Paradise (Part 6 of 7)

Posted on 03 Jul 2019 @ 2:57pm by Rear Admiral Lirha Saalm & Commander Scarlet Blake & Commander Marisa Wyatt & Lieutenant JG Tris Shizn & Petty Officer 1st Class T'Lin & Petty Officer 3rd Class Peregrine Steele
Edited on on 03 Jul 2019 @ 3:03pm

3,454 words; about a 17 minute read

Mission: Episode 17 - Crystal of Life
Location: Latari B III - Surface, Shuttlecraft Vincenzo
Timeline: MD 01, 0621 hrs

Previously, on Paradise (Part 5)...

Blake motioned to Shizn with her next order. "Meanwhile, Shizn, T'Lin and Steele, you'll work on getting this shuttle...sea worthy." Blake took a breath as she arched an eyebrow; that wasn't an order she'd expected to have to give. She straightened up, hands resting on her hips as she looked around the small team with a firm nod. "Let's make our own luck."

"Very good commander," T'Lin simply replied. She went to fetch scanners to check the hull and got to work.

"Yes, ma'am," Marisa said. She put her samples away and went to help Blake with the buoy. She was grateful for the chance to do something productive. She had confidence the Galileo would come back for them, but they did have to stay alive until then.

“Yes, ma’am,” Shizn parroted the last comment quietly as he was already considering what he needed to do to make the shuttle even more airtight in addition to getting better thruster control.

And Now, the Continuation...

[ON]

At the crashed Waverider...

After such a dangerous landing, which they had barely survived, it was a miracle that they had as much left to work with as they did. It was a tenacious plan; using the shuttle as little more than a hovercraft, but they'd done as much as they could to secure the small vessel for the trip through water. Waiting longer to try her out wasn't going to improve their chances in the risky gambit. They were just going to have to roll the dice.

So as Blake took a deep breath and straightened up from the panel, she nodded to the others, resting her hands at the small of her back. "That's it," she said firmly, taking a slight step back as if to cast her eye over their improvised but resourceful work. "She's as ready as she'll ever be. Shizn, let's see if she's sea worthy..."

Shizn said nothing as his lips pressed into a thin line and gave the Commander a confirming nod before turning in his chair to the flight control panel.

"Good job," Marisa said to the others. They had to move away from the bio-silicate creatures, and they had to get the data to the Galileo. She profoundly hoped this would end well. She briefly thought of Luke and how much she wanted to spend the rest of her life with him. Then she turned her thoughts back to the problem at hand. There would be time to think of Luke later, when they were safe on the Galileo.

Steele sat back and nodded in agreement with the lieutenant. "Hull should be good enough if we don't get hard waves hit. The patch is fine and the field generators should keep the water out. No big fancy maneuvers there sir," Steele nodded to the Andorian pilot, "and we should not sink."

“That IS the plan,” Shizn commented nonchalantly as he confirmed the last items for preflight.

T'Lin had been using what they had of the sensors currently and matching against what data they had collected in the descent. "There is an island which has fresh water 143.2 km to the east north east bearing 79.7 degrees. It is the closest island from the data we gathered that would have food and water for any survivors."

Marisa prepared the data package and loaded the buoy while she waited for the others to finish their jobs. The odds of their survival were increasing, but she was still concerned that if they did not get off the planet, the data would be lost.

“Alright,” Shizn commented, “After we get over water we will head due East.”

Blake didn't have to be Betazoid to feel the slight change in the atmosphere. It was a small thing, but it could carry them a long way. "Sandoval, launch the buoy with our report," she wanted it safely out of the way before their unorthodox journey began.

"Yes, ma'am." Marisa had been waiting for the signal. She checked the trajectory and made sure it would have enough thrust to escape the atmosphere, and launched. "Buoy away."

Tris glanced over at the sensor display confidently as he watched the tracking of the buoy as it went skyward.

Blake let out a long breath as she forced herself to take her seat; it always felt unnatural to sit when her instincts told her to be alert. "Let's head for the island that T'Lin suggested. Lieutenant Shizn, take her out..."

