Some Things Better Said [Jiseth/Zero]

[Jiseth]

There were a few nods as Jiseth listened. As much as she hated Corinth, she could stand on the sidelines so long as Zero remained unharmed though there were definitely dreams she had of putting a disruptor to his head and pulling the trigger. That and letting Ghost use his remains in place of the sand-like grains of a doggy litter box. She did have to concede that this particular canine did far more protecting than she ever did. Such a good pup.

Her gaze focused on Ghost for a few moments before shifting back to Zero. If anyone could figure out her walking predicament, it was this pale Augment. In fact, she had probably been spoiled rotten by her superior skills and a regular old doctor who graduated at the top of their class simply would not due. Besides, Zero had far more of a vested interest in her well-being and Jiseth allowed herself some small comfort in this fact.

The reason behind it mattered little. Maybe it was to show off her talents. Or so enough longevity could be provided so she could fulfill her role as a parent. Maybe it was out of love. Or all of the above. Zero had to date never let her down and there was no reason to think otherwise.

"I don't want to overstay my welcome, but would it be too much to ask to see a recording of Callion's birth?"

[Zero Alpha]

"You are welcome here for as long as you wish to remain," Zero replied, offering the Romulan a shaky smile.  She fell silent for a moment, working to still the tremours that still plagued her.  Lieutenant Kintiss, after her had pieced her back together, had told her that the shakes would go away on their own as long as she continued to address the psychological trauma behind it.

Taking a deep breath, she continued:  "There is no recording of Callion's birth.  She was removed from the artificial chamber prematurely due to a mechanical failure on the ship.  I was forced to birth her in advance of the optimal time, or risk her death.  There was no time to make preparations for such things as recording her birth."

[Jiseth]

The Romulan's eyebrows furrowed slightly. Something was not quite right. There was a quick glance around the room. The first idea to meet the logical guillotine was Zero having a significant other walk in the quarters suddenly. It did not seem to make sense either that she would fear her reaction to something that on the scale of things was rather trivial. Callion was alive and well and you did not get more optimum than that.

Jiseth's attention went down to their hands. Something she felt through Zero's. A vibration that she did not feel through the seat or her foot on the floor. It was not the ship so it had to be Zero herself. Her face relaxed and she leaned toward the pale woman resting her chin on the back cushion of the couch. Though her face was aimed toward a viewport with starts streaking by, her eyes were turned about as much as they could go.

"Is that why you seem so... nervous? I'm not angry, if that's what it's about. Far from it actually. Maybe I'm just being paranoid... Something else happen to you while I was gone? Sadly don't have your knowledge of the physical needs to sustain a human body, but I'd be a near useless partner if I couldn't do something to help."

[Zero Alpha]

Attention to detail had long been something that Jiseth was good at, as would be expected from any good pilot and Jiseth was far more than a merely 'good' pilot.  It didn't surprise Zero that she had picked up on the nervous tic even though it may gall her to have to explain her weakness.

"My... nervousness is not so, and was not instigated by Callion.  Her presence has in fact assisted my recovery."  She lifted one hand, not the one she had placed over Jiseth's, to show her that her hands trembled slightly even when at rest.  She clenched the hand, forcing herself to still the tremours.  She wanted to tell Jiseth, but what would the consequences be?

"I will recount the events, if you wish to hear them, but I fear that they will anger you..."

[Jiseth]

Dragging her chin from the top of the cushion, Jiseth sat up. Her reputation generally contained two things: unquestionable skill in her profession and, perhaps more immediately noticed, her righteous fury. Normally she strode down the middle of the corridor and people parted to get out of the way. Nowadays she hugged the bulkheads in case she lost balance. Her eyes could still shoot gazes as baleful as a Warbird's disruptor beam.

This however, was not something she wanted to bring home. Though technically this was not her home. Well, blatantly. She was still adjusting to being a well-known stranger to just about everyone. Callion had just met her, a simple enough adjustment. Zero's case was... complicated.

"...I can keep a lid on my temper. Besides, I wouldn't want to wake Callion so, please, tell me what happened."

