OBSOLETE Ep. 11: FREYJA

In 2030, a ship in the Barents Sea uses a crane to lower a Deep Submergence Operation Exoframe into the water. The pilot, Yan, uses a torch cutter to repair an underwater cable. A crewmember on the ship cautions Yan about watching his oxygen supply and avoiding Russians. Yan asks if he’s still going on about sabotages of surveillance sonar systems and thinks the cable was just cut by a trawler. Yan heads to the next location and complains to co-pilot Freyja that it must’ve been a trawler and that he hates having to carry anti-Exoframe torpedoes. Yan performs a pressure check before descending into a dark trench. The Exoframe reaches the trench floor at over 200 meters of depth. Yan stops to ask Freyja to check their surroundings, and she detects incoming Russian torpedoes. Yan tells Freyja to fire all four of their drone torpedoes, and they get knocked around by the nearby detonation of a torpedo. Yan wakes up later and is told by Freyja that he wasn’t out for long. He wonders if the enemy escaped while he was out, or if the enemy is still hiding. He asks Freyja to reestablish connection with the remaining drone torpedoes, and she warns him about his oxygen level. Another torpedo detonates nearby, and Yan spots the enemy Exoframe nearby. He swims over and grabs onto it before stabbing the cockpit with his torch cutter. The ship attempts to communicate with Yan, and an operator informs the captain that Yan is talking to somebody else. The captain hears Freyja’s name and explains to the operator that Yan believes his long-lost lover navigates for him on dives. Yan tells himself that he dives because he longs to hear Freyja’s voice.