Trials of Granweh

Posted on Wed Jun 6th, 2018 @ 3:07pm by Ahreva Malana & Baroness 2nd Class Schwein von Alcott & Commander Mal Xustos & Lieutenant Vaemyn & Lieutenant Matthew Lysander MD & Akira Zhuri & Warrant Officer Cerus Read

Mission: Curing the Black Blood
Location: Granweh
Timeline: Current

As the away team beamed down, the six USS Hera crew members were in a somewhat wooded area but the sounds of sentient life could be heard in the distance. Each were clothed in what scans had told them were common traveller's garb - tan cloth robes and toga-like coverings. It seemed primitive to their standards, but to fit in, it was necessary. They each even had forgeries of travel documents used by the local populace and some local coinage just in case.

The Baroness, whom had worked hard to suppress her accent and was wearing a more fitting eye patch, surveyed the area. "It looks like there's a sizable settlement not far from our position. If we are at the expected location, the temple is less than five kilometers north."

Mal nodded he looked around and, having determined everyone was there and in one piece, he activated a communicator hidden one of the bracers he wore on each wrist.

"Xustos to Hera," he said. "Away Team has arrived safe and sound. We will proceed to the temple located roughly five kilometers north of our current location. Request communications silence except for emergencies to avoid detection by the locals. Don't call us unless you absolutely must. We will contact you when we can do so securely. Xustos, out."

Mal looked at his team.

"Alright, then," he said. "Let's move as briskly as possible. Doctor Lysander, I know that you chose to forgo your exoskeleton to avoid discovery by the locals. Make the best speed you can for as long as you can. Don't be afraid to ask us to slow down if need be. Miss Zhuri, please stay near the good doctor. If we need to make a run for it, you're more than strong enough to pick him up and bolt. If there are no questions, let's go."

Lysander made a face at the idea that he was the 'weak link' of the party, but leaning on his staff nodded slowly. This wasn't a culture where the use of a walking stick was abnormal. He might even surprise some people with his ability to fight with the staff.

Schwein frowned and flipped up her eyepatch for a moment before pulling out her tricorder. "I'm getting no readings on my instruments at all. My eye is getting visual data and that's it. Akira, you are similarly affected, ja?"

Akira stood stunned as her matrix scrambled within her body to diagnose the errors blaring within her. "I am..." Akira replied uneasily. "The Iconian tech in my body is able to detect... something, like a dampening field yet not, and I don't know what to make of it but it has reduced all my capabilities considerably. It's very uncomfortable," she reported, holding her arms around her stomach like she was going to be sick.

Mal put his hand on Akira's shoulder.

"Are you going to be alright?" he asked. "Can you push through the discomfort?"

Akira was uncertain, but she nodded anyway. "I think so," she said with measured breaths. "If I'm not trying to focus on whatever is suppressing technology, it's not so bad, but it's still kind of bad... I'll do my best to push through it." She took a few breaths to calm herself, then forced herself to stand straighter so she could focus on the mission. "I'm okay," she affirmed, but the truth was she wanted to get back to the Hera as soon as physically possible!

Mal looked Akira over and then made a command decision.

"I'm sending you back," Mal said. He activated his comm. "Xustos to Hera."

There was no response. Mal frowned and tried his comm again.

"Xustos to Hera, please respond," he said. Still nothing. He turned to the other members of the Away Team. "Try and raise the Hera."

With a tap to the commbadge hidden inside her robes, Akira did as instructed, making no attempt to argue with her superior officer with his decision. "Zhuri to Hera," she attempted, but with no response. "Hera, this is the Away Team, please respond," she tried again, and when that failed, she closed her eyes to see if she could connect with the Hera using her Iconian tech. "The communicator built into the Herald body seems to be ineffective as well," she reported.

"This is looking better already," Read commented with a frown as he looked at their surroundings.

"Baroness, Doctor?" Mal said. "Lieutenant Vaemyn? Try your communicators please."

"I already have, Commander," quipped the Baroness. "I tried activating my built in cybernetics relay to link with the ship and nothing. I'm afraid we are on our own now. Under the circumstances, I suggest we continue the mission as this is likely a test or a circumstance set in place by the Goddess Danu herself, ja?"

Vaemyn nodded in agreement, the purple-skinned Vorta looking oddly comfortable in his loose toga and robes. “Such a scenario would be consistent with the literature that is associated with polytheistic myths, to ensure that the ‘hero’ undertakes their quest in a fair manner without external interference.” Then Vaemyn smiled weakly. “I also...um...suggest that we avoid angering this particular goddess. A dampening field that can supress both Federation and Iconian technology is a bit frightening. Brilliant, to be sure, but frightening.”

