Post by brank on Aug 7, 2023 1:13:45 GMT
Space over Kel'un - Bridge of the KAN Reefback, Weaver Class
Standing at the helm is Fleetmaster Vi'ri'yo, with his simulation goggles placed upon his face, a prerecorded briefing from his Superior Officer playing out as a simulation on an empty version of the bridge.
"-have been tasked with bringing your fleet into the designated planet's orbit, and conducting diplomacy based on the parameters sent to your vessel. Alongside this, have your vessel ready to send down a standard exploration fleet and begin exploration alongside the Pordish when they are prepared. We have already cleared the exploration with them. May the stars guide your path."
With this, he removes the goggles and sets them aside, taking heed and sending out a transmission across his small fleet, of which simply consists of his flagship, the Weaver Class Dreadnought 'Reefback', and Two accompanying Corvettes, the KAN 'Watcher' and the KAN 'Invigoration'
"All personnel prepare for Meridian lancing in T-Minus 10 Seconds. We are headed to Planet Aquis Beta."
Quickly, personnel across the fleet moved into positions, as the spinal lance of the weaver class coursed with Kolleronic energy, at 5 seconds on the countdown a bright beam of golden energy shot out, striking the intangible walls of reality and tearing a shattered hole into the Meridian. At 10 Seconds, the Corvettes and Weaver class enter the meridian, beginning their voyage into the Avarian Frontier.
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Planet Aquis Beta - High Orbit
Exiting from a Shatter in the Meridian is the Small Kel'thulian fleet, bringing themselves into an orbit around the ocean planet, thermal and radar scanners already searching the surface alongside the visual cameras of the vessel for a good zone to drop down their naval forces. On the planned fleet will be a single Taroka-Class Carrier, loaded with small personal submersible units instead of the standard fighter and bomber craft, functioning as a perfect command post for the fleet's underwater functions. Alongside it is a Trio of Karos-Class Submarines, and an Oroya Recon Vessel.
The fleet is geared more towards fighting against wildlife than vessels, with some of the standard High-Explosive Torpedoes replaced by torpedoes that send out clouds of smoke to block vision and fake electronic impulses and sounds, and the ICBMs found on the submarines have been replaced with large sonar beacons that can be deployed where needed to reach down into the deep depths without risking entering them.
In the hangar of the Vessel, a shuttle is prepared swiftly, a pair of diplomats being loaded onboard as the engines are brought to a waiting position, the shuttle ready to go soon as the Pordish arrive in-System
The fleet awaits for the Arrival of the Pords, a prerecorded transmission Prepared for their arrival, saying simply, "Greetings, We have our Naval fleet prepared for launch down to the surface, and we have a shuttle prepared to send over a pair of diplomats. We have sent the coordinates of our calculated landing zone. Upon the launch of our shuttle, please transmit hangar bay information for their safe arrival."
SYSTEM ANOCHAQ, CHOR REKNU
Lesser Villa, Kal Mürskskaya
"I am going to be late," a voice pours through the chamber. Loud with emphasis on late, it registers for the Pords gathered and one starts from her seat with robes drifting about; she motions deftly towards the exit.
"This meeting is adjourned, High Hunter Nykat. I am glad you could join us, but we will keep you no longer," the Pord says. In front of her, on a small display flickering blue and white, is the construction site of Talazhyn Station. "Your insight has been illuminatory."
Nykat nods slowly with a hint of a smile rising; "very well," he tells her. "There is more to discuss on this matter, but we can do so later. As always, I do appreciate the hospitality of Kal Mürskskaya."
The gathered return Nykat's bow and respond in kind to his words. "Namengrazhniskaya," they echo back to him.
He floats through the door without looking back but his thoughts fail to join his departure. These delays have become quite the pain, his ruminations linger, I hope we can make use of what the Kel'thulians have found.
PORDISH EXPLORATORY FLOTILLA
Aquis Beta
The diplomatic cruiser Künaanenchaqüt fades into coherence some distance away from the Kel'thulians and is joined, moments later, by the lumbering freighter Zhabavyrnennach.
"We have an incoming message, nam-Nykat," the cruiser's skipper calls over the comms link. "From the Kel'thulians. It looks to be prerecorded."
"Relay it to me," Nykat responds. "I'll listen to it while preparing."
The skipper acquiesces and Nykat listens to the proposal. Within a few minutes, he gives new instructions to the skipper: they will receive the Kel'thulian entourage, and appropriate directions are given to the waiting diplomats.
Meanwhile, Zhabavyrnennach skims through the world's outer gases aglow with reentry; she does not descend but jets along through the column with her cargo bay doors open to the world's surface. Two exploration ships and their escorts - a quartet of nam-Zoshnar type strike craft (notably, given the mission profile, they do not have their usual heavy missile complement) - plummet from her cargo holds before arresting themselves and angling onto shallow glide paths towards the waters below.
Quickly everything is set into motion, the diplomat’s transport quickly sets off towards the pordish ship, inside it sitting two Diplomats, and an accompaniment of simply 2 soldiers. The transport has an airlocked door system allowing for the diplomats to have time to get breathing gear on before leaving the shuttle. Yuketa, the first of the diplomats, sits waiting with a notepad and a pen in his hand, ready to write everything needed down. Beside him is Lemana, who is standing up as she awaits for the craft to land. Once it does, they step off and engage in standard diplomatic proceedures, as they are led into the pordish vessel to a proper room..
As the pords had arrived, a pair of huge fleet-carrying drop pods are shunted down from the weaver class, carrying the fleet of Kel’thulian vessels encapsulated within the pods, surrounded by water. As the pods near the surface, they open airbrakes, slowing them down as they crash into the water, the pods opening up and floating up to the surface for a transport to collect later as the operation commences. Out of the pods come the fleet of Kel’thulian vessels, of which begin to rise to the surface of the water. They float along the landing zone, awaiting their pordish counterparts to land on the water’s surface.
A Short transmission goes out to the quartet of vessels.
“Greeting, Pordish vessels. This is Captain Ti’ri’al of the KMN Ivenguard. Once we have all made it to the rendezvous zone, we can begin downwards into the designated trench system, where high contents of the metals are expected to be.”
The Kel’thulian vessels stay closed up in their standard diving preparations as they await a response.
HIGH HUNTER NYKAT
Diplomatic Cruiser Künaanenchaqüt
Cool air wafts along the floor as the Kel'thulian entourage is ushered into the diplomatic vessel. The exterior of the ship, seemingly crafted from stone and metal - together joined seamlessly - with pulsating turquoise veins here an about gives way to similar visuals within; heavyset bricks comprise the floor below walls lined with wood paneling giving way to doors noticeably hand-crafted by skilled carpenters. Pelts and carpets drape across empty sections of wall where waterfalls, emerging from and back into hidden coves, do not rush. Above all, however, the interior is frigid and leaks subtle hints of higher technology only in muted drips.
"You worry too much," Korzha Nachüq says, eyeing the time, "we're perfectly in line with my itinerary." She drinks satisfaction deep into her lungs with an exaggerated breath then glances towards Nykat, who shakes his head slowly.
"If I didn't we'd still be in" - he hesitates - "nevermind. Status of our guests?"
Nachüq turns back towards the door. "They are nearly here," she says. "It is about time for me to escort them in."
Nykat stands from his seat and motions for her to proceed. She does, and moving swiftly is soon upon the door.
From beyond the silvercreaking - whining - entryway, splashed damp where feet and legs traverse by lowcool gusts of salted winter air, the Kel'thulian guests are motioned forth. Past the doors they are met by Korzha Nachüq, aide to High Hunter Nykat, dressed in flowing azure robes trimmed with fur and hemmed by charcoal-dark lace drooping floorward with celeritous privilege. She bows and sidesteps the entourage then addresses them:
"By the willing mighty gods, welcome aboard Künaanenchaqüt. I am Korzha Nachüq, Chief Archivist of the Library of Kal Mürskskaya, Scribe of the Lower Council, and assistant to High Hunter Nykat."
She casts her gaze to the Pord in question; Nykat motions to the tables -
Two room-length pools of water stretch from the near to far walls straddling the trio of tables rising from the center of a multi-tiered platform leading down to the watery precipice. Nykat walks out from behind the table closest to the Kel'thulians and bows: "High Hunter Nykat," he says. "And on behalf of the Alabaster Kingdom, I welcome you."
SURFACE
Pordish Exploratory Flotilla
Pale columns of seaspray reach skyward from the epicenter of where the pair of exploration vessels touch down. Above them like terns the nam-Zoshnars circle, ready to plunge at a moment's notice.
Chor Nalsiit leads a panel of scientists spread between the two vessels - researchers mostly from the Nokkalach Celestial Institute.
"Are we in position and ready to join them?" he asks.
The vessels's skipper nods. "We are in position and ready to join them."
"Take us down, then," Nalsiit says. "Let's begin."
The skipper nods again. "Scans are in. Local seas are not toxic. Ready to acclimatize on your mark."
"Acclimatize," Nalsiit orders, "begin acclimatization."
"Rig for acclimatization," the skipper orders and the command is echoed across the bridge, then relayed throughout the ship - and upon the turn of the minute, water pours into the vessel from the outside and quickly fills her myriad chambers. And in the brightening lights Nalsiit floats over his station, eyes glued upon the central readouts, eyeing the transition attentively.
"Acclimatization complete," one of the bridgehand confirms. "Trimming for buoyancy and on standby for initial pressure mirroring."
Nalsiit's thoughts turn to the mission at hand; still surprised by the speed with which it was decided and planned, he silently wishes more discussions and panels were convened to deliberate the matter.
...a response is sent from the Pordish fleet advising Ti’ri’al that the exploratory flotilla is ready to move.
"Greetings, I am Le'ma'na, the lead diplomat of this venture, and this is my assistant, Yu'ke'ta, who shall keep track of the talk. It is an honour to be here."
The pair bow their heads as Nykat moves over, then move to sit at the tables, their tall stature having their upper backs pushed up past the back of the chair.
"Many thanks, Mr. Nykat. May the stars bless us today." she says, adjusting in her seat.
Let the talks begin.
Surface - Bridge of the Ivenguard
"Helmsman, bring us down at a heading of 42 Degrees, and signal to the Pordish fleet to match our heading. Bring SONAR systems online and get a map of the caves ahead. Lieutenant, Send out a small personal-sub unit to scout out the caves where SONAR cannot reach."
Both respond with a quick:
"Aye, Captain." before getting to work
Out goes a signal to the Pordish fleet, requesting they match the current heading of the Kel'thulian ships as they begin to go down towards the cave, submerging. Launching from the lower hangar of the Ivenguard is a trio of small personal submarines, which function almost as underwater strike craft, waterjets propelling them at speeds as they go towards the cave ahead of the main fleet. Sonar waves begin to ping into the depths of the cave.
The Depths
The Kel'Thulians descend a pace or two ahead of the Pords. Nalsiit watches them on the central displays through chatter of the bridge-crew - noise he filters out - and as their vectors solidify and they begin to make good headway into the depths, he excuses himself from the chamber.
"I was just about to come get you," says Tryna nam-Galchoq. Two scrolls, neatly bound and gleaming, peek from her left hand. "Here are the documents you requested along with a few blank scrolls." She floats slowly through the corridor to a full stop with the comment. "It looks like we are about ready to depart."
Nalsiit nods. "Tasi, scans are coming in. Kel'thulians are already sending more agile craft to map the tunnels we've stumbled upon ahead" - he begins to move and Tryna follows, but his gaze remains firmly plastered floorward. After a moment he scratches his chin, then - "those mineral deposits are interfering with our scans so we'll have to go in as well."
"That is why we're here," Tryna chuckles, "is it not?"
"It is but it isn't."
"We don't need the vagueisms."
"That wasn't vaguery."
Tryna tosses a raised eyebrow in Nalsiit's direction then heightens her clip. Some distance down the corridor they come upon the entrance to the hangar and enter it, whereupon they are greeted by the amber-bearded Kazhel Halyn.
"Do you have everything you need, Nalsiit," Kazhel bellows - lingering on the latter half of Nalsiit - while eyeing the scrolls now in the head scientist's hand.
"About so," Nalsiit says. He moves over to one of the machines which appears to be little more than propulsion with a seat and opens a compartment; he places the scrolls inside then slides onto the craft. "The Kel'thulians are well ahead of us so we will need to move swiftly if we wish to catch up to them."
The hangar bay doors open moments after his words and he powers out into the murky depths first, followed then by Kazhel and Tryna.
The Depths
Snaking through the tunnels are the Kel'thulian personal craft, sending soft sonar pings through the winding tunnels and mapping out good pathways, all the data gathered sent directly to all vessels in the combined exploration fleet of Pords and Kels, mineral deposits shown clearly deeper into the tunnels, but only small ones compared to the huge deposits shown in overall planetary scans. They would have to go deeper.
