Sky Trek: The Time Capsule

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A mere half-hour later, Liara had packed her things and was briskly strutting across the Enterprise's flight deck. The usually calm portion of the ship was now a flurry of activity, with various X-Wing fighters and Y-Wing bombers busily being armed and fueled.

Nearby, several of the quad-barelled anti-aircraft guns that lined the flight deck were also being readied. As she passed by one of the three-man nests, should could roughly overhear a conversation:

"Come on, Double D. Is the height adjuster working yet or not?"

"Patience, Eddy. I must remind you that the slightest me miscalibration with this can exponentially decrease the chance to--"

"Yeah, yeah I get it. Just make sure we can hit something with it. Remember, the more Tie Fighters we shoot down, the faster we get promoted, the more we get paid."

"And the more gravy we get in the mess hall!"

"Sure, Ed."

"Do you really think the Empire is going to attack, Eddy?"

"Pffft, it's the Empire. Of course they're gonna attack. Get your rear in gear, mi amigo!"

"Oh dear, oh dear! Must work faster, must work faster!"

Liara grimaced as she continued towards the Normander, currently sitting beyond the flight deck on its landing pad. However, right before reaching it, she heard a familiar voice:

"Liara, wait!"

She turned about to the sight of Sunset Shimmer rushing towards her. She noticed she was holding something: the strange Gallifreyan artifact the two of them had been studying.

Liara blinked. "Sunset? My apologies, but I'm not sure I have time to--"

"I know, I know," she said. "I just wanted to give you this before you went. We cracked it, Luna and I. We're almost certain it's used as a power source now."

"Like a mana battery?" Liara asked.

"It is a battery, but a purely electric one, and quite powerful at that," she replied in wonder. "Which is why it was giving us such a rough time. But never mind that. What's important is it still has a charge. Might come in handy given where you're going."

"Doesn't seem right that I'll be enjoying the fruits of your labor," Liara frowned sympathetically, accepting the 'gift'. "I wish you could come as well."

Sunset shrugged. "I appreciate it - I do love getting out on the field - but it is what it is. Just promise you'll share your notes with me when you get back."

"Of course," she smiled. "Be safe."

"You too," Sunset nodded. "Celestia's light be with you."

And so the two parted ways.

After another moment of brisk walking, Liara arrived at the Normander's ramp. Most of her 'squad' was already there, plus one extra.

"J-Just promise you'll be e-extra careful on this one," a small, lizard-like creature said, gazing up at Undyne with a mix of worry and affection. "These old ruins can sometimes have t-traps and automated security and--"

"Nothing's gonna get in the way of me coming back with a souvenir for you, Alphys," Undyne grinned. "Don't care how many Gallifreyan deathbots I gotta smash."

A hint of a smirk grew on Alphys's face. "N-Now that I'd like to see myself… assuming they even had machines like--"

"Shhh, don't lose hope," Undyne said, leaning down and pecking her partner on the lips. "And don't let the Empire wreck this place while I'm gone."

"I'd like to see them try," Alphys said, her eyes narrowing.

Undyne smiled proudly. "Boo, you're getting tougher by the day. Love you."

"You too. G-Good luck."

And with one more kiss, they parted as well. A moment later, the only people left in the dropship's troop bay were the away team.

--

The Normander didn't need to travel far to reach the ocean's surface. Hovering so close to the water its underside was being licked by white-caps, it could easily be mistaken for an oddly-shaped boat rather than a skyship.

"Alright kids," Joker announced over the intercom. "Have a fun day at the pool."

A mechanical whir of gears and chains spinning signalled the rear ramp of the ship was extending. Soon after, a large, shimmering bubble exited it, plopping into the waves.

--

“Deep breaths, Rodney, deep breaths,” the anxious doctor said to himself, gazing at the clicking geiger counter in his hands. "Totally not floating to the bottom of a radioactive ocean in a wizard bubble right now."

Tasha could barely resist chuckling at his comment.

"Relax, doctor," Geordi comforted, his glowing blue orbs for eyes gazing at the counter as well. "There's no more radiation than what I get working around the mana engine, and I haven't grown a third hand yet."

"Yeah, well you might want to check for one, Mr. Engineer," Rodney scoffed. "This is still frontier science we’re talking about - my field. Nobody is exactly volunteering to be a test subject, so we still don't know exactly how much is too much."

"With how paranoid Skyfleet is about safety?" Shepard chuckled. "A lot more than this."

"I'd still much rather be in my lab right now," Rodney grumbled. "My nice, atmospherically stable lab."

"Do you want me to turn this bubble around, Dr. McKay?" Liara joked.

Rodney merely huffed in response.

Within said bubble, Liara's blue hands glowed softly, trickles of magical energy flickering from them and into the bubble walls. Periodically, Alphonse clapped his hands, producing no results to the naked eye, but subatomically alchemically transmuting carbon-monoxide into breathable oxygen.

