What Lies Beneath (Part 2 of 4) [18+]

Posted on 27 May 2025 @ 3:49pm by Commander Morgan Tarin & Chief Warrant Officer 3 Lamar Darius & Commander Allyndra illm Warraquim & Lieutenant JG Serran & Lieutenant JG Delainey Carlisle & Lieutenant JG Sofie Ullswater & Lieutenant JG Nusien & Ensign Mimi & Ensign S'Ers-a M'Lyr'Zor & Lieutenant JG Hovar Kov & Lieutenant JG Binea & Chief Petty Officer Katja Becker

3,574 words; about a 18 minute read

Mission: Episode 21 - Helix
Location: USS Galileo-A - Deck 1, Bridge; Deck 2, Transporter Room 1
Timeline: MD 07, 0540 hrs

Previously, on What Lies Beneath (Part 1)...

"Aye, captain," Allyndra replied standing up. She headed for the doors and as she got there pressed her comm badge. "Nusien, Becker, Carlisle, medical emergency. Report to Transporter Room One. Prepare for possible decompression."

At the fore of the bridge, the chief warrant officer received then started to execute the new maneuvering order. "GEO over target location, engaging. 42 seconds until we enter position." His head looked down to his console terminals while his hands splayed across several different LCARS interfaces to manually input and control Galileo's commanded orbital adjustment. An increase in velocity to round the planet's corner preceded a controlled roll; on the main viewscreen, the blue water planet Enus V slowly rotated from along the bottom of the display, to the side, then to the top while the Nova-class spun belly-up into the cosmos.

And Now, the Continuation...

[ON]

Deck 2, Transporter Room 1

Allyndra literally flew down the hallway to the Room and found that she was the first one there. She felt funny not having a medical kit. Her hands clenched and then opened wishing to do something. She had to keep reminding herself that she wasn't the medical officer anymore.

Father Hovar showed up next, whispering a small prayer under his breath as he prayed for the strength to endure what is to come, as well as for forgiveness if he had to do something. The Klingon did not bring a med kit, nor did he bring a weapon. Well, he didn’t need to bring a weapon because he was a weapon. Looking at the First Officer, he nodded his head and placed himself in a position her to intercept anyone, or anything, that would come his way.

Katja had grabbed one of the jump bags stored in sickbay and hauled ass when she heard the order. It was game time; the very type of scenario that reminded her she was still alive and had a role to play in this screwed up galaxy they inhabited. Bum leg and all, she took off at fast pace and continued to feel amazed that the leg kept up its end of the bargain. The double doors hissed opened and she entered, finding the Klingon chaplain and the XO already in attendance. Nice. Good show from the 'cripple.'

"Fancy meeting you all here." Katja said in greetings in a slightly breathless voice."

Allyndra turned as Katja arrived. "We need to prepare extra oxygen and fluids stat." She stopped and shook her head. "I'm sorry. I still have too much doctor in me."

Hovar looked at the First Officer and gave a reassuring nod to her with a smile across his face.

“There is no need to apologize, ma’am. Doctors have nerve and the ability to think quickly and correctly, two traits that makes a great leader thrive in situations like this.”

"Thank you," Allyndra replied.

"Only speaking the truth - and yes, ma'am, I have a portable oxygen concentrator with face mask in the jump bag along with two liters plasmalyte, and Dr. Nusien is en route with the crash cart already in tow. There is high-flow there in case BPPV or intubation is required." This was what she lived for; the moment before the sheiß hit the fan. Her body was wound so tight with apprehension that the jolt of adrenaline became the most exhilarating high, crystalizing the world down to pinpoint focus. It was time to do battle against death.

"Excellent. Thank you," Allyndra turned back to the transport pad.

Nusien strode into the Transporter Room having recieved the summons from the Bridge. He held a medical tricorder in one hand and was follwed by a hovering triage cart. When he arrived he took note of all who were in attendance and was happy to see Katja. "Commander. What do we have?" He stood next to the XO as he spoke.

"Most likely we will be dealing with a decompression case. The being is being transported from underwater on a high gravity planet. My suggestion is increased oxygen and extra fluids until we can fully assess and place the being in a hyperbaric room. I have no idea if there might be injuries due to being attacked by a possible predator," Allyndra supplied.

Nusien nodded that he understood the assessment. He tapped his comm badge. "Nusien to Sick Bay. Prepare the surgical bay for hyperbaric treatment and standby for incoming patient. Nusien out." When the channel closed he turned to Allyndra. "Do we have any information on the patient's species?"

