Musketeer Part One

Posted on Fri Sep 17th, 2021 @ 1:57am by Lieutenant JG Jenna Jade & Ensign Rene Rouen
Edited on on Sat Sep 25th, 2021 @ 10:53pm

Mission: The Boneyard Heist
Timeline: Two days after leaving the Boneyard

There had been much excitement and research done into the costume Jenna had on at this time. Was it authentic period French water? No. There WERE no female musketeers in the French military, ever. But there were two things she wasn’t about wear: The typical musketeer uniform or the French noble woman’s dress. Instead, she compromised with both. She wore the tunic and buff coat of the period, properly adjust for the female form and showing what cleavage she had available while holding the girls in place. Trousers were right out, so she had on a heavier cloth than usual for the skirt that went down to her knees and would give her the best compromise between modesty and movement. The rapier hung from the left side of her thick leather belt around her waist along with a main gauche from her right, hat jauntily arranged on her head with a feather reaching back. She’d added mascara and some bright red lipstick, but that was more to give definition to her eyes and mouth.

So dressed like a feminine rogue, she half bounced up to Rene’s door and hit the button announcing her arrival. “Rene! She called as the speaker clicked, it’s Jenna, Ah’m ready when you are!"

Rene opened the door as Jenna announced her arrival on the intercom. He was dressed in the same leather outfit he had worn on their first date, but also sported a hat and rapier on his left side. He had added a period style tabbard with the symbol of the King's Musketeers emblazoned on the front and back. He gave Jenna one look and a smile spread across his face. "You look like you're ready to conquer all of France milady." He took a knee and bowed his head. "Allow me to be the first to swear an oath of fealty to the Warrior Queen of France."

Jenna responded with a deep curtsy, head turning partially sideways demurely, proper for all occasions, “C’est non, monsieur, Ah’ve got no ambitions to marry the King, only to protect him, even should it cost me my life.” Her smile turned into a full-on grin as she rose, “Alas, that one of my own gender is not allowed to wear the emblem of the kings musketeers, but all the same, Ah do believe that we shall succeed in our task.” Or at least have a ton of fun in the doing.

Rene offered up an arm to Jenna for a proper gentlemanly escort to the holodeck for their day off. Despite the grueling workload the Captain was instituting a day off for 20% of the crew every day, except for the Senior Staff. He was sure they would be having a lot of fun saving King Louis, fighting the Cardinal's Guard and generally foiling Richleau's plans to take the throne. "Then let us embark on our adventure milady."

She reached up and tucked an escaped lock of hair into the band of her hat, then scoffed at the arm before relenting and slipping her arm into it, “Fine Warrior Queen this makes me!” She giggled, pressing herself into his arm, squeezing his hand, “All it took was me mentioning to the Skipper that you and Ah needed a day off and she made sure to lock everyone else out of the schedule for Holodeck Three, so we’re both off duty until tomorrow mornin’! And Ah made a couple slight changes in the program you picked, nothin’ super major, but one of them involves a picnic.”

Rene glanced down at Jenna's hip. He was curious as to what her preference of steel was. He had his family's rapier that had been handed down for nearly thirty generations. "So milady. What is your preference?"

“Ah, umm…” Jenna glanced down at the sword on her belt, then flushed red, “Ah couldn’t use a competition sword, not authentic enough, besides, no edge or point. Ah guess Ah just replicated somethin’ from the period and waved it around a bit to get used to it, “Ah did use carbon fiber instead of steel to keep it stronger and lighter, but otherwise.” She again looked at the hilt of her main blade, which had a curlicue hand guard that would prevent her from making super fancy type moves that would leave her open to attack, “First time in somethin’ other than the salle.” She admitted.

Rene patted the ornate hilt of his rapier. "Mine has been in my family for generations. It belonged to my namesake who rose from the ranks to become Captain of the Musketeers during the reign of King Louis XIII." He had spoken of the history of his family heirloom in a reverent tone.

“Oh my…” Jenna glanced down with a touch of envy, “Ah’d like to touch your sword.” She said without thinking, then blushed a deeper red at how that could sound and tried to cover it up, “Ah, Ah, Ah mean it’d be amazin’ to be able to hold somethin’ that old and and with such a distinguished history.” She began to walk faster towards the holodeck, hauling him along by main force that it wasn’t apparent her frame held. ‘Must get in there so he forgets you just made an ass of yourself.’ She thought to herself.