[Zero Alpha]

Zero turned slightly away from Jiseth, facing straight ahead rather than focusing on the Romulan.  She folded her hands in her lap, looking down at her boots, trying to find the appropriate words to start off, words that wouldn't anger Jiseth.  There was a moment's silence and then, in a very soft voice, she started to speak.

"I am unaware of how they came to know of me, of my existance, but I was abducted from a starbase on which we had stopped to enjoy leave while resupplying by two men, human men.  I later learned that they belonged to a group under the name 'Earth First'.  They somehow had knowledge of my... unusual condition.  They were... quite determined to learn everything of value, both concerning my own banks of knowledge concerning Starfleet, but more importantly, concerning my... my augmentations.

"I did not know at the time for how long I remained on their ship.  I have since been informed that it was a matter of three weeks.  Captain T'Koris was the one to find and free me from their care, and returned with me to the Phoenix where Lieutenant Kintiss spent many an hour with regenerators to repair my wounds."

[Jiseth]

Sprawling her arms out along the top of the cushion, Jiseth slouched in her seat and leaned her head back to stare towards the ceiling into nothingness. It was absurd how humans could talk of inclusiveness and then a moment later merely want domination. She had no high ground herself being Romulan, but if anyone could understand Zero's predicament it was probably the pointy-eared adrenaline junky sitting next to her.

"They only wanted me to confess some asinine plot to sabotage Starfleet... Different group, though still human. Similar goals. Cadets even... Spent most of my life living among them on Earth and you would think they could get used to someone like me, or us, but no. We're not superior because of our flesh and blood. We've lived through what they haven't. They will never understand the damage the do because it does not happen to them and they refuse to see it as wrong. Everyone, and I mean everyone, thinks they're the good guys. That our ideals are somehow justification for harm. Or murder..."

She slowly drew in a breath and held it for about ten seconds before letting it go in a long sigh.

"Look at us... They clipped my wings to keep me tame, and kept you in a cage to do the same. It's probably stupid to ask if you're alright, but all the same... I'm willing to listen when you need or want it. At least for me, I still have nightmares..."

[Zero Alpha]

"What information they were unable to take from my conscious mind, they were willing to take from my body," Zero murmured.  "Cornith was... not pleased to learn that I had been abducted, but nor was he pleased to learn of my return.  I am grateful to Lieutenant Kintiss in that regard.  Corinth wished my immediate return to Starfleet Medical, under the guise of receiving specialist treatment.  He refused to release me to their care, citing that I was in too fragile a condition to travel.  He did not need lie.  In three weeks of captivity, enough damage was inflicted to necessitate several months of recovery."  She lifted up her hand, holding it out straight, palm down, and observed the tremours that shook it.  "Involuntary muscle spasms and terrors of the night.  Indicative of significant psychological trauma."

She let her hand drop, looking down at her brightly polished boots.  "I must also recognise Captain T'Koris' involvement.  It was she who cared for Callion while I was unable, and she who came to my rescue when Corinth urged her to consider me lost."  Finally looking to the Romulan, her expression almost childlike in its uncertainty, as if looking for some form of reassurance, she added:  "Perhaps... perhaps in each other's comapny, we may keep the terrors at bay?"

[Jiseth]

Anger was perhaps the emotion she was feeling the least of. Regret. Horror. Mostly the latter. There were too many things that Zero had been through that Jiseth could never seem to be able to talk about outside of the two of them. Sure there were issues of classified nature and so forth, privacy too, but for all the help they had gotten over the years there always seemed to be a lack of justice served. By this point she was convinced they both deserved new identities if nothing else.

She was taking deep breaths now as her face tinged green from the blood rushing to her capillaries. A hug would be the normal response, perhaps, but neither were normal women and their togetherness hardly a normal situation. Enough boundaries had been crossed by others and the Romulan cared not to do the same.

"...I think that is a goal we can accomplish together. You're the strongest person I've ever known. That alone gives me hope. As does our daughter. She won't have our scars, that much we can be certain of. She'll grow to be better than either of us and if all I can do is bring a smile to that girl's face and a warmth in her heart, that would be a life worth living."

