S5: E: 8 Echos of a Tattered Past.

[Ian Galloway]

[Lieutenant Commander Nira Said | Treetop Pathways >- Sandbar to Island | Kaimo IV]

Nira, Savar, Lahr and Zhuk arrived at the sandbar just as Nurse Davies and Mister Blackfeather did. Nira beamed at their timing. "Head Nurse! Mister Blackfeather! You made it in time!"

Indeed, they could still see that spit of land...Nira could see it was some sort of sand bar. She heard about sand bars; some were natural, others manmade. She recalled one time when she joined an Academy field trip to the Great Salt Lake and saw Spiral Jetty; impressive artwork made from rocks.

"We all made it in time," Nira added, seeing the dawn. "Onward!"

She and Savar stepped on almost at the same time, and both were perplexed that, despite the sight of the sandbar...

"Commander, the sand bar's already submerged," Savar observed as they both stepped into water up to mid calf.

"Water's already receding," said Nira. "We'll need to hurry, everybody. Savar, how long do you think it'll take before it completely submerges?"

"Well, without any idea about how tidal cycles work on this planet," said Savar, "we'll need to hurry to get to that island before it submerges deep enough that we have to swim."

"Well, too late to fell a tree to improvise a boat," said Nira. "We'll have to make a run for it."

"Even if running in water is difficult?"

"You did say we'll have to hurry. And how far do you estimate to the island?"

"Best guess...two kilometers."

"Well, then, I'm sure we'll make it far enough that by the time it does submerge deep enough to swim, as you say, it'll be a short swim."

And with that, Nira and Savar led the way to a run, sure as they were that the team heard what they said. They didn't care that they were kicking up water.

NPC Lieutenant JG Chloe Davies, Head Nurse and
PO1 ShranLahr ch'Verret
[Surface of Kaimo VI - land bridge]

Moving through the treetops following the Commander and Lt Savar, Lahr was wondered at the lack of communications with the ship.  Being formerly a part of the Operations department, Lahr knew the standard call-in procedure.  Was he just so pre-occupied that he hadn't noticed when the Commander called in?  Maybe it was something she'd done during her time at watch, while Lahr was asleep?  Yeah, that kind of made sense... more so than assuming that both the Commander and Captain would forego protocol.

Lahr was relieved to see the other portion of the away team, namely Chloe and Blackfeather, arrive at the spit of land at the same as them, the main group.  Lahr thought for sure Chloe would be dead on her feet.. but surprisingly she seemed more alert than he.

When the away team leaders paused after their first few steps in the water covered bridge to discuss what to do, Lahr half hoped that they'd decide to wait til the next outgoing 'tide'... but no such luck.   Instead, the pair decided in all their wisdom to have the exhausted team sprint across the rapidly sinking land bridge.  Running in water was fine and all - when one was showing off at the beach and didn't have to cross a distance of 2 km before the land you were running sank deeper.   He wanted to complain but realized it would only delay them more.   With his antennae swiveling sensing the path ahead in hopes of avoiding soft spots and sink holes, Lahr plunged on, with Chloe running alongside.

[Lake Edge - Kaimo IV]

Running in water is never easy and as the tide came in, soon, running was no longer possible, even walking became a struggle. After a kilometer, only Blackfeather, the tallest member of the away team could touch the bottom, which only lasted maybe another hundred meters before everyone had to swim.

As the away team made their way to the island, they had no idea that they were not alone. The squid like creature that observed them was not familiar with the taste they left in the water. Not that it mattered, food was food and these new things were clearly not aquatic beings based on the way they thrashed about as they awkwardly propelled themselves.

After several moments of indecision of which of the beings to attack, the creature struck.

On the surface, one moment, Savar was making good progress, the next moment, something brushed against him. Before he could do more than register this fact, when he felt a searing hot pain lash across his back and legs. He only had time to make a strangled yelp before he was yanked under the water.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[Bridge - USS Challenger]

One minute they were discussing the nature of the message, and the next they had been hit with something. Buck had hit his back on the chair behind his station, effectively tumbled into it as the ship juddered and fell into darkness. The stench of fried electrics filled the air as the team reeled from what just happened. His eyes tried to adjust to the new level of light as the world stopped ringing. He stood upright, bracing himself against the station. "Buck McNair, Ops, reporting in. Systems aren't functional." Buck tapped on the various parts of the screen, bending over to check underneath it. "What was that?"

[Bridge - USS Challenger]

Ian held back his initial response as the Ensign was only trying to obey his order to report. Not that anyone had anything useful to report in the dark. He tried internal communications with little hope and was correct, they were down too. He needed answers and he needed them now.

"Buck. I need you ta make your way ta engineerin'. I don't care if Dashlish has ta rig solar panels, I bloody need power. Take the Jeffries tubes as I wouldn't trust the turbolifts even if they did work, which I doubt they do."

[Nira Said]

[Lake Edge - Kaimo IV]

Running in water is never easy and as the tide came in, soon, running was no longer possible, even walking became a struggle. After a kilometer, only Blackfeather, the tallest member of the away team could touch the bottom, which only lasted maybe another hundred meters before everyone had to swim.

As the away team made their way to the island, they had no idea that they were not alone. The squid like creature that observed them was not familiar with the taste they left in the water. Not that it mattered, food was food and these new things were clearly not aquatic beings based on the way they thrashed about as they awkwardly propelled themselves.

After several moments of indecision of which of the beings to attack, the creature struck.

On the surface, one moment, Savar was making good progress, the next moment, something brushed against him. Before he could do more than register this fact, when he felt a searing hot pain lash across his back and legs. He only had time to make a strangled yelp before he was yanked under the water.

[Lieutenant Commander Nira Said | Sandbar to Island | Kaimo IV]

They were barely halfway before they stopped running, then stopped walking, and ended up dog-paddling. Nira shrugged; everybody could at least float, though she was thinking that one of the packs brought along could be used as a small raft to put their rifles on, light and floatable as they could be.

"Think we'll be okay floating as well as swimming the rest of the way, Savar?" asked Nira.

"Floating would do for rests," said Savar with a shrug. "Although we still have less than a kilometer to g...?"

He stopped talking a moment and furrowed his brow; something brushed against him. He had just looked down before he tensed with pain and was brought under with a strangled yelp.

"SAVAR!" screamed Nira in horror. She beat herself inwardly; she should've realized there would be predators. Well, she knew what she had to do.

"I'll deal with this one!" Nira shouted with rage. "Anybody able to help, hope you can hold your breath as long as you can! Do your best with phasers underwater or from the surface!"

As she talked, she removed her boots and her pants, her tank top still on. She handed Blackfeather her rifle, took one of her knives from her boots and hung the second with her mek'leth. She knew what she was doing, and she realized that she hadn't done something like that since...well, when she was barely a teenager, and the knife she had brought then was a simple Swiss Army Knife.

Having been to coastal resorts and beaches plenty of times on her home city on Earth, being so close to the coast as it was, Nira had known plenty of pearl divers. Even in the twenty-fourth century, there were still pearl divers, though modern technology ensured they could stay underwater for longer periods of time than in the past. There were plenty of divers who were used to diving without equipment and could still be underwater for long periods of time. Nira had an admiration for such divers, and half the time she was out for outdoor swimming was spent with pearl divers. She was always advised to come armed, chiefly in the event of underwater predators, mainly sharks.

Nira kept on swimming and diving, but she stopped coming along with pearl divers after a shark scared the crap out of her, and when she was twelve (though she was sure the shark was more surprised than she was). She ensured to just be in places where sharks are kept away from the tourists, practicing holding breath for long periods of time. Once she joined the Academy, the only chances for swimming were more at the Academy pool, and after the Academy, the only times she had for swimming was on certain shore leaves. She had demonstrated her swimming skills on Risa back on Malik Grippen's private island, the time she spent with Malik.

Knife held by her teeth, she dove in with determination, not caring whether or not anybody in the away team went to help. She knew phasers would prove poorly effective underwater, she learned that the first time she asked a pearl diver why he didn't bring a phaser along instead of a knife.

Swimming powerfully after Savar, she saw him struggling as he is wrapped some kind of tentacle...and what Nira saw was something worse than just an extraterrestrial shark...it was a squid. Not a simple kind of squid, but it was not a Kraken-sized squid, either. And it sure as hell had a lot more than ten tentacles. In fact, it had so many tentacles emitting from its bulbous headlike body, Nira had the impression that, if it was possible, the damn thing could move easily enough on land as well as underwater, and were it not for the head, Nira would've assumed the whole thing was nothing but tentacles...although the damn thing certainly looked like a big floating head, detached from a body, except where the neck should be was tentacles.

Pearl divers usually had to defend themselves against sharks, but never against squids or octopi. Then again, big Earth squids and octopi were extremely rare, and were never this big, least of all big enough to partly coil somebody to drag underwater.

Swimming as fast as she could, Nira got to Savar, drew her mek'leth and handed the knife she had in her mouth to Savar, indicating to him to stab as much as possible into the tentacle. Then Nira, holding her breath, began chopping up the tentacle wrapping up Savar, but kept an eye out for more tentacles; she'd have to be [spoiler]batshit [/spoiler]crazy to make a direct attack on the squid's main body, but she didn't want to have to unless it was a last resort, in which case she would definitely be [spoiler]batshit [/spoiler]crazy to do it.

Then again, she thought of her Klingon friends back in her Officer Exchange Program run, and reflected that if there were ever Klingons that were pearl divers, they'd more likely go after sharks and other predators rather than pearls.

[Zhukdrashar Mrekrerhas]

[Ensign Zhukdra'shar Mrekrerhas | Lake Edge - Kaimo VI]

[Surface Kaimo IV]

The two groups of the away team, each tracking the other by tricorder were able to link back up again at the spit of land that connected to the peak in the center of the lake. Not knowing the exact cycle of the tides, when they arrived, the water was at mid-calf as they started across the two kilometer long sand bar. Based on the rate the water was raising, they would have to hustle if they were going to make it across without having to swim.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[Bridge - USS Challenger]

When the universe stopped sparking and spinning, Ian found himself clutching the command chair in near total darkness. The air had an acrid scent of charred circuits and it didn't seem like life support was able to clear it. Shaking his head to clear the fog, he croaked.

