Statements of Intent

Posted on Tue Sep 24th, 2019 @ 8:51am by Riov (Captain) Dalia Rendal & Arrain (Lieutenant) Pajom tr’Sahe & Lieutenant Commander Mnhei'sahe Dox & erei'Riov (Commander) Arrenhe t'Suil & Deihu (Senator) Verelan t'Rul
Edited on on Mon Sep 30th, 2019 @ 12:47pm

Mission: Family Detention
Location: Brig of The People's Will
Timeline: 2396

The tears had long dried as Lieutenant Mnhei’sahe Dox awoke in her cell. Arms and legs shackled and a metal color fixing her neck to the back of the chair, her captors had left her overnight in the cold, metal chair which did nothing to help the searing pains in her neck and back. She had fallen asleep from utter exhaustion the night before with her head dangling off to the side as much as was possible. Now, as she tried in vain to stretch in the awkward, seated position, her tense muscles screamed in protest.

Letting out the slightest of winces as a knot in her bracketed neck twisted in protest at her desire to right her head, everything went white for a split second. Looking down at the deck plates in front of her, they were still stained dark green from the blood spilled there the day before when Riov Rendal executed Dralath tr'Rul, Mnhei'sahe's father, right in front of her. And beyond that, only darkness and silence. Knowing she was being watched by a security feed, she knew it would only be a matter of time before Centurions would be posted outside her cell. She could see the retractable refresher in the wall in the corner of her cell and also knew that she needed to use it, so she simply waited.

An hour passed before anyone appeared. A pair of Centurions in gray-black uniforms deactivated the field, one male and one female. The female Centruion entered and the field turned back on while the male one turned his back to the cell and stood alertly. Dox knew these two. They were the guards that attended her Grandmother the day earlier. Who took Senator Verelan t’Rul away and beat her viciously just so Riov Rendal could show off her cruelty to Dox. And Dox remembered those faces well.

The female guard had removed her sidearm outside the cell. Nothing that could be taken from her in a struggle, not that Dox was physically in any condition to fight with her muscles still on fire from her attempts at contorted sleep shackled to a metal chair. After a moment of the Centurion standing in front of her, there was a buzzing noise and the shackles released themselves with a hissing clank and Dox gasped and found herself almost flumping out of the seat involuntarily.

“You will attend to your needs, then return to the chair. You will do nothing else, nor take provocative actions of any kind or you will be returned to the chair by force, is that understood?” The female guard stated plainly in Rihan, never once making eye contact. Was SHE nervous? Dox thought to herself as she slowly stretched out the universes tightest knots in her neck and lower back.

“Understood.” Dox replied in kind with a hoarse gravel to her voice, not bothering to mask her contempt anymore. As she spoke, the guard took one step back to give the exhausted Starfleet officer just enough room to get up, pull out the small reclamation unit, lower her pants and do her business. Once complete, the wall panel next to her slid open to reveal a small sink and she cleaned herself up to the best of her abilities. Splashing a bit of the water on her face, she stole a slight sip before the wall panel slid shut and locked itself again and the refresher slid by itself back into the wall.

Looking over, the Centurion slowly gestured to the chair with a blank expression on her face. In her current state, Dox knew she didn’t have a chance if she had wanted to test the woman, but her roiling anger still made her think about it as, dutifully, she sat back down and put her arms and legs in position and watched as the shackles relocked. The field dropped for a moment and the female guard left, took her sidearm back from her counterpart and replaced it in its holster. And as she took her place outside the field, the male guard stepped away.

A few moments later, Dox could hear his bootfalls as he returned. With a small bowl in hand, he stood in front of the field. It deactivated again, he stepped in and the field snapped back in place. This time, his holster was now empty as the man stood in front of Dox with the bowl. She remembered him well. When ordered, she heard his name. Arrain tr’Sahe. 'Arrain' being the Rihan word for Antecentruion which essentially made him an Ensign, his fists still showed dark green bruising from where he struck Dox’s grandmother the day earlier and her eyes took him in. As she did, she allowed herself the luxury of imagining herself giving him far more than bruises for what he did.

