Twixt Scylla and Charybdis V: The Final Frontier

Posted on Wed Nov 13th, 2019 @ 10:52am by Death & Commander Rita Paris & Lieutenant Commander Mnhei'sahe Dox
Edited on on Sun Nov 17th, 2019 @ 3:30pm

Mission: Family Detention
Location: Earth, Scotland, MacGregor Manse guest house
Timeline: 2396

"C'mon Gran... what do you say we go visit the ghosts of the pasts?" McCray smiled, gently tugging Char forward as the old woman took in the sights and sounds with amazement... even as her younger self strode boldly through her form, then turned to regard her crew. The young woman was clad in a pale blue handmade woolen sweater that fit rather snugly on her curves and rode comfortably down below her collarbones, and angular loose belt hung casually off her hips. Cute black ankle boots complimented the ensemble, and the full bushy mane of dark hair was fluffed out and wiled, yet stylish. It hid her long pointed ears, but those eyebrows could cut durasteel, and her grin was a salacious one.

Watching, almost frozen, Dox’s mouth hung open a moment to see the woman herself, as she was. As real as the elderly woman standing to her side but every bit the firebird of the stories Dox had listened so intently to.

“Victory, let’s take the castle, double-time!” the comely captain called out, and the crew moved to comply, hustling up to and across the bridge at a healthy clip. There was the diminutive and fair Fiona McCray, clad in a sweater was a bit heavier out of deference to the cool weather they would be going into, and the colors were earthy browns and leaf green rather than Star Fleet red. The McCray plaid of her heavy woolen skirt made a nice accent to the look. Bright emerald eyes darted about like an excited child, even as she shared a laugh with the silvery Caitian, tall and slender, who strode sinuously beside her, Clad in a black robe with a cloak and hood, her golden eyes reflected the lights of the castle, and a small, prim smile was set on her face as she finished whispering something that tickled her diminutive companion as her bare cat feet padded along the stone bridge.

Behind them, sullenly stalking along as if resentful for having been dragged out to a party, was a woman in the Maroon Starfleet uniform of the day, who wore her hair cropped short, which showed quite clearly the Trill spots she bore on her face and neck.

Behind her strode an extremely tall and rather spectacularly dressed Klingon woman, with sharply pointed ears clad in some sort of ceremonial armor, all metal and leather and chainmail with a metal tartan across her shoulders, fully armed. But she wore elegant and flattering makeup, and she moved more like a dancer than a warrior. Behind her came two hooded figures- one whose skin was a deep verdant shade with coal-black hair and eyes, while beside him was a slender bald man with bright red eyebrows, bearing a fine latinum chain about his brow which held suspended a bright teardrop ruby on his forehead. Beside them, two rolling balls of tentacles and eyestalks bounced along, the Sulamid's coloration displaying varying shades of cobalt and periwinkle while strobing reds and golds of their own as they made their way.

They were Char’s crew, exactly as she had described them to Dox. All here and alive wherever and whenever Liviana had taken them. And even though the mistress of time and space had said they would be like ghosts, Dox still held back her breaths a bit and tried not to say anything for fear of being heard or seen.

All of them passed without incident, save the pale-skinned bald humanoid, who raised an eyebrow as he looked at each of them quizzically. But he continued moving on, even as Dox took a step back and quieted herself even more. That must be the Deltan… the anxious Rihannsu pilot thought to herself, The one who helped Char train her mind. He… he SAW us. He knows we’re here! Imirrhlhhse!

But the red-haired officer from the future kept those thoughts to herself as the laird of the castle came out to greet the group. Sturdy, broad-chested and grey-haired and bearded, he stood as if to challenge their arrival. When the party of Victory officers reached the stout lord of the keep, they drew up and came to a halt, waiting to be recognized. Char nudged Fiona and murmured out of the side of her mouth, “Is there some sort of traditional greeting or something we’re supposed to enact here?”

Fiona put a hand on Char’s arm.

The man who’d grinned at them the whole time they were crossing the bridge grew somber. He drew himself up and approached Qurka.

“Cead Mile Failte, one hundred thousand welcomes.” he said and extended the large goblet to her. “Drink... and be welcomed in peace to Eilean Donan. Tonight you are of my clan,” the words extended to all of them. He looked up at the Klingon and gave her a grin that was rather like the first officer’s. “Take a drink and pass it tae tha next person, lass...”

Qurka stood up straight and looked down her nose at him, her bearing proud and a touch arrogant but at the same time a smile played at her generous lips. “thlIngan’jIh, vulqangan’jih je DIvI’jih. Qurka pong’wij Qurg, chahowwij HoH Jortqa, waj’mekragh qaleghneS,” she intoned in a low-pitched sonorously almost sung language similar to the canticle speaking of Mongolian.

