Saka sat cross-legged atop Boadicea's scratched and dented hull, double-checking her gear. The ship rocked in the gently rolling waves, the soft splash against the hull was the only sound to be heard. Before Saka could go over her equipment a third time, a sure sign she was stalling, she sighed and suited up.
She took precautions having heard tales, albethey tall tales, of the vicious monsters lurking beneath the planet's benign aqua surface. She donned a wetsuit woven through with a durable polymer to dissuade punctures from toothy beasts, although she could still be crushed between massive jaws. A thought she forced from her head. The toothless man who had sold her the spear gun she now strapped to her back had promised its accuracy and effectiveness. She hoped it worked better than whatever the old man had used for dental care. Her headlamp and backup flashlight were fully charged, and the aqua breather she secured over her mouth and nose was in proper working order. The dive computer was bulky, covering most of her left forearm, but necessary for keeping her on course and in touch with Boadicea as well as for activating the aqua breathers built in radio. Finally, the stone key, the most vital piece of all. She brushed her dark hand over its smooth surface, her fingers trailing over raised glyphs populating the gray stone.
Confident she had everything needed to resurrect the ancient treasure, Saka took one last look around the vast watery wasteland and tucked the artifact into the zippered pocket of her wetsuit before lowering herself into the planet's liquid blue depths.
Once in the water, she activated the ship's cloaking device via the dive computer. The smooth static from the unused radio frequency hissed gently in her ears, a soothing reminder of her solitude. Above, Boadicea now matched the blue sea in which she bobbed, however, the view below was a different story. The trek-worn vehicle looked just as she always did; off-white and pocked with craters. As Saka rolled to take a last look at her ship before diving toward her quarry, she noticed something flicker at Boadicea's tail.
In the filtered murky light, the unexpected light source blipped and flashed. Frowning, Saka kicked towards the mysterious yellow pulse. The light was emanating from a small black cube, no larger than the antique Zippo lighter she'd won years ago during a craps game in a darkened alley on some non-descript port planet. She ran her hand over the small tracking device and swore under the breather.
Her mind immediately flashed through an assortment of seedy individuals she'd recently encountered (an occupational hazard for a black-market treasure hunter) until she settled on the image of a roguishly handsome flyboy wearing an ancient bomber jacket from a bygone era who'd flirted with her the night before last. He'd sauntered into a dive bar filled with pirates and cargo mules and ordered two tumblers of her favorite drink, Batinenian Rum Punch. The barkeep, a willowy man with a little tuft of greenish-yellow hair sprouting out of the top of his head, obliged without a word and set the finished products in front of their new owner. The flyboy offered up a winning smile and tossed the barman a credit stick and two ration packets. Feeling this was a fair trade, the barkeep turned with his payment and went to check on his other patrons.
Saka watched the room without lifting her eyes from their anchor point behind the bar. When the flyboy took a hardy sip of his punch, Saka noticed. She was aware of him as he turned to her, slowly looking her up and down, his eyes lingering on the side seam of her brown leather pants stretched over the smooth curve of her hip. When he finally slid the second tumbler of bubbling red liquid in front of her, she played mildly hard to get.
Their evening had ended with Saka's dark legs wrapped around flyboy's waist, her back pressed against Boadicea's ass-end, suspiciously where the small, shitty tracker now blinked, blinked, blinked away. He must have placed it there when he'd distracted her with that thing he'd done with his mouth. Saka smiled ruefully at the memory. "Asshole," she murmured under the breather. Taking the spear gun from its holster on her back, she smashed the tracker with its butt, sending the irritating black box into the depths.
"Aw sugar," came a familiar drawl in Saka's ear, displacing the static, "is that any way to treat an innocent piece of tech?" Saka's eyes widened slightly at the unexpected voice. Recovering her composure quickly, she slowly kicked her fins in a circle, pivoting to face her flyboy fling.
"An expensive piece of tech at that," he continued. "And not a penny wasted. It tracked you perfectly." To a figure treading water behind him, "Remind me to thank that old toothless guy. He had some great equipment in that old shack of his."
Saka's vision moved from the flyboy to the others in his party. She counted four intruders in total. "I don't remember inviting you, or your friends."
"How very rude of me." Flyboy motioned to his cronies. "Boys, this is sugar. Sugar, the boys. Now that we've all been formally introduced, let's get to it. The key please."
Without removing her gaze from flyboy's emerald stare, Saka unzipped the pocket on her suit, and fished out the stone key, handing it over.
