Oceanna Blue

She laughed for a moment, before crying softly as the Yamato began to shudder.

I'M SCARED

When no reply came, she cried harder.

Chapter Two

The feeling of her legs shifting jerked Captain Turner, or Sam as she decided to go by, awake. Gasping, she kicked at whatever was, only to send up a shower of water. Craning her eyes in the dark, Sam relaxed for a brief moment, before activating her helmet lamp. A beam of white-blue light shot out straight ahead and reflected off the far wall, illuminating the room. Blinking her eyes, she looked at the heads up display inside her helmet and activated the wide beam. A moment later, the room came into view properly. It was much as she'd left it, only now the room was tilted about twelve degrees to the bow and water covered almost half the floor area. It was perfectly clear and Sam could see there was nothing moving around in it. She relaxed slightly, realising the movement she felt was likely her own, due to being suspended in the water.

Gripping the armrest, she deactivated the locks and felt them release, but they didn't retract. So that meant the safeties had activated. She tried to remember what had happened. The sound of atmospheric reentry got louder and louder. Then the Yamato, or what was left of it began to spin. She remembered the wind being forced from her body and quickly passed out. Now, here she was, at the end destination, probably at the bottom of the ocean on some never explored water world.

"Shit," she grinned. "My water world."

Sniffing back her tears, she pried herself out of the seat and stood. She was up to her thighs in the water, and quickly made her way to the shallows. Checking her comms, it showed the oxygen levels were normal, but the pressure matched some of the oceans back on earth. It wouldn't be an issue. Her augmentations could handle it. The bigger concern was oxygen supply. She had carbon scrubbers, so she could live in oxygen depleted atmospheres, but she still needed oxygen. And that would be difficult at the bottom of the ocean.

It was chiefly why they never bothered exploring this planet. The Et-Al as well. Whatever they sent here would need to either float and be able to withstand the epic storms that blew over. Or be at the bottom of the ocean and withstand an environment that lacked light and oxygen for the most part. Scans had shown remarkably few shallows. So this big, beautiful orb had simply been scanned, catalogued and mostly ignored. At least until now, when it's gravity well was being used to house the collection of debris that would stem the flow of the Et-Al.

"Air, water, shelter, food," she said to herself.

It was the survival mantra of the space age. It had been the same for centuries, only adding Air, when living in a vacuum or on an alien planet became an option. Sam opened a schematic of the ship from her comms unit. Though... It wasn't going to be used as a comms any longer. Shaking her head to clear the mood, she went back to the map. Back the way she had come in, was the bridge. But considering the angle the Yamato was leaning on, it was likely that it was pressed into the ground. Towards the stern, might be water. It would be very bad, very quickly if this was the only place on the Yamato with contained oxygen.

Panning her headlamp around the room, she spotted the orange panel and made her way over. It was partially submerged in water, but that wouldn't harm the contents. Pressing the panel, it clicked, then slid downward. Inside were several canisters on a bandoleer and a bag that contained a liquid protein replacer. Pulling them all out, Sam pulled the bandoleer over her shoulder and tightened it. The canisters were designed to provide several hours worth of Air to the bridge crew. So it would be a few days of air for just herself. The protein on the other hand, would be enough for a week or more. It was highly concentrated, but lacked flavour. Connecting it to a port on the chin of her helmet, it clicked, before a tube inserted into her mouth. She got one small suck on it, before the pouch released automatically. The liquid in her mouth had the texture of jelly with blended meat paste. But it tasted like lightly salted cardboard.

Pulling away the pouch, she unhooked the latch on the base and clipped it to her belt. Looking at the taller end of the room, Sam sighed. Turning towards the lower, it was the easier of the two. If she could get out this way, work her way around, she might be able to see if the rest of the ship was still intact. Wading through the water, Sam took a deep breath, thankful her anti-fog hadn't been damaged. When she got to the door, she knocked on it, getting the familiar hollow tone she expected. That was promising, as it meant it was less likely this end of the bridge had been buried on impact. Grabbing the manual release, she gave it a tug and the door slid open. Immediately, a burst of water began pouring in, forcing her back. She quickly regretted opening the door as the air escaped.