Andurean whispered the translation as she spoke so they would understand, though the observing Dox knew the language well, “I am Klingon, I am Vulcan, I am Federation. I am Qurka, daughter of Qurg and second heir to House Jort. I recognize/greet you First Lord of McCray.”

“McCray?” Dox whispered, looking briefly over at Liviana then back to the scene as it unfolded before them.

Taking the goblet from her host, in true Klingon fashion, Qurka tilted the entire thing back and chugged it and didn’t give back the goblet until it had been drained and she had wiped the excess from her lips with the back of a metal-studded leather gauntlet. Then she blinked, “What IS that?” She made smacking with her lips and licked them delicately.

The McCray’s bushy eyebrows went up slightly and his grin broadened then became a hearty laugh. “Well then...Qurka, daughter of Qurg...Coom in and be welcomed! THAT, me fine beauty, is uisge beatha... tha water oov life, and is fruim a fresh tapped oaken barrel that was put away o'er a century ago. There’s plenty muir if ye’d like a bottle tae take back wi’ ye” He refilled the cup for the next guest.

Fiona chuckled and whispered to Andurean “ Uh oh...Qurka’s made a conquest. Da likes her.”

“Only one keg?” Qurka asked, looking a bit sadly at the goblet.

“It’s a fair sized Keg” William McCray said with a grin.

On the bridge beside them, the old woman's eyes shone with tears at the sight of her old shipmates, of the great lord she had once known, and a night she treasured. At her granddaughter's urging, they followed the group into the castle, to see the revelry of all of the local clans having come together in celebration. Then her breath hitched as she caught sight of a dark-haired and bearded barrel-chested bear of a man, clad in an off-white sweater and a kilt of black and red tartan. He was laughing at something and clapped the handsome sandy blonde-haired fellow beside him on the shoulder, then took a drink. As he did so, his eyes grew wide as he noticed the newcomers to the party, and his eye tracked the voluptuous dark-haired beauty leading the way.

"Raine..." the old woman murmured, as her face screwed up in tears to behold her long-dead husband, on the night they had met.

Immediately, Mnhei’sahe recognized the man from the Holo in Char’s bedroom in their present and understood where they were. As the elder Char had just spoken again, Dox pushed past her fears and whispered to her time-traveling companions. “This is the night you met him, isn’t it?”

As she spoke, Dox almost instinctively put her hand on Char’s shoulder and smiled. Thanks to the richness of Char’s tales, the young Rihannsu felt as if she knew these people, at least in passing, and the emotion of the moment was not lost on her.

"Yes... Bonnie McCray will introduce us, and he'll ask me to dance. He'll swing me round as we dance, and I'll swing him round as well. My children were conceived this night, in a hayloft nearby, where Raine keeps his livestock," Charybdis whispered back. "This night... this is one of the happiest nights of my life. Seeing all of them again..."

Which was when the Deltan doctor stepped out of the shadows, looking at each of them in turn.

Tsk... you aren't supposed to be here at all, you aren't supposed be back here, and you... well, there is just so much you aren't supposed to be doing, young lady they heard as an odd echo in their minds. It was telepathy, but faint and distant and out of synch with the locale.

Immediately, Dox felt the presence in her mind as the voice resonated and she had to fight the momentary urge to try and push the other mind out of her own. She wanted to throw up her mental defenses the instant she had felt that other mind, and quelled a rush of panic as she worked to calm her mind. In that moment, Dox took a long breath and focused past her own deep fear of telepathy and made the conscious, if difficult, decision to trust in Char’s own trust in the man.

The silvery eyes of McCray grew wide as she blanketed the area with scanning waves, while the bald Deltan shook his head. Relax. I'm not going to give you away, and no one else can perceive you. I can, but only because of my link to Chary.. Moving in on the old woman, he closed his eyes, concentrating, then opened them again, his face a mask of compassion. Oh Chary... always spoilers with you. I'm sorry about your destiny... but the needs of the many do outweigh the needs of the few eh? The smile that spread across his face was a kind and compassionate one, as the old woman reached out to touch his face, though her fingers were immaterial to him.

"I've missed you so much, Eshuur. It's so... it's so good to see you again after so, so long," the old woman wept as she spoke, her voice choked with sadness. "I still had so much to learn... I think of you so often."

Blue eyes alight with mischief, the Deltan doctor wiggled his eyebrows. You remember the Source. You know what lies beyond the veil, and what awaits you at the end of this journey, Firebird. You know you will see me again soon, so shed no tears. I taught you better than that, didn't I?

