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Gotterdammerung

Posted on Fri Feb 8th, 2019 @ 7:29pm by Lieutenant Commander Mnhei'sahe Dox & Commander Rita Paris & Death & Hera & Baroness 2nd Class Schwein von Alcott

Mission: Earthly Visitation
Location: USS Hera, Deck 23, Secrety Shuttlebay
Timeline: 2396
Tags: Accountability 4/4

Standing in the corridor outside the hidden shuttle bay on Deck 23, the mind of Rita Paris raced as her fingers tapped over the surface of the tablet in hand, tending to the last-minute details. She’d done more with less in her day, but she’d never squared off against an actual physical manifestation of Death before. But after her near-death experience on the Worldship, the Baroness von Alcott had become bonded to the entity, who was now seemingly overwriting her and increasing the likelihood for mortality on the USS Hera. When she had snuffed out three prisoners in the brig, she had crossed a line.

Now it fell to Rita Paris and Mnhei’sahe Dox to stop her… with a little help from their friends.

“Miss Dox, we don’t have much time, so I’ll make this brief. I owe you an apology for my words and actions- I was unaware that you’d been influenced by Death, and I blamed you. I now see that was unfair, and I apologize for my actions.” Leave it to Rita Paris that when preparing to face Death, she was making sure she took care of the living.

“With that said, you don’t have to be here. I’m the ranking officer, and this is my responsibility. I’m the idiot who wants to try to save Death, and as you have a bright career ahead of you, I’d prefer that you not get killed today. So you don’t have to be in the line of fire,” Paris explained.

"With all due respect, Commander, that's not an option. There are too many variables in play here for you to face by yourself. For starters, you can't see or hear Death without instrumentation, I can. She basically has to introduce herself to you and I invited that hoping to help Schwein. It's probably what let her in." Dox replied matter-of-factly.

"And Hera said Death doesn't lie. That means she did save my life out there, when I was in space ten seconds longer then should have killed any other Romulan. She told me I'd live well over two hundred years. If she doesn't want to kill me, that's leverage we can us to help Schwein AND her. I believe this is not who she is inherently. I believe this merging is making her this way somehow. Maybe something leftover from that ceremony, I don't know."

Then Dox's posture changed as she stood at attention. "You're my Commanding Officer and... my... you will never face Death alone as long as I can stand here with you. You're never alone, though. Because we're Starfleet, right?"

The smile that spread across the face of Rita Paris was restrained, but clearly an expression of pride in the junior officer who had come so far so fast. “We are friends, Miss Dox. And yes, we’re never alone, because we’re Starfleet.”

There was a slight reverberation in the deckplates that signaled to both pilots that a ship had settled gently to the deck. Picking up the PaDD in her hand, Paris started the music pumping through the local speakers, as violins and french horns began a slow, dramatic build up.

“Death of Siegfried from Wagner. Gotterdammerung… it means ‘Twilight of the Gods’. Seemed fitting, and I’d bet my bra strap the Baroness knows this all too well,” Rita explained as she played her first move in this game of Death. Standing with the Padd at her back, hands clasped behind her, Rita focused on the fact that if she did this right, no one died today. Starfleet means everybody comes home.

As the Romulan shuttle ship decloaked and the side door opened, the music went on at its measured pace. The silver haired pirate stepped out of her ship looking like she was exhausted, followed by the entity known as Death.

Schwein looked up at the ceiling of the secret docking bay and muttered something before calling out. "Gotterdammerung. Four hours long and wonderful for relaxing... Computer, change music playback to Der Freischütz Number 9 Terzett." With a chirrup, the bay was filled with the much more lively operatic German tale of the Huntsman in the Wolf's Glen. "Much more appropriate, wouldn't you agree?"

“I’m surprised you recall,” Paris countered. “Baroness von Alcott, we fear that death no longer becomes you, and we’ve come to ask her to voluntarily separate from you. We would like our Baroness back, not an avatar of Death. We mean neither of you harm, but we’ve come to a crossroads,” Paris opened, stating the facts to see how it went, although all she could see was Schwein.

