Tide Pools

Posted on Mon Jan 16th, 2023 @ 10:51am by Fleet Captain Maxwell Culver & Lieutenant JG Aurora House of Kor & Lieutenant S'Tera & Director Roman s'Lovok PhD
Edited on on Tue Jan 24th, 2023 @ 1:13am

3,542 words; about a 18 minute read

Mission: Mission One: Goodwill Tour [Part One]
Location: Golden Towers: North Beach
Timeline: MD7: 0930 hours

Max had applied sunscreen against the sun, dressed in his small swim suit - black with red trim at the top and four golden squares sewn on to represent his rank. Instead of a combadge, Max wore a timepiece with communication capabilities. As always when outside, he had his sunglasses on.

The ocean waves were fierce this morning due to the moons, but the north beach of Golden Tower had tide pools that were protected from the massive swells. Now, per their charter, Max had taken the science team to explore the tide pools.

He knelt down and touched the chronometer which displayed the current salinity of the tide pool, the four different forms of alien life - and hundreds of microscopic plankton and bacteria - before registering a Terran animal.

Max smiled as he reached down into the pool and the octopus wrapped his small tentacles around his wrist. Lifting the octopus out of the water, he said, “Good Morning, Tom. Anything interesting to see here?”

Max’s tricorder information changed, showing him what Tom the octopus had discovered this morning already. It was twice the work Max had done, to be honest. “Alright, show off! I’ll get back to work.” Max laughed as he leaned down and let Tom go back to scouring the tide pools.

Aurora wore a blue one piece with a ruffled skirt for modesty. She was having a BLAST running around investigating tidepools, the ocean itself, and just EVERYTHING! Aurora was on cloud nine with happiness! "Captain, this place is AMAZING!" Aurora squealed in absolute bliss.

Max could feel the excitement and joy coming from the ensign. He could sense her as a bright yellow this morning. He smiled at her excitement and then waved to her.

S'tera wore shorts and a tank top. "Ok Auroa. Let's see what we can find! This place looks awesome!" She was very excited to check out the tidal pools. They were teaming with all sorts of life! This promised to be a very productive day! Her tail flicked excitedly at the prospect of what she might find!

"Yes!" Aurora nodded as she stepped into one of the tidepools, sighing in contentment that she was able to reconnect with her Homeworld in a small way.

Life was grand, he gained a Director of Sciences job on a Seabase and Roman was full of excitement that he’d been exploring Triton’s scientific facilities and various databases that he’d not gotten much sleep.

He’d overslept this morning and when he’d awoken to a door chime, Roman scrambled up into a robe to answer the door. “Yes?” he greeted the science officer.

“Director, should you not be out with the Captain?” Lieutenant Declan queried. The human/Vulcan hybrid raised an eyebrow at his superior's untidy state.

Roman panicked, “Right! Oh dear. Thank you…” he rushed back into his quarters, which he’d failed to unpack his boxes from the Unstable Unicorn. He recalled they’d be exploring pools today. Swimmers! He mused and so put on his dark green shorts and a navy blue shirt before assembling a few equipment like a tricorder and PaDDs into a carry case.

He rushed out his quarters with the science officer trailing behind, Roman had asked Declan to buddy with him so to learn Starfleet protocols and regulations. The duo quickly made their way out of Triton and over the bridge to where the Captain, his Science team and the pools were.

Once they arrived Roman frowned. “Sorry Captain, for my lateness,” he said by way of greeting. “Hello Aurora and S’tera.”

Max nodded. “We’ll get that under control, won’t we?” Max said quietly enough that only Roman could hear. For all intents and purposes, this was his first day on the job.

"Huh? Oh, yeah, hi. I mean!" Aurora blanched as she realized how flippant she'd been.

"Good morning." S'tera said and returned to her work. 'I'm getting interesting scans from this pool, Aurora. Wow! Great stuff. I am loving this planet so far!" She looked over at Roman and Max. "guys, this is a great way to start the day! Man gonna be studying this for hours, maybe even days!" Her eyes were ablaze with excitement!

"Yes sir," Roman replied before he glanced over at the others. "Morning," he called back a little louder so they could hear. He pulled out his tricorder. "Most of these are interconnected." He commented with a smile. "And are a variety of depths."

“With a variety of life,” Max answered. “Some of them have trapped zooplankton and others have good sized aquatic life. Just be careful you don’t get bit,” Max warned with a smile.