"Yes, Siivas... you did," the old adventurer nodded, smiling through her tears.

Ah... passing the mantle to the next generation I see, since this one is determined to be her own brand of trouble, Siivas nodded to Dox, with a quick nod and a wink to McCray. Staring through Dox, he contemplated her for a moment, saying nothing. Then he turned to Charybdis once more, and his telepathic voice was gentle and kind. The night is cold, and your warm bed awaits you, child. You have dwelled amongst ghosts for too long, now... return to where you belong, and prepare for your next journey. You are no longer the Warbird, nor the Captain, nor the Inventor. It's time to embrace Al'thindor, Chary. You will see me again soon, aye?

"Yes... soon," Charybdis agreed, as Andurean stepped silently out of the shadows, taking in the scene with some curiosity.

"To whom do you address, Ralm?" he asked his partner and lover, with a quizzically upraised eyebrow.

"Just some ghosts who are passing through, revisiting old haunts, my love," Siivas replied dismissively. "Let's go raise a toast to them, and dance like it's our last night on Earth, eh t'chuk?"

With a nod of acquiescence, Anduran led the way, and the psychic physician winked at them mischievously before turning to move and rejoin the party.

"It is... for them, it IS their last night on Earth, because they will never return here again, to this place, to this world. He knew..." Charybdis realized. "All those years ago, he knew what fate would befall him... yet he stayed the course. No wonder he was so quick to save the Victory..." Charybdis realized, then she leaned heavily against the wall. Immediately, a doorway of light slid open from the ground up as Liviana opened a timegate.

"Come on, Grandmama... let's get you home now, okay?" McCray said softly, wrapping her arm beneath the old woman to support her, and making stern silent eye contact with Dox to do the same.

Without hesitation, Dox acquiesced and put an arm around the elder Rihannsu to help, disregarding Liviana’s virtual glare to glance back to the telepathic Deltan walking away with his love. Keeping Char’s secrets to protect not his future, but her own. In those moments when she chose to leave her mind open to his communication, she imagined she could feel him through that link. She could feel his immense loyalty and compassion, and the love he felt for his pupil, and she smiled at him as the three women all stepped back through the portal, a tear rolling down her cheek.

As the initial glare began to fade, Dox held a snug but supportive grip with one arm under Char’s and her other hand over the elder Rihannsu’s hand. Reality reforming around the periphery of her vision, she wasn’t immediately sure where Liviana was taking then now, hoping that it was where they had left from originally. As they stepped through, they were back in the bedroom of the old woman, where Liviana turned her to sit her down on the bed.

"Let's get these boots off and get you into bed, Gran," the casual time traveler said, kneeling to remove the thick wool-lined flat-soled boots the old woman was wearing, as Dox supported her. Tears still flowed freely, and when her boots were off, Liviana removed the apron and together, the two of them got the old woman under the covers and settled into bed, fully dressed. Kissing her forehead, tears filled those silvery eyes as Liviana stroked the gray hair of her heroic ancestor.

"We'll be right outside if you need anything, okay Grandmama? I love you," she whispered, as the elderly Rihannsu nodded, settling in. The dirty apron in one hand, Liviana McCray grabbed the Honor Blade with the other and walked into the living room, that shrine to memories of a life gone by, leaving Dox to say her piece.

Watching Liviana step out of the room, Mnhei’sahe took a breath. She had only known the woman for a day. When she arrived that morning, the young pilot expected yet another interrogation, and while she suspected she might still get one from the time traveler in the living room, she didn’t care. Instead, she wiped her own eyes and sat on the side of the bed, putting her hand on Charybdis’, which was up over the edge of the covers. She knew what was coming, knew WHO was likely coming, better than most. And sitting there, Dox didn't know if it was her own overwhelmed emotions, but she thought in that moment that she could almost feel something like a presence. Regardless, in her heart Dox simply knew that it was time.

“I suppose it’s my turn, now.” Mnhei’sahe said, smiling broadly with tears in her eyes. “Siivas was right, Char. There’s nothing to be afraid of. I know.”

Stroking the elder’s hand softly, Mnhei’sahe’s voice dropped to a whisper. Not to hide her words, but to make them easier to get out through a cracked voice. “It’s like you told me, you’re not alone in this. Know that you’re never alone. That’s what she’s coming for… to make sure that nobody is ever alone to make that last journey. To step through that door and take you home to… to them. To Fiona and… to Raine.”

“I look forward to that, I must admit. I’m… tired. It has been a long life, and I’m… ready, now,” the old woman admitted, coughing.

