Siege Perilous

Posted on Tue Oct 23rd, 2018 @ 12:26am by Commander Rita Paris & Lieutenant Asa Dael & Ahreva Malana

Mission: Hera v Hera
Location: Merkoset 347, capitol city
Timeline: 2395, Battle of Hera's Planet

Arriving at the tram station that ran the elevated cables to the mountaintop- apparently a leftover from the higher-technology society that existed before Hera laid waste to it and forced the locals back to an earlier cultural model- the trio of Starfleet liberators studied it from a shadowed alley. There were Amazon guards who appeared to be supplemented by two of the living marble statues.

“I think we can bypass the guards if we get on the rooftops adjacent and make the jump to the cables… they look wide enough to run on,” Lieutenant Commander Paris opined. “I’d prefer to take the car up, but I suspect they would shut that down in a hurry if we tried hijacking it. Of course, running on a great big cable hundreds of feet above the city as it ascends a mountain isn’t exactly the safest plan I’ve ever had either, but desperate times call for desperate measures. If any of you want to back out now, I’ll understand. Not everyone is up for an intensely dangerous climb leading to our arrival to meet someone who has declared war on what boils down to the civilized galaxy.”

Pausing to smirk, Rita paris looked around. “Come to think of it, that’s probably the worst motivational speech I’ve ever given. But we’re here and there’s a job to do, and no one else to do it. So… are you in?” Clearly by dint of her tone and the conversation, Paris was already committed to the plan.

Well this is just about my worst nightmare come true, Asa thought to themself, The universes most awkward person climbs to the top of a freaking high wire and runs up a mountain in a combat zone. I’m going to die. And probably in the stupidest way possible. I will probably try to jump onto the wire and land directly on Hera or something equally asinine.

“Sure, but, um, maybe we should split the rope from earlier into thirds and all tie ourselves onto the rope? Just in case? So we don’t, you know, fall and die?” they squeaked out.

“Mmmmmno,” Paris replied. “We tie ourselves to the line, so that if one of us goes, the other two have a chance to stop it. But our fates, as it were, are linked. Understand?”

"Heh, um, I'm a bit....fall prone....but, um, yes ma'am," the young doctor replied, hoping no one could see the fear in their eyes and the flop sweat forming on their forehead. At least the MACO armor would not make having sweaty palms be an issue, the doctor thought.

With a gulp and a sigh, the doctor began towards the nearest access tower. "Tower ahoy, as it were. Who wants lead?"

Recognizing fear wasn’t hard, as the frail physician was as bad if not worse than the first officer when it came to concealing their feelings. Placing her hand on the white-armored shoulder, Paris sought the eyes of the young El-Aurian. “I’ll take the lead. We’re in this together, Doc- I won’t let you fall, neither will Malana. And if you see one of us going over, worst case scenario you just jump off the other side, and you can save us, just like we’ll save you. Nobody gets left behind. Right?”

A small smile graced the doctor's face, "Right," was all they said.

"Plus we will have to worry about harpies. May I again suggest we risk the trolley car? If not, I will act as the anchor." Malana could at least do that. She'd seen how a number of entertainment holovids involving similar modes of transport ended and they were never in the favor of the invading team, but at least she could minimize the risks as best she could.

"Perhaps we should climb up and see where the closest car is? If it is close, we can approach on foot over the rail, and scan for life signs as soon as we see it. With any luck, we can get a read on them before they will get a read on us. If there are hostiles, we can better decide the next steps. Also, a little bit of creative use of mud and grass and we can somewhat camouflage ourselves from aerial attackers. The more we look like the ground, the better. They are expecting us as we are...it may not occur to them to look for a lump of grass," Dael suggested after a moment.

"Not thinking the lump of grass plan has any real roots here, but I do like the idea of catching the cable to hijack a trolley car in motion. Then they might not catch on, and worst case scenario we end up having to run the cable. All right, let's relocate to that rooftop over there- it looks far enough away from the station to avoid detection and close enough that we're only risking pain by falling off." Paris pointed to the rooftop in question, which would be close enough to enable them to access the cable with a minimum of athletics.

Scanning the building with one of her tricorders, Malana shook her head. "The roof of that building is not strong enough to support me. It is also doubtful that I could make the distance needed to the cable." Scanning the surrounding buildings, she pointed at the building the wires were coming from. The one clearly guarded. "We would need that building."