Quickly dialling in the numbers on her comms unit, Sam frowned realising if the room was watertight, it would fill right to the back wall. There would still be trapped air, but no dry land. Her only options were to allow it to happen, or to close it and go for the upper door. And if THAT door had water behind it, she'd never get it closed and it would vent entirely.

"Shit!" She growled.

Pushing into the water, she grabbed the door and hauled it open. The flood was larger now and the flow was getting difficult to push against. It also told Sam there was life on the planet. Several plants and even things that looked like glowing fish were pushed through the door. She knew with earth-like oceans, they were probably edible, but she'd have to catch a few and get some detailed scans first. Sam moved with the water, allowing it to slowly push her to the back of the room. It took several minutes, but as the water edged closer to the far wall, Sam started moving. The water was much slower now and she didn't have far to go. Though it was an odd sensation for her to swim past the chair she sat in earlier.

"Going to need a diving belt," she grumbled to herself.

Taking a deep breath out of reflex, Sam tipped her head down, and pushed her legs up, allowing gravity to push her underwater. Her augmented limbs powered her through the water faster than a pure human could. She pushed through the current and took hold of the doorframe. And she gasped.

The ship had wedged itself atop a large glowing reef. The angle of the floor prevented her seeing it until she got right to the edge. The bridge itself was gone. The metal had scorch marks that told Sam she was lucky it hadn't melted any further than this. It also gave her hope that the rest of the ship may still be intact. If it was, it may be possible that others had survived as well. Pulling herself out the door, Sam crawled along the wall on the outside, holding onto the ship to prevent herself from floating away.

The sea was in twilight. Just enough to see where she was going. The light of the nearest star was high above, telling her that this was the brightest it would get here. But just meant the glowing lights she could see everywhere would be a permanent charm. Blue, green, yellow, red. There were plants, corals, massive organic structures that came from below and towered into the air. Fish, large and small were everywhere. Some larger ones looked predatory and the movement of the water gave a gentle swishing sound that carried.

"What the science teams would give to be here," she murmured to herself. But the silence in return was almost deafening.

Pushing off the wall, Sam grabbed the edge of the floor. She could feel through the receptors in her gloves the smooth, rounded edges from where heat had melted the metal. It gave her a good handhold as she looked down below. It seemed the Yamato was propped up on a rocky outcrop. There was a large amount of damaged corals and reef structure, but it wasn't like she could do anything about it now. Switching her headlamp back to the spotlight function. Glancing in all directions, most nearby fish ignored the light, but a few of the larger ones darted away. Either that meant the light bothered them, or there was something large enough to eat the big things that made a lot of light. Either way, that was information she could use.

Pulling herself around, Sam braced on the edge of the ship and shoved down. She only had a few meters to travel and she kicked hard keeping her momentum up. Keeping up the pace was difficult. The suit she wore was quite buoyant. It hadn't been designed for underwater exploration, in fact, remaining submerged was never intended. Being able to float would always have been the preferred option. But not right now. She had no idea how long she'd been down here, and by the light, it was at least several hundred metres. All the augmentations in the world can't make up for the buildup of nitrogen in her blood.

Taking hold of a decent sized rock, she righted herself, putting her boots on the ground. It was rather steep, but suspended in water that didn't matter so much. Looking around, there was what looked like some kind of underwater vine. Activating her scanner in the comms device, she leaned over and scanned the vine. It took a few minutes and she kept watch on everything moving around her. But eventually her comms chimed. Checking the composition of the vine, it seemed safe to touch. Possibly eat, but it didn't contain much of anything nutritious. Shifting, she wedged her boot under the rock she was grabbing, before testing it's hold. Sure enough she was able to let go and stand freely.

It was a little awkward leaning over, but she got her hand on the vine. It was firm, but flexible and very strong when she tried to pull on it. Hauling it over to the rock, she examined the glowing round... fruits? Lures? Flowers? Whatever they were at the top. They were like grapes, but more pear shaped and glowed a greenish yellow. They billowed around at the top of the long vine that lacked any leaves. Pulling the fruit down, she gave that a scan too. Those apparently were high in sugar. Leaving the fruit to float up on the end of the vine, Sam gave the base a tug and felt it firmly in place. So instead, she grabbed a small rock and pulled the vine over the one she was wedged under. Using the larger and smaller rocks as a mortar and pestle, she managed to snap the vine away into a long strand about two metres long.

