We need a weapon

Posted on Sun Sep 16th, 2018 @ 9:24pm by Ensign Raymond McBain

Mission: Holographic Horrors
Location: Mcbain's quarters
Timeline: evenings over the last few nights since arrival 2395

After his meeting with the Captain McBain had a lot to think about. Mutated borg creatures not the most vexing either. Hera was a Greek Goddess and among the most powerful if not the most powerful. He had read up on the Greek God's and smiled to see he had been right. She was in fact equal to Zeus, his wife as well as his sister. So she was top dog among those immortals. He continued his research and found immortal was just not a catch phrase. They basically could not be killed? So how does one fight someone who can not be killed? McBain found the ship had a rather complete Library on the subject and he began reading the manuscripts nightly before bed.

He worked by day meeting the people he needed to meet, getting his medical baseline established with one of the doctors and his brain checked by the counselor. The medical was done for him by Asa who he had spent time training in the MACO armor. They were going to be the team medic as he understood it. The Counselor Avender he had met for dinner, one of his first social outings on the Hera. In fact it was the first as he had missed his chance to run with the Engineer. All in all his few days aboard had been very busy. Training a response team in the new MACO armor and meeting the Intelligence Chief. It sort of felt like he was jumping in at the deep end.

Despite his activities getting familiar with the ship and crew he had been diligent about learning about Hera and her abilities. One of the things he learned was this Hera never forgave people. If she felt slighted she would get revenge. That was not a very comforting thought if you considered the fact she was both un-killable and immortal. His job was to find a way to end her existence if negotiations failed. This had no good ending that he could see?

Digging into things that might do away with an immortal he came across the head of the Gorgon. Apparently they could be turned to stone? Smashing the stone would kill them. He had no idea how to find the head of the gorgon and from the sounds of it, the head was not very safe to have around anyways.

The poison secreted by the Lernaean Hydra could not kill them. It was claimed to be so painful as to make the deity give up their immortality so they could die, ending the torment. That raised the question what else might make them wish to die? If they could renounce being immortal that might be something to look into. McBain wondered if the Godess gave up her immortality if she would also loose her powers? Than again once given up would she be able to reclaim her immortality if left alive? That was a can of worms he was not too interested in. McBain had no idea where he might find this hydra critter anyway so he ruled that option out. He did wonder though if the poison might be replicated? He made a note to search for the properties of the poison.

So he was reading more about the immortals in general and came across a story that seemed useful to his quest. According to one story Gaia, gave a sickle made of Adamantine to her son Cronus. He used that sickle to castrate Gaia's husband, Uranus, God of the sky. Now this adamantine was the hardest known mineral. The mineral was so hard it could damage immortal flesh. Now McBain was one of those who believed if you could cut someone than you could kill them. So if this Adamantine could castrate Uranus it in all likely-hood could kill an immortal?

More reading and research revealed this Adamantine either did not exist or was something magical in nature made by these immortals themselves. Another dead end? He read on though researching the hardest real minerals available. He found Tungsten and Rhenium, two of the most dense minerals in existence together made something akin to Adamantine! Both of those minerals were rare but producible. In fact tungsten was used by the military already in armor piercing weapons. Now a bit excited that he had found something that might be feasible he read more on the ways to combine these two minerals that had such a high melt point.

He decided to go to Science first to see if his thoughts were actually viable. He was thinking of adding a Tungsten/Rhenium wire filament to a bladed weapon, like a saber or axe. The dense material might just cut immortal flesh! He had a plan anyway, if it was needed he might have what was needed. He had no real hope of success, a forlorn hope at best. Still it was someplace to begin.