Disclaimer: I am borrowing these characters from Paramount. This was a challenge presented by my JetC14 pond. Enjoy. Comments and feedback are welcomed.

Rating: PG for some violence

"Captain!"

The hurried voice was from none other than Neelix who was rushing towards her with a fierce twinkle in his eyes.

"Yes, Neelix?" Kathryn held her slight frustration in check. The crew was visiting a peaceful planet and she had finally been convinced by Chakotay and Tuvok that a bit of leave for her would do her good.

"Captain, I have found a delicacy which I would like to bring aboard for the rest of the ship."

"Of course. Do as you please," she responded with an airy wave of her hand and continued to walk away.

Hours later, with most of the supplies needed all tucked away and Kathryn sitting relaxed on the Bridge, Voyager once more resumed its journey homeward.

Little did they know the terror that was mere decks beneath them in the unsuspecting hands of Neelix.

The little alien man was busy in his kitchen brewing up some new recipes he had received from a renown chef he had managed to find on the planet. In fact, he was busy boiling up some spiced water to prepare his latest creation.

Within a small cage to his left were five small furry creatures, making low purring sounds. Each was no more than a ball of fur, each having different shades, no eyes and nothing else to see.

Neelix was humming a low song and turned away from the stove to reach around and pick up a thick cucumber that he was going to prepare into the salad that was to accompany the newest dish. He was cutting it up when a small round slice rolled away from the rest, unbeknownst to him and came to a stop right on the edge of the cage. The creatures within sniffled cautiously at it before dragging it into the cage and each nibbled down a good piece of it.

The small meal raged through their system quickly.

"Ok, it's time to shave our newest treat for the crew." Neelix shuffled his way over to where the furry things were and opened the cage, reached in and pulled one out. He was reaching for a large pair of scissors and about to close the cage when he felt something bite his thumb.

"Ouch!" he screamed in surprise and dropped the animal.

"What the …?" Neelix cried out when he noticed that he bore a pretty good sized bite mark on the pad of his finger. Picking up a napkin he wrapped it, he took up the scissors again and started to search for the fur ball that had caused the damage. Dropping down onto his knees he began to crawl around, not knowing that in all the commotion the cage door has not been locked well and the other four rolled out and dropped to the floor.

Neelix saw movement out of his eye and spotted the vicious creature that had hurt him, he stalked it into a corner and struck it with the scissors. A mean cry escaped it as it seemed to lose some of its roundness and an odd yellow creamy blood-like substance seeped from where the scissors had dug into it.

At that moment Tom Paris entered the kitchen, unknowingly giving the other four creatures an opportunity to escape the room. "Hey Neelix. What are you doing on the floor?" His gaze fell to the now dead animal next to Neelix, "And what the hell is that?"

Neelix lifted the impaled creature and showed him, "It was meant to be a surprise soup for the crew."

Tom walked closer, inspected the thing and a vague memory clicked in his mind, "My God, do you know what that is?"

The little Talaxians brows came together, "A gorgish."

"No! You wacky alien -- that's a tribble!"

"A what?"

Tom threw up his hands and began to explain the problems he had heard those furry animals had caused before. "Those little things are lovable little fur balls that caused some problems many years ago for Captain Kirk. They are born pregnant and eat anything and everything they can!"

"Oh dear," whispered Neelix.

"How many did you bring aboard?"

"Oh. Just five. But now this one is dead and the others are locked in their cage. Tom? What do you mean by "lovable"? This thing bit me!"

To prove his point Neelix showed his now bloodied napkin to the pilot. Both looked towards the now empty cage and both muttered a quick curse before dropping to their knees and beginning to search for the missing four.

Meanwhile, in another section of the ship, the once four tribbles were busy multiplying into more. With a stealth unseen before, two had managed to enter an empty area in cargo bay two and began to give birth quickly. But the ones that came out now were different looking than the original ones. These had a small visual mouth filled with sharp teeth and two beady eyes not too far above that.

They rolled here and there, searching for more food. Finding none, they began to separate and head to different sections of the ship.

Down in Sickbay, the Doctor was seeing to Neelix's latest dilemma. He had already repaired the small alien's finger and now in the middle of a dissection the furry creature.