The silver haired pirate stood there with her head cocked to one side as if listening to a voice that Rita couldn't hear. In fact, that's exactly what she was doing. Death was pacing around her, speaking to her. "She's trying to separate us. I can see it. She has a plan and has this whole place on lockdown already. Remember the good we just did as one being... As one entity... We can continue doing that. Just hop in your ship and go."

While Death felt threatened, Schwein felt conflict and it showed on her face. On one hand, she didn't want to abandon Enalia or her friends and on the other, she didn't want to let go of what she had just gained with Death.

Watching and listening, Dox interjected. "We need to separate you. The both of you are being changed by your time together. And not for the better."

The resolute Romulan stepped slightly forward, talking directly to Death now. "This isn't the woman who sat at my bedside while I recovered and refused to take me." Then she turned to Schwein. "And you're not acting like the woman who tried to get me drunk and laugh so I'd stopped obsessing over my problems."

"This merging wasn't supposed to happen. And it has to stop before you both become something neither of you want. We just want our friends back... Both of them." Then Dox turned to Death, still pacing around Schwein.

"Also, friends introduce each other. Otherwise, it's rude." Dox kept her eyes on Death while gesturing to Rita. "Commander Rita Paris, this is Azrael Abbadon Thanatos, Angel of Light and Dark, Rider of the Pale Horse, Ferry Master of the River Styx. Azrael, my friend would like to talk to both of you."

The pale woman stopped pacing, her eyes widening in shock as a dark shadow seemed to momentarily pass over the bay as Dox spoke her names. She then turned to the Angel in Gold to see if she recognized, or even could see her.

For Schwein's part, something else seemed to come over her and she reached up to her forehead and cybernetic eye as if she were in pain. She felt as if for the first time in weeks her head was starting to clear up a bit.

Though she still couldn’t see anyone else, Rita Paris had no doubt Death moved amongst them, and proceeded from that supposition. Wasn’t the first time she was flying blind in the dark with no instruments.

“Please… Baroness. We wouldn’t be here if we weren’t your friends. We mean neither you nor Death any harm. It’s just that we feel she isn’t a good influence on you. You are valued and beloved here on the Hera, and your presence enriches us all. You are, far and away, my favorite pirate,” Rita offered, fishing for some words that might sway the heart of the pirate. “And I stand by my word- I didn’t hurt Hera and I don’t want to hurt Death either. But we are losing our Baroness to her. What happened to your accent, Baroness von Alcott?”

"My accent... She took it from me... Said I didn't need it..." Hissing in pain, Schwein pressed one hand to her gut and one hand to her cybernetic eye as she sank to her knees. There was a war being waged inside of the augmented woman and it looked like it was one that she was losing.

Death wasn't going to take this interference lying down though. It appeared that even though she had been declared to this Rita Paris, she still couldn't see her. "You're an interesting one. Any mortal, any being... I can read their lives. But not yours..." Floating a little closer to the object of her curiosity, she looked all over, trying to find any hint of why this was. "Who... What... are you...?"

Realizing what was happening and that Rita still couldn't see Death as she loomed closer, Dox stepped in front of her Commander, talking over her shoulder. "She's saying that she can't read your life, Commander. She doesn't know who or what you are."

Then Dox turned her focus to Death herself. "Just let Commander Paris talk, Azrael. Please. I can tell her what you say. But I'm afraid for you. I don't think you can see what you're becoming."

Then a realization exploded in the reasoning Romulan's mind as she thought back to her own father. "Most addicts can't. That's what's happening, isn't it?"

"Tell her I'm the woman who never was," Paris shot back with a surprising amount of bitterness, as she was reasonably certain she knew why Death couldn't read her. After all, she came from a quantum frequency universe that no longer existed. She was literally a woman who paradoxically could not exist, yet did. "As for your theory, nailed it in one, Miss Dox."

