Dax's Magic Octopus

Trektober 2024

One of Dax's lab specimens escapes and trashes Quark's.

Fandom(s): Star Trek DS9
Character(s): Ensemble Cast - DS9
Tags: Monster of the Week

Rating: General Audiences
Content Warnings: N/A
Word Count: 2283
Type: Oneshot, Standalone

Collection: Trektober 2024

Trektober Day 28
Prompt: "Monster of the Week"

Odo jumped slightly at the sound of a fist slamming rapidly against the door to the security office. His head jerked up, and when he saw Quark through the glass, pounding away at the door, he sighed with annoyance before hitting the door release button.

Quark raced inside, draping himself over the back of one of Odo's guest chairs and breathing heavily.

"Getting some morning exercise, Quark?" Odo asked flatly.

Quark gasped for breath for a few more seconds before stammering out, "there's something... in my bar."

"Ah," Odo said. "Those would be the customers. I suppose it would be natural to be in a panic over them if you weren't used to seeing them."

"This isn't a time for jokes, Odo!" Quark wheezed. "There is something in my bar. I went to open it just five minutes ago and there was something in there!"

"Are you sure you didn't forget to kick Morn out before locking up last night?" Odo asked.

"Odo!" Quark protested.

"Alright, alright," Odo said, rising reluctantly from his chair. "Show me this thing that's in your bar."

Quark rolled his eyes. "Finally. You need to work on your response time. Come on."

Quark lead Odo out of the security office and towards the bar. The Promenade was nearly deserted at this early hour.

When they got to the bar, Odo observed that the doors were open at odd angles. He looked at Quark. "You saw something in your bar and didn't bother to close the doors?"

"I was scared!" Quark said. "I wasn't thinking about locking up."

"Well, whatever you saw might not be in your bar anymore."

"That's fine by me!" Quark said.

Odo frowned at him. "And if it isn't in your bar, that means it's loose on the station."

"Oh," Quark said. "I suppose that wouldn't be good. Maybe it's still in there?"

Odo sighed. "Wait here, I'll go check it out."

He walked into the dark, empty bar, listening for any sound and keeping an eye out for any movement. He went to the panel on the wall and tapped at a control. The lights went up, and Odo stared at the scene in front of him.

Quark's was trashed. Chairs and tables were overturned and smashed, glassware and bottles from behind the bar were shattered, there were long scrapes along walls, and the spiral steps had been yanked from the foundation. Something had been in here, and whatever it was, it was big. And notably, it was no longer in Quark's.

Odo tapped his comm badge. "Security to Sisko."

"Go ahead, Odo," said Commander Sisko's disembodied voice.

"There's something loose on the station. Whatever it is is large and dangerous."

The senior staff and Quark were gathered around the table in the wardroom. After Odo's report, Sisko had called a meeting to figure out what the situation was.

"Tell us what you saw, Quark," Sisko said, watching Quark over his laced fingers.

"I didn't get too good of a look at it," Quark said. "It was dark, and the moment I saw it I turned and ran for the security office. But I can tell you that whatever it was, it was big."

"How big?" Sisko asked. "Give us an estimate."

"Big. Tall enough that its head, or the top of it, or whatever, was pretty close to the second level of my bar. And I couldn't tell you how wide it was, it seemed to fluctuate. Almost like it was built of arms that were constajtly shifting. It looked like a big blob."

"Alright," Sisko said, then turned to Odo. "And what about the damage?"

"It was strong enough to dislodge a staircase," Odo said. "Whatever it is, it's a danger to the station and everyone on it. I suggest we lock down the station and confine everyone to quarters."

Sisko sighed. "I'll sign the order."

"You said it had lots of arms," Dax said, addressing Quark. "Would you say that they were like tentacles?"

Quark considered for a moment. "Yeah, that sounds about right. Why?"

"I have to go check on something," Dax said, and raced out of the room.

"Dax!" Sisko shouted after her. The meeting wasn't done.

"What was that all about?" Bashir asked.

"Beats me," O'Brien said. "But what I want to know is how something that big left Quark's without anyone seeing it."

"Or how we're going to find it," Kira said.

