An Unlikely Voice

Posted on Sun Dec 29th, 2019 @ 12:14pm by Rear Admiral Farenia Meowlith & Captain Enalia Telvan & Commander Rita Paris & Lieutenant Commander Mnhei'sahe Dox & Deihu (Senator) Verelan t'Rul
Edited on on Tue Dec 31st, 2019 @ 11:42am

Mission: Neutral Zone Neutrality
Location: Holodeck One, USS Hera
Timeline: 2396

The wind blew across the soft lavender grasses of the hills of i'Ramnau. The countryside was lush and faded to a deep green the further back the hills rolled and Lieutenant Commander Mnhei’sahe Dox stood, looking at the large, old mansion at the end of the property. It was a large, three-story building with great columns at the front that went from the steps of the main entry to the portico. The columns were a shined black marble framing weathered, pale tan walls that seemed to glow almost gold in the waning light as Eisn set behind her.

In the distance, lights began to twinkle from the great city of Ihhliae, seven kilometers to the south. But here, far enough from the city, the sounds were quiet and there was a peace to things. This was the land owned by Dox’s Grandmother, Senator Verelan t’Rul. Her ancestral home on Romulus.

Except it wasn’t. Walking in the ankle-deep grass in bare feet, Dox stood and sighed. Closing her eyes, the illusion became more apparent to her senses as the wind felt more hollow. The light more artificial. This was the holodeck of the U.S.S. Hera and the house simply a recreation from Starfleet intelligence scans and archival images collected by spies. The real house was light-years, and was a place she could now very likely never go and had only seen for real in holo-images her Grandmother showed her and in her grandmother’s mind, thanks to a mind-meld made possible by Lieutenant Commander Sonak.

Months ago, this world was offered to Mnhei’sahe. By right of inheritance, this house and the land she pretended to stand on would have eventually been hers. Were she to abandon her life in Starfleet, it could be hers still, but that wasn’t an option.

Standing on the hill, bathed in the perpetual, artificial sunset of a home Dox had finally seen with her own eyes, the young woman allowed a tear to crawl down her face as she looked around at what she had given up for her home on the Hera. The family she had built here and the children on the way gave her no choice but to walk away from a dream she had fostered since childhood. Which meant that even now, she struggled with the decision, as impossible as that seemed.

She could never abandon her bond-mate and wife, Mona Gonadie, nor their children. Then, when she was finally reunited with Mona, it filled her with an impossible sense of completion that still gave her warmth and brought the hint of a smile to her otherwise somber face. But in her imagination, she dreamed of a life where she could have had both. Her chosen family, embraced by her blood on the world she had longed to be on her entire life. But that was a fantasy. The dreams of childhood, and Mnhei’sahe was no longer a child.

Walking around the side of the house, it’s windows were dark. No internal scans existed to create interiors from, so the dream was just that: a hollow facade to pine for. But Dox knew what the interior looked like. She stood there in her grandmother’s memories with the woman and knew the house as if she had lived there. The large, central hall with stairs on each side heading up. The rich, red woods of the doors and marble sheen of the floors. The paintings along the walls hinting at the house and her family’s lengthy history. She remembered it, but it was gone. Unreproducible with only the satellite data the Holodeck had to draw on, so she continued to walk the outside perimeter. Dox wore her crimson uniform, pressed and pristine. Two solid gold pips and one hollow black one to show her recently promoted rank of Lieutenant Commander shined in the artificial sunset. Her Starfleet comm badge rested, still, on her breast proudly. Looking up at the tall walls, she stopped to rest beside a small Maithe tree and sat.

It had been months since she was rescued by her friends and returned home to the Hera. Her mother had been rescued as well, much to her amazement. Thanks to the intervention of Rita Paris, fate had been averted. As it turned out, when the person who would invade a hostile planet to rescue you is a refugee from another universe outside of fate’s influence, nothing truly is written in stone.

After her rescue, there were questions and examinations and tests and weeks of interrogations at Starfleet Intelligence on Earth to restore her rank and commission. But now, things were beginning to become stable again.

Or, at least as stable as was possible for the woman, now both a Lieutenant Commander in Starfleet AND an unlikely diplomat, representing her grandmother’s voice in talks with Romulan reunificationists. Which was why she stood in the recreation of that abandoned home: a reminder of something she was working towards. A reminder of what she could possibly see again, if she was strong and good and smart. So she prayed to the elements and Al’thindor that she could be all of the things everyone expected of her, as she prepared herself for what was to come.

