The Sea of Surrender

Posted on Sun Aug 30th, 2020 @ 5:41pm by Lieutenant Avery Paxton III

Mission: Nothing To Fear...
Location: USS Wayfarer
Timeline: Day 1 after "Mysterious Warnings"

:ON:

“Coffee, black.” Avery took the hot mug that appeared from the replicator. The coffee was comforting, like a warm blanket on a winter's night, as she sipped it to calm her nerves from the earlier incident. She had never experienced a hallucination before and she hoped the previous episode in engineering would be a one time event.

Satisfied that her mental state had returned to normal, she walked back to her desk and finished reviewing the latest diagnostic reports. Impulse engine efficiency numbers were superb, warp engine tests were showing a maximum output of four thousand and one teradynes per second, the compositor was recrystallizing dilithium at the prescribed rate. She had a diagnostic started on the magnetic containment field and the computer systems, just to make sure nothing was missed. Everything was running smoothly. Yet Avery couldn’t shake the feeling that something was wrong.

She moved her foot across the floor as she adjusted her position in her chair. It felt spongy and wet. She looked down. The floor was soaked with water. She scanned the office to find the source and suddenly the whole room rocked violently, as if she were on an old earth naval vessel that had just been struck by a torpedo. Her office walls turned battleship gray and the door was replaced by a square hatch with a wheel. Water started rapidly rising from the floor. Avery quickly made for the door, but it had been closed and the wheel was spinning to lock it in place. She was trapped.

Avery had been here before. This was a nightmare that had plagued her dreams on a rare occasion ever since she had read her great great grandfather’s memoir about being on a sinking naval vessel at sea. Had she somehow fallen asleep at her desk? She wondered, but it felt too real to be a dream.

The icy black water was up to her chest; she had limited time left. Avery swam towards the hatch that had been sealed, opening it would be her only hope. She took a deep breath and submerged. The icy water stung as it covered her whole body. Avery grabbed the wheel and summoned every ounce of strength she could muster to turn it. After a full minute with no progress, she returned to the surface for a breath.

Her breathing rate increased as the cold water’s effects started taking hold. She had no choice but to try again and by her calculations, she had only approximately two minutes left before the room was completely underwater.

The lights flickered as the water continued to rise, and then, darkness. The lights were gone. She took another breath, went under water and felt her way to the hatch. Forty five seconds passed and her efforts to open the hatch remained unsuccessful.

Avery returned to the surface, with only two inches of air remaining between the top of the water and roof of the room. Terror crept in as she realized there was no escape. She took her final breath as the water reached the ceiling and then she was submerged in the black watery pit.

With what strength she had left, Avery tried everything she could. She kicked the wall, tried to unseal the hatch once more, nothing. Finally, with her strength and oxygen depleted, she surrendered to the water.

Just then, the lights returned and the cold, salty, water was gone. Avery found herself sitting at her desk, dry as a desert. She clutched her chest as she gasped for the breath she had lost a moment earlier.

After a few minutes, she had calmed down and started to rationalize what just happened. If it was all a dream, then why was I gasping for air and why do I feel exhausted? What was it that Tyvok had asked earlier? If there were any psionic crew members on board. But why could any of the crew do this? Her mind was rambling through the possibilities.

She paused as the memory of this morning’s briefing on the prisoner they were transporting emerged. The pieces started to fit together. Lord Chaos.

:OFF: