Warning and Confrontation

Posted on Fri Jun 24th, 2022 @ 3:37pm by Lieutenant Commander Deanna Celes & Commander Jonathan Grayson & Lieutenant Commander Shoniara T’ghann-Travis Dr & Petty Officer 1st Class Amethyst Reece

Mission: Jupiter Mystery

Celes had the sensors running at full while sending out a message to the planet that they were returning under emergency circumstances. She hoped that a meeting with the settlement inhabitants would be better this time than last, though considering the information they had to provide, she wasn't overly optimistic.

Dr Shoniara T’ghann Travis spent some time checking the medical supplies and equipment. Her mind was somewhere else. A small moon called Ensara, Loki had opened a wound that was never really closed. She sat quietly head in her hands.

Amethyst could see Shon was suffering, walking over to her she took a seat and offered a smile. “How are you doing Shon?”

Shon looked up at Amethyst, she had begun to cry silent tears. “I am trying but it is difficult. I knew what Loki was doing was not real but as much as I knew that it was her voice I heard begging me to help her. All in all Amethyst I think I wanted to goad Loki to end me.”

Amethyst nodded. “That’s not what your daughter would want Shon, she’d want you to carry on, and to live your life. Treasure the good memories, not the bad ones.”

“But what if it really was her and I could have saved her this time?” She asked earnestly.

“It wasn’t your daughter Shon” Amethyst offered a gentle smile. “It was just Loki getting inside your head, wanting to see you fall for his ruse. Your daughter is in a better place Shon.”

‘I know, you are right. Anyway how are you feeling, it must have been a frightening thing to lose your tongue, just like that?” Shon took Amethyst’s hand.

Amethyst nodded. “It was...indescribable!” she gave Shon a tears eyed look.

Celes looked at Jon as the shuttle was entering the atmosphere, "Never in all my life would I think that something like this would happen. We have encountered some strange and powerful beings, but nothing out of mythology."

The shuttle touched down and the the engines turned off as Jon and Celes quickly deactivated the shuttle. Celes grabbed her phaser and tricorder and holstered both before moving to the hatch. She looked at Shon, "I should warn you, these people, while they are human, are not like any humans you have encountered. They appear primitive but possess technology far beyond our own, and they view us as somewhat childlike. Don't be surprised if they say something that potentially offends." With that she opened the hatch and stepped out, taking a look around as she waited for the others to disembark.

Amethyst had nodded her understanding as Celes had spoken, following her out of the shuttle she waited for Grayson & Travis to join them.

Shon climbed out prepared to be neutral. No medical scans just information gathering in the hope they could find something or someone to help them defeat Loki. She left her phaser and tricorder on her belt.

Jon exited the shuttle, his phaser at his hip. "Let's hope our return hasn't ruffled any feathers and that they will listen to what we have to say."

Celes took the lead and made her way towards the waterfront. Knowing what was about to come she looked back, "Prepare to pass through the camouflage field." After saying this she walked through and disappeared from sight.

Jon followed right behind Deanna, disappearing through the camouflage field and back into the settler's lap.

Shon murmured something about “meeting Father Christmas.” As she stepped through.

Amethyst simply kept her thoughts to herself as she walked along with everyone else.

Celes waited for everyone to come through the field, and as she waited, she saw the locals starting to congregate at the edge of their village and the large Viking-like guards were push through the crowd. Deanna looked to Jon, "Guess we are going to find out if we are welcome again."

"it certainly appears that way Deanna." Jon answered as he turned his attention to the two Viking guards. "Hi guys, we're back."

One of the guards Celes recognized as Wilhelm. She hoped he would be as accommodating as he was the last time. "We must speak with your king" Celes chimed. "We have urgent information to provide."

Wilhelm looked at Jon and Deanna and then at the others. "Son of Gray, Deanna, it is good to see you once more. You return with your friend Amethyst and with urgent information, but who is this other you have brought with you? She appears strange, she is unlike us."

Shon stepped forward. “I am Doctor Shoniara Travis, responsible for our people in the medical sense. I would like to see them and know they are in good hands.”

"Easy Shon, I'm sure you can see the Jupiter's crew in good time." Jon said diplomatically. The last thing they needed was a confrontation with the people they were seeking help from.

"Very well. I will take you to the king. But know that Artur may not look kindly on your return, and if he does, you must also be wary of Aoife and Eithne. They have been tending to your compatriots from your ship that were made ill." Wilhelm turned and led them into the settlement towards the Great Hall.

