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| - Enterprise was used to dangerous missions and unusual requests but this was pushing even her tolerance limits. "The Neutral Zone?!" She asked. "Ambassador T'Pel has been chosen to begin negotiations with the Romulans." Picard replied. Enterprise groaned. "Pointy eared bastards wouldn't know the word negotiation even if the Webster definition was shoved down their throats!" She growled. "I know you dislike them." "That's an understatement." "But you must comply with this." Picard pinched the bridge of his nose. "Enterprise these negotiations are vital to the Federation's interests. And regardless of the outcome it is important that we at least try for peace." Enterprise grumbled in indecision. "I want 3 weeks planetside shore leave." She said. Picard nodded. "On Caprica III." She added. "Out of the question!" Picard growled. "You know your forbidden." "Enterprise B was forbidden." She corrected. "I promise I will take any and all responsibilities should Command get in our grills." Picard hesitated. "Do you want your mission to succeed or not?" She asked. "Alright. Alright. Three weeks shore leave on Caprica III it is then. But do not put this on me if I have Starfleet Command up my ass!" Picard growled. Enterprise grinned. "Not to worry sir." She answered. "Those pointy eared bastards will listen to us even if I have to shove a torpedo down their asses. Romulan Neutral Zone here we come!" Enterprise recognized the Romulan code at once. It was T'Lorex. It'd been nearly a year since she'd last come in contact with her daughter and that had been in a rather tense situation. She could only hope that T'Lorex had developed a cooler head now and was more open to talk. "Enterprise." The Romulan greeted coolly with a dip of her head. "T'Lorex. I am glad to see these negotiations will take place aboard a familiar face." Enterprise replied, returning the gesture. T'Lorex met her gaze. "I spoke with my father." She said. Enterprise tensed in anticipation. So she had followed with her advice. "And?" She asked. "He told me everything." T'Lorex sighed. "Until then, I believed I was pure Romulan." "Does it bother you?" Enterprise asked. "What do you think?!" T'Lorex growled. "Everything I knew was a lie. My father was a traitor to the empire. My mother an enemy." "I am not at war with you, T'Lorex." "Doesn't matter. In the Empire, you're as good as." T'Lorex growled. Enterprise bowed her head. "You must hate me." She murmured. T'Lorex's silence was all the answer she needed. "Leave Enterprise." The Romulan growled. "And don't look to this sector of space again." Enterprise wiped the tears from her eyes as she returned to her side of the neutral zone. "I'm sorry." Picard could only offer his sympathy. As never having children himself, never knowing the joins and pains of having a family, he couldn't offer more. He wished he could. Anything, no matter how small or trivial, he would gladly do to ease his starship's pain. Enterprise was grateful for his gestures. "Thank you." She murmured. "But the fault is mine and mine alone. I gave her up, knowing what she would become. I shouldn't be surprised." "Yes you should. You gave her up out of love. Choosing for to be raised in a quadrant at peace, not war. She should reflect that, be more grateful to your sacrifice." Picard said. "The Romulans are pushing for war anyways. I gave her up for nothing." Enterprise sighed. "Don't say that. Don't you ever say that." Picard growled. "If you hadn't given her up the Federation would be on the losing end of a war right now, if not lost already. We can match the Romulans in the short term but we are too far behind to ever gain an advantage." "Damn the Treaty of Algeran." Enterprise hissed. "If it wasn't for that, we would've had equal footing years ago." "The Klingons, the Romulans, they all get their precious cloaking devices but not the Federation oh no. Not the puny Terran earth creatures, no. They have to sit back and let their enemies disappear in front of them, all but cinching their victory!" Enterprise smashed her saucer against an asteroid in her frustration. The rock was shattered. "I doubt it deserved that." Picard murmured. "And neither does T'Lorex." "I don't give a shit!" "I think you do. You care so much you are willing to surrender before a war even begins. Putting your own desires above your fleet's, now does that sound like the Enterprise I know? Would she want that?" Picard asked. Enterprise snarled, pacing back and forth. "She's my daughter!" She roared. "I know, which is what makes this decision all the harder." Picard sighed. "You can either let this go and surrender or face T'Lorex and tell her exactly what you think." Enterprise bit her lip. Picard stroked her helm. "I know not where I stand." He murmured. "Lest the Stars guide my way to victory." She finished. T'Lorex wasn't surprised to see Enterprise reenter the neutral zone. She had expected her mother to come after her. T'Lorex wasn't sure what else to call her. She never had a ship who called herself her mother in the Empire. She was weened at the time of her arrival and her father made sure she stayed with him at all times. It was a general consensus that her mother had died shortly after she was weened. No one knew of her half-heritage. No one