Mrs. Dox

Posted on Sun Feb 3rd, 2019 @ 12:30am by Commander Rita Paris & Jaeih Dox-t'Aan

Mission: Earthly Visitation
Location: Earth, San Francisco, Starfleet Intelligence
Timeline: 2396, during Shore Leave

Staring out the window of her inordinately spacious quarters overlooking a rainy San Francisco day, Jaieh Dox sipped her morning coffee. Since she was transferred to Starfleet Intelligence over a month ago, her surroundings had improved, but it was still a prison of a sort.

For over fifteen years, the dark haired Romulan woman had been the 'guest' of Starfleet after her smuggling ship was captured by a federation patrol vessel. On board was her, her former lover and the father of her child, Declan, and their daughter. Declan was sent to the penal colony in New Zealand. Their daughter was sent to live with her human relatives in Ohio and Jaeih became the property of Starfleet.

Before becoming a smuggler over thirty years ago, Jaeih was an engineer for the Romulan Star Empire, specializing in the development of Cloaking technology. That knowledge was extremely valuable to Starfleet. Knowledge that she had agreed to share, on the condition that her daughter not have the crimes of a smuggler put on her record.

So Jaeih drank her coffee in her dark grey Starfleet Intelligence uniform, bereft of any rank or insignia and prepared to attend to her days work betraying her former life's work. She had no love for the star empire, but it still felt like a betrayal to her people to share those secrets. To help a people that she once considered her enemies to learn all about Romulan Cloaking technology.

But her daughter was now counted among those people she once saw as enemies. He daughter was Starfleet Lieutenant Melanie Dox of the Starship... well... she didn't know.

While the two had been recently been able to talk via hologram, but was not allowed to speak about her ship, her assignment or her crew members, which told Jaieh that her daughter must now also be serving Starfleet Intelligence.

She walked across the large living quarters that we're still new and sparsely decorated but for a single framed photo of her daughter taken from their most recent conversation, and picked up a small data PaDD on the dining table. On it was her assignments for the day which were standard consultations in the labs down the hall of the one floor she was allowed on.

Taking another sip, the slender Romulan woman with the stern face put her coffee down and prepared to begin her day when the data in her PaDD had changed. Quizically, she raised an eyebrow as her morning appointments were rescheduled and replaced with the simple message: 'Visitor appointment.'

"Lovely," she muttered to herself in her native Rihan. "Another blasted meeting." As the chime of her door rang.

Somewhat annoyed, Jaeih plopped the PaDD down, folded her arms behind her back to face the door and replied. "Enter."

In strode Starfleet- the uniform was bizarre but the countenance, the gait, the insipid welcoming smile, all of that was pure Starfleet. This one could be a poster child for it. Tall, too- tall as a man, but no man ever had a figure like that. What was this, some sort of Starfleet harem girl? Striding into the room, she extended her hand. This was at least one of their customs born at heart over insuring those well met were met with an open hand and not a weapon.

"Hello, Mrs. Dox. My name's Rita Paris. It's very nice to meet you."

Raising an eyebrow, Jaeih stood there for a second simply taking in her unusual visitor before extending her hand to return the gesture she had learned to accept as an annoying part of her indentured servitude whenever some new officer wanted to talk to her.

"Very well..." Jaeih glanced at the wide collar of her visitors unusual gold uniform at the three solid gold pips on it. "... Commander Paris. What can I do for you?"

The reply was dragged out with an undercurrent of both mild score and boredom at what the irritated Romulan woman assumed would be yet another insipid Starfleet briefing overflowing with meaningless pleasantries.

"I apologize, I thought your daughter might have mentioned me," the human smiled and nodded in approval. "Generalities only, well done. I'm the First Officer on Lieutenant Dox' assignment, ma'am. I hope you don't mind my presumption in coming by, but I've wanted to meet you."

It seemed like a rather crude manipulation attempt, save that the oddly uniformed officer was overselling it. Was the uniform a distraction technique?

