Under the Sea...(***BACKPOST***)

Posted on Fri Mar 24th, 2023 @ 9:40am by Captain David Tonelly [Reece] & Lieutenant Baeryn Whavi-Tonelly

Mission: MISSION 0 - History Speaks
Location: Various
Timeline: (A few days after the Lalor/Richardson wedding)/ 1234 hours
2004 words - 4 OF Standard Post Measure

David finished packing their bags, then looked over at his beautiful mate. "You about ready, sweetheart?" He grinned easily at Baeryn as he spoke.

Baeryn stood near the edge of the bed with a hand on her swollen belly. The shirt she wore billowed out, hiding the side of her stomach. She looked around their quarters swearing she was forgetting something important. "We spoke with Myne this morning, she said she was okay that we leave right?"

David grinned as he stopped what he was doing and moved over to gently put his arms around Baeryn. "Baer, yes, we did speak to her and, though she seemed a bit concerned at first, she understood why we are doing this. Hell, she practically threatened to beam us into a whale if we didn't get going." He chuckled softly. "And you know what? I believe her! So, let's get going, my love."

Baeryn chuckled, "I think if it wasn't for the baby she probably would have beamed us already." She shook her head at the thought of the assistant chief. "Okay then. I think i'm ready." She patted David's arm and slowly headed to grab one of the luggage bags.

David beat her to the punch, grabbing the bag for her. "Now now. You're already carrying the most important package, Baer. Please let me carry the rest?"

Baeryn rolled her eyes, "If you had your way I would be carried as well." She quickly held up a finger and added. "Don't get any ideas, we're already late."

He grinned at her, his eyes not exactly filled with innocence. "What?? I didn't say anything!" He tried to keep the smirk from his face, but was failing miserably.

Baeryn made her way to the door of their quarters. "I know you better than you think my love."

David simply smiled, then after placing the bags in the agreed upon location, notified the transporter room. Seconds later, their luggage for the trip was beamed down to the planet's surface, and was more than likely being loaded into their private submersible.

Catching up to Baeryn, David offered her his left arm as they walked to the nearest turbolift. "It'll be nice to get off of the ship for more than just the Commodore's wedding."

Without a second thought, Baeryn accepted David's arm, wrapping hers around his as they continued. They entered the the lift and and she voiced their destination. She was unsure of what all this trip would entail but, for once, she was happy to go along with all the surprises. It was nice to not have planned every moment or make every decision. David knew when to take over without pressuring Baeryn and she had such high regard for him in that manner.

She brought his knuckles to her lips and pressed a light kiss there.

Smiling warmly down at his beautiful mate, David softly asked, "What was that for, Baer?"

She shrugged as the lift came to a stop and the door opened. "I just wanted to." When they excited the lift she waited to allow David to lead the rest of the way.

Giving her his arm again, David proudly escorted Baeryn to the transporter room. Once inside, he verified the beam-down coordinates. Once he was satisfied all was set, he helped Baeryn up into the transporter chamber then moved to stand on the pad next to her. "Energize."

A few beats later, they materialized on the deck of a large submarine tender, floating on the calm waters of the Pacific Ocean. The weather was calm, thanks to the weather control net that surrounded the planet.

Baeryns stomach dipped slightly as it adjusted to the gentle rocking of the ocean. She inhaled deeply filling her lungs with the salty air. She gave a look around. "Is it just us? Or will there be others?" She wasn't sure if this was a private excursion or if they were perhaps early, which was a healthy habit of David's.

Offering her his arm to steady against, David smiled warmly. "For the trip down, it'll be just us. We have permanent access to the VIP sub whenever we visit. Once down at the facility, we will be among the other visitors and crew that live down there." He indicated the way to their waiting submersible. "Ready?"

Nodding, Baeryn took David's arm and started forward, "Why not just beam us down directly to the facility?"

David shook his head. "Too much water to get through. Plus, there a chance that the pressure and salinity will effect the transport signals. So, we go about it in modernized twentieth century tech. Even the modern shuttles that are designed to go underwater, aren't yet strong enough to operate safely at those depths."

As the reached the loading hatch for the minimum, David entered his clearance code and the outer hatch lifted out, while the inner hatch opened in. He stepped in first, as he knew what to expect inside, then turned and helped Baeryn enter next. "Watch your step here, and watch your head on this console."

Gripping David's hand, she ducked and entered slowly, not wishing to lose her balance. It wasn't easy balancing her large stomach these days. She was nervous about the small enclosed space and embarrassed when she knew she would have to pull the seat straps around her. "I guess there's also the view... we would miss a lot getting directly transported."

David nodded as he carefully and slowly helped Baeryn to one of the two bucket seats, located in the front observation sphere of the small submersible. "Don't worry, my love. This sub was designed to survive at the very bottom of the Trench for three days with no power to the structural integrity field. And these seats have their own mini artificial gravity generators in them. Even if we were to dive straight down, you wouldn't budge from your seat."