"You say that a tribble was what bit you? Starfleet records don't show any records of any attacks on any one before. Aside from whenever a Klingon would get too close to them, I don't have any accounts of problems with tribbles."

"Captain to Doctor. You wanted to see me?" the EMH's commbadge chirped.

He tapped his and answered, "Yes, there is something you should see."

"Acknowledged. I'll be there in a short time. Janeway out."

Moments passed until the sickbay doors opened to show Kathryn Janeway enter and come to a stop near the biobed where she could see what looked like an opened toupee on there. Standing passively in a corner of the office Neelix looked on and began to get nervous.

"What is this?"

The Doctor looked up and gave her a weak smile, "A dead tribble."

Janeway's eyes grew round and she turned her dagger eyes to the now cowering Talaxian. Her voice was now a growl. "I repeat. A what?"

Neelix cleared his throat and walked over to her with his shoulders down and his legs shaking a mile a minute, "Captain. I can explain."

"Don't."

With that one word alone she mentally dismissed the alien and turned her gaze to the Doctor once more. "Why is it being examined?"

The EMH poked into the insides of the opened creature before answering her, "It appears that this particular kind of tribble isn't what Starfleet came face to fur with years ago. This little ball of fuzz is a biter."

If Janeway could have looked more angry she would have imploded. "How is this possible?"

"From my initial diagnosis, I have found a small trace of what seems like a vegetable within the stomach area. This may have caused a quick biological change within their insides."

"Their?"

Now it was the EMH's turn to gulp. "Yes, it seems Mr. Neelix brought five aboard."

Kathryn looked again in the direction of the still quivering alien. "The others have been disposed of, I take it?"

"Not exactly, Captain." Neelix choked out.

"What? Where are they?"

"M - missing," he whimpered out before fainting straight to the floor.

Sometime later the Captain's conference room was filled with the Senior officers, discussing the latest folly that had fallen into their laps.

"Captain," Tuvok said. "I have assembled and sent out several small groups of security throughout the most logical areas a tribble would go. If there is any indication as to the possible danger these things can cause, the biggest would be if they reach a food source."

"True." Chakotay spoke up, his hands casually draped atop the table but his eyes were fixed on the Vulcan. "Now, how does this account for the 'attack' on Neelix? Starfleet records don't show these things to have been vicious the times it made contact with them."

The Doctor was the one which offered the answer to this puzzle. "Commander, this may be due to a small internal difference between the Alpha and Delta Quadrant versions of the tribble."

Chakotay's lips opened to ask another question before he was cut off by the EMH again, "Yes, there is ever the slightest difference in the DNA and it also appears that something the creature digested affects it. There's no telling what this tribble species can do."

Kathryn sat back in her seat and worried. She turned her gaze especially to B'Elanna.

"Keep an eye out. Keep security tight around the messhall. The last thing we want is for these things to feed," she warned them. "Dismissed, except for you: B'Elanna and Chakotay."

Once they were alone she focused on B'Elanna. "I know how hard this is going to be on you. There is no love lost between your race and the tribbles."

"Captain, I will do my job as is required." The ridges on her forehead seemed more intense as she frowned. "Besides, from what I saw and heard here, they don't share their love with Talaxians either."

Chakotay spoke up, "I would like someone from security to be with you." His gaze went to Kathryn's face, "Is that possible Captain?"

Before Janeway could respond B'Elanna growled out, "No way. I'm not afraid of some circular ball of hair. I've seen more fierce combatants and never backed down."

Kathryn fought to keep the smile from her face. "That may be true," she said. "But if these things breed as they did in the Alpha quadrant then you won't be facing merely one but perhaps a good dozen and they might not be as meek as once thought. Have a phaser on hand at all moment. If not for your sake, then for my own mental peace."

B'Elanna sighed loudly and nodded. There was no way she could refuse her Captain if it meant she'd worry about her. She gave both her superior officers a small smile and exited the room.

"So Captain," Chakotay asked. "Do you need some personal security as well?" His eyes had a personal twinkle in them.

Kathryn laughed out loud now, until her cheeks hurt. Her voice went down an octave as she brought her seat a bit forward. "Are you offering to be my personal bodyguard?"

Chakotay mimicked her motions until the both were sitting pretty close. "Anything for my Captain."

