Dralath tr'Rul

Posted on Wed Jan 9th, 2019 @ 10:53am by Lieutenant Commander Mnhei'sahe Dox

Mission: Section 31-B
Location: Deck 8, Crew Quarters
Timeline: 2396

His name was Dralath tr'Rul. That much Melanie Dox was sure she remembered. The information she had gotten from her friend and fellow shipmate, the Baroness Schwein von Alcott confirmed her memories that he was a former member of Romulan Tal Shiar intelligence.

That information said that he escaped his service in or around stardate 2379, taking advantage of the short-lived Reman coup of the Senate and the ascension of Shinzon of Remus to the seat of Romulan Praetor. It was a turbulent time on Romulus that also effectively put an end, for a time, to the Reunification movement designed to bring the Romulan and Vulcan people together again.

As such, it effectively put Melanie and her Romulan mother Jaeih out of business. They were smugglers, but what they smuggled most were refugees, intelligence, and supplies in aid of that movement. After that point, they were forced to return to more... general smuggling to survive.

In her quarters aboard the U.S.S. HERA, Lieutenant Junior Grade Melanie Dox sat in the center of the floor, trying to lose herself in thought. Concentrating on the small flame In the Vulcan brazier before her. Her initial memory of Dralath tr'Rul's face came to her practicing the meditative techniques she was being taught by her fellow officer, Lieutenant Sonak. Sonak was one of the many friends she had made since coming on board not that long ago as a pilot and being a Vulcan Kolinahr master, his mind was among the most disciplined in the Galaxy.

As she slumped back, flat on to the floor with a sigh, Melanie Dox groaned loudly, lamenting the decided LACK of discipline in her mind today. Today, her Romulan physiology was not helping her dredge up any further memories concerning Dralath tr'Rul.

She couldn't remember how or why she knew him. And she certainly couldn't remember why she knew that he knew her. In her vision, she saw his face clearly, from what had to be nearly 25 years ago speaking her true name with a warm smile. She could still hear his voice in her mind as she thought.

"Mnhei'sahe." Echoed in her mind.

She thought about contacting her mother, but as their holographic communications, we're not only closely monitored by Starfleet intelligence, as Jaeih was a political prisoner carrying out her sentence on Earth in service to them, that wasn't the best idea. It also wasn't wise to drop the name of a former member of the Romulan Gestapo on a subspace channel a thousand plus light years from Earth. That was a quick way to get your signals too much attention.

It was probably the copious amounts of Romulan ale provided by the Baroness earlier that evening that was making it difficult for Melanie to concentrate and clear her mind. She wasn't quite drunk, as the young part-Romulan could hold her liquor fairly well. But she wasn't 100% sober either. The thought of being completely drunk sent a shutter down Melanie's spine, as it made her think of her human father and what he did to her in a drunken fit of jealousy. Kidnapping her to have her surgically and genetically altered to appear more human to sate his disgust at having a Romulan daughter.

Her memories of Declan Dox were few and far between and rarely pleasant. He was not a significant part of most of her life and the parts he was there for tended to leave her more damaged than not. As her mind wandered, she saw again the face of Dralath tr'Rul smiling at her. Her given name again echoing in her memory. Dox sat back up slowly, with a quizzical look on her face.

The extremely detailed genetic tests that Doctor Asa Dael performed proved beyond any shadow of a doubt that Declan Dox was her father. With the alterations he had performed on her genetic code now repaired, her DNA was now predominantly Romulan, but just enough DNA from her human father was still present. But suddenly she was questioning that relationship. He was her father biologically. It was he that changed her name to 'Melanie' to further distance her from her Romulan heritage.

She knew that Declan was only around for at LEAST the first five years of her life, and she barely remembered him. But now she began to wonder if Dralath tr'Rul had been there instead during those forgotten years. Her mind kept wandering to him when she thought of her father, and the questions were maddening.

Again, she focused on the small flame in front of her and took a deep breath. Releasing it, she began to breathe slowly again. In and out in time to the pulsing light of the flame. If the memory was truly within her, she knew that clearing her mind with Sonak's techniques would be the best path to recovering it.

As she silenced her mind, she muttered under her breath in the Romulan language of Rihan. "Who are you, Dralath tr'Rul?"

"Who am I?"

 

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