“But we will need samples to study,” Roman said, “there’s only so much that you can learn from scans and observation.”

Declan had his hands behind his back, but when he brought them in front of him he was holding a large kit. It had sample containers, and various other mobile analysis devices Roman guessed would be inside when he saw it.

“Oh excellent, Lieutenant Declan, we should find a place to setup.” Roman suggested though, of course, glanced over at Max for approval.

Max nodded quietly. Roman hadn’t noticed that Max had his own small sample containers.

"Yes, sir!" Aurora bent down and gently picked up a sea urchin looking creature, giggling as it crawled around in her hands.

"Hello little one. What might your name be?" Aurora asked softly. "Oh, Ursula's a beautiful name!" Aurora cooed, gently running her fingers along Ursula's spines. "Ursula, would you be okay if we took you inside for awhile and studied what makes you you?" Aurora asked. Ursula wiggled some of her spines, and crawled into one of the containers, shifting about for a few seconds before settling down. Aurora added some tidal water, and set the container in a shady place before stepping into another pool.

Max moved toward Aurora. “I see you’re making friends, Ensign.” He couldn’t help but be intrigued. “Your abilities seem to have transferred here,” he added, happiness in his tone.

"Yep, it looks like it! Although, I will say that I was a bit surprised seeing as how she's not a Terrian Sea Urchin, but I guess that similar history means similar language," Aurora shrugged, just happy not to be a 'fish out of water'.

"Ursula is a nice name." Roman commented to Aurora as he passed by, he accepted one container from Declan and the two went to one of the other pools to check it out.

"It is. It kinda reminds me of that old Earth story about the mermaid and the sea witch," Aurora grinned as she picked up some seaweed type substance and put it in another container with some tide water.

S'tera raised an eyebrow in surprise. "You can actually communicate with them Aurora? That is very cool!"

"Yep! So far, it's only to Terrian/Terrian type animals...but it's fun!" Aurora giggled as a strange see-through Panda Butterfly type of fish nibbled at her toes.

"That is so cool Aurora!" S'terra said

“Just be cautious, Tom tells me this guy is cranky this morning,” Max said, lifting a palm sized crab from the water. “I’ll set him up in a darker container, he apparently has a headache.” It was a strange concept, talking to his octopus liaison, but he couldn’t say it wasn’t fun!

Roman glanced back at the Captain and raised an eyebrow. "A headache? It is swelling of the structures in the head and most life forms have one. I wonder how he will cope with the headache and if his species may have a way to treat it or..." His voice trailed off as he watched the Crustacean.

“Interestingly, Doctor, that’s what we’re here to find out. Maybe we can discover new treatments and new drugs, based on new marine plants and new marine life. Surely they have ways to treat themselves. I’m sure Tom can help us get down to some answers.”

"Max, are you really able to talk to Tom there?" S’tera asked. Captain Max stated their mission pretty well. Marine biology had a lot to offer medicine. It was up to them to figure it out.

Max laughed. “I can talk to Tom, but he doesn’t have vocal cords, so he sends me his notes and thoughts in real time.” Max tapped at his chronometer, which served as his communicator and holo-tricorder. “Everyone make sure you’re equipped with one of these for mission days.”

"I got one. I never leave home without it on mission days. Now would you explain how you can communicate with an octopus?" S'terra said.

“Oh! Well, Tom’s species has been sentient longer than humanity has existed. They’ve developed a language based on mathematics, body posture and chemical signals. It was actually them that taught Terrans how to communicate. Now, I just talk to him and he responds via his own tricorder.

“Without him and his team, this survey would take all week. Let’s just say, I’m looking forward to some wave action tomorrow.”

Aurora dunked her head into one of the deeper pools, taking a deep breath through her gills...then jerking her head out of the water, sputtering and swearing faster than the UT could process.

"Ugh! That water's NASTY!" Aurora screeched, shaking her head and trying to get the taste out of her gills and mouth.

S'terra had to laugh. "Well, Aurora, that's what you get for sticking your head in strange tide pools!" She really did like Aurora but this was funny!

"'That's what you get for sticking your head in strange tide pools'. Sputter, easy for you to say," Aurora wasn't mad really, but it was sure embarrassing to make a rookie mistake like that her first day!

Max smiled. “Salinity is higher than Earth or Aquadia. I’d recommend going a little slower next time. Give your system a few days, maybe a few weeks to adjust.”