Before they could continue their conversation the commbadges called them. "Tuvok to Captain Janeway and Commander Chakotay. We have an emergency."

They broke apart like two teenagers caught by an adult.

Kathryn was the first to speak up, "What happened?"

"Captain, we have reason to believe the tribbles have begun to breed, and morph as well. I am in cargo bay two"

"Understood, I'm on my way. Chakotay stay on the bridge for now." They stood looking at each other a second longer than was needed and then walked briskly to get their jobs done.

Several decks below in Engineering everything was running quietly and smoothly. Everyone had been put on alert and was looking towards the floor and into dark corners, in case a tribble was hiding somewhere -- stalking B'Elanna.

In cargo bay two the Captain walked in and was surprised by what she saw: at least a dozen round balls of fur with terrible little eyes looked back at her from the corner where they had been pushed into by the security team.

They were quite bigger than the average tribble as well.

"What is going on here? Tuvok, why are these so big?" One of the things, the size of an average basketball, dared to try to cross the threshold where the people stood. One quick shot from a security phaser stopped it in its tracks but it's eyes seemed to flare sparks at them. The others rolled a bit left and right but didn't back off as a scared creature would do when faced with a possible death. This was now truly scaring Kathryn. She took an extra phaser from a security personal and tuned it up to kill mode.

She didn't think twice before giving the order, "Toast them."

The sounds of the tribbles as they were being killed was horrible but several did a kamakasi run towards the crew. They latched onto the humans and aliens and gave a fierce battle, biting sharply into their flesh and taking chunks of uniform. One flew directly towards Tuvok's face and would have caught him had the Vulcan not seen it coming and shot it down mere seconds before it would've gotten him.

Long moments later, there wasn't more than a floor full of dead tribbles and several injured people left in cargo bay two. Janeway had come out unscathed but quite shaken.

"B'Elanna to Janeway." Kathryn reached up to answer her commbadge.

"Janeway here."

No answer returned on the badge.

Without a second thought, Kathryn knew something bad was happening in the lower decks. She looked at her security team and knew they'd be here for a few moments more, wiping up this mess.

"Tuvok, stay here with the others and secure this area then meet me in Engineering."

She tapped her commbadge, "Janeway to Commander Chakotay."

"Yes Captain?"

"I'm going to Engineering. Something seems to be wrong there."

"Understood. I'll meet you there with a security team."

Kathryn walked into a turbolift and told it the deck she wanted when she heard something that made the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end. Something seemed to be growling.

She was instantly on alert looking around the closing doors of the turbolift. *Of all the places to be locked into with a dangerous tribble.* She was barely able to think before the attack came. Her eyes looked into the hallway and she spotted the little beast rolling quickly to make it into the still open doors. Her hand managed to close around the phaser when it bounced up and crashed against her head, knocking her into the wall of the now closed turbolift.

Kathryn fell to the floor, her eyes momentarily unfocused due to the impact while her hand lost contact with the weapon. This thing had been as big as the ones in the cargobay and seemed to weigh as if filled by sand. Again she heard the growl, seconds before the intense pain in the curve of her shoulder and near the inside of her neck brought the world quickly back into perpective.

Janeway screamed as the teeth again broke through her uniform and took a good bite of her skin near the edge of her shoulder.

She pushed her hand up and tangled her fingers into the hair of the tribble, her short nails digging into the beast, and pulled back hard, finally getting it to release her now bloodied arm. The animal fought against her grip and was winning as it twisted a hard left and then a sharp right.

Kathryn knew that if it managed to break free she'd have a hard time controlling it, the blood she was dripping all over her regulation boots was draining her of her strength. "You little bastard," she yelled as she dropped kicked it. Once it hit the wall of the turbolift it seemed to be dazed for a moment. That instant was all she needed. Kathryn picked up her booted foot again and again, kicking it as if it were no more than a ball.

Finally, the thing wasn't moving nor making any more pained sounds so she picked up her phaser and shot it once just for the sake of being sure. Her fingers closed over the injury and she knew it was close to one of her major arteries. The bleeding was quite bad now, her hair was wet with her own blood and beginning to seep between her clasped hand.