“Yes Ma’am!” Shizn replied confidently as he turned and activating the thrusters. The Waverider first leveled out and began to hover, only a half meter off the rocky ground. Tris’ eyes scanned quickly over the readouts, finding everything as expected, before turning the shuttle to port and slowly accelerating it up over the crash embankment, then down the slope toward the water about a kilometer away.

Marisa held her breath until they made it onto the water. She again checked the trajectory of the buoy. It made it out of the stratosphere. Good. Now she could focus on survival.

Steele monitored the hull field and strength readings. "So far so good, just try to make it easy over the water." He tried to sound confident but felt anything other than that. He glanced out toward the front as the sun was coming up, well the main one for this planet. The dust from the eruption had spread across the planet by now and even though they were as far upwind as possible from the prevailing winds a brownish sort of snowflakes could be seen drifting down. "I certainly won't be dreaming of a white Christmas," he quipped. He knew that the volcanic winter that would follow would probably make for a near ice age. It was sad, that from a beautiful planet that whatever had happened at the main site of the colony it had ruined this planet.

He glanced over then at the Vulcan but she was like all her kind even if her alabaster skin and blonde hair set her physically different then the rest. Intent on one thing and one thing only keeping her eyes glued to the scanners and ignoring the sadness of the loss of life and ecosystems to come.

The beach lay before them and the velocity was reduced. Tris felt nervous ‘pricklies’ on the back of his neck as the craft moved out over the water. He kept their velocity as slow until all were sure of its worthiness in this unusual situation. The craft made its way across the water easily, which brought a slight smile of confidence to his face.

The Waverider Vincenzo, approximately the size of a small fishing trawler, maneuvered across the water and out into the open coastal reaches where the ocean floor began to drop and the swells increased in size. Beneath the shuttle emanated rippling waves and thick water mist created by the landing thrusters' jet blasts. Moving at a slow pace of 40 knots to prevent over-stress of the weakened hull, Vincenzo streamed across the ocean and towards the destination island.

Shizn glanced back taking in the expressions of those aboard. Tris turned back confidently, “Now angling to bearing 79.7 degrees.“

Marisa found herself staring out the viewscreen, wondering if Starfleet would send scientists to clear the atmosphere to keep some of the planet alive, or if it would be abandoned because of the silicate creatures. What happened to the planet and the colonists was heartless and tragic. But the scientific part of her still wanted to know what--or who--caused this.


Thirty-Seven Minutes Later...

T'Lin was concentrating on the readings for the island. "On course for intercept of island, twenty point two kilometers away."

Tris had felt rather confident of their now ‘water-craft’ for the past half hour, but then an indicator light began to blink on the sensor display. He flicked through a couple screens for a better reading before announcing, “I am detecting a moving object in the water ahead.” He grimaced slightly not able to provide better information. “I cannot confirm what it is, but is significant in size, about 3 kilometers ahead”

Marisa had moved to the unmanned sonar station and was monitoring the underwater activity. A blimp on the screen caught her attention. "Object is moving to intercept. Pattern indicates it may be biological."

Blake moved up close behind Marisa to take a look at her readouts for herself, shaking her head with a frown. "Are we able to pick up enough speed to stay out of its way?" she asked quietly, glancing between Marisa and Shizn. She knew they were walking a fine line already with the stress on the battered shuttle, but if they could risk a little more speed, she'd rather keep out of the way of any possibly territorial sea creatures.

Tris really wasn’t sure and he didn’t want to provide inaccurate information. “We can increase speed and angle more to starboard. That would get us out in front of it . . , unless it increases speed as well.” He looked over nervously to Blake then back to his controls.

"Increasing speed might help," Marisa said. "Angling the shuttle could allow the creature to come at at angle and shorten the distance, depending on its intelligence."

Steele redirected some of the sensors. "Crap in a bucket!" he said out loud. "Definitely big about twenty kilometers long. Looks to be cephalopodic in rough structure, approximately squid like. Moving in fast jerks so guessing like the Earth ones using a form of jet propulsion."

Tris was somewhat familiar with large sea creatures on his homeworld of Andor. “Based on its current speed, if we turned directly away from it, we might out run it, but that would severely extend our time on the water.”