They talked about the logistics for a few minutes, until they were interrupted by Dax's voice over the comm.

"Dax to Sisko," she said. "I know what trashed Quark's."

"What is it?" Sisko asked.

"DaMO," Dax said.

"What?"

"I think you'd better just come down to the lab. All of you."

Glances were exchanged around the table, and everyone slowly got up from their seats, confused.

"Alright people, let's move," Sisko said.

Sisko, Kira, Odo, O'Brien, and Bashir were gathered around Dax in the lab. She was gesturing to a sixty gallon glass tank along one wall. It was empty.

"I've been working with DaMO for months," Dax explained. "I didn't think he would escape, or that if he did, he would grow a storey high and trash Quark's."

"Hold on a second," Sisko said. "What exactly is DaMO?"

"It stands for 'Dax's Magic Octopus,'" Dax said.

"Dax's Magic Octopus?" Kira asked flatly.

"Look, it's an octopus, it's magic, and it's mine, don't knock the name," Dax said. "The important thing is that he escaped, and that he's what's out on the station."

"How do we kill it?" Odo asked.

"We're not going to kill him!" Dax said. "We just need to catch him, that's all."

"But what happens if it escapes again?" Sisko asked. "It can't stay here."

"Well, we'll work something out," Dax said. "But we're not killing him. He's a life form, and an intelligent one."

"Alright," Sisko agreed. "No killing DaMO. How do we capture it?"

"And how do we find it?" Kira asked.

"Well," Dax said. "I have DaMO's bio-scans. I can have the station's sensor array do an internal sweep for that signature. As for catching him, I'm not sure. Normally I'd say we could just put him in a jar, but that was before I found out he could grow into a giant."

"Does he like you?" Bashir asked. "I mean, will he respond to you? Maybe you could coax him back into the lab."

Dax shrugged. "Maybe," she said. "But he might think of me more as a jailer than a friend, if he has the capacity to think in those terms."

"What about a force field?" O'Brien asked. "We could trap it with force fields once we know where it is. Then at least it won't be wandering the station while we figure out what to do with it."

"That'll work," Dax said. "Great idea, Chief. I'll get those scans started."

The scans found DaMO almost immediately.

"He's in the infirmary," Dax said.

Bashir groaned. "I really hope he isn't destroying the place."

"But we can trap him in there," O'Brien said, tapping into a computer. "I just need to activate the force fields on the infirmary doors." A couple seconds passed. "Done!"

"Great!" Dax said. "Now let's go over there and figure out how to get him back to the lab."

"And see what kind of damage he's doing," Bashir said, sounding unenthusiastic.

The crew left the lab and walked the deserted corridors and Promenade to the infirmary. They stopped in front of its open doors, blocked by the force field, and peered inside.

"I don't see anything," Sisko said.

Bashir groaned. "He's trashed the place."

The infirmary, from what they could see from the doorway, was vacant of magic octopuses, and was a disaster zone. All sorts of equipment and medicines were broken and scattered across the floor. There was even an upturned bio-bed, and those were bolted to the floor.

Dax looked down at her PADD, which was showing a live display of the station's sensor array findings. "Hmm," she hummed curiously.

"Hmm, what?" Bashir asked.

"Hmm, he's not in the infirmary anymore," Dax answered.

"Did I not put up the force fields fast enough?" O'Brien asked.

"No, he was still in there when you put them up," Dax said. "He must have escaped another way. The sensors are picking him up in the jeffrey's tubes. He's on the move."

"Heading where?" Sisko asked.

Odo peered at the readings over Dax's shoulder. "Looks like... Ops."

"Shit," Kira said. "We have to get there before that thing does."

Kira took off at a sprint, and the others exchanged glances before following suit. Kira made it to the turbo-lift before anyone else, and did not wait for them, instead going straight to Ops. The others had to wait impatiently for the turbo-lift to come back.

When they got to Ops about forty seconds later, they found a disaster scene. A very, very large translucent octopus was wreaking havoc on Ops. Kira was tangled in one of its massive tentacles and was shouting obscenities as she was thrashed about.

Sisko took out a phaser and started to aim, but Dax stopped him.