Moving past the Romulan renegade and the Angel of Death, heedless of the danger and uncaring of Death’s curiosity, Paris approached the stricken Baroness. “WE need you Baroness. We need your calm, your humor, your loyalty, your dependability… all the things that make you Baroness Schwein von Alcott.”

It was the first time Rita Paris had ever called the supersoldier by her given name, as she abhorred it and found it horrifically disrespectful to the woman. It was, after all, the German word for 'pig'. But desperate times called for desperate measures.

"Look,” the compassionate commander held the PaDD up in front of the Baroness as security footage replayed an image of the burned and feeble Captain Telvan, lying in a biobed.

“How about you get with Maica and recall our lost little piggy before she does something we'll all regret?”

“If there is a way to save the Baroness, ma’am, I’ll find it. We don’t let our own go gentle into that good night… not in Starfleet.”

"Thank you... I'd at least like to see my piggy again."


Hearing Enalia's voice like that and looking up at the PaDD in shock, Schwein's eyes went wide and a few hot tears rolled down her cheeks. "Prinzessin?..."

Death's eyes went wide as well as she looked back at the silver haired woman and she realized just how close she was to losing. With a bone chilling wail, she flew at Rita Paris. The intensity of Deaths movements were so quick, Dox was thrown to the deck. "Hnave!" She cursed in Romulan.

But the howling specter of Death was stopped at the last instant, by a wall of golden light.

The namesake of the starship USS Hera was suddenly there, interposed between the mortals and a blackened mass of shadow that all could see, and would even show up on the visual spectrum security footage.

“There’s our Hera,” Paris smiled as she saw that former tyrant of Meroset 347 selflessly shielding them from the angry specter of Death. Getting her arm under the Baroness, Paris helped haul the combat medic to her feet. “That’s right! The Prinzessin… that kid who saved you when you were just a girl, took you in, became your lifelong companion and loves you dearly. Princess of the Artans, Captain of the line, and your friend who is terribly worried about you. C’mon Baroness…"

"You once told me you would do anything for the Prinzessin. I need you to remember who you are… who you REALLY are!!”

While Hera and Death struggled physically and Paris and Schwein struggled with words, Dox scrambled to her feet and pulled a small PaDD out of her pocket. A PaDD with a pre-programed message for this exact moment. As she pressed send, she looked up with concern at Hera who appeared to be struggling and whispered. "C'mon, Cavalry. Here's your signal."

"Ja... For ze Prinzessin I must remember..." The silver haired Baroness had a fresh light in her organic eye that she hadn't had for a while now as she remembered who she really was and renewed her vigor for life. "Danke, Rita. I was lost in ze forest but you knew where I waz, didn't you?"

"I didn't. So I called your name until you heard me," Rita beamed a warm smile for the Artan attaché.

As the clash between Hera and Death raged on, it cut into the deck plating, gouging deep fractures into the durasteel as streams of energy founted between them. If it continued much longer, it was obvious who would come out on top though - Hera's power was waning, and she was fast approaching her limits while Death's power seemed limitless and relentless.

Standing just outside the streams of energy, Dox screamed at the being she once thought was a friend. "STOP THIS!"

Suddenly a stream of rainbow light came in through the holographic bay door and smashed into the deck right behind Death, leaving behind an incredibly well-muscled blond-haired man wielding a hammer with lightning arcing off of him. Thor, son of Odin had arrived.

Knocked back by the arrival, Dox looked on shock for just a second, then back to the clash of gods. Hera, Rita Paris' friend and the goddess for whom the home she loved, was weakening and seemed about to fall. In an instant, Dox shouted at the newly arrived God. "NOW!"

As she did, the stout young pilot ran at full speed, leaping as far as her thick legs would allow as she tackled Hera's form just as the goddess had begun to go limp, tucking around Hera and rolling the two free of Death's reach, and leaving the dark being open.