The helmsman let out a sigh and made final calculations to the heading, before turning his head to the captain.
"Captain, everything is set into motion."
"Very good, Helmsman. Anything else?"
He gave a heavy look before he spoke.
"Why are we truly here? I know it is not simply for the minerals."
Tirial pondered for a moment, thinking of what to say.
"You know why we are here. The Pords are neither SAGA nor CONA leaning. If we can become friendly with them, we may be able to at least keep them neutral in the conflict, or maybe even bring them onto the path blessed by the stars.
"I understand. May all go well with this. We neednt any more enemies in this galaxy..."
The Depths
Nalsiit powers along swiftly. At the head of the small Pordish group, he turns through the dark passageways but keeps within range of Tryna and Halyn while moving to join with the Kel'thulian group.
"This is good so far," Halyn says. He looks over the reports attentively and notes mentally the location of a few veins worth investigating further. He pulls up alongside Nalsiit; the powerful searchlights of his craft cut through the murk, casting bleak shadows against the tunnel walls. His mind races in consideration of all they have found so far: they only just arrived but have come upon so much. "We should," he continues, with speech deliberate and enunciated, "turn our sensors towards these areas here."
Nalsiit, however, leans across his machine as it slows and opens a compartment. He then pulls a scroll from the corners of the storage area and unbinds. The parchment, visibly resembling some sort of cloth or paper while obviously not being so, flutters in the current. After securing it to the dashboard of his machine, he makes a few notes, rolls it back up, then rebinds it. "I like this area as well," he says finally, "we can come back to it."
Tryna, commentless, flows along behind them. The bottom is desolate and uninviting, but all too revelatory to those with a background in xenogeology. After referencing her own scans against the Kel'thulian contributions, she says to Nalsiit, "I agree that we need to go deeper still. But I'm not sure by how much."
Nalsiit nods then swaps channels on the comms to the Kel'thulians: "What do you see down there? We are thinking about going deeper as well, what do you think?"
Tirial responds hastily, relaying information from the small sub units.
"Signs show the beginnings of sealife in the form of small colonies of creatures similar to coral and groups of anemones. Some long swimming sealife has been spotted as well. Other than that, there are pockets of thermal energy within the water concurrent with rising warm water from deeper geothermal vents, coming from a sudden dropoff in the caves into a much deeper area. Personal Units have been ordered to hold back from the dropoff until we arrive to minimize risk of injury and other risks."
He then continues messing with the displays shown by his sim-glasses, setting virtual waypoints to the Personal Sub units, ordering them to stop at the dropoff. Said dropoff leads into a dark, black pit of water that led into a much warmer area on thermal sensors. The kel'thulian fleet moved deeper into the caves along the path the personal sub units had set on their Guidance systems, stopping near the turning point into the area to await the pords to make their final decision.
"Very well," Nalsiit says back to the Kel'thulians. Thermal vents may make things difficult if they stray too close; best be careful if we come across those areas, he says to himself. I'd rather not be boiled Pord. He chuckles softly at the thought.
"Did I miss something?" Halyn asks. He stares, head cocked, at Nalsiit. "They're just vents."
"This dropoff is steep," Tryna says. "Waters may be dangerous past the precipice."
The three Pords near the Kel'thulian group and slow by the edge of the maw. Halyn angles into the mouth but hops off his machine before actually entering. He is first to dismount, and he drifts over the the edge catch a glimpse. The searchlights of his craft fade into the distance; little is revealed. And below him, the darkness sprawls. A shiver crawls up his spine. "You're probably right, Tryna," he says then. "But that's why we're here."
Nalsiit nods. "If we're in agreement then, we'll descend into the drop. Tryna? Halyn?"
Both Pords nod, and Nalsiit returns their gestures. His comms line to the Kel'thulians is opened again: "we are heading into the drop," he says. "See you down there." Less than a moment later he throttles up and descends in a flurry of bubbles and swishing cavern water.
"Understood. Stay safe, and avoid harm" comes a quick response, as the Few Kel'thulian Mini-subs rile their engines in response, pulling close and following Talsiit.
Inside the lead personal craft sits It'ak'an, guiding his craft into a follow of the pordish craft, the dim glow of his cockpit brightened in his view with the sim glasses showing important information such as Depth relative to the planet's sea level, the water pressure, tempurature, and the small sonar system onboard, slight dots and pings showing the pair of Kel'thulian craft behind him and the trio of pordish craft behind him.
As they enter the depths, he quickly sends a small communication to Talsiit, in front.
"See Anything? My sonar isnt picking up anything for Hundreds of metres." he says, looking around through the vast camera screen acting as the craft's windshield.
Then something is picked up by their microphones, a distant vibration in the water sounding like a distorted growl or grumble. Hopefully it was just geological activity.
But it probably wasnt.
Meanwhile, the larger kel'thulian fleet, accompanied by the larger fleet of the pordish craft set up at the smaller entrance to the depths, coming to a halt as the entrance seems to be small for the larger vessels, and a Communication goes out.
"Hailing Pordish Fleet. There are some larger rocks preventing the largest vessels in our fleet from entering the deeper regions. It will take time to remove them. In the meanwhile while they are being removed, we will have teams sent out to make mineral, rock, soil, and coral samples. Personal Teams are moving forwards with your own craft with caution."
Tryna follows Kazhel Halyn closely; her craft descends off to the stockier Pords' side, and avoids falling too far behind. Her attention firmly rests on the readouts of her machine. As they scan the walls and path ahead, she takes in all of what they have to give her, and makes some sense of it all.
"Nalsiit are you seeing these strata? We just passed another one, that boundary was very well defined but there are some atypical formations within them."
Some distance beyond her, Nalsiit looks down to his instrument panel. In contrast to the Kel'thulians, it is almost entirely bare; he views a holographic display while the rest of the information is converted directly into thought and sent directly to him through a small earpiece - similar to the devices the group are using to communicate, for Pordish - though many things - evolved as a surface tongue: one unfit for being spoken through Rekazhnar's awesome depths.
"I made note of that boundary, yes," Nalsiit tells Tryna. "I'd like to get a sample. I believe we are passing into some extremely ancient areas of the crust."
Tryna nodded: a gesture unseen by those ahead of her.
They come upon an L-shaped ledge in the drop - it protrudes from the walls, lessening the total width of the cavern - and adjust accordingly. Nalsiit's comms buzz again, this time from the Kel'thulians:
See Anything? My sonar isnt picking up anything for Hundreds of metres.
Nalsiit checks the distance. Sure enough, the Kel'thulian entourage is still some meters above, though closing swiftly. "I don't see anything either. I thi-"
A low grumble echoes through the water, racing from behind the cover of the ledge. "Wait," Nalsiit says, "I'm picking up something... Some sort of..." He pauses as he fully clears the ledge and receives a full sensor return from what lay beyond. "Some sort of mass," he stammers, "closing quickly!"
Well above them, nearer the surface, the hail from the Kel'thulian fleet is received and a response is sent -
UNDERSTOOD STOP WE WILL ASSIST WITH REMOVING THE ROCKS STOP
The contact grew closer and closer, the overall readings showing it to be about twenty five meters in length, 11 meters wide at most, and 6 meters tall at tallest. It was big. the grumble grew closer as well, louder in the microphones.
"Contact!" yells Itakan over his radio system. "And closing fast!"
Quickly the kel'thulian entourage racks their defensive microtorpedoes, the mass coming closer around the ledge, the grumbling growing into a deep screech, as if it were using the noise to search the area; Echolocation.
as it turned the bend, they finally saw the thing. It was long and wormlike, with finlike appendages on 4 sides of it going from tip to tail, and eight wider spike-like appendages of a deeper yellowy colour, slowly grading into an almost black-red tip, pushing small slipstreams of water behind them as they curved backwards towards it's tail.
It had no eyes, merely a large mouth and multiple holes like ears on the front and along the body, with wide reddish gills down its sides. It was a pale off white colour, and seemed to almost glow in the headlights of the various craft. Its jaws seemed to be made up of long sharp teeth that caved inwards, mounted on a quad-mandible setup in a circular patter inside the protective outer scaly layer.
And it could "see" them. The screeches it let out bouncing off of the group and back towards its various ear-spots. It went directly towards them, it's jaws opening wide, the curved yellowy teeth wide enough to at least take a big bite out of the combined pord-kel' force of personal craft.
"By his trident!" Nalsiit exclaims through the churning waters showering crimson intent down upon Tryna and Halyn. Nalsiit rushes back behind the cover of his machine as the beast crests the ledge with glistening teeth, and throws open the hatch to the cargo hold. "I didn't expect to need to use this," he stammers, "but I suppose I shouldn't be too surprised."
Tryna powers to his side; her gaze pours over the firearm in Nalsiit's hand, a perfect blend of wood and metal - artistically crafted in the fashion Pordic - with a frown etched across her face and ears ringing from the deathly screeching of the creature. "You can't use that here, it'll freeze the passage!"
Nalsiit turns towards the edge of the precipice. "No," he says, "I don't think it will. We're too far down for that."
"Shoot," Halyn bellows, "before it tears us apart! It's charging!"
The beam rifle schkreerts! through the water. A trail of ice forms in its wake and floats up from the lance, but Nalsiit misses the creature in the bleak darkness, and his shot burrows into the cavern wall some meters above it; a jet of molten rock spurts from the impact moments before a scab of ice forms over the minute hole.
"Give me that Jlokhemitdamn gun, Nalsiit," Halyn says. "That was awful. Stick to the arts you know. Shooting isn't one of them." He laughs heartily and leans over towards Nalsiit motioning for him to hand the weapon over.
"It circled back below the ledge - it must have seen us ready weapons. I lost my angle."
"So it's clever? I don't doubt that" - Halyn leans closer still - "but give me the gun, Nalsiit," he echoes and lingers, again, far too long on the latter half of Nalsiit.
But before Nalsiit can give him the weapon, the creature rams the ledge beneath them. The lip begins to crumble and fall towards the distant bottom, fully exposing the Pords to the beast now under them. Sediment erupts in pillowy clouds, thick choking mud, and Tryna reaches for a mask to help filter the worst out. She secures one to her face as the waters muddy from crystal-black to inky browning murk, and the vibrations roll through the walls, knocking loose rocks even above them; one lands on her nam-Torzhaq with a metaled braaang! and the machine clatters, then, towards the bottom - unseen - in a swirl of sedimentary gloom.
"Stars be Damned!" called out Itakan, who kicked his personal sub into a backwards motion as the creature swam around the bend.
As the creature rams the ledge it lets out a warbled mix between a screech and a ground, pulling itself around and adjusting its various spines and fins, coming in a full U-shaped turn and back towards the group.
Over the Radio, Itakan called out towards his allied pair of personal-sub units, ordering them to rack and fire micro-torpedoes. With warped and quiet clicks, the torpedo bays shifted open, and the small microtorps were pressed into racks. They shot forth with bubbly trails and crashed into the thing's side as it made its wide turn. It screeched and growled again as it was thrust back, crashing into a stone wall as pebbles sunk down from the distant ceiling.
Shooting forth back towards them, trails of blood trickled behind the creature, its movement slowed and pained as one of its fins had been ripped to shreds by the small blasts, causing its movements to become slow and erratic.
"We've almost killed it! Halyn, is your weapon almost prepared to fire? One last shot and it will either retreat or be immobilized!"
Another screech roars through the depths, rushing with the tide billowing-echoing-blattering out against Nalsiit and the others. The piercing cry rattles the Pord to his core and he pushes himself down behind the frame of his machine; he hides in its shadow masked by sediment reducing visibility to inches even with amber floodlight glow pouring into the beast-made night.
"I just need one shot!" Halyn spits from under a frown. He grabs the rifle from Nalsiit with a swipe of his burly arm as the creature moans in pain and, looking to where it is - concealed within the gloom - he levels the rifle. "Looks like our friends landed their shots," he says. "It's time we do the same."
"You don't need to gloat, Halyn. You haven't even made your shot yet," Nalsiit replies. His tone wavers as if expecting a rebuttal, but Halyn replies only with the distinct screeztschhhh! of entropic lance fire.
...which burrows through the creature vapouring and disintegrating all it touches, while freezing everything not in direct contact with the beam, before exiting through the far side of the beast; no blood spurts from the frozen wound, only chunks of cold, hard, frostbitten flesh from the walls of the borehole, itself a vacuous epicenter through which seawater rushes solemnly schwaping.
Then the mighty beast yields to agony through earthshaking moans; its powerful tail lashes against the stoney walls and the currents batter the group. Nalsiit peers over the seat of his nam-Torzhaq hesitantly which Halyn catches glimpse of.
"It may not be dead," Halyn says, "but that is how you make a shot!"
Nalsiit rolls his eyes as his comms channels cycle to include the Kel'thulians: "We should bring this creature to the surface for research," he says. "Can you facilitate it?"