Tilting her head slightly at her visitor, Jaeih sighed lightly. "My daughter has spoken to me about her crewmates in generalities, but never by name, which is by your Starfleet regulations. A fact I would have assumed her first officer to be aware of."

Picking her coffee back up, Jaeih took a sip and turned to look back out the window as she spoke. "So, you are my daughter's Commander." She then turned back and stepped slightly closer to Rita Paris, looking her up and down for a second.

"You'll forgive me if I had any doubts, but you aren't exactly dressed like the standard visitors I get." Jaeih turned away quickly and sat on the small chair in the center of the room across from an empty couch that she gestured to. "Not that I mind the bit of color in the parade of gray and black that is most of my days. It does lead me to believe I might even have an idea of who you might be based on my communications with my daughter."

"Ah, so you have heard of me," the easygoing executive leaned back a bit on the couch, knees still crossed. "Mnhei'sahe has certainly mentioned you. You are quite the figure in her life." She'd intended to play it straight, but the old lady wanted to dance. This was a dance whose steps she knew, though, because it was an old dance. I'll let you lead.

At the sound of her daughter's name, Jaeih's eyes went cold. She had become somewhat accustomed to Starfleet Intelligence playing games with her over the years and drew the line when it came to mention of her. "I am well aware our communications are monitored, Commander Paris. And as such, of course you would have access to the name I gave her regardless of what is written on her service record. But please know that in spite of my people's... reputation... I have no patience for subterfuge. Nor will I tolerate mention of my daughter as some sort of... tactic."

The human woman held up her hands. "No tactic, ma'am. Your daughter serves under me, and I've been mentoring her for the past few months. She is a magnificent officer who's going to go far in Starfleet, and I came to tell you that you should be darned proud of her." Rita was speaking the truth, but keeping it to sufficient generalities for the moment that Jaeih could continue to believe they were all generalities and flatteries designed to gull the canny Romulan.

"I am extremely proud of her, Commander. I fostered those skills to the best of my abilities." Jaeih replied, keeping her dark eyes locked on Rita's crystal blue ones. "But I can't believe you came all this way to... heap praise at Mnhei'sahe."

"Nope, I handle that in person, Mrs. Dox," Paris leaned forward to rest her elbow on her knee. "I just came to meet you and tell you that I respect your choices, then and now. You did a fine job raising her- Miss Dox is rather a wonder, a jack of all trades and a highly disciplined officer, and that's due to you. You're the one who taught her everything she knew before she made it to Starfleet, and it put her light years ahead of the curve. More recently, you've been honest with her when she needed the truth, and I respect that, ma'am."

Looking past what she saw as false praise, Jaieh locked on Rita's last statement with a hint of venom in her voice. "And exactly what do you know of her truth?"

The eyes narrowed a bit at that. "Enough. I know what he did, and I know what you did, and I know what it did to her," Paris fairly growled before composing herself again.

"I know you've no reason to trust nor believe me, and that's perfectly all right. I've done nothing to earn it, and all of this could be bullshit. I imagine you suspect this is some mind game or other of Starfleet Intelligence, brewed up to keep you on your toes, or whatever sinister motivation could be assigned to this little scenario in your mind."

"But I came because I respect you and I wanted to meet you, since it's possible. I came to tell you that your daughter is the best damn pilot I've ever seen, and I have to admit that being a pilot myself. I came to tell you she's happy, that she's doing fine, and that she's a valued member of the senior staff. I came to tell you all of that, none of which you have any motivation to believe." Paris paused, then smiled, a little piper's smile.

"Of course, you have equal motivation to believe that I'm lying. Do you think you could tell if I told you a lie, Mrs. Dox? All those years making your own way, you must be a shrewd judge of character." Leaning in, Paris batted those baby blues and opened the windows to her soul. "Tell me, Mrs. Dox... am I a good liar?"

Staring back, Jaeih paused before replying. "I wouldn't know, Commander. I'll tell you once you do."