"And unsettling," Akira chimed in. "I know you wanted me to return to the ship, sir, but since that doesn't seem to be an option, I will push forward; it's not ideal, but despite the discomfort I am in no danger of any real harm from this field at this time."

"I'm getting a lot of nothing. This is..." Matthew shook his head, not able to articulate the discomfort he had with being cut off. "A test does does parse out well with what we've been discovering doesn't it? The Tuatha'de in Earth mythos were gods led by their baser natures, that might hold true here. It's fascinating but terrifying in equal measure. "

"Yes, I am familiar with the mythos of being led by my baser natures," Mal said with a frown. "Technically, I guess you could say that I am a Tuatha'de, or at least the creation of one, and he made my people look like nymphs and satyrs, to compound the image. Danu could have done something to the Hera. This could also be a completely unrelated problem...though I doubt it. Either way, we have a job to do, so let's get moving and trust that our friends will handle things back on the ship. Mister Read, take the lead, please."

Read nodded. "Aye, Commander." He stepped off several feet ahead of the group. He always hated when tricorders were down but he could still fall back on his Betazoid abilities to detect possible dangers. Right now, he was sensing a lot of primitive thought patterns that belonged to the various wildlife around them as he continued to make his way.

It wasn't long before they were able to make their way to the outskirts of the city around the temple and it became abundantly clear that Danu loved variety. There were people similar to Mal, but based on longhorn sheep intersparsed with more classical long-eared elven looking folk, some blue skinned Nordic peoples gathering for what looked like a drinking competition, some bright red shorter folk that seemed at home hawking wares and doing craft work, numerous green skinned peoples that looked to be at one with the forest around them, and throughout them all what one would generally come to call either Human or Vulcan in general appearance. It was a veritable smorgasbord of peoples and the Hera's people would have no issue slipping through this crowd.

Mal took in the surroundings and made a plan.

"Alright," he said. "Let's head over to that smaller place of worship and get the lay of the land before we try to enter the actual temple, which I can only assume is that impressive looking structure over there."

Mal pointed first to the smaller building in the village proper, then to the larger, more imposing structure on the edge of a cliff.

"Anyone disagree with that or think their time could be better used doing something else?" he asked.

"It's as good a place to start as any other," Akira replied with a shrug. "I've been internally cataloging the different variations of the species here for documentation once we return to the ship, it would be useful for this documentation to get a look at their religious personnel and where they worship."

"It seems that our initial surveys were a little off. Anyone aboard the Hera could have come down and not attracted notice..." Schwein commented as she surreptitiously studied a red eyed, silver haired female guard wielding a rather ceremonial looking pike almost a metter taller than her. "Diversity seems to be..."

The Baroness' observations were interrupted by a large sheep-man throwing a catgirl out of his establishment and bellowing at her. "You've stolen your last coin, ya filthy Mi'qa! Guards! Arrest this thief! Put her to the Trials of the Holy Danu!"

As several guards converged on the catgirl, the effect on her was immediate and drastic. "NO! Please, anything but that! Anything! I beg of you! NOOOO!" Her piteous screams and mewlings could be heard as she was dragged off towards the smaller temple.

"Good riddance..." The sheep-man spit on the ground as he watched the guards drag her off. He then caught sight of the away team and waved to them. "Ho there, friends. New to town? Southern pilgrims, I'm guessing, since it's almost that time of year. I'm Gra'aan'awip and I run the 'Able Host Pub' here, if you need room and board during your stay. Sorry about that unpleasantness. She's had it coming for a while." Reaching up and scratching one of his horns, he stared after the catgirl a bit more. "I just felt sorry for her for some reason I guess so I didn't report her for so long... Guess I thought I was doing her a kindness... Then I caught her stealing from a guest..." Then he turned back to them and smiled widely. "Anyway, enjoy your pilgrimage. If you need anything, just let me know."

The phrase 'Trials of Granweh' caught Mal's attention.

"Excuse me," Mal said to the innkeeper. "As you said, we're...not from around here. We came here because our small community has been without a knowledgeable priest for some time. We've heard of the Trials of Holy Danu, but perhaps you could tell us more?"

Mal wasn't Daytona by a far stretch and subterfuge wasn't really his thing in a situation like this. He hoped he hadn't stepped on a cultural land mine.

The sheep-man looked a bit surprised but motioned to them nonetheless. "You must have travelled very far then. The High Priestess's temple is the best place for knowledge and training, but I'd be happy to tell you what I know, If you're in need of a hot meal with the tale. I've got some good stew and the baker just dropped off some fresh bread and my prices are more than reasonable. How about it?"