But when the angry young Rihanna woman looked up to meet his eyes, which were not avoiding hers, she was met by a strange expression she couldn't quite put a description to.

He did his best to look professional and stone-faced, just as any loyal Rihannsu would do, but he couldn't help but feel something in his heart as he kneeled before the red-headed woman before him and offered a spoonful of the porridge to her. At first, he thought she would refuse as she stared back into his eyes. "You must eat to keep up your strength."

Squinting her green-rimmed, bloodshot eyes from a mix of dehydration and the seemingly endless tears of the night prior, Dox sneered at the Antecenturion's words but took the offered spoonful. She might have wanted to feed him that spoon through his eye socket, but he was right. She was already dehydrated and wouldn't be any use to her mother or grandmother for the nearly two weeks left they would be on the ship.

It was thick and largely tasteless, but she choked the spoonfuls offered down along with her anger as he continued. She needed a clear head if any of her family was to survive this. But she kept her eyes fixed on his as she finished. "There... I've eaten."

"My mistress will be pleased. You appear to be dehydrated." With that, he set aside the bowl and pulled a small bottle of water from his pocket, offering that to her as well. "Drink," he commanded simply.

Locked into the chair, it was tricky to lean her head back enough to drink, but she managed a few sips and resisted the urge to spit them in his face. "You can tell your Mistress Rendal you've done your duty, Arrain. Please her some more." She growled.

She wanted to tear into him for what he did to her grandmother. She wanted to do something... ANYTHING... except sit in that chair and be fed like a child. But she couldn't, and bit her tongue rather than say anymore.

For a moment, the pang of guilt in Pajom's heart for what he had done almost revealed him to the Tal'Shiar agents he knew was watching them right now. Even so, he was only barely just able to keep a moistness from his eyes as he collected the bowl and stood, preparing to leave. "As a loyal officer of the Imperium, my duty and my mnhei'sahe are my life. If you are a true daughter of ch'Rihan you will understand."

Watching as he turned to leave, his words bit into her just a little more. Evoking her name… the name of Rihannsu Ruling Passion, of honor... to justify his actions disgusted her, and yet something in his tone gave her pause and she bit her tongue again. The was conflict in his eyes and words, but the anger in her own heart made it too closed to understand. At least in that moment.

The field dropped just long enough for the Anticenturion to step outside. And with their task of attending to her most basic needs complete, the two stepped away. Out of her direct sight, but not far as she could hear. So Dox tried to rest her head against the cold back of the metal seat and stretch the tiny, hot knives out of her neck as she waited for whatever was next.

Which didn't take long for once as the ridged Romulan, Riov Rendal, stepped up to the field emitters close enough to make them start to hum just the barest amount. "I see that you've been fed and watered. Good. We want you kept in good health so that you survive what is to come when we arrive on ch'Rihan. Unless you've had a change of heart?"

Watching her stand there, Dox felt her face go hot and flush. As usual, the angry Lieutenant knew that meant her face was now turning a deeper shade of green as she looked over at the woman who killed her father with the black-sheathed sword resting on her hip as always. But she had to not act on her anger. If any of her family were to survive, she needed to think, not just react. So instead of cursing or growling, Dox simply spoke.

Still, her voice was cracked and raspier than usual. "You haven't yet told me what I should be changing my heart about, Riov."

"Why, about giving me what I want to know, of course. Of doing your duty for your people." Though Rendal's voice took on a somewhat sing-song tone, her face remained as jade - as if she were speaking to a child. "I'm not asking you to reveal all your precious secrets. Just the ones I'm interested in. The ones related to protomatter and... Genesis..."

"What I know about protomatter is what any cadet learns in the academy. It's unstable and dangerous and outlawed as a result. I know that over a hundred years ago it was used illegally in a terraforming project that was codenamed 'Genesis' that ultimately failed. It's since proliferated on the black market, though is rare. During the Dominion war, the Maquis tried developing protomatter weapons before they were wiped out. Protomatter can kill a star or reignite one." Dox replied, rattling off a summary of basic information most anyone with access to opensource databases could read about. "How can that help ch'Rihan?"

