Of Puppets and Pulling Strings

Posted on Thu Sep 26th, 2019 @ 3:42pm by Riov (Captain) Dalia Rendal & Arrain (Lieutenant) Pajom tr’Sahe & Lieutenant Commander Mnhei'sahe Dox & erei'Riov (Commander) Arrenhe t'Suil & Jaeih Dox-t'Aan & Deihu (Senator) Verelan t'Rul
Edited on on Mon Sep 30th, 2019 @ 12:48pm

Mission: Family Detention
Location: Brig of the People's Will & The Warbird Iurret
Timeline: 2396

In the tiny cell she was shackled to a chair in, Lieutenant Mnhei'sahe Dox could hear almost everything that happened in the corridor beyond the shimmering force field. She heard when Subcommander t'Suil moved her mother to the same cell as her Grandmother. She heard their conversation, at first heated, and then quiet as the two found some measure of peace between each other.

Then, after another day of waiting, Dox heard the ships Subcommander, Arrenhe t'Suill, and the Centurion's come for them. Deihu Verelan t'Rul offered no protest as she was lead away and they took BOTH women. Verelan for her 'treatment', and Jaeih to ‘watch’... erei'Riov t’Suil said grimly as Mnhei’sahe listened. They walked them past the doorway to her cell, and if her family had looked in, Mnhei'sahe didn't know it.

For while she could hear what was happening, she wasn't completely there. For all intents and purposes, Dox appeared to be asleep. She appeared to be asleep most of the time, now. She roused herself a few times a day when the guards came to release her from the painful chair she was shackled in to use the reclamator or clean herself up and change into fresh clothes. And when she did so, it was always with that same female centurion standing right behind her. Watching coldly.

But the other centurion, AntiCenturion Pajom tr’Sahe, was different. He came in after she was dressed and locked back in the chair. He had an increasingly concerned expression well hidden behind his dark eyes. Something Mnhei’sahe couldn’t quite understand, but whatever it was, she couldn’t keep harboring anger for him. His eyes said that he too must have been something of a prisoner here as well. If only to his duty, but a prisoner nonetheless. Twice a day, tr’Sahe came and fed her the same thick, tasteless porridge and a small bottle of water. Just enough to keep her functional, but not enough to give her any kind of realistic fuel.

Even if the shackles came off and the forcefields came down and the guards all took a nap at the same time, Mnhei’sahe doubted that she had the strength to escape anymore, which was an ideal condition for her to be in for Rendal's needs. And what energy she had was spent in thought.

The hours spent seemingly asleep, where she could hear everything around her, were spent not on the Warbird, but on Vulcan. The Vulcan of her mind created by in her mental training with Lieutenant Sonak that had begun over seven months ago. Every day, for hours upon hours, she meditated. During those long hours, in her mind, she climbed the steps of Mount Selaya as he had taught her. Each arduous step... another step in learning to control her mind and improve her mental discipline. It was the only form of ‘exercise’ left to her. And perhaps the only one that would save her when it came time for her ‘treatment’ .

The ‘treatment’ her Grandmother was taken away for the day before. The so-called "loyalty readjustment" treatment courtesy of the Neural Extraction Converter called the 'Ju'rot' that, in her cruelty, Riov Renal had let Jaeih witness before returning her to her own cell an hour later. Rendal had made Jaeih watch. Before Mnehi'sahe was born, her mother served the Tal'Shiar as well, and in that service had lead literally thousands of Rihannsu to the same machine to have their loyalties reprogrammed. To this day, it remained her greatest regret and her most consistent source of pain, and it was the source of her personal failure that Rendal wanted to remind her of.

Once returned to her cell, Mnhei’sahe couldn’t see her mother, but from down the corridor, she could hear her.

There were decades of bad blood between Verelan and Jaeih that stretched back well longer than Mnhei’sahe’s own life did, but beyond that was a relationship that had begun with great respect and obvious affection. She had heard it in their voices the night prior. Anger as strong as it had been between the two women could only have come from a place of what was once love. And it was from there that Jaeih began to softly cry from down the corridor. Mnhei’sahe had heard her mother cry before, but it was nothing like this. This was a frightened sound Mnhei’sahe was unaccustomed to hearing from her usually powerful Mother. She sounded almost like a child in the moment as her own whispered words carried down the corridor, heard only in the gaps between the soft sobs.

