Musketeer Part Two

Posted on Thu Sep 23rd, 2021 @ 3:39am by Ensign Rene Rouen & Lieutenant JG Jenna Jade

Mission: Lower Decks
Location: Holodeck

Jenna melted into the kiss, not resisting in the slightest. She felt his hands on her, one of them sliding up her body to cup her left breast like a friendly critter. She felt warm with it there, not just because of its presence but in the pit of her belly. After a minute, she reached up and grasped the hand gently and moved it down to her hip as she began to disengage from him. Finally she opened her eyes again and smiled up at him, "Now, now, Rene, just because Ah'm makin' us officially a couple doesn't mean you get to take full advantage of me. When Ah said take my virtue, Ah meant it... Ah've never been with a man before and Ah'm not ready yet."

She reached up and caressed his cheek gently, "It doesn't mean Ah won't be ready at some point in the future, just not yet, Sugarcube. Ah know it's probably disappointin' and if it's too much of me to ask, Ah'll understand if you'd rather not be my boyfriend. When Ah am, you know you'll be the first to know."

Rene was not disappointed in the relocation of his hand, nor Jenna's statement. He was a firm believer that good things were worth the wait. He was happy just spending time with her. It wonderful to take time and get to know her. "Tell me about growing up in South Carolina." He was genuinely curious to learn as much as he could about Jenna as possible.

She settled back into a good snuggling position in the carriage with a smile. She'd had two boyfriends who'd dumped her immediately after she'd pointed out to them that she wasn't like that. "Ah suppose that Ah could say it was all sunny and bon-bons, but it wasn't. If Ah'd been like most of my friends, Ah would have done just the horseback ridin', the social trainin' and been basically prepared to be a housewife." She shook her head, "Not my cuppa tea. Ah mean, when Ah was eleven or so Ah was startin' that sorta trainin' and we learned how to play tennis and badminton and found that Ah was really good at tennis."

She grabbed the arm that was around her and entwined her fingers with his even as she pulled the arm tighter around her. This was already calming her down significantly, "Fencin', mostly epee, was also taught too us because it helped with keepin' our core muscles strong, after all, guys don't wanna see girls all round and stuff. They like us to keep in shape. But tennis? Ah flew through juniors when Ah turned thirteen, just as Ah started likin' putting things back together again, but by sixteen Ah'd gotten an invitation to the US Open qualifiers, didn't make it outta them. Ah was told that if Ah really put my mind to it, Ah could have gone professional in the sport. Probably wouldn't make the top ten, but woulda been good."

Rene listened intently as Jenna spoke of growing up. He himself had fond memories of growing up in Paris. Despite the entire city being the seat of Presidency for the entire United Federation of Planets. He remembered the culture that never ceased to make the city anything less than Earth's capitol of romance. Beautiful parks and gardens, fantastic restaurants and the crowning European achievement of art. "I miss home some times. Paris is...a magical city. Home to some of the greatest artists on all of Earth." He patted his rapier. "Fencing was always my favorite past time. My father owns the Salle d'Armes. One of the oldest Fencing Academies in the world. I studied the epee for competition, but my true passion was always the rapier. I always thought of myself as a Musketeer, just born seven hundred years too late."

"If you were born several hundred years ago, you wouldn't be here with me." Jenna said quietly, "And you wouldn't catch me back then, Ah don't want my butt to be that big and Ah don't like the bustle that would be required. Don't get me wrong, Ah can get all gussied up when Ah need to or want to, you saw that on that first date... But even then, that was mild. Ah'll have to dig up the pictures from my Debutante Ball, that's when Ah went all out. Had to turn around for a tournament a couple days later, but Ah can be elegant when I want to be." She exhaled deeply, "Of course, bein' an engineer now takes up most of my time.. Mama didn't want me to join the Fleet, said it wasn't right for a lady of my standin'."

Rene held Jenna close, a wistful smile on his face. It was truly a great experience to be here with her. Little did they know their fun was coming to an end.

