Moving Mountains

Posted on Fri Apr 19th, 2019 @ 1:22pm by Lieutenant Commander Mnhei'sahe Dox & Commander Rita Paris

Mission: Detours
Location: USS Hera, Deck 4, Flight Control Office
Timeline: 2396

After having escorted the elder Dox onboard and getting the news that she would, for the foreseeable future, be assigned to duty aboard the USS Hera, that meant that somewhere out there, Mnhei’sahe Dox was likely dealing with a lot of emotional baggage and some confrontation of facts that she’d rather not have to face. Her last encounter with her mother had been less than positive- it had, in fact, ended with a shouting match, which had both saddened and angered the old-school officer.

While her own father had proven time and again that there would never be any reconciliation in his lifetime, he had now been dead for over a hundred years, in a universe that no longer existed. So Rita wasn’t exactly waiting for him to change, even were he just a comm call away.

But Lieutenant Dox could still repair that relationship with her rigid and unyielding mother, who had lied to protect her daughter, not seeing that the lie was what drove them apart. At least, she could if her mother was willing, which had proven to not be the case thus far. While her own family life had always been miserable, Paris very much wanted to believe in the bonds of family.

In fact, she tended to forge one out of the materials at hand. Her husband was the greatest man she had ever known, who had crossed space and time to reunite with her; leaving behind his entire reality for her. Enalia Telvan was like the sister she had always wanted- brash and bold and a bit underhanded, yet she so desperately wanted to be on the side of the angels, to do good and be better.

Then there was Mnhei’sahe Dox.

When she had come aboard, the woman had been furtive, evasive, uncertain of herself and might have languished in obscurity save for the fact that Rita Paris saw a lot of herself in the young woman. She had taken a very specific interest, compounded when it was revealed that Dox was an amazingly intuitive pilot with skills light years beyond her peers. Dragging the anxious young woman out of her shell, bit by bit, they had grown close, naming one another as sisters, for the young Romulan woman was very much like Rita herself in so many ways, and the two had built a bond of trust that Rita treasured.

Ever since their most recent escapade, wherein a number of the senior staff had forged a group-mind mental link in order to reach out to the titan Gaia to convince her to stop terraforming planets and leave this reality peacefully, Dox had been distant. Part of Paris’ mental process was to imagine that perhaps she had seen something in the others that had caused the private Romulan to retreat. But she had given time and space on this one, giving the young woman who was terrified of mental intrusion her own space to process. Knowing that she would come to her First Officer if she needed help dealing with it, if she needed to talk, or if she just needed a friend.

With the addition of Jaeih Dox to the crew, Lieutenant Dox had been a bit stiff and formal, and again, Paris had given the woman her space. She had visited the elder Dox before bringing Mnhei’sahe to visit her when they were on Earth. While the meeting between herself and Mrs. Dox had gone well, it had been disastrous for Mnhei’sahe, ending with her leaving in tears. Which had raised considerable scorn in Rita, who had, in turn, shamed the older woman.

Which had produced its own results, as apparently, her single word shaming had been sufficient to convince Mrs. Dox that she was hated by the anachronistic astronaut, given her words and reactions since coming aboard.

For now, the primary concern of Commander Rita Paris was the welfare of one Lieutenant Mnhei’sahe Dox. Given her distance of late, the anachronistic astronaut was torn between giving her space or meddling, but in the end, she had to follow her heart, as she always did. Which meant that it was time to hunt down the Chief Flight Control officer and have a conversation, if for no other reason than to just reassure the comely commander that the little lieutenant was all right. Which was what brought her to the flight control office on Deck 4 today.

“If the mountain will not come to Mohammed…” Paris muttered as she strode into the office.

Sitting at her desk in the Flight Control Office, the Lieutenant in question had her head buried in her desktop computer. There were a few PaDD's scattered about on her desk and a large cup of black, Romulan coffee sitting next to the model of the Refit U.S.S. Exeter that Rita had left there when she bequeathed the office to Dox.