The Baroness reached under her travel cloak and felt up the coin purse she'd been issued. "I suggest we take him up on his offer, ja? We should have plenty of coin for our stay if we're careful."

"Of course," Mal said to the Mutton Man. "We'll come right in and order."

Mal followed the innkeeper into his inn, motioning for the Away Team to follow. When they were inside and seated, Mal ordered stew, bread, and ale for the team.

Motioning for them all to sit at the bar, the innkeeper started ladling up wooden bowls of a meat and vegetable stew from a cauldron that was sitting literally on a charcoal fire and serving each of them in turn, setting a mug of ale and half a loaf of bread next to each bowl. "Normally I'd charge three bits per meal, but but since you're pilgrims, I'll only ask for one each, if that's agreeable."

Not receiving any complaints, he continued. "Now... The trials. I'm sure you've heard the legends and tales from your last priest and elders. For thievery, murder, and other crimes, the priestesses put criminals to various trials. There are really only three that most need to worry about though. They're the ones that'll either leave ya scarred or dead. The first one, for thievin..."

He got a bit somber at this point and leaned in. "They heat up a special rod. They say it's something called eye-ron. They get it so hot it glows white. Then you have ta hold it without it burnin ya. No thief comes outta that with a hand left... They say only one's ever been able ta hold it."

He looked around the inn again. "The second trial is a leap oh faith. Y'see, the cliff... it goes around Her Holy Danu's temple. No Mi'qa could jump it and they're good at that. Ya murder someone, ya got ta prove ya can walk on air from one temple to the other to beg forgiveness from Danu Herself. But guess what. The door... It's locked. Ya need a crystal key. And ya get to pick it out of a bunch'a identical ones afore walkin across."

The Sheep man winked conspiratorially at this point and moved in a bit closer. "But me pa... He knew the secret oh them keys... He said sanny... Sanny, ya ever need tae get thae key, ya sing tae it... It'll shae ya thae wae..."

Glancing around again, the innkeeper busied himself with cleaning some mugs.

Sing to the keys, Matthew wondered if the true key had a harmonic tone that made it ring or something intriguing like that. It was fortunate that he could sing, though he was unaware if any of the others were musically inclined- he certainly was.

"Alright," Mal said. "Well, we have an idea of what Danu might ask from us if we seek an audience with her. I can carry a tune if I need to and I have one of my flutes with me. But I have no idea how we are supposed to walk on air or hold a white hot iron. Before we worry about that, let's ask around at the little temple about how to get an audience with Danu, Herself, Herself."

"I've a pretty good voice" Matthew admitted quietly, and smiled at the understatement that was. His voice was his one redeeming quality since most women didn't find his physique terribly attractive.

Mal smiled.

"That's helpful," he said. "Because, talented as I am, even I can't play the flute and sing at the same time. Let's get moving."

Read blinked at the conversation going on before him. 'This is definitely above my pay grade,' he thought. 'Why couldn't Lieutenant Commander T'Pral have come instead?'

"Uhm...because she's very ill?" Mal said. "None of the infected were assigned to this mission. Once we have secured Danu's assistance, we will bring them here. And, yes, I am aware that we currently cannot contact the Hera. We are just going to have to trust that our colleagues aboard ship can handle whatever the problem is. Have faith, Mister Read. We will obtain Danu's assistance, Captain Telvan and the rest of the crew will deal with whatever problem has cut off communication, and our infected comrades will be cured. But that will only happen if we get to work. Baroness, you are the closest thing to an Intelligence Officer that we have with us. Please take the lead in our conversation with the priests. Alright, we're here. Baroness, you're on!"

Schwein nodded and headed into the temple with the others close behind her. Not far away, they could see the catgirl being put to the trial with the white hot rod that the innkeeper spoke of earlier and the screams she let loose as the rod burnt her hand to the bone gave even the Baroness pause. Even the priestesses administering the trial were handling the rod with long tongs to carry it from the furnace to the accused.

"Oi... It would have been kinder to have cut her hand off, ja?" Schwein muttered under her breath as they headed towards the main shrine, deeper in the temple.

A woman stepped out and greeted them, garbed in white silks and wearing a crimson head dress and smiled at them tightly. "Greetings. You are the travellers from the stars, yes? The Holy Danu has warned me of your coming. I am Her High Priestess. I welcome you to Her Holy House." She then bowed respectfully.