The Mighty Thor didn't even hesitate, launching the biggest bolt of lightning to ever lightning into the Pale Rider at full force, flinging them mercilessly into a nearby wall and nearly through it, embedding the entity neatly into it so they wouldn't easily escape for at least a little while. He then casually walked over to the crumpled form and set Mjolnir into her lap. "Be a dear and hold this for me, would you?"

The God of Thunder turned back to the others and assessed the situation. "I received a message that was succinct and to the point so I came as quickly as I could. Was I... In time?"

"You were indeed, Odinson!" Rita Paris declared, her heart thumping in her chest. "That was one hell of a timely rescue!"

Meanwhile, on the other side of the bay, Dox turned over off of her back and gently let Hera go to rest, lying against the bulkhead the pair had rolled into. The young Romulan pilot's uniform was smouldering from a few stinging burns caused by getting too close to the energy tendrils that had nearly lashed her form.

"Hera!" Dox called out, putting her hands on the weakened goddesses face. "Are you okay? Talk to me?"

"Holy me... Let's not need to do that again, please..." Hera replied, too weak to even move from where she was. She was able to turn her head and glance around and make sure her Matronly Domain was cranked up locally as high as she could get it at least. With any luck it was enough to get those two love birds to declare their love to each other if the situation was explained to them. The other two women in the room knew about it so she hoped they'd be okay.

The effect on Schwein as she saw Thor again was immediate. She remembered him being deliciously handsome, but damn... Her pulse and breathing quickened just being near him and he was heading towards her now? it felt as though her heart had skipped a beat.

Kneeling mere inches from the source, Dox actually got so momentarily light headed from the rush of blood caused by the intoxicating effect of Hera's aura. Flumping hard against the bulkhead next to Her as her knees had gone too weak to stand, Mnhei'sahe Dox's mind filled with the image of her Miradonian fellow pilot, Mona Gonadie.

"Imirrhlhhse!" Dox moaned, breathily, cursing in Rihan.

"I could be wrong, Baroness, but seeing as you look better than you have in days, I believe that man-god over there just saved us all from Death. Literally. You should probably offer him some sort of heroes reward, nein?" With that said, Rita Paris fairly shoved her friend into the arms of the ruggedly handsome blonde-haired blue-eyed Teutonic god of myth and legend.

It was a simple plan. But to be fair, sometimes simple plans worked best.

Without missing a beat, they embraced passionately, their lips and bodies pressed together as lovers that have missed one another only could. Several long exploratory moments later, they finally came up for air, the both of them breathless and panting.

"I have missed you dearly, Schwein, daughter of Alcott. I did not realize until this moment how much you enlighten my heart, my life, my soul."

"Ja. I have pined for you like I have never before thought possible."

The Mighty Thor slowly took a knee before the silver-haired pirate. "Then swear an oath to me that your hand will be mine. You still must prove yourself before the others, but I have seen your strength of body and spirit. I know you will impress them as you have me."

A look of shocked bliss on her face, Schwein looked between Thor and Rita and back before replying. "I'll have to settle some things here first, but ja. I swear it. Forever more I am yours, Thor Odinson."

"And I am yours, Schwein, daughter of Alcott."

With a slight wailing that sounded like gas escaping out of a banshee, all the energy escaped out of Death and she was reduced to what she was when the crew of the Hera originally found her, no longer bonded to the Baroness.

At the sound, Dox was jolted out of her Hera-induced moment of bliss. "Azrael?!" She yelled.

Grabbing a pair of workers gloves from a storage panel on the wall, Dox got up an ran across the room to where Death lay, defeated and still pinned under Thor's mighty hammer.

Kneeling down near enough to speak but just out of reach in case she we're still not herself, Dox called over to her. "Are you... are you okay? Are you yourself again?"

From the smoking hole in the wall, Death was now groaning in pain and cradling her head with one hand. "Owwwww... I feel like I've been on a decade long bender at Cancun Jamaica. That's the last time I let puppets summon me and get involved with demon summoning..."

