Jurot, Meet Hera

Posted on Wed Oct 24th, 2018 @ 2:58pm by Commander Rita Paris & Captain Enalia Telvan & Petty Officer 2nd Class Ila Dedjoy & Hera
Edited on on Fri Sep 6th, 2019 @ 4:42pm

Mission: Hera v Hera
Location: meroset 347, Hera's Temple
Timeline: 2395

They had been waiting for a few minutes in the S31 Transport Lab with two security guards at the ready, Avandar Jurot in the transport booth, and Yeoman Ila Dedjoy standing at the ready to seal it up and pop the counselor down to Hera's temple as soon as she was given the order.

The stark white room was a contrast from the rest of the ship to be sure, but the fact that the design was so different from a normal transporter, using a sealed booth rather than a pad, should have been enough to tip off even the least technically inclined that this wasn't a normal transporter.

Suddenly the lights tinted red and the call came across the comms to start the mission.

Nodding to the counselor, Ila offered her one last bit of advice. "Good luck. Side effects may include nausea, vomiting, disorientation, ear popping... Oh and hold your breath or your lungs might collapse. Ready to go meet Hera?"

"Yes. Wish me luck!" She took a deep breath, and held it.

Avender had been meditating a lot the past 18 hours, erecting thought shields and... searching. The conversation she had with Lt. Commander Paris rattled her. What WAS wrong with her? It was almost like... there was something else. Searching her consciousness, she'd discovered several anomalies and "caps." If she survived, she would have to discuss her findings with Starfleet medical- she would need a Betazoid, Vulcan, or...

"Good luck," Ila replied. Sealing the chamber, she reached over and hit the activation button, filling the chamber with the glowing particles, sending the woman instantly down to the temple.

The room disappeared, and slowly Avender saw the...ohhhh... she felt her legs give way. She was on her hands and knees. The world spun and she vomited. The crewman was absolutely right. When her head stopped spinning, she finally looked around her.

Ila had been spot on and Avandar was now in the main audience chamber of Hera's temple. In fact, Hera was sitting not ten meters away, watching her with wide eyes. The marble lined walls and columns were a testament to her vanity, as were the scattered marble and stone statues. The fact that some were in various poses of terror indicated that they were not at one time made of stone, however... To either side of Hera were her generals - a Minotaur, several Amazons, a Harpy, and a pair of Greek robed statues.

Avender turned toward the Goddess, remaining on her knees and bowed her head. "Hail Hera, Queen of the gods! Goddess of Marriage and Family, Queen of Heaven, and Patron of Argos! please pardon my frail mortal weakness. I humbly come before your magnificence as an emissary of the United Federation of Planets, and bring you greetings. I am Avender Jurot of Betazoid, and I seek an audience with your magnificence."

Avender kept her mind as empty of thoughts as possible, while attempting to sense the emotions of Hera and her retinue.

Hera stood and took a slow step towards the woman before her. When she spoke, the very air vibrated with intensity and flecks of marble fell from the surrounding temple structures. "Do not trifle with me, servant of the Titans! I can see full well whom you serve as clearly as the very temple around us!"

Holding out one hand, Hera made a gripping motion, pulling Jurot closer to her feet. "Tell me your true reason for being here! Tell me why the scent of Gaia lingers on you, so!"

Avender tried and failed to control her fear. "I am a representative of the United Federation of Planets," she said as evenly as she could, trying to sound like she was in control of herself. "I serve Starfleet, Great one! I know of no Titans. I speak the truth, your Magnificence!"

The Betazoid felt Hera inside her head, and decided to counter the Goddess by attempting to connect...

And that's when it went even further south. With that connection, Hera knew all she needed to within a few seconds, the Goddess's mind racing through the mortal's like acidic fire through a dry field of gunpowder.

With a burst of light from Hera's eyes, the power of the Titans was stripped from the counselor. Hera's voice was more calm and soft now that she knew the truth behind the woman before her. "So you were a pawn in all of this. Be at ease, child. You have brought me something to think on so you will be a guest here for a time."

Avender screamed from the pain before mercifully blacking out.

Some time later...

The room that Avandar had been placed in was small, but somewhat comfortable, considering the standards of living for the planet as a whole. The bed had a cover and there was a thin blanket and something that passed as a pillow. There was even a small table and chair. The door was a solid wood number with bars in the window though, and the walls were cold, grey stone, so it wasn't entirely inviting.