It was the genuine emotions underneath Paris' words about her daughter that told her what she needed to know as her posture loosened slightly. The anger she could feel from Paris over what had been done to Mnhei'sahe in her youth was real and spoke of legitimate friendship to the suspicious Romulan.

"Thank you for clarifying, Commander." Her stern facade shifted slightly as she allowed herself a slight smile. "You must be her. The human she confided in. And her First Officer, no less. She speaks of you often as well."

"Most likely I must be, ma'am. We spend a lot of time together- we're friends. In no small part because I understand her- she's insecure and doubts herself and thinks people are against her. But she's getting a real grip on all of that, and fast, too. She's nobody's fool, but she's learned to trust a bit, and seen where it's gotten her. She's part of something she can be proud of, and her contributions are recognized, so you can imagine what that does for self-esteem. I could go on, but I'm sure hearing all of this bores you." At that last statement, Paris looked the woman in the eye as she lied. Rita knew damn well the woman would want to know every detail about her daughter's life, no matter how seemingly insignificant.

For her part, Jaeih leaned back in her seat and tilted an eyebrow up as a slight smirk crept across her face. A smirk remarkably similar to the one that Rita had seen more and more frequently on Mnhei'sahe's own face. "Well, now I know you are either a terrible liar or extremely skilled at making others think you are."

But the smirk faded quickly as her head sank slightly and she closed her eyes for a moment as she continued. "But... I am... very glad to know that she has friends."

The ancient astronaut let the moment hang, then she added softly, "Good friends, ma'am. She earns them, each and every one of them. She's out there making a difference, doing some real good in the galaxy every day. And she has friends and hobbies, she socializes. We even had a little party for her when she got her ears restored and changed her name back, because her friends wanted to celebrate with her. To celebrate her."

"Quite a young woman, our Miss Dox."

But that question was overwhelmed in Jaeih's thoughts by Rita's casual revelation of something she didn't know. "She... hadn't told me she did that. Reclaimed her true name."

Quickly Jaeih changed the subject back to Paris, as the moment was hitting her more emotionally than she was prepared to allow herself to become. "Being Romulan, I'm older than I look. However you, Commander Paris, don't appear to be any older than Mnhei'sahe. Yet you speak of her with a tone that says otherwise. You carry yourself with more weight than that, to say nothing of the one hundred and forty year old uniform."

It was a statement asked as a question, but Jaeih was now curious about this woman her daughter had spoken so highly of as to call her a 'Rinam': the Romulan word for 'Sister.'

"That she has- I'm sorry, I didn't mean to spoil the surprise, she should have been the one to tell you that," the friendly first officer chided herself. "As for me, I'm... also older than I look, but you're kind for saying so. As is our assignment, I suspect my story also likely rather classified, and while I am sure you are clear to review various degrees of classified information, best not get either of us in trouble."

"Let's just say that I am no immortal- I'm just a human girl from Earth, and that my trek through the stars started many years ago. While my husband has taught your daughter mediation and the acceptance of a dual nature, I've tried to keep her balanced and show there is something to be said for being part human. She's still figuring it all out- but then, aren't we all?" The woman smiled broadly at that, one of those smiles that could light up a room.

"Normally, my opinion on humanity is... a dim one at best as I'm sure you know from Mnhei'sahe." Jaeih said, allowing herself a half smile. "But I did choose to have a child with one, so I have been swayed from time to time. A concept I can assume is not entirely alien to you as well since you are married to a Vulcan."

That got her an upraised eyebrow, but Paris said nothing. She suspected she was about to be walked through the logic, and she could be patient. The elder Dox needed to reassert some control over the situation, Rita understood, and she'd give the woman her moment of logic and the reaction she sought.

Leaning forward, Jaeih took a sip of her coffee as she spoke. "Mnhei'sahe, of course, never specified anyone's relationships so as to keep any such identifying details off of subspace frequencies. But she has spoke exceedingly highly of the Vulcan whom as been tutoring her, so I feel safe in making that connection myself."

