It was a regular day on the Leviathan. Or as regular as a day could get on a floating laboratory where the subjects were captive creatures bent on the destruction of all mankind. But as the hard-working and frequently exhausted crew went about their individual business, each one would find themselves interrupted by a ship-wide video broadcast from Captain Cobb.

=^= Crew, this is the Captain =^= he announced redundantly, for all could see the familiar, bearded face staring out from their nearest terminal screen. =^= As you are all aware, we are currently on our return journey to Starbase 237, where we will be, amongst many other orders of business, offloading some of our current anomalous creatures and then loading on some more. As requested, several of you have submitted research proposals and requests for anomalies of a specific nature or type and I shall contact each of you individually to confirm the outcome of these requests. But for the rest of you…=^=

One single moment was all it took. One single reach of left hand for the whiskey, condensation on the chilled glass sending a drop of ice-cold water onto the terminal controls and he attempting to wipe at the spillage with his sleeve. His eyes once more lifting to study his screen and instantly, Zachariah Cobb froze in horror.

=^= Oh. Ah…what the bloody hell is that?! =^=

To the gathered crew watching, it would be immediately clear. Their captain, heavily whiskered though he may be, had been replaced on screen by the image of a large, somewhat sorrowful-looking, cat. Its eyes darted from left to right in horror, mouth moving in synchronisation to the captain’s own, increasingly panicked, voice.

=^= I don’t know how to…well where the bloody hell did this cat come from?! =^=

The chirp of his commbadge was obvious even without the visuals. The voice of the recipient could not be made out over the watching terminals, but due to the combination of an excellent input port and the fact that Cobb had a very loud voice, they captured every single word that the captain said. And with each one, the cat’s mouth and its expressions followed.

=^= Ryder I…I need some help. I…seem to have…well, my terminal is broken. =^=
…
=^= No, I don’t know how I did it. I mean…but for goodness sakes, look at me! I’ve been turned into a bloody cat! =^=
…
=^= What do you mean you couldn’t tell the difference?! Oh, that was a joke. Well, I’m not finding this particularly funny! =^=
…
=^= You want to do what to my tail? =^=
…
=^= No. Mr Raauhl, this is me. I am here. Now. I AM NOT A CAT! =^=

A moment later and the terminals went dark. The captain did not resume the call that day…

• Captain Zachariah Cobb