Amethyst followed on looking at Shon as they walked. “Are you alright? You’ve had the hardest time out of all of us, with the exception of my tongue going walkabout” she offered a wry smile.

Shon smiled weakly but did not reply to Amethyst’s concern for her.

They were led into the Great Hall and made their way towards the king, who was alone at the moment with the exception of a pair of guards that flanked him on either side. "Why have you brought these people to me Wilhelm?" questioned the king as they came to about 30 ft. from him.

"They have returned my king and say they have important information for you" Wilhelm replied. "I believe whatever they have to say may concern Aoife and Eithne as well sire."

The king appeared to hit a button on his throne, which seemed to resemble the captain's chair on the Washington the more Celes looked at it. Suddenly Aoife and Eithne materialized and looked shocked at the least seeing the Washington crewmembers once more.

"Why are these people here my king?" questioned Eithne.

"Perhaps they will tell us" he replied. All eyes fell on the away team.

Jon took a step forward. "Forgive us your majesty. We bring dire news, Loki and Lugh are free. Loki is currently on our ship, tormenting members of the crew for his own amusement. We were able to escape thanks to Lugh's appearance and his ability to command Loki's attention."

Shon pushed herself forward and knelt. Speaking in a form of Anglo Saxon she said. “Great and glorious Arturios may I speak?”

Artur got wide eyed. "Loki is free?" he questioned. He looked at Shon, "Who are you? You look like an Elf. Have the Elves returned to Earth?"

Shon smiled inwardly, she had heard this before. “No Sire I am not from Earth I am from two worlds Vulcan and Risa. The ears are my Vulcan heritage. I am a physician. May I beg you to help us rid our ship of Loki? Currently we are unable to defeat him. In history you are recognized as a fair and equitable King who looks after those unable to help themselves.”

Artur beamed momentarily. "You honor me with your words healer, but you mistake me for my father. He is the one that pulled Excalibur from the stone and later was given it reforged to him by the Lady of the Lake. He and my mother and his closest knights created this place for us long ago with the help of the gods, Lugh among them. But Loki appeared long ago in anger with several of his kin and tormented us. While some of the gods were moderate with their anger, Loki showed no mercy, ceasing to be a good natured trickster and becoming a monster. We are unable to kill him, but perhaps we might ensnare him once more."

"Trapping Loki will not be easy" Aoife said plainly.

"It could cost us several lives" chimed in Eithne.

“What can we do to help you?” Amethyst looked at those in-front of her with determination.

Shon kneeled again. “It was me who helped to release Loki and Lugh so I am to blame for his monstrous activity, use me to help trap him again, let it be at the cost of my life.” She looked directly at Eithne.

"Out of the question." Jon said sharply, no one is using anyone as bait to entrap Loki. We'll come up with another way."

Shon looked askance at Eithne and nodded almost imperceptibly. There was no way she would be left out of bringing Loki down.

"Your healer shows great courage" Artur said as he rose from his throne. "Do not worry, I will not sacrifice one of your people. We will do what we must to stop Loki, but we will not sacrifice anyone, nor use them as bait to lure him."

Eithne looked at Shon and then to the king, "Sire, this one admits freeing Loki and wishes to atone. Why not grant her the opportunity?"

Celes had remained silent, but she had heard everything, even that which was not said. "You'd like that wouldn't you Eithne?" she said with disdain. "You don't care for us, so sacrificing one of us is perfectly acceptable to you. So long as you and your people aren't impacted, you would willing sacrifice all of us, and the crew of the Jupiter."

Eithne was shocked and feigned innocence. "I respect life. I would never..."she began.

"You can't lie to me Eithne" Celes began. "I'm Betazoid, which means I'm a telepath. You are an open book to me."

Aoife now was the one who was shocked. "Eithne, is what she says true? Would you sacrifice these people for personal gain?"

Eithne began to walk backwards, away from everyone in a defensive manner, "No, I wouldn't, well, I mean, to protect the king" she stammered.

Artur glanced at Wilhelm, who nodded understandingly and made his way towards Eithne. Artur looked at her, "Eithne, you have been a good and trusted priestess, but at this time, I place you under arrest. You will be held in bondage until this current situation is resolved."

Shon was disappointed, she had hoped they could work together to catch Loki and was resolved to try to find out where Eithne was being held. She was feeling more and more guilty for helping to free Loki and Lugh, again it seemed she had gone off without thinking and everyone else reaped the consequences. She stood. “Sire May I respectfully ask as their healer to see the Jupiter Crew?”

Artur nodded. "Very well. Aoife can take you to them."