Add to that the sounds of fighting in the distance, the occasional roaring of a large beast, and the cold air and it definitely seemed like the VIP quarters in a dungeon.

The Betazoid felt a strange emptiness, as well as a dull ache in her head. How in the Galaxy did she end up here? The last thing she knew, she was aboard the Nobel, recovering from... what happened? No wait- she was...

Why couldn't she remember?

Avender tried reaching out with her mind, and found that she couldn't. All she felt was misery, all around her, threatening to overwhelm her. She tried to let her training take over, and stood up, just to collapse back to the stone floor. She noticed the front of her uniform had some dried vomit on it.

Come on Avender, you can do this! You're in Starfleet, girl! Get it together! she thought. She tried to stand again, reaching out telepathically, and felt a stabbing pain inside her mind, as if something had been torn out. She sank back to the floor. Training be damned, she started to cry.

After some time, someone came by and slid a tray under her door with some bread, a waterskin, and some sort of porridge. "Eat up. You'll need your strength," said an old woman on the other side of the door. "Word is that the Starfolk have finally come. You know what that means."

Starfolk? Starfleet? Doesn't this woman know I'm Starfleet? "Who are the 'Starfolk"?" Avender asked through the door. The Betazoid also tried to read the emotions of the person addressing her.

"They're the ones that the Prophet Meowlith says will come from the one true Hera and cast down the false god on the mountain," the old woman muttered, pressing herself up against the door, trying to peek in through the barred window. "You don't know this? Only one of the..." As the woman saw the strange clothes on the strange woman, she gasped. "My lady..."

Avender was confused. She had no telepathy, and all she read from the woman was confusion as well.

"Yes? You were saying? Does my appearance frighten you?" the Betazoid asked.

"Please forgive me. You dress as the Prophet does. I did not know you were one of the Starfolk. If you like, I'll bring you better food immediately." The old woman shuffled a bit, making ready to leave.

"Please, don't leave!" Avender said, just a bit too anxiously. "Yes, I'm A member of Starfleet, but I don't know where I am, or how I got here. Can you help me?"

Then, the lost Betazoid realized Wait- her Prophet is in a Starfleet uniform? How... who would violate the Prime Directive like that? What kind of place is this?

"I don't have the keys... Only the minotaur captain has them. But I can stay and talk with you. I'm sorry, but I don't know how you got here. You're one of the few prisoners that actually survives the she-beast's wrath." The old woman shuffled closer to the door and leaned in so she could speak softly and still be heard. "Will you help us regain our lost technologies? The false Hera took away our star chariots over a generation ago and no one has heard from the outer colonies since then. I have family on Meroset Gamma."

Ok, Avender, pull yourself together. "What's your name?" she said. "Mine is Avender."

"My name is Mira, great one," the woman replied. "I was named after my great grandmother. She was on the solar research teams so long ago. She thinks we've forgotten our past, our heritage, but we haven't. She may have taken our technology, but we've passed our science and knowledge down to our children. You can't destroy what you learn."

"Who is this 'false God' you speak of? Is she the one who rules this planet?" the Betazoid asked.

"Mmhmm, Hera. She took over and kicked us back to the bronze age." The old woman chuckled softly as she leaned on the door. "You're definitely not from Meroset. You'd know all this if you were. Definitely Starfolk..."

That was when a rather loud and annoyed bull noise could be heard not far off. "Go on! Get lost! Go feed the other prisoners, hag!" Came the guttural speech of something beastly as the woman rushed off in fear. Stomping his way to the door, the Minotaur Captain pressed his head to the barred window to check on Jurot. "Hmph... Planning to escape? If you try, you'll be my dinner, little calf! You might be tasty on a spit!" With that, he stomped off laughing.

Time passed. While Mira didn't return, there was an earthquake, which was a bit terrifying to experience in a small cell. Then there was silence for a bit, before the distant sounds of an argument were heard, followed by a bellowing roar that quickly faded. That was when a tall human woman with short blonde hair stepped into view. Upon her face she wore a cracked visor, while her form was clad in battered and dented armor that was still somewhat metallic yellow on the hardplates that were still intact.

