From the depths of the Pacific the beast rose with a hunger that needed to be filled. In search of prey it glided smoothly through the water's murkyness.  Not far away a fishing vessel was processing it's catch. Throwing fish guts into the water it sparked the shark's interest. Following the tingling of it's senses the beast found it's way to the chummed water. The shark swam up along side the 30 meter long fishing vessel. A full ten meters longer than the boat. The dorsal fin poked through the water catching the eye of one of the boat crew.

" What?! What the Hell is that?!!! Is it a whale?" the guy pointed to the dark grey body swimming next to them. 

A coworker turned to see it. His eyes bugging out of his head nearly. " Oh my GOD!"

The shark dove slowly down, down, until it turned and faced up toward the sky it was hungry and started picking up speed. Seeing the flailing arms of the two  crew men trying to get the attention of their coworkers the shark gained speed. The beast breached the surface a huge terrifying menace. The men turned as they heard the water break. Terrified they stood still as they saw the giant Great White behemoth rise and lunge toward the boat. Knocking into the boat , jarring it in the ocean. The men screamed bloody murder! The crew higher up in the control room saw the beast alongside the boat again. One of the men was smart enough to take out his smart phone. Recording the thing. They had to come up with a plan to get out and away from the beast that outranked them in length. The Captain was hoping their engines would be fast enough to outrun the creature.

" Get those men inside! " The captain ordered. " All ahead FULL POWER as soon as everyone is safe inside!"

The creature disappeared again, going down, down once again. Then turning again in the water it rose at full speed again. This time nudging the hull with it's snout. A curious nudge, but it rocked the boat and made a loud noise as it hit.

" Sir! It's a Great White! It's huge!" Said the first of the men that saw it as it breached the water. 

" All right. All right! Calm down guys! We need to get out and away from it! Dump all our guts buckets and maybe that will distract it so we can get the Hell out of here! Hurry! "

Half the crew went out and were terrified to get too close to the edge of the boat, but they did work as fast as possible to get the buckets to the sides of the boat, dumping their contents into the ocean. Blood and fish parts spilling all around.  With much hope the men scurried to dump every last bucket. Then they saw, it had created a feeding frenzy of other sharks. More arrived on the scene. A swarm of them in the water gobbling up fish pieces. Suddenly from the darkness the beast came once again. this time finding suitable prey, a normal sized Great White. It honed in on the smaller shark and closed in. The other shark did not know it's fate as it was in the middle of chomping on bits. The Beast opened wide and closed it's jaws on the smaller shark , breaking through the water again, this time with the smaller shark in it's grasp! All the men on the crew saw it and swore. Some prayed to God for safety.. They all hurried inside the control room and the Captain laid on the throttle slowly increasing speed until the engines were roaring. 

The fishing boat gained speed and got the Hell out of the shark swarm and away from the beast. When they made it back into port with their catch news spread like wildfire as they showed the video of the Beast to everyone. The Captain and the phone owner got in touch with a local broadcasting agency and sold the video to the news. As the first video footage was broadcast the video and story went viral piquing interest of newscasters all around the area. The fishermen spent a lot of time retelling the story over and over. 

Rose was back at her quarters scrolling through news feed having found the video the fishermen had taken. She was beyond shocked at what she saw. It was later in the evening, nearly bedtime, but she could not sleep. She and Lucas were not getting together this evening as he had been invited to a poker game at Mitch's quarters. Rose saved the footage to share in the morning. Rubbing her tired eyes she decided to video call her Aunt Kristen. She waited patiently as the signal went out.

On screen came her favorite aunt. " Hello Rose! How are you?"

" I'm having a hard time getting ready to sleep. Have you heard about the giant Great White shark out near Japan? It's all over the news."

Kristen sat back and nodded. " Yes I have! It's quite disturbing!"

" Well, guess where my first mission is taking me..."

" Not! No! That thing is dangerous!"

" Well, UEO wants us to  study it and track it and see if it poses a threat to the oceans or not . I mean a creature that huge could jeopardize the ecology of the oceans. Lucas built me a tracker for it. It's my job to figure out how to get the tracker on it. Lucas was thinking he could do it with the Stinger."

" Is he crazy?!" Kristen flew out of her chair. Leaning into the monitor. " Rose! That thing looks like it could swallow the Stinger without chewing! You can't let him do it! There needs to be a different way! Do not let him use the Stinger! My GOD! He would be an hors d'ouvre!"

" Well , nothing has been set in stone as of yet. I want to meet with Captain Ford in  morning. Now that I've seen that footage I'm not at all crazy at the idea either!"

" Can't Commander Ortiz find a way to use the WSKRS or something?"

