Captain MacGuffin raked his hands through his reddish hair. "Ock, no! This isn't right, this isn't right at all! We have to save the wee turtles!"

"We will," Mariner assured him. "How fast can this ship go?"

"'bout thirty-six knots," the scottish captain replied easily.

She shook her head. "No, what is that in impulse?" she retorted.

"Uh..." he tried to do a quick conversion in his head.

"Oh screw it!" The hot-blooded Starfleet ensign grabbed the intercom. "Anyone who just ate lunch, get ready to lose it!"

Then Mariner, who had never piloted an aquatic based vehicle in her life, grabbed the wheel and pushed hard on the accelerator. The whole ship lurched forward, thankfully without knocking any passengers or crew overboard, though it did bowl both Rutherford and MacGuffin over. The former caught his arm on a railing, barely managing to hang on, while the latter fell flat head-over-heels and disappeared down the deck hatch, falling to the floor below with a cacophony of cursing that would have done Doctor T'Ana proud.

"They're taking off!" reported Rutherford, pointing out the window. His implant zoomed in, giving him a better view of their engines as they powered up. "I think they're headed for orbit!"

"Not on my watch! Full speed ahead!"

"Wait, this wasn't full speed befooooooo-!"

Whatever his protests were about to be, Mariner cut them off by accelerating further, redlining the cruiser.

"I'm contacting the Cerritos!" Rutherford yelled over the sound of the engine motors, trying to access the ships rudimentary communications systems. A moment later, there was an angry ping, and he slammed the console in frustration. "Damnit its surface-to-surface only, we wouldn't get a signal into orbit!"

"See if you can raise the coast guard. Meanwhile we'll handle this ourselves!" Mariner proclaimed, steering their oceanic vessel towards the Gelrakian cruiser.


As the alien ship continued to rise above the surface of the water, two figures became visible clinging to an emergency hatch located on its starboard side, well removed from the cargo bay where the sea turtles were being stored. Kicking off her flippers, Tendi used one to help her pry open a hatch, peeling it open to expose the wiring panel underneath. Boimler was right behind her, though he was less climbing and more clinging for dear life, the slippery surface of both his hands and the vessel hull making it hard to hold on.

Tendi swore in Orion, which was still remarkably colorful to hear in any language. She kicked at the panel, unsure of how to break in at this point. Just as her swimsuit left little to the imagination, it also lacked any pockets for holding tools, let alone a phaser or tricorder. While she might have been trained to overtake ships as part of the Syndicate, she usually did so from the inside of one.

"Any ideas?" she asked.

After a moment of consideration, Boimler nodded, letting Tendi pull him up closer. He reached inside, then unlocked a smaller panel inside the wiring and gave a yank, tugging out an isolinear rod. Instantly, the whole hatch powered down, and swung open easily on Tendi's next try.

"Complex lock," Boimler said, tossing the rod to her easily. "But the more they over-think the lock, the less they consider the power source. And without power, the hatch is designed to open easy in case of emergency."

"Nicely done!"

"Rutherford's been showing me a few tricks."

The two climbed into the ship, emerging in a cold metal corridor. No sign of any crew, but the whole place was a horrible mess. Not a flat out garbage scow, but definitely could have used a bit of tidying. Worse still, half of it was organic refuse. Kelp, seashells, even some fish still flopping about on the verge of death. The stench was horrific, but then again Gelrakians tended to have a poor sense of smell. Tendi put her hands to her mouth, positive she was going to be sick.

Boimler patted her shoulder. "C'mon, we need to keep moving," he stepped down onto the metallic floor, then winced, hopping from one foot to the other. "Gyah, cold-cold-cold-cold...!"

The whole ship shuddered underneath them. The deck plates were vibrating, as though the vessel was switching gears between maneuvering thrusters and impulse drive.

"We'd better hurry or they'll be ready to take off soon," he said. "Ships like this need to be at a minimum safe height before they can accelerate out of the atmosphere."