"That specifically, can not... but what you learned from the titan Gaia... that, my dear... that can protect our people from our enemies." Riov Rendal had to force herself to keep from rolling her eyes at the children's summary that she had just been spoonfed. Instead, she took a more patient approach. "Let's say the Borg attack us again. You're aware that we aren't as tactically adaptable or superweapon rich as the Federation. We are also not as cavalier about throwing lives away as the Klingons."

"So what are our options then? Come in with fifty cloaked warbirds, knowing full well that one cube could pick us apart before we even decloak, just like last time? Watch as they assimilate an entire planet and eventually have to artificially destroy the star itself just so they don't spread to other nearby systems?"

"And what if another threat comes along that's worse than them? You've fought Titans and demons and deity class beings. What if one of them decides to make its home in our space and threatens our very existence? Are we to call upon you and your vaunted Federation for help? And if they answered, what then? At what cost would that help come? How long would it take? Hmm?"

"No, we would rather have the tools of our own salvation in our own hands rather than relying on some self-proclaimed peace mongers that pull the fangs from every race they pull into their fold." The venom that she spat those last words out with were vile indeed and showed her true feelings for the diplomacy of the Federation.

Realizing that Rendal's deep level of disgust was borne of fear, Dox decided to try and not meet it with kind. She took a breath and thought of what Rita might do. Rita would have some brilliant speech in her back pocket and win the day with words. Dox thought. And while she was no Rita Paris, she decided that her voice was the only weapon left to her and decided to attack fear with reason.

"Has that happened, Riov? We negotiated with the Federation during the Dominion war and did our people lose anything?" Dox shook her head slightly as she spoke, only vaguely aware that she defaulted to speaking from a decidedly Rihannsu perspective, using 'we'. But once realized, she continued quite on purpose just as she chose to address the woman with her title as a show of respect.

"I've read the economic reports. Our financial deficit dropped by 16% in the first year when that alliance loosened those restrictions on interstellar trade. And we have more to offer the galaxy than Kali-Fal. Relations with the Federation allow that. And relations don't mean absorption. You mentioned the Klingon's… federation allies for decades now without sacrificing anything. In fact, that empire was doomed before accepting Federation aid a century ago and now it thrives. Ch'Rihan could thrive too, Riov, without giving up our individually or culture or sovereignty."

The words kept flowing, and Dox realized just how much of her grandmother's lessons had actually sunk in, and that she found herself legitimately caring about the points she was making. "And yes, the federation WOULD rush in to aid us if we were in need. The blunt reality is that they… WE... would do so right NOW if the Borg came after the hearthworlds and you know it. It's why we don't live under the rule of Shinzon of ch'Havran right now. Because Rihannsu brave enough to follow their Mnhei'sahe saw the horror HIS 'superweapon' would unleash and sided with the Federation… who came to our aid... to save our world AND theirs. And all it did was put another stone in the path to the end of over two centuries of pointless animosity."

"And the Klingons have also refused to remove their fangs and weaken themselves before their enemies." Rendal's face was starting to flush a bit more olive, though she showed no outward emotion. "When the Borg attack us again, we will have days to respond. How long will it take for a fleet to arrive from Sol? Two weeks? Three? Four? By the time they got there they would be mounting a relief effort rather than mobilizing for combat. No, I will not allow more of my... Our... People to fall to such distasteful undeath."

Listening, Dox didn't know exactly what to say. Rendal wasn't right, but she also wasn't wrong. Instead, the young Starfleet officer tried to trust that guiding star and the little voice inside of her. Renal said 'us' and 'our'. She was bothering to argue which meant the cause wasn't completely lost. Not yet.

"let's say I could give you exactly what you want. Then what? Follow the scenario through, Riov. The Borg invade the Eisn System. They come for the hearthworlds. And you have a Genesis weapon and you use it. It succeeds. The Cube is destroyed by it. Then, maybe a year later, the next cube comes… and they remember what their hive-mind told them and the power that destroyed them once is now known to them. They do what they've always done. They'veadapted and the next torpedo does nothing, and now you've given them the weapon that will make them unstoppable." Dox looked up at Rendal, praying she was reaching her.

