC]
Teilani Dane, Chief Medical Officer, [PC]
Jonathan Wright, Executive Officer, [PC]

Stardate: 58206.15 2230

"Status report Ensign," asked Hunter.

"We've managed t'contain Birkoff in an island setting Krystal was able to find in the 'olodeck data banks, sir," Maxine reported. "which we were able to secure with an encryption key. Unfortunately I've 'ad t'ide that key as an object on the island," she continued, clearly not happy about that.

Hunter nodded, "okay..."

"The Birkoff AI is extremely smart sir. 'e'll know my key is 'idden on the island. But then so is 'is. When we find it, destroying it should reset the 'olodeck."

"Can't we just shut down the power?" asked Hunter glancing over to Silvio.

Silvio wearily, shook his head, "No sir, I tried but he has that protected as well. Every time, I get close to it his program reroutes the computer pathways."

Hunter rubbed his chin in thought.

"I propose we 'ave Krystal inform Commander Wright and Blitzer about needing t'find the key," Maxine suggested. "That way we'll 'ave more than one set of eyes looking for it."

"I agree," said Silvio.

Hunter nodded, "make it so then."

"Aye sir..." Max nodded and then a moment later Krystal appeared in the corridor with PomPoms and ponytails and the cute little cheerleader outfit.

"RAH!" The pixie hologram blinked and grinned at them, waving her pompom at Hunter. "Hihihi Captain!"

Max quirked a brow at her and shook her head. "I'm not even going t'ask...." she muttered. "You need t'let Commander Wright and Blitzer know about Birkoff's key 'e's 'idden so they can 'elp look for it," she instructed her.

"Aye aye!" Krystal saluted, which looked ridiculous with the whole outfit she had on and the bobbing pigtails and sparkling pompoms. And then she disappeared in a poof of pixie dust.

"She really is a very stable program...." Maxine offered kinda lamely as she looked from one officer to the other.

Hunter pursed his lips to keep his serious expression from slipping away.

***

The rain had let up. It was now sunny and bright and everything had dried up. Blitzer watched as the castaways, Ginger and Maryanne did laundry and baked banana and coconut pies in a makeshift oven.

"So what are we going to do now?" Krystal asked curiously as she sat on Blitzer's shoulder and proceeded to braid small locks of his hair.

Mr. and Mrs. Howell were reclining in makeshift lounge chairs sipping drinks while everyone else did the cleanup work.

Teilani walked outside, avoiding the others who were cleaning up.

"How are your fingers?" asked Blitzer pointing to Dane's hand.

"Not that good," and infact Teilani was right, somehow the meds from the ancient first aid kit did not do the job and her fingers were swollen and stiff.

"If there was only some antibiotics here, it might help some." she said.

"I don't think there is any real medicine here," observed Blitzer

Blitzer saw Gilligan across the way, trying to lift a large beam that had fallen. He helped him hoist it back into its position where it would support the palm leaves which made up the roof.

"Thank you Mr. Lion," said Gilligan matter of factly.

"Well I had expected the training flight to go different," said Dr. Dane.

Blitzer turned to Doctor Dane who was standing near. He smiled, "well, we were taught to expect the unexpected," he said with a wink.

Gilligan giggled, prompting Blitzer to turn, "What?"

"Talk about unexpected," said Gilligan, "I've heard of a talking horse, but not a talking lion and now there's one standing right here," he said pointing at Blitzer, "cool."

"Cool?" said Blitzer, "you think that is cool, check this out, Krystal, pom-poms!"

"WEEEE!!!!" Krystal giggled and poofed into the cute little cheerleader's outfit, pigtails and pompoms. "RahRahRah!" she giggled again and shook her pompoms at Gilligan. On the last 'Rah', she disappeared from sight.

Gilligan's eyes widened, and then got wider as she vanished. "Where'd she go?"

Blitzer shrugged, "I don't know."

"Oh there you are Doctor!" called the professor making his way across the clearing.

"Hello Professor," she answered with a smile. Some how this professor was refreshing, and a bit naive in some sort a way.

"Maryann and I thought you might like to accompany us for a tour of the island?"

"I would love to, thanks," Teilani said and stood up.

***

After Dane left with the Professor, Blitzer continued to help Gilligan repair the roof of the hut.

Krystal poofed back into view, hovering close to Blitzer's head. "Oooh! Oooh! I have a message!" she announced and then flitted up to the Cait's head and clung to his ear while she told him the "news".

