The first planetary encounter of the USS Constitution could have been marked by tragedy if it wasn't equipped with state-of-the-art science labs. Ronin V is a Class O water world, essentially habitable for humans and humanoids, but 80% covered by water. I've been to probably a hundred different worlds over the course of my career, but this world has something unique, On Ronin V, the oceans are sentient beings that counted themselves as one or millions, depending on the behavior of the jet stream. That fact is strange enough, but our aqua shuttle discovered that the water here is not only alive (while supporting billions of microscopic life forms), but it is very dynamic. We had barely set down in an area rich in these microscopic creatures when a storm appeared out of nowhere. As our team gathered samples, the sea began to toss the shuttle violently. The mission commander finally gave up and lifted off. In seconds, the storm subsided, as if it had never been there.
It wasn't until we ran a microcellular study of a trace amount of water left in the shuttle that we realized that the microscopic lifeforms existed in perfect symbiosis with the ocean. Each bio-system sustained the other, and the removal of even a small number of the microbes would endanger the delicate balance. We remained in orbit long enough to confirm that everything was safe, and departed.
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