"Sputter. No kidding. Bleck!" Aurora continued to sputter, shaking her head as she picked up an envelope shaped animal and put it in a container with water.

Max moved over to a cooler full of water. He also took a tablet from a sealed bag - time was passing so quickly that he needed the sunscreen boost. Otherwise the doctor would tut at him for burning in the sun. He drank the first bottle of water before refilling it and drinking a second. Dr. Graham would be equally annoyed if they came back dehydrated.

“Water break everyone. Besides, I think Aurora needs to flush the taste of ocean out of her mouth,” Max ordered.

Aurora huffed, pouting as she wandered over to the Captain and grabbed two bottles, one for her mouth and the other to clean her gills. "That's the one thing I could do without...acclimating to different Salinity levels," Aurora muttered as she poured the water over first one set of gills, then the other, thankfully clearing them in short order.

Roman rolled his eyes, first thing about science is test before you put yourself at risk. He frowned at the break order, he'd just arrived practically but hanging out in the open like this was pleasant. He glanced over at Declan and the Lieutenant was as usual neutral expression.

He knew it was a Vulcan thing but he suspected they could smile if he wanted to. Roman nodded to Declan then turned to the Captain. "Sir, how long will the break be?"

“As long as each person would like. I think I’m going to have something to eat and another bottled of water before I go back to exploring. Maybe after some food, Tom and I will get down into some of those deeper pools.”

The octopus climbed up Max’s ankle as if to agree. The suction cups tickled as they touched and then let go, making each contact a ticklish sensation.

Aurora giggled at Tom's antics. "You sure do like the Captain, don't you, Tom?" Tom looked at Aurora and changed from brown to red.

"Aw! Don't be embarrassed! It's a good thing to build relationships!" Aurora giggled as she gently stroked one of Tom's tentacles. Aurora finished a mango, then walked to one of the deepest tidal pools, got down on her knees, and slowly lowered her head into the water, wincing slightly at the salinity. After taking a few slow breaths, Aurora could at least tolerate the tang of the water, and lowered herself farther in, examining colorful life everywhere she turned. Before Aurora realized it, she was completely submerged, and there was a tunnel in front of her.

"As much as I want to go in there, I'm in a new place, not fully used to the salinity, and it could be dangerous, not to mention it could suddenly narrow and I could get stuck," Aurora thought as she reached her hand out to the tunnel entrance. A thing that looked like a fox with wings popped out, startling a string of bubbles out of Aurora. Then Aurora started to giggle as she headed back to the surface.

"Found a flying fox," Aurora giggled as she popped back up, shaking the water from her hair and eyes.

Leaving Declan to his own break though Roman knew he'd keep working, most Vulcans and Vulcan hybrids that he had encountered don't really want to have momentary breaks. So Roman opened the kit the Lieutenant had set down near them and it had several containers, a few tools for analysis, an analyzer and 2 water bottles.

Roman smiled and took the bottles out, offered one to Declan who accepted it and the two opened them, drank some before returning to surveying the pools.

"Very nice, Aurora. Let's see what else is in there. Hmm now this is interesting ?" S'tera grabbed what resembled a star fish but had more arms and a rock -like exterior! "Now this is a little different."

"Squeal! That's so cool! Ooooo...check this out!" Aurora touched S'tera's rock starfish thingy, then picked up, for lack of a better description, an octopus crossed with a crab toped with a frilly mohawk.

"Wow! That is crazy Aurora!" S'tera said

"Yeah...I have no idea what this thing is...HEY! Oh you little grumpy!" Aurora almost dropped the thing as it tried to pinch her. After roughly translating a persuasion so that the little grouch could understand that she didn't want to hurt it, just study it, Aurora put the little critter into a container with water and a nice little rock.

"Careful Aurora! Don't let it hurt you." Overall S'tera was enjoying this. The tidepools were full of marine life which meant lots of things to study. "So Max, does Tom have any suggestions as to any animals that might be interesting to us?"

“He’s only checked the shallow pools. He recommends looking in the deeper pools, but he also recommends caution. Not all the animals are as cute as your water fox.”

"Yes, Sir. Hm...I wonder if I can get any of the clam folk to talk," Aurora walked over to another pool, and slipped in. "Hello in there? Can we talk?" Aurora gently knocked on one of the shells. The shell slowly opened, then closed in a Morse Code type pattern. "Oh, I see! Ok...um...ok, there!" Aurora tapped a few shells, then after a few more taps, Aurora picked up three of the clams and put them in her dive bag before heading back to the surface.