As they grew deeper, the bubble's glow was the only thing illuminating a seemingly infinite darkness.

Outside, Undyne swam alongside them in the murky waters, a bemused expression on the former royal guard's face. "You guys okay in there?" she called, her voice somehow loud and clear inside the forcefield.

"Wait, wait what?" Tasha said, blinking. "How come you don't sound, well, like you're underwater?"

"Uh, how can we hear her at all?" Alphonse asked.

"It's magic, probably," Rodney moaned. "And that means it practically resists making sense."

"Spoken like a non-magic user," Liara chided.

"Nothing wrong with wanting a bit of precision," Geordi said. "Magic can't offer that."

"Thank you," Rodney said.

“I can’t knock it that hard, though,” Geordi said, pointing at his 'eyes.' “Wouldn’t be able to see without it, really.”

"Also, T-Type Alchemy has plenty of precision behind it," Alphonse objected in-between two claps of his hands. “Do you know how many calculations I have to do in my head just to turn Carbon-12 into Carbon-13?”

“Two?” Rodney smirked.

“Well… yeah, but that’s not the point!”

Geordi chuckled. “It’s still a hot topic whether or not that type of alchemy should be considered a magic field.”

“If it requires a detailed memorization of the periodic table, it definitely counts as science,” Alphonse said.

“And I thought Alphys was a nerd,” Undyne laughed. “You guys are giving her a run for her money, though.”

“Wait, you can hear us out there, too?!” Rodney said, shaking his head in confusion.

Liara raised an eyebrow. “This type of magic is odd even for me. What sort of spell are you using?”

“A top secret Monster spell,” Undyne said. “Long buried in our own secret vaults!"

“Really?” Tasha said, giving her a sarcastic smirk.

She stuck out her tongue. “Naw, just kidding, I don’t know how it works either. Just does what it does.”

“Fascinating,” Liara said, turning her attention towards the swimming astral. “It sounds passive in nature. It must come as naturally to you as breathing...”

Just then, the bubble began to flicker, as if it were losing strength.

“Uh, is it supposed to be doing that?” Tasha asked.

“Liara, concentrate!” Shepard snapped.

“Oh no, sorry!” she said, taking a deep breath.

Immediately, the bubble regained integrity.

“Please tell me we’re almost there,” Rodney moaned, sweat now leaking from his forehead.

“We’ve got to be getting close - been dropping for ten minutes now,” Shepard noted.

A second later, as if replying to her, there was a light thud as the group touched the sea floor, the bottom of the bubble moving under it ever-so-slightly.

And with nothing but magic between them and the water, they stood on drenched sand 20 leagues deep.

“That’s a yes,” Tasha said. “Geordi, do you see anything?”

Geordi glanced about, his ‘eyes’ glowing brighter for a second. “Nothing but some weird-looking fish so far."

"Weird fish, you say?" Shepard said, a surprising hint of eagerness in her tone.

"Yeah, why?" Geordi puzzled.

"Oh, nothing," Shepard said.

"Wishing you could add them to your collection?" Liara asked.

Shepard coughed. "Uh, anyway, are you sure there's nothing out there, Mr. LaForge?

“Sorry commander, nothing but--" He paused. "Huh. Wait a sec."

"What?"

"There’s something over that way.” He pointed in a particular direction. “Some sort of obtrusion. It's hard to see. Kind of just an outline.”

“Better than nothing,” Shepard said, nodding. “Let’s move. Remember, nice and slow.”

And so they began to walk along the seafloor, their backpacks full of equipment clanking along the way. Despite the limited view of their surroundings, the group still gazed about in awe.

“Never thought strolling along the bottom of the ocean would be part of my Skyfleet career,” Geordi said.

Liara chuckled. “You know, they say we’ve only charted around 20% of the known landmases of the world, to say nothing of the unknown. And even then, all of that’s nothing compared to the sea.”

“Can’t imagine how many things are down here to discover,” Alphonse said.

“Yeah, well, let’s just hope nothing down here wants to discover us,” Rodney gulped. “‘Eaten by giant whale’ isn’t what I want on my epitaph.”

“You really need to stop thinking that way, Dr. McKay,” Alphonse said in a kind tone. “It’s not healthy.”

“If it helps keep me alive, it’s the very definition of ‘healthy’,” Rodney snarked.

“Pipe down, everyone,” Shepard said. “We've got something.”

“Is that what I think it is?” Liara said, a hint of excitement in her tone.

Directly ahead of them, jutting out from the seafloor was a rusted, but solid metal rectangular structure. Taking up half of one of the faces was what appeared to be twin sliding doors.