"R-Report!"

[Lieutenant Commander Nira Said | Treetop Pathways >- Sandbar to Island | Kaimo IV]

Nira, Savar, Lahr and Zhuk arrived at the sandbar just as Nurse Davies and Mister Blackfeather did. Nira beamed at their timing. "Head Nurse! Mister Blackfeather! You made it in time!"

Indeed, they could still see that spit of land...Nira could see it was some sort of sand bar. She heard about sand bars; some were natural, others manmade. She recalled one time when she joined an Academy field trip to the Great Salt Lake and saw Spiral Jetty; impressive artwork made from rocks.

"We all made it in time," Nira added, seeing the dawn. "Onward!"

She and Savar stepped on almost at the same time, and both were perplexed that, despite the sight of the sandbar...

"Commander, the sand bar's already submerged," Savar observed as they both stepped into water up to mid calf.

"Water's already receding," said Nira. "We'll need to hurry, everybody. Savar, how long do you think it'll take before it completely submerges?"

"Well, without any idea about how tidal cycles work on this planet," said Savar, "we'll need to hurry to get to that island before it submerges deep enough that we have to swim."

"Well, too late to fell a tree to improvise a boat," said Nira. "We'll have to make a run for it."

"Even if running in water is difficult?"

"You did say we'll have to hurry. And how far do you estimate to the island?"

"Best guess...two kilometers."

"Well, then, I'm sure we'll make it far enough that by the time it does submerge deep enough to swim, as you say, it'll be a short swim."

And with that, Nira and Savar led the way to a run, sure as they were that the team heard what they said. They didn't care that they were kicking up water.

Zhukdra'shar descended from the trees as soon as they reached the strip of land that Akuuta had pointed to. He was surprised to notice that water was already covering the sand, which meant that the tide would not be too far off. Still, under the lead of Lieutenant Nira and Savar, it was clear that there could only be a way to continue: forward. As they splashed through the water, Zhuk took a deep breath and followed, soon realizing that the water reached him just under his waist. Sometimes, being small as he was could be a boon. But right now, it didn't seem to him like one.

His exhaustion was apparent, as although he started with a significant dash forward, running just behind Savar, he soon ended up falling behind as he quickly tired. After all, he was made for speed first and endurance later. Panting, as he fell into a more bearable trot, he made sure to keep his rifle held up against the top of his head, to keep it from becoming too wet. He knew that phaser rifles worked for sure underwater, but he didn't want to risk it still. Maybe the water had some property or another that messed with technology. One never knew, and it was something he really didn't want to risk.

[Lake Edge - Kaimo IV]

Running in water is never easy and as the tide came in, soon, running was no longer possible, even walking became a struggle. After a kilometer, only Blackfeather, the tallest member of the away team could touch the bottom, which only lasted maybe another hundred meters before everyone had to swim.

As the away team made their way to the island, they had no idea that they were not alone. The squid like creature that observed them was not familiar with the taste they left in the water. Not that it mattered, food was food and these new things were clearly not aquatic beings based on the way they thrashed about as they awkwardly propelled themselves.

After several moments of indecision of which of the beings to attack, the creature struck.

On the surface, one moment, Savar was making good progress, the next moment, something brushed against him. Before he could do more than register this fact, when he felt a searing hot pain lash across his back and legs. He only had time to make a strangled yelp before he was yanked under the water.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[Bridge - USS Challenger]

Ian held back his initial response as the Ensign was only trying to obey his order to report. Not that anyone had anything useful to report in the dark. He tried internal communications with little hope and was correct, they were down too. He needed answers and he needed them now.

"Buck. I need you ta make your way ta engineerin'. I don't care if Dashlish has ta rig solar panels, I bloody need power. Take the Jeffries tubes as I wouldn't trust the turbolifts even if they did work, which I doubt they do."

[Lieutenant Commander Nira Said | Sandbar to Island | Kaimo IV]

They were barely halfway before they stopped running, then stopped walking, and ended up dog-paddling. Nira shrugged; everybody could at least float, though she was thinking that one of the packs brought along could be used as a small raft to put their rifles on, light and floatable as they could be.

"Think we'll be okay floating as well as swimming the rest of the way, Savar?" asked Nira.

"Floating would do for rests," said Savar with a shrug. "Although we still have less than a kilometer to g...?"

He stopped talking a moment and furrowed his brow; something brushed against him. He had just looked down before he tensed with pain and was brought under with a strangled yelp.

"SAVAR!" screamed Nira in horror. She beat herself inwardly; she should've realized there would be predators. Well, she knew what she had to do.

"I'll deal with this one!" Nira shouted with rage. "Anybody able to help, hope you can hold your breath as long as you can! Do your best with phasers underwater or from the surface!"

As she talked, she removed her boots and her pants, her tank top still on. She handed Blackfeather her rifle, took one of her knives from her boots and hung the second with her mek'leth. She knew what she was doing, and she realized that she hadn't done something like that since...well, when she was barely a teenager, and the knife she had brought then was a simple Swiss Army Knife.

Having been to coastal resorts and beaches plenty of times on her home city on Earth, being so close to the coast as it was, Nira had known plenty of pearl divers. Even in the twenty-fourth century, there were still pearl divers, though modern technology ensured they could stay underwater for longer periods of time than in the past. There were plenty of divers who were used to diving without equipment and could still be underwater for long periods of time. Nira had an admiration for such divers, and half the time she was out for outdoor swimming was spent with pearl divers. She was always advised to come armed, chiefly in the event of underwater predators, mainly sharks.

Nira kept on swimming and diving, but she stopped coming along with pearl divers after a shark scared the crap out of her, and when she was twelve (though she was sure the shark was more surprised than she was). She ensured to just be in places where sharks are kept away from the tourists, practicing holding breath for long periods of time. Once she joined the Academy, the only chances for swimming were more at the Academy pool, and after the Academy, the only times she had for swimming was on certain shore leaves. She had demonstrated her swimming skills on Risa back on Malik Grippen's private island, the time she spent with Malik.

Knife held by her teeth, she dove in with determination, not caring whether or not anybody in the away team went to help. She knew phasers would prove poorly effective underwater, she learned that the first time she asked a pearl diver why he didn't bring a phaser along instead of a knife.

Swimming powerfully after Savar, she saw him struggling as he is wrapped some kind of tentacle...and what Nira saw was something worse than just an extraterrestrial shark...it was a squid. Not a simple kind of squid, but it was not a Kraken-sized squid, either. And it sure as hell had a lot more than ten tentacles. In fact, it had so many tentacles emitting from its bulbous headlike body, Nira had the impression that, if it was possible, the damn thing could move easily enough on land as well as underwater, and were it not for the head, Nira would've assumed the whole thing was nothing but tentacles...although the damn thing certainly looked like a big floating head, detached from a body, except where the neck should be was tentacles.

Pearl divers usually had to defend themselves against sharks, but never against squids or octopi. Then again, big Earth squids and octopi were extremely rare, and were never this big, least of all big enough to partly coil somebody to drag underwater.

Swimming as fast as she could, Nira got to Savar, drew her mek'leth and handed the knife she had in her mouth to Savar, indicating to him to stab as much as possible into the tentacle. Then Nira, holding her breath, began chopping up the tentacle wrapping up Savar, but kept an eye out for more tentacles; she'd have to be [spoiler]batshit [/spoiler]crazy to make a direct attack on the squid's main body, but she didn't want to have to unless it was a last resort, in which case she would definitely be [spoiler]batshit [/spoiler]crazy to do it.

Then again, she thought of her Klingon friends back in her Officer Exchange Program run, and reflected that if there were ever Klingons that were pearl divers, they'd more likely go after sharks and other predators rather than pearls.

[Ensign Zhukdra'shar Mrekrerhas | Sandbar to Island - Kaimo VI]

Zhuk bogged down even more as water reached above his waist, and eventually, up to his chest. Strapping the rifle tightly against his back was the best option he had in order to begin paddling with his feet and hands forward. Though he had never gotten to swim before in his life before he got taught back in the Academy, he had to admit that it was a pleasant feeling. Right now, though, he wasn't really too enthused about swimming in this ocean, especially knowing that he still was far away from the island, and getting more and more tired by the second.

Paddling away, his ears remained attentive as to any trouble that the party could be experiencing, whether out of an inability to swim, or exhaustion, like himself. He was ready to provide support if it was required. He at least had enough strength to do so for now.

A kilometer in, more or less, the only thing that remained above water fully was Zhuk's head, as he was forced to properly swim, giving long strokes while his feet kicked the water behind him. His tail had turned into a rather basic ruder, allowing him to lightly change his direction if needed. This small trip had ended up revealing two important things to him: the first one was that he was enjoying this more than he had expected. Back in Yucatan, he had not wanted to swim in the ocean for too long, deciding that the salty smell of the ocean and the salt was not for him. Now, however, being forced to go ahead with this had ended up with the opposite result. All in all, it was growing on him. Maybe he had to try more of this back on the ship.

His thought pattern was shaken up by vibrations in the water picked up by his wet whiskers and fur. He felt something big moving just underneath, but before he could announce anything, he saw Savar a few meters in front of him crying out as he was dragged underwater, followed by Nira who quickly removed her boots and pants, before submerging with her mek'leth and knife to fight whatever sea beast had swallowed Savar up.

Zhuk panicked. He was out of his element here and was unsure if he would be much help with his inexperience in these types of situations. A few seconds were all that he needed to decide, though, as he took a deep breath and suddenly jumped forward, submerging himself as he gave chase after to save Savar. He did his best to catch up with Nira and Savar, managing to gaze over at the huge cephalopod that had captured the Vulcan. The creature proved to be much faster than he was, and soon fell behind, Nira's experience as a diver showing significantly. Knowing that he was about to run out of oxygen, he had to abandon his plan of clawing the creature, as he was still 20 meters or so too far.

Swiftly unslinging his weapon, he took aim against the giant squid and fired a barrage with his phaser, trying to aim towards the center of the creature, and the offending tentacle holding his fellow Starfleet officer hoping to hit it. With how poorly phaser rifles worked underwater, however, he wasn't that sure it would be effective. Before he could confirm, he had to retreat above water, his swimming turning into a mad ascend as his body forced him to open his mouth, taking in some of the water.

