During initial investigation of the "Montana", a power cut in the team's submersibles leads to Lindsey seeing a strange light circling the sub, which she later calls a "non-terrestrial intelligence" or "NTI". Lt. Hiram Coffey, the SEAL team leader, is ordered to accelerate their mission and takes one of the mini-subs without "Deep Core"s permission to recover a Trident missile warhead from the "Montana" just as the storm hits above, leaving the crew unable to disconnect from their surface support ship in time. The cable crane is torn from the ship and falls into the trench, dragging the "Deep Core" to the edge before it stops. The rig is partially flooded, killing several crew members and damaging its power systems.