Schwein was a bit taken aback by the greeting, but nevertheless, she pressed forward, returning the same bow. "Ah, yes... You are correct. We've travelled far to seek healing from the Holy Danu for our friends. Pray tell us... How may we seek an audience with Her? Is it true that we must pass three trials?"

"Oh yes. And without the aid of your tech-no-loggy as well. It is the will of the Holy Danu that if you wish to gain an audience with Her most Holiness, you must pass Her trials the same as any of her Chosen." The high priestess motioned towards a side room that had another of those furnaces where a white hot rod was already being prepped for the away team. Will you undertake the first of the trials for your group? Or will another?"

Schwein hesitated a moment before turning to walk with the high priestess towards the furnace room. "We uh... Do you have any advice for these trials? Being peoples of science, in this setting from what we've heard, your trials sound all but impossible for all but the Holy Danu herself."

The High Priestess chuckled softly as they headed into the furnace room, the white hot poker slowly rotating in the heat of the blast furnace focusing it's heat on it. "If you are pure of heart and mind, then you will have no trouble accepting the Holy Danu into your body. Thus you will be able to hold the rod as if it were as cold as a fish."

Schwein furrowed her brow in consternation and thought about it, eyeing that bright white glowing rod as the woman tending it and the High Priestess awaited an answer. Then a thought dawned on her. As far as she knew, every one of them was marked with some sort of bedevilment on their conscience except one. "Akira. I believe your childlike purity in this is our best hope for passing this ritual. You can do this, ja?"

"Me?" Akira replied, surprised that she was being singled out for this. She looked at the glowing hot rod, then down at her hands, and then it occurred to her that she was scared, terrified in fact; as she currently was, she was incapable of accessing some of her body's function, one of which was the ability to disable her pain receptors, and if she was not pure enough... And what if she became damaged, did she or Thex know enough about the Iconian technology in her body to make repairs? It was almost cold of her to think it, but it was merely her logical side pointing out that biologicals could get biosynthetic replacements and she was unique, and what if her hands could not be replaced?! No! No, she could not think like that, even if she were irreparably damaged, it would be a sacrifice well worth making to save the lives of the infected crew! She could do this, she would do this, but that decisiveness didn't make her any less nervous about the possibility of having the synthetic flesh burned off her frame.

"I will do this," Akira finally said, extending her trembling hands to accept rod, hoping beyond hope that her moment of doubt had not damned her.

The High Priestess nodded to the woman at the forge, who took the rod from the fires with her great tongs and carried it the distance to Akira, the extreme heat visibly radiating from the white hot glowing piece of iron. "Steel yourself, Akira, for this trial of the Holy Danu now begins."

With a wave of the High Priestess's hand, the glowing rod is placed into Akira's hand. A soft sizzling sound was heard for a moment. Then nothing. No burning flesh. The intense heat was still radiating off of it and everyone nearby was likely drenched in sweat from just being near it. But to Akira's touch, it was as cool as a glass of lemonade.

"The trial is complete!" Declared the High Priestess. With another wave of her hand, the blacksmith removed the iron from Akira's hand and placed back in the furnace. "Most that face this trial require the use of a pail. Do you desire one now, Akira?"

Akira was trembling as the blacksmith removed the hot iron from her hands, and so shaken to the core was she that she found herself unable to answer the Priestess; instead, her knees went weak and she found herself suddenly on her knees on the cold cobblestone floor, and her body, in rebellion of the torrent of emotions running through, evacuated the contents of her stomach, missing the offered pail entirely and very nearly hitting the Priestess' feet. Nearly.

"I'm sorry," Akira finally said with gasping breaths, even in her addled state she felt apologetic about the near offense to the Priestess. "I'm so sorry, I want to leave now!" she said as she began to sob. "I need to get out of here!" But even she could not tell at this point if by 'here' she meant the temple, the planet, or even her own body, over which she now seemed to have little control.

Mal lowered him self to Akira's level (the satyr equivalent of taking a knee) and held her as he spoke gently to her.

"It's alright," he said. "You're okay. We're all here with you. You're safe."

Having watched the test with serious (if intrigued) concern, Vaemyn looked from the ailing Akira to the Priestess, plainly quite uneasy himself. Every instinct in Vaemyn’s carefully programmed Vorta brain was screaming at him to leave, to run to safety, his brain generating the chemicals that elevated his natural fear response. Separating the physical and psychological fear was no easy feat, especially since Vaemyn was equally afraid for his crewmates’ well being as his own.

“I take it, then,” Vaemyn asked the Priestess nervously, “that the subsequent tests shall be a bit...um...more extreme? Maybe even...erm...lethal? Typically the first test is used to weed out false applicants, after all, before the tests get truly serious, yes?”