"Your logic is sound, as he'd say," the buxom blonde admitted. "His name is Sonak. I believe he himself is considerably less classified, if you wish to investigate him to learn more. Suffice to say he is a master of logic, and he has volunteered to help. After all, as he is fond of saying, 'we come to serve', and..." Paris struggled with how to say it without betraying classified information or betraying confidences. In the end, she went with simple. "She needed to hear from both sides of her heritage, and as he understands the Vulcanoid mind better than anyone, so he was there for her when she needed him, as are we all."

While her mannerisms we still fairly formal, her sentiments we're sincere. "Please inform him of my considerable gratitude for his efforts. I know it has been a tremendous help to her. As have been yours, for which you also have my gratitude."

"All she ever needed was someone to believe in her, ma'am. She had you for all of those years," Paris pointed out, giving the single mother her due. "I think maybe she was looking for that in Starfleet, up until recently. But you prepared her and forged her- she just needed someone who wouldn't take no for an answer to call for her to step up. Again, as her superior officer, you have my thanks, ma'am."

Glancing down at the cup in her hand, Jaeih added. "I have been a remiss hostess. Would you care for a cup. Romulan coffee is strong, but I suspect you can handle it." She smiled slightly as she spoke.

"Hospitality is for guests, not visitors," Paris quoted an old Romulan proverb she'd looked up for the occasion, then smiled that easygoing smile. "I'd love a cup of coffee, ma'am, if it's not too much trouble, please and thank you."

"Then you should know where you stand with me, then." For the first time, Jaieh allowed herself a broader smile as she stood up and walked over to the kitchenette counter where a lot of coffee simmered.

"Replication is all well and good, but this was one of the perks that came with this somewhat upgraded locale I find myself it." She said as she poured Paris a cup. "According to the somewhat irritated officer that oversaw my transfer here who seemed to have a tenuous grip on the concept of 'intelligence' in the professional sense, this somewhat luxurious assignment is due to the machinations of your Captain."

Handing the cup to Paris, she walked back around and took her seat. "His exact words were, 'Your Daughter's Captain must have some friends high up to get you transferred here'."

Taking a sip, Jaieh interjected into her own statement. "I assure you I'm not fishing for information. I simply mention it to again, pass along my gratitude."

“I'll be sure to pass it along, ma'am. What we do is dangerous, often physically, mentally and emotionally,” Rita expanded. After all, she could not say a lot, but she could be very general. “When diplomacy fails, when the explorers of the unknown never return, when there is trouble above and beyond… that’s when we come in. Our Miss Dox took to it like a natural, with enthusiasm, a willingness to learn and a fearlessness that is tempered by common sense. Once the situation was known in regards to you, the Captain did what could be done. Good officers need good support. Mnhei'sahe was thrilled to be able to speak interactively with you again instead of trading missives, and more contact with you has done her a world of good.”

Pausing to consider, Paris braved it. “It’s a bit of presumption on my part, ma’am, but she misses you. Having a better relationship with you has helped ground her and keep her on course. I know your relationship in the past might not have been ideal, but that was half her life ago. As an adult, our perspectives on our parents change, I’m told.”

“Great coffee, by the way- thank you,” Paris offered as she let the Romulan mother take a moment to process that, hoping that it went over well as she always did.

Instead, the words had a somewhat opposite effect for a moment, as it forced Jaeih to think about something that had been in the back of her mind since Rita announced herself as Mnhei'sahe's First Officer. It was a thought that filled the otherwise stern Romulan with sadness that she did her best to conceal.

Instead, she placed her coffee cup down and replied as best as she could with a practiced smile. "It has been... extremely... very..." But her facade cracked quickly.

"It has meant the world to me as well, Commander. It really has. It's given me motivation here in my work and... no small degree of hope." She smiled with the same tight lipped expression that Rita Paris knew all too well on the face of her daughter when there was more going on.

