UNS Titan Rescuer
“How high are the levels, Lieutenant Lorenz?” asked Leigh Anne Davidek, captain of the UNS Titan Rescuer. The Titan Rescuer was on sea trials 300 miles northeast of Turks and Caicos. She was one of the first UNIRO SAAC vessels to be launched from dry-dock. All 200 feet of her streamlined design allowed her to cut through the Atlantic waters as if they weren't even there. Fire canons, a marine crane, staging deck, bow mounted helipad, an army of AUV’s, and a moon pool made this vessel one of the best outside of the main Phoenix fleet, ready to assist in a wide variety of marine disasters.
The lieutenant checked his display’s readout again to see if they were right. They were. “Positive Captain,” he said astounded. “Methane levels within a four mile radius around the tanker are four times the tropospheric average. Sensors are reading over 7,200 parts per billion!”
“Oh my god,” whispered Davidek. She looked out the bridge windows at the stricken vessel a little over a mile off their port bow. It bobbed violently in the churning, foamy water as massive bubbles of methane gas, rising from the sea floor where the gas once lay frozen, burst their way to the surface. As they did, they created towering waves that threatened to swamp the tanker.
“Hail the Rio James again!" Davidek yelled to her comms officer. "Tell them to follow us outta here! Helm, hard to starboard, then all ahead full! We've have got to get out of this plume before it swamps us!”
From under their feet the bridge crew suddenly felt the vessel lift. A rush of water emerged from each side of the ship, caving in across multiple decks.
"Holy shit!" cried Lieutenant Lorenz as he fell to the floor with several of his crewmates. Davidek held on to a handrail, managing to stay up as the bubble subsided. The ship heaved and groaned in the punishing froth.
“Rio James, Rio James, Rio James, this is the UNS Titan Rescuer hailing on all frequencies," called the ships comms officer, steadying himself from the jostling. "You are in immediate danger. Repeat, you are in immediate danger. Please adjust your course to follow us out of the area now.”
Deafening static.
“Rio James, Rio James, Rio James, this is the UNS Titan Rescuer hailing on all frequencies. You are in immediate danger. Adjust your course to follow us out of the area immediately.”
Nothing.
“They must have passed out, ma'am. They have been in the plume for much longer than us,” said the comms officer.
Davidek sighed, nodding her head. Bubbles were appearing everywhere now. She grabbed the intercom and went ship wide.
“Attention all hands," she said loudly into the microphone, grinning to her young bridge crew. "You all wanted to be in UNIRO. You all wanted action. Well, you're about to get it. The Rio James’s crew, as far as we know, is completely incapacitated due to high levels of methane gas. It is too dangerous to send over our Zodiacs and our chopper is too small to airlift their crew all at once; we simply do not have the time. They do not have the time."
The ship violently rocked back and forth again. From all around them the sound of churning water was earsplitting. Spray and mist filled the air.
"As you've probably already guessed we are now trapped within the same deep-sea methane plume as them. To avoid the same incapacitation as the Rio James everyone please put on their oxygen mask immediately and get below deck."
Davidek laughed and wiped her forehead of sweat.
"This may have been a sea trial," she said, turning her grin into a full-blown smile, "but now it's real. We could just save our untested selves and blame our retreat on inexperience. We could just try gunning it and leave and blame the conditions for being too hazardous."
The ship buffeted upwards again, then slammed back down onto its keel. Davidek smirked with the motion.
"But I know my crew would disagree to those ideas. This crew would rather do the impossible just as UNIRO is meant to do. For the rest of our fellow rescuers back ashore they will have to wait their turn for the fame. But this crew… we’ll be the first and we’ll be making a name for ourselves. After today no one will forget what the Titan Rescuer is. Our mission starts now. We are going to ram the stern of the Rio James to push her out of the plume. All hands, brace for impact!"