"We've never had anyone die from one, but we've only had one survive the other. Then again, the success of the second depends on the success of the first," replied the High Priestess. "If you like, there's a resting area that Akira may recover in. She will be treated well and be given sweetmeats and honeyed wine if she so desires. She passed this trial, so has proven the sincerity and purity of your group and that of your Captain. Shall I show the rest of you to the next trial?" As she spoke, two white robed women entered and offered to help Akira to her feet, offering her succor by the fountain.

Akira shook her head vehemently as she clung to Mal, not because she didn't want to go with the robed women to rest (which, in fact, she didn't want to do regardless) but because she didn't want Mal and the others to be subjected to more of what she had just been put through. "It's not fair!" she said, her voice still quivering from her earlier outburst of sobbing. "God or not, what gives Danu the right to treat people like this?!"

The High Priestess showed a flash of anger as she rounded on the group. "What gives you the right to travel a quarter of the way across the galaxy to bother the Holy Danu and her people to ask her for an audience? What right do you have to judge our way of life once you get here? The people don't know about travellers from distant worlds, but the priestesses here do, and we know of your non-interference policies. And yet here you are, pretending to follow our ways yet complaining about it. You even brought your technologies with you so they were disabled, just like your ship, for the duration of your stay to make sure you played by your own rules and ours. As for Danu, God or not, she's a being on a much higher order than any other around here and she makes the rules around here, like it or not. Is she not entitled to some measure of privacy? Some manner of dissuading people from committing crimes around her or pleading her case directly to her? If everyone in the galaxy came to her for healing or succor, she'd have no time to herself."

Pausing for a moment, the High Priestess composed herself. "Pardon me. If you will follow me, the trial of the crystal keys is this way. The trial of the leap of faith is immediately after." Turning and walking out of the room, she did not wait for their reply - rather she just headed towards the head of the smaller temple, where an altar stood with an array of around three dozen nearly identical palm sized crystals laying across it. Behind the altar was a pair of ornate double doors.

Mal wrapped his arms around Akira and held her for a moment and he stroked her hair and spoke softly to her.

"You're right," he said. "It's not fair, but if we want to help our friends, if you want to help Daytona, this is what we need to do. Our friends need us. Can I count on you Akira? We can't do this with out you."

Akira struggled to find her voice after the Priestess' chastisement, but finally she nodded to Mal. "Just please don't leave me here with them," she said softly. As polite as these people were, she didn't trust them, not one bit! After all, who blindly followed a 'god' who made their followers hold hot rods? It was disgusting, a perversion of everything that she had been taught was good!

"Of course," Mal said, rising and bringing Akira to her feet as he stood. "Come, let's go."

When they got to the crystal room Mal looked around.

"So," he said to the priestess. "The object is to find the key and use it to go through those doors over there?"

The High Priestess nodded and motioned to the crystals. "Choose however you like but only one may be selected. Also, for the last trial, you may select only one of you to make the trek across to try it if you so desire."

Mal nodded and turned to the others.

"Does anyone have a better plan for finding the right crystal than the doctor singing while accompany him until one of them reacts?" he said to the team.

The Baroness spoke up immediately. "Commander, I am piecing together a theory." Glancing over the crystals, she touched one of them and found it cold to her touch. "I surmised that there were two possibilities for passing the first trial. Either Akira's body could handle the heat even with the technology jamming, or that it required an innocence of mind. Fortunately both were fitting of Akira for this setting and having witnessed firsthand the results of that trial, I believe I must revise the manner of which this key reacts. Normally, I would say it will react based on some resonance with frequencies."

Schwein turned to the others for confirmation. "Zat iz ze most logical scientific method, ja? Yet the innocent face the prior trial and are not burned, ja?" This time the Baroness turned to the High Priestess for confirmation and as the Granwehnian woman nodded confidently, she pressed on with her theory. "These trials are somehow not of physics or logic... but of the heart and of faith. We must stop thinking logically and think with our hearts. Doctor... Commander... Sing and play from the depths of your souls."

Pausing a moment and squaring her shoulders, Schwein continued. "Then when you decide, I myself will take it to the main temple, with my Lord Odin as my witness."

"Alright then," Mal said. "Doctor, if you would begin, I will accompany you on my flute."

A song that would go well with a flute he searched his memory for something that would suit both this and the situation. He was reminded of something that he'd learned on a brief vacation to Ireland when he'd been in the academy- something about the 'hill of the fairies' and a smile stole across his face. Taking a breath, he began to sing to the keys...