Taking a good half a second to notice the opening door, Mnhei'sahe pulled her head up from her screen with a slightly startled expression. "Oh, Hello Commander. Can I help you?"

Sitting up at a casual attention, Mnhei'sahe Dox looked a little tired. A bit green around the eyes, with no makeup on and her curly auburn hair pulled back into a neat ponytail.

“Unofficial business, Miss Dox,” Paris said softly as she crossed the room to stand in front of the desk covered with work. Taking in the desk, the appearance and all of the factors involved, Paris chose her words carefully as she settled down into the seat opposite the Romulan rebel. When she spoke, her voice was neither sharp nor accusatory, but that of a concerned friend. “How about you tell me what’s going on, hmm?”

Settling back in her seat slightly, Dox let herself relax a little bit. To the casual observer, the difference might have been unnoticeable but the red-headed Romulan knew that Rita Paris could very likely read the change in her body language from space. But in this case, it was a genuine show of mild relief. "Do I look that bad? heh..."

“Not to the casual observer, but… you’ve been distant of late. I wanted to give you time to work things out on your own, but… I worry, too. So, unofficial check-up time.” Holding her hands up, Paris offered a small smile. “I’m just a little concerned… it’s been an eventful few days, even for us.”

The slight chuckle wasn't melancholy or tinged with depression, just a sense of mild emotional exhaustion. "Yeah. It was a long night and... a weirder morning. I spent most of the night trying to avoid thinking about my Mother living down the corridor from us and failed miserably. Mona helped, but you know how I can spiral in my thoughts. But I wanted to try and sleep on it and approach her fresh in the morning and hopefully with a clearer head and better perspective."

“So… how did that go?” Unconsciously the concerned chrononaut leaned in, her expression clearly betraying her trepidation about the situation.

"Actually... uh... kind of... good. I'm still trying to process everything, really. It was a lot to take in, but she actually opened up." Dox leaned back in her seat and ran a hand through her slightly bushy bangs. With an awkward chuckle, she continued. "I don't really know how to deal with that. With her actually telling me the real truth. But according to Mona, she didn't lie once. She broke down right in front of me and cried."

To which Dox rolled her eyes a little and smirked lightly. "Which, then I cried and it all snowballed from there." Sitting back up, she leaned forward on the desk as she continued. "She said she sent you a report on everything she didn't tell you and the captain during her interview?"

“She did, and I’ve read it. I… decided not to watch the sensor feeds from your conversation in the brig, or your conversation in her quarters,” the fulsome first officer admitted. “While it is a Security issue, it’s… personal. Family business. I didn’t want to intrude, and I’ve felt a bit of distance lately, so I wanted to give you your space, as it were. But all is well?”

"I don't know, honestly. I want to believe that she is sincere. I know she didn't directly lie, but I've let my guard down with her so many times before that I'm still scared." The conflicted young chief hung her head slightly. "And I'm already beating myself up for wanting to believe that this time will be different. But... is it stupid that I want it to be different, Rita? That I want to believe her this time?"

The expression on the face of the first officer spoke volumes as she glued her knees together and leaned forward, elbows on her knees. “My father had me locked into an arranged marriage, disintegrated me, kidnapped me, tried to brainwash me, poisoned me and blocked my career advancement at every opportunity. He was stubborn, sexist, racist, and overall we can summarize by pointing out that he was a terrible parent.”

“But through all of that, I never stopped hoping that somehow he might actually become the hero he had raised me to believe he was. That he might see the light and maybe even be proud of me.” Shaking her head ruefully, Rita sighed. “It was never going to happen, of course. But I never lost that hope, Mnhei’sahe. As foolish and ill-advised and illogical as it was, I could never truly give up on him. He was my father, and I spent so much of my life trying to make him proud of me."

"Well, until I realized that was impossible… and then I learned to be proud of myself, because I should be,” Rita preened a bit comically.

