Pirates of the Vegas Strip - Part 2 of 2

Posted on Fri Feb 7th, 2020 @ 10:04pm by Captain Enalia Telvan & Commander Rita Paris & Lieutenant Commander Mnhei'sahe Dox & Lieutenant JG Tovanna Mah & Jaeih Dox-t'Aan
Edited on on Wed Feb 26th, 2020 @ 1:01pm

Mission: Bachelorette Bash
Location: Risa, Swashbucklers Adventure Theatre
Timeline: 2397
Tags: pirate, pirates, swashbucklers, chet, captain mac,

"GREETINGS SENTIENTS, ONE AND ALL! I be yer humble host, Captain Mac of the dread pirate ship, Comeuppance! An' I welcome ye all t' tonight's quest inta' adventure!" The booming voice of the former scourge of the spaceways bellowed through the darkened theater as the murmur of the crowd lowered to a hush. Then, after a dramatic pause, a single spotlight turned on and, dressed in black and red, Captain Mac rose up into the center of the arena on a raised platform, his arms held out wide.

"Tonight, ye shall be witness to an epic battle from the high seas of ancient Earth all the way to the deadly spaceways of the Neutral Zone, and perhaps, all th' way to th Great Barrier and beyond, and our two groups of rival pirates will do battle in a test of bravery, cunning and impossible skill and lock blades inSWASHBUCKLERS ADVENTURE THEATRE: A Pirate Extravagaza!!!!" As he yelled out, the lights came on in the arena with a spray of holographic pyrotechnics illuminating the facades of two ancient-looking wooden sailing ships on either side of a moat of open water. On both sides of the arena, the audience roared with applause as they sat along rows of bench seats with long tables with plates of food in front of them.

"On this side, we have the noble RED PIRATES! The very ship sailed by yer very own Captain Mac, of the Seven Seas!" Mac swept his arm, as a platform in the center of the left ship raised to reveal a group of Five pirates, all in Red and black, led by the Half-Klingon pirate, Chad. As they raised their swords in the air and let out a cheer, Mac turned back to the crowd. "All of ye on THIS side of the arena, let out a cheer for YOUR team! The RED PIRATES!"

As he did, the audience in the seats rimmed in red let out a thunderous cheer, pumping their fists in the air wildly.

"And on THIS side..." Mac grinned theatrically as he pointed to the other ship, "The Pirate Queen of the spaceways! Scourge of the Seven Seas! THE GOLD PIRATES! All of ye on THIS side of the arena, CHEER for your team!!"

And as Enalia, Mnhei'sahe and Tova rose up on their platform, their side of the arena let out a massive whoop for them.

Adjusting the belts they had been given with the holographic swords in them, Mnhei'sahe whispered to Enalia and Tova, "Well... so far, only a LITTLE uneven. So far."

"Are you kidding? They don't have enough crew to even these odds," Enalia whispered back with a big smile and a wave to the crowd.

Tova cocked her hip, looked at the crowd with a smile and finger waved.

Taking the cue, Dox followed suit, grabbing the three-pointed black hat she had grabbed from the costume rack and waved it in the air to the crowd, but instead of any cheers, there were hisses and a few boos with a couple of slurs aimed at her pointed Romulan ears that carried across the room. Scowling now, she plopped the hat back on her head and rolled her eyes and groaned out a curse in her native tongue. "Kreldanni figures. Now I'm really ready to fight someone."

As the crowd died down, Captain Mac introduced a group of acrobats that performed a series of impressive trapeze maneuvers far above the stage and told more than a few bad jokes to the audience while Enalia, Dox, and Tova waited for their cue. But as the preliminary part of the stage show continued, the three officers from the Hera noticed something. Slowly, one by one, more red-garbed pirates popped up on the ship across the small gap. Then, platforms on the far end of their own ship opened to reveal an even dozen armed combatants, all eyeing the three women as the acrobats finished. The canny Starfleet Captain and Pirate Queen shot a glance to her two junior officers to make sure they were aware of the slowly shifting odds. THankfully Dox and Tova were well aware, hands on the hilts of their holographic weapons, but ready to pull out the real things if needed.