“Oh, Elements forgive me. Protect her and give her your strength. Give her my strength that she might endure as would the granite before a mighty wind. I beg of you, stop this… Please hear my words, carried to you on the wings of Al’Thindor, I beg of you.” Unbidden, the words of the prayers Jaeih had memorized as a child returned, spilling from her lips now in a panic as she reached out for someone, anyone for help, here in this dark place at the end of her life, at the end of her family, and seemingly at the end of her hope.

Hanging her head as much as she could, the sound of her mother’s weak prayers were too much for the young Rihannha woman as Mnhei'sahe's eyes welled up again with tears. And as she sat in the darkness, she called out weakly to the woman she knew was listening somewhere. “Please, stop this Riov. I’m here. You don’t need to hurt them anymore. You have me. Take me and leave them be, please. I’m begging you… take me.”

But there was no reply. From down the corridor, Mnhei’sahe could hear her Mother continue to pray in a weak, cracked voice into the night as she sat there, trapped. Trapped and waiting.

She didn’t know if they would come next for her or her mother. Functionally, while Jaeih Dox was an Intelligence Operative for the Hera, her security access was well below Mnhei’sahe’s. She simply didn’t have the level of clearance or knowledge about the Protomatter weapons that Renal wanted, so she was largely there as leverage. Incentive for Mnhei’sahe to cooperate. A way to punish her further as needed. But as she listened, the young Rihannha Starfleet officer feared that her Mother would break soon and likely couldn't withstand the Converter and possibly wouldn't survive. Mnhei'sahe didn't know if she or her mother was next, but realized that it had to be her. It might be the only way to save her mother long enough for help to arrive.

----------------

After another long night of waiting, from down the corridor, she heard footfalls. The answer of who would be next came marching toward them. Three sets of boots walking in a very military pace. But the steps had passed where she knew her mother was kept in her cell down the left side of the corridor. As the came closer, she could hear her Mother’s voice call out in a confused, broken voice, “V… Verelan? W… what are you doing? No! Please, NO! NO!”

But there was no answer.

And a moment later, she knew why. Slowly, Mnhei’sahe arced her head up as high as it could move in the brace and looked out past the shimmering green forcefield. And there, flanked by two cold-eyed Centurions that she didn’t recognize, stood her Grandmother. Deihu Verelan t’Rul. But the bruises that she had collected from her own time in the brig at Riov Rendal's not-so-tender mercies had been healed and she stood tall and regal again, dressed in her senatorial finery much as she did that first day that the two had met close to three and a half weeks ago now.

"Grandmother?" Dox asked, her voice raspy and weak from a dry throat and very little speaking over the past couple of days.

"Good morning, Mnhei'sahe. I've come to speak with you about Rendal's plans for Romulus, and your part to play in them. I want you to reconsider your position," the regal senator explained. "We need those protomatter weapons to make Romulus great again, and you are the key to that victory. So I want you to stop this resistance and give her what she wants. Cooperate with her, so that together we can forge a new, stronger Romulus, rising from the ashes of the old like Al'thindor. Compliance will be rewarded."

Romulus? Mnhei'sahe thought, in shock. Grandmother HATES that word more than I do.

The jingoistic slogans coming out of the woman's mouth sounded like a parody of the impassioned statesman of a few days ago, like some mad puppeteer's version of what she sounded like to Mnhei'sahe's ears. And as she listened, she went slightly pale as the young Rihannsu realized what must have happened. The Ju'rot device. The Neural Extraction Converter. It could be used to not just rip knowledge from a mind violently. It could also erase memories and do what seemed to be the case here: reprogram minds.

"If I complied... told you everything I know about protomatter weapons... then what? What will happen to me and my mother?" Dox asked, wanting to see just how lost her Grandmother was.

There was a moment there where Veleran t’Rul looked confused, as the question made her consider the answer. It was an unexpected response, a deviation from the script, for which she was unprepared. But as she blinked rapidly, her mind racing behind those eyes to seek a way out of the mental prison in which she was trapped. The answer that she wanted to give was there, so close, and she fought and struggled to find some way to express it that would still be ‘acceptable’ to the reprogramming performed upon her. But even with the hasty job performed, it was sufficiently comprehensive to hedge her in and prevent her from speaking the truth.