He was barely able to emerge, coughing profusely before taking in deep breaths, trying to bring oxygen once more to his lungs.

[ShranLahr ch'Verret]

NPC Lieutenant JG Chloe Davies, Head Nurse and
PO1 ShranLahr ch'Verret
[Surface of Kaimo VI - submerged land bridge]

[Lake Edge - Kaimo IV]

Running in water is never easy and as the tide came in, soon, running was no longer possible, even walking became a struggle. After a kilometer, only Blackfeather, the tallest member of the away team could touch the bottom, which only lasted maybe another hundred meters before everyone had to swim.

As the away team made their way to the island, they had no idea that they were not alone. The squid like creature that observed them was not familiar with the taste they left in the water. Not that it mattered, food was food and these new things were clearly not aquatic beings based on the way they thrashed about as they awkwardly propelled themselves.

After several moments of indecision of which of the beings to attack, the creature struck.

On the surface, one moment, Savar was making good progress, the next moment, something brushed against him. Before he could do more than register this fact, when he felt a searing hot pain lash across his back and legs. He only had time to make a strangled yelp before he was yanked under the water.

[Ensign Zhukdra'shar Mrekrerhas | Sandbar to Island - Kaimo VI]

Zhuk bogged down even more as water reached above his waist, and eventually, up to his chest. Strapping the rifle tightly against his back was the best option he had in order to begin paddling with his feet and hands forward. Though he had never gotten to swim before in his life before he got taught back in the Academy, he had to admit that it was a pleasant feeling. Right now, though, he wasn't really too enthused about swimming in this ocean, especially knowing that he still was far away from the island, and getting more and more tired by the second.

Paddling away, his ears remained attentive as to any trouble that the party could be experiencing, whether out of an inability to swim, or exhaustion, like himself. He was ready to provide support if it was required. He at least had enough strength to do so for now.

A kilometer in, more or less, the only thing that remained above water fully was Zhuk's head, as he was forced to properly swim, giving long strokes while his feet kicked the water behind him. His tail had turned into a rather basic ruder, allowing him to lightly change his direction if needed. This small trip had ended up revealing two important things to him: the first one was that he was enjoying this more than he had expected. Back in Yucatan, he had not wanted to swim in the ocean for too long, deciding that the salty smell of the ocean and the salt was not for him. Now, however, being forced to go ahead with this had ended up with the opposite result. All in all, it was growing on him. Maybe he had to try more of this back on the ship.

His thought pattern was shaken up by vibrations in the water picked up by his wet whiskers and fur. He felt something big moving just underneath, but before he could announce anything, he saw Savar a few meters in front of him crying out as he was dragged underwater, followed by Nira who quickly removed her boots and pants, before submerging with her mek'leth and knife to fight whatever sea beast had swallowed Savar up.

Zhuk panicked. He was out of his element here and was unsure if he would be much help with his inexperience in these types of situations. A few seconds were all that he needed to decide, though, as he took a deep breath and suddenly jumped forward, submerging himself as he gave chase after to save Savar. He did his best to catch up with Nira and Savar, managing to gaze over at the huge cephalopod that had captured the Vulcan. The creature proved to be much faster than he was, and soon fell behind, Nira's experience as a diver showing significantly. Knowing that he was about to run out of oxygen, he had to abandon his plan of clawing the creature, as he was still 20 meters or so too far.

Swiftly unslinging his weapon, he took aim against the giant squid and fired a barrage with his phaser, trying to aim towards the center of the creature, and the offending tentacle holding his fellow Starfleet officer hoping to hit it. With how poorly phaser rifles worked underwater, however, he wasn't that sure it would be effective. Before he could confirm, he had to retreat above water, his swimming turning into a mad ascend as his body forced him to open his mouth, taking in some of the water.

He was barely able to emerge, coughing profusely before taking in deep breaths, trying to bring oxygen once more to his lungs.

Following standard Sec/Tac procedure, of which Lahr was quite familiar with having spent the first two years of his enlistment in that department, the Andorian also kept his weapon lifted overhead until the water level made that prohibitive.   He then slung the weapon over his shoulder, resting at his back, allowing him to free his hands and arms in order to swim.   Andorian physiology with less bone to cartilage ratio meant that Lahr naturally buoyant.  His circulatory system gave him greater tolerance of colder weather, but not so much tolerance for the warmer climes.   The jungle heat was about his limit, and this explained why his usual Andorian stamina wasn't doing so well throughout this trek.   The tepid water of the large lake made a welcome change to the muggy heat of the jungle.

Or at least it had until Savar was dragged down under its surface unexpectedly.

Lahr struggled a bit to gain access to his shouldered weapon, while treading water with his legs only.  Roohz!  This was not good!

He noted that by time he had his weapon clear, Lieutenant Commander Said had already stripped down and dove after the Vulcan.   Zhukdra'shar follow close behind.  Blackfeather and Lahr looked to one another, not saying a word.  After a moment of this expressive silence, both nodded in sync before Blackfeather dove after the pair.   Lahr, being the team's engineer, remained up top keeping watch over Chloe.

Time seemed to drag for Lahr and Chloe as they watched the churned-up waters for sign of any of the submerged team.   Several flashes of what must have been phaser fire lit the depths briefly but it wasn't enough to see what was actually happening.

Zhuk was the first to return to the surface, coughing profusely as if having breathed in water.  Lahr moved in nearer, just out of arms reach, ready to react should the Caitian surcome to the coughing fit and pass out.

Chloe, never much of a swimmer, had her hands full just keeping her head above water. 

[Ian Galloway]

[Lieutenant Commander Nira Said | Sandbar to Island | Kaimo IV]

They were barely halfway before they stopped running, then stopped walking, and ended up dog-paddling. Nira shrugged; everybody could at least float, though she was thinking that one of the packs brought along could be used as a small raft to put their rifles on, light and floatable as they could be.

"Think we'll be okay floating as well as swimming the rest of the way, Savar?" asked Nira.

"Floating would do for rests," said Savar with a shrug. "Although we still have less than a kilometer to g...?"

He stopped talking a moment and furrowed his brow; something brushed against him. He had just looked down before he tensed with pain and was brought under with a strangled yelp.

"SAVAR!" screamed Nira in horror. She beat herself inwardly; she should've realized there would be predators. Well, she knew what she had to do.

"I'll deal with this one!" Nira shouted with rage. "Anybody able to help, hope you can hold your breath as long as you can! Do your best with phasers underwater or from the surface!"

As she talked, she removed her boots and her pants, her tank top still on. She handed Blackfeather her rifle, took one of her knives from her boots and hung the second with her mek'leth. She knew what she was doing, and she realized that she hadn't done something like that since...well, when she was barely a teenager, and the knife she had brought then was a simple Swiss Army Knife.

Having been to coastal resorts and beaches plenty of times on her home city on Earth, being so close to the coast as it was, Nira had known plenty of pearl divers. Even in the twenty-fourth century, there were still pearl divers, though modern technology ensured they could stay underwater for longer periods of time than in the past. There were plenty of divers who were used to diving without equipment and could still be underwater for long periods of time. Nira had an admiration for such divers, and half the time she was out for outdoor swimming was spent with pearl divers. She was always advised to come armed, chiefly in the event of underwater predators, mainly sharks.

Nira kept on swimming and diving, but she stopped coming along with pearl divers after a shark scared the crap out of her, and when she was twelve (though she was sure the shark was more surprised than she was). She ensured to just be in places where sharks are kept away from the tourists, practicing holding breath for long periods of time. Once she joined the Academy, the only chances for swimming were more at the Academy pool, and after the Academy, the only times she had for swimming was on certain shore leaves. She had demonstrated her swimming skills on Risa back on Malik Grippen's private island, the time she spent with Malik.

Knife held by her teeth, she dove in with determination, not caring whether or not anybody in the away team went to help. She knew phasers would prove poorly effective underwater, she learned that the first time she asked a pearl diver why he didn't bring a phaser along instead of a knife.

Swimming powerfully after Savar, she saw him struggling as he is wrapped some kind of tentacle...and what Nira saw was something worse than just an extraterrestrial shark...it was a squid. Not a simple kind of squid, but it was not a Kraken-sized squid, either. And it sure as hell had a lot more than ten tentacles. In fact, it had so many tentacles emitting from its bulbous headlike body, Nira had the impression that, if it was possible, the damn thing could move easily enough on land as well as underwater, and were it not for the head, Nira would've assumed the whole thing was nothing but tentacles...although the damn thing certainly looked like a big floating head, detached from a body, except where the neck should be was tentacles.

Pearl divers usually had to defend themselves against sharks, but never against squids or octopi. Then again, big Earth squids and octopi were extremely rare, and were never this big, least of all big enough to partly coil somebody to drag underwater.

Swimming as fast as she could, Nira got to Savar, drew her mek'leth and handed the knife she had in her mouth to Savar, indicating to him to stab as much as possible into the tentacle. Then Nira, holding her breath, began chopping up the tentacle wrapping up Savar, but kept an eye out for more tentacles; she'd have to be [spoiler]batshit [/spoiler]crazy to make a direct attack on the squid's main body, but she didn't want to have to unless it was a last resort, in which case she would definitely be [spoiler]batshit [/spoiler]crazy to do it.

Then again, she thought of her Klingon friends back in her Officer Exchange Program run, and reflected that if there were ever Klingons that were pearl divers, they'd more likely go after sharks and other predators rather than pearls.

[Ensign Zhukdra'shar Mrekrerhas | Lake Edge - Kaimo VI]

Zhukdra'shar descended from the trees as soon as they reached the strip of land that Akuuta had pointed to. He was surprised to notice that water was already covering the sand, which meant that the tide would not be too far off. Still, under the lead of Lieutenant Nira and Savar, it was clear that there could only be a way to continue: forward. As they splashed through the water, Zhuk took a deep breath and followed, soon realizing that the water reached him just under his waist. Sometimes, being small as he was could be a boon. But right now, it didn't seem to him like one.

