In the northern ocean of Vacanza Beta, home to many different aquatic species such as the earth lionfish and the Andorian Spear Shark, there was now swimming a more dangerous creature and her new friend. Mariner was dining with her friend Serena and they were swimming towards a sunken single passenger starship on the floor of the planet. Mariner's new friend Serena is a betazoid member of the Independent Archeologist Guild who was also a friend of Mariner's former archeologist partner Petra. The two met one night after Mariner had dinner with the mother and the two instantly clicked in more ways than one. For Mariner this shore leave was a welcomed break especially after her recent breakthrough with Nick Locarno's Nova Fleet and her return to Starfleet. Instead of joining the rest of the Warp Core Four she decided on an athletic beach vacation turned underwater treasure hunt.
Mariner and Serena just arrived at the sunken ship that was hidden by an artificial coral reef and seaweed. The sunken ship was mostly intact with the front windows broken and thankfully no remains of the ship's of the former owner. Serena approached the ship first and noted the condition of the ship as she used her PADD to see if the ship's technology was salvageable. Mariner swam up behind and lightly tapped her on the shoulder then Serena used her betazoid ability of telepathic communication so the two girlfriends could talk. Mariner told Serena, "Looks like the ship is here but the pilot is gone. Must have bailed out of the ship before it crashed or the pilot was taken." Serena replied, "According to my readings the ship's computers were disabled with some kind of jamming signal but it'll be easy to fix. Though entering may be tricky the holes in the windows aren't big enough and I doubt we're strong enough to break the material." Mariner replied with, "True but maybe I can rip the door off, the ship is offline and seawater had to have soften up the locking mechanism." Serena agreed saying, "True I've done this before and ripping the door of is easy but last time I cracked my helmet after the door ripped off. I should probably hold on to your rebreather and bag so you don't damage it if you can hold your breath long enough." Mariner agreed then took a deep breath and over her rebreather to Serena before ripping off door of the sunken spaceship.
Mariner swam up to the door of the sunken ship and began pulling placing her feet on the hull then pulled the door like she was pulling a weed. Mariner was used to do this kind of thing pulled this time it was a bit more difficult as she was 200 feet underwater and holding her breath. As Mariner was pulling the door her cheeks began to puff which seemed rather cute to Serena who thought to herself, "I don't think I've ever seen such a strong girl with cute cheeks." After 3 minutes Mariner managed to successfully pull the door off with the force of her pull launch her backwards with Serena swimming up to her. Serena thanked Mariner for her hard work with a passionate air giving kiss before giving Mariner her rebreather back. Mariner asked Serena, "So if that's what I get for prying a door off a sunken ship what do I get for salvaging some valuable tech?" Serena flirtishly replied, "I let you know when we do salvage the tech but I think you'll be very happy with the reward. The tech will need a bit of debugging and minor repair before I can sell it or use it to upgrade my ship." Mariner replied as the two began swimming towards the sunken ship, "Well hopefully you upgrade your ship's engine maybe you could keep up with the Cerritos it would be nice to have a girlfriend close." Serena asked, "With also those crewmembers I'm surprised you're single. Wait do you have an ex on board?" Mariner explained her story of her and Jen while the two swam towards the sunken ship.
As the two arrived at the new doorway into the sunken ship Mariner just finished her unfortunate tale of romance. Serena comforted Mariner and said, "Seems to me like you tried to be the perfect girlfriend to your imperfect match. I may have just met you but from what Petra told me about you and my gut feeling you are a good friend. Plus, after seeing some of your memories, you are a good person even if you do bend the rules a bit though I don't mind the ticking off your commanding officers part, sometimes it is kinda funny to wind-up others. Also, from meeting you last night you are very affectionate, quite agile, and amazingly flexible." Mariner returned the compliment, "Same here I mean you just met me last night and you made be breakfast. Screw taking this too fast let's have some fun and salvage this ship." At that moment Mariner realized something: she shouldn't have to change who she is for some guy or girl if they could love her for being her. Mariner and Serena entered the ship with Serena going towards the cockpit with Mariner swimming towards the cargo bay. Serena was looking to salvage the computer components with Mariner looking to salvage any valuable, and possibly alcoholic, cargo.
Serena began her salvaging by grabbing the control panel and started pulling out the technology piece by piece. Serena was extra careful so as not to cut herself as many predatory aquatic species of Vacanza Beta can detect even a small trace of blood in the water. Serena was also quite careful when salvaging the equipment as she was looking to upgrade her ship with the useful components and sell the un-useful ones for some walking around money. While salvaging the components Serena began thinking to herself, "Well Serena this is some vacation: an underwater treasure hunt and a new lover. Perhaps I should go for another relationship though long distance may be a bit difficult but Mariner is definitely worth it. I mean a tough girl with a pretty face is a rare thing plus a body like her's is worth its weight in gold pressed latinum." Serena's job as a member of the Independent Archeologist Guild took her to many planets where she's had alot of flings but only one serious relationship with a human outpost scientist named Harleen. Serena's relationship ended the same way a lack of trust led Harleen to believe some rumors about Serena and dumping her. Serena quickly left the planet after the breakup but, not before spray painting "FLAT ASS DUMBASS" on the side of the outpost.