[Zero Alpha]

"I intend to give Callion all of the pleasures of childhood that I was unable to experience," Zero said, agreeing with the sentiment Jiseth had expressed about protecting Callion from the scars gathered through her mothers' lives.  It was a far safer topic to discuss given the Romulan's reactions, the deeper breathing and colouration of her face.   "Even in her early days, I attempted to sing to her, Earth songs known as lullabies, but she cared not for it.  As I wished her to know the sound of your voice, I began to play her the recordings of your professional logs.  Those, she cared for.  I have provided her with many inaccurate representations of fauna replicated and filled with some form of polymer, with brightly coloured blankets depicting strangely simplified farm fauna.  I have also experimented with reading to her, but I was lead to believe that medical journals are not appropriate reading material for infants."  Her expression softened slightly.  "She has most definitely inherited my intelligence, but it would seem that she has also developed your singular ability to find trouble."

[Jiseth]

"My ability?"

Jiseth could not help but chuckle and held her hand over her own face as rubbed her ridges with her middle finger and thumb.

"I distinctly remember going out to dinner to treat myself to a splendid evening for getting commissioned. Had a solid and hollow pip to show for it. Then this cadet in a teal uniform comes barging into the restaurant, goes straight to the bar, and starts hammering whiskey like she's got a contest to win by doing so. The rank went to my head of course and I thought I might set this young lady straight, but she wasn't going to have any of it. Didn't once refer to me as ma'am or sir or even lieutenant... Nope. I was Pointy to her and somehow the rest of that night became one of the best of my life. Tonight I think topped it though." 

[Zero Alpha]

A faint smile crossed Zero's pale features as Jiseth recounted the first time they had met.  It was a memory she often thought about herself during the long days she spent at Starfleet Medical, or as she looked out of the viewport in the dark hours of the sleep shift, wondering where the Romulan was now.  It had been in those couple of days, so full of new experiences, that she had come to love the woman sitting with her on the couch.

"That was quite an event," she agreed.  "Although I believe you refered to me as 'Snowflake' that night in return, even once we had exchanged names, or rather what passed for our names.  I am glad that Callion will not be required to bear a number as I have."

[Jiseth]

"I think I'd still like to call you Snowflake."

A slight appearance of her tongue was made in jest as she grinned to her partner.

"Callion may not have our hardships or struggles, but I she'll grow up strong with us supporting her. A different kind of strength is the way I look at it. Until we found each other, we both did everything on our own. I know I reverted to a lot of my old habits while not being around you. Cigars for instance. Probably should get rid of those. Finally out of kali-fal though. Hard to maintain a vice that's neigh impossible to find in the Federation. Being around others is still difficult. Haven't been too social since we parted..."

Slowly and rather gently, Jiseth leaned over and rested her cheek on Zero's shoulder.

"...I wouldn't mind learning how to dance with you using these new legs."

[Zero Alpha]

"Perhaps... Perhaps you should allow me to make progress on your fluidity of movement before you attempt such movement as intricate as dance," Zero replied carefully, looking at their reflection in the viewport as Jiseth leaned against her.  "To do so may bring unnecessary frustration and anger.  Once I have worked on the case, there will be ample time in which to learn to dance.  I am certain that Callion will also join us."

She fell silent for a moment then, after gently removing Jiseth's head from her shoulder, got to her feet, slipping in to the bedroom for a moment before returning, with a bottle in her hands.  Looking distinctly nervous, she proferred the bottle of electric blue liquid to the Romulan.

"I discovered this on a Starbase in proximity to the Neutral Zone.  I was... I was reminded of you.  A sentimental failing on my part, for which I apologise."

[Jiseth]

"Apologize..?"

Jiseth sat up and used her hands for support on either side of her. A moment later she pushed up and stood albeit with a touch of a wobble as she balanced herself. True she was far more able than to be considered crippled, but she was far from the dexterity she once had. Callion in her young age probably was more adept at locomotion than her green-blooded mother.

Her eyes were focused on the bottle for most of the walk over to Zero. Gingerly she took it in one had before reaching into a pocket with the other. From it she held out a small pamphlet, the cover over which was a photograph of numerous stone buildings along two parallel rows down a long green field between them.

"There's nothing to apologize for... I made a quick stop on Earth. That restaurant is still there. Went across the river and grabbed this. There are many museums they rebuilt after the Third World War and still stand today. I thought you... I thought you and Callion might find them intellectually stimulating. Something to do as a family."