Battle Cry of Valhalla

Posted on Thu Aug 16th, 2018 @ 11:31pm by Lieutenant Commander Angus Murphy
Edited on on Fri Mar 1st, 2019 @ 12:41am

Mission: A Majestic Affair
Location: Holodeck, USS Majestic
1785 words - 3.6 OF Standard Post Measure

ON:

The natural landscape was rocky and serene, but it was hard to see beyond the brutal battle playing out in the immediate foreground. A few dozen men in the throws of combat, yelling, half wearing a ragtag mixture of studded black leather armor, rough hewn cotton shirts, and chain mail sleeves while the other half were bare chested with leather pants and dark boots. Axes thudded down on wooden shields as the lines clashed, spears punctured bodies, swords heaved through the lines and soldiers fell in bloody, beaten clumps. It was pure, unbridled chaos.

Jaxasi walked through the arch and into a scene which was completely alien to what she expected. She was dressed in a very formal Betazoid dress. It was colorful and very traditional. She had been expecting to walk into a formal ball in a new romantic holonovel, a series that she hated to admit was a guilty pleasure and a nice break from the violence of her usual Parrises Squares program. Instead, she was greeted with what seemed to be a barbaric battle from Earth's past. Clearly confused, she found herself in the middle of the heat of the battle.

"Ahhhh! For Tyr!" one of the shirted men cried as he charged for the maiden with only bloodlust in his hollow eyes, spear tip aimed for the center of her chest.

One of the bare chested warriors, particularly blood-spattered with short fiery red hair, reacted to the change of scene. In a more calm and clear moment he might have remembered it was merely a simulation, however, in this adrenaline-charged, testosterone-fueled rage of war, he forgot such niceties existed for the moment. He, too, careened toward the maiden.

Falling back onto training, the Betazoid attempted to roll out of the way of the oncoming warrior. Forgetting for a moment that her dress and heels weren't meant for a grassy battlefield, Jex's foot got caught in her dress. A ripping sound brought her to the ground, no where near the graceful roll that would have brought her to safety.

Getting there just in time, the red-haired warrior brought his battle axe down onto the wooden spear just as the strike seemed imminent. Shards of wood sprayed the ground at Jaxasi's feet as Murphy twisted around to bring the blunt end of the axe into the assailant's face and the opponent crumbled to the ground in a hyper-realistic bloody mess.

"Computer," Murphy panted, out of breath, and heart beating so hard in his chest that he wondered if it was possible it could explode. "Pause."

The computer complied, bringing everything to a stop just as red began to spread across Murphy's chest. He looked behind him to find an opponent's spear had lunged through him. He let out an expletive and shook his head. "I never make it to the end!"

Climbing back to her feet, a little red-faced, Jex closed the gap between herself and Murpy. She brought her hand up to the wound and laid the other on his shoulder in a calming manner. "You're ok, you're ok," she repeated, "just sit back."

Her eyes looked around, wondering why the safety protocols were disengaged. Looking down at the condition of her dress, she tore off the already ruined hem of the dress. Her training told her that she only had moments to apply pressure before treatment wouldn't matter. She took the hand off the man's shoulder to bring it to her commbadge, about to request site-to-site to Sickbay.

Murphy was momentary confused as to why someone was ripping their clothes off for him. "Oh... no.. no. It's just holographic wounds. It's not real," he assured her quickly before she got some doctor involved. "It's some fancy new thing realism settings... what are you doing here?" he asked, realizing he was half-naked and she was definitely not part of the Valhalla Program.

"Oh...," Jex started as she realized what was happening, "I thought you turned off the safety protocols." Shaking herself out of the adrenaline haze, she replied, "I had the holodeck slot from (time?), I thought I was walking into a palace on Betazed." Looking around a bit, she stated, "Looks like a good battle. Earth?" She enjoyed military history but the exact details of this ancient war.

"Sorry. Computer, end program," he muttered, wiping the scenery clear along with the blood spatters and holographic impalement. "Uh.. yeah. Definitely not Betazed. Could be part fantasy setting, I guess. I'm not really a history buff. Someone suggested it to me as a way to blow off steam." He held out a sweaty hand, but then thought better of it and retracted it and wiped it on his pants. "Lieutenant Murphy from engineering. I have no idea who you are, but I am sorry about running into your holodeck time and even more so about the dress."