Blitzer listened as Krystal whispered in his ear. "Let's find the commander."

Blitzer found Commander Wright with the Skipper and Ginger in the Skipper's hut.

"Sir," said Blitzer, "may I speak to you privately?"

"Sure," said Wright getting up and following the Catian out of the hut.

Once Wright was outside, Blitzer said in a low voice, "Krystal has some information from the outside."

Wright turned his attention to the little pixie sitting on Blitzers shoulder, "What have you got?"

She was thankfully back to her normal garb and out of the cheerleader outfit. She flitted from Blitzer's shoulder over to Wright's and clung to his ear as she whispered her "news" so that Birkoff wouldn't hear.

***

"And over here is the best variety of musaceae....uhm, bananas" said the Professor trying to impress his new found professional college.

"Despite you being stranded, you do have got a nice place," she responded as Teilani looked around.

"We have tried to make the best of it," said the Professor bringing her a large tropical flower.

Teilani sniffed the flower, it sweet sent was intoxicating and she smiled at the professor.

Blitzer, Krystal and Gilligan caught up with the Doctor and the Professor. Blitzer explained to them about looking for the key."

"There is no clue as how it might look like?" Teilani asked.

Blitzer shook his head, "But if we find it we can get shut this....er.. get off the island." He said looking at the professor and Maryann.

"Well we were about to make a tour over the island so perhaps the Professor and myself can look for it as well.?"

"Krystal and I will go this way," he said pointing to a fork in the path.

"We will go that way," Teilani answered pointing in the opposite direction.

Blitzer's search party headed off, turning over rocks and leaves as they went.

*********

The professor and Dane searched for more than an hour, the professor continued to talk about their life on the island, "Maryann has always had a knack for..." the professor looked around noticing that Maryann was no longer with them.

He retraced his steps and stopped, looking down he knelt down and picked up a spear decorated with beads and feathers. "Oh Dear," he said bringing the spear to Dane. "Headhunters, quickly, we must return."

*********

Birkoff had stealthily led his band of headhunters onto the island, he was frustrated, by his captivity in this absurd island program. We was clad in a loincloth. Around his neck was a necklace made up of several shrunken heads. On his head was a helmet made of a human skull decorated with feathers. His face and hard was streaked with thick black mud. He hated this restriction, and wanted nothing more than to get a hold of that pixie's key so he could destroy this island and get back to his original plan.

Birkoff shook the ornate speer he held in his hand at his men and spoke to them in their guttural language. They quickly began setting up a makeshift camp. Since they were on the opposite side of the island from the lagoon, near a large volcano he felt this was the best place to set up camp. Once that was complete he would send his headhunters out a hunting. Birkoff smiled.

*********

When the Professor and Dane returned to camp they found Maryann draining coconuts. "You are alive!" said the professor with a comical expression.

Maryann gave him a quirky look, "of course."

"Where did you go?" he asked.

"I found these," she said pointing to the large basket of coconuts, "they must have blown down from the storm."

The professor looked around, "Where is everyone?

Maryann sighed and set down coconut she was working on, "they went looking for a key to get us off the island." she said.

"The key?" said the professor arching his brows, "of course."

"Professor, the headhunters..........??" Teilani said pointing the Professor back on track.

"Oh yes, we must warn everyone," said the professor setting the spear down on the table.

Maryann gasped, "Headhunters?"

"Yes!" said the Professor as if he were saying, "eureka!" He pointed with his finger up in the air, "we must warn everyone. Let's go find the Howells."

***********

Ginger had of course tagged along with the Skipper and Commander Wright. They stopped to rest, sitting on some large boulders for a moment.

They had been looking for the key for an hour. "What did you say this key looked like again?" inquired the Skipper.

Wright was not really sure, "I am not all that sure," he admitted. "I am sure we will know it when we see it."

Ginger adjusted her skirt and poofed her hair-do, "do you have a girl friend?" she asked him.

Wright looked at the actress and smiled, "Not at the moment," he replied.

Ginger got up and walked seductively up the path a ways. There were some large flowers there she knew of. She found them and plucked one, taking a whiff of its scent. She fastened it to her hair with a bobby pin, imagining how much more she would be able to attract the Commander's attention.

The Skipper adjusted his hat, "You know Sir... I was in the Navy too."

Before Wright could answer the sound of Ginger screaming pierced the dense forest.

"Come on," shouted Wright as he headed in the direction of the scream.

