Evening Tea

Posted on Fri Jan 11th, 2019 @ 1:07pm by Lieutenant Commander Mnhei'sahe Dox & Captain Enalia Telvan

Mission: Section 31-B
Location: Captain's Quarters
Timeline: 2396, en route to the Section 31 base

Sitting at the small, plain dining table in the middle of her otherwise sparse quarters, the newly minted full Lieutenant Mnhei'sahe "Melanie" Dox was plinking at the small keyboard she had been neglecting since coming on board the Hera. As a girl, she used to play more regularly, creating melodies and largely just making up tunes. But her duties on the Hera and a slighlty growing social life had cut into her practice time and she was failing miserably at getting back into it. Perhaps it was partly due to her sore muscles, still loosly aching from her recent armored exercises with Commander Rita Paris. Regardless, she found no joy in practicing her old keyboard, and rolled it back up to put away.

The duty shift was over and she had already eaten a light dinner in her quarters when a chirp came across the PaDD on her nightstand. Prepared for a lazy night in, her uniform top was tossed on the end of the bed and she was wandering about in her work pants and a basic, black bra. She picked up the PaDD to see a private message.

Checking it somewhat curiously, it was from the Captain of the HERA, Enalia Telvan. An off duty request to see her in her quarters at the earliest convenience. Dox looked at the message and actively quelched the anxiety that lived permanently in her gut. If something was wrong, this would be an official message. At least, if something was wrong regarding ships business.

Concerned, but refusing to allow herself to stress unnecessarily, Dox put her uniform tunic back on, straightened it out and headed quickly out of the door after sending a reply message that she was on her way. It might not be a ships emergency, but Dox didn't want to take any chances and dawdle.

A few minutes later, she arrived in front of the doors to the Captains quarters. The anxious young Romulan pilot had only had a handful on off-duty interactions with Captain Telvan that had all went very well, but she still couldn't quite calm her nerves that something was wrong as she pressed the door chime.

The door opened on it's own, letting the ship's CFCO in and revealing a highly decorated set of quarters filled with antiques from all over the galaxy. Shelves of tea sets lined shelves, tapestries on the walls, and even the furniture looked luxurious and so far removed from Starfleet issue it was like stepping into another world. "Please, come in," Enalia called from the couch by the windows. She and Maica were snuggling and with a kiss and a silent understanding both got up. While Maica headed into the kitchen for refreshments, Enalia headed towards the small yet ornate dining room table. "I was hoping to have a chat with you to see how you were doing. You've gone through a lot lately and I just wanted to make sure everything was going well. Will you join me for some late night tea?"

Relieved that nothing was wrong, the knot in Dox's stomach loosened up a little as she looked around the ornate quarters. "Thank you, Captain. Yes, that... that would be nice."

Remembering Rita Paris' words from the other night to try and relax more and in particular, not be overly formal around the Captain while off duty as, shock of shocks, Captains get nervous and self conscious around people on occasion too, Dox had her hands folded behind her back. It was a casual stance for the young pilot as she stepped slightly further in, taking in the details surrounding her.

"Wow. This is amazing. I... I have a lot of decorating to do. I've got, like, two half empty shelves." Dox smiled and let out a light chuckle as she spoke.

Slipping into one of the seats, Enalia chuckled softly as she too glanced around. "Thanks. I have a castle on Earth and a castle on Trill full of antiques, plus the family fortress with its collection, so everything here is a replica. Sorry... That's not... I don't mean that as bragging..."

It was that time that Maica returned with a ceramic and jade tea set detailed in a very Romulan manner on a silver tray. The smell of ginger and camomile filled the air as she poured the tea into the two cups. "What she means is that she's spent most of her life building up her collection and she's very proud of it. The replicas here are some of her favorite pieces so thank you for noticing." Smiling brightly, she took her leave, leaving the tea set on the table as she headed into the office area. "If you'll excuse me, I'll leave the two of you alone. Please call if you need anything."

"Uh, thank you. It smells lovely." Dox commented, somewhat awkwardly, though she was trying to not let her anxiety show. While there was an open seat that she assumed was intended for her, Dox stood near it not wanting to make a social blunder. But she also decided to be a little bluntly honest about her concern.

"I... I'm sorry, Captain. I know I'm standing here all stiff and I'm really not trying to be weird." She let a smile creep out. "Most of my training In life... well... really didn't cover how to... um... relax."