The tears flowed again as Mnhei’sahe remembered that last glimpse of her own father’s soul, taken from this world. He had been smiling and whole, like the man of her most hidden childhood memories. And she thought of what she hadn’t been able to see of the gift that her friend, Asa Dael, had been given on Bajor. That last conversation with the doctor’s brother, taken as a child by disease from the other side. “They’ve always been with you. You’ve never been alone. And you’re not alone now, Char. You will see them all again and you and they will be whole, without pain. I can promise you that, because I know she’s here… listening even if I can’t see her when she comes, because that time is for you. Cherish it.”

Gripping the hand, Mnhei’sahe nodded and smiled again. “We’ll be in the other room, but I’ll be waiting. So… I guess we all have our secrets, right?” Letting out a chuckle, the young woman, sitting on the edge of the bed leaned in a little with a conspiratorial grin as Char listened with a smile of her own.

“Thank you for humoring an old woman, Mnhei’sahe. I’ve known today was coming for a long time, and I appreciate you hearing me out, and giving me your time. It was kind of you, and I am grateful,” Charybdis smiled, squeezing the young pilot’s hand and patting it reassuringly.

“No humoring required. It was an honor to hear your story, deihu," Dox replied respectfully, using the word for 'elder' before changing her tone with a smile.

"Soooo, I don’t put everything in my reports, contrary to popular opinion,” Dox explained, as the dying woman chuckled knowingly. “After all, some secrets aren’t mine to give, but I don’t think she’ll object to me giving you a few spoilers here. Whatever you see, just remember, she’s a little Japanese girl. Her name is Masato Rei. She’s… about this tall…” And Dox put her hand up next to her own forehead just above her eyebrows. We have lunch once a week on the Hera. She…”

Choking back tears, Dox smiled and continued, “She prefers Chicago deep-dish to New York-style Pizza. She loves Eel roll and always hogs it all when I bring Sushi for dinner. She’s old, but only a little more than half as old as that sword out there. And her horse, Taxes, is a sweetheart. He loves apples and nudges me with his big old snout when I’m upset.”

“Who knew Death would be so personable,” Charybdis snickered, then she sighed. “I suspect she will be a bit different than that for me, because I have expectations, and they won’t be met by a little Japanese girl. But I thank you for the insight all the same… again, it is a kindness you extend, for which I am grateful.”

“This is just another adventure, Char. And she’ll take you to it…” The tears flowed freely and Mnhei’sahe struggled to speak as she slowly stood up. Placing Char’s hands on the bed, she straightened herself up, and adjusted her uniform top, wiping her cheeks. “You will never be alone. I swear that to you on my mnhei’sahe, if you’ll pardon the expression.”

“Neither will you, Mnhei'sahe. The Undiscovered Country… the true final frontier,” Charybdis observed. “Although it isn’t the final adventure, my friend. If there is one thing that I have learned in all my travels, it is that nothing ever ends- it just changes. So don’t weep for me- this is just the next adventure, unfettered by this old and broken mortal shell. I welcome it, as I welcome the visitor who will soon darken my door.”

Then, switching back and forth between languages that both women knew well, Dox’s voice was gravely but strong, “Thlinae arhem… thank you. You have given me a gift and it’s one I will cherish forever. Not the sword, but the gift of knowing the tradition which I follow, and the standard that I uphold. I swear I will honor that gift always, and I endeavor to live up to it, every day.”

“Use it wisely- I know… you will,” the old woman’s voice faltered a bit at that.

Turning to the door, Dox smiled and looked deep into Char’s eyes, “Because I know that I’m not alone. That I’ve never been alone. And I’ll never be alone, because I know you’ll be there.”

“You will carry me as a handprint on your heart, my friend. Because that is what we do for one another in this life…or so I was taught, by a wise woman long gone, who waits for me on the other side,” the old woman’s voice was faint now, as her eyes fluttered closed.

“Good journeys, Scylla Charvanek… Charybdis MacGregor. I’ll see you again.” With that, the young officer nodded, smiled and stepped out of the room to where Liviana McCray was waiting. And as she did, she whispered gently to the presence she couldn't see but could feel all the same, "Take care of her for me, Rei."

As Dox stepped into the living room, McCray closed the bedroom door, to give her grand dam privacy for what was to come, then turned to Dox. Those silvery eyes held an amber glow in one spot of them, as if she had a readout of data running in one corner of her cornea. The expression she wore was one of bitter resentment. Still holding the sword, she strode to the kitchen, speaking as she moved.

