USS Columbia; main shuttle bay

Jeden stood amid the hustle and bustle of the primary shuttle bay as several type-14 shuttles lifted off and passed through the transparent shield separating them from the cold vacuum of space. Stepping onto her assigned shuttle she shifted in her form-fitting aquatic suit and doubled check that she had her rebreather and gear stored. Pilled all around the inside of the shuttle were sealed grates of gear and spare aquatic suits.

When they arrived at Villam Four she was not surprised that she was assigned to help with the construction of the new science station, given that Lieutenant Commander Ortega had her review all the plans. She was excited about this opportunity but concerned about her lack of experience with underwater construction. Guess that is what the more senior engineers would have to worry about. 

Stepping up to the cockpit door she saw two ensigns in command red running through the pre-flight options. “Do you know who else we are waiting on?” she asked.

They both turned, the Bolian just shrugged and turned back to his work but the female Andorian responded, “We are waiting on at least one more, we were just told to get the shuttle ready and loaded.” She paused and smirked at Jeden before continuing, “Looks like you will have an interesting job down there. Is one of the whales really going to join you?”

Jeden nodded, “So I have been told. He will be beamed down.”

“What are whales?” An Ensign over two meters tall asked stepping into the shuttle. She had light blue skin with violet undertones paired with long violet hair pulled back into a tight braid exposing long sweeping pointed ears.

Jeden turned and took in the newcomer, “Oh, hi! They are aquatic mammals from Earth. Some people use it as slang for the crew in Cetacean Ops. I’m Ensign Sonia Jeden.” He held out her hand in greeting.

Kahlina stared at the hand for a moment and then the missing pieces of information clicked into place. “A traditional human greeting?” She asked as she awkwardly grasped the other woman’s hand. “I am Lady Breeze…  Ensign Kahlina Elenelirandúnë, or in the common tongue my name is Starbreeze.”

“Nice to meet you. Love your hair, very nice colour.” Jeden said as she slipped past Starbreeze picking up a PADD with the list of materials onboard the shuttle, “Do you have any underwater construction experience? I know they will be beaming down the main modules and we just need to attach them but is a bit new to me.”

“I do not,” Kahlina replied. “Not even construction experience. Before I was in Starfleet I was a soldier…” she paused searching for vague enough terminology before settling on, “Then I was in government.”

“Ah,” Jeden said a little surprised. “Well looks like both of us can learn on the job…” she put the PADD down and glanced back at the entrance aware that they were scheduled to depart soon. “Where are you from by the way? I don’t think I have ever come across one of your species?”

“I am Narlin. I am from a small system near what you call the Typhon Expanse, Kahlina replied. 

“Hey, Jeden!” an ensign in command red yelled from outside the shuttle. “Where you at? Ensign Jeden!” as she looked into another one of the shuttles being prepped. “ I know you’re around here somewhere Jeden, Jeden??” 

Jeden giggled slightly as she shook her head in amusement, she stepped onto the ramp of the shuttle and waved, “Talibah we are over here.” As Talibah approached she turned to Starbreeze, “I think this might be everyone.”

“Then we should proceed,” Kahlina suggested with finality.

Jeden nodded, she turned and stepped back to the cockpit and spoke to the pilots, “That is everyone I think, departure time was 3 minutes ago anyways. Shall we head off?”

The Andorian shrugged, “Sure thing. Best grab your seats.” With that, the back ramp started to close. Within a few seconds, the shuttle was sealed and everyone could feel the subtle shift as it lifted off.

Jeden leaned back in her seat and looked at the two other ensigns in the back of the shuttle, “Sorry, should have introduced you two.” She gestured to Starbreeze, “This is Ensign Kahlina Elenelirandúnë or commonly called Starbreeze, did I pronounce that correctly?” she asked a little unsure. 

“You didn’t,  but close enough.  Most species in the Federation struggle with speaking our language.  It is why I have adopted the translated version of my name”

Talibah reached a hand out as the other was rummaging in her bag pulling out her gear. “I’m Talibah, if it’s okay with you I’ll just keep it simple and go with Kahlina. So where are you from? What’s your speciality?” 

