Bright winter sunlight danced across the wave tops churned up by the crisp, stiff breeze blowing across Blue Lake, the large, inland sea on the continent of Serenity. The small fishing boat rolled with the swell, forcing its lone crewman to hang onto the fixtures a little tighter than usual, but he didn't mind. On the contrary, he was enjoying himself immensely! This might not be Earth, but the water was as refreshing, the air as clear, the sky as blue and the sun as bright and yellow.
Well, maybe the sun was a little more orange than Earth's primary, but it was close enough.
The wind eased a little and the choppy waters calmed somewhat, and Commodore Rick Hunter relaxed his grip on the railing and sank back in his deck chair, thinking contented thoughts. He needed these alone times, these breaks from the demands of managing all Starfleet activity on an entire planet, a fact which his wife appreciated, hence her pointed absence on this occasion. He wasn't even fishing today, spending his time instead in simple contemplation here in this isolated spot.
The closest settlement was Lake Town, a fishing village and tourist destination built partly on the south shores of Blue Lake and partly on platforms above the waters of the lake itself, but even that was more than a hundred miles distant. No, his only company, aside from his own thoughts, was another small boat floating a few cables off his port side. The operator of that vessel was engaged in some sort of underwater diving expedition, and Hunter watched him for a while.
A distant roaring slowly insinuated itself in Hunter's ears, and quickly grew loud enough to push aside all other diversions. He looked over his shoulder to see what could be making such a racket here in this unspoiled place, but instead of seeing another boat or a low-flying aircraft as he expected, he saw a flaming ball of fire streaking earthward from space. It was moving fast, leaving in its wake a long, smoky streamer.
Hunter watched in fascination for a few seconds, but then he realized that the meteor was heading in his direction and would probably land nearby! A land impact at close range would be bad enough, but a water splashdown out here in the middle of the sea would cause a miniature tidal wave. He doubted his little fishing boat would appreciate that very much. He knew he sure wouldn't.
Limbs energized by a fervent desire not to get wet, he sprang from his deck chair and bounded to the boat's wheel. Less than two seconds later, the small engine was started and revved up to full power, and the little fishing boat was coming about and heading away at its frustratingly leisurely top speed.
Hunter looked back to see that the fireball was much larger now. He wondered briefly at the extraordinarily long period of time the meteor was taking to hit the ground, and concluded that it must have hit the atmosphere at a very shallow angle. None of that mattered at the moment however; it was going to hit any second now!
The roar was painfully deafening by now, and Hunter felt the hairs on his arms crinkle from the intense heat the thing was giving off. The meteor splashed into Blue Lake with a titanic clap of thunder and hiss of steam that shot skyward like a geyser, and generated a wave of massive scale which spread outward from the point of impact at a rapid pace. It would hit his boat in a matter seconds! Hunter braced himself. It was all he could do. He was glad his wife wasn't here.
The gargantuan wave hit, knocking the little fishing boat over on its side. Amidst the rushing of water and the agonized groaning of the boat, Hunter was unceremoniously ripped from the wheel and thrown against the pilot house wall like a rag doll. Water was rushing in everywhere and he knew it was only a matter of seconds before the little boat was dragged below the surface, and him along with it to a watery grave, unless he got out of there fast.
He managed to grab hold of a piece of rigging that had torn loose, and using it, hauled himself against the surging flood to the boat's railing. Then, with a silent prayer to the Great Bird of the Galaxy, he heaved himself overboard and into the icy waters of Blue Lake.
The freezing temperature caused his breath to explode from his lungs, and he sputtered and choked as he tried to regain it against the surging waves. Desperately, he tried swimming away from the foundering fishing vessel before the suction dragged him under for good, but he made little progress, constantly being hampered by the current and getting his legs tangled in loose rigging hanging a few feet under the surface.
All of a sudden, Hunter felt something grab his ankle tightly, and shake as he might, he couldn't free himself. Sucking in a huge lungful of air, he dove under the angry waves to fight off whatever it was, and discovered that he'd been snared by another nasty length of rigging. Somehow, it had looped around his kicking leg and tangled itself into a wicked knot. And to make matters infinitely worse, the other end was still attached to the sinking fishing boat.
It was pulling him ever deeper into the dark abyss, and his lungs were already bursting for air. He couldn't imagine how he was going to get out of this mess. He fought with every ounce of his might to hold his breath longer, all the while struggling with cold-numbed fingers to untangle the cable entwined about his legs, but the frigid waters were quickly sapping his strength away, and a single breath of air can only last for so long.
Finally, his breath exploded from him in a huge detonation of bubbles, and he watched helplessly as they quickly rushed up to the lake's distant surface. As the lake water choked the life out of him, his last thoughts were of his wife.
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