Shouting came from behind the carriage and the blast of a musket being fired echoed along the city streets. The driver slumped over and the carriage sped up as the horses bolted at the sound of musket fire. The carriage started bouncing on the cobblestone streets.

"What the..." Jenna nearly bounced out of the carriage as they hit a particularly broken set of cobblestones, then lunged over the top of the carriage towards the front and snagged the reins just as they slipped from the driver's unresisting hands. Her rear end was hanging in the air as she held onto them for dear life. "Rene!" She shouted in a panicked voice, "What's goin' on?"

Rene wasn't sure, but he had a more pressing issue. His shoulder was bleeding from a grazing wound from the first musket shot. It was only a flesh wound, but with the holodeck safeties. It shouldn't have happened at all. He crawled over the back of the bench seat, depositing himself next to Jenna. "Something's wrong with the holodeck. Computer freeze program." Nothing happened, they were still racing down the cobblestone streets.

Another series of shots sounded out and the whip-whip of musket balls speeding past came through the crash of wood as one of the balls smacked into the carriage next to Jenna. She yelped and used her elbows on the wooden seat to haul herself all the way up onto the seat. She heard Rene’s words and glanced over as she hauled hard on the right reins to change streets, “Oh Christ Rene, you’re bleedin’!” Her eyes went back to the forward and she blanched at the dead driver next to her, bracing herself against Rene’s thankfully I injured side and kicking the dead man off the carriage and out of the way onto the cobbled streets.

“Computer, end program.” She called loudly. Nothing happened. “Computer, Arch.” Nothing, “Computer, emergency interface.” Nothing. “Computer, open doors. Computer, emergency program abort, Authorization Jade Seven-One-Six-Two-Eight Alpha Alpha Alpha.” Still nothing happened and Jenna’s face went paper-white as she glanced over her shoulder and ducked at the next crackle of musket fire. She swallowed hard as she reefed the carriage into another sharp turn at speed, “Oh God… Oh God oh God oh God..” The guardsmen we’re gaining. Then an idea hit her, “Rene, how is your bareback ridin’? Can you at least stay on the horse that way?” She looked at the two horses in front of her.

Rene glanced wide-eyed at Jenna before looking at the two horses galloping down the cobblestone streets. He looked over his shoulder at the men on horseback closing in. He knew what she was proposing without having to hear it. It was dangerous, but it was certain death if the troop of Cardinal's Guards caught up with them.

Rene scanned the area before taking the reins from Jenna. "Get on the right horse. You have about a minute before we reach a section that narrows."

"Ah know what Ah'm doin'." Jenna rapidly made her way across the tongue of the harness and onto the right horse, then reached back to take the reins of both horses back from him, "Get on that horse now." She commanded him, holding the reins in her right hand, drawing her sword with the left, "Ah need you to get on the damned horse and trust me." She pleaded, "And hang on around his neck if you're not sure you can stay on and guide 'im."

Rene quickly jumped down onto the carriage tongue and then onto the left horse. Another volley of shots rang out and musket balls whizzed over their heads. Rene drew his own rapier and glanced at Jenna. "We cut on my mark." He looked forward. The street was already narrowing. "Three...two...one...MARK!"

Jenna was grateful that he'd had the frame of mind to pull his sword as well. She could have cut them both, but it would have been... Tricky. On the work Mark, she swung down and sliced the traces leading from her horse to the tongue as he did his, severing the horses from the carriage. Simultaneously, she dug her heels into the sides of her horse, causing it to leap ahead with acceleration. As she held both sets of reins, she tugged his horse along with them, knowing what physics would force to happen in a matter of a heartbeat.

As the horses leapt forward, the carriage tongue dropped without any support. It bounced and scraped along the first few cobblestones before turning into a pole vaulting pole and digging straight into a taller cobble than the normal. The physical law of momentum gave the carriage two options, but the speed it was going at meant it used that pole just as a pole vaulter would and flew into the air, spinning once before landing again and shattering the relatively flimsy carriage into a hundred pieces, still moving fowrard but impeding the Cardinal's Guardsmen.

