Goin' Under

Posted on Sun Jan 10th, 2010 @ 5:18am by

1,154 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: POWERING UP THE STATION
Location: Tiberius V
Timeline: Current

ON

The surface bases were well under way and recon was started, next came a slightly harder job; going into the oceans. One city would be land based and another would sit below the oceans, it was only fair that both areas be examined just as thoroughly.

[NES Destiny]

"Science team's Bravo Four and Alpha Six, Recon platoons Eight and Twelve to drop ship Celestial" echoed through the halls, and in immediate response sensor pogies and troopers stormed to the dropship mounted to the Destiny's belly.

"I want full sub aquatic gear!" Lieutenant Demeiner called, "just cause we can breath it does not mean we want to!"

In response the recon troops made it a point to show their ocean going gear, oxygen filters, diving masks, water packs and of course guns built to work under the water.

[Dropship Celestial - Cockpit]

None stop flight and so far only on the second shift of pilots, this was gonna be a long mission; of course the last one was just buzzing around and charting space, quiet for the droppers. Up in the cockpit, that only meant that the pilots weren't quite dead yet and that they had to think for a few seconds every time they went in for an unusual drop or evac.

"What drop is this?" Flight Officer Falco asked as he finished adjusting a few systems on the overhead panel at the front of the cockpit. "We've gotta be up to thirty by now."

"Your close" Navigator Yegal replied as she continued to go over their map data on the screens along the left side of the cockpit, "its drop thirty-four."

"Great, everyone go, no go for drop" Falco said as he strapped down in the pilot's seat, the three other's followed suit; co-pilot Bends next to him, Yegal behind him facing the wall, engineer Nirry in the same position behind Bends.

"Nav and coms are nom" Yegal called, everything in nominal operating range.

"Thrusters, power grid, reactors and everything else is green" Nirry answered, making some final adjustments on the panel in front of him.

"I'm ready whenever you are" Yegal said, grabbing his controls should something happen to their pilot.

"Celestial to Destiny, we're marking tracks" Falco said into the coms, then switching to intership, "all hands strap down for another run. In the even of an emergency your pilot may not be used as a flotation device." As soon as he finished the craft's docking clamps released from the Destiny and it started into a drop straight down into the atmosphere, bound for a region far off over the water.

After what seemed no time and a lot of course corrections the drop ship was just about on target, Falco reached up and adjusted the thrust routing so they could come to a full hover when they were ready. About a minute later he was pulling back on the throttle and keeping a steady hold on the control stick to keep them level.

[Dropship Celestial - Deployment Bay]

Drop four in two days, not much longer and this would become routine. The scientists loaded up on the skiff's while the recon troops put on their air masks, as soon as the skiffs were clear the troops pushed a large platform out the back of the craft and then followed it out, foot first into the water.

The platform dropped out level and floated calmly on the water, the reconers sank below and waited for the drop ship to move off. Once it was gone, they clambered up onto the platform and waited for the skiffs to come back around, they'd be transport through the area while the platform acted as a base of operations.

[Oceans]

"Team Bravo lets go" Science Officer Freddy said, jumping over the edge into the water, making a rapid decent to the ocean floor. Behind him scientists and some recon escorts followed, doing their best to keep up. After they found the bottom the skiff's would drop two submarines off their back mounting hooks, but that wouldn't be for days yet.

"Man, this stuff's thicker than Dackma soup" a scientist said, in the darkness it was impossible to tell who it was and the distortion from all the water didn't help identify the voice.

"Content readings?" Freddy asked, if the stuff was dark a reason would be helpful in finding out why, especially when they weren't even down that far.

"Looks like we're just in a dust cloud, its made of iron, titanium and some copper particles" someone answered, "readings show its pretty rare, I can't find any more of em' anywhere out here."

"Still, light would be quite helpful" Feddy said, "Bravo to base, an you drop a flare for us? Eighteen hour duration please, depth fifteen?"

As a reply a bright light came sinking down, temporarily illuminating the cloud before sinking well below them. The scientists heads looked down tracking it as far as they could see though in seconds the light was far gone from their sight.

"Onward" Freddy said, urging his thrust pack to push him down a bit farther a bit faster. It was going to be a long ride one way or the other, though on the flip side, one button push and he'd be at the surface faster than warp nine through open space.

[Ocean Bottom]

After an hour or so of swimming the team had finally hit rock bottom. The landscape was pretty empty, but sea life abound everywhere. There were creatures large and small, even a few resembling creatures from home; sea dragons to badda sharks.

"This is AMAZING sir!" the scientists echoed within minutes of each other as they all found some nobel prize worthy discovery. The dolphins were capable of touch telepathy, the plant life performed photosynthesis even at this depth, some plants act like venus fly traps for plankton, and much more.

Hours later they had enough data to keep them occupied for months aboard the ship, but this was just the beggining, albeit the end of their O2 converter's filters and power supplies. "Alright, back up everyone" Freddy ordered, "no one without an oxygen mask until we're sure of everything in this water."

Grumbling, everyone packed up their gear, minus a probe or two and began the lengthy ascent to the platform and extraction. That would be real fun, getting off that platform in all the waves the drop ship would make, only good thing was that the giant tin can had been anchored down.

In the end, it was one more day, one million more discoveries about one billion billion yet to be made. The cities would arrive in a matter of days now if that, their jump point had yielded a much better speed than anticipated, warp eight with a strong chance of hitting warp nine; at that pace they could be here in a day with some change.

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