The two of them took off running down the corridor. Turning right, then left down a wider corridor, they skidded to a halt in front of an open area where the warp engine was merrily humming away. Along with half a dozen of the yellow-skinned Gelrakians. Armed with a variety of makeshift weapons and tools they must have pilfered and pirated from half a dozen alien species, including Breen, Klingon, and Ferengi. Likewise they had no real uniforms or fashion sense, just wearing as much leather, black and spiky, as you please. Along with a plethora of other nicknacks and accessories, mostly chains.

"⟊x⋔rl!" one cursed. Apparently the Universal Translator didn't catch that one.

Two of the Gelrakians reacted almost immediately to intruders in their midst, grabbing for their weapons, but Tendi was already in motion. The Orion ensign in her lovely blue bathing suit swept through the air with a roundhouse kick that knocked one Gelrakian's tusks out, sending him crashing to the floor. Without even landing, Tendi used her own momentum to spin and threw a punch that collided with the other pirates gut, knocking the wind out of him. Boimler's own attack wasn't nearly as acrobatic or impressive, but he still managed to tackle a third pirate to the ground and smash his face into a panel hard enough to knock him out. Sometimes simple and effective was, well... effective.

One of the other pirates, an alien species with purple, reptilian features, aimed a weapon, but another Gelrakian slapped his hand away. "Watch the warp core, you idiot!" he yelled. He then charged forward with a jagged knife. Tendi deftly caught his wrist, twisted, then used momentum and her own body to judo flip him clean over her and onto his back on the ground. By now, Boimler had swept around the back of the pulsating warp engine and swung a free panel into the purple aliens head, sending him crashing to the ground.

Tendi grabbed and primed a Klingon disrupter and took aim at the warp core, but Boimler pulled down her hand.

"Wait-wait-wait, let's not blow ourselves out of the sky," he explained, moving over to a nearby console. A few key swipes, and it beeped at him, flaring an angry red. "Damn."

"What's wrong?"

"Control lockout," Boimler explained. Another few keys pushed, another angry red bleep back at him. He frowned, moving to another console, but it was the same result. "Damn, we'd need Rutherford to crack this. They must have a passcode, or keyed to their DNA sequence, I can't... I can't get in...!" He slammed the console in frustration. Then, an idea struck him.

Without warning he plucked the disrupter from Tendi's hands. "Hey! I thought you said not to shoot the warp core...!"

"I'm not," he replied. He then proceeded to shoot wildly at the computer consoles, which erupted in a shower of sparks and smoke. Even so, he wasn't satisfied until virtually everything that wasn't full of ionized plasma and dilithium crystals was a smoke wreck of twisted metals. The whole ship shuddered, and they could see the lights dimming as power fluctuated wildly across the ship. Red crystals in the walls began to glow as emergency klaxons began to blare. The lights overhead flickered as well, and after a tense moment, the whole ship seemed to power down to a lower level of activity. Their ascension into the air had been halted, they weren't going anywhere.

"Heh, guess I found the off-switch after all," Boimler said, trying (and failing) to twirl the disrupter on his finger. It dropped from his hand and landed on his foot, and he spent the next few minutes hopping around clutching it.

Tendi giggled, but only briefly. "C'mon, let's go get those turtles."

She grabbed the same knife she'd nearly been skewered with, as the two of them headed to the aft of the vessel, near the cargo bay. Miraculously, they didn't run into any other crew members, though that wouldn't last long with the ship on Red Alert. Reaching the doors, Tendi swiftly bypassed their lock and opened them up.

The cargo bay had evidently been retrofitted for creature storage, half a dozen nets and tanks of saltwater were arrayed against the sides of the bay, the main doors bisecting the floor. Two more crew were here, but Boimler quickly made short work of them with his newfound disruptor on the stun setting.

"First, out of the cages, then, back into the water," Tendi said, pressing a button on the side of one of the tanks. Unfortuantely, her timing was off, as the saltwater and its Risan turtle occupant splashed over Boimler as it came tumbling down into the main bay.