"The winter now is here
And the year steals so swift away
Just like a thief in the night
Who comes but to flee
The berries are full bright
And the small birds sing out to me
Oh but the cold wind blows hard
Over Knocknashee

By summer’s radiant star
And by love’s own sweetest decree
None but the harsh moon
Could steal your beauty from me
Came autumn’s falling leaves
And love’s wild uncertainty
When, like a vision, you flitted
From Knocknashee

I turned from God
I spurned all religion
And somehow you came
Between heaven and me
Oh how glad I would trade my very soul
My dear Saviour never to see
For to gain you I’d lose
All eternity

But once when passion’s worn
Never more will it return
Love loses fashion
Like some old tired melody
The heart that gives too free
Will sorely rejected be
Oh how I loved you and lost you
In Knocknashee

And I will go down
Go down to the dark wood
And find that sweet hollow
Where once you lay with me
And I will face that final place
Where the heart will not weary be
And I will sleep the long sleep now
In Knocknashee"

At first nothing was happening, but as the Doctor sang, several of the crystals started glowing various colors. The longer he sang though, the fewer kept glowing and by the time he finished there was only one left glowing soft white. Schwein picked it up, surprised to find that it was now warm to the touch. Nodding to the High Priestess, she was led to the large doors behind the altar where two more priestesses rushed to unseal them.

As they swung open, a blast of cool sea air met them as the far main temple was revealed. The cliffs between were also of concern to most logic minded people, but this was a world not of logic, but of faith. Stepping up to the sheer hundred meter drop to the crags below, Schwein looked to the sky, flung off her robe and eyepatch, which was immediately caught by the wind and dragged into the crevasse, and called out to her God, key in hand. "Lord Odin! My life Evermore has been yours so if you see fit to accept me in your embrace at this moment, I will see you in Valhalla momentarily! Otherwise, please look upon the strength of your faithful servant!"

With that, she stepped off of the cliff without hesitation.

She did not fall.

Wind whipping about her, heart racing, her boot had made contact with solid air.

She took another step forward.

Praising Odin the whole way, she made her way across the hundred meters or so to the door of the main temple, inserted the key, and successfully unlocked the door, collapsing inside as the giant doors swung open.

Smiling to the rest of the group, the High Priestess bowed before them. "Thus concludes the trials. The Holy Danu will hear your petition. Shall we teleport the rest of you over to the other temple, or would you rather walk?"

"Teleport us please," Mal said, before anyone else decided to test fate by trying to walk on air.

The High Priestess nodded ass he motioned to a statue of Danu sitting off to the side of the double doors leading to the final trial. The away team then found themselves encompassed in a brief flash of golden light and reunited with the Baroness on the other side.

Inside the giant temple was a garden. Danu herself stood not far from them. For a celtic goddess, she wasn't a very imposing figure, dressed in plain brown robes and only standing around five feet tall. In fact, her brightly glowing green eyes were really the only sign that she was more than any other mortal they had run into so far.

"Well come, and welcome. A raven told me you'd be paying me a visit. I didn't expect you to do so well or to be so dedicated in your pursuit of me though." The old woman said as she stood there with her hands clasped before her. "You did well and I commend you on that. You have earned the right to ask for what you seek. But as you may have learned from the trials, there is always a price to everything. Are you prepared to pay that price? Is your Captain? Those infected with that Iconian doppelganger phage virus? You can barely even figure out what it is your people are infected with so how can you even know what my price for a cure will be?"

"But you're all weary from the trials and two of you are mentally exhausted, if not scarred." Danu motioned towards a sitting area not far into the gardens. "Will you have tea with me? We can discuss options at the very least and you can rest."

Mal led the Away Team to the sitting area.

"You are correct," Mal said. "In that we won't know your price or if we are willing to pay it...that is until you tell us the price. So, what will it cost us for you to cure our friends?"

Danu poured them all some tea that was already prepared at the sitting table before sitting at one of the chairs as she spoke. "You have quite a few infected members. Two of which will require further healing and an extended stay, but we can get to that in a moment." Sipping her own tea, she motioned for the away team to sit as well. "I can siphon the virus from them easily enough but I'll need a sacrificial vessel... A living being willing to risk their life and possibly give it up, if needs be, in order to do so. This concentration of the Iconian Doppelganger Phage virus will create a beast which you will need to fight and destroy. Thankfully, you already know how to kill beasts of this type so this should be no problem for you."

Most of your infected crew will thus be cured." Pausing, Danu sipped her tea. "The two sisters will require further healing to repair their minds, and will need to stay with me for a while. They will be free to leave at any time, but their minds are too far gone. I wouldn't feel right leaving their healing half done. Nexi's mind is shattered and Aewia's is partially made of the virus itself so I'll have to use other means and there will be other costs of which your crew are unable to tie yourselves to."

