Deep Trouble Part 1: Intro
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The whine of the Triton's engines assaulted Richard Moljourn's ears as he quickly suited up into his glistening armor. They had gotten the call a few hours ago that a Barracuda had shot down a large Aquatoid vessel off the coast of Antarctica and they had scrambled to the nearest Triton Class Transport vessel. Rich had been drinking coffee when the alarm klaxxon began to blare and had jumped so high that his coffee fell into his lap. Drying off his crotch with a towel he quickly ran to his locker and pulled out his flight suit and his favorite weapon, a sonic pistol he called Betsie. Running up the metal gang plank he quickly filed into the nearest drop seat. As the shock bar came down and the Triton was dropped into the Sub Gate by the mechanical maintenece arm Rich quickly read the counter on his pistol, the familiar 20 popped up on the digital display. Rich leaned back into the chair and sighed as the triple turbines on the Triton whirred and the lights dimmed momentarily. Closing his eyes he awaited the usual shuddering of the troop compartment.
The compartment shuddered violently as the Triton left the inner floodgates and headed out to the outer lock. There was a loud grinding sound as the outer door slid open and the cold seawater flowed instantly through the Triton's cooling system. The turbines increased speed and the Triton flew from the sea bay. Ever so slowly the shuddering in the cabin ceased and the constant whine of the Triton's turbines invaded every recess of the small, cramped crew compartment. Rich opened his eyes as he heard the cabin door open and Captain Stacy Henrick walked out into the main cabin. Her call sign had been deemed "Patch" at an early time because of her large, black patch-like tattoo around her left eye. Rich straightened out as she surveyed the crew.

"Listen up people we got us a situation here". she said. "Barracuda Omega shot down a large Aquatoid supply carrier several hours ago and let's just say we need to go in and clean up any "unnecessary" visitors " she grinned.

The men let out a reassuring cheer as Captain Stacy released the shock bar control rod and ordered the men to suit up. Getting up, Rich made his way over to a sleek black locker, large enough for a man to fit into.
He entered the numbers 9-6-82 , his birthday, and the door popped open to reveal a large, glittering suit of gold colored alloy. The Magnetic Ion Armor was a relatively new piece of equipment, it had only been in use for several weeks. The science nerds in Bio-Lab had finished research on it relatively quickly and had rushed it into production. This was one of the benefits of being an Ensign, you always get to test all of the new technology that the lab boys throw at you. Rich finished putting on his final piece of armor and set his helmet on the floor for a moment so that he could strap on his hydro pack which he could use to levitate above the ocean floor. No sooner than he had set his helmet on the ground than the ship listed and pitched to one side. Rich and everyone else who hadn't managed to grab a hold of some sort of brace fell to one side of the cabin. In a heap of arms and legs Rich managed to dig his way out and find his helmet. Clamping it down atop the socket on the neck of his armor he gave it a sharp turn to the left it clicked into place. He turned on his radio and was assaulted by the loud voices of the pilots.

"hit... we are under attack be a Aquatoid light fighter we need immediate assistance, I repeat we are 100 miles off of the coast of Antarctica in quadrant C6 by B12 we need immediate air support" the Pilot wailed into the com link.

"We're sorry mate we are unable to send any air support at this time, all of our Barracudas are either in repair or out on another mission". the Australian Base Controller replied.

The pilot cussed violently and then told his copilot to land at the crash site and then prepare for an immediate departure. He heard coughing next to him and Rich looked over to see Clarince Drake sitting on the floor shivering. He got up suddenly when he saw Rich there in full body armor. Rich pointed the Clarince's locker and he obeyed. He opened the door and donned his Aqua Plastic armor suit, not as elegant as Rich's suit but still useful for combat missions. Accompanied by the rest of the crew Rich took control and ordered them to don their armor and prepare for an extremely violent drop.

