[Backsim] MdJG Jovenan – The honeypot that fell for a fly
Jovenan
((Near Holodecks 3&4, Deck 3, USS Artemis))
Jovenan didn’t know what she was doing.
Her objective had been to gain information about the Starfleet weapons systems, and her chosen method was to seduce the Chief Tactical Officer to give her that data. The ruse had turned out to be as obvious to Sil as it had been to Vik. Yet still, Sil hadn’t disengaged even if her deception had been revealed. Neither was she.
They were walking down a corridor to whatever surprise Sil had in mind. Neither of them trusted the other entirely, and the only thing Jovenan could do to remedy that was to apologize for Vik blurting out her plan and tell how little she knew about the other trans-universal hoppers. But they had agreed not to talk about work, and this conversation was approaching that topic too fast.
Jovenan: ::cheerier:: But let’s not care about them! Where are we going?
They reached a door, different from the others, and Sil accessed an interface near the arch surrounding the door. Jovenan was curious.
Silveira: I believe you are aware of holographic technology, we just add a few things to make it a more realistic experience. This is our holodeck.
Jovenan: Holograms? Yes, we have some, used for training for example. But I’m not sure what you mean with a holographic deck.
Sil winked at her as he entered the final input to the interface.
Silveira: I am certain you will be pleasantly surprised. Now do you wish to dress the part. We don’t have to but I can set us up with a change of clothes so we fit in better. ::he shrugged:: Just to give an ambiance.
Jovenan: Clothes? Uh, sure, I can do that.
He gestured Jovenan to stand closer to him, in front of the door, and Jovenan obliged. They stood side by side as the doors before them opened, revealing bright light shining to the corridor.
((Vienna Imperial Palace, Holodeck 3, Deck 3, USS Artemis))
Behind the heavy doors of the holodeck, a hall appeared. Directly in front of them was another pair of doors, nothing alike the ones she had seen on the Artemis or anywhere else for that matter. Wooden, decorated and painted with beautiful images, the doors hung on pristine white walls with statues and golden ornaments in shape of flowers. Jovenan watched inside in amazement, when Sil took her hand. Following his gentle pull, Jovenan entered the seemingly real palace in this single room on the ship.
Silveira: Let me give you some context, we are in Vienna's Imperial Palace around the year 1815. The Napoleonic Wars have ended and while the Diplomats reshape Europe, they took some off time in these evening balls that we are attending. ::He let go of her and pointed to the smaller door on the left.:: There is your changing room. I hope you like what I set for you, but you can summon a Holo Maid to help you dress, and bring something else if you like to change. The first to get ready waits for the other.
Jovenan wasn’t entirely over the unreal feeling as Sil spoke. She looked around, trying to understand the topology of the room larger than could fit on the deck, with the archway they had entered standing in the middle, the room continuing behind it as if the walls and the corridor didn’t exist on this side of the arch. She might have missed a part of Sil’s explanation of the palace’s background, with names she didn’t know and places alien to her. She understood this place was in the history, and after briefly wondering if they had time travelled, she figured this must all be an elaborate illusion.
She looked at the smaller door Sil had pointed at, and then back to him. There was one question that was important but unanswered.
Jovenan: This place is so beautiful; I can’t believe you created this for me! But… why? But why are you showing this to me?
Silveira: I just want you to enjoy yourself. See you in a bit.
Sil entered the door on the right, while Jovenan walked towards the one he had pointed to her. Behind it, she found a smaller room, less intricate than the previous but luxurious, nonetheless. The walls were nearly invisible behind a vast selection of clothes of various colours and materials, and at the centre she saw a table. On the table lied one more set of clothes in neatly packed form; stockings, petticoat, shoes, other pieces of outfit she couldn’t name, and the centrepiece, a long dress with decorative embroidery.
Jovenan studied the clothes set aside for her. She knew holographic things can seem real, but they also felt so real she couldn’t believe they were not really there. Understanding the assignment, Jovenan removed her dirtied uniform and tried to figure out how to put on each item. After a while, she was no closer to the solution, but she recalled Sil saying she may ask for a maid. And just as he had instructed, a woman in black dress appeared by her command, curtsied in front of her and picked just the right items from the table in the correct order. Jovenan mostly stood still as the maid clothed her and did her makeup and hair, and she felt the warm touch of the non-corporeal woman as if it was real. She didn’t know if it was, and she didn’t want to care either.
All done, she bid goodbye to the maid before stepping out, back to the hall they had been earlier. There she saw a man in complicated, blue and red uniform with several golden decorations, looking intensively at something in the room. It took her a moment to recognize him, and as she did, Sil turned to her and noticed her. His expression changed, drastically, and while Jovenan couldn’t tell what he thought, she raised a sweet smile to her lips, twisting her body just to make the skirt of her dress twirl a little.