His exhaustion was apparent, as although he started with a significant dash forward, running just behind Savar, he soon ended up falling behind as he quickly tired. After all, he was made for speed first and endurance later. Panting, as he fell into a more bearable trot, he made sure to keep his rifle held up against the top of his head, to keep it from becoming too wet. He knew that phaser rifles worked for sure underwater, but he didn't want to risk it still. Maybe the water had some property or another that messed with technology. One never knew, and it was something he really didn't want to risk.

[Ensign Zhukdra'shar Mrekrerhas | Sandbar to Island - Kaimo VI]

Zhuk bogged down even more as water reached above his waist, and eventually, up to his chest. Strapping the rifle tightly against his back was the best option he had in order to begin paddling with his feet and hands forward. Though he had never gotten to swim before in his life before he got taught back in the Academy, he had to admit that it was a pleasant feeling. Right now, though, he wasn't really too enthused about swimming in this ocean, especially knowing that he still was far away from the island, and getting more and more tired by the second.

Paddling away, his ears remained attentive as to any trouble that the party could be experiencing, whether out of an inability to swim, or exhaustion, like himself. He was ready to provide support if it was required. He at least had enough strength to do so for now.

A kilometer in, more or less, the only thing that remained above water fully was Zhuk's head, as he was forced to properly swim, giving long strokes while his feet kicked the water behind him. His tail had turned into a rather basic ruder, allowing him to lightly change his direction if needed. This small trip had ended up revealing two important things to him: the first one was that he was enjoying this more than he had expected. Back in Yucatan, he had not wanted to swim in the ocean for too long, deciding that the salty smell of the ocean and the salt was not for him. Now, however, being forced to go ahead with this had ended up with the opposite result. All in all, it was growing on him. Maybe he had to try more of this back on the ship.

His thought pattern was shaken up by vibrations in the water picked up by his wet whiskers and fur. He felt something big moving just underneath, but before he could announce anything, he saw Savar a few meters in front of him crying out as he was dragged underwater, followed by Nira who quickly removed her boots and pants, before submerging with her mek'leth and knife to fight whatever sea beast had swallowed Savar up.

Zhuk panicked. He was out of his element here and was unsure if he would be much help with his inexperience in these types of situations. A few seconds were all that he needed to decide, though, as he took a deep breath and suddenly jumped forward, submerging himself as he gave chase after to save Savar. He did his best to catch up with Nira and Savar, managing to gaze over at the huge cephalopod that had captured the Vulcan. The creature proved to be much faster than he was, and soon fell behind, Nira's experience as a diver showing significantly. Knowing that he was about to run out of oxygen, he had to abandon his plan of clawing the creature, as he was still 20 meters or so too far.

Swiftly unslinging his weapon, he took aim against the giant squid and fired a barrage with his phaser, trying to aim towards the center of the creature, and the offending tentacle holding his fellow Starfleet officer hoping to hit it. With how poorly phaser rifles worked underwater, however, he wasn't that sure it would be effective. Before he could confirm, he had to retreat above water, his swimming turning into a mad ascend as his body forced him to open his mouth, taking in some of the water.

He was barely able to emerge, coughing profusely before taking in deep breaths, trying to bring oxygen once more to his lungs.

NPC Lieutenant JG Chloe Davies, Head Nurse and
PO1 ShranLahr ch'Verret
[Surface of Kaimo VI - submerged land bridge]

Following standard Sec/Tac procedure, of which Lahr was quite familiar with having spent the first two years of his enlistment in that department, the Andorian also kept his weapon lifted overhead until the water level made that prohibitive.   He then slung the weapon over his shoulder, resting at his back, allowing him to free his hands and arms in order to swim.   Andorian physiology with less bone to cartilage ratio meant that Lahr naturally buoyant.  His circulatory system gave him greater tolerance of colder weather, but not so much tolerance for the warmer climes.   The jungle heat was about his limit, and this explained why his usual Andorian stamina wasn't doing so well throughout this trek.   The tepid water of the large lake made a welcome change to the muggy heat of the jungle.

Or at least it had until Savar was dragged down under its surface unexpectedly.

Lahr struggled a bit to gain access to his shouldered weapon, while treading water with his legs only.  Roohz!  This was not good!

He noted that by time he had his weapon clear, Lieutenant Commander Said had already stripped down and dove after the Vulcan.   Zhukdra'shar follow close behind.  Blackfeather and Lahr looked to one another, not saying a word.  After a moment of this expressive silence, both nodded in sync before Blackfeather dove after the pair.   Lahr, being the team's engineer, remained up top keeping watch over Chloe.

Time seemed to drag for Lahr and Chloe as they watched the churned-up waters for sign of any of the submerged team.   Several flashes of what must have been phaser fire lit the depths briefly but it wasn't enough to see what was actually happening.

Zhuk was the first to return to the surface, coughing profusely as if having breathed in water.  Lahr moved in nearer, just out of arms reach, ready to react should the Caitian surcome to the coughing fit and pass out.

Chloe, never much of a swimmer, had her hands full just keeping her head above water.

[Lake Edge - Kaimo IV]

In the chaos of the attack, it was difficult for anyone to really know what was happening. Zhuk's fire was so badly attenuated by the water as to be ineffective as far as anyone could see. Savar's strength was fading as it seemed that the stingers of the creature had a paralytic effect. One that would have likely already completely subdued a human. As for Nira's attacks, the rubbery tentacles  weren't completely immune to her Mek'leth, but they were very tough and she hadn't done much damage. One thing was very clear, someone was going to have to land some sort of effective attack on the creature, and do it quickly, or Savar was not going to survive.

[Nira Said]

[Lake Edge - Kaimo IV]

In the chaos of the attack, it was difficult for anyone to really know what was happening. Zhuk's fire was so badly attenuated by the water as to be ineffective as far as anyone could see. Savar's strength was fading as it seemed that the stingers of the creature had a paralytic effect. One that would have likely already completely subdued a human. As for Nira's attacks, the rubbery tentacles  weren't completely immune to her Mek'leth, but they were very tough and she hadn't done much damage. One thing was very clear, someone was going to have to land some sort of effective attack on the creature, and do it quickly, or Savar was not going to survive.

[Lieutenant Commander Nira Said | Lake Edge | Kaimo IV]

Nira was horrified to see that Savar's strength was fading. Then again, anybody with less strength than a Vulcan would've passed out by now. Was there some kind of paralytic in the tentacles? Nira didn't want to know. Her desperation to save her Imzadi and her own ineffective stabs meant that she would have to go with [spoiler]batshit [/spoiler]crazy after all.

Pushing off with a new surge of strength, she practically shot toward the bulk of the body and swum, using her mek'leth to pick her way along the skin when she got slow, knowing full well the creature's  body was thick. That meant she had to get to the most likeliest weak spot in a literally thick-skinned creature like this: the eyes.

Nira was sure she was pushing her diving limits by the time she got to the eyes. The blood was going to rush to her brain any minute now, but she had to do this. Channeling her rage into jihadi, she plunged her mek'leth as hard as she could into the monster's eye.

Back up at the surface, Blackfeather scowled. Any shots were proven ineffective. It meant a closer shot.

"Screw this," he snapped. "I'm going in after her." He only left off the outer skin of the uniform, held his breath, and dove on in.

[ShranLahr ch'Verret]

NPC Lieutenant JG Chloe Davies, Head Nurse and
PO1 ShranLahr ch'Verret
[Surface of Kaimo VI - submerged land bridge]

[Lake Edge - Kaimo IV]

In the chaos of the attack, it was difficult for anyone to really know what was happening. Zhuk's fire was so badly attenuated by the water as to be ineffective as far as anyone could see. Savar's strength was fading as it seemed that the stingers of the creature had a paralytic effect. One that would have likely already completely subdued a human. As for Nira's attacks, the rubbery tentacles  weren't completely immune to her Mek'leth, but they were very tough and she hadn't done much damage. One thing was very clear, someone was going to have to land some sort of effective attack on the creature, and do it quickly, or Savar was not going to survive.

[Lieutenant Commander Nira Said | Lake Edge | Kaimo IV]

Nira was horrified to see that Savar's strength was fading. Then again, anybody with less strength than a Vulcan would've passed out by now. Was there some kind of paralytic in the tentacles? Nira didn't want to know. Her desperation to save her Imzadi and her own ineffective stabs meant that she would have to go with [spoiler]batshit [/spoiler]crazy after all.

Pushing off with a new surge of strength, she practically shot toward the bulk of the body and swum, using her mek'leth to pick her way along the skin when she got slow, knowing full well the creature's  body was thick. That meant she had to get to the most likeliest weak spot in a literally thick-skinned creature like this: the eyes.

Nira was sure she was pushing her diving limits by the time she got to the eyes. The blood was going to rush to her brain any minute now, but she had to do this. Channeling her rage into jihadi, she plunged her mek'leth as hard as she could into the monster's eye.

Back up at the surface, Blackfeather scowled. Any shots were proven ineffective. It meant a closer shot.

"Screw this," he snapped. "I'm going in after her." He only left off the outer skin of the uniform, held his breath, and dove on in.

Lahr, having seen the multiple phaser shots, recognized that the water had weakened the rifle's effective power and range.  But Lahr had an idea on how to correct for that.

"Chloe... I'm gonna need your phaser rifle."  Lahr stated as he moved behind her to unclip the weapon from her pack.  He laid it across the top of her pack.  "And I'm gonna need you to keep in one place, treading water, while I connect these."

Chloe looked over her shoulder incredulously at Lahr.  He was asking a lot from her.  "I'll try"

Because the powerpaks on the Phaser rifles were interchangeable, it also meant that it was relatively easy to link them in a series and then remove the limiter.  The limiter was the component that allowed security personnel to change settings from Stun, Heavy Stun, and even Kill.   By removing it completely Lahr was forcing the weapon to be fired at its full potential... which he had just doubled in its intensity by linking his powerpak to Chloe's.    There was however one downside to this.

Having quickly linked the powerpaks and removed the limiter, Lahr looked over to the scrawny Caitian and held the weapon towards him.

"You've got one good shot with that.   Make it count!" he encouraged.

