JP: Lt. Connor Dewitt & MSNPC Cadet Ginny Lacy — Means, Ends, and their Substitutes, Part I
Nolen Hobart
((Corridor, Deck 3, USS Arrow, en route to DS33))
Connor carried a tray with a portion of Ratatouille and a freshly baked piece of bread. It was accompanied by two glasses of cold lemonade. Just as his mother had always served. The engineer was not sure why he carried it. Was it a peace offer? If so, why? Did he want to persuade her of his view of things? Or was it just about understanding what had happened on the Libris? What had happened to him?
He took another turn of the corridor before he arrived at his destination. The two doors labeled ‘Brig’ opened right in front of him. A nod in the direction of the brig’s current guard, Crewman Tennawix, announced his presence. He had checked with the security department earlier and had been allowed this visit. Finally, he arrived in front of the forcefield that detained the person he was looking for.
((Cell 2, Brig, Security Suite, Deck 3, USS Arrow))
Ginny sat on her modest bunk, her back to the entrance. The brig was pristine, she'd noted. As if it had seen nearly no use until her arrival. The white hot anger she'd felt in the return shuttle trip had subsided. Or perhaps, like the tide, it had merely receded temporarily. In its place came a cool determination. A familiar voice threatened to upend it all.
Dewitt: I’ve brought some food.
Ginny: Lieutenant Dewitt.
A thin smile formed on Connor’s lips. She seemed more calm than she had been shortly after the Libris had been destroyed. At least for the moment.
Dewitt: I took over from Crewman Scully, at least for today, at least for you.
Ginny turned her head. She didn't look at Connor, or the meal he brought. But she had him in the corner of her eye, now, tracking him. Was he here to gloat?
Ginny: Why?
Dewitt: Think of it as a peace offering. It’s my mother’s Ratatouille.
Again, he nodded to the Tennawix, who lowered the forcefield to allow Connor to enter and put down the tray on the cell’s table, before he took one of the glasses and sat down opposite to where he wanted Ginny to sit. Crewman Tennawix reactivated the force field and trapped Connor with his Nemesis.
As Connor sat down Ginny seemed to stiffen. The indignity of imprisonment gnawed at her, not least in part because she believed the roles in this instance should have been reversed. But with the forcefield restored, she turned to face Connor. He struck her not so much as an older, wiser, more experienced officer. Instead, she vaguely saw a child, seeking to mend a rift without understanding it.
Ginny: ::shifting her body:: This ship has no Advocate, did you know that?
She watched him from the bunk, facing him now, legs folded. Determined to keep her distance as much as the small room would allow.
Dewitt: With a crew complement of 60, I could have guessed. ::pause:: The Libris didn’t care for one either, did they?
It was a fair retort, but not one Ginny would dignify.
Ginny: I asked for one. They told me I had to wait until we reached Deep Space 33. That they would hold me here indefinitely until then. Without formal charge. ::shrug:: To protect you. Do you think I am a threat to you, Lieutenant Dewitt?
She looked around the room as she spoke. Smooth walls that betrayed not a single seam of plating. Nothing to pull on or claw at. Muted colors to suppress even a hint of agitation. Nothing that could pull on or claw at her. She had locked herself into the Libris’s computer control room. Physically, being locked in the brig was not much different. But physical appearances were often deceiving.
She estimated it would take her less than two seconds to launch herself at him and grab the glass he'd brought into the room. Another two seconds to shatter it against the edge of the table and stick it into his neck. Lieutenant Connor Dewitt could be on the verge of death within a few minutes of entering. Then she’d have earned this cage.
But she did none of that. Because whatever threat she posed to him was correlated directly with and in opposition to the threat he posed to the USS Libris. To her mission. And there was no longer any way for him to threaten that. Nothing could. Both the ship and her dream were dead.
Connor took his time to think about her question. He had calmed down since they had talked last, but he would have lied if he said that there had not been some nervousness before he had entered the brig. But it had not been because he was afraid of Ginny, he was more afraid of his own emotions - of getting to know the Connor that had been fighting Ginny and the Libris.
He took one of the glasses of lemonade and took a sip before answering.
Dewitt: You’re not a murderer, are you? I think you’d do everything for the Libris, even if it means killing people. But you’re not inflicting harm out of rage or spite. That’s not Ginny Lacy, is it?
Ginny: I didn't kill anyone, Lieutenant.
Connor thought about that. Technically, she was right. And maybe Baker would be dead even if she would have cared for her. But she was damn lucky that she had not killed him or that her Exocomps had not inflicted more damage. He took a second before he pointed at the tray with the food on it. The smell was starting to fill the small cell.
Dewitt: You should taste it. There is more to life than saving the galaxy…
As he said those words, he could already picture Ginny rolling her eyes. But he meant it. He believed that everybody had to take care of oneself to take care of others. Even if they’re as ambitious as the young Cadet in front of him.
The scent of the meal was tempting, but Ginny was an expert by now at resisting such things. Her eyes fixed on the plate as she pondered Connor’s words. Saving the galaxy was all she had. It was the highest calling conceivable, and she had answered it. She stepped up, and then… she failed. What did that leave her? The Cadet unfolded her legs and pushed further back on the bunk with her feet, pressing herself against the wall. She wrapped her knees in her arms, holding herself together, and holding all her self-flagellation in.
Ginny: Only if we give up.
He tried to feel himself in her position. Her biggest project so far had failed. The Libris was destroyed… or dead? Maybe she was devastated by what had happened. Surely, she felt like nobody understood her around the Arrow. Maybe, she was already making plans on how to proceed. Sometimes, he envied Ayemet and Nolen for their telepathic gift.
Dewitt: So why Starfleet, Ginny?
This broke her out of her brief funk. Ginny stared at Connor as if he had two heads. “Why Starfleet?” The question seemed ridiculous to her, because the answer felt obvious. Connor might as well have asked “Why this galaxy?”
Ginny: Because that's where the problem lies, Lieutenant. That's what's broken.
Dewitt: Surely, it's imperfect… ::pause:: We all make mistakes, that’s part of being alive, isn’t it?
She gave him a thoroughly unimpressed look.
Ginny: So you already agree with me, you just don't think we should fix it.
Dewitt: I’m an engineer, Ginny, I am all for fixing things… But I guess I have a different view of what’s broken with Starfleet, about what mistakes are made.
TBC
———
Lt. Connor Dewitt
Engineer
USS Arrow
A239901CD3
and
Cadet Ginny Lacy
Prisoner
USS Arrow
as simmed by
Ensign Nolen Hobart
Engineering Officer
USS Arrow (NCC-69829)
A240001NH3