“She told you her tale, so you know who she was, and what she did, and what she had planned. But she didn’t tell you the truth, not entirely… partially because she didn’t know the whole story. So let me fill in that blank for you, because I think you need to know.” McCray turned, chin held high, her face a mask of composure.

“That broken down old woman in there… she was still vital and hearty a decade ago. She told she was holding the sword for someone, but that isn’t true,” McCray declared, eyeing the sword in her hand before looking up to meet Dox’s gaze with a ferocious intensity. “Gran was supposed to bear the Honor Blade as a symbol, as a rallying point. She would fight the opposition to reunification, she would overcome the petty warlords and the tendrils of the Tal’Shiar. As the one who stood on both worlds, she would bring the Star Empire into the Federation, where they would become stronger than ever, and bring harmony to the Empire, and to this part of the galaxy. That old before her time woman in there was to be Empress Charvanek, who would unite the shattered remnants of the Star Empire, and lead them into the 25th century, to honor and glory. A new homeworld would be established, while a long life was to be hers, spent redeeming her people to the universe.”

“Instead, she dies in a hovel of a cottage, exiled from her people, never to see her homeworld or her people again. Never to realize the destiny that she fought and sacrificed so much for… because of YOU people.” The tempestuous time traveler snarled the words, her concealed anger now brought fully to the surface. “You mucked with time and prevented Spock from ever intervening, from the course history was laid out on, and created a new timeline. One where Romulus was never destroyed, where the scattered factions would still hold Homeworld, so there would never be any impetus to change. So she dies in there tonight, a useless footnote of history… because of YOU people.”

Tears flowed, angry tears as the passionate woman of indeterminate age relayed her perspective on it all. “So she hands over the Honor Blade to you, so that maybe you might do something with it, or find the one who will, because even with her last… damned… breath, she is STILL trying to do what she can, trying to save her people from themselves, trying to make a difference.”

“So while you and those two selfish cretins from the Kelvin timeline choose to casually change time and fate, just remember- there’s often someone out there whose fate you are changing at the same time, and it might not be for the better, like it is for you. So take it…” McCray thrust the sheathed sword onto Dox’s chest, her anger clear and present. “Let it remind you off the things Gran said… but also let it serve as a reminder that fucking with fate usually screws other people in the process.”

Looking down at the sword in her hands, Dox sniffled back a tear and her face tightened into something of a scowl. But she bit back her initial anger, took a breath and composed herself. Folding her hands, with the sword in them behind her back, she looked back up to meet the eyes of the furious woman before her.

"I never met this woman you spoke of, Miss McCray." Dox's tone wasn't confrontational, but instead was steady and firm. She had spent weeks telling people what they needed to hear just to survive, and she was done with it. "I didn't meet any broken old women in any hovels. I met no failures today. No, today I met a powerful, confident woman whose eyes were filled with boundless hope and endless compassion. I met a woman in the family home she loved, surrounded by the memories which brought her comfort and joy."

Taking a step forward, Dox's voice went up just a notch. Not quite a yell, but a bit more intense. "So you're wrong. I DID meet an Empress. I met a woman I will spend the rest of my life trying to live up to the example she set."

Turning, the upset woman started pacing slightly as her eyes fell on Char's old uniform. The one so much like Rita Paris, a reminder of an age of hope and innocence. "My crew and I, we know EXACTLY what we choose to do means. We know that for every life we might save, we risk another. We know that for every fate we change for the better, we may bring a shadow to another."

Looking back at McCray, the tears flowed again. "You may think you know who I am thanks to the readout you're looking at in your eye, but you do not know me, Liviana McCray. I know the cost of our actions, 'for weal or woe' more than most. You see, there IS a Fate. And every day, every one of us tempt her and thwart her. Like Rita and Sonak did to save this reality from what would have been the collapse of theirs. We make Fate work her ass off keeping up with what we do, and that will likely never change. We have to, because if there's even the chance that we can save a life, then by Al'thindor, that's what we HAVE to do. And if that means I have to write the names out of Death's book one by one for the rest of my life and beyond, then that's a small price to pay."

As Dox spoke, for all her knowledge, Liviana didn't know that the young pilot's last comment wasn't a metaphor.

"Every NIGHT I consider the consequences of my actions in this universe. While I will mourn for those lost, I will BE BETTER because of them. FOR them." Dox was looking up at the slightly taller woman as her eyes narrowed.

"But you know that all too well, don't you? You saw a glorious fate for your grandmother you wanted to make happen. Empress. Savior of the Rihannsu. So you went back and intervened with time and manipulated events. You… changed… fate. And as you just told me what that means, so I KNOW you know." Dox finished, stepping back with a raised eyebrow.

