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[JP] Reynolds & Rahman - Explanations, Or the Absence Thereof


Sedrin Belasi

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(( Outside Roshanara Rahman's Personal Quarters, Deck 35, USS Garuda ))


::Quinn had found her way back to her quarters, after leaving sickbay. She'd showered, she'd cried, she'd paced, and then she'd showered some more -- mostly while pacing and crying. Officially, she was on medical leave, but the Director of Intelligence was still the Director of Intelligence, and it didn't take long for information to find its way to her.


::So here she was, for no logical reason she could fathom, hanging off a door chime on deck thirty-five. Finally, it opened, and she dragged her gaze off the floor to meet that of Roshanara Rahman. She held it for a moment, and that was all she could tolerate. Without waiting for an invitation, she stepped past the other woman and into her quarters.::


REYNOLDS: You owe me an explanation.


::She spoke quietly, her otherwise soft voice stained by hoarseness and exhaustion.::


RAHMAN: Pardon?


::Roshanara assumed she'd be getting visitors at some point while she still remained aboard the Garuda waiting for the JAG to arrive. She figured her friends at least--Reez, Lidia--would stop by, but none had come actually. She understood, or told herself she did. She couldn't imagine what they must have thought when she was still making sense of it.::


::But she certainly didn't expect the person who would visit her to be Captain Reynolds.::


REYNOLDS: I'm... fairly sure you heard me.


::Her eyes took in her surroundings. She was already aware that Rahman had declined much the much larger quarters due to her for this box room. Not even a double bed, just a small single bunk, a fresh uniform laid out in waiting. There was little of the engineer's personality stamped on the room -- from the PADDs thrown across the desk, you'd think she did little else but sleep and work.::


RAHMAN: Is this part of a formal investigation?


REYNOLDS: No.


RAHMAN: Then I'm afraid, Captain, I have no explanation to give you.


::Reynolds didn't answer. Instead, her gaze had settled on the uniform on the bed. If the intelligence director was trying to intimidate the former engineer, Roshanara remained firm in her stance. And despite everything that had happened to Captain Reynolds--or at least what Roshanara had gathered from overhearing the security staff's chatter while she had sat in the brig for the past few days--she still didn't trust her.::


::Her eyes locked onto Quinn's, her voice cold.::


RAHMAN: I think you should leave.


REYNOLDS: ::She nodded.:: Probably.


::Quinn watched her for several heartbeats, looking for something. Anything. She wasn't even sure what. Some trace of regret? Remorse? Maybe just an acknowledgement.::


REYNOLDS: ::Quietly,:: Do you just not… care? That you helped him torture me? That you helped him to do things that are quite literally unspeakable to me?


::Roshanara's determined gaze broke as her brow furrowed, a mixture of confusion and surprise. And hurt. She turned away, unable to face Reynolds and her accusation directly.::


RAHMAN: Do you really think I would have helped him if I knew what he had planned to do to you? To this ship? Do you really think I'm that kind of a monster?


::Yet it wasn't an accident that she phrased it as a question than a statement of denial. What truly frightened Roshanara was that even she wasn't quite sure if knowing would have made a difference.


::When Harry--when Commander Ross asked her to "take care of a few things" for him, she hadn't even questioned why. All that was important was ensuring it be done. For him.::


REYNOLDS: A little while ago, no. But, you know. Then I was kidnapped and tortured by someone I was suppose to be able to trust, so now… I just don't know.


RAHMAN: When the captain came down to Engineering that day and the first acts of sabotage were discovered, I wanted to believe it was someone else. Someone we didn't know... that it was all just a terrible coincidence...


::But as she had said earlier to Doctor Kotir, there were no such things to an engineer. As a former engineer herself, Captain Reynolds no doubt knew that as well.::


RAHMAN: But once you and he had left the away team on the surface--


::Quinn flinched, her eyes narrowing slightly at Rahman's choice of words. "You and he", as though she'd had some choice in the matter. As though she'd been complicit.::


REYNOLDS: You knew.


::There was an uncomfortable silence before Roshanara spoke again.::


RAHMAN: I'm sorry, captain. For what he did to you. For my part in allowing it to happen. But if you're looking for why he did what he did... I don't have the answer.


REYNOLDS: I wasn't asking why he did it. I was asking why *you* did. ::She paused.:: You're not stupid, and yet somehow, he convinced you to switch off security in some of the most secure areas of the ship.


::Roshanara wanted to say something back, but what? Reynolds wasn't wrong about being owed an explanation. But it wasn't just owed to the intelligence director. Roshanara owed an explanation to herself -- for what she'd done. How she had allowed a man, even one whom she had greatly admired, manipulate her into doing his bidding. She was fortunate no one had been killed by the acts of sabotage. The only casualty would be her career.::


::A pair of sad eyes looked back at Reynolds, and another silence fell upon the room.::


REYNOLDS: Anyway, you were right. I should go.


::Quinn turned to leave but then paused on her way to the door, a short journey in the small quarters. She looked back toward the other woman.::


REYNOLDS: You should get yourself a good advocate. They're going to want -- to need -- to crucify someone for this, and with Ross gone… ::She shook her head.::


::Roshanara nodded back gently.::


RAHMAN: Thank you, captain.


::And with that, Quinn departed, leaving the former chief engineer to her tiny cell.::


--


Director of Intelligence

USS Garuda


&



Under Investigation

Awaiting Transfer into Custody of StarBase 118 JAG

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