"Yeah, same here, actually..." Enalia motioned to the open seat as she spoke. "Please, sit. Right now I'm not Captain and you're not Lieutenant, we're just one friend concerned for how the other is doing. Though to be fair... I've read the reports... I have a few ideas... I want to know how you feel."

Taking the offered seat, Dox put her hands in her lap and was fidgeting slighlty, but starting to relax a little more. She paused for a moment, thinking about the question, wanting to not just throw out a perfunctory 'fine' or something similarly meaningless.

"It's... It's getting a little better. A little easier. I'm still..." Dox paused for a moment, pushing past her natural defense mechanism of shutting up to continue. "I'm still having nightmares about what happened. About Anansi and... But I'm getting through the night and sleeping a bit more each night. I have Sonak to thank for that."

Thinking about the psychic attack that had instigated what became weeks of major upheavals in her life, Dox rubber an ear nervously. An old tic she still fell into when she wasn't thinking. "He... mind melded with me to help me reconcile the memories that Anansi unearthed. And he's been helping me with meditations and training so maybe I can stop the next thing that tries pushing into my brain."

"Being able to have actually talked with my Mother... that helped me at least understand the other stuff. What Anansi showed me. Helped me at least have an idea of why he..." Dox trailed off, realizing she was starting to ramble. "Why my father did what he did to me. Changing me."

Then she brought her eyes, which had been largely focusing on her own feet until now up to meet Captain Telvan's. "I have to thank you for making that possible. Things are... tense... but we're talking at least."

Enalia smiled. Not one of her fake or piratical smiles, but a true, warm smile from the heart. "That's good. You're here on your own merits, but I wouldn't be lying if I said I picked you out of a list of fifty or so because I recognized your family name. As for your mother, I kind of feel like I owe her, for your sake and for hers, so... Yeah... Family is complicated for both of us, I guess. In a way, she reminded me of my own mother when I met her."

"Intel is ok with a twenty minute call every weekly rotation, so I'd take advantage of it. They're monitored still, but not directly at least." Sighing heavily Enalia sipped at her tea before continuing. "Growing up I was raised to be a pirate queen. Lead from a pedestal and inspire fear. Dine with the unwashed masses, but not to socialize with them. My mother was strict and nothing I did ever lived up to her expectations. My sister was trained to be a fleet commander and excelled at every task set before her. After my father's death, which they both blamed on me... Things got worse... So I ran off to the Trill Self Defense Force, then Starfleet when that wasn't far enough away. My mother even conned me into being Joined. Now she's disappointed I haven't given her an heir to take over the family."

Grinning wryly, Enalia looked up at Melanie. "Sound a bit like someone you know?"

Smiling as Enalia talked, Dox replied with a light chuckle. "Yeah, that's all more than a little familiar."

But then, thinking on her Captain's words, Dox's head sank again. "I think that's what Starfleet was to me, at least at first. An escape. A way to get away from her and my past and my father's planet. Just... away."

Slowly, her head raised back up. "I don't think I was ever really running towards something until now. Until getting here, if that makes any sense."

"Well, I'm glad you're here and I know a lot of other people are as well." Enalia smiled warmly again. "You're a part of the Hera family now, like it or not. Oh, and the Artan family, lest we forget. You can run towards us all you want, we'll be here for you."

Lightening her tone a bit, Dox smiled broadly now. "There's no forgetting that. I put my Artan ID up on a shelf in my quarters. I'm just about as proud of that as I am these pips in a way... because of what it means."

She paused for another second then continued. "With what you've all done for me. Yourself, Rita, Asa, Sonak, Thex, Schwein and everyone else have been here for me in ways I honestly thought didn't really exist. I meant what I said with that toast, Captain. Every word."

"And I believe it." Enalia sipped at her tea as she considered her words. "I would welcome every member of the Hera crew into the Artan family if I thought Command would let me get away with it."

Smiling as Enalia spoke, Dox paused for a moment and her face went a little more serious. "Captain... before... you said something about your mother conning you into being joined? I'm sorry if I'm asking too much, but what do you mean?"

The concept of bodily autonomy had become a very sensitive subject for the restored Romulan woman and she was concerned with the choice of the word 'conned'.