Flyboy took the artifact and tucked it into a pouch located on his wetsuit sleeve. "Ladies first." He moved to the side and motioned with his arm for Saka to lead the way.
Smiling sarcastically with her eyes, Saka obliged and dove into the dark depths of the watery planet. "When did you know who I was? Was it before you walked into the bar, or was I just a lucky happenstance?" she asked.
"Oh sugar, I heard that a beautiful, dark-skinned woman was buying diving equipment, and had been seen drinking at that crappy little bar, so I decided to check it out." The group was fanned out behind her, following at varying distances, making it hard for Saka to even think about making a break for it. "When I saw you sitting at the bar, it felt like Christmas in July. Do you have any idea how long I've been looking for you?"
"I'm flattered," Saka's voice was flat. "How did you even know who I was? I thought I'd been keeping a low profile. I never expected to attract a fan base."
Chuckling softly, "Sugar, after your last two hauls, other hunters would be dumb not to notice you. I mean the lost artifact of Grinian? People have been looking for that for centuries, and here you come, out of nowhere with it like you bought it at a five and dime. And then not six months later you dig up a crashed spacecraft carrying over fifty million units of platinum. People didn't even know the craft existed." More chuckling. "You're like magic, girlie."
Saka's eyes narrowed at the word 'girlie'. Mentally she tallied all the offensives flyboy would have to pay for. Currently, the pejorative female wordage was topping the list. "Remind me to get some plastic surgery after selling the Karita gem."
"Alright sugar, but I don't think you'll be needing it. The fish down here will take care of that pretty face for you," flyboy's words oozed with confidence.
"I was talking to Boadicea. I'll be going back solo."
A soft murmur of chuckles from flyboy and his friends filled Saka's ears, ramping her resolve.
The groups of divers were getting closer to their target. Their surroundings were colored by the headlamps throwing ghostly rays of mottled light in front of them.
Bringing her dive computer close to her face, Saka checked their progress. They should be almost on top of the old city. Catching a new glow coming from her right, Saka turned her head towards it. A blue light was shooting small rays into the darkness from flyboy's cuff where the key was tucked away.
Saka pulled up short. "What are you doing?" Flyboy asked, his drawl carrying an edge of irritation. Illuminated in his headlamp, she motioned towards his wrist. "No wonder you tracked me. You couldn't find your ass with both hands in a well-lit room surrounded by mirrors."
Following her eye line, flyboy removed the glowing key from his sleeve. It illuminated their surroundings in an intense blue light. Below them, the darkness melted away, replaced by the same blue glow to reveal a massive sunken city.
"Karita," awe at the sight of the illuminated city had erased the irritation from flyboy's voice.
Turning back to the city, Saka could hardly believe her eyes. Millennia spent beneath the water had left Karita's ancient stone walls in relatively good condition, at least from where the group now tread water some one hundred yards from the nearest cracked stone wall.
Fissures spider-webbed the building's surfaces, blue light spilling from each one, giving this watery grave an ethereal look. Saka guessed the pressure from the water itself was the main reason the walls hadn't crumbled completely centuries ago. However, any action from an outside force, such as a kicking flipper or bump from an unchecked elbow would send one of Karita's many towers tumbling down. Saka gave a cursory look at flyboy's henchmen and decided it wouldn't be too hard to cull their numbers with a well-placed shove here or there.
"Is that glow the—"
"Gem? Yes, it's the gem," Saka cut off flyboy. "The key must have activated it."
"Activated?"
Saka sighed, "Do you do any research beyond figuring out who to cheat off?" To the cronies, "Please tell me you're not friends of his. I would hope you all were smart enough not to hang out with someone this stupid." Receiving no reply, she continued, "The gem was Karita's power source. It ran the city, provided heat, cooling, washed the salt from the seawater for drinking, healed the sick, and protected the island from invasion."
"Invasion?" Came an unfamiliar voice over the intercom in Saka's ear.
"So you can speak. Good to know." She turned back to the city. "It'll be interesting to see if the defensive systems are still running properly." Turning back to the gang, "I'd watch what I touch." To flyboy, "I suppose I'm still leading this mission?"
Gesturing with the key, he motioned for Saka to keep swimming. "We'll take up the rear, and you two will flank her."
Saka began swimming down towards the electric blue of Karita. "Didn't take the time to learn their names? I take it they just hired hands."
"I pay very well," came flyboy's voice over the comm.
"So they aren't your friends. Well boys, you just gained a little of my respect." Saka received silence over the comm.