Peering out with one eye, she looked Dox over. "You're... Mnhei'sahe... Right?"

A thin smile cracked Dox's face as she spoke, her gloved hands on her knees. "Yes, that's right. Mnhei'sahe Dox. We're friends. Do you... do you remember? Do you remember what happened?"

The pale woman sighed heavily as she rubbed her head with her one free hand. "It's a bit hazy, but I think so. I've spent a lot of time chained to some silver haired gloomy pirate... Haven't I?"

The Romulan pilot's face shifted to a more melancholy expression. "Yeah. Schwein. You've been bonded for weeks. It had been slowly merging your personalities, but something went wrong. So we separated you."

Acting on faith, Dox put her gloved hand out on her shoulder. "Give it time. I think it will come back to you."

Meanwhile, Rita Paris had swaggered over to where Hera lay in repose. "Did you tell your security detail you were ditching them to come save all of us from certain doom?"

"I left them a note in the roses. If they come tackle me now, I fear I may break." Hera smiled up at her Angel in Gold. "Did we win?"

"Thanks to your plan and your timely intervention, yes... the good guys won," Rita smiled, a close-lipped smile of contentment. "C'mon, patron of woman and matrimony. We have to have a few conversations," Extending her hand, Rita took Hera's hand and helped her to her feet. Once there, she stepped in to give the goddess a hug.

"You saved my life there, y'know," Rita whispered. "Probably everyone in the room's lives, but I think that makes us even on who saved who." Pulling back, Rita shook her head in amazement. "You really did reform for me, didn't you? You gave me your word, and you became the real thing. The Hera of legend."

Hera rested one hand on Rita's shoulder. "You showed me who I really was by showing me who you were. You've shown leadership I've not seen since... well. Thank you... for having faith in me."

"Ah, I'm just a gal who knows how to ask for help. Speaking of which," Rita turned to the happy couple. It might have been Hera nudging it along, but even without it she'd had a feeling about those two. "Oh Mighty Thor, Odinson, god of thunder, lord of the living lightning, wielder of mighty Mjolnir and the man that proved to Baroness von Alcott that there really was a man out there for her after all..." Rita paused for the laughs, then continued, taking a bow before the legendary figure. "I offer you my utter and heartfelt thanks. You arrived in the nick of time, and saved the day. I am in your debt."

"If a call for help cries out in the void and the forces of darkness imperil those who call to the god of thunder for help, e're shall he come to aid. For it is that which makes me mighty- mine dedication to protect, shelter and save those who know to call for the aid of- the Mighty Thor!" The thunder god grinned, then eyed Schwein for a brief second before adding, "Also, you're welcome. That was very impressive, wasn't it?"

"Epic, Mighty One," Paris assured. Turning to Dox and Death, Rita asked, "So Miss Dox, how's she doing? Still amongst the unliving?"

Turning around, Dox replied. "Aye Commander. When they were separated there was a massive expulsion of the energy that I think had been overwhelming them. She's back to normal, but her memories of everything since the incident at the Worldship appears hazy right now. She remembers me a little, she knows she was bonded to the Baroness, but I'm not sure what else."

"Hm. Well, we need to figure out what to do with her. But before that?" The flashy first officer offered her hand to the portly pilot, an earnest expression on her face. "Outstanding work, Lieutenant Dox. You did... well, just great. Like always. Thank you."

Taking Rita's hand with her standard, slightly awkward smile, Dox replied. "Thank you, Commander."

Turning back to Death, Dox looked the still confused cosmic entity in the eyes. "We'll figure this all out. And we'll help you."

"Mighty Thor," Rita Paris turned to the burly god who was still canoodling with the bawdy buccaneer. "I realize I juuuuust said I owed you one. But I've a favor to ask, in your magnanimosity. The goddess Hera, as you see beside me here, has reformed, sworn off her old ways and has dedicated herself to being patroness and protectress of women, married women, marriage, family, and, ah, childbirth. Please, I know that justice must be served for her crimes of the past. But could she not serve her time aboard the vessel which bears her name? We seem to be embroiled in something of a war of titans and gods, and Hera has proven herself a friend and protectress to this starship."