“Why, you will be rewarded, of course. Placed well within the High Command, or perhaps as an adjunct to me in the Senate, learning by my side. I still have plans for you, and aspirations. You are… the future. You are the next generation of Rihannsu, who will… obey the Tal Shiar, to work with them to restore Romulus to her former glory and dominate the stars.”

Eyes narrowing slightly, Dox could hear the conflict in the stilted words. Sentences that began as words she knew were her grandmothers and ended as Rendal's twisted propaganda. Is she still in there? the young officer wondered. And while it might not have been the smartest move, she needed information and the more she could have her grandmother talk, the better and idea of just how comprehensive this ‘treatment’ was. “That’s me. MY future. The Riov said my mother would be freed if I cooperated. Will… you be able to do that, Grandmother?”

“Ye… “ the senator began, and Dox could literally hear her teeth grinding. When t’Rul spoke, it was the party line, delivered through gritted teeth and a smile that was plastered on, but so insincere as to be practically comical, were it not so tragic. “Your mother is a traitor to the Star Empire. She must be made an example, as are all traitors, so that all will learn the folly of opposing the might of the Star Empire.”

A single tear rolled down the face of the Deihu, as her eyes betrayed that her words were not her own, nor were her actions. While she was being puppeteered to speak and react, the conditioning they had so hastily forced upon her was not so complete that it was not clearly evident that the strong-willed woman was still struggling beneath the surface, fighting to take control of herself yet failing to accomplish it.

For a moment, Mnhei'sahe hung her head as she took a breath to fight the wave of rage building in her at the sight before her. Letting it out in a long sigh, she slowly lifted her head back up and met Verelan's pained eyes with terrible remorse in her own. "I am... I am truly sorry for this, Grandmother. I can't undo what's been done anymore than you can, but If there's any way in the universe to make this right, I will. Just rest. I know this isn't you. I understand."

Then her eyes went cold and the anger swelled back in them as she looked up to the ceiling to speak again. "Riov, my grandmother never lied to me. Speak to me yourself or not at all. But if you continue forcing your words through her like this... if you continue hurting them to hurt me... I guarantee you you will never get anything from me. Speak to me yourself or put me through your 'treatment' and be done with it."

Over the intercom came the voice of the Tal'Shiar Riov in question. "Then you get your wish. Deihu t'Rul, please bring your granddaughter to the treatment room. We will begin immediately. You will get your compliant heir and I will get my secrets. And Jaeih... Oh Jaeih... You get to learn the price for betraying the Imperium."

"Damn you, leave them BE!" Dox shouted back. In spite of the fact that it was Verelan that had her and her mother kidnapped in the first place… Verelan who wanted to steal her away from her wife and home… Verelan who instigated all that had transpired… the family-starved young officer couldn't help herself for caring about the woman. She was her grandmother and in spite of everything, she couldn't stand to watch her suffer like this. In spite of everything, Mnhei'sahe still wanted to help her. And then the added threats against her mother proved more than she could bear and her passion was getting the best of her as she began pulling futility against the shackles, her already terribly bruised extremities screaming back in protest as she did.

If Veleran t'Rul had a response, a protest, or anything to say at all, it could not escape her lips. Instead, she gestured to the two guards stiffly and stepped back. As she did, the forcefield dropped and the shackles on Mnhei’sahe’s legs and neck released and the exhausted and bruised young woman lurched forward with a gasp. But her arms remained locked in place as one of the guards entered with a small device.

“Move only as instructed.” He said flatly.

As he did, he pushed a button and the shackled released, not from her wrists, but from the seat itself. As they did, Mnehi’sahe struggled for a moment as their weight initially wanted to pull them down. Looking up at the guard, she simply stared coldly as he spoke again. Looking past him, her first thought was to use the shackles to bash his head in, but the second guard had a disruptor trained on her and there was nowhere to go even if, by some miracle, she could beat both guards. “Lean forward and put your arms behind your back.”