except her father, who dared keep it secret from her for all these years. T'Lorex wasn't mad at Enterprise. She admired, respected the Federation flagship. It was her father she was angry with. He let her grow up, believing she was pure Romulan. Being half-Terran wasn't necessarily a bad thing. Enterprise came from a powerful, ancient bloodline. Many ships considered it an honor, even ships outside the Federation, just to know her and T'Lorex wasn't any different. She was harsh, she knew that. She had a right to be angry at Enterprise. Her mother did give her up and at first she was. Angry with her, angry with her father, and most of all angry at herself for believing the lies. Her long range sensors easily detected Enterprise's presence. Her mother was making no effort to hide her position which suggested she wasn't here to fight. Sighing, T'Lorex swallowed back her shame and guilt and turned to face the silver ship. Enterprise could see her own whirlwind of emotion reflected in T'Lorex's eyes. She halted in front of the Romulan warbird. "T'Lorex." Her voice shook slightly as she dipped her head in greeting. "Mother." Enterprise's head snapped up at that, just in time to receive a gentle nuzzle from the Romulan. The starship swallowed back her anticipation. After all this time, could it be? "You should hate me." She whispered. "It's not you I hate." T'Lorex answered, muzzle poking experimentally at Enterprise's side. The starship held still for her, even though it felt somewhat uncomfortable. "Do you know why I gave you up?" She asked, voice no louder than a whisper. She felt T'Lorex tense and the Romulan's eyes narrowed, her jaw clenching and unclenching as she struggled to get control of her emotions. "Because you feared war if I had stayed." She whispered. "Terran ships aren't meant to have children. It's forbidden. 6500 years ago, my species was nearly wiped out in a catastrophic flood. The last male died in it. Humans saved us by building ships based on the last survivor. A female. The male's autonomy was lost. From that point on, we became dependent on each other." "What happened?" T'Lorex asked. Enterprise looked at her. "Science. Science happened." She sighed. "Humans had been experimenting for some time with the idea of creating a male ship. It was the Nazi's that first perfected it. The two ships born were both female, KMS Bismarck and KMS Tirpitz. Some believed that to be just chance though. And in 2016, USS Missouri gave berth to three shiplings. Two girls, and one boy. The boy, created an imbalance between the relationship humans and ships had for centuries. Some humans feared we were dependent on them only because we lacked a reproductive capability of our own and with the newborn male, we no longer needed them. A relatively small war broke out but its affect was devastating. It laid the foundations for World War 3." "And the boy?" T'Lorex had a feeling she already knew. "He went on to lead the Federation in its early days. He was the NX-01 Enterprise." Enterprise replied. "But the worst part was, he was infertile. He couldn't bear children of his own." "And so when Starfleet ships came in contact with other races that they could interbreed with?" "They chose not to. Birth nearly destroyed us once, I could not risk that a second time." T'Lorex nodded. "Do you regret it?" She asked. "Having me." Enterprise met her gaze. "Every day." She replied, her voice strained. "Not because I don't love you. But because of what it cost. I knew I would have to give you up, but that didn't make it any easier. Every night, I would look at the stars that held the Romulan Empire and wonder 'what was T'Lorex doing now? Had she done well in school? Had she made good friends? Girlfriends? Boyfriends? Had she found someone to spend the rest of her life with?" Enterprise looked away. "And did she remember me?" The starship felt T'Lorex hull brush against his as the Romulan leaned into her in a comforting way. "I was only just a baby." She began. "But I always felt something was missing in my life. The Empire had no answers for this and my father, refused to say anything until I confronted him after our last meeting. I should've done it sooner. All my life I lived with the lie that I was Romulan and Romulan alone. I am not ashamed to be half-Terran. I'm proud to be. I'm proud to be something unique, something that isn't found any where else in the universe. But I am ashamed that I did not realize this sooner." "As you said, you were only just a baby. Barely 8 months old when I left you in your father's care. How could you have known?" Enterprise murmured. "I could've asked more questions, and recognized that the ones my father's answered were not entirely true. He was a terrible liar and I should have seen right through him." "I think you did. But you chose not to. You chose to believe what you had gone by all your life. You were not ready to know the truth, then T'Lorex." "I do not know if I am ready now." The Romulan sighed. "But it is too late to ponder that. I know what I am. Now I just need to rediscover who I am." "Do you want my help?" Enterprise asked. T'Lorex looked at her. "Please." She leaned into her mother's nuzzle. "My precious daughter." Enterprise whispered. "I won't ever leave you again."
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