" I don't know. I'll see what I can do. This thing is terrifying! I mean 40 meters long! Give or take! This is unreal!"

Kristen sat back down. Trying to calm down. " All right,  I know that Jonathan will make a good decision, he is smart. He will not put any of you unnecessarily at risk. Be safe out there my dear! Now I'm going to worry. "

" Aww, I'm sorry to worry you. I just am too amped up to sleep now. I know I need to try."

" So, not to change the subject, well not completely anyway... You've been awful chatty about Lucas..."

Rose's eyes widened and she blushed. " Ummm, okay, I'll dish a little. We are kind of becoming an item..."

" Can I say something?"

" Always."

" Nothing against your past with Erik...but you glow when you talk about Lucas. You never did with Erik. I don't mean to be negative you know. But your face lights up when Lucas gets mentioned." Kristen smiled.

" Well...he is awful charming. And I tell you, those eyes...are so dreamy! I , uh, he's just so sweet!  And I mean, smart! So brilliant! He built the shark tracker in a very short amount of time. He thought of everything. The speed, the depths it goes, the water temps and of course to GPS locators. Lucas is amazing. I really do like him." Rose smiled.

Kristen chuckled. " I am glad. He's become a good man. I will stop prodding you now. You better try and get some sleep now. Keep me updated on your findings. Let me know if I can be of any help."

" Thanks Aunt Kristen. I will do. Good night!"

" Good night !" They both signed off.

Rose looked around and talked to herself. " Well? Now what?" 

Her quarters were clean. She needed to go for a walk or something. She changed into some sweat pants and a plain black long sleeve shirt. Slipped on a pair of black sneakers. Rose walked aimlessly taking time for herself. Things with Lucas had progressed quite fast. She ended up at the moon pool where Darwin was swimming around slowly. Rose went up to the edge of the pool and sat down. Darwin swam over curiously.

" Pretty lady!"

" Hi Darwin!"

" Pretty lady come to swim with Darwin?"

" Not tonight buddy. I just can't get to sleep! So, I thought I would come say Hi!"

" Pet me, I'll make it better!" Darwin said.

Rose reached down and touched Darwin's sleek skin.  " Thanks Darwin. You're a good guy."

" Thank you! You sure no swim?"

Rose grinned. " Maybe tomorrow. Are you bored? I can play catch with you if you want."

" Yes! Catch! Catch!"

Rose went over to a cabinet that held Darwin's things. She selected throwing rings that he liked to chase and catch. Taking out five of them she stood back and threw them one at a time for Darwin. He caught them and brought them back for her. A half hour later Rose was still tossing the rings for Darwin when she heard a hatch behind her open. Turning to see who had entered, she should've known it was Lucas.

" Here you are!" Lucas said as he walked over to the pool, hands in pockets. " I couldn't find you."

" Hey. I couldn't sleep. I went for a walk and ended up here."

" What's wrong?"

" I need to show you something. But not here. " She turned to Darwin. " Darwin. I'm going to go now. All right?"

" Sleep good Rose-lady!"

" Thanks buddy! See you tomorrow!"

" Tomorrow swim!"

Rose nodded. " I promise! Bye Darwin!" She hung the rings back in the cabinet.

Lucas watched her. She came up to him. " Walk with me?"

He nodded. " Sure! " 

Exiting the moon pool they headed back to her quarters. " Lucas, that shark we're heading after has gone viral. It's in the news all over. A fishing vessel had a close encounter with it. They got footage of it. This thing is huge! I'm nervous. I want to understand what is going on that it exists. But I need to tell you. I'm suddenly not at all crazy about the idea of you going out after it in the Stinger. " She stopped in the corridor they were in. Her eyes showed her fear.

Lucas turned toward her. " Hey. It'll be fine! The stinger is fast! I've been piloting it for almost twenty years. It'll be fine. I promise." He reached out for her shoulders. Lips pursed together trying to figure out how else to comfort her.

" Lucas, this thing is estimated at nearly 40 meters! It could swallow you and the Stinger WHOLE!" Her eyes grew with fear. " I want to meet with the Captain in the morning,  try and figure out a better way of attaching that tracker. I want to study the creature, for sure, but I don't want you out there near it!" She rested her hands on his chest. " I am here to do my job. But I need you safe." Her eyes stayed glued on his.

" Hey. Rose, I will be safe. A quick run up to it, jab it on the fin or tail and I'm out, back here in one piece. "

Rose glared at him. " Nope! Not okay!" She shrugged out of his grip and started to back away.

" Rose. Calm down! I mean, we can talk with the Captain about it, but I really am not sure if there's any better way..."

