Captain Ford was rubbing the sleep from his eyes. Stress was kicking his ass. Having to decide to put the shark down sucked. It was generally their main mission to observe and learn, not generally observe and kill. Jonathan was very curious about the oceans and wanted to explore and learn as much as possible. He also understood how Rose felt about the shark and here he was telling her to find a way to put it down humanely. Groaning, he pulled on his uniform.

His mind also wandered to the necessary repairs that needed to happen to the DSV thanks to the beast. Unfortunately they were going to have to take care of the beast sooner rather than later. Luckily the areas damaged were able to be completely sealed and there were alternate routes around , though it would take people longer to get around it was manageable. They still needed to head into a naval port the get parts that they didn't all ready have to fix the broken hull. His first task of the day was to find out where Rose was at on putting the beast down. Then a call to a few museums of natural history to see who wanted the beast to study. Next a call in to find which naval port to go dry dock yet again. He was leaning toward San Francisco as it was a larger port , more able to accommodate their huge DSV. Yep, it was going to be a very busy day. There were his usual rounds to make as well and actually be up on the bridge. He knew he could rely on his Commanders though. They had worked together for so long now that they could often read each other's minds and finish each other's sentences. Some days he grew tired, but he truly loved his work. The day must start. Jonathan stood straight, checking the mirror one last time. It was time to begin another day.

********************************

Lucas dropped Rose off at her lab on his way to his lab. Rose had told him about the article that she and Liv were going to do. He was excited and supportive of the idea of them writing the article.

Rose turned on the lights and turned on all of the necessary computers and equipment. Darwin's voice came over the speaker in her lab that was linked to his aquatube.

" Hello pretty lady!" Darwin said.

Rose smiled and walked up to the tube and pressed the button so she could speak back.

" Good morning Darwin!"

" Come swim!" He pleaded.

" I can't right now. But I will when my work is done. Shall I bring Lucas?"

" Yes! Lucas come!"

" Okay! I'll tell him when i see him!"

" Shark, mad. Shark lonely!Shark Hungry!"

The comment stopped Rose in her tracks. " It is? How do you know?"

" Hear it in mind!"

" Whoa..." Rose didn't know he was telepathic!

" Darwin? Do you know if it's a male or a female?"

" Male!"

" Thank you! Darwin, I need to talk to Lucas. Thank you for your help and your visit! I promise I'll come swim later!"

" Swim! Swim! Welcome!"

Rose sat down to check her e-mail and had a response to a message she had sent to a contact at the aquarium she had worked for. He listed the best drug options to take care of the shark as quickly as possible. Rose had provided the sharks dimensions as best she could and her contact had worked out an estimate of how much of the drugs they'd need to take it down. They were talking some heavy duty tranquilizers amongst other things. The thought though was to get it done and taken for research ASAP.

Rose paged Captain Ford. He came down to her lab in person.

" Lieutenant, good morning." Captain Ford said.

" Good morning Sir. I heard back from an old contact about the best possible way to put the shark down. We don't have enough of the chemicals on hand, we'll need to order some extra of the tranquilizers. But a dart with a tube filled of the chemicals should do the trick. The hard part is getting close enough to it and being accurate."

Captain Ford scratched his chin." Work with Commander Ortiz and Lucas on a design. In the mean time send me a list of what you need to order. I'll see what I can do. You three work well together. I'm sure you will be able to come up with something."

" Yes sir."

" Thank you Harker. Good work. I'll be up on the bridge if you need anything."

" All right Sir. "

Captain Ford left her to her work. Olivia came in a few minutes later.
Rose caught her up to speed and they took care of some lab work. Bouncing ideas off each other for the paper. They worked some more on the outline and later they contacted Lucas and Miguel. The men came down to the science lab and as a group they put in thoughts on a design. Lucas used a holographic projector to make a set of model plans. Essentially it would be like a whaling harpoon from back in the 19th century as whaling was now illegal sure to there being so few left in the oceans. They would have to build it all on their own. Luckily Miguel knew a machinist that was very good at creating things. He said he'd try and reach out for assistance on fabricating the metal components they would need. Sending him the plans they finalized by the end of the day. The machinist agreed that he could make it, but was concerned of getting in trouble with authorities. So Miguel asked Captain Ford to get in touch with Admiral Sparks to ensure that the machinist didn't run into any trouble. Sparks was able to oblige and sent the guy a certificate stating he was free of any responsibility, that he was being commissioned by the United Earth Ocean's Organization and that he actually would be paid for his work by UEO. This moved well with the Machinist so he said he'd start the project right away.