Now was the fun part. Picking up various sized rocks, all within reach of the larger, she managed to find one large enough to counteract her own buoyancy. It let her release the large boulder, and only very slowly begin to float away. It would be perfect if she had to carry anything. Tying the vine around it, Sam tied it to her waist at the back, making sure the berries were still attached. It was a bit of a hindrance, but it would work for now. Kicking off from the bottom, she swam quickly, and far easily back to the Yamato. Swimming back to the doorway, she checked inside the door and only saw one or two fish from earlier. Swimming back out of the room, she made her way up and over the wreck. The true horror of the situation became quickly apparent. The Yamato had broken in two, right where the barracks were. Most, if not all the auxiliary crew would have been locked down in there. Most of the engineering crew would have been at their posts at the rear of the ship which wasn't here any more. And everyone else was on the bridge. Deciding she felt a little too open being suspended in the water column, Sam dived back down to the Yamato. Switching her headlamp back to wide beam she examined the hull as she swam to the far end. Pulling herself through the water with her arms and kicking with her legs, she swam like a frog through the water. Trying to conserve as much energy as she could.

Most of the hull thankfully looked intact. Dented in a couple places, melted and scorched in others, but still whole. How the massive craft, or even this section of it managed to keep from breaking up was beyond her. It was one thing coming through the atmosphere. But hitting the ocean in freefall would have disintegrated most craft. The sheer amount of now wasted engineering that went into the Yamato was astounding. She felt a twinge of sadness thinking about all the good that could have come, if they'd made peace with the Et-Al, rather than war.

Coming across a large gash in the hull, where it looked like the twisting of the rear section had started, Sam leaned in. The light from her helmet illuminated the hallways and she could see out into the barracks section from inside. Reopening the schematics of the yamato, Sam filtered out the technical information down to the general layout and room names.

Glancing around the corridor, she found a sign with a location stamp, directing the barracks, so she searched for that location. Finding where she was, Sam smiled. It seemed she had about eighty metres of ship. The main reactors were in the stern, so there was no threat of something going critical. But there was a maintenance storage in this part of the ship. Swimming into the corridor, she found it eerie. The corridor was dark, not even the emergency lighting was on. Which made sense seeing as at least part of the ship was flooded. Swimming along, she passed numerous doors. Some open, some closed. There was a bathroom with toiletries floating about. A closed door had a sign for medical supplies. Further along, a door for the connected hallway was open, allowing access deeper into the ship and further towards the citadel. But it was at the end of this hall that Sam found the maintenance room. It was sealed shut, on an upward angle, so chances are there would be air inside, even if it wasn't watertight. So with nothing better to do, she pulled the door open. The weight of the water temporarily pulled her into the door, but the air escaped quickly, allowing Sam to yank the doors completely open.

Inside, still on shelves, inside airtight boxes, was enough to make Sam beam in delight. A portable power generator, a plasma welder and dozens more tools she would probably never use. There was even surplus survival equipment, like swags, food and more air. With a cheer, Sam forced the doors closed and made a note on her map of what she'd found. With a happy kick, she headed back down the hall. Medical was an obvious one, but she didn't need supplies at this time and knew that most of the equipment at least in there would be damaged by water. So she ignored it in favour of the corridor.

It was dark, like the rest of the ship, but she swam down it anyway. Following the signs for the bridge. At the end of the corridor, the only open way was a ninety degree bend to the right. Following it along, she came to another and started to follow that. But something shimmered ahead and made her pause.

"Yes!" She cried.

Surging ahead, Sam dragged herself out of the water. She laughed, knowing that there was air trapped inside the hull.

"That settles it then, I'm staying at the bottom," she told the darkness.