"I beg of you... we will monitor her closely, and she is always guarded. And should she return to her old ways, I will personally hand her over to you. But please, we need her... here." Rita hadn't planned for both words of the end of the sentence to be words whose root were based in the goddess' name, but that was just how it worked out.

The god of thunder considered for a moment, eyeing first Hera, who stood nervously as she was inspected, then he turned to clasp Rita Paris on the shoulder. "Yea, verily! I saw her defending you and my pretty pirate, and I can sense that she no longer feeds on the the supplication of others. Good thoughts, good words, good deeds."

"Aye, the Odinson doth agree that Hera's actions have been noble. Though she still has much to answer for, and centuries of reparation to make, I see that the wrathful goddess is on a better path. Far be it for me to deny her and remove her from it? I shall speak to the All-father on her behalf... and in the meanwhile you shall maintain custody of the goddess Hera, pon the setarship USS Hera. Rather fun to say, that."

"As for Death... I've no quarrel with this being. With the two separated, they'll no longer continue to combine to become a monstrosity. Instead, they may pursue... their own destines," Thor grinned like a surfer, then scooped up the Baroness, who let out a surprisingly girlish shriek of delight.

Not really knowing how to address the God of Thunder, Dox lightly nudged Paris with her elbow and pointed to the hammer, Mjolnir, still sitting on top of Deaths lap, awkwardly pinning her into place.

"Ah, right," Rita spun around to point a finger at the figure she couldn't perceive. "You. Death. We're very big on second chances here on the Hera. So long as you mind your manners and don't cause any more trouble- and you have caused quite a lot of trouble, missy!" Paris wagged the finger somewhere near Death's nose. "But I'll put in a word for you with the Captain, and we'll see if you can be a guest of the USS Hera for a little while. After all, Miss Dox here vouches for you, so you come highly recommended..."

Death eyed the woman suspiciously, hoping she was still invisible. "Please tell me I'm not visible to the whole crew of this... This ship is the USS Hera? I could use a vacation... How's your sushi?"

Chuckling slightly, Dox replied. "No. Most of the crew can't see or hear you. I can. Our doctor, Asa Dael can. Our Emergency Medical Hologram. And everyone here except for Commander Paris."

"And, uh, I have no idea." Dox tilted her head awkwardly. "Commander, do we have good sushi?"

"We have replication technology, a rich cultural history and data storage capacity like you wouldn't believe. I daresay you could ask this starship to make you mediocre sushi, and it would still be good. Why do you ask, Miss Dox?" Paris stood up straight again, then tapped the distracted thunder god on the bicep. Which was, unsurprisingly, like granite.

"Oh, Death wanted to know." Dox replied in a somewhat deadpan fashion, like it was the most sensible answer in the universe.

"Of course. That's going to take some getting used to. Say, Thor? I believe our guest has agreed to behave. So if you would be so kind as to remove the mighty Mjolnir restraint so they can go on with their lives- wait! I read that you can just call for it and it flies to your hand. Does it? Can I see?" Rita took a moment to fangirl over one of the more well-known facts of one of the best-known gods of her world, thanks in no small part to mass media.

With a self-satisfied smirk, Thor extended his hand, and the mystic mallet flipped perfectly into the palm of his hand headfirst. He caught it, then flipped it casually without looking at it, and caught the handle as it came round. "I have duties to attend to, so I must be on my way. I shall await thy message, Baroness von Alcott."

"You will have them every day, mein lieb," she replied.

Gripping the hammer by the thong at the base of the handle, the master of Mjolnir began spinning the hammer faster and faster, into a blur that became a shimmer of colors, as the Bifrost formed. Without looking back, he hurled the hammer into it, and vanished as if he'd never been there.

"Heck of a way to travel," quipped Rita Paris.

 

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