A scientist's genetically altered tribbles multiply and overrun the USS Cabot in this animated short.
Lynne Lucero, newly promoted to her first command on the science vessel USS Cabot, inherits Edward Larkin, a whiny science officer who resents being passed over. The Cabot is studying tribbles as a possible answer to a planet's food shortage, and when Lucero rejects his ideas, Larkin secretly splices human DNA into the creatures against her orders. The tribbles begin to be born pregnant and multiply exponentially, overrunning the ship.
The crew evacuates, while Larkin, trapped beneath a heap of tribbles, is left behind and dies. Played as broad comedy, the short offers an absurd in-universe origin for the explosive breeding seen in the original series episode The Trouble with Tribbles. Written by Graham Wagner and directed by Daniel Gray Longino, it stars Rosa Salazar as Lucero and H. Jon Benjamin as Larkin, with Anson Mount appearing as Pike.