[Zhukdrashar Mrekrerhas]

[Ensign Zhukdra'shar Mrekrerhas | Sandbar to Island - Kaimo VI]

[Lake Edge - Kaimo IV]

In the chaos of the attack, it was difficult for anyone to really know what was happening. Zhuk's fire was so badly attenuated by the water as to be ineffective as far as anyone could see. Savar's strength was fading as it seemed that the stingers of the creature had a paralytic effect. One that would have likely already completely subdued a human. As for Nira's attacks, the rubbery tentacles  weren't completely immune to her Mek'leth, but they were very tough and she hadn't done much damage. One thing was very clear, someone was going to have to land some sort of effective attack on the creature, and do it quickly, or Savar was not going to survive.

[Lieutenant Commander Nira Said | Lake Edge | Kaimo IV]

Nira was horrified to see that Savar's strength was fading. Then again, anybody with less strength than a Vulcan would've passed out by now. Was there some kind of paralytic in the tentacles? Nira didn't want to know. Her desperation to save her Imzadi and her own ineffective stabs meant that she would have to go with [spoiler]batshit [/spoiler]crazy after all.

Pushing off with a new surge of strength, she practically shot toward the bulk of the body and swum, using her mek'leth to pick her way along the skin when she got slow, knowing full well the creature's  body was thick. That meant she had to get to the most likeliest weak spot in a literally thick-skinned creature like this: the eyes.

Nira was sure she was pushing her diving limits by the time she got to the eyes. The blood was going to rush to her brain any minute now, but she had to do this. Channeling her rage into jihadi, she plunged her mek'leth as hard as she could into the monster's eye.

Back up at the surface, Blackfeather scowled. Any shots were proven ineffective. It meant a closer shot.

"Screw this," he snapped. "I'm going in after her." He only left off the outer skin of the uniform, held his breath, and dove on in.

NPC Lieutenant JG Chloe Davies, Head Nurse and
PO1 ShranLahr ch'Verret
[Surface of Kaimo VI - submerged land bridge]

Lahr, having seen the multiple phaser shots, recognized that the water had weakened the rifle's effective power and range.  But Lahr had an idea on how to correct for that.

"Chloe... I'm gonna need your phaser rifle."  Lahr stated as he moved behind her to unclip the weapon from her pack.  He laid it across the top of her pack.  "And I'm gonna need you to keep in one place, treading water, while I connect these."

Chloe looked over her shoulder incredulously at Lahr.  He was asking a lot from her.  "I'll try"

Because the powerpaks on the Phaser rifles were interchangeable, it also meant that it was relatively easy to link them in a series and then remove the limiter.  The limiter was the component that allowed security personnel to change settings from Stun, Heavy Stun, and even Kill.   By removing it completely Lahr was forcing the weapon to be fired at its full potential... which he had just doubled in its intensity by linking his powerpak to Chloe's.    There was however one downside to this.

Having quickly linked the powerpaks and removed the limiter, Lahr looked over to the scrawny Caitian and held the weapon towards him.

"You've got one good shot with that.   Make it count!" he encouraged.

Zhuk took a moment to recover as he took in oxygen once more. He remained there for a moment, watching as Lahr asked for Chloe's weapon, and apparently modified it in a way he couldn't quite wrap his head around. Soon enough, he swam towards him and offered the newly tuned weapon, explaining succinctly that he had one good shot at the creature with it. He quickly made the connection and nodded.

"I shalt not fail... hah... thank you, Lahr" He took a deep breath once more, and plunged into the water once more, diving towards the monstrous cephalopod once more. He pushed himself to the limit as he tried to catch up with the creature, guessing that it would have swam further down. He too hoped to be able to reach Blackfeather, in case he required help to bring Nira back in case they could not retrieve Savar. He guessed that pulling her out of the water forcefully would be a hard task to accomplish. He understood what was to lose someone you love.

Right, focus. Focus on the task.

Though his muscles began to ache and he could feel his lungs at his limit as he continued to descend, he didn't stop. He wasn't about to allow someone to get killed. Not on his watch.

Then, he saw it. The elegant form of the alien squid, just in view. He had to admire how nature had created such beautiful organisms, adapting them perfectly to their ecosystem. It was a shame he had to attack it again. And this time, he had to make sure that he hit it. Pulling through as he grew dizzy, doing his best to not open his mouth or nose, he took aim at the squid. His eyes were still sharp even at this depth, so this time, he made sure to aim directly towards one of its eyes- before he noticed Nira plunging her weapon into it. He wasn't that confident about not hitting her like this, and so swiftly changed target.

He instead focused on the offending tentacle that held Savar and made sure he did his darndest to keep his rifle steady in the water. And then, he fired, a beam as he had never seen before firing through from the tip, its power significantly increased, just as Lahr had predicted. It heated the water considerably around him, and he made sure to quickly move his hand away from the handle as he felt it scalding the reddish-orange fur.

He just hoped it would be enough to cut the arm off.

[Buck McNair]

[Bridge - USS Challenger]

Ian held back his initial response as the Ensign was only trying to obey his order to report. Not that anyone had anything useful to report in the dark. He tried internal communications with little hope and was correct, they were down too. He needed answers and he needed them now.

"Buck. I need you ta make your way ta engineerin'. I don't care if Dashlish has ta rig solar panels, I bloody need power. Take the Jeffries tubes as I wouldn't trust the turbolifts even if they did work, which I doubt they do."

[USS Challenger - Bridge > Engineering]

"Aye cap'n." Seemed like they were going to be in the dark for a little while longer as Buck made his way towards what he presumed to be the doors of the bridge.

His hand felt along the corridor as he tried to remember what the deck layout looked like so he could locate the nearest Jefferies tube. "Aha." Buck remembered about the tubes and that his situation wasn't about to get any better with the conditions as he began to make his way into the tube; feeling the cool air hit him. Buck bent over, crawling on his hands and knees as he felt his way along, wondering if he was going to bump into another crewman trying their luck to get to the bridge.

Finally surfacing, Buck popped his head out of the Jefferies tube. "Is this the Engineering deck?" He inquired.

"Uh, this is the pizzaria."

Closing his eyes, he sighed and internally chided himself. He had to have taken a wrong turn somewhere. Buck attempted to see the rank that the crewmember held but couldn't make it out with such dim lighting. "Could you direct me, to engineering?" It pained him to have been so new that he, of all, had ended up in the pizzaria (though certainly a good place for next time)

Listening as the crewmember directed him, they nodded and parted ways, leaving Buck to navigate himself to the engineering department on Deck 13. "Commander Dashlish, Buck McNair. Been instructed by the Captain to get us some power. You have a clue what's happened here?"

[Ian Galloway]

[Lieutenant Commander Nira Said | Lake Edge | Kaimo IV]

Nira was horrified to see that Savar's strength was fading. Then again, anybody with less strength than a Vulcan would've passed out by now. Was there some kind of paralytic in the tentacles? Nira didn't want to know. Her desperation to save her Imzadi and her own ineffective stabs meant that she would have to go with [spoiler]batshit [/spoiler]crazy after all.

Pushing off with a new surge of strength, she practically shot toward the bulk of the body and swum, using her mek'leth to pick her way along the skin when she got slow, knowing full well the creature's  body was thick. That meant she had to get to the most likeliest weak spot in a literally thick-skinned creature like this: the eyes.

Nira was sure she was pushing her diving limits by the time she got to the eyes. The blood was going to rush to her brain any minute now, but she had to do this. Channeling her rage into jihadi, she plunged her mek'leth as hard as she could into the monster's eye.

Back up at the surface, Blackfeather scowled. Any shots were proven ineffective. It meant a closer shot.

"Screw this," he snapped. "I'm going in after her." He only left off the outer skin of the uniform, held his breath, and dove on in.

NPC Lieutenant JG Chloe Davies, Head Nurse and
PO1 ShranLahr ch'Verret
[Surface of Kaimo VI - submerged land bridge]

Lahr, having seen the multiple phaser shots, recognized that the water had weakened the rifle's effective power and range.  But Lahr had an idea on how to correct for that.

"Chloe... I'm gonna need your phaser rifle."  Lahr stated as he moved behind her to unclip the weapon from her pack.  He laid it across the top of her pack.  "And I'm gonna need you to keep in one place, treading water, while I connect these."

Chloe looked over her shoulder incredulously at Lahr.  He was asking a lot from her.  "I'll try"

Because the powerpaks on the Phaser rifles were interchangeable, it also meant that it was relatively easy to link them in a series and then remove the limiter.  The limiter was the component that allowed security personnel to change settings from Stun, Heavy Stun, and even Kill.   By removing it completely Lahr was forcing the weapon to be fired at its full potential... which he had just doubled in its intensity by linking his powerpak to Chloe's.    There was however one downside to this.

Having quickly linked the powerpaks and removed the limiter, Lahr looked over to the scrawny Caitian and held the weapon towards him.

"You've got one good shot with that.   Make it count!" he encouraged.

[Ensign Zhukdra'shar Mrekrerhas | Sandbar to Island - Kaimo VI]

Zhuk took a moment to recover as he took in oxygen once more. He remained there for a moment, watching as Lahr asked for Chloe's weapon, and apparently modified it in a way he couldn't quite wrap his head around. Soon enough, he swam towards him and offered the newly tuned weapon, explaining succinctly that he had one good shot at the creature with it. He quickly made the connection and nodded.

"I shalt not fail... hah... thank you, Lahr" He took a deep breath once more, and plunged into the water once more, diving towards the monstrous cephalopod once more. He pushed himself to the limit as he tried to catch up with the creature, guessing that it would have swam further down. He too hoped to be able to reach Blackfeather, in case he required help to bring Nira back in case they could not retrieve Savar. He guessed that pulling her out of the water forcefully would be a hard task to accomplish. He understood what was to lose someone you love.

Right, focus. Focus on the task.

Though his muscles began to ache and he could feel his lungs at his limit as he continued to descend, he didn't stop. He wasn't about to allow someone to get killed. Not on his watch.

Then, he saw it. The elegant form of the alien squid, just in view. He had to admire how nature had created such beautiful organisms, adapting them perfectly to their ecosystem. It was a shame he had to attack it again. And this time, he had to make sure that he hit it. Pulling through as he grew dizzy, doing his best to not open his mouth or nose, he took aim at the squid. His eyes were still sharp even at this depth, so this time, he made sure to aim directly towards one of its eyes- before he noticed Nira plunging her weapon into it. He wasn't that confident about not hitting her like this, and so swiftly changed target.