Rene caught her words as said them, however, he didn't react. He decided that he would should she say it again and they found themselves in a different situation. He picked up the pace to keep up with her.

Jenna forced herself to keep a smile as she remained horrified at her words and half wanted to flee. Instead, she found them suddenly in front of the double doors of holodeck 3 and breathed a sigh of relief. A quick check of the screen and she saw that Rene’s program was running in standby mode, just waiting for the two of them before it actually began. She squeezed his hand once briefly and then finally released it, “Ah’m ready when you are.”

Rene activated the door and entered alongside Jenna. The door closed behind them and appeared to disappear a narrow alley image took it's place. Still figures in period garb filled the market square. "Computer, begin program."

The holographic characters started moving and the sound of vendors hawking their goods and wares could be heard. Rene took Jenna's hand and squeezed. He gave her an adoring smile and gently pulled her forward. "Shall we pick up a basket and get some things for our picnic?"

Jenna smiled back, more than a little fondly, doing a partial skip to catch up with his tug, “Sounds great to me!” She’d caught a glimpse of the programming, then used her free hand to reach to her belt and plucked a coin from the hidden pocket on the inside of it, handing it to a small girl in exchange for a rather voluminous basket with a wink. She held it in the crook of her left arm, that being the only one available since her right was in Rene’s custody. “Ah suppose we have to decide what we’re going to want for our lunch, won’t we? Any suggestions, Rene?”

Rene thought about what he would like to eat in a period setting of 17th Century Paris, France. "Quite honestly we could have anything you want. However, if you are looking for something specific to this period. I would recommend a loaf of bread, circle of cheese along with apples for dessert." He paused for a moment before reaching into his cloak, his hands emerging with a wine bottle. "Some of the finest Bordeaux this side of the Seine River."

“Ah’m fine with that, if Ah remember my history of cookin’ properly, they did make an excellent bread in this period. But are-“ Jenna cut herself off and bit her lower lip gently before she could remind him about their last date and her inability to handle alcohol very well. She knew he had the best of intentions and didn’t want to insult him or make him feel bad, instead she proffered the basket for him to put the bottle into it if he so desired, “Besides, pairin’ apples with some cheese actually makes for a nice light dessert that won’t leave us overstuffed if we happen to be ambushed at some point.”

Rene caught the dubious look she gave the wine bottle before chuckling. "I replicated it. It's only synthahol. Not quite the taste, but...none of the side effects."

She blushed slightly, “Sorry Rene, it ain’t that Ah don’t trust you, it’s that Ah don’t trust myself. Ah’ve just never been drinkin’, that Mai tai was an experiment because Ah heard that they settle the nerves. Ah’m not nervous here, so umm… Yeah.” Jenna squeezed his hand again, “Let’s get this shoppin’ done before things get hairy?”

Rene gestured forward to the heart of the market place. "As you wish mon cher." They picked their way through the crowd on their search for items for their picnic. It wasn't long before they had everything but the cheese wheel. They were at the final vendor and Rene was watching Jenna haggle with the vendor, an amused expression on his face.

Jenna’s heart had leapt with those words and she had forced herself to keep busy so as not to make it obvious. ‘Dear’ instead of ‘Friend’, it was a difference many wouldn’t have paid much attention to if they didn’t know the subtleties of the French language. By the time she’d settled her heart rate down, she was in an animated negotiation for a wheel of Camembert cheese and had wheedled the merchant down about ten percent and was considering attempting to more before she sighed and relented, “All right, we’ve got a deal.” She handed him the coins and accepted the cheese, then placed it in the basket as she smiled at Rene, “Ah think we’re set.”


CUT SCENE: SECONDARY COMPUTER CORE

Lieutenant Laura Davenport sighed as she settled in front of the secondary computer core, then pulled up the listings as she fired up her PADD. The twerp was on a two day pass to… Nowhere, since they were traveling at warp, but at least she wasn’t right here over her shoulder. “Let’s see… Holodeck enhancements…” She muttered to herself, “They finally fixed that glitch with the random repeats, good!” She thought about her own personal program, ignoring the ‘Do not use while holodeck is active’ warning at the top of the executable file. After all, it was just a normal, standard warning, nothing to take real note of.

BACK TO HOLODECK

Inside the holodeck, a cat walked across the street and vanished down an alley. A few seconds later, an identical cat did the exact same thing in the exact same way. No one noticed it or commented.

