Catching up Over Drinks

Posted on Tue Feb 12th, 2019 @ 9:19am by Lieutenant Commander Mnhei'sahe Dox & Baroness 2nd Class Schwein von Alcott

Mission: Earthly Visitation
Location: Shuttle Bay 2
Timeline: 2396

It was late, and shuttle Bay 2 of the U.S.S. Hera was fairly empty, but for the sounds of work being done. Those sounds came from the open hatch of the small, J-Type cruiser parked in the far corner. The ship was the Khallianen. The personal vessel of the newest Baroness of the Artan pirate family, Mnhei'sahe Dox.

On board, the young Starfleet lieutenant was laying on her back, tucked tight underneath the communications console of the ships cockpit, hard at work. Her uniform top was draped over the back of the pilots seat as she dug through the wiring in a grease stained black tank top. She was wiring in upgrades to the ships computer and enjoyed the work.

Dox was by no means, an engineer, but knew enough to get her hands dirty on smaller craft like this. And the work would keep her mind occupied and off so she wouldn't obsess over her date the night before with Ensign Mona Gonadie. The date had gone extremely well, but the newfound couple didn't want to rush things and we're taking the night off, as it were. To say it wasn't an easy thing to do was an understatement, and so Dox found herself in the Khallianen messing around.

As she worked, her keen ears picked up the sounds of someone approaching the ramp of the ship, so she slid herself out and wiped off her hands.

"Beautiful vessel, ja?" the silver haired Baroness called out from outside. "Permission to come aboard?"

Hearing the voice of the Baroness, Schwein von Alcott, Dox leapt up from the deck of the Khallianen with excitement. "Of course! Come in!" She yelled back. It had been several days since the in incident in which Schwein and the cosmic embodiment of Death had been separated, restoring both to their own selves and Dox hadn't seen much of her fellow Baroness since.

Schwein stepped up the boarding ramp and inspected the interior as well, nodding in appreciation. Though the outside looked cobbled together, that was more camouflage and inside the craft's true colors shone through to the trained pirate's eye. "Ja, you got a good score. You must have really impressed Captain Magnus."

Smiling nervously, as was standard operating procedure for her, Dox replied. "I guess. I don't know what I could have said or done to merit this, but she is a sweet little ship. Handles great." Then she gestured to the computer station she had been working on. "Trying to get her to talk in something other than Rihan, though. It's a great system, but she's stubborn."

Then Dox turned her attention back to her friend. "How are you doing?"

"Myself, in love, and very much alive, danke." The pirate was grinning ear to ear as she handed off a gold wrapped bottle of Praetor's Reserve Kali-fal to Dox that she'd been hiding behind her back. "A ship warming present."

"Hnave!" Dox cursed, more than impressed and humbled by the beyond top flight bottle in her hand. "Thank you very much."

Setting the bottle down, Dox walked over to one of the panels and opened it to pull out two glasses as she spoke. "So... You don't do anything small. The god of thunder?" Dox grinned, happy for her friend.

"He has a mighty hammer and knows how to use it..." the silver haired woman grinned and giggled a bit like a schoolgirl, a twinkle in her eye. "What about you though? I have heard rumors of you and a certain Miradonian in the lounge, ja?"

Opening up the bottle, Dox's face went bright green. "Hnave..." She cursed in Rihan. "I swear, you can't pass gas on this ship without everyone knowing it."

As she poured the ale, she rolled her eyes, embarrassed. "Well, I don't know what all is going around, but it was just... I guess... A date. We had dinner, we talked."

Taking a shot then refilling her own glass, Dox handed a class to Schwein.

Schwein took the glass and savored it a moment before downing it. "Ahhhhh... Ja, that is the good scheisse... It is rumored that you are dating and that you are making the googly eyes at each other."

Embarrassed but also excited to be thinking about Mona, Dox smiled. She also hadn't realized how much she missed Schwein's accent. Chucking, she replied. "It's just the one date so far. But yeah, I guess 'googly eyes' happened in Ten-Forward, yeah."

"Ah ha! Way to go! We both have found love, it seems." Schwein gently clapped Dox on the back in a congratulatory manner. "So what else is happening in your life? What have I missed?"

Taking another drink, Dox sighed. "Well, I got to visit my mother during shore leave. So, of course, now we're not talking again because she couldn't not lie to me. Otherwise, it's been... chaotic. But you were around for a good chunk of that."

The silver haired pirate turned serious at that and took on a more stiff demeanor. "Speaking as someone that was born from a maturation chamber with nein parents... Family is important. I have worked with many Romulans in the Artan Family and I have learned one thing. They use lies to protect themselves and those they love like a blanket. Instead of blaming them for lying, I have gotten used to instead asking why they lie. It is usually the uncovering of ze truth in ze process. It is a dance... But that is how they are raised and how they live because of ze Tal Shiar."

Dox flumped down in the pilots seat and sighed. "She spent... well... as long as we were out there, so fifteen years, trying to stay below their radar. Officially, 'Jaieh t'Aan' was killed when her research station was destroyed. It's how she got out. She was terrified of the Tal Shiar finding out she was alive with everything she knew."