Shaking her head, Sam started walking. The corridor doubled back again and it opened into a small mess hall. Only a few dozen meters wide and double that long, she cheered. Closing and locking the doors behind her, she made sure to keep the internal pressure. If she opened any doors that led outside, it would force all the air out and flood the ship if it had an escape.

The tables were all over the place, but it was solid, airtight and dry. Three things she desperately needed at this point. Pushing through the room, shoving furniture aside as she went. She found stairs at the far end and followed up to the floor above. This one led up and around several maintenance areas that were all possibly flooded. But the bridge was on this level. Sam, when she was captain of the ship, stuck to the bridge quarters at the bow. She ate, slept, exercised and took time off in the front of the ship, around where the torpedo had struck. This less familiar section she was currently in, was for the rest of the crew. But as she checked her map, she got more and more happy. Until finally, a closed door appeared to her left. Straight ahead, was the bridge. That was gone. But the door to her left, led to the corridor that went by the Citadel.

"Deep breath Sam, put you big girl panties on," she psyched herself up.

There were only two options. Either there was air on the other side of the door, or water. And if it were water, she wasn't sure how much would get through before she could close the door again. So gently, she grabbed the manual release and gave it a tug. The latch clicked, and nothing happened. With a sigh, she pulled the doors the rest of the way open. The inside was as dark as the rest of the ship. But that would change soon. Turning to the door to the citadel, she had no hesitation pulling this one open. The door clicked firmly and slipped open easily, giving Sam a clear, unobstructed view of the giant squid monster raising itself out of the water.

"What the fuck!" She jumped back.

It was right at the water's edge, just meters away. It was nearly as tall as her. Pale white under her headlamp with a humanoid face lacking a nose. Two large eyes stared back with purple irises that reminded her of a cuttlefish eye. It recoiled at her sudden entrance and it's entire body pulsed with electric blue lights as it dived into the water and shot out of the open door below.

"Oh fuck," she sighed, cupping her face plate. "Just what I need, giant tentacle monsters."

Shaking her head, she stood up, before sealing that door. She'd have to go in and close the external door later. For now, this would do. All she had to do now was... Go back into the tentacle monster filled water, and get things from maintenance...

"Fuck," she sighed

Chapter Three

Sam sighed in relief and let go of the plasma welder. It sank to the bottom with a small thunk.

"Get through that cthulhu," Sam giggled to herself.

That first night after seeing the squid monster was terrifying. Every small noise had Sam switching on her headlamp. As uncomfortable as it was, she slept in her suit, rather than risk taking it off. The next day, Sam had gone and closed the lower door, before heading back out the rear entry at the barracks. It hadn't taken her long to find a triangular piece of metal, but now, she at least had a shiv.

The next step was securing her home. So Sam went back to the maintenance room and grabbed the plasma welder. Unlike twentieth century stick welders, this worked by heating a space at a certain distance above a prong using magnetic currents. Then, simply by holding that point over the join in two pieces of metal, you could melt and fuse them together without welding rods or flux. So after carrying the welder back into the dry section of the ship she hooked it to the portable generator. Then with the application of some spare cabling pulled right from the Yamato's hull, Sam was able to run the gun all the way to the barracks. There, she nervously cut away two undamaged doors from sections of the hull that no longer needed them.

The next bit took effort, but with a makeshift rope of yet more cable and some elbow grease, Sam hauled both the doors up into the corridor. From here, she had to make a few more cuts with the plasma welder to ensure fitment was accurate. Then she dragged both doors back past the scarring in the hull where she had first entered. The movement of the sea had made the first door difficult to weld. Wedging it in position was one thing, but the eb and flow of the ocean currents meant Sam had to quickly tack weld the door in place. And even then, the first time they had broken and she'd narrowly avoided being struck. After she'd secured the inside, Sam had tested the door to make sure it opened. Then she'd repeated the weld on the outside of the door. Satisfied, she slipped back in, locked the door and did it all over again with the second. Sam made the airlock a comfortable size. Large enough to lay down if need be. She wanted to make sure she had room to stack things or for emergencies. But that was a later problem. For now, Sam bent, plucking the welding gun from the floor and made the slow swim back, coiling the cable as she went.