Rene took Jenna's hand as they walked towards an open air carriage that they could rent to take them to a perfect picnic spot outside the city. The spot was on a hilltop overlooking the Seine and offered a great view of the Norte Dame Cathedral Towers. They were just approaching the carriage when four men clad in the livery of the Cardinal's Guard brushed passed them and boarded the carriage, one shouting out directions to the driver.

Jenna’s heart beat faster, adrenaline shocking her as she brought Rene’s hand up tight to her chest as she squeezed hard in a fear reaction. She’d expected something like this, thought she’d prepared herself properly, but now that it came to it, she was terrified. Her breathing accelerated noticeably even as she reminded herself that this was just a program. Even if she had a sword through her chest, it wouldn’t hurt her, perhaps just pause things while she moved herself out of the way.

Rene stepped up to the side of the carriage and addressed the men in passenger area. "Pardon me gentlemen, but that carriage is already spoken for. My companion and I were...."

"Your right." One of the men gave Rene a glance of disdain. "This coach is spoken for...by us. I suggest you move along before I arrest you for interfering in Cardinal's business."

Another one of the men gave Jenna a head to toe look. "Well well well. Lookie here." His leering eyes roaming her body as he spoke. "Hey gypsy girl, what ever this guy is paying you. We'll triple it."

Jenna's eyes opened wide at the proposition. This time, it most definitely WAS that. She released Rene's hand and took hold of the basket with both hands somewhat demurely and looked down, "Pardon, Monsieur. I am..." She gripped the handle firmly and spun with it, bringing it up to make contact with the face of one who'd asked her. The sound of glass shattering and the contents of the bottle went flying over the the group in the carriage, "NOT a prostitute!" She screamed at him/them, throwing the now sodden and deformed basket to the ground, her eyes blazing as she stood, fists clenched.

The men in the carriage stumbled out cursing and trying to shake wine from their cloaks and tabbards. They stared daggers at Jenna.

Rene picked up one of the fallen apples and tossed it up and down as he looked at the four men. "I believe you owe my companion an apology. I suggest you do so before you really make her angry." He glanced at Jenna with a grin on his face and a twinkle in his eyes.

Jenna’s eyes bored into each of the Cardinal’s guards one at a time, filled with fire and hate, before she settled them on the one who’d offered to pay her triple. She said nothing to them while one hand twitched as if wanting to grab her sword and slice him into very, very small pieces. She was muttering in fluid French very quietly, imprecations of their supposed parentage or lack thereof.


TRANSPORTER ROOMS THROUGHOUT THE SHIP

Transporter operators noted losses of power to all transporters as power fluctuations began causing a series of malfunctions of secondary systems all over the ship.

In the secondary computer core, Laura looked up from the novel she was reading in peace as the engineer on duty reported the transporter problem, then rolled her eyes, “All right, all right, I’ll get to it soon.. We don’t need them at the moment and I need to grab something for lunch. I’ll get to it after that.” She closed the comm connection and settled back into with her book again.


BACK IN THE HOLODECK

Rene clucked his tongue several times as he watched Jenna's ire grow. He looked at the four Guardsmen. "Now you’ve gone and done it."

The Guardsmen who had spoken salaciously to Jenna drew his sword, the other three following suit. "You can leave now monsieur and live, but the gypsy girl has restitution to make for are ruined cloaks." His gaze leering at her. "She can either pay in silver or we will take it...in trade."

In playing tennis, reaction speed is a must. During a volley, the ball can travel the 78 feet length of a tennis court at a hundred miles an hour. This gives the receiver just over half a second to react, position themselves AND swing their racquet. Jenna had a precision forehand, but it was her backhand that produced most of her powerful winners. As she reached across her body with both arms and jerked both her blade and main gauche out of their scabbards at the final insult, her sword hilt jostled her left hand slightly and knocked the smaller blade out of her grip just as it was coming around.

The main gauche spun lazily at high speed as the guardsmen tensed from her drawing of her blades and an attempt to deflect the blade failed as it found its way unerringly into the triangle area of the neck of man in the back by a fluke. Jenna looked at her hand, stinging from the blow of her own sword, then at the carnage, "Oops..." And it was on.

Rene pulled his own rapier and quickly engaged two of the remaining three Guardsmen. He kept both at bay, but noticed Jenna was getting pressed back by the last Guardsmen. He had to do something quickly.