Enalia cupped her teacup in her hands and stared into it as she went over the tale. "Ah, well, in Trill society, it's a high honor to be selected as a host for a symbiont. I'm sure she paid a great deal to rush me through the selection process. That, coupled with my natural leadership abilities led me to be a natural choice, despite my background. However my first symbiont had to have an emergency host implantation on the way back to the homeworld so I wasn't selected in the end. Then some time later, I found out she had pulled some strings and changed some minds. The Commission had found a new symbiont for me. At the behest of my advisors at the Academy and my mother, I returned to Trill for the Joining... To find out afterwards that... And I tell you this in the strictest of confidences... I would be the first host for the young symbiont Telvan. It took us six months for us to even figure out how to sleep right again."

Putting her hand to her mouth, Dox gasped ever so silently. "Taeth Nouhha" she whispered slightly, a Rihan equivalency for the Terran phrase 'my God.'. Slipping into her native tounge was something that happened with increasing frequency after her childhood memories had been unlocked, but in the moment, Dox wasn't even aware of the slip.

"I... I can't even imagine. I am so sorry, Captain... That's just..." She replied, rambling somewhat now in federation basic. "And, of course. Yeah. This goes in a... cloaked asteroid in the.middle of a minefield in the Neutral Zone under constant guard."

"But hey, Joined Trill. Just what all Trill aspire to be, right? Lifetimes of experience behind me. Or so people have to think, otherwise I'm at risk of kidnapping. Young symbionts are rare and are usually kept in well off families in compounds where they're safe." Enalia finished her tea and poured herself another cup. "But I want to know more about you. How's your gene therapy going? Recognize the woman in the mirror yet?"

The Captain's last comments were loaded with ideas dropped rather casually that the young pilot was still wrapping her mind around, but took the change of subject as a cue to not press any further down that road at this time. Although the risk of her Captain being kidnapped and the question of if being joined is what Enalia truly wanted would be stored for later.

Instead, Dox picked up the cup of tea and took a sip as she thought. "According to Asa, the gene therapy should be pretty much complete. They will be making regular genetic scans a part of my checkups for a while to make sure everything is stable again, but so far the results have all been good. The genetic alterations that had been done to repress my Romulan DNA had caused long term damage that Asa estimated would likely have lead to a complete DNA break down in... my 60's or 70's. It was never picked up on since it was just assumed that being a hybrid of two races considered generally incompatible without significant assistance, I was just supposed to be that way. Doctors never dug all that deep, so they told me whatever they thought made sense. I was told that having brown blood was just a genetic mutation. That I was likely sterile since I never had a period. That..."

Again, Dox found she was rambling. "Sorry. long story short, thanks to Asa I've got 9ish pints of green blood, undamaged DNA, the ears I had as a kid restored and a potential two hundred and thirty years ahead of me." She paused to take another sip. "But yeah, the most important part of all of that for me is looking in the mirror and seeing the woman that I always knew was supposed to be there. That's..."

Pausing to collect herself as she was finding herself getting emotional, Dox took a breath as she spoke. "That's been... pretty amazing, really. To finally at least partially know who you are after a lifetime of questioning is something I didn't think could ever really happen. But I'm getting there."

Wiping a tear that had escaped from her plum cheek, Dox chuckled awkwardly. "Sorry. I swear, half the ship has seen me cry now. It's just still all a little overwhelming. To see myself as I've always been in my head. To know the name my Mother called me as a child. It's a lot, but it's good. The rest, I'll figure out."

"And Doctor Dael didn't even need to use the biomimetic gel we have stashed on board. Though, if you decide to go that route to speed along the genetic changes..." Enalia offered, knowing just how strictly controlled that stuff was. "Either way, I'm happy you've found yourself. Everyone deserves a chance at that."

"Thank you. And thank you for the help in doing so. If I had been anywhere else, with anyone else, I don't think I'd be who I am right now. Honestly. And it's nice to like that person for a change." Dox replied, smiling as broadly as her thick cheeks would allow.

"And you need to stop by for a massage sometime soon!" Maica interjected, coming out of the office and coming up behind Enalia for a bit of a snuggle. "My schedule for the next two weeks is a bit full, but just say the word and I'll make sure there's time for you."

"Seriously, she gives the best massages you'll ever have. Just don't be shy," added Enalia with a wink.

 

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