“Point being, no, Miss Dox. I don’t think it’s foolish to want to believe that your mother may just have realized that the lies she told to protect you were only costing her the very daughter she was trying to protect,” Rita spoke with her hands, as she was wont to do. “Her deal with the Captain was a simple one- she didn’t ask for anything but that we keep you safe from the Tal-Shiar, which we were going to do anyway. I hesitate to interfere in your family business again, seeing how it worked out last time… but if she’s playing us, she is playing us all, including the captain. And frankly, I don’t that’s the case. At least, I’d like to believe that… and I most assuredly do not blame you for hoping this might be a genuine act of contrition on her part.”

Sitting back in her chair, Rita scissored her legs to cross them at the knee, an oddly demure maneuver for a Starfleet officer, but par for the course for the perennially miniskirted maiden. ”She spent sixteen years hiding you and teaching you to be self-sufficient, deadly and capable. No parent does that who isn’t afraid of what the universe will do to their child. I daresay she has been motivated by fear for a very long time, and it might be a much a relief for her as it is for you. I could be wrong, and I will admit it… but fool me, the captain and you too? No offense, but I just don’t think she’s that good.”

The red-headed Romulan listened and absorbed her friend and commanders words for a long moment without saying anything. She had a slightly concerned expression as she picked up on of the PaDDs. "Then... I guess it's one day at a time. I give her a chance and try not to get in my own way to create problems that aren't there."

“Trust is a very delicate thing, in my experience. And when it is abused, it tends to make one less and less willing to trust. But… if she’s genuine. If she is really making that effort… “ Paris paused, shaking her head. “I don’t want to make this worse than I already have. So I’m not going to offer any advice, beyond… trust yourself. Trust your instincts, your intuition, and follow your heart. If you end up being wrong, that’s on her. But if it is real and she’s genuinely trying to bridge the gap and move that mountain… you might owe it to yourself to give her that chance?”

Smiling slightly, Dox nodded a bit. "Thank you. I'm going to try. Ultimately, I want to try. It... it felt good to think that maybe I might have a Mother this morning when we talked. I... I want to hold on to at least that out of... well... everything else."

Changing the subject slightly, Mnhei'sahe held up the PaDD in her hand. "Which I guess leaves me worrying about what she actually said. I looked up everything we had on my so-called Grandmother and it said nothing useful. A Fleet Commander for seven years. Director of the Tal'Shiar for twenty years. A Senator now for nine. Almost no useful information meaning she probably did everything my Mother said and more if there are almost no records."

Handing the Padd to Rita, there was a picture of a cold-faced Romulan woman on it that looked for all the world like an older version of Mnhei'sahe herself. Older. A slight bit trimmer but still thickly built, with salt and pepper hair, pulled back into a knot. But the same basic face, clad in a black uniform with the trademark broad shoulder pads Romulans were known for. "Don't think I need any more genetic tests from Asa to confirm this one."

“Wow… yeah, it runs strong in your family. Maybe you could go back to the shorter cut to look a little less severe…” Paris remarked. “We really are the ‘USS Parental Issues’. Broken awful families produce great heroes, apparently. So how do you feel about all of these revelations? Pardon the comparison, but sounds like your Granny Goodness here could give my dear old dad a run for his money in the crappy parenting department.”

"I was thinking of letting my hair grow back out until I saw this. I don't think I can get an appointment with Sharonne fast enough, now." Dox chuckled slightly. "But yeah. Me, you, Asa, Mona, the Captain. It seems like this ship really does attract the broken toys. Maybe that's why Hera ended up here. We sure could use a patron saint."

"I almost feel numb about everything. A lot of it makes sense, really. I ended up being a little too good at Llaekh-ae'rl to believe an engineer trained me. Tal'Shiar enforcer... fits a lot of what I know about her. It... it scares me, honestly. How much of her... of both of them... is in me, ya' know?" Dox admitted, somewhat sheepishly.

