The Patchwork Quilt of Family

Posted on Wed Sep 18th, 2019 @ 9:51am by Hera & Baroness 2nd Class Schwein von Alcott & Commander Rita Paris & Petty Officer 2nd Class 'Big Ethel' Jablonski
Edited on on Sun Sep 22nd, 2019 @ 6:27pm

Mission: Family Detention
Location: VIP Quarters - Deck 8
Timeline: 2396

Seventy-four days fighting a mortal god-king, and all Hera could do was retreat into her mind palace and watch it all play out as a mad god toyed with her favorite person, and one she thought of as a daughter, Rita Paris. But now she sensed that she had finally been pulled back into this reality and Sulan Got could no longer have his way with her. Which meant that Hera had sighed a breath of relief and made a fresh batch of brownies to celebrate for when she came by.

Though when exactly she would, Hera still didn't know - there was quite a fuss on the ship that bore her name. Likely it would be after the meetings and medical clearance... And something told her it would be that evening. So she would be ready with a pitcher of fresh lemonade and her triple fudge brownies.

Meetings had been attended, a medical checkup had been accomplished, a plan had been formulated, and before she went to meet with her husband to reconnect with him after so long apart, Rita had one more stop left to make. As much as she needed to reassure the Captain, pacing like a caged tiger with two of her people kidnapped and her without a way to affect the situation, she knew there was someone else she needed to reassure as well.

Her husband was concerned, but he did not worry, per se- his concern was more intellectual, and leaned toward the practical. If anything it was his concern for her emotional well-being that would cause him strain. But her unshakable faith in him had sustained her throughout this particular ordeal, as she had explained to her companions repeatedly. She wondered how they had fared, knowing that they were no more, their lives having been lived and ended in the hours since her return, in the justaposition of difference between time and relative dimensions in space.

Another lesson in ‘appreciate people in the here and now’ for her, which she needed no prompting to learn. She would miss Jayd's crooked toothed grin, and Blok's gravelly slow voice. Arrista would have found her way without Rita there, she was sure of it, and Glan had seen a better way, and risen from a humble slave to become a conqueror, but not a despot.

But there was one who still needed her, and who, if she was honest with herself, she needed as well. Once the tyrant of Meroset 347, now the reformed and matronly patron saint of the starship Hera, the goddess whose very name was stamped on the hull in letters four meters high. She whose name Rita had invoked more than once on the world of Kathoom, as she had used her gifts sparingly and wisely. Whom she suspected was somehow watching over her, even if she could not aid her beyond the gifts she had provided her on her hero's journey. Said gifts in the form of the wondrous bracers, which enabled her to access a stable pocket of extradimensional space; wherein she stored an armory that she had used to help free a people, and change the fate of a world.

Gifts of the 'great Hera', as Rita tended to refer to her when invoking her name.

Approaching the VIP quarters where she had placed the woman, first as a prisoner, then as a guest, Paris was pleased to see Jablonski and Lu on duty. The short fireplug Petty Officer Lu was stout and quiet, given to few words and slow action, but she was observant, dutiful and reliable. Whereas Petty Officer Jablonski was the captain of the Honor guard, whom Hera considered her ‘general’. Enormous, well over two meters tall, just as wide, and heavily muscled, the towering titan was matched only by the size of her heart and good nature. Dedicated to the service of the Goddess, she nevertheless managed to put her Starfleet duty ahead of her duty to the Goddess, so Paris tacitly approved and said nothing about it, save her silent acknowledgment.

Approaching the hulking security officer, who drew stiffly upright at the approach of her commander, Paris nodded the duo at ease, and asked quietly, “How is she?”

“Been pacing… she’s concerned about something or someone, I think,” Jablonski whispered conspiratorially. As attuned as she was to Hera, she generally knew the Goddess’ moods without even being near. “It’ll do her some good to see you. You haven’t visited much lately and it worries her, y’know?”

Looking up into the big brown eyes of the faithful petty officer, Paris smirked. Parental guilt, delivered secondhand through the honor guard, unasked for yet delivered all the same. The Goddess of Motherhood truly was the archetype of her aspect, after all. Reaching over, Paris patted the bicep which was the size of her head. “Fair enough, Miss Jablonski. I suppose I’m overdue for a visit.”