Mariner began her salvaging by first prying open the doors of the cargo bay, which was much easier than prying open the door to the ship. Mariner began to analyze what was in the abandoned cargo and was not all that surprise by what she found. Mariner had found: a container of dilithium crystals (she believed it to be spare fuel for the ship), some bottles of Andorian scotch, a few bottles of Saurian brandy, a few more bottles of Bloodwine, and a few bottles of Aldebaran whiskey. Mariner believed the sunken ship was simply a delivery ship for some local bar and was brought down by some petty thieves. While Mariner was happy to have found a treasure trove of booze, she did hope for something a bit more valuable as this was an underwater treasure hunt. However, Mariner was not going to let good booze go to waste and let it stay at the bottom of the ocean where it couldn't be enjoyed. While Mariner was collecting her treasure, she began thinking to herself, "I can't believe I literally dove right into a booze jackpot while on an underwater treasure hunt with a hot betazoid archeologist. I mean in Starfleet I go on crazy missions pretty much on a weekly basis but this is on a whole new level. There is no way Boimler, Rutherford, or T'Lyn are having this much but I wonder what they're doing. I bet Boimler and T'Lyn are probably studying some of the marine life probably T'Lyn's idea and Boimler grabbed that ball and ran with it that lovable nerd." Mariner was happily collecting her treasure when before she knew it, she received a tap on her shoulder and she turned to see that it was Serena.
Mariner and Serena were checking their current to see what the sunken ship had to offer them but they couldn't carry it all in one trip. Seeing as they still had quite some time, they decided to work out their salvaging plan as they sat in the sunken starship. Mariner started the plan with, "So it looks like this sunken ship doesn't have a lot of super valuable stuff but just look at this booze. I mean Saurian brandy and Aldebaran whiskey this is a pretty good haul and these containers weren't damaged so the bottles are brand new." Serena replied, "Well looks like you missed the dilithium crystals but that's probably spare fuel the ship's captain stored in case of an emergency. However, with all those brand-new bottles it's pretty easy to miss." Mariner asked, "Yeah I didn't really look on the bottom shelf when I started salvaging. So how did your tech salvage go? Any useful components for your ship?" Serena answered, "Yes it will take a bit of doing but I found everything I need it looks like this ship was brand new before it sank and judging from the condition of the ship and lack of corrosion it looks like it sank just a week ago. Unfortunately, it looks like we can't get everything we need on this one trip it'll take at least 3 more." Mariner suggested, "Yeah I have two weeks of shore leave that started yesterday and you have a beach house near mine with your ship docked there. Maybe you could bunk with me and we could do one salvage dive to this ship a day and maybe see if there's other sunken treasure." Serena followed up Mariner's suggestion with, "Hmm my vacation did start yesterday too and I didn't really move any of my stuff into the beach house. I suppose I can cancel my reservation and still get my money back so I won't really lose anything by cancelling. Plus, vacationing alone isn't all that fun away and you do make for good company Mariner." Mariner and Serena spent the next 30 minutes setting down ground rules for their cohabitation vacation and their sea salvaging treasure hunt.
Mariner and Serena finally set down the ground rules which was quite easy as they were so much alike there was little compromise. Mariner and Serena checked their air supply and noted they had at least 4 hours of air left and decided it was time to surface with their current haul. While the two were setting down the ground rules they decided to only do one of these salvage dives a day so they can still enjoy their vacation. After the two ascended they placed their haul into the storage area on Serena's ship and then they decided to change out of their wetsuits. While there was no changing area the two lovers had no problems changing in front of each other yet as they changed the two girls exchanged glances and flirts. Mariner was now dressed in a dark red bikini with a yellow Starfleet symbol on the right breast of the bikini top. Serena was now dressed in a light purple string bikini with a yellow crescent moon on the right breast of the bikini top. The two decided to take the rest of from treasure hunting and do some classic aquatic vacation activities: freediving, swimming, spearfishing, and a breath holding contest or two. Before diving back into the water, the two girls shared another passionate kiss with Mariner thinking to herself, "I'm the luckiest girl in the entire galaxy right now." Serena replied through telepathic communication, "Yes you are and I'm the second luckiest girl. Though I didn't expect to meet someone like you." Mariner simply replied "Me too" as the two broke the kiss they took deep breaths and happily leaped into the ocean.