Jenna faced off against her antagonist, the surprise of the accident wearing off and his leer at her manner of dress back on his face. He was an experienced combat swordsman in the Cardinal's employ, while Jenna was a semi-experienced combatant in the salle, never having been in a combat situation of any kind. She was hard-pressed by him, but managed to parry and even throw a counter or two, but was being pushed back consistently.

Rene side stepped one of his opponents as they lunged and thrust a leg hard. His foot connected with the knee and the the Guardsmen went down with a scream of pain. He reversed direction and rolled over the back of the downed opponent, his rapier coming down hard to batter down his other opponent's sword. Screeching of steel against steel sounded until hilt guards locked. Rene punched the man in his throat sending him reeling back choking. He turned to Jenna as she fought the last Guardsmen.

She'd just barely managed a frantic parry that took the lecher's blade out of line and tried to slash at him, barely catching his tunic and tearing it across his midriff. The Cardinal's Guard riposted with one of his own at her face, which she barely got out of the way of, her hat being taken off her head and torn into before being discarded by sheer momentum. Her eyes opened wide as she stepped in to re-engage, clearly frightened but willing to do her best. A few more seconds of rapid stroke and counterstrokes and Jenna committed to a sharp lunge aimed at his heart that he parried downward.

Unfortunately for him, it was a hard lunge that he didn't get quite enough of and his triumphant bray at seeing her commit to an attack that would leave her wide open turned into a shriek as the tip of the blade unerringly found its way to his crotch. She twisted it and pulled back, doing even more damage as he dropped his sword. A look of hatred crossed her face as she swept the sword as if to clear it and glanced around, then slashed towards Rene with some anger on her face as she saw no danger, "You were gonna let them take your girlfriend and rob her of her virtue?" She demanded.

Rene stepped forward and looked her over. He gave a satisfied smile as to the only casualty being her hat and their lunch. "I knew you could take him. Were there any doubt, I would have dispatched him, though...", he glanced at the Guardsmen whimpering on the ground, "...I would have dispatched him outright."

"Ah was tryin' to." Jenna glanced over to the Guardsman and spit on the ground towards him, "But at least he won't be doin' that sorta shit again." She shivered visibly as the adrenaline began to wear down and she looked at the obviously dead guardsman with her main gauche still embedded and poked her sword into the ground to wrap her arms around Rene to just hug and hold him as the shakes came to her, "All right, Ah'll admit, this is a lot scarier than Ah'd anticipated."

"Relax my love." He gently kissed her forehead. "Safeties are fully engaged. You were never going to be hurt."

"Ah know that, but my nerves didn't." She squeezed him harder, then released him finally, before she pulled her sword out of the ground and slid it back in its sheath, "Of course, Ah kinda ruined our picnic... Sorry about that. But Ah think we should get out of here before anyone notices they're missin'?"

Rene looked at the wounded men before turning back to Jenna with a nod. Dueling in Paris had been outlawed. Should a person be charged and found guilty, the penalty could be severe. It could even result in execution. Rene took Jenna's hand. "Then let us be off shall we." He walked her to the carriage and helped her aboard before getting on himself. "Coachman, the loveliest spot in all Paris if you please."

Jenna needed human contact, that was all there was to it. Random tremors ran through her until Rene put his arm around her and she huddled up against him, one hand flat on his chest as she began to settle down and she ran the last bits of conversation through her head again and something caught, “Mi Amoure?” She asked him quietly, without looking up at him, “Why did you say that, Rene? Ah know this is our third date, but isn’t it just a bit early in our relationship for that? Or… Do you believe in love at first sight? Or second, or third of course.” Her pulse quickened.

Rene looked at her slightly down cast face. Why did he say that? He did feel something for her. Was it love? He wasn't sure. "I...I'm not sure. I do feel something for you, something powerful. I'm not sure if is love yet." He used a single finger under chin to lift her face so she could look into his eyes.

She didn’t resist the movement of her face, instead gazing directly into his own, slight smile twitching up and down, “You know, Ah sorta kinda like you a fair bit as well. That’s why Ah’m callin’ you my boyfriend. You don’t get a say in that matter, Ah should mention.” She raised her chin up with a bit bigger of a smile, in a mock-imperious way.

Rene inhaled sharply, the scent of her intoxicating. "You will get no argument from me." His face dipped slightly, and so began a very long and very deep kiss.