Biting down on her own pain and anger, Dox put it away. Rendal was acting on her own old angers and fears, and Dox knew she couldn't do the same and help anyone. So, she kept talking. Some words we hers. Some, Rita Paris'. Many, her grandmother's.

"That's why now isn't the time to seek protomatter weapons, its the time to reach out and seek allies. Starfleet could be here to help in days without a Neutral Zone between us. Starfleet has worked beyond hard to learn how to resist the Borg. How to adapt to them. That knowledge would become ch'Rihan's knowledge. Those defenses would then serve ch'Rihan. I could share my secrets freely then."

"You could do this, Riov. You could put aside old fears and reach out. The Federation didn't pull the Klingon's teeth, they would make no such demands of us. And the Imperium would be stronger than ever. You can make this right, Riov. My Grandmother is no traitor and I believe you know that. She can speak to the Senate and the Praetorate. I can bring this message back to Starfleet. Then you won't have to try and make me help our home. Then I could return freely and would do so willingly."

"Ah, but that's the catch..." The Romulan Royal then slowly leaned forward and pressed her face to the forcefield, making it go crazy as she did so. It was clearly painful as sparks danced across her forehead ridges and scorched her eyebrows and bangs. "The infinite mutability of protomatter exploding is something they shouldn't be able to adapt to. Is it? Just like your vaunted transphasic torpedoes you supposedly got from the future."

"If we're able to properly defend ourselves, none of our people will ever have to live their lives with a tenth of their bodies replaced with cybernetics. None of them will know the pain of a trillion voices in their heads. None of them will know the pain of a government that just leaves them to die while we call for aid from a foreign power that might show up well after they've been assimilated and shuffled off to some unimatrix fifty thousand light years away."

"And you know that world that was attacked by the Borg that your dear mother used to cover her defection from the Imperium? She wasn't the only survivor." Rendal then glared down at Dox, having decided in her obsession that the young woman's aid was a foregone conclusion. "But I am honestly glad of it. Her daughter will provide us with the means of our future defense."

The young officer never flinched as the forcefield sparked and howled in protest. Let her burn herself Dox thought, her anger still bubbling up just under the surface. But she also was running out of arguing points to keep the debate going. But in her zealousness to show off her own anger and determination, Rendal also showed Dox some of her own cards.

“Penal research outpost 97… The Thieurrull colony… You were there? That was… thirty-three years ago. You were, what, a young Uhlan or an Arrain stationed there when the Borg attacked the prison?” Dox squinted as she ran through the possibilities as Rendal appeared to be no older than her mid-fifties.

“You… and someone else.” A guess, but one Dox posed as a statement, not a question. “You lost someone there.”

"Yes, someone else! You kreldanni fool! I was adjuctant to the head of my household! She was Riov of the greatest warbird in the system!" Rendal had lost it at this point, having finally dropped her jade statuesque calmness and trading it for full-on rage. "My grandmother entrusted me with the sword of our household and only because of her sacrifice, do I stand here today! That ch'Rihan still stands! Do you understand that level of dedication to your own people? To family?"

Taking an extreme force of will to calm herself, she stepped back from the security field and turned to her own first officer, erei'Riov t'Suil, whom was already waiting with a medkit. "I hope you're able to better understand our faction's position and are more inclined to... willingly assist... because I assure you, the alternative is... Unpleasant."

As Erei'Riov t'Suil dutifully went to work with a small dermal regenerator on Rendal's burns, Dox listened. The young Starfleet Lieutenant that had already given so much of herself for the greater good of the galaxy, understood that dedication and sacrifice as exactly why she couldn't give Rendal what she wanted. She understood it far deeper than Rendal knew. And while she had harsh words in her, she knew they would only serve to enrage the unstable woman further. So she choked them back and found her own calm and tried to measure her reaction. "Your grandmother's sacrifice was honorable, Riov. As is your desire to protect our people. But have you considered that in your desire to balance that honor... you threaten to lose yourself to become that which you hate the most?"