He instead focused on the offending tentacle that held Savar and made sure he did his darndest to keep his rifle steady in the water. And then, he fired, a beam as he had never seen before firing through from the tip, its power significantly increased, just as Lahr had predicted. It heated the water considerably around him, and he made sure to quickly move his hand away from the handle as he felt it scalding the reddish-orange fur.

He just hoped it would be enough to cut the arm off.

[Crater Lake - Kaimo IV]

The water boiled with the thrashing of Savar, Nira, and Zhuk as they attempted to hold off the creature. When the mek'leth struck, the squid-like beast emitted a keening shriek that could be clearly heard even by those who were not submerged. However, the attack did not kill the thing, but it did make it change its focus. It let Savar go, who still foundered in the water from the paralytic that the creature stung him with, and turned to face Nira.

It was only then that she got an idea of the horror she was confronting. The thing had to be six meters long and no less than 500 kilos with at least a dozen powerful tentacles and a maw that featured four meter long beaks mounted at the four cardinal points of north, south, east, and west.

The thing lunged at Nira and it probably would have eviscerated her had not Zhuk fired at that moment. Between the time the Caitian had made his decision to fire and his brain sent the command to pull the trigger, the positions of the creature, Nira, and Savar had changed by the time his finger tightened. Instead of hitting the targeted tentacle, the enhanced beam lanced through the water creating a column of steam as it passed and struck the creature solidly in the torso causing a gaping wound.

At this point, the thing, while eons from being sentient, did know when a meal was too much trouble. It pivoted faster than a being its size should be able to do and dove deep. However, as a parting gift, it struck Nira, full force with its powerful fluked tail. It hit so hard, that between the ringing in her ears, she heard her ribs break. She flew end over end ten meters to land face up, too stunned to move.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[USS Challenger - Bridge > Engineering]

"Aye cap'n." Seemed like they were going to be in the dark for a little while longer as Buck made his way towards what he presumed to be the doors of the bridge.

His hand felt along the corridor as he tried to remember what the deck layout looked like so he could locate the nearest Jefferies tube. "Aha." Buck remembered about the tubes and that his situation wasn't about to get any better with the conditions as he began to make his way into the tube; feeling the cool air hit him. Buck bent over, crawling on his hands and knees as he felt his way along, wondering if he was going to bump into another crewman trying their luck to get to the bridge.

Finally surfacing, Buck popped his head out of the Jefferies tube. "Is this the Engineering deck?" He inquired.

"Uh, this is the pizzaria."

Closing his eyes, he sighed and internally chided himself. He had to have taken a wrong turn somewhere. Buck attempted to see the rank that the crewmember held but couldn't make it out with such dim lighting. "Could you direct me, to engineering?" It pained him to have been so new that he, of all, had ended up in the pizzaria (though certainly a good place for next time)

Listening as the crewmember directed him, they nodded and parted ways, leaving Buck to navigate himself to the engineering department on Deck 13. "Commander Dashlish, Buck McNair. Been instructed by the Captain to get us some power. You have a clue what's happened here?"

[Engineering - USS Challenger]

"He wants power does he? Does he think we're performing oral sex on goldfish down here? He'll get power when there's power to give!"

Dashlish roared before she could stop herself. She was a Tellerite. She was an engineer. If anyone in the universe was crankier by nature, it wasn't known to Federation science. However, after a second to reflect, it wasn't this ensign's fault the captain had asked for an update and the lack of power was a problem.

"Sorry Ensign, you didn't deserve that. Let the captain know it's bad. Every power coupling on the ship either blew or popped and have to be replaced or manually reset. I'll have the fusion generators in 30 minutes. Impulse will take at least 12 hours. Warp? Ha! Forty-Eight hours if we are lucky. Now I've got too much work to do. Carry on."

[Nira Said]

[Surface of Kaimo VI - submerged land bridge]

Lahr, having seen the multiple phaser shots, recognized that the water had weakened the rifle's effective power and range.  But Lahr had an idea on how to correct for that.

"Chloe... I'm gonna need your phaser rifle."  Lahr stated as he moved behind her to unclip the weapon from her pack.  He laid it across the top of her pack.  "And I'm gonna need you to keep in one place, treading water, while I connect these."

Chloe looked over her shoulder incredulously at Lahr.  He was asking a lot from her.  "I'll try"

Because the powerpaks on the Phaser rifles were interchangeable, it also meant that it was relatively easy to link them in a series and then remove the limiter.  The limiter was the component that allowed security personnel to change settings from Stun, Heavy Stun, and even Kill.   By removing it completely Lahr was forcing the weapon to be fired at its full potential... which he had just doubled in its intensity by linking his powerpak to Chloe's.    There was however one downside to this.

Having quickly linked the powerpaks and removed the limiter, Lahr looked over to the scrawny Caitian and held the weapon towards him.

"You've got one good shot with that.   Make it count!" he encouraged.

[Ensign Zhukdra'shar Mrekrerhas | Sandbar to Island - Kaimo VI]

Zhuk took a moment to recover as he took in oxygen once more. He remained there for a moment, watching as Lahr asked for Chloe's weapon, and apparently modified it in a way he couldn't quite wrap his head around. Soon enough, he swam towards him and offered the newly tuned weapon, explaining succinctly that he had one good shot at the creature with it. He quickly made the connection and nodded.

"I shalt not fail... hah... thank you, Lahr" He took a deep breath once more, and plunged into the water once more, diving towards the monstrous cephalopod once more. He pushed himself to the limit as he tried to catch up with the creature, guessing that it would have swam further down. He too hoped to be able to reach Blackfeather, in case he required help to bring Nira back in case they could not retrieve Savar. He guessed that pulling her out of the water forcefully would be a hard task to accomplish. He understood what was to lose someone you love.

Right, focus. Focus on the task.

Though his muscles began to ache and he could feel his lungs at his limit as he continued to descend, he didn't stop. He wasn't about to allow someone to get killed. Not on his watch.

Then, he saw it. The elegant form of the alien squid, just in view. He had to admire how nature had created such beautiful organisms, adapting them perfectly to their ecosystem. It was a shame he had to attack it again. And this time, he had to make sure that he hit it. Pulling through as he grew dizzy, doing his best to not open his mouth or nose, he took aim at the squid. His eyes were still sharp even at this depth, so this time, he made sure to aim directly towards one of its eyes- before he noticed Nira plunging her weapon into it. He wasn't that confident about not hitting her like this, and so swiftly changed target.

He instead focused on the offending tentacle that held Savar and made sure he did his darndest to keep his rifle steady in the water. And then, he fired, a beam as he had never seen before firing through from the tip, its power significantly increased, just as Lahr had predicted. It heated the water considerably around him, and he made sure to quickly move his hand away from the handle as he felt it scalding the reddish-orange fur.

He just hoped it would be enough to cut the arm off.

[Crater Lake - Kaimo IV]

The water boiled with the thrashing of Savar, Nira, and Zhuk as they attempted to hold off the creature. When the mek'leth struck, the squid-like beast emitted a keening shriek that could be clearly heard even by those who were not submerged. However, the attack did not kill the thing, but it did make it change its focus. It let Savar go, who still foundered in the water from the paralytic that the creature stung him with, and turned to face Nira.

It was only then that she got an idea of the horror she was confronting. The thing had to be six meters long and no less than 500 kilos with at least a dozen powerful tentacles and a maw that featured four meter long beaks mounted at the four cardinal points of north, south, east, and west.

The thing lunged at Nira and it probably would have eviscerated her had not Zhuk fired at that moment. Between the time the Caitian had made his decision to fire and his brain sent the command to pull the trigger, the positions of the creature, Nira, and Savar had changed by the time his finger tightened. Instead of hitting the targeted tentacle, the enhanced beam lanced through the water creating a column of steam as it passed and struck the creature solidly in the torso causing a gaping wound.

At this point, the thing, while eons from being sentient, did know when a meal was too much trouble. It pivoted faster than a being its size should be able to do and dove deep. However, as a parting gift, it struck Nira, full force with its powerful fluked tail. It hit so hard, that between the ringing in her ears, she heard her ribs break. She flew end over end ten meters to land face up, too stunned to move.

[Lieutenant Commander Nira Said | Crater Lake | Kaimo IV]

Too late, Nira realized that she wouldn't likely kill the damn thing by sticking her blade in the eye. At the very least, however, she diverted its attention. It shook enough for Nira to be shook off. She looked around and saw Savar getting let go. She smiled and turned back, thinking to get her mek'leth back...and that's when she got the full look at the thing.

It was certainly not as big as she expected, but it was still big. She had processed at least a dozen tentacles before she could see the maw, with so many beaks, had it any more pointiness, its mouth would've been on par with that of a lamprey, and she was glad that she wasn't looking at a lamprey that big...and then the thing lunged...before getting hit by a powerful beam.

Nira looked up briefly and widened her smile before she dove back to quickly get her mek'leth back. It was a phaser beam, after all, and there was only one engineer on the team...she made a note to recommend Lahr be promoted to Chief Petty Officer for something so genius.

She managed to get the mek'leth and yank it free just as the monster, with a satisfyingly huge steaming hole, began its dive. Nira hoped she would make it back up before she would black out, but she was spared a long trip; a tentacle hit her right smack on the torso, hard enough for her to hear ribs breaking amidst her ears ringing, and she was hit so hard that she was sent flying up from the water.

Blackfeather managed to get Savar in time and got him to the surface. He was certainly impressed by the beam firing. He nodded his gratitude at Lahr and Zhuk and was about to dive back in after Nira when she blew out of the water, was sent flying...and landed face up. Nira just floated there, very stunned to just move, still gripping her mek'leth. Finally, she managed to speak, shocked by what she went through.

"No CPR for me, thank you," she said to nobody in particular, and that was, in and of itself, true; she had expected to black out before getting to the surface, but the shock and adrenaline and the fast trip back to the surface certainly ensured she stayed awake. Then speaking louder to the rest of the team, but still floating face up like she was relaxing near a Risian island shoreline, "We'd best...take five when we get to the island...shouldn't be too far now...Excellent work, Lahr, Zhuk, Blackfeather..."

