The Tribble avoided getting too wet and too blown away and his Tribble basket kept power despite the best efforts of ex Tropical-Cyclone Alfred to rain on or blow away the Tribble or indeed to disempower the Tribble Basket. which was just as well! The Tribble looks dreadful when he’s windblown, and you’ve heard of wet dog smell? Well that’s NOTHING compared to wet Tribble smell. This next captain had been a captain for a relatively short period of time, earlier this term in fact, but he was keen for an animal nickname, and the Tribble found time between neural network coding and graduate position hunting to get around to doing a ceremony for him.

The tribble bounded up to his specially sized podium, his tribkini seemed almost too big on him as if he had ‘gasp’ lost weigh, but he still looked resplendent in it, his combadge placed as strategically as ever to hold it together. He began to speak.

“Friends, we are gathered here today to question whether or not Coyote had any marbles to lo …” the Tribble paused, “Wyvern, have you been messing with my cards again?”

“Let’s start again,” the Tribble said, “animal captains, yet to be animal captains, those who are captains but who are still waiting to receive animal nicknames, those who have no desire to be animal captains because they know they wouldn’t look good in anikinis, and anyone who isn’t a member of STF, but who should join up immediately, thank you for your attendance, I hope it wasn’t due to the offer of free food after the ceremony. We are gathered here today to honour a relatively new captain, who became captain of the Ark Angel earlier this term. This new captain has been asking for an animal nickname ever since his promotion, and so while I wait for Google Colab to process my code, I decided it was the perfect time to do him this honour. Would the Cockroach, the Capybara, the Targ and the Owl please escort Clayton Strong/Sivik to the podium.”

The four animals led the currently human captain to the podium along side the tribble, and it is possible, just possible that Matt and Nathan were overheard whispering (Matt - ‘our trio’s down to two’; Nathan - ‘yes, our pal is doomed’).

“Clayton/Sivik, you along with Matt and Nathan work tirelessly as part of Tech, protecting us all from the dangers of the internet, and ensuring we have the technology we need to keep posting about our stories of being Starfleet officers exploring the stars, in some ways it seems you almost have an exoskeleton to help protect us and multiple pairs of appendages to keep the systems up to date and the ability to go back and forth to ensure things are just as they should be. They were two animals that sprang to mind when I considered what was appropriate for you, both have claws, both have an exoskeleton, both have five sets of appendages and both move back and forth, one left to right, and one front to back. Both are also delicious to eat … but he’s an animal captain folks, and not a food source, not even for jaguars or coyotes. Of course one of these animals also has a bad connotation of being a bit ‘crabby’ and I think THAT would be too cruel.”

“So, to stop wasting your time, and to let TECH get back to protecting us all from the nasties out there and to keep on upgrading and maintaining or systems, and with the power invested in me by the Official Unofficial Department of the Public Nuisance, the Church of Carrotism, and the Betazoid mystic I met the other week on Risa, I hereby name you ‘Lobster’.” A flash of light, and where Clayton/Sivik once stood, there was now a Lobster.

“Arise, Clayton/Sivik ‘Lobster’ Strong and join the animal zoo, your lobkini (designed to enhance your exoskeleton and allow you full movement of your legs and claws) will be ready for you shortly,” Tribble said, a smile on his face, “and may the Codemonkey, the Bunny, the Hen and the Duck have mercy on our souls. Now, let’s eat … but not the Lobster, I’m sure Matt and Nathan would NOT be impressed if anyone was to eat the third member of TECH.”

• Tribble, Animal Naming Ceremony Host

OOC: Sorry for the delay, Clayton, I was determined to make sure it got done today, so you didn’t have to wait any longer.
OOC2: I managed to get a Disney movie quote in, not from ‘The Little Mermaid’, I floundered a bit when it came to that one, but from a different one.