The smile that lit up the face of the first officer was both knowing and restrained, as she sympathized with the woman, and it was a bit wistful to see the expression on the woman’s face that she knew so well from time spent with her daughter.

“Given what you’ve gone through, I can imagine, And… well, to be honest, I don’t know how much the word of a Starfleet officer means to you,” Paris allowed- after all, for the past 15 years she suspected the elder Dox’ dealings with Starfleet had been less than pleasant. “But I thought it might help you to know that she’s doing great, that she’s happy and well-adapted, she is excelling and growing. In short, Mrs. Dox, I wouldn’t presume to tell you how you should feel. But as her superior officer, I’m very proud of Lieutenant Dox, and I thought you should know that.”

Maintaining her forced smile to the best of her ability, Jaeih replied, deciding to open up about something else instead. "Commander, do you know what the word "Rinam" means?"

Caught flat-footed, the first officer spread her hands, one still holding the now half-drained coffee. “I’m afraid I do not, ma’am. I’m terrible with linguistics- I speak Federation Standard and one of the local languages here on Earth, and that’s about it. I married a Vulcan and I can’t even construct a sentence in his language without help. It’s a pretty word though… what does it mean?”

Leaning in without a hint of pretense or guile, Jaeih replied. "It means 'sister', Commander. It is the Rihan word Mnhei'sahe used to describe you when we spoke last."

Keeping her dark eyes locked on Rita, she continued. "It is not a word that she has ever used to describe anyone before, and it means that your word carries significant weight with me, regardless of the uniform you wear."

The emotional executive blinked rapidly a few times, sitting back a bit as she was literally taken aback by the news, and her eyes shone as she held back tears. “That’s… that incredibly sweet. I didn’t… she had not mentioned it to me, no, ma’am. I’m… I’m sorry, that’s so… aw, jeez,” Rita mopped at her eyes with the back of her hand. Sniffling, she smiled, a wry expression.

“I’ve never had a sister before, but… I feel the same way about her, ma’am. I’d take a phaser for that girl. Hell, I’d transport for her… wait, that doesn’t mean anything to you, sorry. But… yeah.” Paris nodded as she composed herself. “Jeez, Dox, way to make a girl lose her cool and professional demeanor…” Rita tried to laugh it off, but she’d been deeply touched by that news, and the curvaceous commander wore her heart on her sleeve. "Thank you, ma'am. That... that means a lot to me."

On the other side of the small coffee table separating the two, Jaeih sat with a tight, controlled and fairly neutral expression on her face. Though Rita could clearly see the slight curls in the corners of the stern Romulan's cheeks, threatening to crack the well trained facade.

"Just so you know," Rita, in tried and true Paris fashion, changed course. "She doesn't have the clearance to come see you, but we'll make arrangements if I have to walk her to the door myself. I'll be honest- I wanted to see you first. I know that your relationship has not always been close, and I didn't want to come with her and intrude, and I didn't want to come afterward to seem as though I was defending her, because she's fully capable of that on her own. Honestly, I just wanted you to know how she is and how she's doing before you met, so you had a little more to go on, since there are so many particulars she cannot share with you."

Pausing, Paris wiped at her cheeks and laughed self-consciously as she sniffled. "Some pillar of decorum I am..."

And it was at that news that Jaeih's facade cracked further. The tension that kept her sitting ramrod straight had released, and revealed the sigh of deep relief on the part of a mother. "Th... Thank you Commander. I am... I was..."

Snapping back up to restore some degree of her bearing, but maintaining a slight warble to her voice as she spoke. "I was... afraid that your presence here... instead of her meant she did not wish to see me. I was. Thank you."

It was clear as her dark eyes had begun to shine that Jaeih had tears of her own in check. But she quickly shifted the focus away from her own emotional reaction of which she was slightly embarrassed. "And in regard to Mnhei'sahe not having told you what I revealed, we can consider ourselves even. We've both now told the other something that my daughter would likely have preferred to tell each of us herself."

