Lieutenant-Commander Chance Vought, paced around the conference room for the second time in as many minutes; clasping and unclasping he’s hands as he did so.  He finally placed them on the back of the chair he’d previously been occupying.  To his right sat his human First Officer, further along the polished grey oval table sat a Caitian and Cardassian.

“So let me get this straight.” He looked firstly at the two Ensigns then towards the Lieutenant; just to confirm he hadn’t dreamt the last few minutes or gone mad.  The look Devron gave him back, suggested neither was the case. “You’re telling me that this Tribble of yours is able to detect the fluctuations in subspace.”

“That is correct.” C’Rren replied timidly; he still wasn’t sure about this new captain, he wasn’t like Devron and certainly nothing like Commander Salan.

“He started to make a high pitched hum, right before we hit the last pocket.” Tholakath added.

“It could be a complete coincidence.” Vought remarked. “Animals make noises all the time, even Tribbles.”

“Four times seemed more than just a coincidence.” The Cardassian replied.

The Captain looked once more to his XO. “Their quarters are under constant monitoring as per your instructions.” Devron answered the unasked question.

Yes, that was right; he’d insisted this pet Tribble be kept under close surveillance.  He was willing to allow them to keep it aboard so long as it didn’t prove a danger to ship or crew.  If it so much as sneezed or coughed up a fur ball, he wanted to know.  He leaned on the chair, feeling the back tilt ever so slightly under his weight pressing upon it. “How exactly is this information going to help?” He asked the two Ensigns. “Are you planning to give him a little space suit and strap him to the front of the ship?”

Jason caught completely off guard by the statement his commanding officer had delivered in a calm even tone; that he couldn’t stifle a snigger, which seconds later turned into a cough.

**********

The proposed course of action was no were near as dramatic, but it did require a certain level of tinkering and some small construction by the ships engineers and Doctor de Havilland.

What they ended up with was a box like structure measuring 60 centimetres square; on top of which sat an elaborate looking domed latish work of sensors, and in the middle of all this, sat on a blanket was one crewman Houdini; the all-important Tribble.

Doctor de Havilland had been able to look at some of the data Doctor Phlen had gathered from his own personal study of Tribbles.  The Denobulan’s research had followed on from that conducted by a number of academics over the years.  He was also the owner of Houdini’s parent.

“Shall we plug it all in, and see what happens?”  The doctor asked, once he was satisfied the patient; if you could call it that, was comfortable.  He passed one end of the wires from the box to Lyambo who was half under the console of Science Station 2; were he had removed an access panel.

It took a while for the system to assess that the new addition was in no way dangerous, and for it to recalibrate itself.  The image that appeared on the stations screen was both beautiful and strange.  When the Captain requested they transfer the image to the main viewer, his Chief Science Officer obliged.

The image on the screen was one of undulating colour.  Greens flowed gently in yellows and pale orange.  Reds mixed into purples; and between all this there was the black, like the roots of a tree, spreading out.

“It looks beautiful.” Ensign Cho commented.

“Beautiful, yes.” Vought agreed. “But what the heck is it?”

“You’re looking into the mind of a Tribble and how it perceives space around it.”  Doctor de Havilland informed him. “I’d say it’s a bit like how pigeons sense and follow the magnetic lines on Earth, in order to find their way around.”

“We’ve got scanners for that.” The Captain exclaimed neither understanding nor being the slightest bit impressed.  “So how is Tribble-vision going to help?”

“Captain, if I may step in a moment?” Lieutenant Stuart asked from her seat at the helm.

“Go ahead, please do.” Vought waved a hand in the Orions direction.

“The ships scans can see everything in a straight line, radiating in all directions from the ship. When it reached a distortion, we can’t detect anything beyond that.”  Everyone on the Bridge understood that point.  “Our small friend here is looking beyond the distortion, seeing round corners our scans can’t detect until we are right on top of them.”

Chance sat back in his seat, lost for words.  He’d been warned that this crew was an odd bunch, with the ability to somehow manage the unexpected and in some cases the seemingly impossible.  The record of engagements during their time aboard the USS Jaxartes in just that one year was something remarkable, considering its small size and lack of fire power.  But then again, in some of those instances, other factors had influences the outcome.   Now ever their pets were getting in on the act!

“Well I guess we’re navigating by Tribble.” The Captain shook his head slowly. “Lieutenant Stuart, best speed and heading, at your discretion.”

“Aye Captain, moving out.” She replied with a smile. This was certainly not something that was in the training manual.

“Ensign Cho, is it possible to send back a message regarding out new navigation system?” Chance asked after a few minutes.

“I’m sorry Sir; I’ve still not been able to establish a link with any other ship or starbase.”  Cho apologised.  “Though I don’t believe the Federation would be able to track enough Tribbles down to make it a viable method.”

His communications office did have a point; Tribbles were rare these days, mostly because of been hunted by the Klingons who absolutely hated the things.  Then again the Tribbles seemed to have a negative reaction to the Klingons to; they just did have a bat’leth to swing around!

**********

Everything had gone smoothly for the next few hours; the USS Grus was able to make good progress, weaving its way through the worst of the subspace distortions and being able to maintain higher warp speeds for longer, thanks to the Tribbles senses.

Lieutenant-Commander Vought had gone to his Ready Room to catch up on paperwork and reports; leaving Lieutenant Devron in charge of the Bridge.

Lieutenant Wilcox, the ships Chief Science Officer had been looked at something on his monitor, something he hadn’t been sure about at first.  Subspace, in its current unpredictable state had been throwing up a few strange and sometimes false readings.  But what he’d originally dismissed as a sensor echo; wasn’t following the sort of pattern you’d expect.

“Sir I think we may have a problem.” Wilcox announced once he’d rechecked the data.

“What sort of a problem/” Devron turned to look at him.

“Well I initially thought it was a sensor echo.”  The science chief replied.  “But sensor echoes don’t perform course corrections at the same point you do.”

“You think we’re being followed!”  Confirmed Devron; before hitting the com-button on the seat. “Captain to the Bridge, unidentified vessel detected.”

Then the USS Grus went to Yellow Alert.