"Not a clue. Considering the conditions on the planet, we can speculate that most likely carbon based lifeform and humanoid structure," Allyndra remaked absently.

Delainey strode into the room, taking in the scene before her, her own med kit in hand. Offering a nod of acknowledgment to everyone in the room, she quickly noted their patient had not arrived in the time it had taken her to get to the transporter room. On the way over, she had been mentally reviewing the steps required to attend to a case of decompression, and she considered what other factors might be relevant given the high gravity environment.

Naturally, she couldn’t account for all the variables until she knew more, which she hoped would be soon. Carlisle hadn’t slept as well as she would’ve liked, having ruminated over and over what could possibly await them, and finally, she had gotten out of bed just before their arrival.

Delainey had been tempted to head to the bridge herself to get firsthand information, but she resisted the impulse, reminding herself that Hovar was already there, and he needed the opportunity to gain experience as an observer and command advisor. Besides, she knew she could receive updates from the bridge and take advantage of the fact she could take some time to fully wake up.

What started as a simple arrival and being ignored over the comms had become something of a nightmare. They had no answers, but she could only imagine the horror of witnessing life signs disappearing, fearing the worst, and watching… something give chase. Success wasn’t guaranteed, but at least she would be doing something to help a being in trouble.


Deck 1, Bridge

On the main viewscreen, the sensor grid overlay of sub-aquatic life continued to stream the latest readings and position updates from Galileo's orbital sensor arrays. The large unknown lifeform was now seconds away from merging with the Starfleet-associated life sign, and if the past minutes were any indication, would be the last moments of signature blips from the stranded humanoid deep in the planet's ocean.

"Twenty seconds," Ullswater called out the latest estimate for the time it would take the two creatures to meet. At this point even she was starting to accept the hypothesis that this had been a deadly encounter but she didn't let it show in her voice; professionalism would be maintained. "The window is closing, sir."

Tarin leaned forward in her chair, her hazel eyes locked on to the strategic top-down view of underwater affairs. "Ops, energize. Now," came her swift, dry-inflectioned order.

The Vulcan operations officer took a microsecond to process the order and begin to carry it out—or attempt to carry it out.

He muttered something half under his breath. The only word those nearby might have made out was damn. The rest of his words were indecipherable.

Then loud enough for the entire bridge to hear, but without shouting, he said, "I'm unable to get a lock, Captain, there is too much interference."

Overriding the Ops management system Mimi cleared any and all sensor usage requests and opened up every sensor grid for use by whomever needed it, she read every bit of information as it came in; her ears twitching intently as she tried to help where she could.

Sera quickly accessed the sensor subroutine through her console and engaged an often unused subroutine given the rarity of this type of scanner interference. The algorithm contained all currently known species' skeletal components. "I have initiated a skeletal lock algorithm which should find the lifeform in question through the mineral content in their bones."

As more snippets of information came in Mimi recognised a few small factors quickly building to a bigger picture. "They are Andorian," She announced. "Refine skeletal lock for lapesium."

"There's no more time, you have 5 seconds left." Sofie's voice cut through the noise, with exactly the clarity, articulation, and projection you'd expect from someone who spent half her life on stage. When she needed to be heard, she knew how to get there, and as the time ticked down, there was no space for missed messages.

Within the center of the bridge, Tarin was quickly losing her patience. The life form designations on the screen continued to grow closer, and though she knew the task of matter-transport from sub-surface conditions was inherently difficult, there was a life on the line. "I need that transporter lock, now!" she yelled across the bridge with urgent reverberation which echoed the chief science officer's sense of urgency.

"Contacts are merging!" called out Darius with a matched sense of urgency from the forward conn station. His console's sensor displayed showed the two icons now right on top of each other.

Serran quirked one brow, but showed no other overt reaction to the Captain's words. "Locked on," he said in his own display of projection. "Transporting them now."


Deck 2, Transporter Room 1

The primary energizing coils activated followed by brightening white luminescence from the overhead phase transition coils within their housings. The pad illuminated and the contents of life temporarily stored within the pattern buffer started to shimmer into existence. A cluster of cerulean transporter particles manifested in the shape of a humanoid figure...accompanied by something else. The transporter assembly's biofilter flashed several unseen alerts within the room's unoccupied operator console but it was too late to abort the in-progress sequence.

