Bringing Trouble On Board, Part VII: Dive Time

Posted on Wed May 27, 2015 @ 3:17am by Captain Isha t'Vaurek & Lieutenant Saria Rex & Captain Tam "Demon" Haican

2,006 words; about a 10 minute read

Mission: Eye of the Beholder
Location: SB 185
Timeline: MD 5

[Marine Transport - Goose Four-Two - Main Cabin - 01.30 hrs]

Axsdahl was nursing a coffee and looking around the assembled Marines. They'd run over the mission briefing one last time and everything seemed ready to go. Now they were just waiting for confirmation the transfer was proceeding as planned.

It wasn't a long wait. A few minutes later one of the crew called back, "Got an incoming message, putting it on speaker."

“This is Warden Collins. I'm confirming the rendezvous. I will meet the escort at Newgate intake building, which is within the penal security perimeter on the end of Number Seven pier. Bring your shuttle around to the ocean dock, I will meet you there.”

"Let's go to it then," Axsdahl said, finishing his coffee. He had his Marshal's Service body armor on, checked his side arm, and headed for the ramp.

Emily simply nodded. Now that things were actually underway she was a bit more serious, though not by much. She checked the charge lights on her weapons again and fell in with the others as they headed out.

As the group started to form up to leave, Tam said aloud to the escort leader, "You guys go on ahead. My pilots and I will remain here and keep this area secured." He then addressed one of his pilots, "Mathias, fly the escort team down to the extraction."

A human male wearing a Marine flight suit, complete with warrant officer rank on the collar, looked up and nodded. "Roger that, sir." He then looked over at the escort team. "Mount up, y'all. We go feet wet in ten mikes." His southern drawl signified that his origins were most likely from the southeastern section of the North American continent on Earth. He turned and moved over to his assigned Hunley and began doing his preflight check.


[Hunley - Kingfisher Three]

Out on the flight line, Axsdahl crossed over to the waiting Hunley, which was warming up its engines. He boarded and passed on the rendezvous location to the pilot, then found himself a seat.

After receiving their destination coordinates, Mathias nodded and called back to the rest of the team, sitting in the aft section of his shuttle, "Alright y'all, here we go!" Turning back to face forward, he manipulated his controls, and within seconds the large aquatic shuttle lifted off of the pier. Banking to the starboard and pitching forward slightly, the shuttle moved towards its next destination.


[Runway Pier Three/Transit craft parking ramp]

Tam watched from the pier as the Hunley lifted off and move off to its next target. "Okay, boys and girls," he spoke to the other pilots from Bravo Assault Wing that remained with him. "Make sure your systems are all in the green and ready for immediate launch upon the return of the escort team. Once done, we'll start watch shifts. Tony, R'gul, Dimitri, you three will be on first watch with me." He looked around at the gathered pilots. "Let's get to it, people!" The assembled pilots all moved to their respective shuttles and began their preflight checks.

Tam moved over to his Raptor and started his checks. Looking around at the water, his thoughts drifted to Sebina. He hoped that she was doing okay back on the station with the XO and his wife. Though she wouldn't believe him, he hated being apart from her. When the mission was over, he was determined to uphold his promise of spending two solid weeks doing whatever she wanted to do. He had to repair their family somehow, even if it was the last thing he did.


[Hunley - Kingfisher Three]

The last hundred meters of the Starbase's Number Seven pier was occupied by a squat concrete blockhouse surround by a tall concrete wall. The compound also contained a small shuttle landing pad, and on the end of the blockhouse a covered marine dock extended out into the ocean. A security force field shimmered over the whole area.

"They process prisoners through here when moving them to or from the main underwater prison," Axsdahl remarked.

The comms system blared to life. “Inbound Marine flight, this is Newgate Surface Control. You are cleared to berth at the ocean dock.”

The force field around the dock flickered and winked out.

Mathias activated his comm unit and replied, "Newgate Surface Control, this is Kingfisher Three. Roger your last. Coming in to berth with the ocean dock."

A short walkway extended from the dock. There was a middle aged human male standing on the end of it. He ducked in through the open hatch as the Hunley maneuvered in to collect him.

"Good morning. I'm Warden Scot Collins," he introduced himself. "Who's in charge of your team?"

The Marines explained their team to the Warden and the assistance of the Marshall in transporting the prisoner back to DS5.

Collins appeared satisfied and a few moments later they were given permission to proceed.

“Marine Flight, this is Newgate Surface Control. You are now cleared to descend to the facility,” came from the comm panel. “We'll hand you over to Newgate Central Control.”

"Back off about forty meters, then you can dive," Collins called to the pilot as he found himself a seat. "We'll be using one of the auxiliary hatches on Sublevel Forty-Seven. That's closest to the segregation housing where we're holding Sterling."

Mathias first acknowledged Newgate Control, then, as he lifted back up off of the pad, looked back at Collins and nodded. "Understood, sir." He then turned back to his controls and ensured that they were ready to switch to aquatic locomotion. He moved the craft to the proper location and then slowly lowered her down into the water.