Referring back to Rita's mention of Dox officially changing her name back from 'Melanie' to 'Mnhei'sahe', Jaeih allowed herself a slight, sly smile and a small joke. "I can keep that to myself if you can."

“For a gal who works for Starfleet Intelligence I’m terrible at keeping secrets, ma’am,” Paris admitted. “But I’ll not say a thing, you have my word as an officer.” As she spoke the words, it would sound terribly naïve to most. But to Rita Paris, being a Starfleet officer was her life, and it was one of the things she genuinely considered sacred- her word and duty as an officer. “If you wish, we can consider this conversation confidential, and Miss Dox need not know I was ever here. Although I do hope you don’t choose that, because I’d prefer to be honest with her. She trusts me, and that trust is not easy to come by, y’know?”

Her tone became serious again as Jaieh responded. "I let her believe a host of lies for over twenty five years. And to protect her... and myself... from that pain I reinforced that lie."

She sat back in the chair and sighed. "My little moment of jest aside, I will never lie to my daughter again, Commander. Nor would I ever ask you to."

While Rita began to point out that a lie of omission was different, it was splitting hairs, and it wasn’t what was called for here. Never argue lies with a Romulan. “I cannot judge the past, ma’am. I wasn’t there, I wasn’t in those situations and I wasn’t the one called upon to make those decisions. Those times and those truths are between the two of you.” Pausing to consider, Paris leaned in to place her empty coffee cup on the table.

“There might be words, there might be recriminations, there might be lots of things- I don’t know what the future will hold, nor will I prognosticate, because frankly it’s none of my business. It’s a family affair, between a mother and child. I’m just the officer over her, who needed to tell you what a great kid you raised, who has become a fine officer.” The bombastic blonde shifted in her seat, uncrossing and recrossing her legs demurely with practiced ease. “I know there’s so much that I can’t say, but I hope that what I have told you made you proud of her. Because we're damn proud of her, and it’s important to me that you know that as well.”

"I meant what I said earlier, Commander. I have never been anything but proud of my Daughter." Then Jaeih nodded slightly towards Paris. "That said, what you've told me has certainly... enhanced that for me."

Sensing that the visit was drawing to a close, Jaeih sat back up a little straighter. "I know Starships don't make it back here often, but I found this exchange surprisingly pleasant. I would not object if you were to return in the future."

There was risk involved, but Paris played it all the same. “This is the planet of my birth, the world that will always be home to me. I haven’t been back for many, many years, and I’ll admit, it takes some getting used to all of the changes. But this will always be where I return, no matter how far I venture or how long it takes me to make my way back." Rising from the couch, Paris smoothed out her skirt in a maneuver that she had perfected a dozen decades before. "So long as you are still here, far from your own homeworld, I would be honored to be your guest when I return, Mrs. Dox.”

“I appreciate that you were willing to see me, and to hear me out, ma'am. It’s been an honor.”

The words might have been hollow pleasantries, but the woman had no guile. As she’d pointed out, she would make a terrible liar, because her emotions and passions were always right at the surface. There was no lack of self-control, but it was clear that she understood people and did her best to control situations, insuring a positive outcome without manipulating the other party.

The two women stood and exchanged the slightly awkward pleasantries and the prerequisite handshake as Rita Paris made her exit. Leaving Mnhei'sahe's mother Jaeih Dox standing alone again, in the center of her spacious gilded cage. The emotionally reserved Romulan engineer took a deep breath, as her mind ran back over the unusual encounter that had just ended. As per usual, she had expected yet another pompous uniform spouting friendly lies and filled with false promises.

But Jaieh Dox was quite impressed with the encounter with perhaps the single most unusual human she had ever encountered. In spite of her best efforts to remain guarded, she couldn't help but respect her daughter's Commander- and shew understand what Mnhei'sahe saw in her.

An honest human. Would wonders never cease.

 

Comments (1)