The entire concatenation lasted 4.8 seconds and suddenly a tall, suited figure materialized laying flat on their back atop the pad. A large mass of accompanying sea water sloshed from their sleek white and gray pressure suit across the platform and down to the feet of the Galileo crew waiting, and the figure frantically flailed in an attempt to dislodge the undesirable companion which had been brought on board: an eight-foot long segment of what appeared to be an alien tentacle firmly attached to its torso.

Robust, highly muscular and accented by a thick pink and gray leathery epidermis, the foreign piece of life had been severed from its host during transport but appeared undeterred by its mission to prosecute its prey - prey which it held a firm grip on and began to devour in an uncanny autonomous manner. Musculature rippled from within the tentacle when its dual rows of hand-sized fangs sunk deeper into the Federation scientist's suit and punctured it. Hisses of air and decompression audibly sounded when it penetrated into the occupant's chest and took firm hold of the unseen officer. It was clear from visual observation alone that this new intruder was a mere fraction of its host - the tip of a creature's extremity whose size was orders of magnitude larger than any Earth-known subaquatic life.

There was a slight fraction of a second where Nusien was stunned by what he saw. He knew that there would be injured, however, he was not prepared for the flesh eating tentacle that came with the injured individual. There was not much that he could do until the tentacle was subdued. He opened the tricorder and began a full medical scan. "For the moment the suit's occupant is injured but stable. If we do not get that tentacle out of the way there is no telling what will happen. The tentacle seems to be embedded in the torso. Perhaps if we isolate the genetic makeup of the tentacle and energize just that?"

Though muffled by the pressure suit, the panicked breathing and gasps of pain from the suit's blue skinned occupant reverberated across the small transporter room as she struggled with the massive tentacle, she locked eyes with the strange 3 limbed man looming above her before her body convulsed with pain and slowly her strength began to fail and the tentacle pushed itself deeper into her suit.

"No time. Narrow range phaser. Then plan on surgery to remove the rest. Move people!" Allyndra could kick herself for not having a medical kit or weapon.

"Don't let.. it ..touch..." Were the last words she spoke before her head lolled to the side inside the helmet.

At first, Hovar did not know what he was looking at. However, what he did know was that his Klingon instincts took over. There was, initially, no expectation for Hovar to need a weapon because of his role as ship's Chaplain, an expectation that he wished was different. However, he couldn't just stand by and watch whatever was attacking this person to keep attacking them. Precious were the memories of his time on his home world, battling dangerous creatures because it was part way fun, part way proving his worth as a warrior.

Therefore, Hovar rushed forward and ensured that whatever was attacking the person in the suit to latch onto him. It was a fair trade, in Hovar's eyes, his life for another. With all of his might, Hovar attempted to pull just enough off that it would give them a clear shot, or at least a good angle to use a knife. Oh, how he wished he still had his knife.

The massive extremity flailed when it was forcefully grabbed from behind by its thick bottom portion and its base segment was lifted into the air. It made its protest well-known by thrashing the suited crew member from side to side like a rag doll atop the transporter pad while its grip remained embedded into their chest. Blue blood started to spray from the survivor's chest wounds across the room and its occupants, splattering them with Andorian hemoglobin. Its feeding frenzy was being interrupted by...another food source. A bioluminescent ripple of lights within its thick epidermis revealed its detection of new skin-to-skin contact. Suddenly it tore itself from the crippled person and curled itself up high into the air, braced by the chaplain's hold on it.

The tentacle's underside swiveled to face the Klingon, and for the first time, the two adversaries saw each other. The two rows of large fangs lining each side of the extremity pulsed together with an uncanny hiss before opening wide and revealing what appeared to be multiple rows of simple eyes which collectively stared at the chaplain. A large blue-blood-coated interior slit at the center of the organ opened then closed which was most likely an esophagal chamber no longer connected to its larger body. It raised itself high above Hovar, then suddenly snapped down toward his head with its tip in an attempt to consume the inferior creature.

"Get them out of here!"

Beyond everything, Hovar had one objective: get everyone to safety. At the very least, give them enough time to tell him how to kill it.

Hovar's growl echoed in the transporter room as his muscles strained against the uniform as he faced a monster that was far worse than what he had experienced in the past. However, whatever this thing was, it was capable of attacking one of his shipmates. In fact, it already attacked one of his fellow members of Star Fleet, or at least that's what he thought.

When it came down on him, Hovar had to change his grip from its "body" to what Hovar guessed was its "head." It was more of a self preservation reflex. One problem that came up was that his feet were aching for traction as the blood of an innocent person coated everyone. Again, his muscles were screaming as he groaned receiving the attack. His breath deepened, his eyes became focused, and there was a very general sense of defiance that coursed through his Klingon veins. Under his breath, his defiant soul declared its intent,

"Not today, Satan."