Sparks approved of the latest plans to make the harpoon. He agreed that it was the best option.
Lucas,Miguel, Rose and Olivia went for dinner together. Their creative minds just kept going. Finally splitting up Lucas and Rose went back to her quarters for the evening.

Rose put some comfy pajama pants and a white cammi on and plopped down on the bed. Lucas had slipped out of his clothes and was ready to relax in his boxers and white T-shirt.

" So, I have a question." Rose asked.

" Sure! What's up?" He asked.

" Is Darwin Telepathic?"

Lucas grinned. " Yes actually! How did you figure it out?"

" He said he heard the shark in his mind. He said it's a male. It's angry and lonely and hungry."

Lucas let a puff of air out of his mouth and ran his fingers through his dirty blonde hair." Wow. I never thought to ask Darwin to see if he could hear it. Damn. "

" I have to be honest. I am so sad for the creature. It breaks my heart to have to play God with it." She felt her heart grow heavy. And her eyes welled up a little.

Lucas saw the look on her face. " Hey." He said softly. " It's not your fault. Maybe we should go talk to Darwin. See if he can communicate with it."

" And what? Tell it we're going to kill it? What then?!" She burst out. Then she sighed, shaking her head. " I'm sorry. I've just always worked to save animals not kill them. I never even went fishing as a kid. I didn't want to harm the worm or the fish. Fuck...this really sucks."

" Well come on then, at the very least let's go talk to Darwin."

" All right." Rose agreed.

They both threw on clothes and walked to the Moon Pool to see Darwin. When they arrived he was pushing a red ball around making happy dolphin noises and splashing around.

" Darwin play!" His electronic voice came over the speakers.

" Hi Darwin!" Rose said.

" Darwin, can you help us a sec?"

" Yes!" Darwin said. Leaving the ball behind and coming to their end of the tank so gracefully.

" Darwin. Rose said you can hear the shark. Is that true?"

" Yes! Hear shark."

" Can you talk to him?"

"Can try."

"Is it close enough for him to pick up on it? Rose asked.

"I'm not sure. Let's see if we can track it see where it is." Lucas said.

Rose booted up her computer and found the program that they had designed to track the shark. It had gone into the deep trench. It seemed to be in a rest mode swimming idly in the darkness. The beast was a couple miles away.

"Darwin, can you hear the shark?" Lucas asked.

"No is quiet."

"Um Rose. I just had an idea, but I don't really like it per se."

"What?" Rose asked.

"We need to get it to come closer or get Darwin closer to it..."

"Lucas, you don't mean...not using Darwin like bait?"

"Ughhh either that or me in The Stinger to bring it closer..."

"You promised! You said you wouldn't!" Rose hissed.

Lucas cringed."I know, but if Darwin can get through to it? That could make a difference ya know?"

"I don't want either of you out there! It's too dangerous!!!" Rose was wild eyed.

"Listen, I outran it before, I can do it again. We just need it close enough for Darwin to pick up on it and get a message through."

" Nope! Just. Nope! Not happening! Non fucking way!"

"Let's at least run it by Captain Ford." Lucas suggested.

"That's insane. And unsafe! You're crazy!" Rose started pacing. "You need to wait until the harpoon is ready before we do anything rash!"

"Rose, it'll be fine. I promise. Let's talk to the Captain." Lucas reached out and took her elbow gently."Please." His eyes burned into hers and he spoke softly.

" No! I can't think of sending either of you out there!" She was frantic. Heart pounding in her own ears. Chest so tight she could barely breath. "Lucas..."