The unrelenting rays of the Vraekton sun refracted through the dense sky above the away team, turning its light a pale shade of yellow. The wispy haze of moisture that loitered in the air, combined with the high oxygen, shaded the horizon in tones of aquamarine and subtle teal. Wallace took a moment to appreciate the scenery as the team crested the hill and prepared for a moderate descent to the valley floor, where the canopy of the mighty trees poked through a dense fog, lingering in the shadow of the valley.

It was green as far as he could see, an endless landscape of foliage flanked by the slopes of the valley stretching to meet a turbulent wall cloud; bands of rain draped like curtains over the landscape. He estimated the storm to be about 60km away, but its torrent of precipitation appeared to devour the forest at an alarming rate, like some sort of elemental leviathan feasting on the forest.

They had been hiking for three hours, the air was thicker than soup, and the climate was nearly unbearable. They had all abandoned their duty jackets for the ventilation of their tank-top undergarments, yet it brought them little relief from the mid-afternoon sun and stifling humidity. “Everyone, take five!” he ordered, pushing through the stitch in his ribs to catch his breath. Sweat beaded and dripped from his face as the air could barely hold onto its own moisture. Evaporation was next to impossible, and this only intensified the heat exhaustion.

Even K’vagh, with his hardy Klingon skin, was showing signs of difficulty in this environment. His hair had become tangled and frizzy due to the moisture, and his skin appeared pearlescent as his dermis ramped up his natural oily secretions to displace the excess sweat.

Brett was bringing up the rear; Bolians were not known for their physical endurance, and he appeared on the verge of collapse as he approached the clearing, drenched in sweat and panting like a dog. He set himself down against a rock and took a massive gulp from his canteen.

“How much further?” Juno gasped as she ignored her better judgment to conserve resources and poured a small portion of her water over her face. It was lukewarm and hardly refreshing; if anything, it made her feel more clammy and uncomfortable.

“The structure should be at the bottom of the valley, about two more kilometres,” said Wallace, “The good news is, it’s downhill, bad news… it ain’t gonna be any cooler down there!”

“Great.” Juno sighed before taking a final sip from her flask, “I was just thinking this place could be warmer,” She said sarcastically.

“Ensign, conserve your water!” K’vagh barked, witnessing the Bolian take huge gulps.

“How can a planet this moist make you so thirsty!” said Brett, sealing his flask. The water within chimed brightly as it swirled around, indicating it was mostly empty.

As the team sat patiently and regained their strength, Wallace’s attention began to shift to the soil beneath their feet. He hadn’t noticed the texture change when they initially bivouacked, but now his attention was drawn to the mushiness as his boots battled for traction on the uneven terrain. He looked down, staring curiously at the shape of the undulations in the soil.

As if a valley had been carved in the soft mud, two clearly defined walls spread outward from a point towards a larger impression. His perception focused on the shape; it was a footprint, big enough for him to stand inside and left behind by what must have been an incredibly large creature, with three long toes arranged vaguely in the shape of a maple leaf.

A chill ran down his spine as, from somewhere deep in the recesses of his consciousness, a vision of the creature flashed before his mind. Roughly 13 ft tall, 40 ft long, Jaws filed with over 50 teeth each, around 6-8 inches long. The epitome of what springs to mind when someone mentions the word Dinosaur to him: Tyrannosaurus Rex. “We should go!” he broke the silence abruptly.

“Already?” Juno questioned, feeling disappointed their respite was being cut short.

“I mean it, now, Lieutenant!” Wallace barked as he turned to begin his descent into the valley.

The team wasted no further time in following orders; they picked up their packs, stowed their canteens and joined the line down the slope into the gloomy forest below.

_______________

The Triton begin to descend into the unknown and the crew knew the gravity of the situation, but they pressed on down into the water. Xiao took a deep breath as anxiety began to creep into his mind as he saw all the surrounding water. He pushed the thoughts to the back of his mind as the shuttle sat motionless in the water.

Jacklyn looked back at the Commander, “So, I feel like it’s not a good plan to go full bore into the abyss. What are your orders, Sir?”

Xiao looked at her and smiled trying to keep his anxiety in check “She’ll not harm us let’s head towards the signal, which seems to be in the general direction that were are facing. Sovek any thoughts here?”

Sovek raised his head from the console, “On the contrary,” he began to point out in addressing the opening of the Commander’s statement, “we would be wise to descend with caution. I am reading fluctuations in oceanic density, thermohaline circulation, and a significant temperature change below the thermocline; all of which are very real ways…she…may harm us,” he said, addressing the literal meaning of the Xiao’s words.

Xiao rubbed his temples, though he knew it was normal, given they were with a Vulcan, sometimes it was exhausting when they took everything so literal. His hand almost formed a facepalm as he rubbed his temples. “Jacklyn, please head towards the location with safety in mind. We don’t want Sovek to think I was going to order you to dive straight down.”

“A wise course of action, Commander!” said Sovek

Xiao swiveled his chair to look the Vulcan in the eye, “You know, I can see why your captain wanted you on our shuttle for this mission.”