The tip of the tentacle descended upon his cranium but was momentarily stalled by the Klingon's strong arms. It snapped at him mere inches from his strong head of black hair, audibly clapping at the chaplain's face with teeth capable of ripping the flesh from his bones. It then thrashed from side to side under the grip before its bottom section curled up and captured one of Hovar's legs. Rows of fangs penetrated deep into his lower extremity, and once it took hold, twisted its form to roll them in the sea - or in this case, the transporter room's bulkheads.

The momentum of Hovar and the alien's combined forms swiftly carried themselves into the nearby wall with an audible thud punctuated by continuing hissing before they toppled to the deck plating. The tip of the tentacle continued to strain against its challenger, moving inch by inch closer to the Klingon's head.

Groans, grunts, and shouts of a Klingon on a warpath filled the transporter room as he fought in single combat with this monster. All he could do was hang on as he felt the piercing cries of his muscles as his blood ran down his leg. The pinkish fluid that sustained his life made its way out of him and interacted with the monster and some of it landed on the floor. However, Hovar would not relent. A Klingon was built for war, for battle, for combat. As far as Hovar was concerned, he had the power of God and Klingon stubbornness on his side.

It was after his lungs begged for more air, and his hands preventing the creature from having Hovar meet his maker that he had an idea. Klingons do not brush their teeth, they sharpen their teeth. Technically, Hovar's plan would be frowned upon by his people, and perhaps by everyone else in attendance, but it was the only one that he had left.

Opening his mouth as wide as he could, he bit down as hard as he could on the creature as if he were biting on a tough piece of meat. His eyes remained wide with both anxiety and curiosity. If the creature was going to try and eat him, it was only respectful that Hovar would try and eat him first. It wasn't much of a plan, but it was the only one that Hovar had. If he was successful, he would have a very interesting story to share. If he failed, well, he wouldn't have to worry about it. In either case, he wouldn't be surprised if this traumatized anyone in attendance.

Nusien paid no attention to the perhaps unneeded heroics of the Ship's Chaplain. Instead he concentrated on his patient. Once the tentacle was removed he swiftly and deftly maneuvered the person onto the antigrav bed. Having three arms came in handy in situations like this. Once the person was on the bed he quickly scanned the patient ensuring that the person was stable for transport. They would need blood, as well as a number of stitches. "Blood pressure is dropping." He drew a hypospray from the medkit. "Administering three ccs Inaprovaline." He pressed the hypo to to woman's neck and continued to watch the vital signs. The blood pressure leveled off. "We have to get her to Sick Bay."

Becker tore her eyes on whatever the heck was fighting the Klingon--and giving him a run for his money--to the CMO and assisted him in getting the woman safely on the stretcher. "Go on ahead, sir - I'll bring up the rear - I'm not much of a first assist. You'll have to teach me that too when you get a chance." She responded quickly, with a brief smile at the end - it wasn't said to be contrary to Nusien's decree. The patient needed to get to sick bay - but given the uncertainty here...there may be more patients.

"I think we can find the time for some teaching." Nusien replied in an effort to lighten the mood. "Come." He led the way out of the Transporter Room with the antigrav bed and Becker following behind.

"Get them out of here!" Allyndra commanded. "Site to site if you have to." She turned back to where the chaplain was trying to deal with the creature or part of it.

To Be Continued...

[OFF]

--

CMDR Morgan Tarin
Commanding Officer
USS Galileo-A

CWO3 Lamar Darius
Conn Officer
USS Galileo-A
[PNPC Tarin]

CMDR Allyndra illm Warraquim
First Officer
USS Galileo-A

LTJG Serran
Operations Manager
USS Galileo-A

LTJG Sofie Ullswater
Chief Science Officer
USS Galileo-A

ENS Mimi
Deputy Operations Manager
USS Galileo-A

ENS S'Ers-a M'Lyr'Zor
Chief Engineer
USS Galileo-A

LTJG Hovar Kov
Chaplain
USS Galileo-A

CPO Katja Becker
Medical Officer
USS Galileo-A
[PNPC Becker]

LTJG Nusien
Chief Medical Officer
USS Galileo-A

LTJG Delainey Carlisle
Chief Counselor
USS Galileo-A

LTJG Binea
Researcher
Enus Station
[PNPC Mimi]

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