Then, with a blast of fireworks, the acrobats exited the stage and the spotlights dimmed as Captain Mac appeared on the center platform between the two ships again as he called out to the audience. "And now, good sentients, the moment you've all bee waiting for! Who's ready to see the main attraction!?"

The audience roared to life, cheering and hollering over their trays of food and drink as the Red and Black clad Pirate Captain pulled his shimmering sword from his hilt, appearing to be thoroughly real as he pointed it menacingly at Enalia with a dark grin. "Who shall be victorious!? Will it be the noble RED PIRATES!? Or the duplicitous GOLD PIRATES!?"

Pulling the hilt from her belt, Dox ran the blade across her leg quickly to see that it was completely immaterial. Shaking her hands out, she dropped the useless hilt to the deck so Enalia and Tova could see that the show weapons wouldn't even be useful to block a blade as Mac's grin twisted into a malicious sneer. "Let's see who is truly the better... once and for all!"

His words lowered from their earlier roar to something far more personal and clearly aimed at the Pirate Queen who once humbled him years ago as he pointed his sword to the deck of the Gold ship with a loud call to action as the other pirates began rushing the three women.

Not even bothering with the show blade at her hip, Enalia flicked her wrist and had her signature Trill rapier with the rose jeweled pommel in her hand with a flash, which caused a gasp of awe to roll from the crowd. Rather than use it on the first wave, however, she leapt right at them with a quick succession of disabling kicks to three of them, sending them over the rail of the gold deck and into the water below, her offhand never leaving her hip. "Come on, Captain Mac! The Queen awaits a challenge and you can't even get past her court jester? Is this the best you've got?"

With a hop up on the handrail and a few swipes at the men coming across the ropes, Enalia did her best to get the crowd even more riled up, the cheers for both sides going wild as the grinning leopard woman seemed to be one-handedly defending her part of the ship from at least a dozen men casually. The first to land successfully lunged at her, but she swatted the blade from his hand as if her were a child, and as his eyes went wide, she slashed quickly at his middle.

The frightened man flinched and winced in tight before noticing that the only thing cut was the thick belt of his pants, which flumped to the deck to the uproarious laughter of the crowd. Taking advantage of the moment, the real Pirate queen gave lept up to meet the oncoming attackers on the rail of the ship itself, matching their blades with ease, the piratical grin fixed on her face as she was thoroughly enjoying herself.

From her side, Dox took a quick count as 6 armed Pirates rushed her. Running the strategy in her head like they were obstacles to be tagged in an aerial dogfight, the natural pilot and skilled fighter grinned. "They want a show... here you go."

Rushing the first pirate, she kept her own blades contained in the bracers and pulled the hat off her head. As the pirate lunged with his razor-sharp rapier, the Romulan officer caught the tip in the leather of her hat and sidestepped the thrust. With the blade caught in the hatband, the pirate tried to extricate his weapon as she rushed in close, twisted the hat and wrenched his own sword out of his hand. Grabbing the handle, she whipped the blade out away from the first pirate causing the hat to fly off and smack a second pirate in the face as he advanced while she spun around and slammed the hilt of the sword into its owners face, sending him squealing over the edge.

Watching the display of skills she had learned from her sparring sessions with Enalia, the crowd suddenly erupted with applause. Smirking broadly, with a freshly stolen rapier in hand, Dox gave the blade a flourished swirl as she launched after the other combatants, careful to disarm and defeat without actually causing any real harm in front of the crowd.

Tova was so thankful that Dox had the foresight to sneak the daggers to her ahead of their battle as she threw the useless props to the floor as she entered the fray. Her adrenaline surged as she stomped forward and quickly closed the space between herself and the oncoming two pirates looking at her with less than friendly looks.

She had her double-edged dagger in a forward position open and obvious, the hypo was in a more hidden reverse position ready for combat. The first pirate came at her with a sword, laughing at her dagger until she rushed towards him in almost dance-like grace past his simple attempt to impale her. She swept away from him as a confused look crossed his face while she moved on to the next attacker. He turned to face her fell over asleep before he even realized what happened.

