The Wizard's Cave

Posted on Sun Sep 30th, 2018 @ 10:23am by Petty Officer 2nd Class Ila Dedjoy & Commander Rita Paris

Mission: Hera v Hera
Location: USS Hera, E Deck, Intel Pod
Timeline: 2395, en route to Meroset 347

Since it was the far-flung future, and she'd been fitted for a compensator hardshell suit that let her bench 600 pounds, Rita had a bit of an idea she wanted to run past the ship's resident genius of exotic technologies, one Crewman Ila Dedjoy.

Yeoman Dedjoy, apparently, according to her roster. Rita frowned at not having noticed the promotion sooner. It made sense- Dedjoy answered directly to the Captain on many projects, and liaised with Science for the ship's mistress and commander. It made perfect sense, and Rita had to admire the Trill commanding officer's efficiency. The woman knew how to run a starship.

Today had brought her up to the intel pod for a request or two. Because if they were going to war, Rita suspected she might need a trick or two up her sleeve... plus she might just get the chance to live out a childhood dream in the process.

Tapping her comm badge, the ancient astronaut spoke up. "Computer, please put me through to Yeoman Dedjoy if she's available, and message her that I'm trying to contact her if not." Rita had learned from past experience that the genius geologist wasn't always available to take a call, particularly in the middle of a delicate experiment.

A reply came back almost immediately. "Yeoman Dedjoy here, go ahead." The faint sounds of dying cats being strangled could be heard in the background.

"Thanks, Computer. I... ah, I wanted to see if I could take a consultation with you, Yeoman. I have a question on a few pieces of technology that I don't know if they exist and I'm not entirely certain how to search for their existence?" It might have sounded like a stupid question. But to be fair, 127 years was a lot of history to catch up on, particularly if you were no technological prodigy to begin with, so in Paris' case it wasn't entirely unreasonable.

"Of course, Commander. I'm in the pod lounge, if you want to meet me there." The sounds of the demon cats cut off abruptly as Ila spoke, followed by a few clicks from a PaDD.

"I can manage that," Paris expressed as she stepped into the lounge, only a score of paces distant from where she had called. Looking around, she didn't see the expected horde of demon cats. Brow furrowing slightly, she raised a finger to ask the question, then clearly thought better of it, reconsidered, then dropped the matter internally. "Hello Yeoman Dedjoy. Congratulations on the promotion."

"Ah, thank you," Standing, Ila attempted a smile. "It was more of a formality since I was all but doing the job as it was. So what is it you're looking for?"

Bringing up her own PaDD, Rita paused, her finger hovering over the surface as she spoke. "Back in my dimension, Starfleet issued collapsible blades, compact yet strong and sharp, and in a variety of lengths and styles. Is there anything like that onboard the Hera? As Corwyn of Amber once pointed out, having a yard of steel, not matter where you are, can prove to be useful."

"Oh yeah, we have a few cases of them in the Section 31 armory." Ila didn't even need to look those up. "Mono-filament and plasma energized as well."

"Ooooooh, plasma energized blades? That sounds... like a good way to accidentally cut off my own arm. I'd better stick to just a standard blade until I graduate from the beginning sword fighting class," Paris opted, choosing a sensible option for a change. "As for the other item... do we maybe have something like this?"

Tapping the PaDD, Paris played the clip of the relevant scene from her childhood vid, of the lady space marine's hoverboard unfolding for her to step onto and fly. "I know it;s silly, but it was an antigravity board, and I do know how to surf...?" Rita trailed off, waiting to see if this was going to get her laughed by the scientist of the 24th century.

This would take a bit more doing. Tapping at her PaDD, Ila started coming up with a few things immediately. "Well... Sandsurfers use something like that. And modern Bolian surfers use something similar I think. I'd have to rebuild it for combat use. Add some plating to it. Beef up the skids. The weight capacity would have to be doubled as well."

Then it hit her. There was something in the armory close to this already. "On second thought... There's something in the armory that might work as long as you don't mind using the suit as well. Also, it only hovers about a foot off the ground."

"The suit?" While a foot off the ground wasn't what she had in mind, Paris was intrigued nonetheless. If it came with a suit the odds of whatever suit existed fitting her rather specialized frame and figure were low, but Dedjoy always had interesting ideas if nothing else. "I could always take a look..."

"The armory isn't far." Ila motioned towards one of the lounge doors and headed out, expecting Rita to follow. When they got to a rather overly secured door with a security terminal next to it, Ila ran them through the dual unlock sequence and as the massively sealed double doors retracted, led her inside to reveal a room of dimly lit red and blue wall racks of weapons and crates along the back wall.

Ignoring the sealed racks and heading to the lone terminal in the center, Ila activated it and unsealed the discrete door in the back. "This is actually the first time I've opened the armor lounge. This will be an experience for both of us."

"The future is an amazement to me every day, Miss Dedjoy. Everything is an experience," Rita Paris offered without an ounce of sarcasm.

