Damsels In Distress

Posted on Jan 20, 2017 @ 2:14am by Captain Kassandra Thytos
Edited on on Jan 20, 2017 @ 2:15am

Mission: Holodeck Havoc

"Damsels in Distress"

(Cont. Ruins of Ketara Chapters 6 and 7)


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Location: USS PHOENIX

Stardate: 2.17.0119.2156

Scene: Holodeck 2


The heat of the sun beat down on Kassandra’s back and shoulders. She stood still, feeling a drip of sweat rolling down the small of her back as she waited. To her left, she heard the whisper of feet moving through grass. Her hands tightened on the handle of her cane sword, and she flicked it up, ready to pull free. The footsteps were closer now, and she felt a slight whiff of air tickle the downy hairs on her cheek. She twisted her body to the side and deflected the blade with hers. The vibrations from the clash of metal on metal travelled down her blade, jarring her shoulders, making her hands go numb. She whirled away, dodging her second opponent’s blade only because the simulation had ramped up the non-visual elements of the story up to a level that matched the almost superpower senses the original material had imbued the blind swordsman with. The reek of the second opponent’s body odor, alerted her to the fact that he’d raised his arm to strike, and allowed her the time to avoid the whisper of the blade as it kissed through the fabric of her costume.

One of the six Ronin laughed, nastily.

“That’s another Ryo you owe us, grandma, on account of the trouble you’re causing us.” The leader said nastily, his voice cocky. “Don’t think we’ll go easy on you just because you’re old.”

The rest of the Ronin followed suit, and Kassandra smiled a wolfish grin as she charted out their positions in her mind, drawing mental paths between them, and running through the scenario in her mind.

“Don’t think I’ll go easy on you just because you’re inexperienced,” Kassandra retorted as she whirled into action. The thin straw sandals on her feet were a little ungainly, but they let her feel the ground beneath her feet far better than her standard combat boots, a boon given the uneven cobbled ground beneath her feet.

Her first strike hit something soft with a little bit of give. One of the men shrieked, and there was a wet spurt of metallic liquid on her face, the next managed to block her strike, but she brought her foot up in the general direction of his groin, managing to strike it near enough that the holographic ronin fell to the ground, groaning in agony. The four other men fell back, their breath coming in quick, panicked gasps.

Kassandra dropped back down into a crouch, her ears pricked, waiting. She listened to the whisper of grass brushing against the brigands’ legs, the crunch of stems beneath their feet, and smelt the pungent, vegetal scent of the bruised leaves. Two of the tricksy bastards were moving around to flank her, trying to attack her from both sides. Slowly, deliberately, the one in front of her broke a twig, clearly intending to draw her attention. She held her position for a split moment until she felt the breeze of the man behind her’s sword, then rolled to the side, grinning ferally as she heard the groans and curses of the two men when their blows found each other instead of their intended target.

“Come on, Shinsuke! She doesn’t look like she has any money anyway. We got better things to do than to defective old ladies.”

“Who you callin’ old!” Kassandra yelled at their retreating footsteps. She grinned. This was the most fun that she’d had in a holodeck. Usually she found the whole experience underwhelming- her sensor nets meant while everyone else was having a wonderful, realistic experience, she was keenly aware everything around her was fake. She’d have to thank Silsby for recommending she try this particular program.

It was just a shame she didn’t have anyone to share the adventure with. It would have been more fun with Barton, well, okay, it wouldn’t necessarily have been more fun, but it would have been fun to watch him struggle with it. She tried not to let that line of thought ruin her mood- she felt a little betrayed that the man had run off as he had, not that she was surprised. She more than anyone knew about hitting rock bottom, and was keenly familiar with the warning signs. She’d tried to find Barton after they’d released her from security, but to no avail.

**The chickenshit bastard,** Kassandra thought uncharitably, though she thought perhaps it stung as much as it did partially because she felt slightly abandoned.

“Excuse me,” a light, feminine voice said softly, cutting into her thoughts. There was a swish of silk, the scent of cedar and jasmine, the clip clop of wooden shoes against the ancient cobbled pavement, and suddenly soft feminine hands were clasped around Kassandra’s arm like some sort of annoying limpet. “Thank you so much for rescuing me from those brigands. I was so scared!”

“Pause!” Kassandra snapped. “Computer, I ain’t gonna be saddled with an annoyin’ wet blanket of a sidekick. I don’t do damsels in distress.”

[[I’m sorry. I do not understand you. Please repeat your command.]] The computer said cheerily.

“Make this girl a little more ballsy!”