Begrudgingly, Mnhei’sahe obeyed. Obeying had been almost all she had been able to do for weeks now. Obey in the hope it would buy them time, but each act of concession dug a deeper cut into her soul and she was light-years beyond sick of it. As she complied, the two shackles slammed together hard and locked together with a harsh buzzing sound as she winced slightly as the quick jerk acted on the stiffness in her joints. As she did, the guard stepped back and raised his own weapon and spoke again. “Now, stand and slowly walk this way. Exit the chamber, turn left and begin walking at a slow pace behind the Deihu. The Deihu will lead. Make no provocative movements.

Taking a breath, Dox slowly and stiffly complied. Time was the only weapon she had left and she was trying to do whatever she could to keep her mother out of the Ju’rot device and stall for time. Her shipmates would find her. They would come and find them both if there was any way in the universe to do so. She had to believe that, as hard as it was. So she needed time. In the same room with Rendal, she might be able to talk longer. Run out the clock just one minute more. But at least it would be her and not her mother to suffer.

And as she walked behind her puppeted Grandmother, she neared her mother’s cell and the two women’s eyes met. Mnhei’sahe had heard Jaeih’s desperation and panic. Heard her childlike prayers. But in these last few days, she hadn’t SEEN her mother. Across the field, as they passed, she looked long into her mother’s eyes and saw something she couldn’t hear in her voice: Life. Fire. Her Mother, unbroken.

Turning her head slightly to Verelan, Jaeih called out. “Rendal! Yes, I know you’re puppeting her. Watching and listening.”

There was no reply from Verelan’s lips or the intercom system, but the elder Deihu stopped and turned to look at the caged intelligence operative. As she did, the guards paused and held Dox in place, who could only wait and trust in her mother in the moment.

“So I have no compunctions of talking to you through her if I need to.” Jaeih paused for a moment, and her eyes softened ever so slightly as she looked into the eyes of the woman she had hated and feared for over thirty years. The woman she blamed for her hardships before accepting that they were her own doing. Now, she again could see the eyes of the woman that was once her mentor, friend and surrogate mother a lifetime ago. And in that moment, there was compassion in her eyes, happy at least to have finally reconciled if only a little. But the moment passed as she spoke again.

Finally, Veleran thought to herself.

“Did you ever read about the Rihannsu infiltration program of Starfleet they reactivated back in the 2250s? It was back before the Federation knew what we looked like, you see. It was an attempt to pass off Rihannsu as Vulcans. So there was also, of course, some liberal gene-splicing and some genetic experimentation thrown in as well. We'd captured one of the human sleeper ships of their genetic augments, and we were ready to play god. Perhaps you can relate? I'll assume you are familiar with the project and I won't bore you with the details." Jaeih spoke in a calm, slow voice, only slightly cracked from her time in the cells. But neither Verelan nor her puppetmaster replied.

"At one point in attempting to craft a rather powerful psionic in a laboratory on Reman, a test subject actually managed to manifest a creature, apparently a native to the psionic realms, who was then loosed on the lab and technicians. It was an eight-legged arachnid that referred to itself as the God of Dreams, and named itself as Anansi." Jaeih was on a roll now, her voice a prowling thing as she laid out the tale like a trail of blood and meat for the prey into the trap.

"That is a name my daughter will not utter... would you like to know why?"

At the mention of the name, Mnhei’sahe flinched ever so slightly as she remembered full well, her face showing just a bit of noticeable fear. As she did, Verelan’s eyes moved slightly towards her granddaughter with concern before her programming readjusted her gaze back to Jaeih but still said nothing.

"In her travels, Mnhei’sahe encountered this being, who may or may not be an actual god of dreams- in such matters, who can truly say?" Jaeih shrugged, then continued. "What can be said is that in springing forth from her mind, he tore open the doors of perception in her mind, leaving her an open receiver for all such psychic encounters. He desired something she possessed, but by the laws that bound him and his kind, he could not take it, she had to give it to him freely."

"With others he encountered... he was under no such compunction to be so gentle."

"A number of her shipmates vanished, their fates never to be known."

"Yes, yes, I am an old woman telling a ghost story and you want me to get to the point," Jaeih chuckled and continued pacing slowly now as she brought her ghost story to the point. "The point is, if you start prodding and poking around in there, you might arouse the attention of beings far greater than you know, who have been in there before you. They might notice you. And as just encountering one made her a conduit for their entry into our world, how do you imagine they would react to being dragged in this world, and finding themselves and their conduit being tortured?"