"I'm right behind you," said the Skipper summoning up his courage.

Wright and Skipper came into a small clearing but Ginger was nowhere to be seen.

"Look!" said the Skipper pointing to a flower and a bobby pin laying on the ground. He looked as if he were about to run two directions a the same time. "Ginger!" he hollered.

There was no reply, then Wright heard a sound far off," Shhh, listen."

Wright and Skipper held their breath and were able to make out the haunting sound of drums in the distance, "What is that," said Wright, "Some sort of drum?"

"Oh, no.." said the Skipper removing his hat and wringing it nervously, "headhunters."

"We better get back to the others," suggested Wright.

"But we have to rescue Ginger," protested the Skipper as he set foot on the path following behind Wright.

"We will Skipper," said Wright, "But we have to make sure that the others are safe too." The two of them headed off toward camp.

****************

Gilligan, Blitzer and Krystal searched through the jungle.

"What are we looking for again Mr. Lion?" asked Gilligan stopping.

"Anything that looks like it doesn't belong here," said Blitzer turning.

"Is it bigger than a bread box?"

"For the millionth time..." said Blitzer...

"Three hundred and sixty-five to be exact..." Krystal corrected.

Blitzer put his paw over his eyes and shook his head. He turned back toward the direction they were walking and lifted a large palm leaf up, "It probably could be bigger than a bread box," he said.

Gilligan turned to come face to face with a headhunter holding a spear at him. "Oh," said Gilligan, "could it be a person?"

Blitzer strained to over turn a large stone, "uhgg..oof, I suppose it could be," said Blitzer.

"Then w--w-why would they have a spear?"

"What?" said Blitzer turning to find 4 headhunters surrounding them.

"Oh," said Blitzer. "Krystal? What's going on?"

Krystal blinked and "uth-oh'd". "I think they're called Headhunters...." she told the Cait. "Probably Birkoff because it's not in the current episode that's running..."

The head hunters began closing in and making jabbing motions with their spears. Blitzer grabbed one and yanked it from their hand. It was shorter and lighter than a ston, a caitian marital art weapon, but it would do.

This enraged the foursome.

He began welding it, spinning it around and around. The now unarmed pygmy rushed Blitzer but met the dull end of the spear right between the eyes. The pygmy stood up straight and keeled over.

"Go Warrior Toes, Go!!" Krystal cheered him on.

Blitzer turned to the other three who were trying to encircle them. Another one rushed Blitzer, he blocked the charging spearhead with the shaft of the spear he held and then with a loud thwack, broke it over the back of the pygmy as he fell forward.

The other rushed Blitzer in turn. Blitzer grabbed the spear near the pointed end and jammed it back into the headhunter's gut, thrusting him backwards onto the last standing pygmy.

As they both fell to the ground, Blitzer picked up the spear and stood over them menacingly . He snarled like a lion which had the effect of causing the headhunters comically to jump up and run.

He took a deep breath and turned toward Gilligan who was hugging a tree.

Blitzer could hear the sounds of drums and a great number of people now coming toward them through the brush. "Quick," he said pulling on Gilligan's shirt, "this way.."

"See.... It's good to have a lion around when you need one," Krystal Told Gilligan as she helped Blitzer pull on his shirt.

***

Wright and Skipper got back to the camp site at the same time as Blitzer, and Gilligan. "We have a problem Lieutenant," said Wright to Blitzer.

"Headhunters," nodded Blitzer affirming what Wright already knew.

"We better try to get everyone together," said Wright.

They continued to the center of the camp site where they found Marianne, Doctor Dane, and the Professor.

"We can't find the Howells" said Maryann bobbing up and down.

"...and they've taken Ginger too," said the Skipper as he continued to wring his sailor hat nervously.

The remaining cast-a-ways began conversion in an incoherent blurr.

Wright turned to Blitzer, "Blitzer, you and I will try to find where they are holding the missing castaways," Wright looked around, "I have a funny feeling this is related to our key problem."

"Yes Sir," said Blitzer.

Wright looked at everyone, "The rest of you should find a safe place to hide until we get back."

"If it is all the same to you Sir, we'd like to come with you," said the Skipper. The Professor, standing next to the Skipper, nodded in agreement.

Blitzer listened to the Commander as he discussed his search and rescue plan to the castaways. At the same time, he listened to the drums in the distance. They were now thrumming out a different rhythm. He wondered what that meant.

Log Index | Go to Stardate 58206.16