"Oh this," Jex said, looking down. "I just replicated it five minutes ago, and don't worry about it," she continued. "Lieutenant Jexasi Rai, Chief Tactical Officer," she returned the introduction. Pausing for a brief moment, she thought for a moment, "A friend sent my program to me, but that battle seemed more fun. If you're not too dead, we could keep going with the battle?"

"You? Want... to be in a Viking battle?" Murphy asked incredulously, forehead furrowing. Then he nodded. She was the head of the security department, afterall. She'd probably kick all their butts. "I... I mean sure... why not. Like I said though, I never make it to the end. They just keep piling more warriors on you until you lose. Pretty sure it can't be beat."

"Vikings," Jex echoed as she searched her memory for a justification outside the fact that she was the Chief of Security. Fighting the urge to start with of course, the half Betazoid responded, "Did they not have female shield-maidens and if I have my ancient Earth mythology correct, weren't the Valkyries all female?" Before giving him a chance to answer, she followed up with, "As the Klingons say, today is a good day to die."

Murph was no historian, but these points sounded right to him. He laughed at her eagerness. "Indeed, a good day to die! Computer! Reload Viking Assault with randomized parameters." Already the sound of warriors could be heard just over the hillside. Weapons materialized at their feet and he picked up a battle axe and short sword. "Two handed fighting is usually best but the computer can adjust the weight if it's too heavy."

"Can you turn around for a moment?" Jex asked, indicating that she was still in a formal dress.

Murph rolled his eyes and turned around. "Nothing I haven't seen before, but knock yourself out. Just don't take too long."

Once positive that the man wasn't looking, Jex commanded, "Computer, erect a privacy display." Shimmering around her flashed an almost 2-way mirror that she could see out of but hid her from the outside. Using the holodeck's own replicator for such occasions, she said, " Computer, viking shield-maiden armor." The Betazoid quickly changed into her new garb, canceled the privacy barrier, and rejoined Murphy. Picking up two hand axes, she looked over Murph and gave a nod, "Ready to go if you are. Which side are we on?"

"The ones who look like they can't afford to buy clothes," he explained, then pointed down the hill at a cluster of houses. "I think we're trying to take the town back from the guards." He lifted the short sword into the air and gave a battle yell before charging forward.

Jex spun her right ax around in her hand to get a feel for it's weight. She then matched Murph' battle cry before she began running toward the enemy. Her long dark hair blew in the wind and her dark eyes almost looked like the abyss that looks back as she charged.

Murphy encountered his first opponent and engaged with relative ease. Swords clashed but ultimately he got a solid blow in with the axe that wedge itself into the guy's rib cage and he went down.

Using all of her momentum to bring the edge of her right ax down, Jex struck true as she charged into her opponent. The neck wound that she delivered to the bad guy immediately took him out of the fight. However, with her right ax being a bit stuck, she was open to an attack. Another angry man swung his sword at her, though she was able to get her left ax into enough of a defensive position to only receive a minor cut on her arm. She let out a slight grunt of pain as she pulled the sword from her opponent before finishing him off in revenge. Jex threw a glance over to Murphy to check on him.

Murphy had just forced one attacker down with a boot to the abdomen and was turning to to deal with another. Axes clattered together and they were locked in a battle of strength for a moment before their weapons unhooked from each other. He gave a grunt and stabbed the man right through the belly with the sword in his left hand, twisting as he pushed it in and sliding it out when the man crumpled to the ground. The first attacker was back on his feet and charging back and Murphy simply had to raise the sword back up to waist level and let him skewer himself with it as he charged.

Gripping her right ax tightly, the Betazoid noticed something just behind Murphy. It was an attacker that he would never be able to stop in time with his sword being stuck like it was. "Down," she shouted as she threw her right ax. The would be attacker fell to the ground, stopped by Jex's ax hitting his chest. She then walked by Murph to retireve her ax and muttered, "We are even, and you owe me one." She gave a slight wink as the words came out.

"Oh, do I?" He grinned. "See, this is great stress relief. Better than ballroom dancing with a bunch of fluffy Betazoids, am I right?" The next wave of guards was headed their way and Murphy readied his stance and raised his sword in the air before charging off. "For Valhalla!"

"You've never been around a bunch of fluffy Betazoids," Jex countered. Jex clanged her axes together and raised them to the sky as a challenge. She then echoed his call to Valhalla before running towards the new guards like a Valkyrie.

OFF:

Lieutenant Murphy
Chief Engineer
USS Majestic

Lieutenant Jexasi Rai
Chief Tactical/Security Officer
USS Majestic