But as he speaks he takes notice of a hint of blood drifting in the sediment - different from that of the creature, familiar almost like that of -
He jerks to the displays then jerks away in disbelief; the words take moments to form, and when they do, they are muted-hushed and come slowly:
"...she fell," he says, "into the abyss."
The creature lets out a deep, guttural screech as it goes limp, nearly dead as its strength fades.
Itakan lets out a deep sigh of relief, and turns his sub unit to park nearby while the other two ride up towards the creature, using tow hooks and such to loop around it. He orders them to go on without him back up to the main fleet with the thing, as they slowly pull it along, the thing occasionally lashing out but ultimately too weak.
Itakan pops out of his sub through an airlock along the bottom, and swims gracefully up to the pair, the webbing on his hands and feet and the fins along his body clearly accented and shown in use as he comes forth.
"Ive sent the rest up to the surface with the creature as you re-"
he stops dead in his tracks as he sees the blood they were looking at, and the words hushedly spoken by Nalsiit.
"Stars Damnit." he says bluntly, walking towards the ledge.
"I'm going down. I can swim quite well. If you have to, take my sub and follow me, it shouldnt be too complicated to operate."
With those words, he dives down below the ledge, swimming down, his gills having started to work long ago, the kel'thulian able to breathe in the water due to an ocean's natural high content of carbon dioxide compared to the atmosphere, the helmet there only to regulate the water pressure and allow in a controlled flow of the liquid instead of simply crushing the poor kel'thulian. He pushes himself and swims down as hard as he can, the lights on his suit barely illuminating the abyss
Of Talsiit and Halyn
Talsiit says nothing as the beast is carted up and away. It's gone now, he admits, I hope we can learn something from it.
He gazes down past the ledge, where fist-sized rocks and smaller pebbles rain along the chasm walls pitter-pattering into the blackness, and swirls of brown muck churn in minute eddies no larger than his head with palpable circuitous intent; he reads the water writhing like under another's control, some master psionic or student of Rekazhnar, but he knows this isn't the case... And here, too, it lacks a mind of its own: fate is merely cruel. His eyes shift to a balled fist (his own) which he relaxes upon seeing.
"We're going to need to go down there and get her, Talsiit," Kazhel Halyn says. He floats back to Talsiit's side and stares into the abyss as well. "Deeper than I was expecting," he says then, "but almost like home."
Talsiit turns towards Halyn. In all the commotion and between work, he admits failing to speak or ask about life beyond their occupations. His mood shifts in that moment as the realization floods him; I don't really know that much about you, Halyn, do I? - an audible sigh escapes him - I guess I should change that, he concludes. It is only proper. "Reminds you of Kal Chornat?" Talsiit asks as Itakan joins them along the ledge.
Halyn nods and in one motion turns to the Kel'thulian. "Yes, we'll go down with you. Or at least, I will. My machine is still working," he says mounting his nam-Torzhaq. The grav-bike responds to his input swiftly and devoid of protest against such rough handling, and only moments after Itakan surges past the precipice, Halyn speeds after him.
And after only passing but a handful of dull featureless rocks, Halyn notices the depth; he feels it within his bones - in his very soul - the crushing weight of the sea. To break the monotony, he turns to his companion: "Reminds me of Kal Chornat. There are many steep cliffs outside the city - just outside - I mean close enough to swim to," he says. "It's been too many cycles since I was there last, but we used to hold yearly competitions. Diving. Some of those drops'll kill you if you try to reach their bottom," his laughter echoes, "must've seen it happen at least once a year..."
Tryna
She opens her eyes and even squinting finds no hint of light. The darkness returns her glare empty, like the rout of autumn, and the plummet's walls echo with residual creaking groaning from the avalanche that brought her.
"I need to ge-" her comment comes: short - broken then by a wail - anger first then anguish, laughing out in starting-stopping bursts. I shouldn't have moved like that, she admits, what is this on me?
Even her torso blends with the atramentous waters, swaddled within its dour cloak, and she slides her hands through the rocks and sediment searching for some sort of give; a boulder of appreciable size, perhaps twice her height, pins her left leg and though she cannot see the wound, she silently thanks the darkness for sparing her of the sight.
And once more a wail jogs out through the somber cloudy silt, rising, lessening, then rising yet again; Tryna closes her eyes and is greeted by the same implacable darkness surrounding her, but she focuses her mind - drawing deeper and inward - and settles her thoughts realizing, then, that the wail is her own.
"Kazhel? Talsiit? Can either of you hear me?"
I hear you, Silence whispers, his raspy voice echoing thunderwith from the aperture of her broken communicator.
She answers Silence in kind; even her torc lay broken in the silt, buried by the cascade somewhere above, voiceless now, shattered and cold hidden beyond where the amber torrents glow. A shallow breath follows a deep breath - and a spoken thought by a shallow breath - "where am I?" - as she twists with a wail in the pleading current coursing against and past her. "Right. I'm at the bottom," she says, "I need to go up from here."
Then two pale fish emerge from the blackness. They fade into view pearly-translucent, so curious yet cautious, and dart around her head in slack-jawed silence. They catch her notice as they drift. "You too are down here, I see," she says and the fish say nothing in return. Then as suddenly as they arrive, they merge back into the darkness and are gone...
The depth is a pitch darkness, engulfing them all like spilled ink to a sheet of paper. The cold water rushes past them as they all go deeper, and deeper, and deeper. But the bottom is nowhere in sight. The swim will be a long one.
Around them flashes little colours, bioluminescent algae in light blues, yellows, reds, pinks, greens, and many variations of many different shades of many different colours. Fish swim away from them, their eyes glowing with little dots of bioluminescence to draw in potential prey, while a little squidlike creature rests against the wall of the nearby cliff.
"I can feel things moving along the bottom in the water-" he calls out over the communications, his voice rasped with urgency as the floor of the sea grows ever closer.
TRYNA
Something moves nearby her. A rustle of little pebbles and sand as a little 12-legged creature crawls along the rocks, no bigger than her head. It has a single big tail-like appendage alongside its many legs sprouting out the back with a little claw covered in bioluminescent dots in shades of green and blue, as well as tiny feeding arms by its wretched, teeth-filled mouth.
And it began to crawl towards her, glassy, black eyes unmoving as it cautiously approaches.
Halyn
Halyn takes the depth in stride. With each meter they pass his mental ledger grows longer still, and he assumes the bottom can only be nearer and nearing: an acceptable course, all things considered.
"You feel things moving down there?" he answers-asks the Kel'thulian. "I've got signatures too. But they're faint," he goes on. His tone wavers with uncertainty - confidence (or rather, lack thereof) borne from understanding the true capacity the sea holds to obscure. "I only hope-" he stops, but the waters carry his voice...
He squints as they passs yet another meter of depth and the fish and creatures around them dart away in panic...
Tryna
The silence yields to clattering rocks and shifting sand. Tryna turns her head. "Another fish?" she asks the darkness; "must be hiding in the rocks." In that moment, a creature bursts from the blackness with claws and legs fading into view swiftly and suddenly.
"I can feel things from the vibrations in the water," he said, "my race has always been attuned to the waves that we crew around."
The dark bottom grew ever closer, but still shows nothing, the blackness seeming to encompass them like a cloud of dark, their flashlights only cutting so far through the deep water, the pressure of the depth now having a noticeable feeling of breathlessness as they strained themselves more.
"Whatever is moving doesnt seem to be very large, but it's fast.." he admitted, his appendages still pushing them down deeper through the water.
"Only a dozen metres left, i think. We're almost there."
Tryna
The clawed, 12 legged creature curiously cuts through the rocks and rubble, getting little cautious peeks at the woman laying injured. It seemed to be intrigued, but fearful of her, getting a dozen inches closer with every pass, before jumping back behind rocks.
After pass and pass, it had eventually gotten just out of arms reach of her, its eyes staring into her soul with no hint of emotion.
It doesnt seem to be interested in attacking her, but if she moved too suddenly it may strike out of fear.
Halyn
"Good," Halyn replies. "I'll follow your lead." He slows his descent and maneuvers in line behind the Kel'thulian, before speeding up again to maintain distance. They are nearly upon the bottom now; he can feel it.
Tryna
She sees the creature then doesn't, then sees it yet again. It recoils into the shadows once, then thrice more, scurrying hesitantly - probing, seeking - before finally composing itself just past the stricken Pord's view. It stays here and she feels its presence lingering like the pain - is it even real? - humming, no, buzzing, no... Being. And as she pushes her thoughts again to escape, the creature scurries to the forefront of her ruminations dominating in ways it can only in imagination, advancing swaddled within a cloak of fear dripping-drooping in bunches gathering by its many claws, not so much black but assumption given form (or the dying green of summer's last entreaty), and this chill spreads through her to the deep recesses of her psyche where rationality yields to instinct, then soaking past it-
A twitch.
I have to get out of here!
I need to-
A twitch.
Predators? Here?
...A twitch.
Itakan
They pushed harder towards the bottom of the ocean, the feeling of pressure growing ever more as the soft glow of Itakan's orange eyes cast a dim illumination of the bottom, and as he looked around, it seemed vast, and empty aside from rubble and black "plantlife", small fish swimming away and little creatures scurrying into the dark.
"She should be nearby, keep an eye out for any rubble that seems to be shifting or moving."
The creature slithers back into the murk. Swift to come. Swift to go. Hesitationless. But the chill within Tryna's bones holds firm - just as the boulder pinning her leg does - and the gravity of the situation begins to settle. She reaches out again to clear the rocks and debris away but the stoney mass resists. Her movement conjures silt (billowing clouds) and she disappears further into the abyss...
...light breaks through the implacable soup and dances about the rocks and through the particulates hanging around her. It grows and fades, then grows again. In that moment she collects her thoughts and crafts realization from the the wafting rumble thus far disregarded. No - it isn't figment of her psyche, and she cranes her head with the revelation and stares towards the brightening lights...
Through the comms unit, It'ak'an calls out.
"I see her; feel her movements in the water!"
The fishlike man swam harder towards a darkened cloud of silty murk and pile of rubble as the cloud clears slowly, lights shining down brightly upon it. His glowing eyes laid upon Tryna as he laid webbed feet agaisnt the seafloor. He grabbed the rock which pinned her, and began to tug to no avail, shaking his head.
"Halyn, help me pull this off her. She's pinned beneath a boulder too heavy for me to move alo-"
He was cut off as the creature brought itself from the rubble.
Then another
and another
and another and another and-
Before long, there were too many of the predatory creatures to count, and It'ak'an had already turned, eyes flickering between bright orange to provide light, and the dimness of emotional stress. Clenching his fists, two long; sharp claws shot out of his hand, slender as he brandished them like the weapons they are towards the things.
"Halyn. I will hold them off best I can, try and get her free."
Before he was even finished speaking to the Pord, one of the predators bounded through the thick water at him, shooting itself forwards with the power of its legs. The kel' thrusted his fist up from below the creature and pierces it with his claw, a slow-motion swing sending the small, dead pack predator floating like debris into the dark.
"Hurry!"
Then more began to leap.
Halyn brings his machine to a halt close to the boulder pinning Tryna. With a single deft movement he dismounts and turns his attention to the craggy stone. It stares back menacingly (or at least, as much as a stone can) and he hesitates for a brief moment. The pressure, nigh unbearable, squeezes through his thoughts and the normally chatty Pord is compelled to silence for a moment longer than he usually is.
"Sure, I'll help you with that," he replies to the Kel'thulian and swims over to assist with moving the rock.
In that moment, the creatures attack.
He hears-senses them swiftly approaching, moving with the current and within the darkened muck, and as they close with the group, Halyn falls back onto instinct.
"I don't know if I'll be able to free her alone, how long do you think you will be able to hold for?" He rushes forward to where the Kel'thulian once stood - where he tried and failed to lift the boulder - and doesn't wait for a response. "Alright," he goes on, "guess I won't have much time either way."
Tryna mumbles as if in agreement but Halyn doesn't register her words as coherent. She turns her head towards the light and stares back at the dim glow staring at her, and mumbles again.
"Wait... You're right!" Halyn exclaims. His eyes trace a line from Tryna to his machine. "I only need a moment," he yells to Itakan, "only a moment!" He hurls himself back onto his machine and brings it about; it whines through the rushing of the tide as he circles the boulder with speed. A moment later he brings it to a halt with its drives facing the boulder. "Keep your head down," he says.
Tryna turns away from the light.
Halyn throws the grav anchors out to max and then guns the throttle; waves ripple out from its drives and through the boulder, and past it into the surrounding bedrock. The boulder shudders, slips, then shatters into a smattering of smaller boulderoids. Halyn turns to survey the damage. "We should probably get out of here. There might be another rockslide," he says hopping down to help Tryna onto the machine.