"Oops, sorry," Tendi said sheepishly.

Boimler tugged a bit of kelp from his purple hair. "Nah, no worries. Not like I wasn't wet already," he remarked. He and Tendi swiftly freed the other turtles.

"How do we get them back down to the water? We're way too high up here."

Tendi reached over to the hatch controls and pulled the lever, causing them to begin opening. "I have an idea."


"There!"

Mariner followed Rutherfords pointing finger. The hatch was indeed opening, and Mariner could spot her friends easily enough, their bright swimsuits and hair colors a sharp contrast to the duller colors of the hull.

"They must be trying to set the turtles free!"

"Oh man if they drop from that height they could be hurt!" Rutherford cried.

Mariner nodded, having noticed the same problem. The reef was shallow in this part of the sea, and there wasn't time to find a better landing spot. Fortunately, she immediately came up with a solution. Rather than waste time de-briefing her comrade, however, she immediately put it into action.

"Ready about?!"

"Ready what?!"

"Hardalee!" Mariner said, giving a sharp turn on the ships wheel, sending it spinning around, and the whole cruiser lurched dangerously to one side. Within minutes, Mariner had maneuvered the whole vessel so its aft was directly underneath the Gelrakian cruiser.

"Where tha hell did ye learn to steer, lassie?!" the Scottish captain yelled at her as he climbed back up to the command deck.

"You should see me drive something with warp nacelles," Mariner bragged, giving Rutherford a hand up off the deck.

She then thumbed the intercom. Her voice easily carried through the air to her comrades. "Boimler, we're in position. Go now!"

Watching with trepidation, the makeshift crew of the cruiser watched as the Gelrakian vessel opened up its cargo bay fully, both doors swinging open wide. A deluge of saltwater and marine life came pouring down, heading for the water below. Most of it made it. But thanks to the ideal position of the cruisers net, Mariner had managed to catch all of the Risian Sea Turtles. The aquatic creatures flopped about in the netting, confused and all manner of put out, but unharmed.

A cheer rose up from the vessel.

"Nicely done, you two!" shouted Mariner.


Up above on the ship, Tendi and Boimler exchanged a high five, then winced as the whole ship shuddered again, the Red Alert lights dimming for a moment, then returning in force as the deckplates began to vibrate again.

"They must be re-routing engine controls through an auxiliary system," Boimler explained. "We'd better stop them before they escape."

Tendi nodded, grabbing the knife she'd pilfered from the pirate before and taking the lead, while Boimler followed behind, disrupter on stun, sweeping the area for any hostiles.

"Better get to the bridge, that's probably where they'll be," Tendi said.

They encountered only two more crew on the way to the bridge, another Gelrakian and a Terran, but both were swiftly subdued. The real fight would take place on the bridge. The doors had barely begun to slide open when phaser fire and disrupter bolts began to pepper the air, and Tendi yanked Boimler down and out of the way.

"Well, we got their attention, at least," Tendi remarked, grabbing up a spare weapon and filling the air with phaser fire. Bright red lines lit up the air over the heads of the Gelrakian captain and whoever was on his bridge at the moment. She popped her head out, gave a quick headcount, then yanked it back. "I count four. You?"

"I think I peed myself," Boimler replied.

He gave an undignified yelp a second later as another disrupter blast nearly took his head off, and more of the crew began coming from down the corridor, cutting off their escape. With pirates approaching from both sides, there was little hope two Starfleet ensigns could take them all by themselves. So Tendi tried another tactic.

"WAIT!"

It took almost a good ten seconds for the firing to stop so she could be heard.

"We surrender!"