She was able to repeat the move once again however new she would run out of the anesthesia so she moved to more creative injections. Her hypo was put through its paces for the next ten pirates which were all left on their knees or out cold. Now she was left to the use of her daggers until she could get her hypo reloaded with another ampule from her bra.

Fighting her way through a phalanx of pirates, it was becoming clear that most were little more than performers with the most minimal amount of real combat training, until Dox's blade met that of the grim-faced, half-Klingon pirate, Chet. With a growl, he lunged in, swinging powerfully at the red-headed Romulan and shouting. "Die, Romulan scum!"

"Really?" Dox moaned as she blocked his advances, but found herself being pushed slightly back towards the edge of the ship by the strength of his blows. Glancing over her shoulder, she grinned slightly at the sight behind her before turning back to Chet and showing him back slightly. Then, with a spit at the deck, she threw her stolen rapier to the deck, sticking it in the wood at the Klingon's feet and roaring at him in Klingon, "BIHnuch!"

Calling him a 'coward' in his own tongue sent Chet into a rage as he lunged at Dox, trying to tackle her. Stepping back, the young Romulan caught the angry fighter as he went to tackle her, redirecting his momentum and twisting him into a tackle as they flew over the side of the mock boat together. As they slammed down hard onto the first row of seats in the audience, Dox strategically landed on top of Chet as his back hit against several plates of food and drink which splashed on the patrons. "GYAAAGH!!!"

Grabbing one of the large metal drink steins, Dox smashed it across Chet's face hard enough to knock the angry man out. Then, with one leg on the row of tables and one on Chet's chest, she looked down at the mess of food spread out around the unconscious Klingon and shook her head. Reaching down, she grabbed a large leg of the roasted chicken and took a massive bite, with a guilty smile. "Mmmm. Oh, that's so kreldanni good. Sorry, Mona. I had to."

Grabbing a roped that lead back to the mock ship, Dox swung back over to rejoin the fight.

Meanwhile, Enalia had made short work of almost all of the rest of Captain Mac's fighters, half of whom were in the moat, and the other half, crying on the deck. Watching, the furious former Pirate raged as he launched himself from his platform, blade raised, at the woman who once so thoroughly bested him in ship to ship combat so many years ago.

"You think you're so special! It was a fluke that you ever defeated me!" Mac said, clearly trying to build himself up with a lie that wouldn't convince a child as he swung wildly at Enalia. For her part, the mistress of the blade kept her offhand on her hip, never once faltering in her defense. But a defense was all she was putting up.

"I was but a child cutting my teeth when I bested you last! This time will be no different!"

Raging now, Mac's face was as red as his shirt as he slashed wildly at his better, not even noticing that she hadn't even broken a sweat defending herself. The blades flashed in sweeping strokes as his advancement kept the Trill woman stepping back across the center of the Gold ship, now the absolute center of attention as Tova and Dox had finished off their last combatants and watched along with the rest of the crowd.

In the center of the action, Enalia lept back, grabbing some of the rigging to swing around in a wide spin around the ship's main mast to the other side of Capt Mac, who swung around to meet her in a near panic, only barely blocking her blade in time. As the locked swords, the audience let out an audible gasp, clearly the best show that the troupe had ever put on. Leaning in close, Enalia made sure they were close enough to touch as she whispered to her foe, "This stage will be yours. Be ready for my yield."

"I... I can... I can beat you FAIR! I CAN..." He whispered back through gritted teeth and knitted brows, realizing that it was a lie as he said it. "Why? Why would you do this?"

As he spoke, Enalia mimed being shoved back as if Captain Mac had actually done it himself, pulling his own sword arm out towards her as she fell back in a broad, theatrical gesture, answering his question not with words but with actions. The actions of a true queen, refusing to shame her opponent and allow him to save face in front of his audience. As their eyes met, her steely gaze told him what to do, and from the wooden deck where she lay, pretending to be defeated, it was Enalia Telvan who had one the true duel.

Raising his sword towards her, the panic was gone from his face, replaced by the practiced expression of a man better suited to performance than true piracy. "Yield, I have defeated you this day! And with the knight bested, so falls the queen!"