The water twirled around It'ak'an as he weightily sliced his finned arms through the water, impaling another creature as it threatened to pierce his scaly skin. He swung its shelled body into another with an almost silent clack in the thick, crushing, inky black around them.
"Alright, Go, Go!" he cried out, pushing back another as he retracted his right-hand claw. "Get her on, and push it as hard as you can, I'll do my best to keep them at bay."
By now he had already killed three of the predators, and injured two more. It seems the pack hunters had gone silent for a moment, prowling around them as they avoided the light and noise of the machine. It wouldnt last long, however, as they inched closer once more, regrouping and preparing to strike.
"They seem to be coming back together, try not to take too long," he said, looking back at them for just a moment, "Do you require my assistance getting Tryna upon your machine?" the kel'thulian asked, stepping back a couple paces, closer to the machine.
Halyn shakes his head. "No," he booms rumble-laughing, "just keep them away." His eyes drift towards the creatures he feels are near but can't see as they dip into then out from the glare of his machine back to the impenetrable murk. I'll be glad to be out of here, he admits privately - and with the thought, he finishes helping Tryna onto the machine.
The waters rustle once more in the same manner as they did not too long ago: when the creatures first struck; when their coordination was at its height. A wave of apprehension washes over Halyn as realization manifests. They are about to attack again in earnest.
"I'm heading back up they're about to attack again I can feel it," he says and then, with equally little attention paid to where each word ends and the next begins, "I have basic medical supplies in the hold but I can't dig around for them here like this with those creatures here on us."
Without waiting for a response he retracts each grav anchor, angles back towards the surface, and guns the throttle.
Itakan nodded, mostly to himself, and grabbed on tightly, his eyes glowing brighter than ever as they shoot up to the surface, leaving the odd pack-predators of the deep behind. Screeches sounded, in a distorted warbly tone, from the distance, as they seemed to mourn the escape of their prey; but within moments they probably began to set out again, looking for their next dinner, since this one was missed.
Setting into lighter waters, they made it back over the lip where the remains of their battle with the massive native wormlike-creature had taken place. By then, It'ak'an had let go of the pordish craft, using the momentum to shoot himself to his own craft, clambering in and shutting the canopy- within moments, the water was drained out, though everything was still wet, and the air pumped with Co2, Nitrogen, and other gasses.
Their radios quickly rung loudly as they exited the region of blackout, their respective parties calling out to them to respond-
"It'Ak'An, Respond immediatley!" called out some radio-operator back on the Kel'thulian fleet, in a warbly yet squeaky tone that alluded to false, faked distress, to try and sound urgent.
"This is Itakan, reporting in; we were forced to enter an area of communications blackout to rescue a man overboard who was injured in a rockslide. Deepest apologies for the wait, fleet command."
"Understood, alert us next time. Return to the fleet and drop off any injured, we'll send a new team in to take your place."
He let out a wet, warbly 'sigh', and responded: "Understood, fleet command. It'ak'an, on steady route."
Talsiit's gaze fades into view as Halyn clears the rocky lip. dull waterthrumming moans from his machine and dies in softening chorus as he comes to a stop. The stocky Pord throws himself out of the driver's seat; his feet sink into the pebbled mud of the bottom for a brief moment.
"By his trident," Talsiit exclaims, "you have her!"
Halyn nods. "I do" - he opens the cargo hold of his machine - "we are back."
After fumbling for a few minutes he pulls a medical kit from the trunk.
"Scanner is still in working order," he says. "You will need to program it, Talsiit. Never used one of these."
Talsiit peers over Halyn's shoulder. "You know there's a reason I'm not a doctor," he chides, "but alright." He looks at the device for a moment, then says: "looks like just a low level scanner. Nothing to program. Point it at Tryna."
Halyn shifts to face her. The scanner powers up and seconds later indicates it is done, then he takes the nanite syringe from the medical kit and glances at the indicators along its side. Good, he privately sighs, they match.
"Crude, but it will do," Talsiit says.
Halyn nods and injects the solution. "Let's head to the surface," he says. "No sense in staying here."
Talsiit shakes hit head. "I will continue work here," he says. "I won't depart just yet. You go."
"Alright," Halyn says. "We'll regroup later."
The comment draws a nod from Talsiit who now stands closer to the edge. The various landslides and rockalanches have shifted the walls and caverns considerably, and even through the dim murk the tell-tale form of a new passage appears to have opened some distance from them. Talsiit eyes it squinting, and turns his attention to the Kel'thulians:
"I've spotted a new path," he says. "When you are settled, it may provide us with useful data."
"Understood, sent all the appropriate words to the fleet. Since the rest of my people returned some time ago, I alone will accompany you," responded It'ak'an, his craft powering up and moving alongside the machine of Talsiit. The bright spotlights of the mini-sub flickered on, illuminating more of the rocks in an ominous orange-white glow.
"I see the path as well. I'll lead us in, stay close behind," he briefly stated over the comms once again, the waterjets pushing his craft forwards at a moderate pace, little microjets of bubbly water maneuvering him around rocks and hanging spears of stone grown long ago from the ceiling of the cavern. The new path was- at first- tight and weaving, the darkness of it giving it a bad omen of things to come, the orangey lighting not helping.
"Sonar says the path will open up again in about fifty to a hundred metres. I'm going to fire a sonar beacon into the rockwall so we can find the entrance again on our way back."
He stopped speaking and his craft slowed, the path beginning to widen slowly but surely. The nose of the minisub pitched to the side slightly, before a burst of bubbles shot out, and a metal spike speared itself into the rocky wall, leaving cracks and emitting a soft-spoken ping on their displays, artificially marked by Itakan as "exit tunnel", and being a constant on their Sonars.
"I can see the opening up ahead. Keep moving, and we'll be out of here in a few moment's time."
Tryna's fate sits in his mind floating within the shallows of contemplation where ruminations surface or never leave; he treads within them reluctantly while in the wake of It'ak'an - moving want-to-doly past ominous rocks and through the muddy-orange dimglow of the Kel'thulian's headlights.
She will be fine, he ultimately concedes. And the admission comes as messenger of another truth: the pivotality of It'ak'an to her retrieval... Which gives levity to his thoughts. His worriment fades within this revelation; many of the void would not assist so. A measure of contentment washes over him and as the path narrows, he returns his attention to the mission at hand.
"Yes, it does open up," he agrees - though his active scanners still reveal only so much. This in particular threatens to be the most interesting discovery on this world thus far. A return most certainly will be in order. He angles around a stoney spire hanging from the ceiling down to the floor, then throttles down to a halt.
"Some of these formations almost seem constructed," he says. "I've seen my share of cities in these sort of depths. This feels very familiar."
His gaze falls upon the cavern walls. A dull humming-thrum rises as he accelerates from halted and the dingy aura from their headlights drips into the abyss, but as the duo move onward reflections bounce back at them from metallic objects in the walls and floor.
"I... I think this just might be the remains of something," Talsiit concludes. His words pour with swiftness and the distinct declarative forcefulness of someone met by the familiar. "Here," he says, "here's the opening you spotted."
A powerful current roars to life from the drives of his machine once more. He follows It'ak'an who now only leads by a few feet; light cascades out from the opening - silhouetting them against the walls in its glare - joined by a hint of outflow, but they fight against these and press past the opening.
And when they do, Talsiit musters only three words:
"By this Trident..!"
Followed by a similar utterance by Itakan:
"Stars be blessed..."
Talsiit and Itakan went through the opening into the cavern, and were both struck by sheer awe. Instead of an empty, desolate darkness, they were met with a glowing beauty. The whole cavern was filled with bioluminescent life, and the rock walls of the cave had grown around what seemed like a gargantuan ribcage, outer layers of bone replaced by minerals over millenia of resting.
What looked like a skull laid at the top of the cage, with a long, slender face, filled with a deathly grin of teeth-although dozens of them were missing. beyond the ribcage there seemed to be a collapsed portion of rock where a tail might have rested once. Each tooth was nearly the size of one of the pair's machines, and the skull could easily fit them.
Around the body, fish glowing with blues and yellows swam around amongst flowing fungal plants covered in the same bright bioluminescence. Predators hunted smaller fish as they escaped beneath corals and plants and smaller sub-caves, and anemone flowed in the gentle current of cool water.
"We've discovered a whole isolated biosphere in here," Itakan commented, before willing his submarine to stop and begin recording footage. "This is wondrous..."
Talsiit gives light acceleration to his machine. It floats forward. Some paces ahead (no more than a few), its clip lessens to a stop. Thus halted, he dismounts.
"Yes, very impressive," he agrees.
His eyes wander about the chamber from the plants dressing it to the creatures ducking in and around them. The skeleton piques his interest the most, however, and he allows himself to focus upon it the longest.
In the wake of moments passed he turns to his machine. He opens the cargo hold and retrieves a few capsules and a scanner.
"I'd like to get a few samples," he says, "along with good data to analyze."
He tosses the scanner towards the middle of the chamber and it sinks into the soft bottom. it touches down silently and goes to work while Talsiit fills his capsules with a variety of samples.
And while collecting, his mind gives way to rumination. "The way this skeleton is arranged reminds me of a grave," he says, "I wonder if-"
He stops short of finishing the thought. More metal glinting (like the walls leading to the chamber) catch his eye - in particular, one reflective area brighter than the rest. He swims up to it and brushes off the excess grime of the bottom.
"Come look at this," he says to It'ak'an.
Exiting from the miniature submarine, It'ak'an nods to Talsiit: "I agree, we should take some samples."
He takes in the vibrancy of the plants, animals, and creatures moving about in the massive chamber. There was an unnatural beauty about it, something was off... Then Talsiit spoke, and he brushed it away. Itakan swam briskly over towards the Pordish man and eyed the reflective area he was talking about. Immediatley, he noted that something was off, but couldnt quite make it out from a distance. Once he got closer though, it became quite apparent.
Talsiit nods to It'ak'an as he nears, and when the Kelthulian comes up alongside the Pord, Talsiit reaches out towards the glinting metal and presses on it firmly. It gives way to his shove and a door opens in the wall; only darkness peers back at them through the gaping maw but Talsiit casts a glance over to his companion with a questioning craning of his neck.
"Looks like there's far more here," Talsiit says. "I will go through."
He makes good on his words nearly as soon as they are said. With zero hesitation, he swims back towards his machine, then powers through the door, and emerges swiftly out to the far side. After extending away from the entrance, he turns back towards the door to drown it in light from his machine.
"It's... Some sort of crypt or church," he says. "But it's not the only building here. There are a lot more."
The myriad buildings extend out above, below, and to either side of his door built, seemingly, into the side of a sheer cliff, but little hint of the distant bottom reveals itself to Talsiit. His scanners return impossible depths below him; he registers this reality, but elects to ignore it. He knows there is little to be gained from looking down: the abyss does not abide; the abyss does not divulge.
"There is far too much to analyze right now. We should head back," he suggests.
At the request of his colleague, the Kelthulian swam about in the depths and nabbed various samples of plantlife, silt, and creatures akin to fish or crustaceans. The capsules he filled were strewn neatly inside his submarine's tiny cargo hold, and he hopped in it's cockpit right as Talsiit exited the structure.
"I'd like to have a look at the inside myself before we take leave, but after that- Ascending would be for the best."
It'ak'an's submarine swiftly dove into the room- taking a few sonar readings and photographs of the crypt-like structures. Chandeliers of floating bone and stone hanging from the roofs of artificial caves. Ceremonial items strewn about and left disorganized by the once-stagnant waters inside being brushed with a suddent current.
Once he exited, he gave a confirming word to Talsiit, and began manouvering his submarine towards the exit to the secret cave they had found themselves in. The pair rise and exit the luminescant cave and back into the cold, nigh-lifeless inky depths that they had come from. Back through dark tunnels, and once more over the deep cliff that Tryna had slipped down- when the titanic creature had paid them assault.
"We should be arriving back at the cavern's entrance soon, backtracking sonar readings place us a few turns away from the mouth." The kel'thulian spoke over their communications systems. Nearer to this Surface-beneath-the-Surface, the water had grown from an ink-black to a deep, brumous blue, flecks of sparkling starlight peeking around the cave's corners, fought back by powerful, intense shadows.
They were almost finished with their expedition into the deep.
Talsiit's mind rushes with thoughts of the deep as they make their way back through the twisting turning caverns. An ancient civilization lived here once; there is no telling what secrets might be found in the deepest reaches of its depths. The thought fills him with excitement - it means they have reason to return, and when they do, they will come with better preparation. And hopefully, with more luck... Which reminds...
Tryna's plight banishes the warmth of excitement from his mind.
He says nothing more to the Kel'Thulian as they ascend through the water column. Things could have gone better. They will go better, he says privately, I will ensure it. The declaration is, perhaps, selfish (who else, after all, can defeat misfortune but me?), yet he allows it purchase all the same. If nothing else, it may spur him to greater action down the line.