Despite the broken ribs, she managed to get some movement going the rest of the way to the island. By the time she floated onto sand, she was sore enough to just lay there...if she wasn't exhibiting soreness, the stunned expression (both from the pain and facing down a megacephaloid with it getting the last hurrah), the mek'leth still in her hand and making the occasional moan of pain, she would've looked like she was sunbathing.

"How am I, Nurse?" she asked Nurse Davies, her voice creaking a tad, showing a bit of strain from soreness and pain in her ribs. "How many broken ribs?"

[ShranLahr ch'Verret]

NPC Lieutenant JG Chloe Davies, Head Nurse and
PO1 ShranLahr ch'Verret
[Surface of Kaimo VI - Crater Lake]

[Ensign Zhukdra'shar Mrekrerhas | Sandbar to Island - Kaimo VI]

Zhuk took a moment to recover as he took in oxygen once more. He remained there for a moment, watching as Lahr asked for Chloe's weapon, and apparently modified it in a way he couldn't quite wrap his head around. Soon enough, he swam towards him and offered the newly tuned weapon, explaining succinctly that he had one good shot at the creature with it. He quickly made the connection and nodded.

"I shalt not fail... hah... thank you, Lahr" He took a deep breath once more, and plunged into the water once more, diving towards the monstrous cephalopod once more. He pushed himself to the limit as he tried to catch up with the creature, guessing that it would have swam further down. He too hoped to be able to reach Blackfeather, in case he required help to bring Nira back in case they could not retrieve Savar. He guessed that pulling her out of the water forcefully would be a hard task to accomplish. He understood what was to lose someone you love.

Right, focus. Focus on the task.

Though his muscles began to ache and he could feel his lungs at his limit as he continued to descend, he didn't stop. He wasn't about to allow someone to get killed. Not on his watch.

Then, he saw it. The elegant form of the alien squid, just in view. He had to admire how nature had created such beautiful organisms, adapting them perfectly to their ecosystem. It was a shame he had to attack it again. And this time, he had to make sure that he hit it. Pulling through as he grew dizzy, doing his best to not open his mouth or nose, he took aim at the squid. His eyes were still sharp even at this depth, so this time, he made sure to aim directly towards one of its eyes- before he noticed Nira plunging her weapon into it. He wasn't that confident about not hitting her like this, and so swiftly changed target.

He instead focused on the offending tentacle that held Savar and made sure he did his darndest to keep his rifle steady in the water. And then, he fired, a beam as he had never seen before firing through from the tip, its power significantly increased, just as Lahr had predicted. It heated the water considerably around him, and he made sure to quickly move his hand away from the handle as he felt it scalding the reddish-orange fur.

He just hoped it would be enough to cut the arm off.

[Crater Lake - Kaimo IV]

The water boiled with the thrashing of Savar, Nira, and Zhuk as they attempted to hold off the creature. When the mek'leth struck, the squid-like beast emitted a keening shriek that could be clearly heard even by those who were not submerged. However, the attack did not kill the thing, but it did make it change its focus. It let Savar go, who still foundered in the water from the paralytic that the creature stung him with, and turned to face Nira.

It was only then that she got an idea of the horror she was confronting. The thing had to be six meters long and no less than 500 kilos with at least a dozen powerful tentacles and a maw that featured four meter long beaks mounted at the four cardinal points of north, south, east, and west.

The thing lunged at Nira and it probably would have eviscerated her had not Zhuk fired at that moment. Between the time the Caitian had made his decision to fire and his brain sent the command to pull the trigger, the positions of the creature, Nira, and Savar had changed by the time his finger tightened. Instead of hitting the targeted tentacle, the enhanced beam lanced through the water creating a column of steam as it passed and struck the creature solidly in the torso causing a gaping wound.

At this point, the thing, while eons from being sentient, did know when a meal was too much trouble. It pivoted faster than a being its size should be able to do and dove deep. However, as a parting gift, it struck Nira, full force with its powerful fluked tail. It hit so hard, that between the ringing in her ears, she heard her ribs break. She flew end over end ten meters to land face up, too stunned to move.

[Lieutenant Commander Nira Said | Crater Lake | Kaimo IV]

Too late, Nira realized that she wouldn't likely kill the damn thing by sticking her blade in the eye. At the very least, however, she diverted its attention. It shook enough for Nira to be shook off. She looked around and saw Savar getting let go. She smiled and turned back, thinking to get her mek'leth back...and that's when she got the full look at the thing.

It was certainly not as big as she expected, but it was still big. She had processed at least a dozen tentacles before she could see the maw, with so many beaks, had it any more pointiness, its mouth would've been on par with that of a lamprey, and she was glad that she wasn't looking at a lamprey that big...and then the thing lunged...before getting hit by a powerful beam.

Nira looked up briefly and widened her smile before she dove back to quickly get her mek'leth back. It was a phaser beam, after all, and there was only one engineer on the team...she made a note to recommend Lahr be promoted to Chief Petty Officer for something so genius.

She managed to get the mek'leth and yank it free just as the monster, with a satisfyingly huge steaming hole, began its dive. Nira hoped she would make it back up before she would black out, but she was spared a long trip; a tentacle hit her right smack on the torso, hard enough for her to hear ribs breaking amidst her ears ringing, and she was hit so hard that she was sent flying up from the water.

Blackfeather managed to get Savar in time and got him to the surface. He was certainly impressed by the beam firing. He nodded his gratitude at Lahr and Zhuk and was about to dive back in after Nira when she blew out of the water, was sent flying...and landed face up. Nira just floated there, very stunned to just move, still gripping her mek'leth. Finally, she managed to speak, shocked by what she went through.

"No CPR for me, thank you," she said to nobody in particular, and that was, in and of itself, true; she had expected to black out before getting to the surface, but the shock and adrenaline and the fast trip back to the surface certainly ensured she stayed awake. Then speaking louder to the rest of the team, but still floating face up like she was relaxing near a Risian island shoreline, "We'd best...take five when we get to the island...shouldn't be too far now...Excellent work, Lahr, Zhuk, Blackfeather..."

Despite the broken ribs, she managed to get some movement going the rest of the way to the island. By the time she floated onto sand, she was sore enough to just lay there...if she wasn't exhibiting soreness, the stunned expression (both from the pain and facing down a megacephaloid with it getting the last hurrah), the mek'leth still in her hand and making the occasional moan of pain, she would've looked like she was sunbathing.

"How am I, Nurse?" she asked Nurse Davies, her voice creaking a tad, showing a bit of strain from soreness and pain in her ribs. "How many broken ribs?"

The waiting up on the surface, trying to peer down into the waters through the sunlight glare from its surface was terrible.  Then suddenly there was splash of an emergence - Blackfeather supporting an unmoving Vulcan. Chloe immediately doggie paddled over towards the pair to do what she could to assess Savar's condition.

Another 30 seconds dragged by before Nira was thrown clear out of the water ten to 15 feet easily to drop back to it's surface landing face up with a SPLAT.   Lahr's eyes were wide with surprise and he wondered worriedly if the creature was going to continue its attack on them.  Despite everything the Commander seemed to try and crack a joke - declining a non-existent offer for CPR.  Lahr breathed a sigh of relief.  If she was cracking jokes - the Commander was fine.   Lahr could see Chloe directing Blackfeather on how to tow Savar face up until the paralytic would wear off.   All seemed fine.

But wait.  Where was Zhukdra'shar?  Lahr did a quick count of those around.  Roohz!

"I'm going down to look Zhuk!" he shouted to the Commander, before inhaling deeply to fill his lungs to capacity, then fought his was down towards where the flashes of weapons fire had seemed to come from minutes ago.  He fought against his body's tendency to float as he swam down with long arm strokes and fast kicks of his legs

The sunlight which had prevented him from seeing much from on the surface, lit the underwater nicely, and Lahr was able to pick out the drifting form of the Caitian still holding loosely onto the modified phaser rifle.   Lahr swam to him, grabbed onto the Caitian's unform collar and then began to kick up towards the surface with all the strength his legs had.

By the time Lahr made it back to the surface, his lungs felt like they were on fire with need of oxygen.  He took a quick gulp and then made sure Zhuk's body was face up with nose and mouth out of the water with his help.

"Chloe! I don't think he's breathing!" he shouted towards the nurse who was struggling to keep afloat while she seemed to be trying to run a scan of Savar.

To which the harried nurse, who was trying to determine the exact nature of the paralytic so that she could counter it, shouted back, "Then start resuscitation! Breath for him. Hold his mouth firmly shut with one hand, cover his nose with your mouth and breath into it!  I won't be able to do much more than that until after we reach shore!"

The Andorian followed Chloe's instructions, moving his position relative the Zhuk's so that the Caitian floated in front of him with its legs to Lahr's right side. Lahr then slid his left arm underneath the Caitian's head to have his hand come up from the opposite side and tried to grab hold of the Zhuk's jaw to keep the big cat's mouth closed while he attempted to do mouth to snout resuscitation.

It was awkward to do while floating, and there seemed to be no way to pulse the heart to encourage proper movement of blood to the brain.. but Lahr held hope that though Zhuk may not be breathing that may he still had a pulse...and that given enough air he would start breathing on his own...  That was Lahr's hope; but the longer he had to administer resuscitation, the smaller that hope became.

[Zhukdrashar Mrekrerhas]

NPC Lieutenant JG Chloe Davies, Head Nurse and
PO1 ShranLahr ch'Verret
[Surface of Kaimo VI - Crater Lake]

The waiting up on the surface, trying to peer down into the waters through the sunlight glare from its surface was terrible.  Then suddenly there was splash of an emergence - Blackfeather supporting an unmoving Vulcan. Chloe immediately doggie paddled over towards the pair to do what she could to assess Savar's condition.

Another 30 seconds dragged by before Nira was thrown clear out of the water ten to 15 feet easily to drop back to it's surface landing face up with a SPLAT.   Lahr's eyes were wide with surprise and he wondered worriedly if the creature was going to continue its attack on them.  Despite everything the Commander seemed to try and crack a joke - declining a non-existent offer for CPR.  Lahr breathed a sigh of relief.  If she was cracking jokes - the Commander was fine.   Lahr could see Chloe directing Blackfeather on how to tow Savar face up until the paralytic would wear off.   All seemed fine.