“No help for it them,” the golden armored astronaut sighed. “So, it looks like four Amazon guards and two of those statues who can petrify with a look. Ordinarily I’d pitch a grenade, but we can’t risk damaging the tram or the cables. A flash-bang should do the trick to disorient the Amazons so that we can deal with them, but that likely won’t work on the living stone. So… ideas?”

"I'll handle the statues," Malana replied, not even bothering to explain herself.

Cocking her head slightly, Paris shrugged slightly. “As you say, Miss Malana. Doc, you’re my backup. I’ll handle the rough stuff, you make sure my back doesn’t sprout a shortsword. Let’s make our way to that low wall over there- it gives us the best tactical position and the shortest amount of ground to cover to take advantage of their stunned senses.” With that said, the buxom blonde pulled back to make her way to their chosen position. Asa followed, waiting for the ensuing chaos to begin.

Once in position, Paris offered a nod as she switched the grenade launcher to flash-bang, then fired, hitting one of the Amazons in the chest with the grenade as she turned away to not be blinded in the flash.

At a sign from Paris, Asa averted their eyes and braced for the concussive sound that followed shortly behind. The Amazons staggered woozily, attempting to recover their equilibrium with varied levels of success. The doctor jumped to a second story balcony on the building and shimmied up the exterior of the building to reach the top quickly. Upon reaching the summit, they swung one leg over the rooftop and rolled onto the slightly angled surface.

The nearest Amazon did not appear to have spotted the good doctor and was still trying to stand fully upright. Seeing no other immediate threat, Asa belly-crawled over to the Amazon, grabbed her by her ankles, and threw her off the roof. As she hit the ground, the doctor fired their phaser on maximum-stun to ensure the warrior did not get back up. Satisfied with their aim, the doctor went to stand up, only to meet the business end of a spear directly in their gut. The white MACO armor was slightly cracked, and the blow felt like stack of bricks falling on the frail form of the doctor. They fell backward, landing soundly on their hind end, and felt all the air leave their lungs. Seeing an oncoming onslaught from the enraged attacked, Asa curled reflexively into a ball and braced for oncoming blows that would surely follow.

In the meanwhile, Paris had not been idle. Stepping out from the alley, firing standard rounds from the combat rifle one-handed, she put one out of three rounds through a swordswoman’s right shoulder, discouraging her from swordplay. The Starfleet legacy officer’s phaser in her right hand was more accurate, stunning out two more of the dazzled Amazons before they could regain their composure and activate their defenses. The fourth, whose vision was spotty but clearing, activated her shield and charged the intruder amongst them.

As for Malana, she was all on the two marble people. As soon as she came into view, their gazes were fixed on her and hers on them. It was a deadlocked competition on which of them had a more stone-like glare at this point as the two statues slowly moved towards her.

She had an advantage though. She could move far faster. Rather than running towards them though, she sauntered up to the first one, taking the full force of its stone gaze as she did so. With a flash of light from its eyes, a beam shot out and struck Malana, turning the granite woman into... Stone?

Dusting the stone dust off of herself, she casually closed the gap between them and simply pushed the wide eyed marble man over, shattering him to pieces. She then repeated the process with the other one as he was half turned, trying to... Run in terror?

"The Marble men are dealt with!" she called out, reporting to her comrades as a random Amazon decided to strike at her with a sword. Much to the Amazon's surprise, striking a solid block of granite with your entire strength is not the smartest thing to do, and she dropped her sword in a cry of pain. Malana delivered a love tap to the side of her head and the woman was out like a light.

Meanwhile, Asa remained doing their best impersonation of a turtle, hiding their head beneath arms, showing armored back to the enraged Amazon who was trying to stab them over and over again. Once it became clear that although the blows were painful, they were not likely to be deadly, the doctor risked moving their arms a bit and gripped at the large tiles. After pulling off a tile, the doctor pulled out another, and another, and another, creating a small hole around where they were hiding.

As soon as the Amazon attacking them went to rear back for a fresh round of blows, Asa quickly squirmed into the attic of the structure, moved over to be approximately under where the Amazon stood, and fired their phaser at maximum strength through the roof, directly into the Amazon warrior, catching them unawares from below and blasting them off the roof and into the air.