Tendi hesitantly stepped out from behind the bulkhead, weapon dropped, hands above her head. Water dripped from her wet figure as the other pirates took a moment to consider amongst themselves. Trusting she had a plan, Boimler did the same, dropping his disrupter and raising his arms up. In seconds, the two of them were swarmed by the crew and pulled onto the bridge. There, they met with the Gelrakian in charge, a big, hulking brute of a yellow-skinned, pug-faced alien. Wearing the same black leather and spikes as the rest of his crew and sporting a nasty scar through his left eye, covered by an eyepatch bolted onto his head.

"This is our pest problem?" he snarled. "Two whelps?! You idiots couldn't even handle two Starfleet scum?!" he barked at his men, who looked suitably chastiszed.

"Hey!" Tendi took offense to that.

Meanwhile, Boimler immediately starting doing what he did best. Quoting regulations. "Under Article 4-15 of the Intergalactic Treaty concerning Prisoners of War..."

The Gelrakian on his left snapped an energy whip, lashing it against his shoulder and immediately quieting the purple-haired ensign. "Shut up!" he barked.

"Leave him alone!" Tendi retorted, catching Boimler before he could fall, clutching his arm.

The captain snarled angrily, grabbing a crystal sabre from his belt and yanking it out, the sharp edge poised to skewer the poor Orion girl who stood directly in his path. "I've had enough of this! Your little insurrection ends right here, and right...!"

Tendi launched herself into a handstand and kicked upwards, knocking the sabre into the air. "Boimler, catch!" she instructed. Without waiting to see if he did, she did a flip back to her feet and came in swinging at the other Gelrakian at the captain's side. He fired off a disrupter blast but she was already well inside of his guard, elbowing him in the solar plexus then following it up with a fist to his stubby nose. She grabbed at his gun, wresting it from his grip, then lifted up her leg, planted her foot in his stomach, and kicked, sending him crashing into the navigation console hard enough to send sparks flying.

Boimler snatched the crystal sabre out of the air, thankfully by the hilt, and with only a little adjusting managed to secure his grip and swing the blade, knocking a weapon out of the hands of the Gelrakian crewman.

"You guys were gonna surrender now, right?" asked Boimler, brandishing his crystal sabre in a piratical fashion. It helped he had taken some fencing classes at Starfleet Academy. He pointed his weapon square at the captain, who stumbled backwards into his own command chair with the tip at his throat.

Tendi helpfully levelled her newly acquired weapon on them as well, eyeing down its sights. The remaining Gelrakians exchanged a glance, but with their own weapons pointed at their own leader, they hardly had a choice. They threw up their hands in the universal gesture of surrender.

"The ship is ours. Someone open a channel to the Cerritos."


In the end, with their ship disabled and the coastal authorities on their way, the poachers surrendered without much fuss. True, most of them were Gelrakian (along with the odd Reptile Xendi or Tellarite), but they had no affiliation with their planets government or people as a whole. Apparently, however, they kidnapped the turtles to sell. There was a sub-guild of the Collectors Union, very black market, that dealt in live specimens as well as relics, and liked to collect exotic animals for their personal little menageries. Risan Turtles were apparently very popular amongst them. The poachers would be taken for trial, their vessel impounded by the Risian Hegemony. They had to send several smaller ships to tow it, considering the sheer amount of damage that had been done.

The turtles, of course, were released back into the wilds, to the relief of all who witnessed such.


Authors Notes:
Originally, the plan was to have Boimler and Mariner on the cruise ship saving the turtles, and Tendi and Rutherford on the pirates vessel beating up baddies. But I realized after "Hear All, Trust Nothing" this was almost a re-hash of Tendi's previous taking over of the Karemma ship, and wanted to mix it up a bit. So I substituted Mariner for Rutherford. But no, that also had been done for the girls night out in "We'll Always Have Tom Paris." I was running out of choices on who to pair with our favorite cute Orion girl, and finally Boimler fit the mold, since the two do not have frequent one-on-one interactions in Lower Decks (at least, not yet). Plus, the end scene came together a lot better because it was Boimler, gave him a real chance to shine and be the hero for once, instead of the butt of the joke.