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.