"You're still doing it, right here and now. Fucking with fate. Because, I am assuming, you honor your grandmother’s spirit. Because you still believe in hope. Or did I hear her wrong when she called me 'YOUR Lieutenant Dox'?"

“I have traversed the length and breadth of time. I’m not some nouhha’fdavt casual who just flits about, full of self-righteousness to justify my actions. Yeah, I went on that mission with her. Because it was what had to happen. I played my part in it, because if I didn’t it would have all changed. That was SUPPOSED to happen. It was destiny, predestination- I knew it and played my part, even if she didn’t know the whole of it. I have a perspective you cannot imagine, and yes, she did call you MY Lieutenant Dox. Because she knew we’d have history, you and I. Because we already have, and we will again… just not from YOUR perspective. Not yet. You live a linear, existence; I don’t. I’ve already run into you twice, and we’ve discussed this argument. Just because it hasn’t happened for you yet doesn’t mean this is my first time.”

“So you go right ahead and have your high-handed perspective. Family home? This is the servant’s quarters. The mansion over there was her home, and she was supposed to be… well.” The corners of the time traveler’s lips curled in a humorless smile. “You don’t care so, I won’t bother explaining. I know history, I know the linchpins of time and I know exactly who you are, ‘Dox’. The one who’s speaking from ignorance here is you, not me. But this I’ll tell you for free- fuck with Fate and she’s going to fuck you right back. Maybe ask your friends about that, since clearly I don’t know a f’davt thing.”

“Got any more parting shots you’d like to take? Because the timer’s winding down and she be gone soon…” McCray declared as her chin dimpled, and it was clear she was struggling to continue, her voice unsteady, her hands balled into fists at her side. “While you knew her for an afternoon, I’ve known her my entire life. Knowing I can go visit her again back in the good years doesn’t make it any better, because I still had to say goodbye today. I still have to face that she died here, like this, when she was supposed to have another eighty-two years, and the universe would have known her name and her deeds.”

Tears streaming down her face, the pointy-eared menace of space and time lowered her voice nearly to a whisper as she trembled. “Tell me more about what I don’t know, t’Rul. Tell ME about YOUR sacrifices. Or just take a swing if it’ll make you feel better about it all.”

Looking at the angry woman across from her, Dox hung her head slightly. Liviana clearly did know her. She knew exactly how to hurt her with words, and the young pilot was feeling the sting of them like a fresh wound as the time-traveling woman cut into her with her family name. But she also knew how to control her own pain. She had her own lifetime of hard lessons to fall back upon. And while the time traveler in turmoil spoke a good game of having a non-linear existence, this pain she was clearly feeling was painfully linear for her.

So, Dox turned and set the sword down on the table, then stepped back over to Liviana and took a breath. The woman was clearly in agony, and lashing out at the easiest and most appropriate target, but Dox wasn’t going to take that bait and feed that beast. Instead, she exhaled slowly to look up at the granddaughter of her friend, and spoke in a calm, measured voice.

“No, I don’t want to take a swing. I don’t want to hurt you. If you want to take a shot, go ahead. I won’t stop you. If you want to rage and scream and let out all the pain you’re feeling at me, then I’ll take it.” Mnhei’sahe nodded. “You say you know me. That for you, we’ve met before. So you know I can take it. I’ve taken it before and I’ll take it again. And if it helps you, I’ll do it gladly for her. Because you’re right. I am ignorant of a great many things, while there are things I know that I wish I didn’t. That’s one of the things that makes living this life that, at times, seems chosen FOR me... difficult. That sometimes, the weight of what we know seems like a great weight threatening to crush us.”

“That said, what I can say now is that… I am sorry. I’m sorry for your pain. I’m sorry for what you’ve lost. I can’t take any of it back, and I know that. All I can do is what I said… keep moving forward, trying to be better. Live up to the hope that your Grandmother offered to me.”

“I didn’t say what I said out of arrogance, Liviana. I said it because some days, it’s the only thing I can do to keep going when the weight of it all becomes too much. And I suspect that’s something you know VERY well.”

“So... “ Dox said, tilting her head slightly as she spoke, “You can hit me or tear into me as much as you need to. Or, we can start over. This is linear for me, so I only know you from meeting you today. But I also know you from the stories I was told of an adventurous, fearless woman who risked everything for the grandmother she loved, over and over again. The woman who threatened her own existence, just for her beloved Hu'nanov. That sounds like the kind of woman I’d like to know.”