Silveira: You're beautiful…
Jovenan blushed. It was an alien feeling to her. On Rubicun, in the whole universe away, she had lived the life of an Edo, and never felt this. She didn’t know what to call it, but she knew one thing. She had tried to trap Sil, and if this was his trap for her, she had fallen deep inside and kept burrowing even further down. She didn’t care.
Jovenan: ::bashfully:: Thank you. You look… handsome.
Sil broke the enchantment on him and smiled. He stepped closer to her, emitting a new aura of regality, and offered his hand to her. Jovenan raised her hand and placed it on Sil’s hand, and he hold it gently.
Silveira: I knew you would make an impression, but not like this. You look astonishing. Shall we?
Jovenan: But I don’t know what to do.
Silveira: Just follow my lead. I hope you like it.
Holding her by her hand, Sil lead her towards the larger pair of doors, which parted as they approached. A rush of intoxicating excitement took over her as she stepped through the doorway with Sil to a glamourous hall, decorated to the extreme and filled with people and voices.
Jovenan couldn’t understand how they could still be in the single room on the Artemis, but she had lost her interest in trying to as well. For all she cared, they were in a palace in historical Earth, in another universe that knew not of suffering.
Sil removed his hat and his weapon and gave them to a servant before taking Jovenan’s hand again.
Herald: MEDIATOR JOVENAN AND LIEUTENANT SILVEIRA, OPENING THE BALL.
The announcement silenced the audience, and they all turned to them. Never had she been in the middle of such attention, and she wouldn’t have known what to do if it weren’t for Sil besides her, guiding her towards the centre of the room gently by her hand. As the passed the rows of onlookers, Jovenan could hear them whisper to one another: “She’s a foreign Princess”, “They make such a lovely couple”, “I heard she knows mathematics and philosophy”, “I love her dress and hair”.
Jovenan blushed. It was almost as if all her confidence in herself had melted away and reemerged, stronger, within the span of minutes. The barely audible praises made her feel a warm tingle within her more than any other word spoken to her yet.
Silveira: Surprise.
She turned her head to see his face, turned to her. His low voice uttering the single word made her heart race as her sight was captivated to his steely eyes, looking directly at her. He had charmed her, put on a spell that prevented her from speaking but with a meek whisper.
Jovenan: Thank you, Sil.
They reached the centre of the hall and stopped there, standing a few steps from one another, while the audience gathered to a circle around them. Jovenan smiled, until she heard a sound. It was slow at first, individual notes made by string instruments Jovenan didn’t know and couldn’t tell apart from the sound alone. The notes began to form a melody when Sil stepped closer, bowed and offered his hand again in an invitation to a dance. Jovenan looked from side to side, quickly, but the audience stood still and kept looking at her.
Jovenan: Sil… I don’t know how…
Silveira: Response
Encouraged, Jovenan curtsied, and placed her right hand softly over Sil’s extended palm. Sil stepped even closer to her, guided her left hand onto his right shoulder before placing his right hand to her back. There was space between them, their torsos didn’t touch, but the distance felt like non-existent as Jovenan stood in his arms, looking up to his eyes her eyes widened. Then the music sped up.
Jovenan didn’t know the steps, as Sil did his best to lead her around. Peeking at her feet constantly, Jovenan tried not to step either on his feet nor get her feet under his, as Sil directed them around a small circle. Lumbering and fumbling clumsily for a while, Jovenan identified a rhythm in their dance: right foot forward, feet together, sidestep; left foot backwards, together, sidestep; one, two, three, one, two… Improving to a tolerable level, she could remove her eyes from their feet and raise her sight to his eyes.
Silveira: Response
Jovenan: What do you…
Before explanation, Jovenan felt Sil’s grasp of her loosening and her right hand raising above her head, under Sil’s guidance, and his hand twisted her hand just a little, so that she herself went into a swirling motion under the elevated hands almost without thinking. It was as if their surroundings had lost the meaning of time. Her skirt flew in a large circle around her as she walked around the imaginary axis. Jovenan noticed mid-swirl that other people in the audience had joined them in dance, but she didn’t look at them for long as she closed her eyes and laughed excitedly.
The swirl ended. She opened her eyes, stumbling a little as she once again faced Sil, having to take support of him as she stopped in motion. Very close to him, she could almost feel his heartbeat. Looking at him, she felt the urge to rise to her tiptoes, lean against his athletic body and kiss his lips.
Jovenan: ::laughs:: I love this!
Silveira: Response
“I love this!” That’s what she had said.
She could have said: “I don’t want this to end”.
But what she wanted to say…
“I don’t want to go back”.
TAG/TBC
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Mediator JG Jovenan
Science officer (secondment)
CIC Desdemona
E239911J11