Tiberius IV: The Storm Passes, part 3

Posted on Sun May 2nd, 2010 @ 12:40pm by Commodore Samantha York & Commander John Sheridan & Colonel Damon Raine

1,308 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: What Lies Beneath?
Location: Tiberius IV
Timeline: Current

ON

[OLD]

The rock splashed lightly in the water and sank below the surface. At first nothing happened, but after a moment Damon could see something below its surface suddenly start moving towards him. As there wasn't much light in the cave the creature looked like a dark mass that swam just below the surface.

[NEW]

Sam caught her breath as the giant eel breached the surface of the water. She used her tricorder to record as much as she could as the creature moved just under the surface of the water. It came towards them as if it knew they were there. Five meters from them it paused for several moments, raised its head out of the water and seemed to be listening for something.

Then, apparently satisfied, it splashed down into the water, turned, and swam back towards the far opening.

When it was gone, Sam turned to Damon. "Thank you."

Damon smiled "No worries. I can't have the Orion's Captain go home unsatisfied."

Clearly relieved that he didn't have to travel along the ridge any further, Damon started to make his way back to the pool's edge. He took his time for the majority of the trip, carefully placing one foot in front of the other and gripping to the best of his ability to the rock wall behind him. He was within a few meters of solid ground when he could feel his footing slip out. His eyes went wide as he desperately grabbed for purchase, but none could be found. With a yelped curse his feet kicked out from under him and he bounced off the ridge before crashing into the water.

"Damon!" Sam cried as she made her way as quickly as she could to the rock nearest where he fell. She knelt down and peered into the water. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah." He said sheepishly. "Graceful as ever, I'm sure." His ego was bruised likely along with his backside.

He suddenly remembered what he was sharing the pool with. With a concerned glance over his shoulder he looked for the eel. The water remained eerily dark and still despite what lurked beneathit. Out of the corner of his eyes he noted a small movement through the black water, it wasn't moving fast, only light ripples could be seen. Damon watched the ripples for a moment before realizing that they were getting closer to him. "Uh, well that's not good." He said to Samantha as he tried to lift himself back up to the ridge. Every time he thought he had a grip, it slipped away sending him back into the water. It was just too slippery to get back up. Repeatedly he splashed back into the pool and every time he did the ripples started moving faster towards him. He hazard a glance behind him and his eyes went wide in fear, the creature was MUCH closer than he had thought and moving at an alarming pace. He looked to the pools edge. Too far away he thought to outrun the eel. With a quick glance over to Sam and a shake of his head he splashed heavily into the water and started swimming as fast as he could to the shore. ~I have to try.~ He said desperately in his mind.

Sam felt the change in Damon's thoughts as she also felt the presence of the giant eel. It was intent on finding out what was invading its lair and removing it. That made Sam even more concerned. The eel was swimming directly towards Daomon and would reach him well before he got to hte edge of the pool. Without thinking, she yelled with her mind and voice, "no!"

The eel stopped suddenly and turned towwards Sam. She wasn't sure why, but she was going to use the opportunity to give Damon the time he needed to get to safety.

Sam reached out with her mind and gently touched the mind of the creature. It had a simple mind and seemed to think more in emotion and concepts, much like most animals.

She sent it images of the firefly crashing and sinking into the sand. Of Damon slipping. She tried to let it know with emotion that they were no threat to it, that they were simply trying to get back to their home.

Surprisingly, it seemed to understand. Sam got flashes of a box-like object hitting the sand and sinking rapidly. She thought it was the mining craft. She saw it sink down, circled it as it fell, nudged it when it hit the bottom. The cargo door opened and sand flooded in.

Another image, one of a smaller craft, probably the shuttle. All she got was the shuttle sitting on the bottom of the sand 'lake' near the other craft. No idea how it got there or what condition it was in.

Then the creature seemed to grow weary of the conversation and turned away, heading back the way it had come.

Damon finally reached the edge of the pool. As he wasn't sure what was happening he quickly scrambled on to his feet succeeding only in slipping again and crashing down, this time on the solid ground. He lay there for several moments before flopping over on to his back. He sat up, dripping, and looked at the pool to where the eel was chasing him. Curiously, the pool was calm, save the ripples he made by swimming through the water. He looked over to Samantha.

"Uh, did you do that?" He said, still panting from the exertion.

She'd just reached his side and dropped to her knees to make sure he was okay. "Do what?" She turned to look where he was looking. "Oh, the eel? Maybe," she shrugged. "Once it realized we weren't after its territory, it left." She turned back to Damon. "Are you okay?" She gently wiped a smudge of dirt off his cheek. "You had me worried there." More like terrified, but she wasn't going to admit it.

Damon simply stared at her calm demeanor in stark contrast to what he was feeling inside. After a few seconds of him blinking, a smile cracked his face and he laughed. "I'm fine, yes." He knew there was more that she wasn't telling him, like what convinced the creature that he wasn't a threat. He ran his hand through his soaked hair and shook his head. "You live for this sort of stuff, don't you?"

"The danger? No," she said, shaking her head. "The discovery? Yes. Making contact with a new species, finding evidence of ancient civilizations -- yea, I live for that sort of thing." Being terrified that the man she loved was about to die? No. That she could do without. She closed her eyes for a moment to clear the thought from her mind. She was not going to dwell on that. She gave him a quick kiss on the lips and put her hand on his chest to brace herself so she could stand up.

He watched her as she stood smiling. "We should be expecting that pick up pretty soon. I hate to cut the trip short, but we should probably get back to our LZ." He rose to his feet. "I think I'm less likely to be eaten there." He teased.

She looked at him and for a moment her calm demeanor dropped. "If you're sure you're okay..." She reached out with her mind and gently touched his. Satisfied, she smiled. "Okay. But next time you go swimming, I'm going to join you."

OFF

Commander Samantha York
Commanding Officer
USS Orion

Marine Captain Damon Raine
Marine CO
USS Orion

Lieutenant Commander John Sheridan
Executive Officer
USS Orion

Lieutenant Kaj MIkkola
Chief Flight Control Officer
USS Orion

Staff Sergeant Allan Riley (NPC)
Marine Squad Leader
USS Orion

 

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