"Nice trick Aurora. Morse code to talk to clams. That's one I've never seen before." S'tera said. "So what say we move to the deeper pools and check then out?"

"Yeah! You know something, I didn't even know that was a thing!" Aurora was super stoked about her latest discovery. Aurora walked over to a pool that was a dark blue, indicating that the water was even deeper than the pool where she had found the clams.

"Ok...one for the money, two for the show, three to get ready, and...SPLASH!" Aurora dove in, almost shrieking at how COLD the pool was! "Egads! That was unpleasant!" Aurora shivered before her body quickly adjusted to the water temperature.

"Hey! That thing looks like a rat crossed with a stingray!" Aurora giggled as the creature swam up to her. It blinked, then circled Aurora, blowing out bubbles as it swam. More joined in, and soon Aurora was in a bubble egg. "Yow! Hey, stop that!" Aurora yelped as barbs suddenly started hitting her from all sides. She tried to move, but the bubble egg had hardened! "Oh that does it! AAAAAA!" Aurora emitted a high-pitched scream, and the egg shattered into a million pieces. Aurora shot to the surface, gasping as she dragged herself out of the pool. "Do NOT go in there unless you wanna be a shishkabob!" Aurora panted, showing her poke-marked arms. Blood oozed from a few of the deeper marks.

"K'tal's claws aurora! Are you alright? Let me get the first aid kit. Don't do that! The last thing I want is for you to get hurt girl! Please be more careful!" S'tera said. Aurora was her friend and she did not like seeing her get hurt like this.

Max pulled on his specialty shoes, essentially trainers with extra grip on the bottom of the shoe. They ensured a slip free ability when walking on or climbing down the rocks. Max used the shoes to dip down into one of the deeper tide pools and it reminded him of rock climbing. Once he reached the water, it was cooler than expected because the sun didn’t reach down deep. Max reached down and Tom climbed into the water for a moment before returning to Max’s forearm.

Max checked his tricorder information, which told him Tom could sense a predator in waiting for a species like him. Max climbed back upwards until he found another shallow pool just about a meter above and it was empty, except for Tom now.

Climbing back down, Max pulled a pair of goggles over his eyes and placed a breather on his nose. Using this, Max swam down into the deep pool of water. His tricorder recording as he did. It wasn’t long before he met Tom’s predator; a large eel that reminded him of Earth’s Moray Eel, but much more colorful. He paused for a long time, reading the creature with his medical wand to confirm that a hunch. The eel was venomous but it didn’t seem to have any interest in Max, so he left it alone.

Instead, Max catalogued about a dozen new fish. He suddenly realized the pool was growing darker and he was getting colder. He swam up and removed his goggles and rebreather before climbing upward again. Tom latched onto his wrist as he continued his climb out.

Once out of the deep, dark pool, Max sat in the sun for a while. He hadn’t realized, but by the time he was in the sun, he was almost shivering from the dark pool. He hoped the ocean waters were warmer because the waves were meant to be gentler the next day and he had plans to go surfing on his day off.

Roman glanced over at Aurora and S'tera every so often to monitor them, at one point it was just the female Caitian. Aurora had likely gone into the deeper pools, he wondered about Ensign.

After some consideration he excused himself from working with Declan and came over to S'tera in time to see Aurora burst out of the pool's opening and out of it. She had injuries and so frowned. "Ensign, can you walk? Let's get you to Medical," he offered his hand as he knelt on one knee.

Aurora took Roman's hand with some difficulty. "Thank you, Sir...ow," Everywhere that the darts had pierced Aurora's skin was starting to sting.

"Please refrain from exploring too far without support in the future, you are Starfleet aren't you? There are protocols that you should be following are there not?" Roman firmly asked, so he hoped that she'd focus on something else but the pain so he could help her to Medical.

"Yes, Sir. There are, Sir. I'm sorry, Sir,"

"Thank you! That's what I've been trying to tell her. I admire that you want to explore the pools Aurora but not at the cost of your health and safety." S'tera said.

Aurora was to upset with herself and in too much pain to be mad at S'tera.

"Why didn't you stop her? Or call for assistance? Or go with her? There is gear you can wear." Roman said glancing up at the Caitian. "We know nothing of this world's fauna or flora and so there is danger at every turn. I shouldn't have to remind either of you of that. Yes we will explore but there's no rush, we will be here on Triton Seabase for a long time."

 

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