Captain Henrick walked in pushing a cart with a vast array of weapons on it. After a quick salute the crew immediately took to taking their weapons of choice. Rich had already holstered "Betsie" but felt the need to take a Sonic Rifle just in case. Slinging the weapon over his shoulder he walked over to the aft bay door where Captain Henrick had finished suiting up and was about to begin her pep speech. Rich was impressed by how many of the troops had kept their armor. A lone Coelacanth Aqua Jet Cannon lye next door waiting for the Captain to jump in. The Captain, helmet under her arm, raised her hand for silence and the chatter stopped instantly. Rich opened his ear slits so that he could hear the Captain's message.

"Okay people this isn't going to be the standard textbook drop and scatter, we are gonna need to move the instant this crate hits the floor. We got and Aquatoid bucket following us and we don't have time to fool around, understood?" the Captain shouted.

"Yes, Ma'am!" the crew shouted in unison.

The pilot began a landing countdown and turned on the outboard running lights. The emergency alarm blared as the Aquatoid fighter again took a shot at the Triton. Rich's stomach began to turn in anticipation. His ears popped when his suit compensated for the outside pressure as the ship dropped lower into the depths of the murky ocean. Rich swallowed as he saw Captain Henrick punch the button labeled pressurize. The floor gurgled and water began to flow into the compartment. Rich closed his ear ports and turned on his internal display lights. He saw Henrick jump into her tank and quickly close the hatch just as the water flowed over the top.

Deep Trouble Part 2: Touchdown

The Triton hit the ocean floor with amazing force and Rich was nearly knocked off his feet. His speaker was filled with the confident cries of young rookies who had no idea what they were getting into. The Captain's tank rolled out onto the sandy ocean bottom ahead of the platoon and turned on her floodlights. There, ahead of them loomed the shadowy carcass of a large Aquatoid vessel. The silence of the ocean was broken by the immediate departure of Triton. The Aquatoid Fighter payed no attention to the troops on the ground and kept in pursuit of the Triton. The young rookies crowded around the Captain's tank awaiting orders. Rich just kept marching forward, tightly clutching the rifle in his hands. When things got tense he kept checking the ammo reading, always that glowing 15 kept him going. Checking all angles Rich cautiously approached a small piece of the vessel that must have been torn off in the crash.

He peered around the corner into the small room, it couldn't have been more than 10 feet big inside so Rich didn't have much trouble locating the computer's main access port. Typing in a few memorized commands he waited for a report. The ship had been assigned to a secret mission, not even the main computer would tell him what it was about. The ship was operating at 20% power and all of that had been redirected to a the science lab on the third level. Rich raised an eyebrow and consulted his logic to tell him what this meant. The aliens had to have been using the lab for something very important. He tapped a few buttons on his wrist keypad and a small rod with a tapered edge extended from Rich's wrist. He inserted it into the small hole just below the key symbols on the alien's keyboard. He downloaded the alien's computer core and then tapped his communicator on his wrist.

"Captain Henrick, Captain this is Richard, are you there?" Rich spoke.

"Go ahead Ensign" the Captain replied.

"Captain, I have located the Alien's computer core and have downloaded it. It appears as though they have all of their remaining energy focused around one of their remaining science labs on the third level of their vessel. They have something going on in there and we need to find out what" Rich explained.

The Captain acknowledged and plotted a coarse according to Rich's transponder signal. He heard the chatter of overzealous rookies giving away unnecessary information to anyone who might be listening. Rich walked outside of the pod and awaited the captain. That's when he saw the small, large headed Aquatoid moving through the coral just to his left. He raised his rifle, before the creature had a chance to react Rich unloaded 2 shots in it's direction. He heard the familiar high pitched wail of the Aquatoid as it clutched it's stomach and fell down, crushing several coral spines with it's heavy body. Rich began to turn away when he saw the creature twitch several times and squeal repetitively. It shook violently, then it's body began to split in two. From the carcass emerged a small gillman. It noticed Rich and lunged for him. Rich pulled Betsie out of his quick release holster and shot several times. The sonic bolts shredded the soft, supple flesh of the creature. What was left of it drifted to the bottom and and dissolved into the seabed. He was about to start running for the Captain's tank but she had already arrived.