“Please be a floodable airlock, please be a floodable airlock,” Rodney said to himself, his fingers crossed.

“If there is one,” Geordi said. “And if it still works after all these years.”

“Now who's being cynical?” Rodney said.

Geordi shrugged. “Hey, I know the Gallifreyans were far ahead of us, but even they’d struggle to--”

He paused just as they reached the twin doors.

“What? What is it?” Shepard asked.

“I can’t believe it, but that door’s still powered,” Geordi said.

“Huh? How can you tell?” Liara asked.

Geordi pointed at his eyes “These peepers can see different spectrums, including thermal, and little lines of it are running across that door."

"Most likely due to high capacity wiring," McKay said.

Liara eyed Geordi with awe. "That's truly incredible."

“Uh huh, but how do we get it open?” Shepard asked.

“Not sure. Give me a second,” Geordi said.

“I’m not seeing any sort of controls,” Undyne called, busy swimming around the small structure. “It’s just a big metal box for the most part.”

Geordi shook his head. “Neither am I.”

“There may not be any controls,” Rodney said. “We’ve been experimenting with remote control devices lately. The Gallifreyans may have opened it via some sort of signal."

“If that’s the case, there’s no way we’re getting in,” Shepard sighed.

“Hey, let me be the cynic here,” Rodney said, throwing her a rare smile. “I never said there’s no way to open it, just that we won’t be able to waltz right in like the Freyans did.”

Shepard raised an eyebrow. “‘Freyans’”?

“Yes, yes, I’m sick of saying Gallifreyans over and over again,” Rodney said.

“There are a lot of syllables,” Tasha said.

“Fine. You can call them what you want,” Shepard said. “So, options: how do we get this door open?”

Undyne opened her mouth—

“Preferably without destroying it.”

She closed it, frowning.

“Could you transmute it, magic hands?” Rodney said, looking at Alphonse. “Turn it into a cube then back into a slab when we need to?”

“Not without knowing what it’s made of,” he said. “I’d say it’s most likely some sort of steel, but with the Gallifrey— er, Freyans, you never know.”

“What about forcing it open?” Undyne asked.

“Probably wouldn’t work,” Geordi said. “This ocean may not be that deep, but those doors are still holding back a hell of a lot of pressure. They’re also sealed tight. You wouldn’t even be able to get anything between them to pry em’ open.”

Shepard tapped her foot, frustrated, before showing a defeated expression. “Then we’ll just have to use the C4-F.”

“It will likely flood the entire structure if we do,” Liara pointed out. “Anything down there could be ruined.”

“Our first priority is to destroy the vault - studying it is secondary,” Shepard stated. “Remember, the Empire will be here very soon. We don’t have time to waste.” She then turned to Alphonse. “Go ahead and place some of your brother’s bombs. It should be more than enough to cut through.”

“B-But--” Liara pleaded.

“I’m sorry, Liara. It’s the only way,” Shepard said.

“Woah, hang on there a sec,” Undyne called, swimming some distance away from the bubble and the structure. “As much as I'd love to see some underwater fireworks, I've found something interesting.”

“What do you got?” Shepard asked, peering out into the dark waters. The outline of Undyne and… something laying at her fin-like feet were barely visible.

“Uh, probably want to see it for yourself,” she called, some trepidation in her voice.

Shepard thought for a second, before nodding to Liara. “Alright, let’s check it out. Again, nice and slow. Don’t want anyone falling out of the bubble.”

The group gazed at her in horror.

“... Alright, bad joke,” Shepard coughed. “Come on.”

So once again, they moved across the seafloor. As they grew closer to Undyne, they noticed she was kneeling over what appeared to be a plastic suit, a diving helmet with a glass face-plate adorned atop of it. However, it soon became apparent there was more to it than just that.

Inside the flooded helmet was the unmistakable sight of a humanoid skull, its crevices for eyes gazing towards the surface. For a brief second, Tasha imagined they were longing for it.

“Oh god,” Rodney gulped. “This just turned into a horror pic.”

“Hey, you weren’t the one who stumbled into it,” Undyne grumbled. “I wouldn’t worry that much, though. Whoever this was died a long, long time ago.”

“Let’s bring them into the bubble,” Shepard said in a morbid tone. “We’ll want to find out how this happened."

Tepidly, the group did just that, the bubble slowly morphing around its contours. Soon, they stood around the corpse, and Geordi was the first to take a closer look.

“Not seeing any sort of obvious tears,” Geordi said, before carefully turning the suit over. “None on the back either. Flooding's probably from the helmet and suit severing slightly."

Alphonse was the next to kneel down, carefully feeling the fabric of the suit with two fingers. “It's made of some sort of plastic alloy. I think it’d be skin-tight if, well…”

He grimaced. Tasha was quick to put a comforting hand on his shoulder.