They near the entrance to the tunnels and he realizes he lost track of time during the ascent. They make good speed, and as he reaches the imposing maw, he sends his regards to the Kel'Thulian but does not wait for a reply before hitting the throttle - freedom! - and angling towards the waiting Pordish exploratory flotilla.
Standing at the helm is Fleetmaster Vi'ri'yo, with his simulation goggles placed upon his face, a prerecorded briefing from his Superior Officer playing out as a simulation on an empty version of the bridge.
"-have been tasked with bringing your fleet into the designated planet's orbit, and conducting diplomacy based on the parameters sent to your vessel. Alongside this, have your vessel ready to send down a standard exploration fleet and begin exploration alongside the Pordish when they are prepared. We have already cleared the exploration with them. May the stars guide your path."
With this, he removes the goggles and sets them aside, taking heed and sending out a transmission across his small fleet, of which simply consists of his flagship, the Weaver Class Dreadnought 'Reefback', and Two accompanying Corvettes, the KAN 'Watcher' and the KAN 'Invigoration'
"All personnel prepare for Meridian lancing in T-Minus 10 Seconds. We are headed to Planet Aquis Beta."
Quickly, personnel across the fleet moved into positions, as the spinal lance of the weaver class coursed with Kolleronic energy, at 5 seconds on the countdown a bright beam of golden energy shot out, striking the intangible walls of reality and tearing a shattered hole into the Meridian. At 10 Seconds, the Corvettes and Weaver class enter the meridian, beginning their voyage into the Avarian Frontier.
---------------------
Planet Aquis Beta - High Orbit
Exiting from a Shatter in the Meridian is the Small Kel'thulian fleet, bringing themselves into an orbit around the ocean planet, thermal and radar scanners already searching the surface alongside the visual cameras of the vessel for a good zone to drop down their naval forces. On the planned fleet will be a single Taroka-Class Carrier, loaded with small personal submersible units instead of the standard fighter and bomber craft, functioning as a perfect command post for the fleet's underwater functions. Alongside it is a Trio of Karos-Class Submarines, and an Oroya Recon Vessel.
The fleet is geared more towards fighting against wildlife than vessels, with some of the standard High-Explosive Torpedoes replaced by torpedoes that send out clouds of smoke to block vision and fake electronic impulses and sounds, and the ICBMs found on the submarines have been replaced with large sonar beacons that can be deployed where needed to reach down into the deep depths without risking entering them.
In the hangar of the Vessel, a shuttle is prepared swiftly, a pair of diplomats being loaded onboard as the engines are brought to a waiting position, the shuttle ready to go soon as the Pordish arrive in-System
The fleet awaits for the Arrival of the Pords, a prerecorded transmission Prepared for their arrival, saying simply, "Greetings, We have our Naval fleet prepared for launch down to the surface, and we have a shuttle prepared to send over a pair of diplomats. We have sent the coordinates of our calculated landing zone. Upon the launch of our shuttle, please transmit hangar bay information for their safe arrival."
SYSTEM ANOCHAQ, CHOR REKNU
Lesser Villa, Kal Mürskskaya
"I am going to be late," a voice pours through the chamber. Loud with emphasis on late, it registers for the Pords gathered and one starts from her seat with robes drifting about; she motions deftly towards the exit.
"This meeting is adjourned, High Hunter Nykat. I am glad you could join us, but we will keep you no longer," the Pord says. In front of her, on a small display flickering blue and white, is the construction site of Talazhyn Station. "Your insight has been illuminatory."
Nykat nods slowly with a hint of a smile rising; "very well," he tells her. "There is more to discuss on this matter, but we can do so later. As always, I do appreciate the hospitality of Kal Mürskskaya."
The gathered return Nykat's bow and respond in kind to his words. "Namengrazhniskaya," they echo back to him.
He floats through the door without looking back but his thoughts fail to join his departure. These delays have become quite the pain, his ruminations linger, I hope we can make use of what the Kel'thulians have found.
PORDISH EXPLORATORY FLOTILLA
Aquis Beta
The diplomatic cruiser Künaanenchaqüt fades into coherence some distance away from the Kel'thulians and is joined, moments later, by the lumbering freighter Zhabavyrnennach.
"We have an incoming message, nam-Nykat," the cruiser's skipper calls over the comms link. "From the Kel'thulians. It looks to be prerecorded."
"Relay it to me," Nykat responds. "I'll listen to it while preparing."
The skipper acquiesces and Nykat listens to the proposal. Within a few minutes, he gives new instructions to the skipper: they will receive the Kel'thulian entourage, and appropriate directions are given to the waiting diplomats.
Meanwhile, Zhabavyrnennach skims through the world's outer gases aglow with reentry; she does not descend but jets along through the column with her cargo bay doors open to the world's surface. Two exploration ships and their escorts - a quartet of nam-Zoshnar type strike craft (notably, given the mission profile, they do not have their usual heavy missile complement) - plummet from her cargo holds before arresting themselves and angling onto shallow glide paths towards the waters below.
Quickly everything is set into motion, the diplomat’s transport quickly sets off towards the pordish ship, inside it sitting two Diplomats, and an accompaniment of simply 2 soldiers. The transport has an airlocked door system allowing for the diplomats to have time to get breathing gear on before leaving the shuttle. Yuketa, the first of the diplomats, sits waiting with a notepad and a pen in his hand, ready to write everything needed down. Beside him is Lemana, who is standing up as she awaits for the craft to land. Once it does, they step off and engage in standard diplomatic proceedures, as they are led into the pordish vessel to a proper room..
Surface of planet Aquis Beta
A Short transmission goes out to the quartet of vessels.
“Greeting, Pordish vessels. This is Captain Ti’ri’al of the KMN Ivenguard. Once we have all made it to the rendezvous zone, we can begin downwards into the designated trench system, where high contents of the metals are expected to be.”
The Kel’thulian vessels stay closed up in their standard diving preparations as they await a response.
HIGH HUNTER NYKAT
Diplomatic Cruiser Künaanenchaqüt
Cool air wafts along the floor as the Kel'thulian entourage is ushered into the diplomatic vessel. The exterior of the ship, seemingly crafted from stone and metal - together joined seamlessly - with pulsating turquoise veins here an about gives way to similar visuals within; heavyset bricks comprise the floor below walls lined with wood paneling giving way to doors noticeably hand-crafted by skilled carpenters. Pelts and carpets drape across empty sections of wall where waterfalls, emerging from and back into hidden coves, do not rush. Above all, however, the interior is frigid and leaks subtle hints of higher technology only in muted drips.
"You worry too much," Korzha Nachüq says, eyeing the time, "we're perfectly in line with my itinerary." She drinks satisfaction deep into her lungs with an exaggerated breath then glances towards Nykat, who shakes his head slowly.
"If I didn't we'd still be in" - he hesitates - "nevermind. Status of our guests?"
Nachüq turns back towards the door. "They are nearly here," she says. "It is about time for me to escort them in."
Nykat stands from his seat and motions for her to proceed. She does, and moving swiftly is soon upon the door.
From beyond the silvercreaking - whining - entryway, splashed damp where feet and legs traverse by lowcool gusts of salted winter air, the Kel'thulian guests are motioned forth. Past the doors they are met by Korzha Nachüq, aide to High Hunter Nykat, dressed in flowing azure robes trimmed with fur and hemmed by charcoal-dark lace drooping floorward with celeritous privilege. She bows and sidesteps the entourage then addresses them:
"By the willing mighty gods, welcome aboard Künaanenchaqüt. I am Korzha Nachüq, Chief Archivist of the Library of Kal Mürskskaya, Scribe of the Lower Council, and assistant to High Hunter Nykat."
She casts her gaze to the Pord in question; Nykat motions to the tables -
Two room-length pools of water stretch from the near to far walls straddling the trio of tables rising from the center of a multi-tiered platform leading down to the watery precipice. Nykat walks out from behind the table closest to the Kel'thulians and bows: "High Hunter Nykat," he says. "And on behalf of the Alabaster Kingdom, I welcome you."
SURFACE
Pordish Exploratory Flotilla
Pale columns of seaspray reach skyward from the epicenter of where the pair of exploration vessels touch down. Above them like terns the nam-Zoshnars circle, ready to plunge at a moment's notice.
Chor Nalsiit leads a panel of scientists spread between the two vessels - researchers mostly from the Nokkalach Celestial Institute.
"Are we in position and ready to join them?" he asks.
The vessels's skipper nods. "We are in position and ready to join them."
"Take us down, then," Nalsiit says. "Let's begin."
The skipper nods again. "Scans are in. Local seas are not toxic. Ready to acclimatize on your mark."
"Acclimatize," Nalsiit orders, "begin acclimatization."
"Rig for acclimatization," the skipper orders and the command is echoed across the bridge, then relayed throughout the ship - and upon the turn of the minute, water pours into the vessel from the outside and quickly fills her myriad chambers. And in the brightening lights Nalsiit floats over his station, eyes glued upon the central readouts, eyeing the transition attentively.
"Acclimatization complete," one of the bridgehand confirms. "Trimming for buoyancy and on standby for initial pressure mirroring."
Nalsiit's thoughts turn to the mission at hand; still surprised by the speed with which it was decided and planned, he silently wishes more discussions and panels were convened to deliberate the matter.
...a response is sent from the Pordish fleet advising Ti’ri’al that the exploratory flotilla is ready to move.
"Greetings, I am Le'ma'na, the lead diplomat of this venture, and this is my assistant, Yu'ke'ta, who shall keep track of the talk. It is an honour to be here."
The pair bow their heads as Nykat moves over, then move to sit at the tables, their tall stature having their upper backs pushed up past the back of the chair.
"Many thanks, Mr. Nykat. May the stars bless us today." she says, adjusting in her seat.
Let the talks begin.
Surface - Bridge of the Ivenguard
"Helmsman, bring us down at a heading of 42 Degrees, and signal to the Pordish fleet to match our heading. Bring SONAR systems online and get a map of the caves ahead. Lieutenant, Send out a small personal-sub unit to scout out the caves where SONAR cannot reach."
Both respond with a quick:
"Aye, Captain." before getting to work
Out goes a signal to the Pordish fleet, requesting they match the current heading of the Kel'thulian ships as they begin to go down towards the cave, submerging. Launching from the lower hangar of the Ivenguard is a trio of small personal submarines, which function almost as underwater strike craft, waterjets propelling them at speeds as they go towards the cave ahead of the main fleet. Sonar waves begin to ping into the depths of the cave.
The Depths
The Kel'Thulians descend a pace or two ahead of the Pords. Nalsiit watches them on the central displays through chatter of the bridge-crew - noise he filters out - and as their vectors solidify and they begin to make good headway into the depths, he excuses himself from the chamber.
"I was just about to come get you," says Tryna nam-Galchoq. Two scrolls, neatly bound and gleaming, peek from her left hand. "Here are the documents you requested along with a few blank scrolls." She floats slowly through the corridor to a full stop with the comment. "It looks like we are about ready to depart."
Nalsiit nods. "Tasi, scans are coming in. Kel'thulians are already sending more agile craft to map the tunnels we've stumbled upon ahead" - he begins to move and Tryna follows, but his gaze remains firmly plastered floorward. After a moment he scratches his chin, then - "those mineral deposits are interfering with our scans so we'll have to go in as well."
"That is why we're here," Tryna chuckles, "is it not?"
"It is but it isn't."
"We don't need the vagueisms."
"That wasn't vaguery."
Tryna tosses a raised eyebrow in Nalsiit's direction then heightens her clip. Some distance down the corridor they come upon the entrance to the hangar and enter it, whereupon they are greeted by the amber-bearded Kazhel Halyn.
"Do you have everything you need, Nalsiit," Kazhel bellows - lingering on the latter half of Nalsiit - while eyeing the scrolls now in the head scientist's hand.
"About so," Nalsiit says. He moves over to one of the machines which appears to be little more than propulsion with a seat and opens a compartment; he places the scrolls inside then slides onto the craft. "The Kel'thulians are well ahead of us so we will need to move swiftly if we wish to catch up to them."
The hangar bay doors open moments after his words and he powers out into the murky depths first, followed then by Kazhel and Tryna.
The Depths
Snaking through the tunnels are the Kel'thulian personal craft, sending soft sonar pings through the winding tunnels and mapping out good pathways, all the data gathered sent directly to all vessels in the combined exploration fleet of Pords and Kels, mineral deposits shown clearly deeper into the tunnels, but only small ones compared to the huge deposits shown in overall planetary scans. They would have to go deeper.
The helmsman let out a sigh and made final calculations to the heading, before turning his head to the captain.
"Captain, everything is set into motion."
"Very good, Helmsman. Anything else?"
He gave a heavy look before he spoke.
"Why are we truly here? I know it is not simply for the minerals."
Tirial pondered for a moment, thinking of what to say.