Meanwhile, Rita Paris and the remaining Amazon guard had been exchanging blows. While her energy shield bracer was still active, the warrior woman’s shortsword was laying in the dusty street alongside Paris’ phaser, while her rifle lay a few meters distant, where it had been knocked during the fray. As the Hera servitor grappled her from behind, Paris drove an elbow into the woman’s gut, then judo flipped her onto the hard cobblestones. As she made for her phaser, the Amazon tripped her, dropping Paris to the ground where the Amazon crawled over to grapple her, wrapping her hands around the Starfleet siren’s throat.

A snarl set upon the lips of the gold-clad commander in the scratched and scraped up armor, and she drove her fist across the Amazon’s jaw, startling her into releasing her grip. Another blow followed, and another as Rita Paris declared, “I… have had… enough… of… you!”

As the Amazon dropped unconscious to the dirt, Paris rolled over to stagger to her feet, a trickle of blood leaking from the corner of her mouth that she wiped away with the back of her hand. Collecting her phaser and rifle, Paris turned to the wounded Amazon she’d shot in the shoulder. Pointing her phaser at the injured woman, she gestured to the tram car. “Get in if you want to see tomorrow. Doc, Malana, load up. Let us beat a hasty retreat.”

In reality, Paris meant that Doc would patch her up and stop her bleeding, but it sounded a lot tougher as a threat with a weapon in each hand. Some diplomat you are. What was it they used to call it? Cowboy diplomacy...

That was when it clicked for Rita Paris, and she understood where she'd been going wrong.

That part of Sonak that she carried within her, that bit of his legendary katra spoke within her, rattling off the Fedepedia description.

Cowboy diplomacy: a term used by critics to describe the resolution of conflicts through brash risk-taking, intimidation, military deployment, or a combination of such tactics. It is criticized as stemming from an overly simple, dichotomous galactic view.

But when the other side wouldn't listen, sometimes it took cowboy diplomacy to make them listen.

Starfleet hadn't changed that much at all, she realized.

"There's a few universal translators on me, lady. I know you understand me. Get in the tram or I'm gonna poke you in the shoulder." When the Amazon defiantly refused to budge, Paris slipped the rifle onto her back, where magnets caught and placed it. Reaching out with her left hand, Paris grabbed the woman by the injured arm and pulled her to her feet. While unwilling, the woman came along, dragged into the tram car. "Vamanos!"

"Somebody needs to work the tram car, and you're elected. So we can do this the easy way or the hard way." Paris gave the injured woman a slight shove toward the control panel, waiting for Doc to start in with the 'good cop' routine. Come on, sufferin' Sappho, don't call my bluff here...

With an angry glance, the Amazon turned to the control panel and operated the simple control, starting the tram up the mountain moving with a lurch. Then she turned, glaring defiantly while holding her injured shoulder and gesturing to indicate that she’d done as was coerced of her.

Tapping out a message on the comm that would stream across the visor of LTJG Dael, Paris conveyed her intention. See if you can get her talking while you patch her up, Doc. Let’s see what the Amazon mindset is here. We’ve got a slow trip here and we could use all the edge we can get.

Asa stifled a sound of surprise as the message from Paris came across the screen.

I forgot these things can do that. Good grief that startled me.

The doctor felt like their limbs were made of lead as they moved about the tram. They took quite a beating on the rooftop, and although not seriously harmed, they were sure to be developing a collection of bruises and felt like they had been run over by a horse. However, duty must come first, and there was work to be done. Surreptitiously the doctor reached into their bag and pulled out two hypos, each with a dose of the battlefront meds they had previously administered to Rita. Before approaching the captured Amazon, the doctor took their gloves off and administered a dose to themselves first, feeling the vigor come back into their limbs as the pain faded.

There is going to be a hell of a price to pay for this later.

Once tending to their own needs was complete, the doctor approached the wounded Amazon warily. They removed their helmet, allowing the warrior to see their face and eyes more clearly. The doctor strongly believed that a face showing compassion could calm a battered soul more effectively than many tranquilizers…after all, how could one feel trust if one couldn’t even really see who was approaching them?

Once they reached the wary wounded woman, the doctor sat to be eye level with their patient, and in an even, calm, melodious timbre said, “Hi there, I’m a doctor. I’m going to look at your wound now and see if we can’t get that feeling better, okay?”

After receiving no response, but no confrontation either, the doctor took that as assent and began to remove the woman's hand from her shoulder. When the patient refused to comply, Asa said, “I need to see your wound in order to best treat it. I promise I’m not going to hurt you…I’m a doctor, I really, really, really hate seeing people suffer, no matter who they serve. My name is Asa, and I want to help you. What’s your name?”