"How is it that you know so much about our infected crew?" Akira said with a hint of suspicion in her tone; she dismissed the offered tea with a slight wave of her hand, her stomach still churning uncomfortably from her earlier trial.

Schwein was weak in the knees, but took one of the offered seats and sipped at one of the teacups, finding the flavor pleasant and refreshing. Nodding her thanks, she cupped it with both hands and nursed it. By Odin's beard, that was one of the scariest things she'd ever done. Everything in her told her there was nothing below her but a hundred meters to death but she kept walking. She could only conclude that it was her faith in Odin that allowed her to do so and that if anyone else in the party had stepped off that cliff, they would be dead simply because they see these beings as powerful aliens. Schwein on the other hand, worshipped Odin as a God and could see him in no other way as that was how she was indoctrinated since birth.

"Odin sent a raven with what your Captain told him. I've also been watching your crew while you've been here." Danu sipped her tea again and waved her hand. "As soon as I have your answer, you may contact your ship."

"If the sacrifice is fighting the Iconian beast, and the 'sacrificial vessel' has to be one of the infected," Mal said. "I will do it. But, we will need to retrieve the special weapons from our ship before I fight this thing. Otherwise, I won't stand a chance. It is only by sheer luck that we haven't returned them to Hephaestus yet. That's next on our list of things to do, after you cure our infected friends."

"Then it seems your decision is made. As for the vessel, they don't have to be already infected. In fact, there's one of your crew that would fare far better than any other and would have a far better chance of survival. She's evolved from granite. You may contact your Captain when you like." Danu sipped at her tea a bit more as her eyes stopped glowing. At the same time, the dampening field around them and the ship faded away.

"Wait..." Mal said. "I think I'm being a little slow here. You want to infect a member of my crew, who I'm guessing is Ahreva Malana, one of our civilian scientists, and then you want me to kill her?"

Vaemyn took a step forward to stand next to the XO, deep concern in his eyes as he looked upon the Danu. “No, Commander, not quite. If I’m understanding our host correctly, she intends to siphon all of the black blood from the infected individuals into a single sacrificial host. Then she will do something to this host, some form of assault, to destroy all of the black blood in a single stroke. However, the concentration of so much black blood in one body will cause that person to have far more powerful abilities that we have witnessed with Miss Nexi. This sacrificial host, once infected, will defend themselves with some form of beast, which must be defeated before the black blood can be destroyed.”

Then Vaemyn’s tone grew quiet as he looked directly up at the Satyr. “This is an extreme method, Commander Xustos, but it is viable. And a species which has evolved from granite may be able to survive the destruction of the black blood.” Then the Vorta blinked, before chuckling ruefully. “Or we could create a hyper-powerful evil villain who could destroy the Hera and this entire world, before unleashing a horde of demonic monstrosities on the Milky Way, killing all in their path. This is also an possibility. An intruiging possibility, if it didn’t invite a galactic apocalypse.”

The Celtic goddess nodded to Vaemyn, impressed with his rational reasoning. Indeed this could unleash upon the universe something they were not yet ready to face if they did not defeat it quick enough. Danu wasn't about to tell them that though.

Akira paled at the thought of sacrificing anyone to the black blood, regardless of how sturdy that person may be. "W-would... Would my body be suitable for the sacrifice?" Akira asked timidly. "I-it has biological components, but no free will of its own, so perhaps the risk will not be as great?" She had just gotten this body and now that she had adjusted to some of the uncomfortable newness of it, she was finally starting to enjoy the gift of freedom it offered her, she didn't want to give this body up or risk her own well-being by stuffing herself into a tricorder until she could get back to the ship, but if it meant that no one got hurt, it was a sacrifice she was willing to make!

Danu shook her head. "Your body would be as suitable as a clay pot and just as sturdy. No, the vessel will have to be a fully biological life form. As for the one I mentioned, if she is willing, we may proceed with the procedure once you're ready. You'll need the infected, her, and several warriors to combat the beast once the initial procedure is complete. After that, I will discuss further healing with the two sisters and the price for that. Agreed?"

Mal looked at the priestess for a moment, then spoke.

"Fine," Mal said. "I will present your proposal to Doctor Malana, but I will not order her to do this. I couldn't even if I wanted to. She's a civilian. But first you'll need to tell me how I am supposed to fight her without killing her. The weapons Hephaestus gave us to fight the Master will leave her with wounds that cannot heal, if she even survives. On the other hand, normal weapons won't have any effect at all and I'll be killed before you can do anything. Fighting one of those things is an all or nothing arrangement. You either kill it, or it kills you. If one of us hesitates, the other is dead, period. So, before we proceed, I need to know how long it's going to take you to do whatever it is you're going to do."