The Vulcan’s eyebrow raised, and he gave a subtle nod. Indeed, it was true, as far as he was concerned, that his understanding of an oceanic environment would provide a tactical advantage to the mission. Alas, the punchline of Xiao’s quip was lost in the sea of his arrogance. “External pressure is exceeding fifty-five hundred kilopascals, diverting auxiliary power to the structural integrity field to compensate.” Out of the corner of his eye and through the viewport, Sovek detected movement, though his sensors did not register any anomaly. He took a brief glance, only to see a thin stream of effervescence – caused by the cavitation from the thrusters. He dismissed the distraction and went back to focusing on his console.

Xiao just sighed at the fact that the Vulcan did not have a clue of what he was talking about, but this had helped keep Xiao’s mind off of where they were.

As the Vulcan further adjusted the parameters for depth, his focus was again broken. Another flicker of movement, this time reflected in the glossy surface of his console. He again peeked out the window, only to see the deep abyss. “Lieutenant, please bring the shuttle about, bearing 180,” he requested.

Jacklyn looked back at the Vulcan, questioning the order before looking at Xiao who she was going to take direct orders from.

“Why are you wanting to change course?” Xiao asked calmly

“A theory commander, one I am attempting to test,” Sovek replied calmly.

Xiao nodded at Jacklyn and the shuttle began to pitch as it turned to meet the bearing 180. The look of the ocean was not inviting and though he had not seen any fish, the fear of there being something bigger lurked in his mind. The images of the sharks chasing him coming to the forefront of his mind. He pushed the fear back as he had to keep a level head.

Sovek tapped at his console, “Thank you, lieutenant, you can now return to course,” he said. Taking one more look out the window, but neglecting to disclose his findings

Jacklyn readjusted the course and headed back in the correct direction. Her mind was curious “Mr Sovek, why did you ask me to do that? I should probably know.”

“I detected a significant change in water density to our stern. I needed to change course in order to confirm. The anomaly appears to have dispersed.” Sovek explained, obliging Jacklyn’s curiosity. His console began to bleep, demanding his attention, “I am detecting a structure. Depth, 373 meters, bearing 0-8-3 mark 2-8-9. Range, 1000 meters.”

She nodded and turned back around to look at the console as she plotted the course. She began to look in the direction of the heading to see if she could see what had been detected. After a few minutes of heading towards the direction, she could make out the structure and slowly approached it.

Xiao looked at the structure as it began to fill the window. It looked deserted, which was no surprise. The truth was, he was relieved to see a deserted area. If there were signs of activity, it would mean the Romulans were still present. He saw a dark shadow in the distance or so he thought. Surmising it was just his eyes playing tricks on him. He disregarded it.

He swivelled his chair to look at Sovek and Jacklyn “ Well, it looks like we’re here. Obviously, we need to exercise caution as we explore. Mr. Sovek, do you see any area where a shuttle could connect to the structure, essentially an airlock? Or will we have to swim?”

“Leaving the safety of the shuttle at this depth would be inadvisable,” Sovek pointed out, “Without a way to equalise the pressure, the nitrogen in the air would become toxic within seconds.”

Xiao nodded, “If we can find a viable airlock, I would prefer not to have to swim in the water… seems to be more sensible to stay dry,” he concluded, while in the back of his mind, he was terrified that he might have to enter the water.

The Vulcan tapped away at his console, performing a detailed scan of the structure. Its design was evidently Romulan, and some 1000 tonnes of displacement, about the volume of a small corvette. In fact, its design appeared to use an old warbird as its core, with some parts stripped and exchanged in a rag-tag configuration. “I believe I have located an entrance, directly below the main structure. It appears to be a shuttle bay…atmospheric pressure inside the structure seems to be holding back the ocean. I believe you would describe it as… a moon pool?”

Xiao looked at the information and concluded the same information. He nodded, “Lieutenant, set course for that pool.” He said as he looked at the structure. Something here didn’t feel right, but what it was, he couldn’t understand yet. He took a deep breath at the situation and just tried to chalk it up to paranoia, but something wasn’t right.

As the shuttle descended deeper on course with the ventral plane of the structure, finer details of its hull structure became visible through the silt and turbidity. As the pool came into view, the glow from the chamber above the surface of the water shilluetted a scattering of previously unseen hull plates and debris suspended below the pool. Around the edge of the opening, gouges in the metal radiated outwards. As if a gigantic leviathan had tried to swallow part of the structure, scraping its teeth along the hull in a frenzied attack.

Jacklyn had been piloting the shuttle, but also observing the structure and seeing the giant dents in the area around the pool made her uneasy. There was something here, and whatever that something was, it sure didn’t seem to like intruders in its ocean. She swallowed softly, feeling a slight stretch in her throat. “Looks like we aren’t alone down here. I can’t say those indications in the hull help make me feel safe down here. I think we need to make haste down here. Whatever caused that could be back and hungry for me. I, however, would not like to end up as chowder for whatever is out there.”

“Indeed,” Sovek said. Starting to entertain the idea that what he had seen in the corner of his eye earlier might not have been just a shadow. The waters around them were starting to dim as night began to fall above the surface, and as they made their ascent to the surface inside the pool room, Sovek found it difficult to suppress his concern.

Xiao could see the concern on his team’s faces. He couldn’t deny that there was definitely something uneasy about this whole thing, but regardless, they had a job to do. “I know it doesn’t seem like everything will be easy. I don’t think any of us want to be in this ocean right now, but we have to find answers. It’s part of what we signed up for, even if it was in the fine print. Let’s get this over with. Don’t split up, I don’t think that’s a good plan given the indications of what we have seen. Let’s gather what information we can and get out of here.”