Once submerged, he deactivated the normal flight drives and switched over to the small twin screws located at the aft of the Hunley. There was a slight jerking forward motion as the craft began to move through the denser medium. As they descended, soft creaks and groans could be heard as the water pressure tried to crush the large shuttle.

Emily stared out the port as the ship started its descent. She took the blue sucker out of her mouth. “Okay, this is kind of creepy,” she said as the water darkened. “How come I don’t mind the suffocating expanse of space outside the window, but water?” She tapped on the transparent aluminum. “This will hold, right?” she asked. “The depths we’re going? Vacuum is a quick death. Drowning you linger…”

Axsdahl chuckled. "In space it's the atmosphere getting out which is the problem, down here the water wants to come in a join you! Don't worry about lingering though. At these depths the pressure would crush you before you drown."

“Cheery,” Emily said dryly. “Shoulda brought my bikini.” She started back as some large sea creature peered into the window. “God damn! There’s nothing down here that can eat us, is there?”

After some ten minutes the Hunley had descended around four hundred meters into the pitch black ocean. Collins leaned forward to look out of the cockpit windows. "We keep the external lights off except when receiving shipments. Central Control should contact us shortly for my passcode to authorize us to continue. The codes are randomly generated at Surface Control, must be memorized and spoken by the person it was issued to, and are one time use only."

A few minutes later the comms system announced, “Inbound Marine Flight, this is Newgate Central Control. I need Warden Collin's voice ident and passcode.”

Collin gave a series of alpha-numeric replies and after a short pause there came back, “Pass-code verified. We're turning on the navigation lights. Stand by to receive vector to hatch 47-A2. Obtaining weapons lock. Do not deviate from the assigned vector.”

A bright glow flooded up from below the craft and almost immediately a warning alarm sounded from the control panel as multiple banks of phasers locked onto the Hunley.

Mathias acknowledged the instructions he had been given. Though he was an experienced fighter pilot, the idea of several starship grade phaser banks being locked on his ship did not go unnoticed by him. He ensured that he followed the directed course within a few bare millimeters.

“One would think they didn’t like us,” Emily said. The problem with being a Marine is you had to trust the Fleeters to get you there before you were any use, so she could only sit tight. She crunched to the center of her sucker to get the bubble gum inside and chewed.

The prison facility loomed out of the dark. A series of domes and cylinders rose up from the sea bed. A row of lights began blinking on one of the vertical cylinders.

"That's the docking hatch," Collins said. "Standard Federation hatch type. You should be able to mate right up to it."

Mathias looked out the port side of the forward canopy and nodded. "Got it." He then raised his voice slightly, for the group in the aft compartment. "Stand by." He began to manipulate his controls without looking at them. He kept his eyes locked on the illuminated docking port as expertly maneuvered the Hunley closer.

"Docking in three...two...one!" The Hunley shuddered slightly as a dull thud could be heard outside the port side hatch. It was followed by several equally dull clicks. Mathias quickly powered down the engines and then spun his seat around to face aft. "Okay, folks, we are docked and the seal is showing green. Time for you to go get our traveling companion. I will stay here and wait for you to return."

Axsdahl got up from his seat and operated the hatch controls. The door swung open and there was a short cylindrical tunnel and an inner hatch. Two prison staff were looking through the small hatch window.

Emily gave the peering prison guards a small finger wave and blew a bubble, the pink expanding and popping before she pulled it back into her mouth.

Collins led the way and nodded to the staff. When the Kingfisher's hatch was secured they opened the inner hatch and he stepped through.

"Good morning, gentlemen," Collins greeted them. "Is our transferee ready to go?"

Senior Correctional Officer Matt Stack gave the warden a slight salute. “Ready to go,” he said, nodding toward a holding room near the hatch. “Trussed up for you. Be careful. She can be violent,” he said, playing through with the façade they had established in moving her to segregation.

Emily raised an eyebrow. “Well, that’s what they brought us for,” she said with a smile.

Collins nodded to Mauer and Stack, brought Sterling out, and handed her over to the Marines. The woman's hands were secured behind her back with a waist-belt and handcuffs and her ankles were shackled with a short length of chain.

"She's all yours," Collins said. "I'll ensure she remains on our roll and is shown as being located here in solitary confinement. Including the control room personnel, there are only eight people in the facility who know she's left, all handpicked by myself and reliable staff. So there won't be any leaks from here."

Collins turned to Axsdahl. "Marshal, she's a high security convicted prisoner, but I am trusting you and the Marines with her care. I want her back, in one piece!"

Axsdahl nodded. "Understood, Warden. C'mon Sterling, let’s go." Taking hold of her elbow, he walked the woman out through the hatch and sat her in one of the shuttle's seats, securing her in place with the seat belt, then sat behind her.

Once the rest of the team was back aboard and the hatches were closed the Hunley undocked and set off back to the surface.

[OFF]



Sven Erik Axsdahl
Senior Deputy FMS

LCpl. Emily Rice
Marine
NPC Caleb Ryan

Capt. Tam "Demon" Haican
Bravo Assault Wing Commander

 

RSS Feed