"C-captain did you see that?" James studdered.

"Yes, I drove up just as you had pulled your gun. Looks like old Betsie saved your ass again huh?" she chuckled.

Rich reholstered Betsie and joined the march towards the Aquatoid vessel. He was thinking of a hot cup of coffee when a rookie behind him started screaming and firing wildly at a patch of high rising coral. His fire was matched with a high pitched wine. He grabbed his throat and turned towards rich, blood spilling out into the murky water. Rich could just see the horror in his eyes as his suit filled up with water and he slowly drowned. His body went limp and fell to the ocean floor, swaying back and forth in the current. Rich's mouth dropped as a pair of Gillmen stepped out onto the seabed next to the downed aquanauts. Rich shouted into his communicator and leveled his rifle on the first Gill Man. His gun whined the the Gillman exploded in a dark cloud of blood and guts now turned into putty. The other Gillman turned towards Rich and sneered. Before the creature could depress the trigger a large harpoon slammed into itŐs leathery chest. The creature flailed it's arms wildly and tried to pull the rod out. It was quickly silenced by the metal dart that flew in through it's head and came out the other side, through it's reddened eye. He turned and saw the ominous figure of the Captain's Coelacanth Tank and a gold suited figure on the tank's running board, gun still extended.

"Thanks for the save Cap. Who is that there on the tank with ya?" Rich asked panting.

"Just me sir, little ol' Seaman Jamie Cox." a cheery woman said.

Rich chuckled into his comlink and headed for the young cadet. He reached out his hand and patted her on the back. He could see her giddy grin from behind her faceplate. He walked to the other side of the tank and latched onto the other running board post. The light inside of the tank's window revealed that Captain Henrick was sweating. Rich shook his head and then thought to himself. The Captain couldn't be scared, could she?
The tanks reactor powered up and it sped away towards the ever increasing form of the sunken vessel. Rich tapped his computer on his wrist and checked to see if the computer had managed to crack the alien's computer files. The computer screen just flashed No, sorry not just yet Rich. Damn personality chip Rich thought. He kept a watch to the right side of the tank and ocassionally saw a glint of metal move throughout the tall coral formations. He finally got fed up with waiting and threw a magna grenade into the coral. The explosion nearly knocked Rich and Jamie off of the tank.

Deep Trouble Part 3: Ultimate Deception

The Captain and Jamie both looked over at Rich and he just shrugged and pointed to the number of alien bodies that had drifted out onto the path, the result of his grenade. Jamie gave him a thumbs up and Captain Henrick smiled and pointed to her lieutenant's bar on her uniform. Ah promotions, how good it feels to get another bar, Rich thought. The trio pressed on only to be stopped several meters up the crash path by a pack of Lobster Men patrolling the entrance to the main door of the vessel. They were fighting over a fish one of them had in their claw. Captain Henrick moved her fingers left then right and Rich and Jamie took up flanking positions on either side of the Coelacanth tank. Captain Henrick turned on her HUD and watched as a very faint reticle appeared on the main window. She positioned it just above the pack of squabbling creatures. She sighed and depressed the trigger.

With that the tank surged and a bubbling vortex of air shot away from the tiny craft. The creatures looked up just in time to see the explosive head impact the metal and explode. Captain Henrick signaled and Rich and Jamie charged forward, sonic rifles leveled. Jamie was the first to encounter resistance, a Lobster man that was pinned up under a metal pylon grasped her armor and pulled her towards it. James pulled Betsie from her holster and unloaded 3 shots into it's arm. A loud, deafening wail followed as the clawed arm fell to the ocean floor. Jamie smiled at him and continued forward towards the dark, gaping hole Captain Henrick had blown into the ship. Rich and Jamie simultaneously switched on their helmet cams. The isolated shards of light stabbed into the darkness, penetrating into the vessel.