“Ah ah ah, noooo, we’re not going there," Paris waved her finger back and forth. "Look- I know you. I daresay I might know you better than anyone on this boat save Mona. And I can say, with 100 percent certainty, that you are everything good in a Starfleet officer- honest, forthright, direct, brave, loyal, determined, and with a strength of character that will never, ever allow you to become what you came from. Who we come from does not define who we are- our choices define us. Your choices have defined you, and you didn’t run off to the Romulans, you ran off to join the fleet. That speaks volumes about you right there.”

“My question to you is, how much of who they were are you willing to become? Because that, Lieutenant, is the real answer, and the answer you will ask yourself when you find yourself at a crossroads. Me, I have confidence in your answer.” Paris spoke, as she always did, directly and from the heart, honest to a fault.

"None. I'm already uncomfortable with how much of that I see in myself. In my anger. In my... willingness to hurt people. I don't like these things about myself, Rita. And I'm working hard to be better then I was yesterday." This line of questions led Dox to a subject she knew was a source of concern for both Rita and herself. And a subject the young Lieutenant feared was steadily driving a wedge between the two women. "And I... I know this... Tribunal is challenging all of that. Opening up doors that are going to call to everything I've tried to get away from. But it's been a risk I've been willing to take because of the Captain... and Kodria up until now. But up until now, I've had the luxury of time. Maybe it's for the best that I've learned all of this... so it can remind me of what I could become if I'm not beyond focused on who I want to be."

At the mention of the Tribunal, Paris' eyebrows came up together at the center and rose, and she stood to pace, taking first one small step. "I feel... I fear... that in what's to come there may come a moment where a compromise of principle would be easier, more expedient." Taking a step, Paris began a short slow pace, walking through the dilemma facing her. "In that moment, I feel that it is most important to cleave to my principles... and to do so for you and the Captain as well. I know I am acting as a self-appointed conscience, but I feel I need to... which means serving as an example myself."

"I've already compromised the first principle because I agreed to support her. If I was not a hypocrite, I would have taken a stand and told her no, but... I can't." The lost navigator took odd pivots as she paced, as the Flight Control office was large enough to hold the entire department at assembly, yet only had to desks and a simulator, with a kitchenette and its own matter reclamator. "I agreed to all of this before you came aboard, and that complicated things. If it was just me risking my career, which, to be honest, the admiralty seems to get us out of just about anything, so even this I suspect, fully reported by me, she would brand as an 'anti-insurrection undercover operation' and pin a medal on me for it."

"But you..." Paris sighed and locked eyes with Dox, then began wagging her finger at the Romulan bird of prey. "You just... jumped at the chance, and I don't judge you negatively for it, I don't, I just worry. You know," Rita waved with an open hand in her direction and wobbled her head a bit. "Somehow though I am willing to take the risk, I am unwilling to let you risk your career. Or Thex. I probably won't be able to stop Doc..." The bombastic blonde took a deep breath and sighed heavily, a somewhat seismic action.

"I question if I should be trying to stop you." The gold-clad commander stopped, spreading her arms, palm up. "Am I standing for principle, or am I just being a stubborn old-fashioned hypocrite?"

"You're just trying to do what you always do. You protect us. Sometimes from ourselves. That's just who you are." Dox replied with a certainty in her voice. But that certainly drained away quickly afterwards.

"When it started... It seemed good. The Captain just asked me to fly her to that auction. We took Baroness von Alcott's ship and it was Romulan. I was a pilot that knew the language and the tech. It made sense." Dox replied, thinking through everything that led them to where they were now. "She... It was the first time we ever really talked and she told me she knew my Mother. That they worked together back in the day. That... she had arranged for her to be moved to where we could talk. The Captain wanted to help me reconnect and I had been so... alone.. for so long. I jumped at the opportunity."

