SET - Rojar II R01 Sub-aquatic Survey (Part 2 of 2)

Posted on 07 Jul 2013 @ 1:50pm by Lieutenant Commander Dea Mialin & Chief Warrant Officer 3 Lamar Darius & Lieutenant Kiri Cho & Petty Officer 3rd Class

2,398 words; about a 12 minute read

Mission: Episode 03 - Frontier
Location: Rojar II R01 - Southern Ocean
Timeline: MD 05 - 1645 hrs

Previously, on Rojar II R02 Sub-aquatic Survey (Part 1)...

Lamar's console chirped and he frowned as he analyzed a new set of incoming data. The Hunley's underwater sensors had detected something interested and he was anxious to report his findings. "I've got a new signature on the scope...looks like...multiple signatures, actually. A lot of them." he confirmed as he adjusted the broadband frequency waves of the sensors. "Could possibly a swarm of some type, or a school of fish. Bearing two-seven-one and about three hundred feet below us." he accurately reported.

And Now, the Conclusion...

[ON]

Nexia looked at her readings carefully. "I think it's a school of....something not very large but there are a lot of them."

"Ammonoidea?" Kiri paused, first reading high levels of aragonite in the swimmers, enough for shells, "Are they moving very much or just vertically?"

"Umm..." Lamar pondered as he interpreted more of the data. "Hold on, I'm switching to high-frequency sonar to get a better picture." he said, then activated the shuttle's specialized arrays. As a clearer reading of the ocean's inhabitants developed for him, he linked the data stream to the other crew members' consoles. "From what I can see, they're moving together slowly and in random circles with no clear destination."

"It could be mating or social behaviour," Communicating under water was hard for a lot of creatures, maybe these ones danced. Then again maybe it really was completely random, "Can we move closer to get a better picture?" Kiri looked towards the front of the shuttle.

"Maybe they are even feeding. Of course, it would have to be a pretty big meal to feed all of them." remarked the Seklie.

Cyrus continued to half listen to the others as they passed through the water. It was of little consequence. As he sat there he happened to notice a couple larger fish. Their brightly coloured scales seemed to meld well in the clear waters.

Turning her head towards Darius for a moment, "Let me know if anything changes course and starts to close distance in our direction." At the moment they didn't need any unexpected surprises.

Lamar nodded in acknowledgement. "So far so good, ma'am." he casually replied, then turned back towards the assistant chief science officer. "How close would you like to get?" he asked her then glanced over at Kiwosk. The security officer was a bit quiet but seemed to be enjoying himself...at least, Lamar thought so.

"Just close enough to make out what they are, and what they are doing," There were a lot of possibilities and that was just what she could think of. There were creatures that had two bodies joined by thin tendrils, or maybe they really were just dancing around each other for no reason.

Cyrus smiled slightly as Lamar looked over to the burly security officer, but he continued to keep his silence.

The support craft pilot heard Kiri's request but the actual piloting was up to his department head, Lieutenant Mialin. Glancing over at her, he recommended a safe distance. "Should we close to maybe one-hundred and fifty feet? Cut the distance in half?" he proposed.

"Let me know if they change course at all. Slowly closing to one-hundred fifty feet," Dea confirmed. Carefully piloting the craft closer to the creatures but ready to change course if needed.

As the shuttle descended and came closer to the group of unknown creatures, Lamar was now able to get a better picture of them on his sensor console. "Looks like you were right, they do have shells...from what I can see, they look like...big swimming snails...with fins!" he declared with a chuckle, somewhat incredulous that such an sea-faring animal could exist.

"That might be a good idea," Kiri spoke softly, if speed wasn't an issue then having a shell could make them well protected and maybe even more hydrodynamic. Looking carefully at them and seeing the stripes on the shells flash she smiled for a moment, "Is there any sign of what they eat, or why they are circling?"

Lamar shrugged innocently enough. Science wasn't his specialty but his experience in the Marine Corps told him that first-hand investigation was the best way to answer unknown questions...dangerous or not. "I'm not sure, ma'am. But we're close enough so that you can collect a few samples if you want?" he proposed.