[[I’m sorry I-]]

“Use archetype spunky sidekick!” Kassandra snapped.

[[Program changes have been made. Resuming program.]]

“Hey, that was amazing! I’ve never seen anyone fight like that! Can you teach me how to fight?” The woman said, tugging on Kassandra’s sleeve.

“Hold your horses. Who are you, an’ why are you out here all by your lonesome?”

“You talk funny, are you from Kansai or something?”

“You’re rude, were you born in a barnyard or something? Answer my questions.”

“My name is Yuki Miyaka, and I’m out here because my father gave me to the Ginzo Gang so that they wouldn’t force my brother to join them.” Miyaka’s voice quavered like she was on the verge of tears, but the spunky sidekick subroutine kicked in. “They’ve been terrorizing our village for months now, demanding money from everyone for ‘protection’ and most recently forcing our young men to join them so that they can begin moving operations into the city. I caught the eye of their boss, Ginzo Tadamasa, and he threatened my father, a wealthy merchant, and told him they’d take my brother unless he gave me to them.”

“Sounds like yer Paw’s a bit of a jerk. My name’s Thytos Kassandra. Listen, I can take ya home, and maybe further if yer family is willin’ or if yer wantin’, I suppose.”

“If… I… What?” The confusion was evident in her voice.

“I can take you home if you want, or, if you’re scared of them, I can take you further, on to Kyoto or somewhere they won’t be able to find you,” Kassandra said with a sigh. Her slang and idioms occasionally confused the computer, especially the ones that were one of her neologisms, or plain old branniganisms, as seemed to pop out of her mouth more and more often as she got older.

“It’d be better if you’d teach me to fight like you can!” Miyaka retorted stubbornly. “If I could fight like you, I’d show the Ginzo Gang a lesson they wouldn’t forget, and I’d run them out of my town!”

“And that would make you a very stupid woman,” Kassandra said shaking her head. “Ain’t no good to go lookin’ for a fight, nor tryin’ to solve your problems by fightin’. Trust me, I know. Alls you end up with is a lotta bloodshed and very little to show fer it. Better to think of another way.”

“There ain’t- isn’t any other way! If you knew what sort of stranglehold they had on us…” Miyaka’s voice quavered, momentarily. “Anyway, take me home, I’m sure papa would let me go with you if he was sure you’d be able to protect me.”

“I’m fairly sure you’re paw ain’t gonna be happy that you ain’t with the Ginzo Gang. He’s gonna be worryin’ that they’ll be coming after yer brother to get back at you fer them that got injured,” Kassandra said, shaking her head. “I’m afraid I probably make yer situation worse, not better. If you were smart, you’d go back home and not make them think you’re associated with me, or they’ll be thinkin’ about getting revenge.”

“It’s probably too late, besides, there’s a storm coming. You saved me, even if you aren’t willing to admit it, and I wouldn’t let you stay out in the rain.”

“There’s a storm coming?” Kassandra sniffed the air, and stretched her hands out in front of her. The sunlight still seemed as warm and strong as it had been, and the woods still smelled of damp and moss and the girl’s cedar perfume.

“Yes, can’t you see the clouds over the mountain pass?” Confusion filled Miyaka’s voice.

“Kid, I’m blind as a bat. Can’t see nothin’.”

“Well, it’s coming, I promise you. We better hurry though, or we won’t make it over the pass before it starts.” Miyaka grabbed her elbow again and tugged her onwards. Kassandra sheathed her sword and used the cane to tap her way forwards, stumbling only occasionally.

As it happened, they didn’t manage to make it over the pass in time. Kassandra’s progress was too slow, unaccustomed as she was to operating without her sensor nets. Even though the road was fairly straight and flat, she was still too cautious to move quickly.

“How can you be so good with a sword, and so bad at walking?” her travelling companion lamented, as Kassandra, felt her way over a small foot bridge on hands and knees. “It’s going to rain soon, and we’ve still got a few miles to go.”

“Listen, Kid. Why don’t I tie somethin’ over your eyes, and we’ll see how fast you walk. ‘Sides, swordplay is different from walkin’. Way less motion, way more refinement, way less possibility of walkin’ off of cliffs. Jus’ sayin’,” Kassandra said. They walked in silence for a moment or two, before Kassandra felt a wet, freezing cold drip of water smack with an uncomfortable sting right on the back of her neck, dribbling down her shoulder. She squawked, as another caught her in her ear. “Alright, I guess I’ll try to put some gas into it. Jus’ for you though.”