Heading deeper into the armory, Ila whistled softly at the lengthy room of armor cases. It looked like there were at least fifty cases, all with experimental armors that shouldn't exist. The one they needed was close to the front at least. Next to one that was curiously already unsealed and marked for the Captain's use... "Ah, the captain's armor... Custom fit MACO Mark III with thermoptic camo. The rest of the crew is getting issued Mark II."

Stepping past it to the next suit, Ila motioned to the black, skeletal half suit and board combo. "This is it. It's from an old X Sport called reaper surfing on Andross Prime. The suit should fit under your MACO armor."

“So this is a hoverboard- won’t fly, but will repulse the ground at around a foot off the deck I take it?” Rita eyed it with a bit of a dubious eye. “I think the Bolian or Sandsurfer board might be a little more what I was after?” the skeletal half suit looked a bit sinister to her eye, and a foot off the ground wasn’t going cut it if she was trying not to die in a fall from a great height.

"It flies well enough, but don't expect it to go straight up too far," Ila replied, looking over the data readout on the armor display. "And the armor is more of a control and safety system from what I'm seeing. I could probably come up with something similar, given time, but the other things aren't going to be any better."

“I think, all things considered, I can wait, Yeoman,” Paris rubbed her chin, as she sometimes did when considering an issue. “There’s no great rush, and this is definitely not going to the mission to be trying out even more new and untested gear than I am already adapting to now."

"All things considered, I think I would rather you had more confidence in it and time to work. I trust your judgment, and rushing projects tends to lead to shoddy projects. Truthfully I think I would rather place my trust and my life in your handiwork than something we improvised out of the vault.” Turning to eye the large-eyed scientist, Paris cocked an eyebrow slightly. “Does that work for you, Ms. Dedjoy?”

"Works for me, Commander. I wouldn't expect any miracles, though." Glancing down the rows of armor, Ila wondered if she needed to work too hard at a miracle though.

“Eh, fair enough. An anti-gravity boogie board did seem a little far-fetched I guess, even for the dawn of the 25th century. Ah well,” Paris sighed. “Guess I’ll go fetch myself a collapsible sword out of the pile and call it a day.”

Leading Rita back to the main armory room, Ila unsealed the locker with the bladed weapons. "Pick whichever one you like and I'll take care of the paperwork." As the locker lid hydraulically opened, the mess of weaponry inside was disorganized, to say the least. How any of this case was inventoried was unknown.

The customization capabilities of the MACO EVA hardsuits were a bonus. The weaponless weaponeer should have suited up before she came up here, she realized now. She could always replicate it, but then she'd have to climb into it without the racks. She could always just have the computer guided by the sensors beam it directly onto her body, like when she'd fought King Candy. That made her burst out into slightly hysterical laughter, which she grinned at Dedjoy afterward, shrugging and twitching it off.

Grabbing a pair of mail gloves and slinking her way into them, the name-dropping navigator began rooting through the disorganized mess of weapons. "So the suit makes me stronger, so I can handle something bigger. And a big yard of steel... is that a helicopter blade with a handle? Yes it is. A big yard of steel should work well for me. And I'm thinking one of those collapsible blades as a backup secret weapon. I could carry a survival knife I suppose. I am an explorer who might need a compass built into the pommel of a knife... hey, no surprise, year 2395 and here's a great big survival knife- but why does it have a laser sight on it?"

Rummaging wasn't producing anything that struck her fancy, until she found a study-looking machete that she hefted just as a curiosity, as a plated bell-guard formed about her hand, rendering it recognizable as a french cutlass. If you knew about such things, which Rita Paris did not. Instead, she first insured it hadn't just captured her hand, Then she took an experimental swing with the weapon.

"Hey now!"

The blade had weight, but it would be relegated to close quarters, But as a defensive weapon it could serve well in that capacity. Catching the blade and releasing the grip, the hilt retracted again. "I name you Faendral the Dashing, for he was the swashbuckler supreme of Asgaard. And you are a swashbuckling weapon, my friend."

Finding an odd 'T' in the bin, she fiddled with it until the blade began ratcheting out in a manner familiar to her but a lot smoother, and the blade looked solid when it was done at nearly 2 meters. "Bit of overkill, that. Maybe something with some heft for when I need to break something. Ah, the weapon of my people since the dawn of time- the club." Pulling out the stone club that actually might have been wielded by one of her primitive ancestors, it wasn't what she was after. "Not even if it causes earthquakes when I hit the ground. Pass."

Ila chuckled softly. The commander was certainly an odd one. Then again, here she was in charge of this armory and you'd never catch her using a single one of these weapons. "Did you find one you like?"

Grabbing the hilt of the collapsible sword, Rita screwed the pommel and the blade not only collapsed, but the hilt as well into a truncheon. "Well... reckon I have," the unconventionally uniformed officer remarked, hefting the condensed metal and appreciating the weight and heft. "Overkill it is. Yes, Miss Dedjoy, I rather think I have, thank you. I assume Lucky keeps inventory? Or is the vault another independent subsystem?"

"I keep inventory, actually," Ila replied, logging the item as being removed. It wasn't a classified item so the log entry was light at least. "This whole system dates back to before your era so it's all manual. The control systems were updated, but for security reasons, the computer systems were never updated past isometric transistors. This thing still speaks binary."