"You know why we are here. The Pords are neither SAGA nor CONA leaning. If we can become friendly with them, we may be able to at least keep them neutral in the conflict, or maybe even bring them onto the path blessed by the stars.
"I understand. May all go well with this. We neednt any more enemies in this galaxy..."
The Depths
Nalsiit powers along swiftly. At the head of the small Pordish group, he turns through the dark passageways but keeps within range of Tryna and Halyn while moving to join with the Kel'thulian group.
"This is good so far," Halyn says. He looks over the reports attentively and notes mentally the location of a few veins worth investigating further. He pulls up alongside Nalsiit; the powerful searchlights of his craft cut through the murk, casting bleak shadows against the tunnel walls. His mind races in consideration of all they have found so far: they only just arrived but have come upon so much. "We should," he continues, with speech deliberate and enunciated, "turn our sensors towards these areas here."
Nalsiit, however, leans across his machine as it slows and opens a compartment. He then pulls a scroll from the corners of the storage area and unbinds. The parchment, visibly resembling some sort of cloth or paper while obviously not being so, flutters in the current. After securing it to the dashboard of his machine, he makes a few notes, rolls it back up, then rebinds it. "I like this area as well," he says finally, "we can come back to it."
Tryna, commentless, flows along behind them. The bottom is desolate and uninviting, but all too revelatory to those with a background in xenogeology. After referencing her own scans against the Kel'thulian contributions, she says to Nalsiit, "I agree that we need to go deeper still. But I'm not sure by how much."
Nalsiit nods then swaps channels on the comms to the Kel'thulians: "What do you see down there? We are thinking about going deeper as well, what do you think?"
Tirial responds hastily, relaying information from the small sub units.
"Signs show the beginnings of sealife in the form of small colonies of creatures similar to coral and groups of anemones. Some long swimming sealife has been spotted as well. Other than that, there are pockets of thermal energy within the water concurrent with rising warm water from deeper geothermal vents, coming from a sudden dropoff in the caves into a much deeper area. Personal Units have been ordered to hold back from the dropoff until we arrive to minimize risk of injury and other risks."
He then continues messing with the displays shown by his sim-glasses, setting virtual waypoints to the Personal Sub units, ordering them to stop at the dropoff. Said dropoff leads into a dark, black pit of water that led into a much warmer area on thermal sensors. The kel'thulian fleet moved deeper into the caves along the path the personal sub units had set on their Guidance systems, stopping near the turning point into the area to await the pords to make their final decision.
"Very well," Nalsiit says back to the Kel'thulians. Thermal vents may make things difficult if they stray too close; best be careful if we come across those areas, he says to himself. I'd rather not be boiled Pord. He chuckles softly at the thought.
"Did I miss something?" Halyn asks. He stares, head cocked, at Nalsiit. "They're just vents."
"This dropoff is steep," Tryna says. "Waters may be dangerous past the precipice."
The three Pords near the Kel'thulian group and slow by the edge of the maw. Halyn angles into the mouth but hops off his machine before actually entering. He is first to dismount, and he drifts over the the edge catch a glimpse. The searchlights of his craft fade into the distance; little is revealed. And below him, the darkness sprawls. A shiver crawls up his spine. "You're probably right, Tryna," he says then. "But that's why we're here."
Nalsiit nods. "If we're in agreement then, we'll descend into the drop. Tryna? Halyn?"
Both Pords nod, and Nalsiit returns their gestures. His comms line to the Kel'thulians is opened again: "we are heading into the drop," he says. "See you down there." Less than a moment later he throttles up and descends in a flurry of bubbles and swishing cavern water.
"Understood. Stay safe, and avoid harm" comes a quick response, as the Few Kel'thulian Mini-subs rile their engines in response, pulling close and following Talsiit.
Inside the lead personal craft sits It'ak'an, guiding his craft into a follow of the pordish craft, the dim glow of his cockpit brightened in his view with the sim glasses showing important information such as Depth relative to the planet's sea level, the water pressure, tempurature, and the small sonar system onboard, slight dots and pings showing the pair of Kel'thulian craft behind him and the trio of pordish craft behind him.
As they enter the depths, he quickly sends a small communication to Talsiit, in front.
"See Anything? My sonar isnt picking up anything for Hundreds of metres." he says, looking around through the vast camera screen acting as the craft's windshield.
Then something is picked up by their microphones, a distant vibration in the water sounding like a distorted growl or grumble. Hopefully it was just geological activity.
But it probably wasnt.
Meanwhile, the larger kel'thulian fleet, accompanied by the larger fleet of the pordish craft set up at the smaller entrance to the depths, coming to a halt as the entrance seems to be small for the larger vessels, and a Communication goes out.
"Hailing Pordish Fleet. There are some larger rocks preventing the largest vessels in our fleet from entering the deeper regions. It will take time to remove them. In the meanwhile while they are being removed, we will have teams sent out to make mineral, rock, soil, and coral samples. Personal Teams are moving forwards with your own craft with caution."
Tryna follows Kazhel Halyn closely; her craft descends off to the stockier Pords' side, and avoids falling too far behind. Her attention firmly rests on the readouts of her machine. As they scan the walls and path ahead, she takes in all of what they have to give her, and makes some sense of it all.
"Nalsiit are you seeing these strata? We just passed another one, that boundary was very well defined but there are some atypical formations within them."
Some distance beyond her, Nalsiit looks down to his instrument panel. In contrast to the Kel'thulians, it is almost entirely bare; he views a holographic display while the rest of the information is converted directly into thought and sent directly to him through a small earpiece - similar to the devices the group are using to communicate, for Pordish - though many things - evolved as a surface tongue: one unfit for being spoken through Rekazhnar's awesome depths.
"I made note of that boundary, yes," Nalsiit tells Tryna. "I'd like to get a sample. I believe we are passing into some extremely ancient areas of the crust."
Tryna nodded: a gesture unseen by those ahead of her.
They come upon an L-shaped ledge in the drop - it protrudes from the walls, lessening the total width of the cavern - and adjust accordingly. Nalsiit's comms buzz again, this time from the Kel'thulians:
See Anything? My sonar isnt picking up anything for Hundreds of metres.
Nalsiit checks the distance. Sure enough, the Kel'thulian entourage is still some meters above, though closing swiftly. "I don't see anything either. I thi-"
A low grumble echoes through the water, racing from behind the cover of the ledge. "Wait," Nalsiit says, "I'm picking up something... Some sort of..." He pauses as he fully clears the ledge and receives a full sensor return from what lay beyond. "Some sort of mass," he stammers, "closing quickly!"
Well above them, nearer the surface, the hail from the Kel'thulian fleet is received and a response is sent -
UNDERSTOOD STOP WE WILL ASSIST WITH REMOVING THE ROCKS STOP
The contact grew closer and closer, the overall readings showing it to be about twenty five meters in length, 11 meters wide at most, and 6 meters tall at tallest. It was big. the grumble grew closer as well, louder in the microphones.
"Contact!" yells Itakan over his radio system. "And closing fast!"
Quickly the kel'thulian entourage racks their defensive microtorpedoes, the mass coming closer around the ledge, the grumbling growing into a deep screech, as if it were using the noise to search the area; Echolocation.
as it turned the bend, they finally saw the thing. It was long and wormlike, with finlike appendages on 4 sides of it going from tip to tail, and eight wider spike-like appendages of a deeper yellowy colour, slowly grading into an almost black-red tip, pushing small slipstreams of water behind them as they curved backwards towards it's tail.
It had no eyes, merely a large mouth and multiple holes like ears on the front and along the body, with wide reddish gills down its sides. It was a pale off white colour, and seemed to almost glow in the headlights of the various craft. Its jaws seemed to be made up of long sharp teeth that caved inwards, mounted on a quad-mandible setup in a circular patter inside the protective outer scaly layer.
And it could "see" them. The screeches it let out bouncing off of the group and back towards its various ear-spots. It went directly towards them, it's jaws opening wide, the curved yellowy teeth wide enough to at least take a big bite out of the combined pord-kel' force of personal craft.
"By his trident!" Nalsiit exclaims through the churning waters showering crimson intent down upon Tryna and Halyn. Nalsiit rushes back behind the cover of his machine as the beast crests the ledge with glistening teeth, and throws open the hatch to the cargo hold. "I didn't expect to need to use this," he stammers, "but I suppose I shouldn't be too surprised."
Tryna powers to his side; her gaze pours over the firearm in Nalsiit's hand, a perfect blend of wood and metal - artistically crafted in the fashion Pordic - with a frown etched across her face and ears ringing from the deathly screeching of the creature. "You can't use that here, it'll freeze the passage!"
Nalsiit turns towards the edge of the precipice. "No," he says, "I don't think it will. We're too far down for that."
"Shoot," Halyn bellows, "before it tears us apart! It's charging!"
The beam rifle schkreerts! through the water. A trail of ice forms in its wake and floats up from the lance, but Nalsiit misses the creature in the bleak darkness, and his shot burrows into the cavern wall some meters above it; a jet of molten rock spurts from the impact moments before a scab of ice forms over the minute hole.
"Give me that Jlokhemitdamn gun, Nalsiit," Halyn says. "That was awful. Stick to the arts you know. Shooting isn't one of them." He laughs heartily and leans over towards Nalsiit motioning for him to hand the weapon over.
"It circled back below the ledge - it must have seen us ready weapons. I lost my angle."
"So it's clever? I don't doubt that" - Halyn leans closer still - "but give me the gun, Nalsiit," he echoes and lingers, again, far too long on the latter half of Nalsiit.
But before Nalsiit can give him the weapon, the creature rams the ledge beneath them. The lip begins to crumble and fall towards the distant bottom, fully exposing the Pords to the beast now under them. Sediment erupts in pillowy clouds, thick choking mud, and Tryna reaches for a mask to help filter the worst out. She secures one to her face as the waters muddy from crystal-black to inky browning murk, and the vibrations roll through the walls, knocking loose rocks even above them; one lands on her nam-Torzhaq with a metaled braaang! and the machine clatters, then, towards the bottom - unseen - in a swirl of sedimentary gloom.
"Stars be Damned!" called out Itakan, who kicked his personal sub into a backwards motion as the creature swam around the bend.
As the creature rams the ledge it lets out a warbled mix between a screech and a ground, pulling itself around and adjusting its various spines and fins, coming in a full U-shaped turn and back towards the group.
Over the Radio, Itakan called out towards his allied pair of personal-sub units, ordering them to rack and fire micro-torpedoes. With warped and quiet clicks, the torpedo bays shifted open, and the small microtorps were pressed into racks. They shot forth with bubbly trails and crashed into the thing's side as it made its wide turn. It screeched and growled again as it was thrust back, crashing into a stone wall as pebbles sunk down from the distant ceiling.
Shooting forth back towards them, trails of blood trickled behind the creature, its movement slowed and pained as one of its fins had been ripped to shreds by the small blasts, causing its movements to become slow and erratic.
"We've almost killed it! Halyn, is your weapon almost prepared to fire? One last shot and it will either retreat or be immobilized!"
Another screech roars through the depths, rushing with the tide billowing-echoing-blattering out against Nalsiit and the others. The piercing cry rattles the Pord to his core and he pushes himself down behind the frame of his machine; he hides in its shadow masked by sediment reducing visibility to inches even with amber floodlight glow pouring into the beast-made night.
"I just need one shot!" Halyn spits from under a frown. He grabs the rifle from Nalsiit with a swipe of his burly arm as the creature moans in pain and, looking to where it is - concealed within the gloom - he levels the rifle. "Looks like our friends landed their shots," he says. "It's time we do the same."
"You don't need to gloat, Halyn. You haven't even made your shot yet," Nalsiit replies. His tone wavers as if expecting a rebuttal, but Halyn replies only with the distinct screeztschhhh! of entropic lance fire.
...which burrows through the creature vapouring and disintegrating all it touches, while freezing everything not in direct contact with the beam, before exiting through the far side of the beast; no blood spurts from the frozen wound, only chunks of cold, hard, frostbitten flesh from the walls of the borehole, itself a vacuous epicenter through which seawater rushes solemnly schwaping.
Then the mighty beast yields to agony through earthshaking moans; its powerful tail lashes against the stoney walls and the currents batter the group. Nalsiit peers over the seat of his nam-Torzhaq hesitantly which Halyn catches glimpse of.
"It may not be dead," Halyn says, "but that is how you make a shot!"
Nalsiit rolls his eyes as his comms channels cycle to include the Kel'thulians: "We should bring this creature to the surface for research," he says. "Can you facilitate it?"
But as he speaks he takes notice of a hint of blood drifting in the sediment - different from that of the creature, familiar almost like that of -
He jerks to the displays then jerks away in disbelief; the words take moments to form, and when they do, they are muted-hushed and come slowly:
"...she fell," he says, "into the abyss."