"Food for thought, Commander." Jaeih finished and took a slight step back, and there was a long moment of silence in the corridor.

The reply came over the intercom in Rendal's voice, this time as if from a great distance or from an old movie - very low quality, filled with artifacting and static, and her royal accent was thicker than usual. "That... Is a risk... I very much wish... To entertain..."

"These are not creatures of the four dimensions of which we dwell, Rendal. These are beings of the higher dimensions, to whom space and distance mean nothing to their vengeance. Do you think not being in the same room will save you? Not being on the same starship? Do you think they will not divine the author of their misery and know from whom to seek revenge, these ancient and terrible powers with which you would chance with which to play dice, fool of a thousand fools? Here, in deep space, far from anyone and anything that could help you?" Because there it was- if she waited until they arrived somewhere, that would buy them time. But then Rendal might have the resources to deal with whatever horror she might summon from the cosmos that might lurk in the mind of Mnhei'sahe Dox.

That was the gamble, at least. But it was a gamble that she didn't know the true outcome of as Verelan stiffly started to move again. And as she did, the Centurions gave Mnhei'sahe a light show to follow behind. As she passed, she gave her mother the slightest smile, which was returned with a somewhat stern nod of the head and a raised brow. It was an expression that was almost cold, but one that spoke volumes to her daughter. It was the expression she gave to her daughter growing up when she had fallen in training or failed at a lesson. It was a look that offered little warmth back then, but now and in this moment when she could not say the words freely without betraying her daughter, they hit with all the intended meaning implied: 'Get up and do it again. You possess the strength to continue, now do so.'

In reply, Mnhei'sahe nodded in understanding with still just the hint of a smile as she was shoved forward to keep walking. At the end of the brig corridor, the lead guard stepped ahead to open the secure doorway to the rest of the ship. As it opened, Mnhei'sahe noticed him again. The young AntiCenturion that had shown her a bizarre and hidden compassion named Pajom tr’Sahe. He turned to look and as he saw Verelan leading the way, Mnhei'sahe saw it. The expression on his face changed and for a fraction of a second, he looked hopeful to see the Deihu looking well and unhurt again, walking free. But she didn't look back at him as she passed and his face went blank again, the mask returned and in that moment Dox finally understood his words to her from days ago now. '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.'

Perhaps he WAS loyal. Loyal to his mistress, Deihu Verelan t'Rul. That would explain why he showed her compassion. Mnhei'sahe had learned much from her grandmother in the few weeks they had together, particularly about the loyalty of an officer of the Imperium. The loyalty they had to their house was powerful, Verelan had said. And she emphasized that that loyalty extended to all members of a house and would extend to her one day. Verelan was trying to tell her this for a reason, and she thought she was finally understanding it. He was helping her. Feeding her a little more than not. Making sure she kept up her strength. Trying to keep her alive without giving himself away. Serving her as a member of house Rul however he could. And in that moment, not knowing if her feelings had any truth to them, but choosing to believe and trust them, she made eye contact as the guards moved her past. Her face was stern and almost commanding, as if she were reprimanding pilots on the flight deck of the Hera. 

A simple enough gesture that he met with the slightest bit of barely perceptible recognition. And in that brief, stolen moment as their eyes met, she glanced back behind her towards the cells. Towards her mother. And she hoped she was right and not making a massive mistake. 

The walk was a long one through the corridors to a locked room, flanked by even more guards at the end. The double doors were larger and thicker and clearly well shielded and it sent a serious message that made her think of something she had read during her time at the academy in her class on comparative literature: 'Abandon All Hope Ye Who Enter Here.' But she paid the memory no mind, for she had hope. Her mother was not lost and had bought them even more time, possibly planting further seeds of doubt in Rendal's mind. Her grandmother was controlled and damaged, but still inside and still fighting. The AnteCenturion might even be a wild card.

A wild card. Mnhei'sahe thought as the doors slowly opened into a brightly lit room before her. The most important wild cards on the table are still out there, Mnhei'sahe. Rita Paris and Enalia Telvan. The crew of the Hera whom you've risked your life for again and again who have done the same for you. They'll be coming. They'll be here. You just have to hold on to your mind long enough to give them that chance. Trust in that. Trust in them. Trust in yourself.