While it had been perhaps three weeks of chronological time for Hera, for Rita it had been three months since she had seen the matron goddess. Often, in her musings of remembering the people and places she missed of her life onboard the Starfleet vessel after she had been whisked to her adventures on Kathoom, Paris had found herself wondering after the health and well-being of Hera herself. Which disturbed her- the Goddess was supposedly eternal, after all, and immortal. Yet Rita worried about her slowing down, and aging, and that she might actually perish, which was a concept that brought about a lump in her throat she found herself emotionally unprepared to face.

A maternal figure was not something Rita was accustomed to having in her life. Losing one again was something she was wholly unprepared for, and she very much did not want to contemplate the possibility just yet. If ever. The concept that her children’s children might someday learn to bake cookies from the hand of the ancient Greek was a concept that made her happy, although the little voice in her head that was seldom wrong also told her that wasn’t likely to happen. Taking a deep breath, Paris pressed on, putting on a brave face and a smile of good cheer that wasn’t an affectation, but one of casting worries aside. Hera didn’t need to be burdened, she just needed to know Rita was back and fine from her trip to Vulcan was all. Likely she wasn’t even aware of her jaunt to Kathoom… but she was about to find out.

The scent of fresh baked brownies made her stomach rumble, as she realized that baked goods and sweets in particular hadn’t exactly been part of her diet for the past few months, and chocolate had definitely not been on the menu. Which of course, somehow Hera knew, and had anticipated.

“Hera? It’s me, Rita…. Are you about?” Rita called from the foyer. Of course, she had run of the ship and could choose to barge in as she pleased. But she preferred to give their guest her space and privacy, thus why these quarters HAD a foyer, and room dividers. Hera was a guest, not a prisoner; she had earned that status on the Hera, helping her crew and others time and again. Selflessly placing herself between mortals and danger, in an attempt to atone for her past misdeeds. Helping by volunteering whatever she knew that could help.

Making good on her promise to Rita Paris to ‘be better’. To be the goddess that she could tell her children of someday, and that the starship that bore her name did so with pride.

The goddess had lived up to that challenge, and more.

In point of fact, Rita cared deeply for the woman, more so than she would care to admit. But her feelings were complicated, and she tried not to examine them too deeply. After all, women seldom did when it came to the maternal figures in their lives.

Hera had finished just in time and just set out the glasses and plates on the small dining table and sat down to wait for her beloved Rita a few minutes prior. She'd never admit to how much she'd paced the floor or how much she'd worried over which recipe to use... But now she had a large tray of triple fudge brownies and a pitcher of fresh lemonade ready and the table was set, both glasses full of ice.

Looking up with a bright, matronly smile, it seemed all was right with the worlds again as Hera motioned towards the seat next to her at the table. "I've missed you. Please, have a seat and tell me about your adventure. I made some brownies just for you."

A look of genuine surprise flashed across the face of the explorer as she made the realization. Shaking her head, she took the offered seat and sat down. "You knew... about my little escapade for the past few months? Here I thought I was coming to see you after a few weeks being gone... but you know, don't you? You're aware of where I've been and what I've been up to, aren't you?"

There was no accusation in her tone as Rita reached for a thick, warm brownie to set it on her plate and begin nibbling at it. Instead, she marveled at it. The woman was a goddess, after all, and she tended to be aware of Rita- that she'd realized some time ago. She just didn't realize just HOW aware.

"The Fates have linked us together, my dear," the matronly goddess replied with a knowing grin as she poured the lemonade. "When you're in trouble, I'm always aware. And I may have had a bit of a view... Though there was nothing I could do and there was a lot that I wasn't able to see. After all, I could only see so much from here as I watched over you."

“Well, I may have invoked your name a few times,” Rita admitted as she took a bite of the brownie, savoring the sweet chocolatey flavor and the cake texture in her mouth, two things she really hadn’t eaten at all in the past two months. Not that she was much on sweets, chocolate or desserts in general. But without any access to them, enjoying one because it was here, accessible and presented to her was a treat- precisely as it was intended.