Did she want to, no. Going out into freezing water under high pressure, were if she wasn't careful or something went wrong she'd be dead in seconds. That was why she was here though, right? Standing up she didn't really realise what was going on before she reached one of the lockers. There was no room for changing, she'd planned for this though. Moving right to the back of the shuttle Kiri started to undress very self-consciously. Folding everything she stood in her swimsuit for a second before stepping into the pressure suit. It actually looked like she showed less skin that before, completely covered in the black plexiweave of her swimsuit. Once zipped in she looked larger, the pressure suit starting to mould closer to her body.

Cyrus sighed and swallowed the growing lump in his throat. Looking around he simply sighed and took off his uniform piece by piece. He had thought that he would be the one going outside for collection. Taking off his upper uniform sweater revealing his massive physique. Well defined, solid muscle wrapped his chest and abs. His large arms showed massive biceps and his back sported broad shoulders. The well formed upper body was bare he stripped off his lower uniform to reveal just as defined lower body. He didn't look amused as he grabbed his own flex suit. The upper part of the gear hanging he walked over bare chested to the pressure body suit. He gave Kiri a small smile and sighed. "Let's be quick eh?" The first thing he said all trip before fitting himself in the rest of the suit.

Kiri did her best not to look at him, skin was not something she was used to dealing with. She didn't want anyone to see her, or for her to see anyone else's. That was what she told herself at least, "Yes, quick is good."

Cyrus looked over to the others in the shuttle. "Two flashes on my emerg light means we're in trouble....just in case communication gets cut." He explained. "Better to be prepared."

Stepping to the airlock Kiri slid her helmet on and checked the air system. It all seemed fine, at least she wasn't going to actually getting wet. Waiting for Kiwosk she picked up a small scooter, it felt rather heavy.

Taking his helmet under his arm, he walked into the airlock and gave Kiri a wink. "I'll drive." He smiled. "If you don't mind." He placed his helmet on and sighed in relief as he heard the sucking seal that the helm was in place. "Testing audio communication. can you hear me?"

"Okay," It was with slight reluctance that Kiri handed over the scooter, that meant she'd would be clinging to him, that she had to rely on him. Nodding inside her helmet she looked at him through the transparent aluminium, "Everything is fine."

"Turning on radio tranmission...Testing" Cyrus readied the scooter and checked the gauges. "Pressures are all good, levels normal. All is go."

"Copy your transmission," Dea replied. "We'll follow your progress on this channel." She let her eye scan the shuttle's systems for a moment.

Swinging onto the scooter he motioned for Kiri to do the same, making sure she had more than enough room to do so. "Ever do this before?" He asked.

"Only twice, and that was inside a starbase," She had remembered crossing the huge aquatic mess hall a few times, she was in no real danger there though, unlike here. Taking hold she brought up her hud inside her helmet, a tricorder that she didn't have to hold.

Cyrus nodded. "Good to know." He breathed aloud, trying to keep his nervousness down. He offered a smile through his helmet. "Hop on then, the sooner we're out the sooner we can get back to the ship."

Placing her hand on the handle as the airlock started to fill with water she looked at him, "Just, don't let go." Whether it was of her or in general she didn't really know, it just felt like the thing to say.

He smiled at her concern, and nodded.

"Ready for Decompression. " He called over the comm. "Lieutenant Mialin if you could do us the honors of shooting us out the airlock?" He continued dryly.

Lamar already had the utility controls queued up in front of him on his LCARS console and initiated the request in a quick and efficient manner. "Decompression in five...four...three...two...one..." he counted down, then tapped a small button to open the Hunley's side hatch. The shuttle dipped to the side as a result of the sudden change in ballast but quickly recovered when the inertial dampers compensated. Water flooded into the airlock and suddenly both Cho and Kiwosk found themselves submerged within the depths of the ocean.