"I didn't ask you to fight the vessel." Danu stated simply, not understanding why someone would attack the vessel rather than the summoned beast that the vessel would create. "I asked you to fight the summoned beast. I'll keep the vessel in stasis once the beast is summoned but you'll have to defeat the beast yourself."

Read stepped forward next to Mal. "Commander. You are a senior officer. I cannot let you endanger yourself. I should fight the beast. Besides, if something happened to you, both T'Pral and Commander Clio would kill me."

"On the other hand, " Mal said. "I've been training with edged weapons since I was a child, so I have a pretty good chance at surviving this fight. I'll make you a deal, Mister Read. Can you handle a spear? Hephaestus gave us two weapons, a spear and a sword. I'm partial to the sword. If you can handle a spear in close quarters without getting yourself killed, and without killing me, you can help me beat this thing. Oh, and in addition to not killing me, you can't wound me, not even a nick or a scrape. As I said, wounds inflicted with these weapons will not heal."

"I'm not an expert sir, but I am proficient," Read replied, though he would be more of a distraction to the beast to let the Commander survive. 'Should have been an engieer. These scenarios never end well for security officers,' Read thought

"When we contact the ship," Mal said. "Along with the weapons from Hephaestus, have them beam down some body armor for you, the heavy duty stuff we break out for extreme situations. It won't hold up long against the beast, but it will buy you a few moments. I've already got something under my robes that should slow the beast down...wait...that didn't sound right...I mean I'm wearing a kind of light armor under my robes."

Read chuckled. "Aye, Commander."

Mal activated his comm unit.

"Xustos to Hera," he said. "Please respond."

"This is the Hera. What's your status?" replied the stressed voice of Captain Telvan.

"We have made contact with Danu," Mal said. "Please beam down the infected, as well as Miss Ahreva Malana. If she's willing, I need her to do something ridiculously dangerous in order to cure our friends."

"We'd love to, but we've lost power to the entire ship." Enalia replied, seemingly distracted. "We're getting things back online now, but those infected are running rampant. It'll take us some time before we can beam anyone anywhere."

Mal turned to Danu.

"Madam," he said. "Do you think you could round up our infected crewmembers and bring them down here securely, and grab Miss Malana while you're at it. It seems like a reasonable thing to ask, since you are likely the reason the Hera is disabled. No offense intended."

Danu scowled for a moment before replying. "This is no small thing you ask... But what kind of Goddess would I be if I couldn't do it?" Standing, she headed deeper into her gardens towards a well hidden door. Through it was a control center of sorts and from there, she was able to target the infected and isolate them. She then called out to them so they could hear her. "I'll transport them directly to a stasis unit at my cauldron. As for Miss Malana, I'll bring her here." Within a few moments, the deed was done and she was monitoring some sort of power station.

Returning to the others, Danu had a worried look on her face. "This is unexpected and troubling. The one known as the Master is among the infected. Because of this, I can only hold them in stasis for a short time before you must face the beast. Please prepare yourselves."

As for Malana, she looked barely put off by being in a different place, a science tricorder in hand. "I see I am no longer scanning isolytic samples in my quarters." She then clipped her tricorder to her belt and awaited an explanation for her sudden unexplained relocation.

"Just a moment," Mal said as he saw that Danu had helpfully also brought down the weapons Hephaestus had given them. Mal picked them up and carefully handed the spear to Read. "Remember, keep the pointy end away from both of us and direct it at the monster."

Mal turned back to Malana.

"Alright," Mal said. "I am about to ask you to do something tremendously stupid and dangerous and you should probably say no. Any intelligent person would say no. However, for the sake of our infected crewmates, I have to ask. Danu wants to suck all of the black blood from the infected and put the disgusting stuff into you, at which point you will summon a demon that Read and I will then kill...hopefully, which will apparently cure the infected...or something like that. And apparently it's possible that you'll survive this. If not, I'll make sure you get a hero's funeral. What do you say? Are you willing to take one for the team?"

"Fascinating." Malana thought it over for a moment before giving her answer. "As you say, any intelligent person would say no. However, I'm not just any intelligent person. I seek new experiences and this seems like one not to pass up. I accept. What do I need to do to prepare?"

"Just be yourself," Danu replied, with a smile and a nod. "I believe you have the mental and physical fortitude already."

"Alright then," Mal said. "Let's do this."