The turbolift opened up in Engineering and the sight before her was a scary one: a good twenty or so of the hairy monsters were circling around seven of her crew and still more the tribbles were filling the room. All around the floor there was red and yellow blood stains and several dead tribbles, the scent of burnt hair hung heavily in the room. In the midst of the people was B'Elanna growling back as loudly as the furballs were and swinging her phaser back and forth, shooting as many as she could.

B'Elanna was bleeding around the calves as was another Ensign that was standing back to back with her. She broke eye contact with the beasts when she heard the doors open and none other than her Captain entered.

Several of the tribbles turned to look at who this new threat was and two began to roll to attack this new foe. Janeway barely had time to dodge them, her head was swimming and her body was quickly losing energy. "B'Elanna, I don't know how long I can last!" she spoke through dried lips, her voice nearly lost in all the confusion.

"We're closed off here!" B'Elanna cried back. She looked at her hurt Captain and wanted to plow through the sea of tribbles to help her but the attacks were now becoming harder to fight back.

Kathryn heard the growling growing louder and just as a tribble was about to jump upon her the shot of a phaser killed it in midflight.

Janeway looked up to see Chakotay entering the room with Tuvok and several others fighting back against the tide of killer tribbles. The Commander came to a stop behind Janeway, "Lean on me. I'll keep you safe." His arm came around her waist and helped keep her standing. But the bleeding had been too much for her and she fell into a dead faint within the comfort of his arms.

The Commander brought a hand up to her neck and felt the very soft pulse there.

"Tuvok, the Captain is hurt badly and has passed out. I'm taking her to sickbay."

The Vulcan never took his eyes from the fight before him and shot another tribble as he answered, "Understood. We will take care of this matter."

Chakotay picked her up and once safely cradled with his arms carried her all the way to the turbolift where the cooked body of the tribble his Captain had fought still sat in a corner. He looked at it distastefully and felt a small level of happiness that he hadn't been the one to kill it. The way he was feeling now, he'd had tormented it endlessly for biting into his Captain.

Entering the sickbay he placed her on a biobed and called for the EMH who was finishing helping another crew member who was there. When the Doctor saw the extensive bleeding of his Captain he left Paris in charge and immediately began to help Janeway.

"Where was she attacked?" he asked Chakotay.

"In a turbolift."

He was scanning her and was surprised, "I'm amazed she's still alive. This thing took one good bite of her main artery in the neck. Had it been able to it would've killed her in a matter of moments. Luckily though, it seems that she fought it off."

Chakotay watched as the Doctor gave her a sedative and began to repair the damage. Kathryn was deathly pale against the red of her bloodied skin but her eyes opened up for a moment and she gave him a ghost of a smile. "My hero." She whispered softly before the medicine began to knock her out.

"Anytime." Chakotay whispered back.

The others in the sickbay were surprised to see their Commanding officer laugh between the tears that were now falling down his cheeks.

It was a good couple of hours later that everyone who was injured could get to the sickbay, the battles against the tribbles had been fierce but finally the entire crew had managed to kill off each and everyone of them.

Two days later life was a bit more normal on the ship. Tuvok and his team had gone over the entire ship and found it to be tribble free.

B'Elanna, once her injuries had been helped and she had known that no true damage had happened to her warp drive, had asked to have a tribble skinned and stuffed so she could place it in the corner of her room, as a battle trophy for the day the tribbles had attacked Voyager.

As punishment to Neelix for having brought this latest terror on board, he was chosen to clean up a good portion of the mess and also was unable to go on leave on the next planet they encountered.

Kathryn was sitting in her Ready room with a tiny bruise showing the effects of her own fight still on her neck. The Commander walked in and sat before her with a small smile on his lips.

She looked at him for a second and then asked, "What is it, Chakotay?"

His smile grew and he said, "I've heard some rumors that your bruise wasn't a tribble bite but instead it's a hickey."

Kathryn sat back in her seat and giggled, she knew not to take those little lies seriously. "A hickey, huh? And who does the rumor mill say GAVE me that hickey?"

Now the Commander's smile nearly touched his ears, "Ain't saying. But I will say something else."

He paused and leaned in a bit. "If anyone's gonna leave a love mark on that satin skin of yours, it's gonna be this First officer."

Kathryn gave him a long look and smiled back. "And I keep wondering when that event will happen."

"Sooner than you think, my Captain. Sooner than you think."

The End.