Chapter Text
(Kermario Fossa, 2148)
The Barsuk is cleared for a crush depth of 3500 meters.
A skilled welder knows how to get around that limit. With each layer of reinforced plates and bolts, the hull resistance improves by 14 percent on average. Of course, you can't just tackle plate upon plate and expect to survive a dive to the Abyss: you need to know what to reinforce, and how.
It takes an exceptionally skilled mechanic to take a Barsuk beyond the Cold Caverns, and Ludovic Benoit was no mechanic at all. He was a mean shot, and he could keep his cool and hold his own in a fight; those things made him a good soldier and an excellent gunner, but no more than that.
His son could never be a soldier. He tried, but he has no patience for men who wave authority like a flag, and even less for those who deem themselves above the laws of physics.
Jean Benoit is not a mechanic, not really, but he can tell the difference between good and bad welding. It's a matter of survival, down in the oceans of Europa.
Because in the end, the Barsuk is fragile. And so is human life.