Jenna glanced back as she hauled her own reins up a bit to slow for a turn to put buildings between them and their pursuers before digging in again for more speed. She brought Rene's horse with her by main force and counting on the herd mentality of the creature to follow her. She looked back at her boyfriend and called a question back to him, "Where do we go?"

Rene pointed to a small building up ahead. He took his leather lead and slowed the his horse down as she followed suit. The mounts came to a stop in front of the steps to the door and he quickly dismounted, helping Jenna of her horse. He briefly looked back and was thankful for no sign of pursuit. He pulled off his jacket as he looked at Jenna. "Tell me you've got a tunic on under your own jacket."

“Ah’ve got a tunic on under my own jacket.” Jenna said deadpan, even as she looked the direction they’d come from. Shabby attempt humor done, she fumbled with the buttons of the buff coat and finally managed to tear it off, losing only a single button in the process, “What do you have in mind? Ah’m not sure Ah like losing the mobility.”

Rene took both jackets and stuffed the sleeves under the harness straps, propping the neck lines of the jackets halfway up each horses neck. He gave both beast slap on the rump, sending them galloping of down the avenue once again before taking Jenna's hand and leading her into the building.

Rene leaned against the closed door as a priest came down the chapels center aisle. "How may I help you my children?"

“We’re umm..” Jenna had to think hard and fast about a number of things. Would the priest summon the guards if they told the truth? Would he help hide them? The sword weighed heavy on her belt even as the loss of the coat lightened her and worry crossed her face, “Mah friend here has been wounded, Mon Pere, in defense of my honor, but despite his valiant effort, we are bein’ chased and require sanctuary and a place to hide from our pursuit.”

The priest looked at both of them for a heart beat before placing the doors crossbeam in place and gesturing for them to follow him. "Come with me. Let's get that wound tended."

The priest mounted stairs that led to a loft platform with a bed, small night table with a pitcher and large bowl. There was a larger table with a single chair. A Spartan place for a humble priest.

Rene took a seat on the chair as the priest poured water into the bowl and brought it over to the table along with the a piece of cloth to clean Rene’s wound. He dipped the cloth in the water and started dabbing the flesh wound on Rene's arm.

Jenna was pacing back and forth, jumping at the sound of individual horses walking and trotting past, once a shout from someone got her looking at the door as she tried to force herself to think. The safeties were off. The SAFETIES were off. They were in mortal danger and the computer wasn't responding. But there was always something that could be done. She was having a hard time remembering their month-long courses on holodeck design and safety protocols in the heat of the moment, but there was a manual override somewhere. Something on the inside that could be accessed in case of emergency.

Rene winced only once or twice as the priest cleaned and dressed his wound. He watched Jenna pace. He turned to the priest after his wound was taken care of. "Merci Pere. You have extended kindness and mercy to two strangers when you didn't have to."

The priest just nodded. "Of course my son. God led you to my church for a reason. I am but His humble servant." He turned to Jenna. "Are you injured my dear?"

"Non, mon Pere, Ah haven't been hurt at all, just a few of my nerves have been broken." Jenna continued to pace the floor, "Ah've never been shot at before, so Ah'm a bit shaken from that. Ah'm just tryin' to figure a way out right now is all, suh."

Rene turned to the priest and spoke quietly with him for a moment. The priest nodded and went downstairs to the Sanctuary to do some work organizing. Rene watched the priest until he was sure he was out of earshot before turning to Jenna. He walked up to her and stopped her pacing by embracing her in a close hug. "Calm. Close your eyes, take a deep breath and just hold on to me for a minute."