Leaning forward, Mnhei'sahe leaned over her desk and rested her head on her hands. "That's where she gave me the ID. Made me a Baroness. Where this all started. And when the tribunal became a reality, and the Captain explained why it was happening, and that if I chose to, that appointment would be made real so I could help, I didn't even consider saying no. Her mother wanted to... to take her DNA. Make a child from her against her will. It was a violation. And... after everything that has been done to me, I didn't even... I had to do whatever I could. How could I not?"

"Then... step by step... It kept getting deeper. The ship and the training. The vote. What Kodira said. My mother." Dox was trembling slightly.

The anxious young Romulan shut her eyes tight for a second. "I still need to help. I promised I would because I believed it was right. I still do. But I'm terrified of what it may cost me. Not just my career... But the friendships that... that I don't know how to live without. Asa. You. Friendships that already feel like they're slipping away."

Stepping around the chair, Rita Paris settled back into her seat. "I'm not going anywhere. I gave you some room after that whole mind meld. I'm used to it, Sonak acted as a bit of a switchboard, but I knew you'd had a lot of... anxiety over telepathic issues. Afterward, you seemed to need some space, and I knew Mona was watching out for you, so I took a light hand and gave you room to figure things out on your own. With the Tribunal... you do raise a point."

Before speaking, Paris chose her words carefully, frowning in concentration. "I was an accident- I couldn't have been planned for because I was a random act of the universe. Unless... she knew the coordinates, knew when I'd be there and knew the Section 31 transporter could reassemble me. But that's... farfetched. You, on the other hand... if she arranged for you to be here that means she's been keeping tabs on you for a very long time. This is a very long game the Captain's been playing."

"She's been to the past. This ship has had a lot of interaction with time," Paris was on to something, but she paused on another point. "Kodria... what exactly did she tell you?"

It wasn't a hard day for the anxious aviatrix to remember. Her newly restored Romulan hormones were running hot, and it was the first time that Mona expressed that she knew about Dox's attraction to her. It was a frustrating, intoxicating day that was fairly well burned in Dox's memory. It was also the first time she had really talked with the young Android from the future that called both women in the room 'aunt'.

"She said... hold on." As Dox struggled to remember Kodira's exact words, she realized she didn't need to. "Our conversation was in the Unlucky Lady. It wasn't much but..."

Tapping out instructions, she pulled up the flight recording logs from the day in question and there on her computer screen appeared the memory, preserved holographically. In spite of herself, Mnhei'sahe found her heart swell up at the sight of the young Android that had endeared herself so strongly to so many in such a short time.

Scrolling through the archive, she stopped it at the right moment and hit play. In the Flight Control office, Kodira's voice echoed as Dox moved the file to the rooms holoprojector in the center of the room for Rita to see. "Yeah... Aunt Rita and Maica and mom... They all taught me wonderful things, but most of it was safe. You and the pirates took me to bars and we talked about love and personal stuff so... I think I might be more relaxed around you. If there's anything I can do to help you, I'd like to."

Pausing the recording there, Dox stood up and walked over to stand in front of the projection. "At the time, I felt good. Knowing that I had some kind of positive impact on her, ya' know. She was... She's something special."

"Yes... she will be," Rita replied.

Turning back, the young Romulan's eyes shined with restrained tears. Tears even Dox were uncertain were for the happy memory or her uncertain fate. "Me and the Pirates, she said. In another conversation... in my quarters when I was recovering from my little spacewalk, she called me one of the Captains that helped raise her."

Reaching her hand up to almost touch the face of the projection, Dox's voice sunk a bit. "Whatever is going to happen, I'm... I'm still a goddamn pirate in a hundred years."

At that, the brow of Rita Paris furrowed. "At what point did she specifically tell you that you were not a Starfleet captain in the future, Miss Dox?"

As the anxiety-riddled lieutenant opened her mouth to reply, she froze on Rita's words for the moment. For a few seconds, a string of protests could be seen running across Dox's face and just as clearly, Rita could see those protests being shot down internally by the simple logic of her question.