There was turmoil in the eyes of the chronal corsair, as she considered her options and just how she might react to this. Looking around the small, comfortable home filled with memories of a life that had known more strife than happiness, she knew what her legendary grand dam would have done. There was conflict, but in the end, she stepped in and embraced the smaller woman, and sobbed, tears flowing freely.

“You know it’s coming, you know exactly when it’s going to happen but it… it doesn’t help,” McCray sobbed. “She’s gone, she never fulfilled her destiny and… it’s just so goddamned unfair. Because she was great, and she should have been so… much… more... than this.”

Listening, Mnhei’sahe wrapped her arms around the woman and held her tight, crying right along with her. There were words still unsaid, but for a good, long moment, words would have just gotten in the way of the grief that needed to be expressed.

After a full two minutes, as the tears began to slow ever so slightly, Dox pulled back slightly, then moved her hands to Liviana’s shoulders and looked into her pale silvery eyes, which were in truth an inhuman shade of blue. “I know. If you know me, then you know I know. That knowledge is a tremendous burden, and it doesn’t make this any easier. Sometimes I think it makes the pain worse because you know it’s coming and you can’t stop it. But… in the time we were together here, when she looked at these walls and the things she had collected, and when she spoke of you she was happy. I believe that.”

“She’s still great. She will always be great, and she will always be with us, pushing us to be great for the standard she set, and for ourselves.” Dox leaned in slightly with a smile. “We both can work to honor that, I think. We can move forward and try to make what she dreamed of a reality. Even if we never succeed, if we keep trying and don’t let go of that hope, we will honor her, and she will smile from wherever she is. I know that. I’ll try regardless... but I’d rather do so calling you a friend, Liviana.”

A warning chime sounded then, seemingly from nowhere, and Liviana McCray sighed. “Calling me friend is a dangerous proposition, Dox. Because I spend a lot of time on the run, and there are always factions chasing me in one form or another… well, at this point in my life, at least. But before I go, I want you to have this.” Stepping over to the mantle, she opened a curio cabinet door, and fetched out an ancient carving of a phoenix, carved from a single flamegem the glowed from within with a flickering, pulsating light.

Watching, Dox simply nodded and let her continue. Many of her friendships and relationships came fraught with danger, so that concern was nothing new for the woman pursued by the Tal'Shiar, the Rihannsu Senate and Death herself.

“It’s the Al’thindor that great grandma kept on her mantle in Grandmama’s childhood home. I... may have stolen it. Most of this stuff is going to be sectioned off to relatives, sent to the Starfleet Museum or sold at auction, so I want you to take this. You still follow the old ways, so… she would have wanted you to have it. Along with this.” Fishing in her top, McCray produced a black datacrystal that looked like a Dedjoy crystal. “The information is the data from the Bulikaya particle research, and it CANNOT fall into the wrong hands. But… well, you’re going to… yeah, spoilers. I gotta go.”

"I'll do whatever I can to protect it, Liviana. I promise it." Dox said, clutching the black crystal in her hand and nodding back.

That bar of light appeared at the floor behind McCray and slid upward, creating a doorway in reality that glowed with the purest white light. Stepping into it, McCray paused long enough to say, “For what it’s worth… you made a difference with her today. She could go happy, knowing she’d tried one last ploy, one more madcap plan to save her people. So… thank you,” McCray smirked, a familiar expression, even on her considerably younger face, as she stepped through and the doorway of light collapsed behind her.

"You're welcome." Dox replied softly to the spot where Liviana had been just a moment prior. Looking around the now empty room, Dox stood silently for a long moment before letting out a long breath and taking the sculpture of al'Thindor to her bag. Carefully, she wrapped the beautiful statue using her uniforms to delicately pad and protect it. After placing the wrapped statuary in her bag, she then looked long and hard at the black crystal she had been handed.

While they had talked, Charybdis had mentioned something about Bulikaya particles, but she knew nothing more save her reference to jaunting through dimensions. Tucking it into her own top for safekeeping, she didn't know what it was about, but accepted that it was clearly important, and likely would play a part in her future. So she silently resolved to protect it as asked.

Pausing, she walked along the walls slowly, taking in the pictures and connecting the faces with the stories she had been told. The lifetime of adventure and exploration told in images and mementos that would soon be just another part of Starfleet history. The accomplishments of a woman who had been hidden from that very history, whom Dox would never forget.

Coming to the door to Charybdis's room, Dox stood for a long time that seemed to stretch out ahead of her before she finally opened the door one last time and stepped lightly inside. Silently, she looked across at the sight of Admiral Charybdis MacGregor, who lay with her eyes closed with the faintest of smiles on her still face.

Closing the door behind her, Dox rested a hand on it, whispering faintly in Rihan, "May the wings of Al'thindor carry you to your reward, Char."