“As for not helping me, don’t kid yourself. If not for you, I likely would have died out there more than once,” Rita held up her arm, and the sleeve of her uniform withdrew slightly to reveal the edge of the relatively crude bronze bracer she wore on her wrist, the twin of it’s mate on her other wrist. “You may never have intended them for me, but they’ve saved my life more times than I can count now.”

“Those times you heard ‘Thank Hera!’, I wasn’t kidding… so thank you. And thank you for watching over me… somehow it kind of felt like someone was, and it was… comforting, you know? I wasn’t worried. I know I’d be found, I knew I’d be rescued, I just had to survive long enough for that to happen. Sonak is not in the habit of losing to the universe's malarkey. So again” Rita made eye contact with the Goddess, sincerity evident in her eyes and in her heart, “thank you, Hera.”

There were genuine tears in her eyes as she reached out to rest a hand on Rita's shoulder, barely able to hold back one of her biggest smiles and starting to literally glow just the slightest. "You're very welcome, my dear. I'm just so glad you're safe and sound and back with us now."

"Hey now, I got you out of Asgardian prison on a supervised parole program," Rita joked, placing her hand over Hera's and smiling back. "I have to stay close to make sure you stay on the path of the compassionate and the hopeful, right? Making sure the families of today become the heroes of... tomorrow..." Rita frowned a bit, the line echoing a speech she'd given at a coliseum not long ago after sparing an opponent and taking the first step toward changing the course of a society, and perhaps a world.

Also really violated the prime directive. But that would all be in the report, as they had yet to actually figure out exactly where she'd actually been all this time.

It echoed her life here... on the ship, everyone was planning a future, everyone was having kids, and family was the core central heart of the Hera. Enalia and Dox were like sisters to her, Hera a mother, her husband was here, the most perfect man. Kids were popping up- she passed the midget and the pig in the corridor wrestling a baby minotaur, which was something she meant to ask the goddess about. Life was apparently a generational story, and the exploration of the stars even moreso. Even Enalia had ended up with a child, despite the entire Tribunal having been, at it's core, about her mother wanting a next generation from her daughter, albeit with some rather insane control issues added on for good measure.

Thus the starship Hera seemed ideally suited, and the ship's resident goddess had been straightforward to explain that her 'aspect' had it's sway. Amazons showed up to serve her, as evidenced by the Security force, predominantly female and all quite exceptional in some manner or another, all benefiting from 'serving' the goddess. When Rita had changed them from a guard on Hera's door to an honor guard, that had been sufficient for the sympathetic magic to work, thus the Amazons had a choice as to whether to accept the goddess' gifts. Most did; not all, however.

The increased fertility rates and birth rates were also taking their toll. Since she had come aboard fully 40 crew members had become pregnant. Out of those initial pregnancies, a full 21 were twins, with the 22nd case as triplets and the 23rd was a litter of 6. Since then, six months had passed, and even with crew rotations, a full 23% of the crew were either pregnant or post-partum. Domestic violence reports were few- families seemed to be doing well, and the expanded family facilities on decks 13 and 14 seemed to be doing the trick for meeting the needs of the burgeoning families. Family units seemed to be forming out of local materials, if Doctor Dael's reports were to be believed.

Which, of course, Rita believed quite easily.

Almost all of the positions of power on the starship were filled by women, and the crew ration was 67% female, a surprisingly high ration in Starfleet. Apparently because the goddess of women was aboard. Just last week Yeoman Astor had announced that she was transitioning, which also seemed to be happening with a statistical improbability onboard. But that's what you got when you bore a goddess onboard a starship with 750 crew members.

Taking the hand of the ancient Ambrosian, Rita pulled her toward a chair. "C'mon. Sit down, talk to me. Enough about me, how are you? I'm actually kind of glad that you can 'tune in' on me like that.., at least it means you see more than your four walls and your books and your plants, which are looking impressive, I might add. The ship's arborist sings your praises, as you know."

"Well, I do my best. I have a fair bit of free time on my hands, after all." The matronly goddess ceased glowing and pulled up a brownie as well, nibbling on it as she began. "I've done what I could to watch over the crew with my clairvoyance. You especially in that pocket dimension. The Rihannsu woman are not aboard... I'm worried about them. Something is shielding them from my vision and I sense that they're in great peril."

