[sb118-gorkon] Ensign Ethan Espinoza - Sod's Law
Ethan Espinoza
(( The Underbelly, Tanglewoods, Gateside Dimension ))
Flare‑light and bioluminescence strobed across the tunnel, shadows lurching and spinning until he felt dizzy. In those fractured flashes of colour, he glimpsed tendrils unfurling from the walls and slipping beneath the surface, writhing with some intent he couldn’t immediately see.
Espinoza: I think she’s under the water. Your side, Commander, right below the flare. Atlas!
Neathler: Coming.
The tunnel erupted in a deafening roar as the suit surged ahead, skimming through the rapids with a burst of speed he hadn’t quite thought the thing capable of.
Finch: Samira, Mister Espinoza, can you hear me?
Neathler: Doz!
Ethan afforded himself a shaky, relieved exhale. For all his best efforts, for but a fraction of the second he’d considered the worst. And although they were still ankles deep in the minefield, Finch was still alive and with them.
Espinoza: Gracias a Dios… ::he mutters::
Finch: I don’t want to worry either of you, but I’m underwater. Deep underwater, loveys. I was dragged down here by a school of…something or other. They’re circling above me near the flare! And, surprise surprise, they’re not very friendly.
Neathler: Hang in there, we’ll try to lure those creatures away. We’ll find you.
She had worried him. While Neathler fought her way through the current and braced herself against Atlas, Ethan’s eyes sank to the churning swell below. The oily teal sheen swallowed everything beneath it, turning the depths into a blind, shifting void. No hint of what waited beneath them, and Finch had not been entirely descriptive.
For some people, that kind of ignorance was mercy. For others, it was torture. Ethan wasn’t sure which camp he fell into, but the act of readying himself to plunge into something he couldn’t see was nibbling away at the semblance of calm he had fought to muster.
Neathler’s efforts to steady her own breath beside him was reassuring. They were well and truly in a lurch.
Espinoza: Swimmin’ with the fishes while we’re up here strugglin’, Commander? C’mon, now.
Neathler: The… ::What had they been named during the briefing?:: harmonic resonance devices, do we still have them?
Ethan stopped, drew a breath, and dragged himself around to Atlas’ flank. A squat little storage box clung to the back of the mech’s frame, something they’d tossed together and filled with provisions and ‘may be useful?’ equipment, all of which had proven spectacularly unhelpful so far. But wedged among the clutter, thankfully intact, were the two harmonic resonance devices. He wasn’t completely sure why they hadn’t brought more. It felt a little like bringing a water pistol to a wildfire. Results may vary.
Espinoza: We’ve got… two of ‘em.
Neathler: We can use them to scare away those creatures.
A protest caught behind his teeth, and he wet his lips, brows knitting hard. There was nothing to suggest these creatures would react to the resonance the way the vines had. Banking on that now felt like the worst kind of blind faith.
Unfortunately, the truth was fairly simple: they were out of options, ideas, and time.
Espinoza: Okay… simple enough. What’s the plan after? Grab her ‘n run?
Finch: Response
Neathler: If they’re gone, we can Atlas take the lead, and let him drag us underwater to search for Doz because diving with these suits on won’t be easy.
He hadn’t fully thought through the nightmare of trying to swim in these suits. Once they went under, they’d have to find Finch, haul her up, drag all three of them back to Atlas, and then pray the mech could get them moving fast enough to avoid the creatures doubling back for another round. Light work, really.
Espinoza: Great plan… gotta ask, is Atlas specced for that sort of underwater operation? I don’t think anyone, not even the scientists, anticipated this.
Finch: Response
Neathler: There’s only one way to find out. ::She paused a moment.:: How you’re doing, Ensign?
A sharp, dismayed laugh croaked from his throat. Blind faith it was, then.
Espinoza: Best to let adrenaline do its job ‘n ask me later, Commander.
He drew in one more sharp, steadying breath. The resonance device was clenched in one hand, the other locked around Atlas’ metal frame as Neathler settled into place beside him. Only when she was secure did Ethan lift his hand and give the mech a small, almost affectionate pat. ‘A lright, big guy… let’s go. ‘
The force with which the suit submerged them snapped his head back with whiplash, and in an instant they were weightless, sinking into the soup like a bag of rocks, dragged down by their mechanical companion. Ethan’s chest rose and fell in unsteady heaves, and as the panicked breath in his throat began to quicken, he wondered if he was about to hyperventilate.
Espinoza: Y’know, if there’s any doubt that Sod’s Law is real, we can just show ‘em this mission debrief. Irrefutable evidence that things’ll go wrong at the worst possible time in the worst possible way. It’s kinda ridiculous.
He was talking again to compose himself.
Finch / Neathler: Response
Below them, vague blotches shimmered in the churning dark, their shapes tightening into focus as the descent pulled them deeper. Ethan, raised on Earth, shuttled from Starbase to Starbase, and armed with a lifetime of ignorance, had foolishly expected fins, gills, and something reminiscent of a shark.
What emerged instead were long, sinuous bodies sheathed in leathery red hide; tails so thin and spined they cracked through the water like whips; claws serrated enough to slice the current, and long prickled ears drifting behind them in slow, graceful curls, like kites steadily dancing in a breeze.
Espinoza: There. Beneath us. I can’t see Commander Finch, but I can see a bunch of ‘em circling something. On your mark, Commander.
Finch / Neathler: Response
They were close enough. Probably. Hopefully. Best case, the creatures scattered. Worst case, it would distract them long enough for Finch to slip free and, for their next trick, another ridiculous escape.
Espinoza: Activating… now!
Finch / Neathler: Response
With an inaudible click, the device thrummed in his grip, a teeth-rattling vibration that built until the water around them seemed to tense. Then it activated.
The pulse didn’t really sound so much as just... happened. A sudden, bone-shaking THWUM detonated through the water, beating outwards in concentric rings that warped the swell around them. The entire river shivered and convulsed, walls and all. Silt, or something akin to it, exploded upward in a storm, distorting the already inky water further. Bioluminescent flecks flared as if someone had cracked a glowstick the size of a shuttle, piercing the gloom with a frantic, hazy light. Atlas’ chassis vibrated beneath their hand, humming as if struck with a tuning fork, and Ethan felt a shockwave punch straight through his ribs, several of which were almost certainly cracked, rattling something deep and essential. His legs, arms, and everything else felt suddenly numb.
Sound travelled faster in water, and with far less loss of energy. Stronger. Meaner. He was pretty sure neither of them had thought that part through.
The water rolled in a heartbeat, and Ethan’s breath hitched, half-laugh, half-panic, wild and teetering on the edge of hysterical. Things will go wrong in the worst possible way at the worst possible time.