round 14 LtCmdr Rennyn, "Go Wireless"

[+ Salkath]

((Asavii Exploration Craft Zelsinger))

::Ren's eyes squinted as he took in the new information Captain Renos relayed over the comms. The Trill was to join another of the small exploration groups, so Renos and others could work out the diplomatic situation back on Darwin. Ren still hadn't met Captain Renos. He hadn't seen any more of the Darwin than the transporter room. He also didn't know the team members he'd be working with.::

::Despite all that, Ren's Trill curiosity made him want to find out the secrets of Skarlozent. He was eager to explore.::

Thomas: Alright, well you heard the Captain. Thanks for your help Rennyn, and keep me informed of any exciting developments with your new team.

Rennyn: I will, sir. ::He stood, and looked around at Thomas, Valdivia, Alekos and Manius.:: See you all back on Darwin very soon. Good luck out here.

::He thought about asking Manius for some last minute advice dealing with his underwater panic, or maybe some medication to take with him just in case. But he didn't want to sound any more foolish in front of the others than he already had. So, with a stiff upper lip, he went to the back compartment to prepare for transport.::

::At least he was transporting to another ship, the one Renos' team had been on. It's not like he was just plunging out into the depths of the ocean, right?::

((Sunken Facility, Skarlozent, Asav))

::Ren materialized in the depths of the ocean.::

::If a heart rate has ever jumped so fast as the underinformed Trill's did at that moment, medical science would be hard-pressed to prove it.::

Rennyn: I misunderstood the mission parameters!

::He wasn't used to panicking. He was accustomed to staying cool and calm. Especially when on duty, he liked to think of himself as a collected, composed, well-organized professional. Not a cat in a bathtub. But here, in the giant bathtub that was the planet Asav, Ren possessed all the scrambling, frenzied qualities of the universe's wettest felines.::

::Quickly, he tried to get his bearings. He looked left and right, up and down, moving his whole head, shoulders and neck in the bulky EV suit. He remembered Manius' admonition to breathe, and he sucked air deeply in and out of his lungs, afraid of hyperventilating, afraid of not ventilating at all.::

::He limbs scurried through the water desperately. He was no swimmer, beyond the occasional dunk in the old swimming hole deep in the back forest at the farm. Even there, with his brothers and sisters diving off the steepest bank they could find, he'd tended to stay in the knee-deep shallows, pretending to look for interesting rocks, as if there were any rocks anywhere that were interesting.::

::Ren breathed, and breathed, and tried not to flail too widely. But now his leg was caught on something. No, no, he thought. Something has my leg! He pulled frantically, yanking the leg away from whatever it was, somehow making the thing, thin and tentacle-like, coil more tightly around his ankles, his calves.::

Rennyn: Let me go!!

::He tumbled around in the water, reaching for the tentacles with his hands, until his arms were trapped, too. The more he fought it the more it wrapped around him. His breathing was wild, and in his panic, he could barely see.::

::A forced calm was all he could do. Sovak, that dang backwards-brained Vulcan he was plagued with, would have told him to cling to rational thought in the face of greatest danger. Or some such pointy-eared nonsense. But Ren knew it was right, and tried to reach through his own panic to find something logical to hold on to.::

::Holding on. His hand had been gripping one of the tentacles this whole time, and it slowly occurred to him that the tentacle hadn't moved. It was hard, dense and ropy. The lights built in to his suit illuminated it just enough for him to see. Ren stopped struggling, feeling foolish once again.::

Rennyn: It's cable. It's nothing but a gol-durned coaxial cable. Didn't These People Have Wireless!?

::His own struggles had trapped him. His own panic about being underwater had put him in danger, just as he'd known it would.::

::As he sheepishly unraveled himself from the cables he'd twisted himself up in, a horrifying thought came to the worked up Trill. As standard operation, before transporting, he'd turned on his comms and tied them in to the other team members he was transporting to. Chances were, they'd just heard all of that. His heart sank a hundred fathoms, and his yelling voice was replaced with a soft, professional, artificially calm tone.::

Rennyn: =/\=Lt. Commander Rennyn to Jellico and Iy. I have joined you near your location.=/\=

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Lieutenant Commander Rendal Rennyn

HCO Officer

USS Darwin NCC-99312-A

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