Hera then dramatically waved her brownie in the air for a moment. "If I were still on Mount Olympus, I'd deliver some grand and dramatic message about perilous peril and dispatch you on some perilous journey to perilously rescue them... But I think you already know how hard it's going to be, and that there are non-mortal powers at play. They probably won't show themselves, but they're there."

She then looked deep into Rita's eyes with that motherly smile of hers. "And I know you'll succeed. You always do. Which means I don't have to worry too much."

"Not... always," Rita admitted. "But your faith in me is definitely encouraging, that's for sure. But yes, I'll get the Dox's back, whatever that takes... Enalia's beside herself with worry, and I suspect she isn't sleeping. Whatever other players are involved, I'll deal with them as they come. It's always something... the nature of life, right? Big or small, epic or dull, life challenges us and forces us to rise. It's just a sliding scale according to the scope of the lives we lead, I suspect."

There was a pause then, as the gold-clad commander considered her words, but as always, she chose her course quickly, then committed to it. When she spoke, her voice was quiet, and gentle, as she probed the goddess with personal questions. "You sleep now. Quite a bit, actually, for an immortal being. I know that subsisting on good deeds and the good done in your name doesn't sustain you like your old methods... is this part of it? Do I need to be worried? Please... truth, Hera." Rita reached out and took the goddess' free hand in both of her own, and peered into her brown eyes, searching. "I'm not a child you have to protect from it, despite my relative blip of age compared to yours."

Hera nodded slowly as she dropped the glamour she'd been using on herself to show her true age. Gone was the gentle, middle aged, motherly look to reveal something closer to a modern 150 year old woman on the edge of medical tech. "You're right, my dear. There should be no secrets between us. I'm nearing the end of even my life, and I'm running on the fumes of the level of energy that I'm used to. I feel older than I've ever felt and sleep... Sleep lets me preserve what I have left in this form while letting my mind roam."

"But I will tell you this. I have cherished every moment of every day that I have spent with you, and the people of this chariot of the stars. It has been the finest, most rewarding, and most wholesome time during my entire life." Hera smiled shakily, her true, un-glamoured smile for once, like an old woman happy for the life she'd lived. "And no matter what happens in the coming days, I just want to enjoy the rest of mine here, with all of you."

While she had asked for the truth, and thought she had been prepared to face it, being visually confronted by the actuality of the matter was something else entirely. Seeing the woman whose life she had turned around, who had literally placed herself in harm's way to save her own life more than once, whom Rita had come to think of in the intervening months as a member of the family, reveal the wizened and ancient form she actually wore beneath the glamour brought tears to her eyes. Tears that fell freely as the emotions welled up within her, and as Rita was faced with the prospect of losing Hera, she realized that she was quite unprepared to do so.

Attempting to compose herself, to put on a brave face, Rita failed miserably. She knew she was being selfish- Hera had been living on borrowed time, after all, ever since Meroset 347. And she had lived for aeons, and seen so many mortal lives such as hers come and go. But she cared deeply for the woman, and Rita Paris didn't give up easily on those she loved.

"Is... is there something we can do? I mean, I know you've lived a very long time, and that you're alone out here but... I.. I was hoping my children would meet you someday... grow up knowing the famous Hera their mom talks about..." Rita hedged the actual truth with her words. In truth, the goddess of family, woman and motherhood had come to occupy a hole in her life that she had ignored for most of it- the hole left when her own mother had died when she was very young. In the patchwork quilt of family that she had assembled on the Hera, Hera herself was like the doting, approving and proud maternal figure Rita had never known, and Rita could not bear to let her go, as she had her own mother so long ago.

Thus she reacted as she always did, and began formulating a plan.

In this case, ridiculously, a plan to save a 9,000 year old Ambrosian from old age.

Hera just reached out and took Rita's hands in her own and squeezed them as gently as she had the strength left for and smiled that age old grandmotherly smile that old people seemed to have. "Without a constant flow of energy, I may have lost my youth, but I've gained something far greater. The respect and love of people I care for. And a new family that I wouldn't give this up for... for anything."