After a few seconds, Dox's face scrunched as the implications of Rita's question exploded across her mind. "She... She didn't. She said I was... How did she say it... She called me 'one of her captains.' And she said I was still with the pirates. But she didn't say how. I just made the worst possible assumption and let it fester."

"Captain Dox... I have every confidence that if you live for the next 90 years, Miss Dox, that if you remain in good standing then you will certainly command in Starfleet. I have put considerable time and effort into preparing you for just such an eventuality, and I have the utmost confidence in your ability. And if you choose not to join the Admiralty, it will likely be because you have chosen to retire from Starfleet as a captain."

"Should you enter service with the pirates afterward... Captain Magnus won't be around forever, and it sounds suspiciously like the Captain has been grooming you for purposes of her own for quite some time. Speculation," Paris held up a finger, her body language an imitation of that of her logical husband.

"But speculation and prognostication based on current data would strongly suggest these as possibilities. By the time Kodria opens her eyes in 84 years, I expect to have advanced through the Admiralty, if, in this enlightened age, I have not become Fleet Commander myself." It was a boldly ambitious statement for the girl anachronism to make, but Rita Paris believed in Sonak, Starfleet and herself, in that order. According to Kodria, all three would still be present a century from now, which meant in her own mind, Rita Paris also had plans.

For now, she focused on her troubled friend's future dilemma.

"So assuming that because you and the pirates show her things, that does not make you a pirate. If you choose to retire from Starfleet and join them, that could still be another 50 years of Starfleet service. Additionally? I am living proof that the future is not set in stone, Miss Dox. So taking an offhand statement and viewing it as a dire prediction from a time traveler from an alternate future that we are actively seeking to change is mayyyybe not the best plan?" Rita smiled a bit at that, hoping she was getting through and that Dox could see the logic.

The anxiety that swirled in the pit of Dox's stomach released enough to allow a slightly gravely laugh to slip out at Rita's last statement. "Yeah. Not my best train of thought. You're right... I don't really know anything. At least not from what Kodria said. Just ideas, really."

In the moment, Dox decided it was probably best to not mention that her other friend, Death herself, got a little drunk one night and let slip that Dox would live well over two hundred and eventually have eight grandchildren. THAT information was also open to interpretation and no more set in stone than anything else, after all. Of course, the pale woman also warned the young Lieutenant to not speak with hate in her heart to her Mother, hinting that the Elder Dox might not have long for this universe. It was a thought she actively pushed out of her mind. The future was not written, even for Death who only knew what was scheduled to happen.

Instead, Dox put all that aside and thought long and hard on Rita's words for a long moment of silence that hung in the room, not with foreboding or tension, but with thoughtfulness. "I'm... sorry, Rita. I should have said something sooner. Told you how I was feeling about all of this. It's just been... difficult... since the mind meld for me."

She looked over at her friend with a melancholy expression. "As much as I wanted that door in my mind closed, I didn't quite realize what having it open did for me. I think it opened me up a little bit. Made me feel more... connected to everyone, if that makes sense. And when it was shut down... it left me feeling very alone. Isolated. And I couldn't help but be afraid that when we were all connected, that you and Asa looked into my mind and... didn't like what you saw and pulled away. It... scared me. I'm sorry. I should have trusted you... I was just... scared."

There was a moment of silence where the experienced executive officer just smiled, as she considered her words. “You are allowed to have doubts. And I should have realized it was more traumatic for you, and reached out. But you have nothing to apologize for, Mnhei’sahe.”

Leaning in, Rita Paris smiled, a warm, genial smile that Mnhei’sahe Dox knew well, for it was a smile not meant to impress or dazzle or disarm- it was a smile of genuine affection. “For what it’s worth, there will always be a little more of me inside of you now, and I will always carry a piece of you now within me. That’s the way the mind meld works. So when you have those self-doubts and you have fears that raise their heads, you can literally ask yourself what Rita would do or what Rita thinks of it… and there will always be a feeling inside you that knows the answer. How about that?”