"Wait Benjamin, let me try something."

"You'd better hurry, before—"

There was a shower of sparks as the octopus ripped a console out of the floor.

"I'll hurry," Dax said. She stepped out of the turbo-lift towards the beast, her palms raised towards it in a soothing gesture. "Hey, DaMO, remember me? It's your friend, Jadzia."

DaMO stopped thrashing for a moment and regarded her with its big, goat-like eyes.

"That's right, buddy," Dax said. "Can you please put my friend down and stop breaking things? Then shrink down again so you can fit back in your tank in the lab?"

DaMO did not like the sound of this. He roared, and threw Kira at the group still in the turbo-lift, knocking them all down like bowling pins. He then seized another of the consoles and proceeded to rip it out of the floor. A shower of sparks landed on Dax, who leapt back to avoid getting burned.

"Dax!" Sisko shouted in warning.

"Just a second!" Dax shouted back desperately. "Don't shoot!"

Dax ducked under a swiping tentacle and dashed across the room. She had another idea to calm DaMO down, she just hoped she didn't upset him enough that it wouldn't work.

"Computer!" She shouted at the replicator. "Cheez-Its!"

The replicator produced a bowl of Cheez-Its, and Dax grabbed it, whirling around to face the raging octopus.

"Hey! DaMO!" She shouted. "I got Cheez-Its!"

DaMO turned on her, and stopped as he spotted the Cheez-Its. He slithered closer to Dax, and loomed over her, his eyes staring down at her. Then, a giant tentacle reached over and grabbed a handful of Cheez-Its from the bowl, and shoved them into his beak. When his tentacle returned for more, Dax relaxed a bit.

"Good boy," she said. "Don't worry, we'll figure something out." Then she looked over to where her friends were watching from the turbo-lift. "I think it's safe now," she said.

Slowly, the others came out of the turbo-lift. Curiosity brought all but Kira close to the creature. They stood at Jadzia's side while Kira stood ready to bolt for cover into Sisko's office.

"So, what are we going to do with him?" Sisko asked.

Bashir added, "he seemed awfully upset when you mentioned putting him back into the— Ow!" He complained as Dax stomped on his foot.

"Well, I think it's clear he doesn't want to go back to... that place," Odo said.

"But he can't just stay roaming the station," Sisko said.

Dax thought for a moment, then shrugged. "We can put him out in space," she suggested.

"Wait, you were adamant that you didn't want us to shoot him before," Kira said from the corner. "Now you want to just throw him out an airlock?"

"His natural habitat is the vacuum of space," Dax explained. "We would be setting him free, in his own home. What do you think of that, DaMO?"

The big octopus made an ambiguous groaning sound, and polished off the bowl of Cheez-Its.

"I think he likes that idea," Dax determined. "Although, there aren't any Cheez-Its in space."

With Dax luring the giant creature with Cheez-Its, they lead DaMO to one of the vacant airlocks. Dax left a giant pile of the snacks in the airlock, and they closed the inner door after DaMO went in after them.

"I can't say that I'm sorry to see him go," Bashir said.

"Me neither," Kira agreed.

"Well, I am," Dax said, sounding a bit sad. "But it's for the best. He clearly wasn't happy in the lab."

"Time to send him on his way," Sisko said.

"Yeah." Dax said, tapping away at the airlock controls, and overriding the fail-safes.

An alarm blared, and the outer door opened. The pressure differential sucked DaMO out into space faster than any of their eyes could register.

"It's done," Dax said. "Goodbye, DaMO."

Afterwards, Sisko, Kira, and Odo went to assess the damage to Ops, and Bashir went to the infirmary to start cleaning the place up. The lock down order was lifted, and people started coming out of their quarters to resume their activities. Dax found herself wandering the Promenade, when she heard gasps from a crowd gathered by one of the windows.

Joining the crowd, Dax looked over their heads, and placed a hand to her chest. Outside the window was DaMO, in all his splendid glory, cheerily eating a cloud of Cheez-Its, putting on a wonderful colour display of purples and blues and reds. Dax couldn't help but grin.

also posted to:
AO3
Ad Astra