The ghostly image of shattered equipment assaulted their eyes as they carefully stepped through. The body of a dead Aquatoid startled Jamie as she stopped to exam some still functioning computer terminals. It had been sheared in half by a pylon, that had obviously fallen during the crash. She leaned down on the panel and began to type in some Alien symbols that she had been taught in the X-Com refresher course. The screen displayed the awkward symbols in one line. The main power systems were being re-energized by some unknown method and by now the second and third levels had been pumped free of water. Rich looked over his shoulder and noticed to Jamie examining the body.

"Jamie, quit playing doctor with 'that', I need your help". Rich barked.

She jerked up and headed for him, anger flaring in her eyes. Rich pointed to the pressure door sealing them off from the second floor. He motioned to her backpack and she nodded inside of the helmet. She retrieved a small cylindrical bomb. She twisted the end and then attached it to the door. Her and Rich bolted for the door just as the counter started to countdown from 10. The explosion was dampened by their outside sound proofing but it was still quite loud. As the debris cleared and the door fell off of the and they could see the yellowed light from a cloning chamber above. Rich tapped his communicator and began to speak, but was cut off by a sharp whine. Dammit, freakin' Aliens jamming it, he thought. He turned to go to the door but it sealed before he could reach it. He mouth dropped and he turned to Jamie who was being carried off by her arms, a Lobster Man freakishly grinning at him. Her feet kicking she failed to wrest herself from the monsters grip.

"Dammit those bastards tricked us!" he cussed.

Jamie's eyes were wide with fright as she was taken up the stairs, unable to help herself. Rich ran for the stairs and was greeted by a Gill Man, Thermal Shok Launcher in hand. The last thing Rich saw before he felt his body shudder and collapse was the almost demonic grin on the monster's face. Several Aquatoid medics ran down the stairs and picked up Rich's carcass and hauled it into the dry room. Rich's mind floated in an empty void, random images popping up. He tried to think of a way to get out but the emptiness wouldn't let him. Instead the memory came back, of that December night back in the beginning of the war. The bodies lying around him, the Aliens dragging still conscious human victims in their massive Harvesting ships. Nicole was bleeding when he picked her up. His fiance Nicole was a Frenchwoman who loved adventure. They had both been recruited by X-Com through Interpol. They had gotten the call that morning, Aliens were swarming a small town in the Swedish mountains. The Skyranger had landed on a pile of bodies and they had rushed to help a reported group of civilians that were actually pushing back the aliens. When they had gotten there the civilians were all Ok but under the control of Ethereals, so they opened fire on the squad. They had to kill them all or they would have died themselves. Nicole lay on the ground next to him. coughing and holding a hole in her ribcage. She looked up at him, fear in her eyes. He knelt down beside her and pulled out her medpack that lay in her twisted backpack on the ground. He gave her anesthetics and picked her up.

He threw her over his shoulder and began to hike back to the Skyranger. Halfway there she cried out and coughed the words "let me down". Her chin and lips were covered with blood and each cough produced more. Her ribs had obviously punctured her lungs. Her arms around his neck she died while reciting their favorite song. He looked to the right and saw the guilty farmer there, tears in his eyes. He raised his pistol and the man began to run. He had slain him before he reached the road.

He groaned and began to see a slit of light. Moving his eyelids slowly he began to see more and more of his surroundings. He was in a tank, floating in some sort of blue liquid. Small Aquatoids moved about outside, tapping controls and chattering to one another. He saw Jamie across the room, her naked body floating in reddish gel. She had a grimace on her face as if she was in pain. His armor and weapons lay on a tray in the middle of the room, several Gill Men were examining it. He tried to move but found he couldn't. His arms were bound to the glass by thin metal wires that tightened everytime that he moved. An Aquatoid looked up at him and noticed he was awake. He signaled the others to come to see. Soon 10 big headed Aquatoids were staring at his stark naked body through the glass. He heard one speak...