Nodding slightly, a smile crept across Mnhei'sahe's chubby cheeks. "That sounds good."

During the mind meld, she had a clear vision of the energies of the others involved. Everyone, she found, radiated a color of light within them. Her own was a deep red glow. Mona's was a brilliant blue. Sonak gave off a copper glow and Asa's was a magnificent, pearlescent lavender. But Rita was so perfectly Rita as the light Dox had seen in her mind's eye was a spectacular gold.

With time and practice, the young Romulan was learning to find that energy again. She could connect to Mona, but she knew that what Rita was saying was true. That there was a piece of her energy left behind and it would always be there to help her. Just like the woman herself.

Leaning across her desk to the model of the Exeter upon it, Dox grinned. "You hear that? I don't have to keep asking you what she'd do."

“But as long as she’s around, you can," Paris laughed, not knowing that the model she had left behind that had remained on the desk of the chief helmsman had served such a purpose. "Always. And she’ll be here for you as much as she’s able. We’re friends, shipmates, and you are a part of the chain of command. There’s no part of that which doesn’t mean that I wouldn’t move heaven and earth for you, Miss Dox."

"I don’t know if this is clear, but I’ll state it for the record. We’re Starfleet - that means we’re here for one another. Now, my question still stands… am I being obstinate about this? Should I be more flexible when it comes to all of this piracy? I would appreciate your input,” Paris concluded, as she was still not entirely certain of her own course.

"I've... not felt comfortable talking with you about anything having to do with it. You react... harshly... to the subject." Dox admitted, somewhat hesitantly. "Which, unfortunately, means I've not felt comfortable even discussing my concerns. I understand your issues and I agree with them. But I... don't know how to proceed if I'm afraid to express them."

"But on the same note, I think it's important that you remain strong in your convictions. I know the Captain will need that... and I know I need it." Dox continued, getting a bit more confidence back.

"So... yes. I... I do think you're being obstinate. But I don't think the answer is flexibility. At least not like a pirate. We can't win this by being better pirates than pirates. That costs us our souls. And we can't hold so rigid to the rules of Starfleet that we and the Captain die on principle."

The anxious Lieutenant was thinking as she spoke now as she looked over at Rita. Specifically at her uniform from another era. "This is how we win." she said with a slight smile.

"Not as pirates... what did they call it? As Cowboys? Cowboy flexibility. We bend the rules, but we do it our way. The Starfleet way. YOUR Starfleet." Dox pointed to Rita's badge, a reflection of the Era from which she hailed. The era of cowboy diplomacy on the edge of the final frontier. The era that produced Kirks and Paris'.

“Fair point. I’m… a bit defensive of you, Miss Dox. I admit it,” Rita say back with a sigh. “And I will take your word for it that I have responded harshly, which isn’t helping- that's on me, and I should have realized what effect it was having. But we’re in it now, so many of us, and… yes. Cowboy diplomacy might just win the day. I would prefer that we win by being smarter, more committed to one another as a crew, and unwilling to stoop to dirty tricks to win. Which, of course, I have an idea or two, which we’ll discuss.”

“In the meanwhile, please… you can discuss this with me. We have to be able to communicate, because as individual islands we will be lost, separately. But together…” Paris spread her hands with a smile, “we can win this. We are going to win it, and I will find a way to make it all work without compromising the principles of Starfleet, while still satisfying whatever counts as the pirate’s code, or guideline, or whatever it is they call their own code of honor.”

Smiling, Dox nodded. "Like you say. We're Starfleet. Together we can do anything."

The distance she had been feeling from Rita had been extremely painful to the emotional young Romulan. As a Commander, Rita Paris represented everything Mnhei'sahe Dox strived to be. But she had become more than a friend to Dox.

Smiling, Mnhei'sahe Dox felt happy to know that her sister was still there for her... and had never left.