Rodney winced himself, before turning the corpse over to its front once again. “I’m not a doctor doctor, but the skull looks… somewhat well-preserved.”

“How old do you believe it is?” Liara said.

“I can’t say for sure down here,” Rodney said. “But I’d be willing to bet it’s at least a thousand years."

"How did you guess that?" Undyne asked.

Rodney gave her a blank look. "Because that's when the Freyans disappeared."

Undyne turned about, folding her arms. Tasha could have sworn she heard her mutter something along the lines of, 'I was just asking a question, asshole.'

"You're sure it's one of them?" Shepard asked.

"Who else would it be?" Rodney groaned. "We've never seen anyone with this advanced of diving equipment and we found them right near a Freyan vault."

“How is that possible, though?” Liara said. “Undersea currents should have at least covered up the body by now.”

“Mmm, not necessarily,” Geordi said. “We are in a bit of a trench according to the readings. Also, this is a pretty calm area of ocean. Might be part of the reason the Freyans decided to build this here.”

"What I don’t get is what kind of people would just leave a fallen comrade like this?" Undyne asked, a small bit of anger in her voice.

"If they died around the same time as the Gallifreyans, perhaps nobody was around to do it," Liara suggested.

"Maybe we should, then," Alphonse said tenderly.

Shepard nodded. "Agreed. We'll take the remains back with us to the surface when we’re done. First things first, however--"

"Wait, hang on a sec," Geordi said, examining one of the arms of the suit. Strapped on it appeared to be a small, rectangular control pad. There were small symbols etched near each of its multiple, tiny buttons.

Rodney knelt next to him, taking a look at it. "Ah-ha."

"What? What is it?" Shepard asked.

"Hopefully, our ticket in," he said. "Dr. T'Soni, take a look at this."

She moved next to him. "Those are Gallifreyan symbols, most certainly."

"Do you see anything that says 'on' or similar?" Rodney asked.

Liara studied it for a second, before nodding. She then pointed to a particular, larger button. Rodney smirked, before pressing it, and to the astonishment of the group, a small light blinked green on the side of it.

"How the hell did you know it'd still have power after all this time?" Geordi asked, shocked.

"I'd like to say I was certain, but really, it was just an extremely well educated guess," Rodney grinned. "Now then, someone hand me a knife. We're probably going to want to take this with us."

--

A minute or so later, the group stood in front of the twin, sliding doors once again. Rodney stood next to Liara, holding the rectangular device as the latter continued to study it.

“I believe that is the Gallifreyan symbol for ‘enter’,” she said firmly, pointing at another, small button.

“Open says-me, then,” Rodney smiled, tapping it.

There was a slight pause. The sound of water being sucked somewhere could faintly be heard. Then, almost instantaneously, the twin doors flung open, revealing a small chamber within. On the far end’s floor was both a circular hatch and a large, grated drain next to it.

“Sealock?” Rodney said, glancing Geordi’s way.

“I can’t think of a better name,” he shrugged. “Come on, let’s get inside.”

With a mix of anxiety and excitement, the group did just that.

“What now?” Shepard said.

“Dr. T’Soni?” Rodney asked, handing her the control pad and clearing his throat. “You deserve to take the reins. For a magician, you’ve been remarkably useful so far.”

She rolled her eyes, chuckling slightly. “Thanks.”

“Trust me, coming from Dr. McKay, that’s high praise,” Geordi smirked.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” Rodney moaned, though with a hint of uncharacteristic bemusement. He then glanced back at Liara. “Do you see anything about an airlock, sealock, whatever?”

She shook her head. “No, nothing like that.”

“Try hitting the same button for ‘enter’,” Undyne suggested.

“How would you know that?” Rodney said, gazing at her skeptically.

“Because I could hear water moving somewhere when we opened the damn thing,” Undyne growled, causing Rodney to simper once again. “I think it was filling up this room.”

“She’s right,” Geordi said. “The whole process could be semi-automated. Engaged and disengaged with just the tap of a button.”

“Go ahead and do it, then,” Shepard said to Liara. “No harm in trying.”

Liara nodded, before tapping the button once again. This time, the doors shut immediately. A second afterwards, water began to drain from the room. Along with that came a whooshing sound as air took its place. Finally, the hatch at the far end of the metal room slowly lifted upwards, revealing a short, laddered, and surprisingly well-lit tunnel down to another room.

“Nice!” Alphonse grinned, before noticing Undyne's somewhat dejected look. "But, uh, don’t worry, there’s still a lot down here to blow up.”

She perked up slightly at that.

“After we get done studying it, of course,” Liara said, retracting her forcefield. “Right, Shepard?”

She nodded, glancing around at the group. "As long as we're quick with the C4-F, you should have enough time."

And with a giant wink, she announced:

"Welcome to paradise."