In a few minutes, the Hera would be positioned for a live, subspace holographic communication with Romulus. With her grandmother, the Senator Verelan t’Rul, where Mnhei’sahe would tell her and, perhaps the Romulan Senate, what she had seen and learned on the hidden colony world of Mol Krun’chi.

“Computer, save program: Dox, Romulus, 001. Then, end program, thank you.” She said, standing back up and brushing herself off. As she did, the vista around her rippled and then vanished, returning to the black and gold, gridded room that was the empty holodeck. As it vanished, the computer replied with a chirp as it always did, “You’re welcome, Lieutenant Commander.”

Alone in the center of the room, she tugged down on her uniform top, fidgeting nervously as she waited for the message to begin. Time seemed to linger for a minor eternity as she stood at attention before the computer chimed. =^=Incoming private message. Security level Alpha priority from Senator Verelan t'Rul, Romulan Star Empire.=^=

Taking a breath, Mnhei'sahe centered herself for what she had to do. Slowly letting the breath out, she let herself relax for a moment as she spoke. "Computer, please initiate secure communications. Authorization Dox, M. Lieutenant Commander. Access code 795-X9E."

As she did, the room began to flicker as the holographic systems engaged, and the young pilot found herself in a perfect recreation of the domed senate chamber of the Romulan Star Empire. Surrounding her were the black marble seats of power that commanded the Imperium, with shining columns that stretched from the top of the steps to the green metal arched ceiling. And standing three meters in front of her on the other side of the etched sigil of the great firebird Al'thindor on the floor, appeared the simulated image of her grandmother.

"Jolan'tru, Senator t'Rul." Mnhei'sahe said, her voice steady and even as she greeted her grandmother. Her face was a well-practiced facade of calm, though her stomach was twisting itself into a knot as the holographic representations of the rest of the senate populated into the chamber as the image completed.

"Jolan'tru, Mnhei'sahe Dox," the dignified, silver-haired Romulan woman greeted her granddaughter. "You address the full Senate of the Romulan Star Empire. This august body is anxious to hear your report on the Runificationist colony, and their stance on reunifying with our cousins the Vulcans. What news do you bring, Representative Dox?"

"Greetings, noble Senators. I... I thank you for the opportunity to address you today." Dox said, bowing to the assemblage before returning to a posture of full attention internally chastising herself for the minor stutter. A full month of learning how to control her emotional reactions in the face of Commander Rendal of the Tal'Shair, combined with weeks of meetings with the Admiralty of Starfleet Intelligence made it much easier for her to maintain her professional composure under the circumstances. 

"What I witnessed on my mission, was a thriving and predominantly agrarian colony that has worked for many years to incorporate the basic principals of Vulcan logic and discipline to their lives. But in those lives, what I saw were Romulans. Passions intact but measured to create a balanced society that embraces the full range of our heritage and history." Dox said, moving her attention across the room from left to right, speaking to the full assembly as best as possible. To her own internal surprise, she had recovered from her initial stammer quickly.

"However, the circumstances and their prior legal standing, combined with a reasonable fear of reprisal from the most extreme factions of the Tal'Shiar have stunted their cultural growth and development and they are eager to expand and become a part of the galaxy again. Without open communications, they have exhausted their own knowledge of Vulcan culture and I witnessed a desire to both reach out to our mutual cousins while also being able to retain their cultural identity as Romulans. As such, our discussions with the colony ruling council were positive, and there is hope that the efforts of this noble body can be fulfilled." The red-headed Romulan Starfleet officer was tremendously out of her depth, but hoping she wasn't stumbling over her own words as she paused for a breath.

There was a slight rasp to her voice as she realized how dry her throat was becoming as she spoke, but she pushed past it, clearing her throat as quietly as possible. "As such... the representatives for the Federation, the Vulcan High Command and the Colony Ruling Council discussed possibilities for moving forward with the experiment of reunification."

As the murmurs passed around the senate chamber, a few cries of 'Romulus First!' and 'Reunification is folly!' were heard from some of the conservative Senators, which somewhat overrode the general murmur of assent.

"Will the lost colony reveal itself to us then, so that we may embrace her once more beneath the raptor's wing?" came a measured and clear voice from off to the left of Senator t'Rul.

"The floor recognizes his most august personage, the speaker of the dead, Senator Ehl’ein," the dignified Romulan politician gestured graciously. "His query bears merit- will they rejoin the glory of the Empire in order to be a part of this reunification effort?"