"Good to know!" She was slightly more reassured as she watched David take the seat beside her. "You know how to drive this thing, Corporal?"

David gave Baeryn a bemused look. "I've been driving these things since before your grandparents were born." He then looked around. "Now, where are the air brakes?"

They hybrid pursed her lips knowing David was just messing with her now. "Don't forget to use your blinker." She chuckled as she got more comfortable in the bucket seat.

He smirked. "Gotcha!" He chuckled softly as he activated the various systems as if he had been doing it forever. In minutes, everything was showing ready to launch. Putting his hand up to his mouth, he mimed holding a radio handset.

"Ladies, and gentlefish, this is your captain speaking. Today we will be descending to the bottom of the ocean. We ask that you keep flash photography to an absolute minimum. Last thing we need, is to make some big beastie think we are dinner. Now, sit back, relax and enjoy the trip. Oh, and one more thing, while we know that you have many choices when you decide to submerge, we are very thankful that you chose Hot Stud Sub Lines for your travels."

"Hot stud," Baeryn chocked on a laugh. She fanned herself with her hand dramatically, "Oh I do hope you'll keep me safe down there in the depths of the deep blue, Stud ." The machine wasn't as archaic as she first assumed, she read over and deciphered some of the switches and buttons on the panels in front of her. She was no pilot but she knew enough that she could take over and steer with some confidence.

David grinned at Baeryn as he started to move away from the dock. Once the were clear, he pushed forward on the control stick and submerged them. Within seconds they were fully submerged under the deep blue Pacific Ocean. David activated the sub's sensors and activated his HUD, which showed him the safest path to take down to the instalation. "We are in the pipe, five by five. Time of arrival will be roughly 1530 hours local time."

Mesmerized by the sudden darkness that surrounded them once submerged Baeryn all but pressed her nose to the glass to look out into the water. Under water creatures and fish were scarce at first. They passed coral reefs with more color then she thought possible. A thousand different shades of green, with pops of purple and pink here and there. It was beautiful and breath taking.

"Those artificial reefs are amazing, aren't they?" David asked as they continued their decent into rhe darker depths. Soon, the only light visible was from the lights on the sub. "A team of Marine Biologists designed and built them about eighty years ago. There's two thousand similar structures all around the planet."

"Artificial?! All of it?" Baeryn squinted to get a better look not knowing what exactly she was looking for considering she wouldn't be able to tell the difference if David hadn't pointed it out for her.

Nodding and smiling softly, David continued to pilot the minisub. "Yeah. They were designed to float near the surface, acting as stable platforms for coral to grow on." He paused their decent and turned towards the structure so Baeryn could get a better look. "Each structure had DNA samples from the remaining species that were still alive, following the last World War, that were cryogenic frozen, among other genetic samples from the later era, and when the time was right, they were thawed and implanted on the first structure. Needless to say, they've been thriving ever since."

'It's remarkable." She sat back taking in the scene outside the submarine. "What about the aquatic life?"

David nodded. "There's been a huge boon there as well. Now that commercial fishing no longer exists, many of the various species have made a comeback. For others, which were extinct, like the clown fish for example, modern science was able to recover DNA markers from samples that had been stored in museums, and started to bring them back as well." He continued to dive deeper, the light from the sun fading quickly, as he continued. "It's still a long journey ahead for Earth. Barring a major disaster, I'd say in about two hundred years, the animal population numbers will be nearly back to pre-Industrial Age numbers."

"As long as history doesn't repeat itself..." She shifted in her seat cursing her pregnant bladder that was now screaming it was full. "How long until we reach our destination?"

David looked at the depth gauge. "At this speed, about twenty more minutes. It's too dangerous to go any faster, sweetheart."

"Ugh." Baeryn sighed but then put on a brave smile for David. She knew it was a bit out of their control at the moment. "So will there be any swimming with dolphins on this excursion?"

Looking over to her, David grinned as he replied. "Doen at the complex? 'Fraid not. Too deep for dolphins. However, we could schedule some time to do so, back topside, before we head back to the ship?".

"Mmm, or maybe, a relaxing dip might help these sore over-worked muscles of mine." Baeryn became curious, "What do you think is out there?" She pointed towards the dark waters outside the vessel.

David looked out the transparent aluminum dome and shrugged. "At this depth? Giant squid, sperm whales, various sharks. Though, don't worry. All subs carry an ultrasonic emitter, which, when activated, will emit sound waves that have been shown to gently drive the various sea life away."

The remainder of the descent went by with only a few appearances of large marine life. The first was a blue whale cow, clearly heavily pregnant, heading south to give birth, and few different sharks. As promised, none approached the sub too closely.

After reaching the bottom, Baeryn and David spent a week going over everything, discussing their unborn child, and enjoying one another, away from the rigors of service.

~Fade to Black~