The group swam down towards the blue city. Saka kept one eye on the city and the other on the water around them. The stone's magnificent glow had not only attracted the attention of the treasure hunters. Saka noted several small schools of sleek silver fish also diving towards the ancient runes. It would only be a matter of time until their larger counterparts were drawn to the light.
It didn't take long for the dark shadows of large aquatic beasts to emerge at the edge of the light, their smooth, elongated forms darting in and out of view.
"You guys might want to swim a little faster," Saka picked up her pace, "I have a feeling those heavyweights up there aren't just here to dance."
Flyboy motioned for his guys to get a move on, and together they followed Saka as she barreled down towards the slowly growing ruins. Taking notice of the group of darkly suited swimmers with glowing headlamps, the closest of the phantom-like creatures decided to investigate these strange interlopers. A twenty-foot behemoth of fins and teeth rushed from its murky vantage point and took a nibble from the right wingman. Unfortunately for the wingman, the nibble was about three feet wide and one foot deep, and it was from his torso.
A gurgle of panic sounded from flyboy and his buddy at the rear of the procession as they watched the massive monster swim off with a vital chunk of their team. His body now floated lifelessly, a cloud of blood bloomed black in their headlamps.
Briefly, the remaining wingman looked over his shoulder to assess the situation. Just as he was focusing in on what had happened, their toothy visitor, deciding that despite the wetsuit, the last bite had been pretty tasty, came in for another round. This time, it barreled up from below, nearly engulfing the terrified rear guard, not five feet from where flyboy floated, shocked. As the giant beast shot past, its tail slashed past flyboy, throwing him to the side as it shot upward, temporarily disorienting him.
At the sound of flyboy's panicked cry, Saka saw her opportunity to break away from the pack. Switching off her headlamp, she swam like hell for the cover of the city. She had nearly made it when a hand gripped her ankle, pulling her up short. Curling her legs beneath her, she turned quickly and brought her elbow around, cracking flyboy in the nose, dislodging his breather. Startled, flyboy released her ankle giving Saka the chance to kick off the attacker to gain a bit of ground. She felt him grab for the edge of her flipper, but she managed to slip away, finally entering the relative safety of the city's glowing walls.
Finding an alleyway of sorts, she made her way through a maze of narrow passageways flanked on both sides by tall buildings. Flyboy quickly closed the gap between them, this time grabbing her knee. Rolling to her left, Saka removed the spear gun from her back and rammed the butt of it into the brittle building's face. Just as she expected, the water-weakened façade gave way, bringing down chunks of white stone, allowing a flood of blue light to pour through.
The barrage of heavy stones fell around Saka and flyboy as they fought. Saka calculated, at least, two minutes had gone by since flyboy had lost his breather. With the exertion of their struggle, coupled with their underwater sprint, she figured he'd pass out soon, but he showed no signs of slowing.
As she deflected another of flyboy's punches, Saka wondered whether he'd had some sort of surgical augmentation for hidden gills when she felt the wall give behind her. The wall she was pressed against began to crumble under her weight. Above the fight consumed pair, the building's roof collapsed, sending heavy stones sliding to the city's cobbled street. Hearing the impending rockslide as it happened, Saka and flyboy glanced up in time to dance out of the way, their fight momentarily forgotten.
The last hired gun, having finally tracked the pair to the alley, rounded the corner just as the rockslide came down, pinning him beneath its weight. Flyboy swam to his injured comrade while Saka took the opportunity to continue towards the city's center, silently cursing that she hadn't managed to get the key back. She had managed to hang onto the spear gun which she holstered onto her back.
In the sediment-laden water, flyboy managed to locate the pinned man. His headlamp undulating slightly with his breathing. Surprised to find him still alive, flyboy looked past the glass of the aqua breathers goggles to see the pleading in his brown eyes. Shrugging slightly, flyboy removed the man's breather, and donned it himself, inhaling deeply.
"Sorry brother. I need it more than you do."
The pinned man flailed against the rocks, trying to grab at flyboy as he kicked away after Saka. He checked his wrist once more, making sure the key was still snug in his cuff. Reassured by the small stone's hard mass, he resigned himself to killing the irritating bitch after he had the gem.
Hearing flyboy's words to the dying man gave Saka a new perspective on her troublesome one night stand. Knowing he would easily track her to the center of the city, she made no effort to hide her progress, leaving scuffs and marks along the walls and ground whenever she could. The overall effect made her look panicked and careless, something she hoped flyboy would pick up on, which just might give her an advantage when the time came.