Listening to the voices of dissent and the question from the other Senator, Mnhei'sahe's throat tightened again and she swallowed hard as she thought about how to answer, realizing that her wording may have lead the conversation to somewhere she hadn't intended. Keeping her face neutral, she replied, a rasp to her voice as she spoke, "Senator Ehl'ein, I... I believe that in time, that may be an option. But with the current threat of Riov Rendal's rogue faction actively seeking out these colonies along with doomsday weapons, the threat of reprisal remains too strong to risk innocent Romulans. An attack on a single colony of the Imperium is an assault on the entirety of the Star Empire."

Doing her level best to muster up whatever confidence she could manage, Mnhei'sahe looked at the stern-faced politicians. "Instead, during our time there, we discussed alternate options to extend this experiment in a way that will allow the Empire and this grand body proper involvement in fostering these efforts to bring our people together. We are proposing the joint creation of... a new,  independent colony. One populated by members of the existing colony world, with volunteers from Vulcan itself and members that would be hand-picked here from the Hearthworld. A new colony located in a strip of space located along the edge of the current Neutral Zone that could be designated to allow visits from ships from both the Federation and the Star Empire. A proving ground where this experiment can exist with greater support and protection from all sides to ensure its safety and proper development."

"You would invite outsiders to freely violate the borders of the Star Empire at will?!?" One could practically hear the off-screen senator clutching at his pearls, and the scandalized gasps about the chamber echoed that sentiment.

The anxious pilot folded her arms behind her back and began wringing her hands together nervously as the tension began to mount. She knew that regardless of what Commander Paris or Lieutenant Commander Sonak said to the Federation Council or the Vulcan High Command, this mission would live or die based on what the Senate of the Romulan Star Empire would decide, and that decision was to be based on what she said. That put the freedom of four thousand Romulans on her shaky shoulders, and she was feeling that weight immensely at that moment as she swallowed hard.

"No, noble Senators. Our proposal would set the colony on a world on the Federations edge of the Neutral Zone. In effect, what this would achieve would be quite the reverse. A mutual agreement would allow ships of the Star Empire to venture further than our current borders. And if this newly proposed colony is successful, it would be a first step towards the expansion of those borders." Mnhei'sahe said, trying to reword the proposal in a way that would be more appealing to the traditionally minded Senators. 

The speech had the desired effect. The warhawks amongst the Senate were pleased with the concept of expanding their borders, of course. The reunificationists all saw it as an enormous step forward. The moderates saw no change to the status quo, and for the most part, the Senate was mollified.

For the most part.

"So we'd be sending our people to go mix with those who have lived as scavengers at the fringe of the Star Empire, and the Vulcans... all in a grand experiment for which the Federation shall sit atop like a great mother hlai?" asked Senator Ehl’ein, followed by a mirthless chuckle. "This is a wonderful plan, one which will serve the interests of the Imperium well. We condone this plan- the Dead have spoken."

Ripples of talk followed in the wake of that pronouncement, as the venerable Verelan t'Rul redirected the attention of the hundred members of the Romulan Senate. "There are yet details to consider and plans yet to be discussed. There will be quite the reckoning of a treaty to agree to terms for all of this, between three worlds and a Federation. For now, let us consider the logistics and discuss the ramifications of what we have learned."

A general hubbub once more ensued, and the sharp old politician leaned into her granddaughter. "You were magnificent, granddaughter. Words cannot convey how proud I am of you right now, but we shall talk. For now, go- there is Senatorial business to tend to that prying eyes and rounded ears need not be witness. Jolan’tru, Mnhei'sahe," the dignified stateswoman offered with a wry maternal smile.

“Jolan’tru, Grandmother.” Mnhei’sahe nodded, speaking softly as she was using a more familiar farewell in that moment. Then, to make her more official sign off, she spoke a bit more clearly. “I take my leave of this august gathering that you may consider my report. Jolan’tru, noble Senators.”

Offering Verelan the slightest of smiles, Mnhei’sahe nodded as she was dismissed and the transmission ended from its source. Moments later, the holographic representation rippled away back to nothingness and she stood alone again on the holodeck.

Standing in silence in the stark, black room with its gold-lined grid, the young Romulan Starfleet officer took a long breath and let it out. For now, the matter was out of her hands. The ambassadors and officials on both sides would now be able to hammer out the specifics and negotiate for every centimeter, but she had done her job. The Senate was pleased, the colony was safe, reunification continued to inch forward, and her Grandmother was proud.

Still, the eerie chuckle of Senator Ehl’ein reverberated in the back of her mind. The so-called Speaker of the Dead left the young pilot feeling uneasy, and she prayed that her inexperience hadn’t created an entirely new problem yet to be revealed. As she thought of it all, her posture slumped, she hung her head and let out a long sigh as she muttered to herself.

“Being Romulan is kreldanni exhausting.”