“Specialty?  Uh… well it’s security.  I suppose it’s a bit lazy to continue in Starfleet what I have done most of my life.” She shrugged,  “But I am good at it. Perhaps that is my place.”

“Two minutes to landing, well, submersion I guess. Arrival, yeah two minutes until arrival,” a gruff voice said over the intercom.

“Everyone set? Once we are on-site we should get into our gear and they will be able to get in and out of the shuttle via the airlock,” Jeden said almost giddy. “Building this underwater will be an experience for sure. Good thing we are only 20 meters or so below the surface, heard it becomes a lot hard to work further down.”

“Narlins are not natural swimmers,” Kahlina observed an uncomfortable expression on her face.”

Talibah tapped her chest piece making sure it sat the way she proffered. “It’s not all that hard, big thing is to stay calm and remember to breathe normally. Besides From what I heard Francis will be here so we should have nothing to worry about, right Jeden?” she looked over toward Jeden as she double-checked her helmet. Nodding to herself she went forward to watch the approaching surface and the inevitable submersion.

“Talibah is correct. These suits are very similar to the EVA suits and have built-in thrusters. Basically a spacewalk but with gravity…and underwater,” Jeden said with a smile. “That said at this depth we can use the more traditional scuba gear and rebreather, which gives you a bit more flexibility. I may change into that depending on how things go.”  She turned to Talibah, ”Yeah, one of the Cetacean ops whales will be joining. I haven’t been there yet but if we run into any issues a five-meter-long Beluga will be helpful. Especially with the EVA harness I heard about.”

“Francis? The whale?” She was fascinated by the description of the creature

“Yeah, from Cetacean ops,” Jeden said. “They normally help with navigation, something to do with how they evolved they just get navigation in space better than others. They rarely leave the ship for obvious reasons being aquatic in nature but I gather since we will be underwater for this Chief Ortega though they may be of use. Francis is a Beluga whale from Earth and he will be working with our team. There may be others from Cetacean ops down as well with other teams. You will meet him shortly, we all will I guess as I haven’t yet.”

A moment later the voice of the pilot came over the intercom again, “Ten seconds.” His timing was a bit off as a couple of seconds later everyone felt the shuttle lerch slightly as it impacted the water and pushed below. Once underwater Jeden stood up and grabbed the aquatic suit, a modified EVA suit that was designed to withstand the pressures of being underwater at depth, and slipped the chest piece into place before grabbing the help helmet. “Ready?”

Sighing reserved to her fate Kahlina snapped the helmet into place. She simply nodded. 

Talibah placed the helmet over her head giving the other two ensign’s a smile and a thumbs up. “Ready”

Jeden smiled and snapped her helmet into place before grabbing the tool kit and stepping into the airlock.

USS Columbia; Cetacean Ops

Francis rested on the partially submerged ledge as an operations officer and a medical officer worked around him and attached a large mechanical harness to him. “Ye’postive t’won’t hurt you landlubbers?” he clicked as he tried to turn and see what they were doing.

One of them laughed, a woman by the name of Taylor, who usually worked in Cetacean ops. “Ye’ hold still or I will make you walk the plank.”

With a sigh, Francis let a jet of air out of his blowhole showering the two in a cloud of mist which caused Talyor to smack his side in jest. “We are almost finished, just another second….” Taylor said. There was a loud click as Francis felt the weight settle onto him. “All set.”

Before Francis could say anything the medical staff came up and knelt before him holding two disk-shaped devices in his hands. “Ok, Francis, these devices will let you control to arms on your harness. I know this is new to you but other Belugas have used these and think very highly of them. I also wanted to reassure you that the aquatic life on this planet is not as advanced so there is nothing overly large down there for you to worry about. Two to three meters at most.”

Francis nodded his head up and down, “Aye, I be ready matey.”

The medical officer and Taylor both laugh. She tapped her commbagde, “Cetacean Ops to transporter room. Francis ready for transport.”