The creature lets out a deep, guttural screech as it goes limp, nearly dead as its strength fades.
Itakan lets out a deep sigh of relief, and turns his sub unit to park nearby while the other two ride up towards the creature, using tow hooks and such to loop around it. He orders them to go on without him back up to the main fleet with the thing, as they slowly pull it along, the thing occasionally lashing out but ultimately too weak.
Itakan pops out of his sub through an airlock along the bottom, and swims gracefully up to the pair, the webbing on his hands and feet and the fins along his body clearly accented and shown in use as he comes forth.
"Ive sent the rest up to the surface with the creature as you re-"
he stops dead in his tracks as he sees the blood they were looking at, and the words hushedly spoken by Nalsiit.
"Stars Damnit." he says bluntly, walking towards the ledge.
"I'm going down. I can swim quite well. If you have to, take my sub and follow me, it shouldnt be too complicated to operate."
With those words, he dives down below the ledge, swimming down, his gills having started to work long ago, the kel'thulian able to breathe in the water due to an ocean's natural high content of carbon dioxide compared to the atmosphere, the helmet there only to regulate the water pressure and allow in a controlled flow of the liquid instead of simply crushing the poor kel'thulian. He pushes himself and swims down as hard as he can, the lights on his suit barely illuminating the abyss
Of Talsiit and Halyn
Talsiit says nothing as the beast is carted up and away. It's gone now, he admits, I hope we can learn something from it.
He gazes down past the ledge, where fist-sized rocks and smaller pebbles rain along the chasm walls pitter-pattering into the blackness, and swirls of brown muck churn in minute eddies no larger than his head with palpable circuitous intent; he reads the water writhing like under another's control, some master psionic or student of Rekazhnar, but he knows this isn't the case... And here, too, it lacks a mind of its own: fate is merely cruel. His eyes shift to a balled fist (his own) which he relaxes upon seeing.
"We're going to need to go down there and get her, Talsiit," Kazhel Halyn says. He floats back to Talsiit's side and stares into the abyss as well. "Deeper than I was expecting," he says then, "but almost like home."
Talsiit turns towards Halyn. In all the commotion and between work, he admits failing to speak or ask about life beyond their occupations. His mood shifts in that moment as the realization floods him; I don't really know that much about you, Halyn, do I? - an audible sigh escapes him - I guess I should change that, he concludes. It is only proper. "Reminds you of Kal Chornat?" Talsiit asks as Itakan joins them along the ledge.
Halyn nods and in one motion turns to the Kel'thulian. "Yes, we'll go down with you. Or at least, I will. My machine is still working," he says mounting his nam-Torzhaq. The grav-bike responds to his input swiftly and devoid of protest against such rough handling, and only moments after Itakan surges past the precipice, Halyn speeds after him.
And after only passing but a handful of dull featureless rocks, Halyn notices the depth; he feels it within his bones - in his very soul - the crushing weight of the sea. To break the monotony, he turns to his companion: "Reminds me of Kal Chornat. There are many steep cliffs outside the city - just outside - I mean close enough to swim to," he says. "It's been too many cycles since I was there last, but we used to hold yearly competitions. Diving. Some of those drops'll kill you if you try to reach their bottom," his laughter echoes, "must've seen it happen at least once a year..."
Tryna
She opens her eyes and even squinting finds no hint of light. The darkness returns her glare empty, like the rout of autumn, and the plummet's walls echo with residual creaking groaning from the avalanche that brought her.
"I need to ge-" her comment comes: short - broken then by a wail - anger first then anguish, laughing out in starting-stopping bursts. I shouldn't have moved like that, she admits, what is this on me?
Even her torso blends with the atramentous waters, swaddled within its dour cloak, and she slides her hands through the rocks and sediment searching for some sort of give; a boulder of appreciable size, perhaps twice her height, pins her left leg and though she cannot see the wound, she silently thanks the darkness for sparing her of the sight.
And once more a wail jogs out through the somber cloudy silt, rising, lessening, then rising yet again; Tryna closes her eyes and is greeted by the same implacable darkness surrounding her, but she focuses her mind - drawing deeper and inward - and settles her thoughts realizing, then, that the wail is her own.
"Kazhel? Talsiit? Can either of you hear me?"
I hear you, Silence whispers, his raspy voice echoing thunderwith from the aperture of her broken communicator.
She answers Silence in kind; even her torc lay broken in the silt, buried by the cascade somewhere above, voiceless now, shattered and cold hidden beyond where the amber torrents glow. A shallow breath follows a deep breath - and a spoken thought by a shallow breath - "where am I?" - as she twists with a wail in the pleading current coursing against and past her. "Right. I'm at the bottom," she says, "I need to go up from here."
Then two pale fish emerge from the blackness. They fade into view pearly-translucent, so curious yet cautious, and dart around her head in slack-jawed silence. They catch her notice as they drift. "You too are down here, I see," she says and the fish say nothing in return. Then as suddenly as they arrive, they merge back into the darkness and are gone...
The depth is a pitch darkness, engulfing them all like spilled ink to a sheet of paper. The cold water rushes past them as they all go deeper, and deeper, and deeper. But the bottom is nowhere in sight. The swim will be a long one.
Around them flashes little colours, bioluminescent algae in light blues, yellows, reds, pinks, greens, and many variations of many different shades of many different colours. Fish swim away from them, their eyes glowing with little dots of bioluminescence to draw in potential prey, while a little squidlike creature rests against the wall of the nearby cliff.
"I can feel things moving along the bottom in the water-" he calls out over the communications, his voice rasped with urgency as the floor of the sea grows ever closer.
TRYNA
Something moves nearby her. A rustle of little pebbles and sand as a little 12-legged creature crawls along the rocks, no bigger than her head. It has a single big tail-like appendage alongside its many legs sprouting out the back with a little claw covered in bioluminescent dots in shades of green and blue, as well as tiny feeding arms by its wretched, teeth-filled mouth.
And it began to crawl towards her, glassy, black eyes unmoving as it cautiously approaches.
Halyn
Halyn takes the depth in stride. With each meter they pass his mental ledger grows longer still, and he assumes the bottom can only be nearer and nearing: an acceptable course, all things considered.
"You feel things moving down there?" he answers-asks the Kel'thulian. "I've got signatures too. But they're faint," he goes on. His tone wavers with uncertainty - confidence (or rather, lack thereof) borne from understanding the true capacity the sea holds to obscure. "I only hope-" he stops, but the waters carry his voice...
He squints as they passs yet another meter of depth and the fish and creatures around them dart away in panic...
Tryna
The silence yields to clattering rocks and shifting sand. Tryna turns her head. "Another fish?" she asks the darkness; "must be hiding in the rocks." In that moment, a creature bursts from the blackness with claws and legs fading into view swiftly and suddenly.
"I can feel things from the vibrations in the water," he said, "my race has always been attuned to the waves that we crew around."
The dark bottom grew ever closer, but still shows nothing, the blackness seeming to encompass them like a cloud of dark, their flashlights only cutting so far through the deep water, the pressure of the depth now having a noticeable feeling of breathlessness as they strained themselves more.
"Whatever is moving doesnt seem to be very large, but it's fast.." he admitted, his appendages still pushing them down deeper through the water.
"Only a dozen metres left, i think. We're almost there."
Tryna
The clawed, 12 legged creature curiously cuts through the rocks and rubble, getting little cautious peeks at the woman laying injured. It seemed to be intrigued, but fearful of her, getting a dozen inches closer with every pass, before jumping back behind rocks.
After pass and pass, it had eventually gotten just out of arms reach of her, its eyes staring into her soul with no hint of emotion.
It doesnt seem to be interested in attacking her, but if she moved too suddenly it may strike out of fear.
Halyn
"Good," Halyn replies. "I'll follow your lead." He slows his descent and maneuvers in line behind the Kel'thulian, before speeding up again to maintain distance. They are nearly upon the bottom now; he can feel it.
Tryna
She sees the creature then doesn't, then sees it yet again. It recoils into the shadows once, then thrice more, scurrying hesitantly - probing, seeking - before finally composing itself just past the stricken Pord's view. It stays here and she feels its presence lingering like the pain - is it even real? - humming, no, buzzing, no... Being. And as she pushes her thoughts again to escape, the creature scurries to the forefront of her ruminations dominating in ways it can only in imagination, advancing swaddled within a cloak of fear dripping-drooping in bunches gathering by its many claws, not so much black but assumption given form (or the dying green of summer's last entreaty), and this chill spreads through her to the deep recesses of her psyche where rationality yields to instinct, then soaking past it-
A twitch.
I have to get out of here!
I need to-
A twitch.
Predators? Here?
...A twitch.
Itakan
They pushed harder towards the bottom of the ocean, the feeling of pressure growing ever more as the soft glow of Itakan's orange eyes cast a dim illumination of the bottom, and as he looked around, it seemed vast, and empty aside from rubble and black "plantlife", small fish swimming away and little creatures scurrying into the dark.
"She should be nearby, keep an eye out for any rubble that seems to be shifting or moving."
The creature slithers back into the murk. Swift to come. Swift to go. Hesitationless. But the chill within Tryna's bones holds firm - just as the boulder pinning her leg does - and the gravity of the situation begins to settle. She reaches out again to clear the rocks and debris away but the stoney mass resists. Her movement conjures silt (billowing clouds) and she disappears further into the abyss...
...light breaks through the implacable soup and dances about the rocks and through the particulates hanging around her. It grows and fades, then grows again. In that moment she collects her thoughts and crafts realization from the the wafting rumble thus far disregarded. No - it isn't figment of her psyche, and she cranes her head with the revelation and stares towards the brightening lights...
Through the comms unit, It'ak'an calls out.
"I see her; feel her movements in the water!"
The fishlike man swam harder towards a darkened cloud of silty murk and pile of rubble as the cloud clears slowly, lights shining down brightly upon it. His glowing eyes laid upon Tryna as he laid webbed feet agaisnt the seafloor. He grabbed the rock which pinned her, and began to tug to no avail, shaking his head.
"Halyn, help me pull this off her. She's pinned beneath a boulder too heavy for me to move alo-"
He was cut off as the creature brought itself from the rubble.
Then another
and another
and another and another and-
Before long, there were too many of the predatory creatures to count, and It'ak'an had already turned, eyes flickering between bright orange to provide light, and the dimness of emotional stress. Clenching his fists, two long; sharp claws shot out of his hand, slender as he brandished them like the weapons they are towards the things.
"Halyn. I will hold them off best I can, try and get her free."
Before he was even finished speaking to the Pord, one of the predators bounded through the thick water at him, shooting itself forwards with the power of its legs. The kel' thrusted his fist up from below the creature and pierces it with his claw, a slow-motion swing sending the small, dead pack predator floating like debris into the dark.
"Hurry!"
Then more began to leap.
Halyn brings his machine to a halt close to the boulder pinning Tryna. With a single deft movement he dismounts and turns his attention to the craggy stone. It stares back menacingly (or at least, as much as a stone can) and he hesitates for a brief moment. The pressure, nigh unbearable, squeezes through his thoughts and the normally chatty Pord is compelled to silence for a moment longer than he usually is.
"Sure, I'll help you with that," he replies to the Kel'thulian and swims over to assist with moving the rock.
In that moment, the creatures attack.
He hears-senses them swiftly approaching, moving with the current and within the darkened muck, and as they close with the group, Halyn falls back onto instinct.
"I don't know if I'll be able to free her alone, how long do you think you will be able to hold for?" He rushes forward to where the Kel'thulian once stood - where he tried and failed to lift the boulder - and doesn't wait for a response. "Alright," he goes on, "guess I won't have much time either way."
Tryna mumbles as if in agreement but Halyn doesn't register her words as coherent. She turns her head towards the light and stares back at the dim glow staring at her, and mumbles again.
"Wait... You're right!" Halyn exclaims. His eyes trace a line from Tryna to his machine. "I only need a moment," he yells to Itakan, "only a moment!" He hurls himself back onto his machine and brings it about; it whines through the rushing of the tide as he circles the boulder with speed. A moment later he brings it to a halt with its drives facing the boulder. "Keep your head down," he says.
Tryna turns away from the light.
Halyn throws the grav anchors out to max and then guns the throttle; waves ripple out from its drives and through the boulder, and past it into the surrounding bedrock. The boulder shudders, slips, then shatters into a smattering of smaller boulderoids. Halyn turns to survey the damage. "We should probably get out of here. There might be another rockslide," he says hopping down to help Tryna onto the machine.
The water twirled around It'ak'an as he weightily sliced his finned arms through the water, impaling another creature as it threatened to pierce his scaly skin. He swung its shelled body into another with an almost silent clack in the thick, crushing, inky black around them.
"Alright, Go, Go!" he cried out, pushing back another as he retracted his right-hand claw. "Get her on, and push it as hard as you can, I'll do my best to keep them at bay."