"I have and there are measures in place to prevent that," replied the Royal Romulan as her wounds were being treated. "I've spoken this much with you out of respect to your supposed station as heir to a royal Deihu family. That's as far as this goes, however."

"In other words, 'resistance is futile'. Well said, Riov." Dox said flatly, giving in slightly to her own anger as her eyes slipped to the dried blood of her father on the deck below Rendal's feet before coming back up to meet the Riov's own.

"Resis... You think..." Rendal's rage flashed across her face for just a moment again before she was able to calm herself again. "Every government is like that. Your vaunted Federation assimilates cultures into it diplomatically, drawing them in with sticky sweet talk and absorbing them, adding their cultural and technological distinctiveness to the Federation... Oh... Where have I heard that line from..."

"Then there's the Klingon Empire. They use combat and honor to do the same thing. Ferengi? They buy and sell what they want. Cardassians tried to do it as well, but I theorize that they lacked honor paired with their level of ruthlessness. Why should you view the Borg or the Imperium in any different light?" Rendal fixed Dox with that same glare again, yet this time there was something more to it that said that she was educating a water flea. "It's called evolution. Societal evolution."

With her blood boiling and threatening to overwhelm her reason, Dox kept her eyes open. But in her mind, she was focusing on that internal glow of energy within that was the combination of her own life and that of her bond-mate to try and find a calmness from within. It took more effort than she could have imagined as she felt her pulse slow slightly and breathed in calmly. She wasn't going to get the last word. She wasn't going to win the argument. Rendal's cries of 'societal evolution' had made Dox's point for her, that Rendal was acting no differently from the Borg. But Rendal couldn't or wouldn't see that.

The only hope came in the idea, however improbable, that she could slowly reach Rendal through her dogmatic madness. That she could, with words, stall the Romulan woman long enough for an escape to be possible or rescue to occur. All Dox could hope for was that maybe when she left this chamber, that Rendal would think about what she was doing. It was a very thin hope. And one that would be for naught if she continued to antagonize her captor further.

So, instead, she looked away with a defeated expression. Give this to her. Fold your hand for now. Let her walk away. Give her time to think. Give your family time. Dox thought to herself as she prayed that Rendal wouldn't spend the next two weeks torturing her Grandmother or Mother just to make her point.

The Royal Romulan then promptly ignored her captive. "Have the Ju'rot device prepared. Once it's ready aboard my vessel, all three will be transferred and begin undergoing treatment."

"Ie, Riov. It will be as commanded." t'Suil replied as she put the medical equipment away and stood at attention following her commander. Meanwhile, Dox did her level-best to choke back the fear that Rendal's words drew from her.

The Ju'rot device. The Neural Extraction Converter. The device that her mother used to rewrite the minds of thousands of Rihannsu under her grandmother's orders to make them loyal to the Imperium. The device that was used to erase and destroy her father's mind.

But she's leaving... Dox thought to herself as Rendal and t'Suil exited the brig. She's leaving without torturing my mother or grandmother anymore. At least for now. That's something. It's time. But quickly, the hopeful moment passed as her mind was drawn back to Rendal's words as if they had their own gravity.

What would such a device do to her, she wondered? Two weeks of her Grandmother's tutelage almost made her turn her back on her mother and Starfleet. The Ju'rot wouldn't be so subtle. It wouldn't give her the chance to make arguments or think. Would it break her mind like it did to her father? Or far worse, would it change her. Make her want to tell Rendal everything she knew as a loyal daughter of the Imperium. What her grandmother had tried to do could now be done by force and when it was over, they could make her glad for it.

They could make her forget her bonds on the Hera. Forget Rita and Asa and Enalia. They could make her forget Mona.

At the thought of that fate, she shuddered as her face went white as she shut her eyes and thought. And as she thought, her mind drifted back to an image. Faint at first, but clearer and more focused as she thought. It was a place, arid and warm. A place a friend once brought her in her mind's eye to teach her how to make her mind her own. A place of hope. Maybe the only hope she had left.