Mickey was currently piloting a test rig, it was a S.S.R.V. made to educate novice divers. He was currently collecting rubber balls that had been fired into the ocean as a way to test his speed.
“Okay, I’m coming up on the last ball.” Mickey said with excitement. He grabbed the ball before returning to the surface. “How did I do?” Elvis was on the other line watching Mickey’s progress. “You did well but not exceptional. Come on back to the Rio Grande.” Mickey piloted the S.S.R.V. back to the hangar. The docking procedure began as giant robotic arms outstretched to grab the rig. They assisted the rig as it walked back into the hanger. Mickey exited the escape hatch. He took off his helmet and climbed down the S.S.R.V. “I think that was my best run yet.” Elvis smiled before replying “You’ve improved a lot. We’ll work on you combat skills next.” Jamal came into the hangar and said “Natalie called a session in the meeting room. You need to get there pronto Elvis.” Elvis turned to Mickey and said “We’ll have to continue your training later little man. I got to go.” Mickey nodded his head in understanding while Elvis and Jamal turned to leave.
In the meeting room
Natalie had just got back from a meeting with the property manager and was in a mood. She called together Natnet to discuss future plans. “We have until the end of the competition to pay off the debt or they will foreclose on Natnet.” Suri spoke. “But I thought we were in the clear after the match?” Natalie replied, “We were even but repairs from the Wattbat incident has pushed us back into the red. Unless we get a big dive contract I’m afraid we’ll be out of business.” Jessie spoke up next. “Does that mean Natnet will have to drop out of the competition?” Natalie spoke again “We have a week to decide before the next match. I called you all here to weigh our options.” Burt spoke. “I could call in some favors, see if there are any dives available for some cash.” Taylor Jones spoke next. “I’ll contact some of our sponsors for advertisement deals. That might help a little.” Natalie finished “While Burt and Mr. Jones work on that I want to get the S.S.R.V. ready for dives at a moments notice. Jamal how long will that take?”
“it will take about twelve hours to get the rigs ready for the next dive. Tatsunoryu is ready to go however.” Natalie replied, “Good, Jessie that means you are on standby. Let’s get to work people!”
Jessie’s solo dive
Natnet received a request to dig up a sunken airplane that was lost over the underwater mountains. Jessie would be going solo on this because Burt retired and both of the other S.S.R.V. needed repairs. The Dive started out smoothly It took Jessie an hour to find the plane. That’s when complications arose. Wrapped around the damaged plane was a Ripper Eel. They were both aggressive and territorial. While the Tatsunoryu could defeat the Ripper Eel easily, the problem was that Jessie could damage the plane in the process if he engaged it. He decided to lure the Ripper away from the wreckage. He fired a torpedo close enough to get the Ripper’s attention. The Ripper unwrapped itself from the plane and gave chase towards the Tatsunoryu. The Tatsunoryu maneuvered itself away from the Ripper and positioned itself between the Ripper and the plane. The Ripper responded by bitting onto the Tatsunoryu like Jessie anticipated. Jessie remained cool and, per his motto of going with the flow, had Tatsunoryu wrap its tail around the Ripper Eel and begun to squeeze it. The Ripper eventually let go and was crushed to death by Tatsunoryu. With the eel dealt with Jessie radioed in “This is Tatsunoryu, found the plane wreckage and proceeding to bring it up.” Jamal answers “acknowledged, bring her on home Jessie.” The Tatsunoryu carefully grabbed the plane and proceeded to bring it to the surface. As Jessie brought the plane to the surface his mind wandered to how routine this was. Jessie’s career as a diver started as a bet.
He and his friends liked to goof off and do some skateboarding at the skate dome. Jessie was an excellent skateboarder and had considered going pro, but fate intervened when a fire in the control room caused the skate park to take on water. Jessie thought he was going to drown when the S.S.R.V. responded to the emergency rescuing Jessie and his friends. After they were saved his friends lost interest in skateboarding and Jessie made a bet with his friends over who could become a pro diver first. Thus, deciding to go with the flow Jessie entered a Diving school and the rest was history. Jessie still thinks about skateboarding, still thinks about skating the ramps and rails pulling off cool stunts. He figured the universe wanted him to become a diver, that the karmic power of the cosmos aligned to set him on his current path, so he put his skate career on hold to become a Diver. Jessie was a talented Diver although his interest in it was minimal. For now he would go with the flow, but he planned to eventually get back into skateboarding which was his great passion.
Meeting room
Taylor Jones addressed the group “I’ve got good news and bad news. The good news is We got a sponsorship deal from Fragrance Unlimited.” The group awed at that. Fragrance Unlimited was THE purveyor in scent manufacturing. Since the world became swallowed up by the ocean many natural scents such as flowers and grass have disappeared from most of the world. To make up for this companies began manufacturing scent packs that could be injected into objects to give them naturalistic fragrances. The alternative to these artificial scents was to endure the endless smell of the briny sea and the industrial smell of the mobile landmasses. To be sponsored by the largest scent company in the world was not only an unrivaled privilege but one of the most lucrative endorsement deals a salvage company could hope for. Mr. Jones continued “The bad news is they want us to win the International S.S.R.V. competition or they will pull the contract.” Natalie spoke up. “So, the brass tax is we win the competition this year or Natnet goes belly up.” Suri responds next “So we win the competition. I don’t see what the problem is we’re better than these clowns.” Natalie responded. “Suri some of the best diving crews from around the world will be competing, which is why I want you to review the footage from our upcoming opponents.” Elvis asks, “Does that mean we’re still in the competition?” Natalie smirked “Might as well go all in. It’s not like we have anything to lose.”
Video of their upcoming opponents
The S.S.R.V. known as Thor was currently bashing a rival S.S.R.V. with its hammer. A huge dent was visible on its opponent as Thor swung around the hammer for another hit. Thor was a heavyset bipedal machine with two ape-like arms and carrying a hammer. Its allies were Boxer, a four-armed S.S.R.V. with drills on the bottom set and fists on the top set, and Hive Knight, a wasp themed S.S.R.V. with a sword and shield on its forearms and a singer tail, together forming a trio informally known as the bruisers. They had an aggressive style that made them formidable opponents. They would be even more formidable as the contest was demolition, where two teams of three battle it out until one side was decommissioned. Natnet’s S.S.R.V. were not armed for full on combat and would thus naturally be at a disadvantage. Natalie spoke “So now we know what we’re up against.” Elvis chimed in “they look like they prioritize power over speed. We will have to rely on our mobility to outpace them.” Suri said. “Obviously. What I’m wondering about is how are we gonna put dents in their armor? Our torpedoes are low yield, and the plasma cutters are short range.” Jamal spoke. “I called in a favor from a friend. We’ll upgrade our torpedoes for more punching power. The problem is we’ll have to remove some of the armor plating on River Dancer and Tatsunoryu.”
“Does that mean we’ll have to keep our distance to avoid damage?” Jessie asked.
“It means we need you to use your best judgement and not take unnecessary risks.” Natalie responded. “We only got one shot at this, so we need to make it count.” They continued to discuss their strategy going into the next match. They only had a week to make the necessary preparations and although none of them verbalized it they were a little worried. The survival of Natnet would come down to the wire.
They had to win.