" Come watch the video." She motioned for him to follow her.

Lucas tried to match her hurried stride. She was upset and he knew he had to figure out how to make it right. " Rose, I just don't see another way..."

She raised her hand for him to stop talking. " Just, don't, I won't watch you risk your life! Aunt Kristen mentioned maybe something could be rigged to the WSKRS. "

" Maybe. We can talk it over with the Captain and Commander Ortiz. " He paused. " Listen, we'll meet with both of them if it'll make you feel better about it." 

" All right. I'm sorry, I'm just..." 

" Scared. I know. It's all right. We'll figure something out. This why you can't sleep?"

" Yes. Just, here, let's go to my quarters. I'll show you."

They were almost there. She opened the hatch to her personal space and Lucas followed her inside. Take a seat. I'll pull up the footage.  I saved a file."

" All right. " He didn't want to make her mad so he stayed calm to try and help diffuse her mood." Your bunk all right?"

" Sure. Get comfy. " She pulled up the video file and programmed it to appear on the screen on her wall. " Okay, here, this is it." she went over to sit by him. Their feet dangled off the bunk, not touching the floor. She tucked one leg underneath herself.

They watched the video feed. Lucas ran his fingers through his hair, then looked at her." All right, seeing THAT, I get where you're coming from. I'll see what Miguel and I can come up with. If he thinks the WSKRS can handle it. I don't really want to be eaten alive by that thing. "

Rose looked at him. " Thank you for seeing reason."

" Sure." He wrapped his arm around her shoulders. " I get it why you were so worried. I won't do anything crazy. All right?" his hand rubbed lightly on her arm, slowly up and down.

" I've been a wreck since I've seen it."

" No wonder you're so wired. Hey. Why don't I stay here tonight? Keep you company, maybe try and help you sleep?"

Rose leaned into him. " All right. Hey. Is it weird that we are spending so much time together?" She asked softly.

Lucas smiled. " I like it. It's been kind of my favorite thing lately actually. I like being near you." He smoothed her hair.

The move made her inhale deeply. She loved when people played with her hair. She closed her eyes and rested her head on his shoulder. " I like it too. " She yawned.

" Come on, let's try and get some sleep. I'll get us time with the Captain in the morning. " 

He let her go, stood up and started to take off his pants. Then his shirt came next, he walked in his boxers over to deposit his clothes on the back of the chair of her desk. Rose slipped off her sweatpants and put on her pajama booty shorts and then took the long sleeve top off revealing her bra. Lucas looked over at that moment and sucked in a breath feeling his heart speed up. Rose dug in a drawer for her light blue T-shirt that was super soft to sleep in, pulling it on over her head. Then she reached behind her back unhooking her bra, slipping out one arm, then the other, flinging it out her sleeve. That move turned Lucas on, but was feeling that sex this evening was not an option. So taking a few deep breaths he sat on the side of the bed and tried to calm himself. Rose locked the hatch and turned off the main light. The soft glow of the bunk light helped her see where she was going.

Lucas waited for Rose to climb into the bunk, then he slid in next to her. Pulling the blankets over them. Rose laid on her side facing Lucas. Lucas rolled over to face her.

" Good night pretty lady."

" Are you stealing Darwin's pick up lines now?" She teased.

" Eh, maybe learning a thing or two from him." He chuckled. " Maybe he can teach me to be more smooth." his hand rested on her waist, fingertips running along her in a slow relaxing motion. Lucas couldn't keep his hands off her, but was trying to soothe her. 

" I see. Well, I'll let you in on a little secret. You don't need to be smooth, because there's just something about you that I just really like. And I gotta tell you, Mr.BlueEyes, you just are cool. I like your brains and oh, man, those eyes..."

" What else do you like?" he asked watching her in the dim  light. " Tell me."

" Your personality. From the moment I met you at that bar. I was nervous, but then I could tell right away that you were a good guy, not a jerk. "

" Anything else?"

" Your...lips." She said biting her bottom lip coyly.

" Hmmm...really?" 

" Yep. You have awesome lips. And you know how to use them." 

" Wow. The better to kiss you with my dear..." He teased. Reaching up, his hand leaving her waist and running along her cheek. " I don't want you to be scared of that shark okay? It's not going to get me. No matter what is decided. We've seen some crazy creatures as we've started exploring the depths of the oceans a little at a time. But we can handle this thing. I'm not going anywhere. "

" I just...I just found you, I don't want to risk anything bad..."

" I know. It'll be all right." he ran his thumb along her jawline, drawing her in for a soft kiss. " I'm not going anywhere. " He kissed her forehead.

" You better not." She said snuggling in close to him.