Under Pressure

Posted on Saturday 5 September 2026 @ 16:24 by Captain Melody Jones & Civilian Sansa Draxx-Jones & Commander Caroline Miller & Lieutenant JG Zirvell Khen

Mission: The Seal of approval
Location: Holodeck 1
Timeline: Before arrival at Megaptera
1318 words - 2.6 OF Standard Post Measure

ON:

Caroline was already in the pool in the holodec waiting for Melody and Sansa. She had swum some laps to warm up. It had been a while since she had swum. She really needed to get back into swimming regularly again.

She had started the instructor programme but froze the hologram. She had taken her time choosing a rather Adonis-like instructor, sure that the Captain would appreciate it.

The doors to the holodeck opened, and Melody and Sansa entered, both carrying their slick, lightweight 25th-century diving suits, complete with helmets, flippers, and slim rebreather packs attached. They both stopped when they saw the instructor Caroline had selected.

The corners of Melody's mouth curved upwards, and she fanned her face with her hand. "My my, Caroline, Who's this tall drink of muscles that you've selected for us today?"

"Mom!" Sansa exclaimed. "We're here to get dive-ready, not...." Her voice trailed off as she took a step closer to the instructor. She reached out a hand to touch his bare chest but stopped herself. "Yes... Well... Let's get changed."

She stepped into one of the vacant changing cubicles, stealing one last glance before pulling the curtain on.

Melody had not moved and was still staring, but was suddenly jolted out of her reverie. "Yes, let's get changed." She entered the cubicle next to Sansa.

Roughly 5 minutes later, they both emerged wearing their skin-tight diving suits, holding their helmets. "Are you ready?" Melody asked Caroline.

"I've been ready for ages," Caroline quipped, swimming to the side for her own helmet. "We are still waiting on Zhivell. Oh, here they are."

Feeling very self-conscious in a suit that left very little to the imagination, the Cardassian emerged from one of the cubicles. "I'm not entirely sure if all this sits right," he complained, tugging at the fabric of the suit. "It's extremely tight and it does not feel right on my ridges." Ridges which were a sensitive subject to begin with.


Melody smiled. "Now that we're all here, we can begin. "Computer, resume program."

The instructor immediately came to life. "Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen. It's good to see you all. I know that you've covered the basics and are all excellent swimmers. Today we're finishing off our dive gear familiarisation, going over buoyancy control, emergency procedures and underwater signalling. The training pool has been set to a suitable depth, and there are one or two hazards down there that we will look at; one of the most dangerous is underwater delta p, or pressure differentials.

Now in this age, your diving suit can take a lot, but they are still not foolproof or indestructible. Your dive computer will always warn you about any dangers close by and display that information on your helmet screen, but these underwater forces can still be lethal. In deep water near an intake or an open pipe or any gates or sluices, the pressure differential can be enough to pull you in. The pressure difference can be so great that the sheer weight of water will force your body through an opening that is significantly smaller than you are and... well, you don't need me to tell you what happens next. Like in space, there are a lot of ways to die underwater, and the moment you don't respect your environment, it will kill you."

Melody nodded in agreement.

The instructor now smiled. "Well, that's the lecture out of the way; let's get in the water."

"I'm already in the water and very wet," she laughed inwardly at Sansa's face. The Captain, of course, had a wry smile on her face.

The instructor paused in front of Melody to bend down and pick up his own diving helmet, and Melody replied to Caroline with a dreamy look on her face, "Me too..."

Sansa frowned, and then realisation dawned on her face. "Mom! No! Just.... Just No...." She then caught a look of the instructor's posterior herself.

Sansa sighed and shrugged. "Yeah, ok then," before she climbed into the water.

Melody got her helmet into place, and the dive computer lit up on her face screen as it connected to her life support pod on her back. Once everyone had their helmets on and was in the water, the instructor continued, his voice coming through the comm link in their helmets.

"Your heads-up display will tell you your depth, relative pressure, and give details on your life support system. In the old days, divers had to worry about gas toxicity, not just nitrogen but oxygen as well. These days, the computer will balance your gas feed automatically. The system also recycles the air you breathe out, removing the carbon dioxide, which can also become fatal at high levels.

The urge to breathe comes not from the level of oxygen in your blood, but the level of carbon dioxide. If you are in an oxygen-poor environment but can still get rid of the carbon dioxide, you can just black out and die from lack of oxygen. Something to remember. Now we are still going to run through emergency procedures again, just to re-familiarise ourselves and hand signals in case of equipment failure."

He started to recap the basic hand signals. "So, OK underwater is the Thumb and index finger together to make a circle, with the other 3 fingers extended. On the surface, it's one or both arms overhead forming a big O. He demonstrated both and the group copied.

He proceeded to go through the rest of the standard hand signals from low air to stop and communication down.

Once he was satisfied that they were all comfortable with nonverbal communication, they set off down into the deep training pool that had been created on the holodeck. "Ok Comm check. We're at 100 m. Everyone ok?"

Melody and Sansa both responded in the affirmative.

Zirvell listened carefully to the instructions but couldn't suppress a snort at the mention of being an excellent swimmer. He felt like a fish out of water but was determined to make it through the training despite the sheer discomfort of the adjustment to the diving gear with regard to his different physiology.


At the conclusion of the lesson, they all returned to the surface, and the instructor looked pleased. "Very well done, all of you. You handled the underwater hazards well, and you're all now quite capable divers. I'm satisfied to sign off on your pool diving certificates so we can move on to open water diving simulations."

Dripping wet, Zirvell stood on the side of the pool, feeling a little giddy. "I don't know, I think we need more practice than just one instruction. While this is fun, how are we ready for open water?"

The instructor continued, "You've all completed the enclosed diving qualification now to an acceptable standard. Next time, we'll start with the 1st stage open water simulation."

Sansa, who was hauling herself out of the water, grinned. "Looking forward to it."

"Oh for sure," Caroline said gracefully pulling herself out of the pool. "Same time in the morning?" she asked the rest.

"Barring unforeseen circumstances," the Cardassian replied, "I think I'll go swim a few more laps to wind down."

Sansa and Melody were stretching off at the side of the water. "I don't know about you, but I'm starving. Lunch?" Sansa asked the others.

Melody smiled. "Sounds good. Let me have a quick shower and get changed. Shall we meet in the Round Table in 20 mins? Caroline, Zirvell, please join us."

"Yes Lunch sounds great. I'll have a quick shower too," Caroline said.

TAG ANY

OFF:

●●●● Captain Melody Jones
Commanding Officer
USS Merlin


Sansa Draxx-Jones
Marine Specialist
USS Merlin

●●● Commander Caroline Miller
Chief Counselor
USS Merlin


Lieutenant JG Zirvell Khen
Assistant Medical Officer
USS Merlin