"If there is something to be done, however... We ambrosians always equipped our ships with energy generators that we could use to replenish ourselves." The Matronly Goddess pulled her notepad to her and picked up her pencil and started sketching. "I had one on Meroset, but it wasn't complete. The Amazons couldn't build it right. I don't even have the tech now to build one. You'd have to go to..." Hera seemed as though trying to remember pained her and she dropped the pencil. "To... Do they have names?"

"What... what is it? What are you trying to tell me, Hera?" There was, of course, the possibility that the canny old goddess was pulling a con job on Rita, playing on her emotions and manipulating her with little effort. But Rita Paris navigated from her heart, and from her intuition. And simply put, after all they had been through, she believed Hera, and believed IN her. Whatever she was trying to tell her, it was significant. "How can I help?"

"Nidavellir..." Hera finally got the name out as if painfully remembering it from another life, which for her, she was. "The people there... They made the generators for us. The Asgardians, the Egyptionians... All of us..."

Plucking the portable PaDD she carrying in her loose V-necked top, Paris snapped it open, powered it on and began tapping away at it. "Nidavellir.... Nidavellir is a neutron star, and one of the Nine Realms of Asgardian mythos. Orbited by a multi-ringed megastructure which served as the homeworld of the Dwarves. Nidavellir's forge harnesses the power of a blazing neutron star." Rita looked up. "So, forge of the gods, huh? I suppose I've had crazier quests. I'll talk to the Baroness... I think she's evolved into something a bit more like you than me these days. Apparently you can become Asgardian by injection, at least if your genetic code is up for it. Anyway, I think she'll still hear me if I call her, and I'm willing to bet she could help."

Standing, Rita stepped toward the open space in the living room, to give a bit of clearance, Shaking her head, she offered Hera a wry smile. "Besides, it's been forever since I've seen her. It's rough when friends move away, you know?"

Bringing her hands together, fingers splayed, fingertips touching, it was clear she was using a focusing meditation she'd learned from the Kolinahr master. While Rita was no adept, and capable of very few mental disciplines, she had spent an inordinate amount of time around the man, and over the years some of his teachings and disciplines had taken root in her. So much of who she was today she owed to her association with Sonak, who meant the universe to her.

This was not the time for dwelling on her husband, whom she could feel nearby perceiving her mind entering a more tranquil state even as she thought of him, and he of her. Instead she concentrated on the swashbuckling space pirate, the colorful supersoldier who despaired of ever finding love, because what man could withstand her passions, with her mighty strength and endurance? Who drank wine and ate finger foods and taught swordfighting to a fleeter just because she asked. Who relived her greatest defeat for entertainment on the holodeck, just to see if the battle could ever have been won. Who never acted in anger, who never raised her voice. Grinning, charming, silver-haired and eyepatched with a medical tricorder installed in her other eye, with a flair for big hats and fancy coats.

"Baroness Second Class Schwein von Alcott, first of your name, captain of the Queen's Desire, right hand to the Princeszin Artan. Betrothed of the Mighty Thor, and friend of mine... heed my call!" Caught up in the moment, Rita honestly thought it was going to work. When it didn't, she made a bit of a puckered lip face, looked sheepish and tapped her comm badge. "Paris to ops, put me through to the Baroness von Alcott, please..."

Before the call could be placed, a rainbow of blinding light streamed in through the window and a person in a shining gold Asgardian coat materialized as it faded. There, almost impossibly, was Schwein von Alcott with a wide grin on her face. "You called, ja?"

A wide smile split the face of the explorer as she laughed aloud. "Well I'll be damned. It worked after all. Baroness! Look at you!" Stepping into the woman's space, Paris swept the woman into a hug. "It seems like I haven't seen you for months. How are you? You look great!"

"I feel wunderbar!" Schwein replied, returning the hug gently. "And you look well also. You are working out, ja? You look a match for most young Valkyries."

Then the other woman in the room caught her eye, whom had resumed her glaamour. "Ah, and the motherly Hera. It is an honor to meet you." Schwein greeted her with a respectful bow.

"It is good to meet you as well," replied the matronly goddess.

“Young Valkyries? You’re too kind. But I did recently have one of my misadventures that involved a surprising amount of time with a sword in my hand, and your lessons saved my life more than a few times… so thanks for that,” Rita laughed, surprised that ‘summoning’ the space pirate thusly had worked, and genuinely glad to see her friend glowing with such happiness. Despite her good nature, von Alcott had always seemed to have a cloud over her. But now that was no more, and she seemed practically giddy.