"Hello, Counselor. You ready to get outta here?" the officer with an antique Starfleet starburst on her chest asked as she drew her antique phaser, which looked like a pistol rather than a hand vacuum. "Might want to stand clear for safety's sake."

Avender moved quickly away from the door, relieved and confused at the same time. Questions raced through her mind. This person knows me? What is happening? Why does this person have an antique phaser and chevron? Despite that, her Starfleet training took hold. "Clear!" she said loudly.

The simple lock mechanism melted easily under the phaser's onslaught, and the stranger holstered her phaser and managed to wrench the cell door open. Peering inside, the woman's face wore a surprised smile. "Are you okay? She didn't hurt you or give you a tail or something, did she?"

Avender smiled back. "I'm well, if a bit confused. I'm Ensign Avender Jurot, Assistant Counselor, Hospital ship USS Nobel. I have no idea where I am, or how I got here."

Those blonde brows both rose in surprise, and the young woman took an appraising look at the counselor. Extending her hand a bit warily, a half-smile, half frown formed.

"I'm Lieutenant Commander Rita Paris, of the starship USS Hera. You're on Meroset 347, sobriquet Hera's Planet. You insisted on beaming down to parley with Hera, an ancient galactic power, despite what she'd done to our diplomatic delegates. However that went, she apparently locked you down here." Paris scanned the area, making sure there wasn't an evil duplicate or something in a nearby cell.

Avender sensed that the armored blonde was telling the truth. She smiled and took the offered hand. "I insisted? So we've met? The last thing I remember was being in Sickbay 3 aboard the Nobel, recovering from Azyek VI. A doctor I'd never seen before came over to my bed, and then I woke up in this cell with a blinding headache." She suddenly seemed so tired. "Where do we go now, Commander?" I hope I can figure out what happened if we get out of here alive.

Those piercing blue eyes studied the counselor for a long moment, as the Starfleet officer was clearly weighing over the situation and the veracity of the story she’d been presented. Lt. Commander Paris picked up her left arm with a wince of pain, then the armored officer began tapping at a rather large wrist comm unit. “From here you go to Sickbay onboard the Hera to get checked out, and stay under observation until we can determine just what’s been done to you, Ensign Jurot.”

As she finished tapping out whatever orders she was filing, the tall blonde offered a conciliatory expression. “I imagine this is disorienting, probably frightening and thoroughly unwelcome, Miss Jurot. I’ll be frank- I have no idea how this happened to you, but it seems like someone may have hijacked your body for a ride to this planet. Don’t ask me how, why or who, because I don’t know,” the golden-armored officer held up her hands in surrender. “But you’re safe and amongst friends, Counselor. So how about we get you beamed up and get a doctor to look you over, eh?”

While Rita wasn’t managing to be terribly comforting about what she didn’t understand, and her own suspicious nature remained alert to the possibility that this might be a trap, if the situation was as it appeared then apparently the Ensign Jurot she had explained the facts of life to was not the one looking bewildered in a cell in Hera’s dungeons. But she was being honest, as she always did, and Paris figured the empath should be able to tell that without poking into her mind telepathically.

Avender did her best to appear brave in front of a superior officer, yet something about the Commander put her at ease. The Betazoid sensed the Commander's sincerity, and also her pain. "I'm sorry- you're wounded, ma'am. Please, let me help."

"The dangerous part's over, Counselor. The ship's surgeon is topside, and I'll be heading back that way shortly. There's a lot of cleanup left to be done... I think we just toppled a civilization. So..." The big blonde turned to leave, paused, half-turned back then eyed the Betazoid beauty.

"Unless you'd like to come along and help?" Paris motioned toward the dungeon exit. Then she held up her hands "We can beam you out and get you a warm bed and some deep scans. Or... there are people in need up there. And that one person in that cell over there. Hello, we'll get you out shortly."

"I'm a counselor. My job is to help. Let's go do that," Avender said, happy to be useful.

A genuine smile spread across the face of the first officer, and she flipped on a suit light, then turned one behind her to guide the way for the bewildered Betazoid. Setting forth, the lost navigator steered them out of the dungeons of Hera.

"We're Starfleet, we're here to help. That at least hasn't changed, no matter where you end up, eh Counselor?"

"No matter where," Avender replied with a smile.