"VICTORY TO THE RED PIRATES!!!!" He roared to the crowd who cheered on with him, as the room lights illuminated the theater fully, the show over.

-------------------------

In the back room of the theater, Enalia, Dox and Tova were finishing getting dressed back in their own clothes to leave as the door to the dressing room opened. Stepping in first, was the Klingon pirate, Chet, whose eyes were bloodshot and his broken nose dressed in bandages. He shot Dox a narrow-eyed gaze that she disregarded with an eye-roll as he stepped aside, allowing Captain Mac to enter, hat in hand.

"Your highness, I come to beg forgiveness for my actions this evening." He said weakly. "I allowed my passions to get the better of me. I throw myself upon your mercies and leave my fate to your judgment. I only ask that my troupe be allowed to continue, as most knew not what my plans were and simply performed the tasks they were told to."

With a kind smile, Enalia paused in her changing and let her dress fall to the ground so that all she had on was her undergarments. Still, even in the skimpiest of white lace and string that put literally every single one of her spots on full display, she still looked royal as she placed a hand on Mac's shoulder. "My friend, you have finally learned the lesson in life that I had hoped you would learn those many years ago. You are earning a noble, honest living and in the arts no less. Take pride in your accomplishments. As for my forgiveness, you have it. Together we put on a wondrous show for those gathered and in the end, what more could one ask for in theatre?"

With a face red from his embarrassment, Captain Mac bowed deeply, nodding. "You have my eternal gratitude, my queen. And my ongoing service. And I thank you again for showing the crowd an evening they will not soon forget."

Then, rising to his feet, he cleared his throat and awkwardly switched his expression to a showman's smile. "That is extended to you all, ladies. Never has my stages seen such wonder. And never has poor Chet been so humbled in front of so many."

As Mac slapped the still fuming half Klingon on his shoulder, Chet was still glaring at Dox, "Next time, things will be different..." But as he spoke, Mac shot him a steely glare and the massive pirate shuddered, containing his anger as he finished through gritted teeth, "... my Baroness."

For her part, Dox ignored the petty taunt and instead addressed Captain Mac, "You are welcome, Captain. I'm happy the audience enjoyed the show. And I'm sure our doctor here is glad that we didn't have to employ any of her primary skills much, right, Tova?"

The doctor in question only seethed at Mac with a hard look. "You may want to have those I dealt with checked medically. All were compromised and may need follow-ups." She hoped he realized the weight of what she just said, and how things could have been much worse. "And I am indeed thankful I didn't need to make use of my surgical skills," she said while looking at her dagger just a little too fondly before flicking her glance at Mac with a smile that never made it to her eyes.

"You are an oddly frightening woman, Doctor. ladies, we bid you good eve," the showman troupe captain backed his crew out in front of him as he took a final bow, then was out the door. Left alone at last, the hilarity of the experience they had just been through settled on the three women.

Sighing slightly, Mnhei'sahe let out a light chuckle. "Well... so far, this is still better than most of my other shore leave experiences. That said, I am thoroughly ready for a drink or... eight."

"There's a reason I insist on shore leave at my fortress," Enalia began with a grin and a slight chuckle. "But this has been more entertaining than usual. No one has died yet at least."

Since it was now just the three of them Tova could relax, "For the record, that guy was a schmuck and it would be fitting to see him in a state of temporary paralysis for placing the lives of his crew in peril for such petty reasons." She shook her head disgusted still muttering to herself, "I really need a martini and then some." She looked at the other two women, the adrenaline wearing off, realizing her grumbling was being listened to. She looked ashamed at what she said, "My apologies Captain." Tova demurred setting down the daggers on a table and pulled out a lollipop as she took a seat.

"I won't argue with you there, so no apologies needed. Thankfully, our next stop is the Paris Hotel. Rita's booked a buffet and we're supposed to meet back there once we're done sightseeing." Now fully dressed, Enalia looked ready to rock the town once more. "So how about we abandon ship and grab some grub, me hearties? Yo ho, yo ho!"