But wait.  Where was Zhukdra'shar?  Lahr did a quick count of those around.  Roohz!

"I'm going down to look Zhuk!" he shouted to the Commander, before inhaling deeply to fill his lungs to capacity, then fought his was down towards where the flashes of weapons fire had seemed to come from minutes ago.  He fought against his body's tendency to float as he swam down with long arm strokes and fast kicks of his legs

The sunlight which had prevented him from seeing much from on the surface, lit the underwater nicely, and Lahr was able to pick out the drifting form of the Caitian still holding loosely onto the modified phaser rifle.   Lahr swam to him, grabbed onto the Caitian's unform collar and then began to kick up towards the surface with all the strength his legs had.

By the time Lahr made it back to the surface, his lungs felt like they were on fire with need of oxygen.  He took a quick gulp and then made sure Zhuk's body was face up with nose and mouth out of the water with his help.

"Chloe! I don't think he's breathing!" he shouted towards the nurse who was struggling to keep afloat while she seemed to be trying to run a scan of Savar.

To which the harried nurse, who was trying to determine the exact nature of the paralytic so that she could counter it, shouted back, "Then start resuscitation! Breath for him. Hold his mouth firmly shut with one hand, cover his nose with your mouth and breath into it!  I won't be able to do much more than that until after we reach shore!"

The Andorian followed Chloe's instructions, moving his position relative the Zhuk's so that the Caitian floated in front of him with its legs to Lahr's right side. Lahr then slid his left arm underneath the Caitian's head to have his hand come up from the opposite side and tried to grab hold of the Zhuk's jaw to keep the big cat's mouth closed while he attempted to do mouth to snout resuscitation.

It was awkward to do while floating, and there seemed to be no way to pulse the heart to encourage proper movement of blood to the brain.. but Lahr held hope that though Zhuk may not be breathing that may he still had a pulse...and that given enough air he would start breathing on his own...  That was Lahr's hope; but the longer he had to administer resuscitation, the smaller that hope became.

[Ensign Zhukdra'shar Mrekrerhas | Sandbar to Island - Kaimo VI]

After he fired the weapon, Zhuk attempted to return to the surface, but his air had all but expended as he paddled up. Soon, he began to take in water, and he panicked. While still tightly gripping the modified weapon, he attempted to reach the surface to the best of his abilities. However, he struggled to do so due to the lack of coordination between his arms and legs and his heightened emotional state. Soon, he felt his consciousness fading as everything shut down, and his vision went black. He could still lightly feel himself floating in the water, though anything else was beyond his comprehension.

Suddenly, he felt something dragging him. In his state, however, he couldn't react, so Lahr had little trouble pulling up to the surface. By sheer luck, he managed to keep his grip on the phaser rifle as he righted up by Lahr on the water. He laid still, not reacting to the outer stimuli that the rest of the away team provided. He was not breathing either, but a faint pulse of his heart still remained.

Thus, Lahr's resuscitation attempts proved to me more than effective. As air entered his lungs again, Zhuk's eyes opened suddenly, and in a panic, attempted to pull Lahr's head off him, so that he could cough up the excess water. Once that was done, however, he remained tightly gripping the Andorian, as he recovered from the exhausting ordeal he had just gone through.

"T-T-Thank y-ou... ack... ack..." He repeated a couple of times in between coughs and pants, claws digging tightly into Lahr's uniform as he trembled slightly. Well, that had been a really bad experience. At least, he was alive.

[ShranLahr ch'Verret]

NPC Lieutenant JG Chloe Davies, Head Nurse and
PO1 ShranLahr ch'Verret
[Surface of Kaimo VI - submerged land bridge]

[Ensign Zhukdra'shar Mrekrerhas | Sandbar to Island - Kaimo VI]

After he fired the weapon, Zhuk attempted to return to the surface, but his air had all but expended as he paddled up. Soon, he began to take in water, and he panicked. While still tightly gripping the modified weapon, he attempted to reach the surface to the best of his abilities. However, he struggled to do so due to the lack of coordination between his arms and legs and his heightened emotional state. Soon, he felt his consciousness fading as everything shut down, and his vision went black. He could still lightly feel himself floating in the water, though anything else was beyond his comprehension.

Suddenly, he felt something dragging him. In his state, however, he couldn't react, so Lahr had little trouble pulling up to the surface. By sheer luck, he managed to keep his grip on the phaser rifle as he righted up by Lahr on the water. He laid still, not reacting to the outer stimuli that the rest of the away team provided. He was not breathing either, but a faint pulse of his heart still remained.

Thus, Lahr's resuscitation attempts proved to be more than effective. As air entered his lungs again, Zhuk's eyes opened suddenly, and in a panic, attempted to pull Lahr's head off him, so that he could cough up the excess water. Once that was done, however, he remained tightly gripping the Andorian, as he recovered from the exhausting ordeal he had just gone through.

"T-T-Thank y-ou... ack... ack..." He repeated a couple of times in between coughs and pants, claws digging tightly into Lahr's uniform as he trembled slightly. Well, that had been a really bad experience. At least, he was alive.

Lahr had barely given the Caitian one good breath before the felinoid's eyes suddenly opened wide and Zhuk pulled Lahr's face away.   Lahr was happy to comply - giving the Caitian space to cough up what seemed like half the lake (maybe a slight exaggeration), but he couldn't go far because the Caitian's grip had moved from Lahr's head - thankfully leaving no claw rakes to his handsome face - and held tightly to his uniform.  The clothing however now sported a few new claw punctures.  Lahr was just grateful that seemed to be the worst of it.

"It's all good.  You're breathing.  That's the important part." he commented to the Caitian's repeated thank-you's.

Chloe meanwhile had narrowed down type of paralytic used by the creature and had a treatment in mind.  She searched her medkit, which thankfully was designed to float even when open.  There in the midst of the rarely used medications were the reversal agents.  Chloe grabbed a vial of the blocker and placed it into the hypo spray.  Since there was no way to get an answer to a question about consent, much like Lahr's resuscitation, consent to keep a patient alive was assumed.   The paralytic if left unchecked would shut down all of Savar's autonomic functions.

With a hiss of the hypospray that fate was prevented.  "Keep an eye on him while I check the Commander and Ensign Mrekrerhas," she advised Blackfeather.  Chloe then dog paddled her way to the Commander, seeing Zhuk conscious and clinging onto Lahr.  She towed the opened medkit behind her.

[Lieutenant Commander Nira Said | Crater Lake | Kaimo IV]

"No CPR for me, thank you," she said to nobody in particular, and that was, in and of itself, true; she had expected to black out before getting to the surface, but the shock and adrenaline and the fast trip back to the surface certainly ensured she stayed awake. Then speaking louder to the rest of the team, but still floating face up like she was relaxing near a Risian island shoreline, "We'd best...take five when we get to the island...shouldn't be too far now...Excellent work, Lahr, Zhuk, Blackfeather..."

Despite the broken ribs, she managed to get some movement going the rest of the way to the island. By the time she floated onto sand, she was sore enough to just lay there...if she wasn't exhibiting soreness, the stunned expression (both from the pain and facing down a megacephaloid with it getting the last hurrah), the mek'leth still in her hand and making the occasional moan of pain, she would've looked like she was sunbathing.

"How am I, Nurse?" she asked Nurse Davies, her voice creaking a tad, showing a bit of strain from soreness and pain in her ribs. "How many broken ribs?"

The fact that the Commander suggested continuing on and 'taking five' only after they got to the island, gave Chloe the misconception that Commander Said was fine, maybe just a little sore, and didn't need medical attention.   Boy was she wrong.

It was only after the group made it to the island and the Commander inquired about the number of broken ribs did Chloe realize her mistake.  She hadn't confirmed the Commander's medical condition after the Kraken attack!  Retrieving her tricorder, she scanned the Commander and her face blanched.

"Four - ribs 7 through 10" she answered as she quickly grabbed for the bone mender that hadn't done much for Akuuta, but should work well on the Betazoid-Human physiology.   If the power source didn't run out first.   

[Nira Said]

The fact that the Commander suggested continuing on and 'taking five' only after they got to the island, gave Chloe the misconception that Commander Said was fine, maybe just a little sore, and didn't need medical attention.   Boy was she wrong.

It was only after the group made it to the island and the Commander inquired about the number of broken ribs did Chloe realize her mistake.  She hadn't confirmed the Commander's medical condition after the Kraken attack!  Retrieving her tricorder, she scanned the Commander and her face blanched.

"Four - ribs 7 through 10" she answered as she quickly grabbed for the bone mender that hadn't done much for Akuuta, but should work well on the Betazoid-Human physiology.   If the power source didn't run out first.

[Lieutenant Commander Nira Said | Crater Lake | Kaimo IV]

Nira grimaced at hearing Nurse Davies' news of what ribs she broke apparently the four lower ribs. "Good Allah," she said. "That cephelopod was quite a piece of work...then again, friends of mine from the IKS TajHu - when I did an Officer Exchange Program - they'd find it a worthy story to put down into song," she said with a smile. "Now, if I can guess from anatomy, depending on which side the broken ribs are, they could potentially hurt my liver or my spleen...I asked about anatomy at one point, determine causes of death and whatnot, wanted to be an investigator at one point..."

Savar then shut her up with a kiss and then said, "Hush, Imzadi. Let the nurse do her work."

Nira smiled all the wider, feeling better by Savar's kiss. "Aye, sir," she said humorously.

"And thank you for saving me," Savar added.

"Well, I wasn't the only one who strove to fight that thing," Nira added, looking over at Zhuk and Lahr. "We got a good team. And I suppose that beam frying that cephelopod was your doing, Lahr. I'm definitely going to recommend you for Chief Petty Officer when we get back to the ship...the ship..."

Nira blinked and remembered. Once Nurse Davies finished treating her ribs, Nira tapped her comm badge.

"Said to Challenger," she called. "Sorry for not reporting in for a while...Challenger, are you there...?"