Then, Dox took her bag, placed the Honor Sword of the Rihannsu Imperium in the metal case, and closed the small cottage up behind her. She made the required calls to Starfleet and answered the questions they had for another two minutes before finally, all was quiet again on the bank of the loch as night fell silently across the verdant fields of Scotland. The soft November wind was crisp and there was a chill in the air as the young Starfleet pilot who suddenly, in such a small period of time, found herself in the center of so many things she had never imagined possible.

Turning, she took one last look at Charybdis MacGreggor's small cottage, wherein only one short day she had met a heroine, and become a part of something even bigger than everything else in her already complicated life. With the lights all dark and the moon cresting the rolling hills, Mnhei'sahe smiled softly and tapped her badge. And in a shimmer of blue and white lights, she was gone and there was only silence left on the fields of Glenlochy.

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

As the old woman dozed off, she heard the voices in the other room fade. Then flickering light caught her eye and drew her back to wakefulness, and she clearly heard the beating of wings. Opening her eyes, at the foot of the bed, was the great flaming phoenix that had symbolized so much of her life. Al'thindor, the great Firebird of her culture, for whom the Deltans had named her, and whom she had revered her entire life. Tugging at the covers to make to rise, the great flaming bird moved forward, to restrain her with one fiery wing.

"It's time, isn't it?" the old woman asked, knowing full well the answer. But there was no fear nor resignation in her voice, for this was not an ending, but a beginning for her. The great flaming entity bowed it's head slightly, and Admiral Charybdis McGregor pulled back the covers so she could stand and meet her end as she had all things in life- on her own two feet, prepared to do what must be done.

But when she rose, it was not with an old woman's aches and pains, nor with the weight of flab and age and bones that ground on bone. Instead, she was once again young and vital- her skin unmarred by the creases and lines of time, her hair full and lustrous, her hands steady and sure, her eyes clear and bright. As she rose without difficulty for the first time in memory, she smiled- that crooked smirk that had been her trademark as the 'Vulcan Vixen' who had seduced starship captains, saved worlds and crossed time and space in the pursuit of what she thought was right.

As she turned to regard her abandoned corporeal form, the wings of the firebird enveloped her, and with the gentle beating of her wings, they carried her away.

When they opened once more, she was at the Christmas party from her first return to Earth- one of her happiest memories, there in MacGregor Manse. Qurka Qurg was there, wearing a scandalous tight-fitting red dress, still young and vital as she remembered her. T'Vyn was there, not in her elf costume, but in her off white Ambassador's robes. Her mother was there, still young and vital as Char remembered her from childhood, arm in arm with the white-haired human astronaut Fred Carlow, whose form Char had once worn even as he had worn hers.

There stood her son Ralm, dead these many years from the battle of Wolf 359, so proud and dignified in his Captain's uniform, who had been but a babe at that party. Beside him was Jessica Valin, the tall tactician whom she'd mentored as a young officer, austere in her Admiral's uniform that meant more to her than life itself. Maur Weaver stood beside Yuna, the cranky Trill nudging the brilliant engineer forward even as he tried to blend in the background. Tivri was there, her antennae turning toward Char even as the diminutive snow sprite's skin blushed a deeper shade of sapphire.

Then as she approached the grand staircase she saw Siivas and Andurean and the Sulamids, Proot and Priit, who had not been there that night. Clad in the diaphanous robes they preferred, they wore no uniforms, but their smiles were warm and welcoming as tears flowed down her cheeks at the joy of being reunited with them all at last. There was William and Bonnie McCray, both young and full of life, smiling at her to welcome her, as were they all. Beside them, clad in a comfortable brown sweater and sensible pants and slippers, of all things, stood the wee spitfire Fiona McCray, for whom the sight filled Chary's heart to bursting, to be reunited with her long-lost sister after so many years apart.

Then the love of her life came striding down the staircase at that leisurely confident pace she knew so well, his eyes alight with that look that was only reserved for her. With a smile on his rugged and bearded face came Raine MacGregor, laird of the MacGregors. Father of her children and her one true love, whom she had laid to rest nearly fifty years ago. The slight grey at his temples was as she remembered when she met him, and his barrel chest was complimented by those big strong arms in which she had taken refuge and peace. Hale and hearty, he opened those arms once more, awaiting an embrace that had been decades in coming. As she stepped into him, she smelled his scent that she had known only in memory for so long, and felt his arms about her, making her feel safe, worthy, and loved. When he spoke, his deep voice resonated in his chest, and she knew he spoke for them all.

"Welcome home, Chary."