The S.S. Olympus -under refurbishment

Chapter IX: Matres Dolore

 Cornelia smiled to herself as she moved back over to her 'gift'. "Whatever his intention, the result is I will enjoy it." On its screen was a scroll symbol that read 'Bibliotheca' and another symbol that had two masks, one happy one sad, and it said 'ostendes'. She pressed the scroll symbol and what appeared on her screen was wealth beyond measure. It was thousands of stories from across the galaxy, translated into Roman, in the palm of her hand. She clicked back to the masks, and then clicked on one of the images. The 'play'  and 'players' were so realistic it felt like she was watching someone else's life in real-time. 

True to Hades' promise all names, titles, spoken, and written items had been translated into her native tongue.  On her first day, Hades had given her a device that worked as a conversational translator, but it was nice to have something entirely in her own tongue. The crew did usually speak the Roman tongue for her benefit, and theirs. They were working on immersive translation practice, for when they encountered humans and the off chance their translator did not work, but when they did not she was forced to listen to an automated version of what they said. The voice of the computer was strange. It held a disembodied authority and reverberation that she struggled to get used to. With it pinned so close to her lapel, she not only heard the translation she felt it. 

"Did he see how it made me uncomfortable?" She shook her head. "of course not, he would not care about something like that. He probably considers it a weakness and further proof I am inferior in every way." A deep part of her mind piped up a question she was not ready to acknowledge. Why do you care what he thinks? 

A terrible smell drifted into her nose just as she settled in to explore this new gadget. She sniffed again and realized it was herself. She gently set the display on the silver stand next to her bed. She looked down at her armor, which she never bothered to change and smiled. Something about the armored leather corset and dark leather war skirt with metal beading empowered her. She could have any clothing in the world, and the gods knew there were more comfortable options, but something about wearing what the great gladiators of her time wore, made her feel more indomitable. 

She carefully hung up the leather armor and examined it one last time. The replicators on the ship had created it in seconds. In Rome, it would have taken the finest smith days to accomplish something even close.  It was no less of a piece for it. Artemis insisted That Cornelia choose a style of Armor to wear for her training. The same style she would wear on the road. Her reasoning was it was best to get used to its gives and takes. The weight of it on her skin, and to understand its limits as well as her own.  It also explained why Artemis never took hers off.  

"I do not think I will be quite that dedicated," When her very human and very potent smell hit her nose again she stepped into the shower. She barely remembered sitting on her bed when an alarm blared on the ship that turned all of the light in her room an uncomfortable shade of flickering red. Alarms were a rather common occurrence, considering the S.S. Olympus was in shambles. Footsteps she imagined belonged to Hades pounded past her door likely to follow through with whatever item in the ship was malfunctioning now. So Cornelia did her best to ignore the sound, as she was already engrossed in the moving image on her screen. 

Zeus' voice sounded over the comm "Everyone to the bridge now." Cornelia placed the treasured gift on her bed and trudged out of the room. Furious with the interruption.

Zeus was lounging in the captain's chair, his feet resting on a console. "Listen up, we have reason to believe that the creature unit 7 of the 9th quadrant of the S.S. Inferis, is located near the town of Cleonae."