The woman replied curtly, “Leda.”

“Hi, Leda, nice to meet you,” the doctor soothed. The tension in their patients arm lessened, and they were able to pull it away, revealing a nasty bullet wound in the woman's shoulder. The entry wound wasn't bad, but the exit wound was horrific. “This is going to be infected and hurt like hell if we don’t treat it. I promise this is not going to hurt more than you already are, but I need to treat this now. OK?”

After Leda nodded, Asa pulled out a tissue knitter and began the process of closing the wound. The woman grimaced slightly at the unfamiliar sound and peculiar sensation, but did not utter a sound throughout the process. The flesh healed, the doctor took out a small patch from their kit and placed it over the now-healed wound. “This is going to stop any pain from this wound for the next 3 days. After that point, it will be good as new. How do you feel?”

Leda looked startled as the residual pain vanished. The patch did not have the same rejuvenating effects a the stim shots Dael and Paris had received. After all, the doctor reasoned, no point juicing up the enemy. She didn’t need that much energy to operate a tram. It occurred to the doctor it was unlikely Hera cared enough to treat her wounded warriors. She was much more likely to simply discard them until they healed naturally. The kindness shown to the warrior was likely to be some of the first she has received in a long time.

I only hope its enough to make a difference Asa thought.

Still seated next to Leda, Asa made brief eye contact with Paris to indicate treatment was complete, and proceeded to don their gloves again, but kept the helmet in their lap in order to maintain complete eye contact with the captive.

“We need your help, Leda. We are going to Hera's temple. It’s very important we….speak…with her. You must love Hera deeply?” the doctor inquired.

"I'm only helping you because I've seen your power, sisters. You are strong women, but Hera will take care of you." Leaning against the wall of the trolley, the proud Amazon woman looked on at all three of them without a hint of shame.

Why does every lifeform insist on giving me a gender? Good grief that’s irritating. Sister indeed. Asa grouched in their head. They knew it was to be expected, but the misunderstanding chafed as it always did.

Maintaining a placid smile, Asa continued on, “Power has many forms, Leda. The power of destruction is strong, yes. But the power of creation is much stronger. The power to create hope where there was none, the power to create happiness with a simple word or gesture, the power to bring hope and freedom to those who have none. Do you see this power here? Please, Leda, I want to understand. Can you teach me why choose to serve someone who does not love you? Someone who destroys instead of creates? Someone who screams in weakness after a mere day in our presence? Surely no God would be easily oppressed? Yet her power wanes….you feel it, yes?”

Leda smirked in reply. "You do not see the miracles she has wrought. She has liberated the women of this world and she will create a utopia for women across the galaxy. No longer will you have to bend to the will of male oppression. Her strength grows with each passing day and this day is no different."

At that, Paris barked a laugh that continued, a rather mirthless affair. “Right. That’s why when we sent female diplomats she slaughtered them all, and destroyed everyone who came to seek peace. She lied to you and your sisters, and you all lapped it up because it was what you wanted to hear. Hera doesn’t care about you or sisterhood or women, she’s just pissed off because she has lousy taste in men.” The words coming out of Rita’s mouth surprised her, but she’d just been through a war zone because of Hera’s unreasonable nature and millennial grudge, and hearing the litany of stooge irritated her more than she thought it would.

Leda looked surprised and was a bit stunned by the laughter and what Rita said. By this time the trolley had reached the top of the cable and it had stopped on its own though, so she had nothing else to really say.

Malana stared at the woman for a few moments before stepping off of the trolley. Interestingly, it wasn't guarded at the top and the steps into the temple were clear of any visible obstacles. "I suggest we face Hera. Perhaps she will be more inclined to negotiation at this point."

Tapping away at her comm, Paris sent a message to Sonak, sh’Zoarhi and Yaeger as well as Clemens and French. Have reached main temple, converge as you are able, bring the Thor. No resistance encountered thus far. Pressing on to temple now. ~LTCDR Paris

“Here’s hoping that isn’t my last report,” Paris muttered to herself. Turning to Leda, Paris ordered, “Take the tram back to the city and tend to your wounded sisters. Most of them will live- that’s mercy. Hera shows none, so you’d better hope we win today.”

Stepping off the tram, Paris unlimbered the bulky assault weapon, switched it back over to ammunition of myth and confirmed the grenade launcher settings. Taking a deep breath, she exhaled it slowly.

“All right, people. Let’s go take an audience with a goddess.”