Marisa was fascinated that so large a creature existed on a colonized world. She ran a series of scans to learn more about the cephalopod. As it came nearer, she put the image in a corner of the viewscreen. "The creature appears to be intelligent. It's 22.3 meters in length. Four tentacles with suckers, much like a giant squid. Six eyes and a beak that is strong enough to crack stone. If it's not apex, I'd hate to see what is. It's accelerating, too. That thing could do some damage if it attacks the shuttle."

T'Lin hardly did more than glance up from her own station still seeing what could be ahead rather than behind. "Any chance to put an electrical charge on the hull? Most invertebrates, especially cephalopods have extremely sensitive nerves in their suckers and arms. They are nearly neurologically independent of the 'brain' unlike vertebrates. Something unpleasant will cause the arms to react and retract."

Blake leant in over Tris' shoulder to look at his display, shaking her head with a slight frown. Their day was getting better and better. Still, they were the ones intruding on the creature's territory. "Angle us to Starboard and increase speed as much as we can risk, but gradually, I don't want to spook it. Let's see if we can shake its interest."

Shizn nodded his head quietly adding, “Alright. Angling slowly to starboard.” He made the minor adjustments, creating a slow arc. Tris actually agreed with the commmander’s assessment, that they were intruding into this watered area that a species might claim as theirs. “And now slowly increasing velocity.” The Andorian said as the power was increased bit by bit, so there was no abrupt change. He glanced over to Lt. Sandoval, “Any change from our friend?” Referring to the underwater creature.

The Waverider's sub-surface sensors and imaging arrays displayed a rotating 3D view of the alien cephalopod on the LCARS monitor. Its massive size and appearance was intimidating as was its swift speed while it jetted in repeating bursts to intercept the shuttle's new course. It had expertly changed its heading and closed within one kilometer.

Marisa gave Tris and the others an update on the creature. "I hope it is being territorial. If not and if we don't get out of its home water, we may become dinner." She added the distance to the ship and time before contact to the LCARS display.

"If we can increase our speed by eight more knots we will be entering the coral shelf barrier of the island. The creature is too big to pursue without damaging itself on the sharp coral." T'Lin offered. She was not sure that they could handle more speed. It might over stress the hull patch.

Steele made a face, "We would probably loose some of the patch but think we could stand a bit of a leak rather than become lunch. Can try to fix it up once we make landfall commander."

Tris knew that they might be able to increase speed just a bit, but not sure for how long. It would definately stress the patches on the hull as T’Lin had recommended. They would also need to increase power to the forward forcefield under the bow of the Waverider. He couldn’t help it. His mind began to make drag calculations based on the estimated influx of water into the hull, increasing their mass, which would also alter their water displacement.

Perversely, the Chief Science Officer didn't want to see the creature get injured. She sincerely hoped it would back off when they reached the coral shelf. "If it's as smart as it appears, we should be safe once we cross the coral," she said. She watched the both the distance to the shelf and the distance to the creature diminish. Even though she'd sent her data in the buoy, she now took a moment to seal it and the samples in a water-tight container in case they had to evacuate the shuttle.

The Waverider glided mere meters above the ocean surface and started to accelerate when the landing thruster nozzles vectored aft. The bobbing and wake turbulence inside the cockpit increased, and a large jetwave formed behind the shuttle as it accelerated and changed course.

One-hundred feet beneath the waves, the alien creature continued to follow the faster shuttle and was soon forced into a lag-pursuit course. It now trailed behind the Waverider, but suddenly matched their speed and began to close within tentacle range as it demonstrated extraordinary burst speed.

Tris was watching the sensor display as the creature approached. He didn’t want to believe what his eyes were telling him. He considered altering course sharply in the hopes of getting away, but that would more than likely cause a problem and actually slow them down, if not damaging something. It was still their best option to continue on and hope that this creature would not make it to their craft.

Marisa was impressed by the bursts of speed the creature managed. She wished she had time to study it. Or if the colonists had. But that was secondary to the imminent threat it posed.

There was no more time. Shizn called out, “It’s closing fast. BRACE FOR IMPACT.”

Marisa grabbed hold of her console and braced.

The Latarian cephalopod tilted its mantle toward the ocean surface and propelled itself up through the shallow thermal layer at high velocity. It breached the waves in spectacular fashion, the entirety of its algae-spotted skin and six eyes now soaring through the air.