Cyrus could feel the sudden rush of water and the crushing underwater pressure. In only minutes he and Kiri were completely submerged. He glanced over to his mission partner and wondered how she was dealing with the water.

After the initial flooding everything became eerily quiet. Cyrus tested his movements and wasn't surprised to discover his moves were sluggish. He looked down and pressed a couple buttons on the scooter. The emergency lights inside the airlock cast an evil red light that stopped to the dark opening.
Twin white lights lit up on the scooter and in one fluid motion he swung one left over to sit down. "You coming?" He asked Kiri.

Shifting round in the water Kiri took hold of the underside of the scooter and looked ahead as the door started to open, "I'm ready." The radio made her voice sound a little robotic, at least she wasn't wet.

He nodded, which was an awkward thing in the water. "Let's catch some snails..." He called over the comm sarcastically and put the scooter into motion.

Feeling the water pull against her as they moved Kiri tried to look up, in the dark it was hard to make out much of anything though. Relying on the sensor readings from the screen in front of her and the lights from the Hunley shuttle. The shellfish finally started to come into view, they were indeed in pairs. How to actually go about capturing one, she didn't really know yet.

The blackness seemed to press in around them as the drifted through the waters. "Everything seems alright." Kiwosk stated through the comms. He wheeled the scooter to settle near a underwater rock formation with several of the slow moving snails. He left the scooter running and shone the powerful lights towards the snails, and watched as lightning fast the curled into their shells before he could blink.

Letting go of the scooter with one hand Kiri waved the other of the shell of two of the creatures. As they retreated each pair pulled together, completely covering the openings. Part of her felt very guilty about taking one away, well a pair. Taking a cylinder she caught a sample of the water and two of the pinkish shells, setting the internal pressure settings to remain the same once they left, "I hope they won't be lonely."

"Bet the people up top never thought of that." He grumbled in agreement as he observed Kiri working. He kept the scooter at the ready and shiner the powerful white lights in her direction as she continued to collect the samples.

With two sets taken and another round of scans Kiri pulled herself back onto the scooter, clipping the samples to her belt. She hoped that once the detailed scans on the ship were done they could beam the creatures back down here. Glancing at Kiwosk she took a breath that steamed up her visor for a moment, "I think that is everything."

Almost from nowhere an a creature crossed the lights and cast a shadow across them. Looking up Kiri couldn't see anything, then were was another out of the corner of her eye, turning she saw one stop mid movement. They were rather like cuttlefish, only dark and with a convulsion it launched forwards on a jet of water. Looking back to the shells that were still floating she could see one of these jet powered creatures poking at one with a tenticle before darting away again. Were they predators, or something else? They kept their distance from the humanoids but moved so much it was hard to get readings. Slightly frustrated Kiri looked back towards the shuttle, "We are coming back, can you scan these new fish?"

Dea continued to monitor their progress from the confines of the shuttle. Every once in a while she scanned the data coming across her console to ensure all systems were functioning as they should be.

"I'm on it." Lamar replied to Kiri as he moved over to one of the side auxiliary stations and quickly configured it to interpret the underwater sensor data. "Wow, that's a strange one!" he called out with a chuckle and a shake of his head. "Sensors are registering it as some sort of cephalopod...about two meters long with multiple tentacles. I have no idea if they're dangerous or not, but best to come back to the shuttle. There seems to be a couple more of them lurking nearby. Probably attracted to the lights from your scooter."

Feeling the water rush away from her in the airlock Kiri breathed a sign of relief as she removed her helmet and checked the containers. Next time they should have a deep water probe rather sending her out into near death.

[OFF]

--

WO Lamar Darius
Support Craft Pilot
USS Galileo
NPC'd by Lirha Saalm

Lieutenant (JG) Kiri Cho
Assistant Chief Science Officer
USS Galileo

Lieutenant Dea Mialin
Chief Flight Control Officer
USS Galileo

PO3 Nexia Alona
Oceanologist
USS Galileo
NPC'd by Markum Quinn

CWO Cyrus Kiwosk
Security/Tactical Officer
USS Galileo

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