Such the fate of those betrothed to handsome gods, it would seem.

“I called you for a reason, f course- not just because I’ve missed you, which I have, but Hera has a bit of a problem, and I was wondering if perhaps this might be something you could help us with. Since she gave up her old ways and the worship she once used to sustain herself, Hera is… diminishing.” Rita found she did not have it in herself to actually admit that Hera was dying- that would be a step toward accepting that fact, and Rita simply wasn’t going to accept that verdict.

“Once upon a time her people secured generators that sustained them, from… Nidavellir. Unsurprisingly, it’s not on any of our star charts. But the Asgardians have been around a lot longer than Humans have been exploring the stars, and as it’s one of the ‘nine realms’ I thought you might be able to make some inquires…?” While it was a seemingly simple request, Rita wasn’t sure what she was asking, or if it would be well received. But baroness von Alcott knew Rita, and knew her well enough to know that she would not have called to ask her if it were not important, and the unspoken pleading in her eyes spoke volumes. Please, help her. After all we’ve been through I can’t just let her wither and die.

The super soldier turned Asgardian fiance nodded grimly as she considered the issue. "This has been covered in my new schooling. The Asgardians treat such devices with great care as they are connected to their life forces. Those of the Ambrosians and other elder races squirrel them away to protect them." She then pulled back her golden coat to reveal two relics on her new armor that were similar to the six that Thor sported on his openly.

Hera nodded approvingly, her eyebrows raising in surprise. "You have earned two relics already. You must have earned great respect from Odin and Freya both."

"Ja, I have. However, were I to ask this of them... It may spend some of that good will, daughter-in-law or not." Schwein thought it over a moment before continuing. "However, if you were to fade away before your trial..."

“Whatever it takes, Baroness.” Paris made the statement, knowing that saying such a thing to powers of the universe was a highly risky endeavor. “I sent Odin home with a titan and a space station because he asked. All I ask is of you is that that you inquire on her behalf… on my behalf.” Again, Rita knew the words could very well bring forth repercussions she might regret. But not doing all she could to try to save the patron goddess of the starship would haunt her far more. “Please… I have to try. I can’t have brought her this far only to fail her now.”

“Don’t endanger your position or your future. This is something I’d ask him myself, but him I don’t know like I know you,” Paris smiled and gently mock punched the cyborg supersoldier in the shoulder. “Which, I might add, you look the happiest I have ever seen you… and I’m so glad to see it. When do I have to haul you off for your bachelorette party of the gods?”

The silver haired woman gave a happy chuckle as she clapped a hand to her friend's back. "In three months time, ja? I will make sure Hildr is with us as well. She and Ethel have much in common and I would see them share a meal, ja?" It was unclear whether Schwein was trying to wink or blink heavily, but the comment obviously meant she was going to try to hook the large Amazonian woman up with the large Valkyrie. "And do not worry about the relic. I will make the request politely on your behalf."

“Well, truth be told, I think the two of them might just start a solar system with their own relative personal gravities,” Rita grinned in reply, offering a wink of her own. With a one-eyed swashbuckler it could be hard to determine a wink, but she’d gotten to know the Baroness well enough over the past year that she recognized the saucy wench’s proclivities. “As for the other… thank you, Baroness. On my behalf would be deeply appreciated, and even just some directions would be welcomed- you know us, always up for a wild chase across the galaxy to track down a legend, right?"

"In the meanwhile,” Paris gestured expansively to the table where the frail elderly goddess sat, “how about joining us for a brownie?”

With that, the three extraordinary woman sat down together and spent an afternoon trading tall tales of their exceptional lives in a rather mundane manner- over handmade brownies and lemonade. Which all three found rather fulfilling, and as the laughter and jokes echoed about the room, out in the hall, the guardian of the goddess smiled, knowing her goddess was in good hands, and would be fulfilled by the encounter far more than any medicine or rest.

For even in the 24th century, there was no substitute for the healing power of laughter shared amongst friends... and the support of the patchwork quilt assembled of the parts at hand... known as family.