Jenna threw her arms around him and squeezed him tight, pressing her head against his neck and squeezing her eyes shut as she fought not to cry. "Ah can't figure it out, there's a panel somewhere that can be accessed even while in the simulation. It's the emergency manual access, Ah can't remember where it is though." She shook her head fractionally, "It's not going to be on a wall, because we can't reach those, which means it'll have to be on the ground, but what's the cue for that? Ah learned it a couple years ago, but Ah can't remember for the life of me. And this time it might actually be our lives."

Rene gently stroked Jenna's hair as he listened to her. Her fears were the most critical issue to address. She couldn't think straight if fear was overwhelming her. "Look, you're an engineer. Work the problem as an engineer would. You say the manual access panel is on the floor and that there's a cue to finding it. So it is marked in some way. How would it be marked? I am guessing not a sign that says emergency manual access panel. That means some other method. Right?"

"That would kindof take away from the immersion of the holoprogram." Jenna agreed with a laugh of irony, "To see a bright yellow panel on the ground. It'll be somethin' that doesn't seem out of place." She relaxed a little bit at his movements, "A crescent moon, or a stylized sun or something of the sort. It could look like a gouge in the ground, or an arrangement of rocks, it all depends on the surface we're looking at."

Rene released the hug, but took her by the hand and walked to the rough timber balcony overlooking the church congregation area and sanctuary. He scanned the floor from their vantage point, but saw nothing unique anywhere. He gave her hand a light tug and descended down the stairs. "Check the floor up by the Sanctuary. I will look back here. Just have to look for something different about the floor."

"It's astounding, time is fleeting..." Jenna whispered to herself, using the words that her holographic studies instructor had told them to remember in a crisis. He'd lectured about how when everything had turned to shit, they had to keep their heads. Holodecks weren't foolproof, he'd said, there was still a lot about them that could screw up, but they were such useful tools that were being improved upon year after year, "Madness takes it's toll... Something, something, I've got to take control." She stopped dead where she was as she remembered that it didn't really matter where she was in the holodeck, "Take a jump to the left." She jumped to the left, "Then a step to the right." A step to the right, "Put your hands on your hips and pull your knees in tight." She drew herself up, then looked down to see a crescent moon superimposed on the corner of a tile, "Rene?" She called out, "Ah've got somethin'!"

Rene had started checking the floor when the clip clip of half a dozen horses stopped just outside the church. He took a quick glance through a knot hole to see that a group of Cardinal's Guards were dismounting and looking at the church, their expressions speculative. Each was armed with a sword and musket with one bearing two flintlock pistols instead of a musket. Rene quietly joined Jenna and the priest at the Sanctuary. "They're here. Half a dozen, well armed. It doesn't look like they no for sure we are here, but I wouldn't put it passed them to want to search."

"I will do what I can to stall them." The priest gestured to a door on the wall behind the Sanctuary. "Lock that door behind me. I will act like I was gardening in back. I should be able to buy you a few more minutes."

"Merci, Pere." Jenna dropped to her knees and brushed dirt and dust away from the tile on the floor while Rene did as directed and began to scrape at the grouting in between tiles before using her fingernails in an effort to pry it up. No matter what she did, how she tried, she couldn't get the tile to come up. She screamed loudly in frustration and pulled her sword out, taking a grip on the outside of the pommel and bringing it down on the tile as hard as she could again, and again and again, tears streaming down from her face as she tried to break the tile, one hand slipping from the pommel and onto the blade. She shrieked in pain as the blade bit into her hand and tossed it aside.

Rene was just returning to Jenna's side as she cut her hand. He tore a long strip off the waist of his tunic and wrapped it. He gripped her cheeks and brought her face up to look at his. "Hey, we're still okay. Slow down. Remember, work the problem like an engineer and we'll get through this. I have faith in you." He emphasized his last sentence by giving her a soft, lingering kiss." He pulled his main gauche and put it in her good hand. "Slow and easy. You got this." He grabbed the two flintlock pistols the priest had kept stashed in a cabinet by the back door and headed up to the front. He knew in the next minute or so it was about to get real.