Amethyst remained at Grayson’s side. She wasn’t sure she’d be needed in a medical capacity here.

Aoife and Shon vanished much the way she and Eithne had appeared. When they materialized, they were in a large room of a facility which appeared to be mostly stone, though computer terminals were all about as were what appeared to be biobeds, though they looked far more advanced than anything the Federation had. Aoife led Shon over to a central table where one of the Jupiter crew was currently laying unconscious. She waved her hand over it and something seemed to activate, allowing Aoife and Shon to see everything about the patient. "As you can see, we place these people into the soulforge and then we are able to heal them of the malady. Once they are healed, we will return them to their vessel and they can wake there. A few awake here, but we try to limit that for their benefit."

“May I ask what happened to them and what is the ‘soulforge?”

Aoife remained silent for a moment. "I am sure you are aware of the nanovirus. The nanovirus as you can imagine is an artificial illness that is designed to render a person unconscious and then remain in what is seemingly an artificial coma. The truth is that they are not in a coma at all, but rather a forced nonstop REM cycle in which they are forced to live out their worst fears and bad memories over and again without showing any reaction externally. They become mentally relaxed in a way and become open to telepathic contact. Your colleague, the Betazoid, she would notice this if she were near them long enough. I am sure you might even want to try telepathic contact yourself, but I would advise against it if you want to keep your psyche in tact." She considered what else she might divulge. "The soulforge is a tool of sorts. You have devices that you use to scan and view information, tricorders I believe you call them, and you can use holography to view information after inputting scanning information, this is just something more advanced, and has the added benefit of having all the necessary medical tools to be used to allow us to remove the malady."

Shon was amazed and wished she could spend more time looking into their technology but, of course she respected their request for privacy. However she wanted to try to contact one of the patients. “May I approach one of your patients?” She asked.

Aoife looked at Shon, as if measuring her up. "I am aware of your slight telepathic ability. Do not attempt to make telepathic contact with them. The shock would send you into a neural trauma."

“My ability is more than just small,” she walked over to one of the patients, who is this?” She asked walking over to a Vulcan woman.

She looked very pale and small, on what passed for some sort of bio bed, Shon put out her hand to touch, took a deep breath in and opened her mind. For a moment there was nothing and then, rather like looking through a glass covered with falling rain she began to see, something. A small child waving a balloon, blonde hair, something familiar and then she knew. She knelt down as the small child barreled into her arms “mummy, mummy where have you been daddy has been eating my birthday cake.” Shon held Shasta to her as tight as she could without injuring her. Shon felt so tired, it had been a long day evacuating colonists who did not want to leave their homes, their lives and the peace they had found here. Shon decided to sit down on the grass for a moment before she took her daughter home and remonstrated with Mark. Shone smiled at the warmth of the sun and her daughters smile and fell asleep.

Aoife. shook her head. "So stubborn" she murmured. "So desperate to prove she can handle something. Such a Vulcan trait." Aoife wavered her hand and Shon levitated and floated gently over to a soulforge. Aoife activated it and began to remove the affected areas to avoid severe trauma, noting that Loki had apparently been in her mind.

In the Great Hall, Artur paced. "What is the year of your calendar?" he questioned, his gaze upon Jon.

"It is the year 2386 your Majesty." Jon replied quickly.

Artur stood in thought for a moment. "Your technology is limited, but you should have theoretical knowledge at least. You are aware of transphasic weapons I hope."

"We have that technology, though it is still experimental officially" Celes chimed in.

Artur seemed to brighten. "Do you have an understanding of how they work?"

"I do" Celes replied flatly.

"Then perhaps we can work together to recapture Loki" Artur said enthusiastically. "Come, we must hurry."

Listening to Artur, Jon saw and hid his enthusiasm and thought *He has an idea* " Lead the way Sire and what have you got in mind for ensnaring Loki?"

"A transphasic forcefield can hold Loki or another god for a period of time, long enough to allow you to transport them into more permanent prison. My father did this before with the aid of Merlin, and perhaps we can do so again. It won't be easy though. Loki is unlikely to easily fall victim to such a trap a second time."

Amethyst nodded. “What will you need to ensnare him? Is there anything we can do to distract him?”

"Last time Lugh sacrificed himself as a distraction long enough for us to ensnare Loki, though Lugh was ensnared with him. Once we make the preparations, we will need to devise a lure for Loki."

"I suppose it is a good thing I am here, being one of the few people that has knowledge of transphasic technology aboard our ship" Celes mused aloud. "I won't be volunteering as tribute though. You and the commander can go around in circles discussing that matter out."