Refilling her glass, and topping the Baroness off, Dox took a long drink and continued. "I'm just... after everything... I'm so tired of the lies."

Downing the rest of the glass Dox sat back up. "But enough of my ridiculous drama. You are engaged to a GOD and I have an actual girlfriend for the first time ever. This is a GOOD night."

The Kali Fal was starting to have a bit of an effect on Dox as she was relaxing a bit more. "And at some point soon, I still need you to show me how to not be terrible with a sword. I can punch things just fine, but I have no idea what to do with a sword."

The augmented pirate had more she could say on the situation regarding Jaeih Dox, her daughter, and the Romulan pirate group in the Artan family, but for now she'd leave it alone.

Sliding into the copilot's seat with practiced ease, Schwein sipped at her drink and thought it over. "Well, since you're good at punching, just feel the sword as part of your arm and punch and swing with it. Makes sense, ja? The rest is practice und not being stabbed. Trust me. It does not feel so wunderbar."

"I wouldn't imagine, and I do not want to find out." Dox chuckled. "Hopefully we can squeeze in a little time before your big day. When is that, by the way?"

"As soon as I can duel Freyja, we can schedule a wedding day. As for the ceremony itself, ze Prinzessin will be giving me away and Rita has agreed to be my Honored Shieldmaiden. I will try to delay until after the tribunal, but there is no guarantee." With that admission, Schwein finished off her drink and set her glass aside.

Leaning forward in her chair, Dox felt very sober very quickly. "So... There's a chance you won't be... hnave."

There was a drawn out moment of silence between the two women. "Can the tribunal even go forward without you? Doesn't the Captain need the backing off a specific number of baronesses?"

"If I can not prove myself worthy in Freyja's eyes... Yes, it is possible. But as I have fought Amazons at a disadvantage and easily bested them, I have no worries." Schwein was reassuring, but she'd heard of Freyja's strength and knew that if she were to at least measure up to Sif's prowess in combat, she'd have to work hard. "As for the tribunal, she needs at least two with her for it to continue, which she has. To win without combat, she needs all but two."

Leaning back in her seat, this was where the Baroness grew grim. "Our two First class Baronesses are abstaining for now to see how it goes. Three of the old guard Baronesses are siding with the Queen. The Romulan Baroness... She is undecided, but her crew are thinking she will side with the Queen as well. They owe her much for the home they have. The home that you and your mother delivered them to. Also, I will need to confer with another Baroness soon and I would like for you to meet her. She was part of the Prinzessin's original crew like me."

"The Romulan Baroness..." Dox trailed off, pondering what Schwein had just said, but as she thought about everything pieces began falling into place in her mind. "She was... she was a refugee at some point? One of the refugees we got off of Romulus? My mother never went into who our clients were back then. But it was the Artan family, wasn't it? Is that how she knew my Mother?"

Taken aback as her mind raced, Dox continued. "Is... is that why the Captain made me a Baroness?"

"You would have to ask ze Prinzessin... But I believe zat you are a Baroness because she feels she can trust you with that responsibility. To not only do what we do, but to do it as a 'fleeter. I have seen her struggle walking the line between worlds and I have not been able to support her as Adjutant as I should." Schwein then glanced down, then back up at Dox. "Yet I do have to wonder... If your selection for her crew was based on who you are as well as your skills."

"As for Baroness Sienae Nei'rrh 3rd class, she is leader of the Romulan Refugee Corps. Every member of her crew is Romulan and almost all of them there by Dox hands. Many refugees did not join them, but those that did are fiercely loyal."

Closing her eyes,the young half-Romulan woman hung her head, running a hand through her hair as she sighed. Suddenly, her world became immeasurably more complicated as she began pondering the possibility that she might be on the Hera not because of her skills as a pilot, but her value as her Mother's daughter. Without lifting her head, she muttered out, "Sorry... this is... a lot to think about."

The silver haired Baroness nodded solemnly. "Ja, my apologies. However, you have proven your skills beyond a doubt. Were there better qualified? I do not know but I doubt it. Better officer candidates? Perhaps, but with encouragement you are now fit for command as well. You have grown on this vessel more than anyone else I could have imagined having been in your position. For being paired to ze Prinzessin, I can imagine no better pilot. Most 'fleeters would question her orders in the middle of combat..."

"I guess I need to just ask her directly, then." Dox raised her head, chuckling slightly, trying to bolster herself back up. "I had Sonak beam me into space without a suit, asked Death her name and worked up the nerve to ask Mona out. I can ask the Captain a question I'm afraid of the answer to, right?"

It was a question that wasn't really one. "Sorry. I do know how to kill a party, don't I?"

"You ask her later. For now, we celebrate not being dead and having love in our lives, ja?" Schwein clapped Dox on the shoulder a bit harder than she intended and tried to cheer the half Romulan woman up seemingly by force.

Lurching forward hard, Dox was reminded just how strong the woman who effortlessly once hoisted all 270 plus pounds of her off the ground really is. But she smiled in spite of herself. "That I can drink to, Baroness."