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"Tendi, come over here," T'Ana called from her office. Of course, Tendi being the excitable girl that she is, she didn't take long to come on over.
"Yes, Doctor T'Ana?" the Orion asked, before taking in the sight before her: the Caitian doctor was standing behind her desk, while the newest member of the science team, the Vulcan by the name of T'Lyn stood opposite her. The most curious thing however was definitely what lay on the desk itself. "Is that...?"
"Yes, it is indeed an individual tribble," T'Lyn remarked in that dry and logical Vulcan tone.
T'Ana, for her part, squinted at the most recent addition to the Cerritos 'family'. "And where did you get that?"
"On the most recent planet we visited. The strange part is that, while most establishments would sell them for credits or latinum, the man who sold me this tribble insisted upon an Earth tradition of the early 21st century. Namely, an exchange of what is known as a 'dab'." The clinical way of referring to a dab-off got Tendi to chuckle a tad.
"So you're telling me that you brought something that Starfleet hasn't actually seen since 2268, after dabbing for it?" T'Ana was, understandably, skeptical of this. However, T'Lyn simply nodded in confirmation. "Okay, what's so fuckin' special about this one?" the cantankerous CMO then asked.
"I have reached a breakthrough: namely, I was able to reduce the rate at which it reproduces. Instead of spawning a new generation every twelve hours, it will only do so every twenty-four hours. Much more manageable, especially if one is to remember Ambassador Spock's-"
"And McCoy's." T'Ana insisted.
"... and McCoy's discoveries on the species, re their breeding and food intake." T'Lyn only seemed slightly more annoyed than her stone-face usually seems to allow at having been interrupted, so all in all? Not bad.
"But wait, isn't it kind of unethical to edit a species' genetics?" Tendi brought up.
"It is only logical that one take action if an uncontrolled expansion of an invasive species is on the horizon. Besides, I did not remove its ability to breed wholesale."
As if to prove the truth of that statement, the tribble 'birthed' ten more of its kind then and there.
T'Ana sighed, clearly not here to deal with this right now. "Just... be responsible, okay you two? I won't tell the captain for the moment."
Probably a good move. Or not, who knows. Tendi, however, was just excited to see a tribble herself. "This must be how Jadzia Dax felt...!"
"Again, who the fuck is Jadzia Dax?!" Nobody's told T'Ana, even a year removed from her initial bafflement at the name.