By now he had already killed three of the predators, and injured two more. It seems the pack hunters had gone silent for a moment, prowling around them as they avoided the light and noise of the machine. It wouldnt last long, however, as they inched closer once more, regrouping and preparing to strike.
"They seem to be coming back together, try not to take too long," he said, looking back at them for just a moment, "Do you require my assistance getting Tryna upon your machine?" the kel'thulian asked, stepping back a couple paces, closer to the machine.
Halyn shakes his head. "No," he booms rumble-laughing, "just keep them away." His eyes drift towards the creatures he feels are near but can't see as they dip into then out from the glare of his machine back to the impenetrable murk. I'll be glad to be out of here, he admits privately - and with the thought, he finishes helping Tryna onto the machine.
The waters rustle once more in the same manner as they did not too long ago: when the creatures first struck; when their coordination was at its height. A wave of apprehension washes over Halyn as realization manifests. They are about to attack again in earnest.
"I'm heading back up they're about to attack again I can feel it," he says and then, with equally little attention paid to where each word ends and the next begins, "I have basic medical supplies in the hold but I can't dig around for them here like this with those creatures here on us."
Without waiting for a response he retracts each grav anchor, angles back towards the surface, and guns the throttle.
Itakan nodded, mostly to himself, and grabbed on tightly, his eyes glowing brighter than ever as they shoot up to the surface, leaving the odd pack-predators of the deep behind. Screeches sounded, in a distorted warbly tone, from the distance, as they seemed to mourn the escape of their prey; but within moments they probably began to set out again, looking for their next dinner, since this one was missed.
Setting into lighter waters, they made it back over the lip where the remains of their battle with the massive native wormlike-creature had taken place. By then, It'ak'an had let go of the pordish craft, using the momentum to shoot himself to his own craft, clambering in and shutting the canopy- within moments, the water was drained out, though everything was still wet, and the air pumped with Co2, Nitrogen, and other gasses.
Their radios quickly rung loudly as they exited the region of blackout, their respective parties calling out to them to respond-
"It'Ak'An, Respond immediatley!" called out some radio-operator back on the Kel'thulian fleet, in a warbly yet squeaky tone that alluded to false, faked distress, to try and sound urgent.
"This is Itakan, reporting in; we were forced to enter an area of communications blackout to rescue a man overboard who was injured in a rockslide. Deepest apologies for the wait, fleet command."
"Understood, alert us next time. Return to the fleet and drop off any injured, we'll send a new team in to take your place."
He let out a wet, warbly 'sigh', and responded: "Understood, fleet command. It'ak'an, on steady route."
Talsiit's gaze fades into view as Halyn clears the rocky lip. dull waterthrumming moans from his machine and dies in softening chorus as he comes to a stop. The stocky Pord throws himself out of the driver's seat; his feet sink into the pebbled mud of the bottom for a brief moment.
"By his trident," Talsiit exclaims, "you have her!"
Halyn nods. "I do" - he opens the cargo hold of his machine - "we are back."
After fumbling for a few minutes he pulls a medical kit from the trunk.
"Scanner is still in working order," he says. "You will need to program it, Talsiit. Never used one of these."
Talsiit peers over Halyn's shoulder. "You know there's a reason I'm not a doctor," he chides, "but alright." He looks at the device for a moment, then says: "looks like just a low level scanner. Nothing to program. Point it at Tryna."
Halyn shifts to face her. The scanner powers up and seconds later indicates it is done, then he takes the nanite syringe from the medical kit and glances at the indicators along its side. Good, he privately sighs, they match.
"Crude, but it will do," Talsiit says.
Halyn nods and injects the solution. "Let's head to the surface," he says. "No sense in staying here."
Talsiit shakes hit head. "I will continue work here," he says. "I won't depart just yet. You go."
"Alright," Halyn says. "We'll regroup later."
The comment draws a nod from Talsiit who now stands closer to the edge. The various landslides and rockalanches have shifted the walls and caverns considerably, and even through the dim murk the tell-tale form of a new passage appears to have opened some distance from them. Talsiit eyes it squinting, and turns his attention to the Kel'thulians:
"I've spotted a new path," he says. "When you are settled, it may provide us with useful data."
"Understood, sent all the appropriate words to the fleet. Since the rest of my people returned some time ago, I alone will accompany you," responded It'ak'an, his craft powering up and moving alongside the machine of Talsiit. The bright spotlights of the mini-sub flickered on, illuminating more of the rocks in an ominous orange-white glow.
"I see the path as well. I'll lead us in, stay close behind," he briefly stated over the comms once again, the waterjets pushing his craft forwards at a moderate pace, little microjets of bubbly water maneuvering him around rocks and hanging spears of stone grown long ago from the ceiling of the cavern. The new path was- at first- tight and weaving, the darkness of it giving it a bad omen of things to come, the orangey lighting not helping.
"Sonar says the path will open up again in about fifty to a hundred metres. I'm going to fire a sonar beacon into the rockwall so we can find the entrance again on our way back."
He stopped speaking and his craft slowed, the path beginning to widen slowly but surely. The nose of the minisub pitched to the side slightly, before a burst of bubbles shot out, and a metal spike speared itself into the rocky wall, leaving cracks and emitting a soft-spoken ping on their displays, artificially marked by Itakan as "exit tunnel", and being a constant on their Sonars.
"I can see the opening up ahead. Keep moving, and we'll be out of here in a few moment's time."
Tryna's fate sits in his mind floating within the shallows of contemplation where ruminations surface or never leave; he treads within them reluctantly while in the wake of It'ak'an - moving want-to-doly past ominous rocks and through the muddy-orange dimglow of the Kel'thulian's headlights.
She will be fine, he ultimately concedes. And the admission comes as messenger of another truth: the pivotality of It'ak'an to her retrieval... Which gives levity to his thoughts. His worriment fades within this revelation; many of the void would not assist so. A measure of contentment washes over him and as the path narrows, he returns his attention to the mission at hand.
"Yes, it does open up," he agrees - though his active scanners still reveal only so much. This in particular threatens to be the most interesting discovery on this world thus far. A return most certainly will be in order. He angles around a stoney spire hanging from the ceiling down to the floor, then throttles down to a halt.
"Some of these formations almost seem constructed," he says. "I've seen my share of cities in these sort of depths. This feels very familiar."
His gaze falls upon the cavern walls. A dull humming-thrum rises as he accelerates from halted and the dingy aura from their headlights drips into the abyss, but as the duo move onward reflections bounce back at them from metallic objects in the walls and floor.
"I... I think this just might be the remains of something," Talsiit concludes. His words pour with swiftness and the distinct declarative forcefulness of someone met by the familiar. "Here," he says, "here's the opening you spotted."
A powerful current roars to life from the drives of his machine once more. He follows It'ak'an who now only leads by a few feet; light cascades out from the opening - silhouetting them against the walls in its glare - joined by a hint of outflow, but they fight against these and press past the opening.
And when they do, Talsiit musters only three words:
"By this Trident..!"
Followed by a similar utterance by Itakan:
"Stars be blessed..."
Talsiit and Itakan went through the opening into the cavern, and were both struck by sheer awe. Instead of an empty, desolate darkness, they were met with a glowing beauty. The whole cavern was filled with bioluminescent life, and the rock walls of the cave had grown around what seemed like a gargantuan ribcage, outer layers of bone replaced by minerals over millenia of resting.
What looked like a skull laid at the top of the cage, with a long, slender face, filled with a deathly grin of teeth-although dozens of them were missing. beyond the ribcage there seemed to be a collapsed portion of rock where a tail might have rested once. Each tooth was nearly the size of one of the pair's machines, and the skull could easily fit them.
Around the body, fish glowing with blues and yellows swam around amongst flowing fungal plants covered in the same bright bioluminescence. Predators hunted smaller fish as they escaped beneath corals and plants and smaller sub-caves, and anemone flowed in the gentle current of cool water.
"We've discovered a whole isolated biosphere in here," Itakan commented, before willing his submarine to stop and begin recording footage. "This is wondrous..."
Talsiit gives light acceleration to his machine. It floats forward. Some paces ahead (no more than a few), its clip lessens to a stop. Thus halted, he dismounts.
"Yes, very impressive," he agrees.
His eyes wander about the chamber from the plants dressing it to the creatures ducking in and around them. The skeleton piques his interest the most, however, and he allows himself to focus upon it the longest.
In the wake of moments passed he turns to his machine. He opens the cargo hold and retrieves a few capsules and a scanner.
"I'd like to get a few samples," he says, "along with good data to analyze."
He tosses the scanner towards the middle of the chamber and it sinks into the soft bottom. it touches down silently and goes to work while Talsiit fills his capsules with a variety of samples.
And while collecting, his mind gives way to rumination. "The way this skeleton is arranged reminds me of a grave," he says, "I wonder if-"
He stops short of finishing the thought. More metal glinting (like the walls leading to the chamber) catch his eye - in particular, one reflective area brighter than the rest. He swims up to it and brushes off the excess grime of the bottom.
"Come look at this," he says to It'ak'an.
Exiting from the miniature submarine, It'ak'an nods to Talsiit: "I agree, we should take some samples."
He takes in the vibrancy of the plants, animals, and creatures moving about in the massive chamber. There was an unnatural beauty about it, something was off... Then Talsiit spoke, and he brushed it away. Itakan swam briskly over towards the Pordish man and eyed the reflective area he was talking about. Immediatley, he noted that something was off, but couldnt quite make it out from a distance. Once he got closer though, it became quite apparent.
Talsiit nods to It'ak'an as he nears, and when the Kelthulian comes up alongside the Pord, Talsiit reaches out towards the glinting metal and presses on it firmly. It gives way to his shove and a door opens in the wall; only darkness peers back at them through the gaping maw but Talsiit casts a glance over to his companion with a questioning craning of his neck.
"Looks like there's far more here," Talsiit says. "I will go through."
He makes good on his words nearly as soon as they are said. With zero hesitation, he swims back towards his machine, then powers through the door, and emerges swiftly out to the far side. After extending away from the entrance, he turns back towards the door to drown it in light from his machine.
"It's... Some sort of crypt or church," he says. "But it's not the only building here. There are a lot more."
The myriad buildings extend out above, below, and to either side of his door built, seemingly, into the side of a sheer cliff, but little hint of the distant bottom reveals itself to Talsiit. His scanners return impossible depths below him; he registers this reality, but elects to ignore it. He knows there is little to be gained from looking down: the abyss does not abide; the abyss does not divulge.
"There is far too much to analyze right now. We should head back," he suggests.
At the request of his colleague, the Kelthulian swam about in the depths and nabbed various samples of plantlife, silt, and creatures akin to fish or crustaceans. The capsules he filled were strewn neatly inside his submarine's tiny cargo hold, and he hopped in it's cockpit right as Talsiit exited the structure.
"I'd like to have a look at the inside myself before we take leave, but after that- Ascending would be for the best."
It'ak'an's submarine swiftly dove into the room- taking a few sonar readings and photographs of the crypt-like structures. Chandeliers of floating bone and stone hanging from the roofs of artificial caves. Ceremonial items strewn about and left disorganized by the once-stagnant waters inside being brushed with a suddent current.
Once he exited, he gave a confirming word to Talsiit, and began manouvering his submarine towards the exit to the secret cave they had found themselves in. The pair rise and exit the luminescant cave and back into the cold, nigh-lifeless inky depths that they had come from. Back through dark tunnels, and once more over the deep cliff that Tryna had slipped down- when the titanic creature had paid them assault.
"We should be arriving back at the cavern's entrance soon, backtracking sonar readings place us a few turns away from the mouth." The kel'thulian spoke over their communications systems. Nearer to this Surface-beneath-the-Surface, the water had grown from an ink-black to a deep, brumous blue, flecks of sparkling starlight peeking around the cave's corners, fought back by powerful, intense shadows.
They were almost finished with their expedition into the deep.
Talsiit's mind rushes with thoughts of the deep as they make their way back through the twisting turning caverns. An ancient civilization lived here once; there is no telling what secrets might be found in the deepest reaches of its depths. The thought fills him with excitement - it means they have reason to return, and when they do, they will come with better preparation. And hopefully, with more luck... Which reminds...
Tryna's plight banishes the warmth of excitement from his mind.
He says nothing more to the Kel'Thulian as they ascend through the water column. Things could have gone better. They will go better, he says privately, I will ensure it. The declaration is, perhaps, selfish (who else, after all, can defeat misfortune but me?), yet he allows it purchase all the same. If nothing else, it may spur him to greater action down the line.
They near the entrance to the tunnels and he realizes he lost track of time during the ascent. They make good speed, and as he reaches the imposing maw, he sends his regards to the Kel'Thulian but does not wait for a reply before hitting the throttle - freedom! - and angling towards the waiting Pordish exploratory flotilla.