"Seems odd on such a modern starship. You said you helped install the intel pod... where did it come from?" Always one to ask a direct question, Rita ticked her booty under her arm to shuck the mail gloves she had been using to move the box of blades about, returning them to where she'd found them.

"When section 31 was dismantled, their flagship was also dismantled. This pod came from their ship." Ila began closing up and resealing everything in the armory in preparation to leave. "From what I can tell, it had some amazing capabilities that shouldn't have existed and damaged the fabric of the universe when they used it."

"What's Section 31?" Paris asked. It was on her million and one long list of things to look up, but there were only so many hours in the day. But hearing it again, she frowned. "I thought it was Section 13?"

Dedjoy looked up at Rita to explain. "Section 31 was a nonexistent part of the Federation that did whatever it took from the shadows to protect it from dangers that could destroy it so normal people could sleep by doing very evil things. In a way, we're doing the same thing, but in a more moral way. We let the rest of the fleet try first, then go in and do what needs to be done. Or if we find an old Section 31 cache, we just go in, do a data dump, and destroy it."

"Succinct! Thank you, Yeoman," the frequently clueless commander offered with genuine gratitude. "Well, maybe I'll ask Thex to come take a peek at that extreme sport rig and see what she thinks. This section is what- clearance, captain's permission, all of the above?"

"There are nine crew members that have authorization to unlock this room and it takes two to unseal it." Ila replied. "As for the rig..." Pulling a PaDD out of her pocket, she pulled up the data on the armory console and copied it to the small pocket PaDD before handing it off to Rita. "That should do it. Don't let that fall into the hands of... Our enemies? Honestly, I'm not sure what about that is classified other than the poly-duranium reinforcements being illegal for the games."

"Smartly done, Miss Dedjoy, as always. Which reminds me- Computer? Please replicate Miss Dedjoy's gift in the replicator in the intel pod lounge." Turning to Dedjoy Paris smiled lazily. "It is tradition for the couple to give gifts of appreciation to their guests at an Earth wedding, so I brought you a gift, because I forgot at the time. There's also a card, because I forgot that too."

"Oh, your gift is called a candle. You light the wick on fire and it slowly melts the wax airborne, but it scents the air while providing light. My people find them soothing, so I thought you might try it for yourself. The computer said it should burn for about a hundred hours, which is impressive in my experience. I hope you like it." Paris wasn't sure if Dedjoy had a sense of smell or not, but she might like the flame? No way of knowing, but Rita proceeded with the best of intentions and a positive attitude.

Ila, for the first time since her sister had passed, smiled properly. "A gift? Thank you. I've not... My sister..." looking down for a moment, she tried to compose herself but failed, tears forming in her large doll eyes. "Thank you, Commander. My twin sister was the last one to give me a present before she passed. I will treasure it."

The earth woman was taken aback by her alien shipmate's response, and in that moment Rita Paris realized just how lonely Ila Dedjoy was. While her instinct was to wrap the woman in a hug, they didn't know one another that well, and Rita was already overly prone to such emotional displays, which were unprofessional and unbecoming a Starfleet officer.

A hand on the shoulder was still human contact, and that the first officer could manage without being too intimate with the yeoman. "I know we can never replace your sister, Ila. But you have a lot of family right here. Sonak and I owe you everything- if you had not figured out how to send my communicator back, he would never have found me. Ensign Larry Wells saved me from being a ghost. Crewman Ila Dedjoy saved me from being a ghost and returned my Sonak. You did that, and you will always hold a place in our hearts for that."

Ila couldn't take it anymore and the fragile woman suddenly gave Rita a hug. It wasn't a strong hug as she wasn't a strong woman, but the Illaran gave it the best she could, the tears flowing freely now, easily soaking the shoulder of Rita's uniform after a few moments. Larger eyes meant larger tear ducts and she proved that she could cry like an anime character. "Thank you..."

Wrapping her arms around the slender woman's frame, Rita reached up and began to stroke Dedjoy's dark hair, letting her get it out. Teach you to fight your instincts over decorum, Miss First Officer shouldnt-give-her-a-hug-because-it's-improper. "Shhhh. it's all right. Just let it out. I know... I know..."

Maneuvering them into the lounge, Paris sat the grieving young woman down and held her, letting her cry it out until the emotional storm passed, making soothing sounds and stroking Dedjoy's ebony hair and slender arms, a reassuring touch of tenderness that was so often needed at times like this. When did I become everyone's big sister?

Dedjoy sobbed uncontrollably for some time before calming down enough to talk. "I'm sorry... I've been holding that in for so long... It's like half of me has been missing for so long..."

"I know a little bit about how that feels," the long-lost lieutenant commiserated. "Like there's an arm missing, and you keep going to reach for things with it, and you're reminded every time that it's not there. Then you start getting mad at yourself for forgetting they aren't there, because you have to accept that they're gone. But there's still a part of you that's missing. No one can see the wound, but you still feel it all the time."

The comely commander expected more waterworks at that, and she was not proven wrong.