She started out thinking that it would be fine, but whomever had programmed the holoprogram really had gone for complete realism, and perhaps had forgotten to tone down this section of the program, so the scent, the sound, and the sensation of the rain was nearly overwhelming, especially to Kassandra. Not that she prided herself on having heightened senses or anything like that- the amount of mental effort it took to use her sensor nets was at least equal to the amount of effort used for sight, so it wasn’t as though she was going to be developing her other senses any time soon- but it was more that she was more *aware* of her other senses.

The rain came down like bullets, it was bitterly cold in a way that made her bones ache, her clothes weighed her down, their soaked fabric clinging to her limbs, and there was a very unpleasant sensation of mud squishing up through the soles of her shoes and insinuating itself in between her toes. She was tempted to tell the holoprogram to tone it down, but that felt like it would be admitting defeat, so she soldiered on, the roar of the rain in her ears, leaning into every buffeting gust of rain that threatened to knock her over. Miyaka was surprisingly quiet, she bore her discomfort nearly as stoically as Kassandra, though her teeth chattered, and she squeaked every time the wind blew particularly hard, shaking down more moisture from the trees above. It seemed as though they’d been going for hours, though Kassandra couldn’t imagine that this systems test really could be going on that long, when finally Miyaka grabbed her elbow and pulled her off to the left.

There was a dull thud of her fists on wood- a door maybe- and Miyaka yelled something unintelligible over the thundering rain. There was a long pause, and then suddenly the creak of hinges, and another voice exchanged a terse conversation with Miyaka, and Kassandra suddenly found herself being gently pushed and led by several sets of hands onto some slick, flat paving stones, then gently guided up some steps, and pushed into a hallway. She blinked rivulets of water out of her eyes, and coughed gently at the heavy sandlewood incense that forced its way into her her nose, the acrid tinge of it making her throat smart.

Miyaka was arguing with a man, her father, Kassandra surmised by the tone she was taking with him.

“She saved my life, and you know it! You have to take her in, it would be dishonorable not to. You can’t send her back out into the storm.”

“Do you know what you have done, girl? Ginzo will be back here with blood on his mind, and if he thinks for a moment that this swordswoman is working for you, we’re as good as dead!” Her father bellowed back.

“And if they’d gotten me back to Ginzo, I would have been as good as dead!”

“Listen, far be it from me to get in the middle of things, but I don’t mean to cause you any problems. I’ll be out of here as soon as the rain clears, an’ I’d be happy to take Miyaka-sama with me, an’ you can tell Ginzo that she ain’t never come back, that I musta taken her to sell to the pleasure courts in Edo or somethin’.”

Miyaka’s father conferred with a second male voice- Kassandra assumed that it was Miyaka’s brother.

“Fine. We will let you stay here, have a bath, and give you dry clothes and new sandals, but I want you gone from here before morning, rain or shine. Do you hear me?”

“Much thanks, sir.” Kassandra bowed to the man, and then was whisked off by servants to eat and bathe. She enjoyed the chance to soak in some perfumed waters. It was her dirty little secret. She loved bubble baths, and all sorts of scented toiletries and frippery. It was her good fortune that people were usually to scared of her to stand close enough to notice that she occasionally smelled of such un-soldierly things as roses, bananas, citrus, and vanilla cupcakes. That said, it seemed rather nonsensical to her for a holoprogram to have baths in it, though she supposed the junior officers who grew up planetside might long for a water bath instead of their sonic showers. But really, what would happen if the fire alarms came on or something while you were in the nip? Or there was a holodeck malfunction? Just walk out of the holodeck in the altogether? Or try to get your clothes on while there was the real possibility the area you were in was about to burst into flames? Kassandra knew her choice, she had no compunctions about nudity, but she knew she was in the minority.

As it was, the fire alarm didn’t go off, and she was treated to a massage and wrapped in some comfortable robes, and fed some tasty foods that she’d never had before. Of course, she was just getting comfortable and enjoying the fading memory of the rain and the cold when all of a sudden she heard the sound of the front gate crashing in and footsteps filling the front courtyard.

“Yuuki, where’s your daughter? I know she’s in there. She’s mine, don’t you forget that you rat bastard. Bring her here, or I’ll burn this house and your stores down around you ears, or my name’s not Ginzo Tadamasa!” a man’s voice bellowed.

Kassandra sighed and felt around for her shikome-zue.

So much for being warm and dry.

* * *=/\=* * *

NRPG: It's not great, but it exists!

Alix Fowler
As

Kassandra Thytos
A Blind Swordsman who secretly would probably love a spa day,
USS PHOENIX