Four thick tentacles flailed from behind the creature then quickly whipped around to the front as it flipped its body in the air to snatch the object of intrigue. The four 10 meter-long tentacles reached out for the Vinceno and narrowly missed...except for the last one which violently snared the aft compartment with a hard slap.

The creature's tentacles were lined with both biological suction cups and venomous barbs, and as it grabbed a hold of the Waverider's aft airlock compartment, the shuttle was pulled down into the water. A second alien arm reached out and attached itself over the shuttle's wing structure. The Starfleet vessel was now encumbered and its rear structure being slowly pulled down into the ocean while its bow rose high into the hair.

The Waverider fouled in the water with its nose pointed 60 degrees positive. Shizn wondered if he should cut the engines or not. The idea of an EM or electrical dischage came to mind. Shizn called out, “We need to discourage that beast. Can we still cause an electrical discharge across the hull if I cut power to the thrusters?”

"We should try something," Marisa said, glancing at Blake for her orders.

"We can also lighten the ship. We have a transporter and are in easy range of the island. Reducing the average mass by approximately three hundred kilograms will lesson the burden on the craft's thrusters allowing for some diversion to the hull or increased forward thrust. All we need is move another six meters and we will be in the barrier coral."

Steele held onto his station as the craft abruptly slowed and tilted. The transporter was functioning and T'Lin's idea was good but he had another as well. "Rig a phaser to overload and then transport it right into the nasty beast," he suggested.

"No, we just want to get out of its reach," Marisa said. "Could we do something with the shields to get it to let go? Or just lighten the load?"

Fighting with the controls of the ship, Shizn harshly said, “I’d like to transport that creature’s brain out of it’s skull!” An alarm began to sound in the flight compartment, the Andorian added loudly, “We are taking on water !! “

"Hull is breaching and the emitters are struggling!" Steele announced as well as he was monitoring the patch. "We best do something, anything like right now!"

"Can we transport the creature deeper into the ocean?" Marisa asked. If they could, it might give them the distance they needed to get to the island without killing the cephalopod.

Tris continued to alter the flight controls in the hope that he might maneuver the craft out of the creature’s tentacles, but so far to no avail. He was surprised that it had not pulled their shuttle completely underwater yet. The Andorian was now curious of this creature’s intent.

Blake had moved towards the back of the straining shuttle as they went over their options, where the three crates sat that Mimi had loaded on for them with their equipment. She motioned for Aria to help her tip them over, emptying them out before sealing the now empty large crates up. "Sandoval, get ready with the tractor, we're going to use it as a repulsor beam. T'Lin, get ready to beam the crates out, within grasping distance of whatever is holding on to us. If we're lucky, the movement will distract it, long enough for us to use the replusor beam against the tentacle to help get out of it's grip....Shizn, once we're pushing away from the tentacle, make for the coral as rapidly as you dare. Let's go!"

“Got it!” Tris yelled out. He felt this idea had a very slim chance of working, but at least they were doing something. He wanted to help them with the tractor beam controls, but his hands were rather busy at the moment on the flight controls, trying to keep the ship as level as he could as the creature continued to pull the Waverider apart and down deeper into the water.

"Ready," Marisa said. She calculated the weight and strength of the creature and activated the tractor beam, careful not to cause any harm. It wasn't the poor thing's fault they looked like they were tresspassing.

Steele worked on his panel and nodded with a satisfied look. "You have power, just don't overdo it.”

T'Lin nodded and then locked onto the being holding them. "Ready when you are commander. Full lock all showing green."

Blake nodded sharply, keeping a narrowed gaze on the flood of data coming in from the chaos around them. She knew it was a risk but the situation was bad enough to roll those dice. "Do it..."

To Be Continued...

[OFF]

--

CAPT Lirha Saalm
Commanding Officer
USS Galileo-A

CMDR Scarlet Blake
First Officer
USS Galileo-A

PO2 T'Lin
Science Officer
USS Galileo-A
[PNPC Warraquim]

LT Marisa Sandoval
Chief Science Officer
USS Galileo-A

LTJG Tris Shizn
Conn Officer
USS Galileo-A

PO3 Peregrine Steele
Science Officer
USS Galileo-A
[PNPC Warraquim]

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