STF

Yeoman - Always Up Early

Posted April 21, 2021, 9:58 p.m. by Ensign Rand Farquharson (Yeoman) (Jennifer Ward)

Posted by Lieutenant Commander Roman Alden (Science Chief, First Officer) in Yeoman - Always Up Early

Posted by Ensign Rand Farquharson (Yeoman) in Yeoman - Always Up Early

Posted by Lieutenant Commander Roman Alden (Science Chief, First Officer) in Yeoman - Always Up Early
Posted by… suppressed (8) by the Post Ghost! 👻

(snip)
Roman chuckled. “Apparently you aren’t as informed as you’re said to be. My lab assistants refuse to touch my pets. Couldn’t get my rules down. And it doesn’t help that most of them are chemists, or astrologists, or physicists,” he told her. He knew of his reputation and while he didn’t actively try to propogate it, it was known that many of the lab assistants didn’t like how… particular he was.

Rand wasn’t sure if she should be insulted or not. If this was Carmichael, she would say he was teasing her, but she didn’t know Alden very well and so wasn’t sure. “Lt Cmdr of course I know about that. Not only is the rumor mill on this ship very active I see all the personnel reports. But they are still listed as your lab assistants. You have specific rules for a reason. Being particular is something to be aspired to not scoffed at,” she quoted herself, something she had said to a junior science officer who was complaining, but that had also complained about another lab tech that didn’t follow his protocols. “I would have thought, that a man of your efficiency would have either replaced them by now or made them to see the error of their lack of adherence. The protocols are put in place for a reason. If you like, I can get the inner department transfer forms for you. It would be quite simple since you are both the CSO and the lab lead. You need only sign twice.”

“I had a dog,” Roman said, a rare fact about his past personal life. “That is common for children with pets. What else is a child to do with an animal, hm?” He said to her. The dog had been a family pet, but in spirit it was his.

~ Lt Cmdr Alden, XO/CSO

“I suppose, Sir. Though I am happy to say I learned patience and gentleness from the experience.”
Yeoman Rand

Roman shook his head. “If they dislike me so much, they will request the transfer themselves. I will sign off on it if that’s what they want but I will not force them. …I suppose I feel bad, in a way.” Being particular is not something to be scoffed at. If only his lab assistants were so sensible. But it wasn’t like they sat around doing nothing at all. They had their own work and experiments to carry out, lab upkeep, and report writing. Roman had always been known for disliking writing reports. It was partially why, as much of a pain he thought Randy could be, he was glad he’d been allowed a yeoman at all. Normally, that privilege was reserved for Captains only.

~ Lt Cmdr Alden, XO/CSO

Rand thought very hard about what she said next. If she could correct the captain then she could correct Alden. The prospect though was a lot scarier than the first time she corrected Carmichael. She took a deep breath and plunged in. This was her job after all. “I’m not talking about liking, Sir. I’m talking about refusal to do one’s duty, the willful ignoring of orders and protocol. Now that aside, this situation is not acceptable and must be fixed. Any other lab head could choose to work alone but you, Lt Cmdr Roman Alden, chief science officer and second in command of the USS Sentinel, can not.” Alden was getting a first hand look at that backbone that everyone had heard of but never saw. “Your experiments and work are important or you wouldn’t be doing them. But your first duty is as second in command. If you must take over the ship, lead a landing party, or are injured, or any number of scenarios, your experiments, and your animals,” her hand waves gracefully around at the cages, ending at Mushu, “must be properly taken care of. So we will find you a lab tech that can follow your procedures, knows the value of doing so, and has a background in biology in the event you have a prolonged absence from the lab.” She took another deep breath, “If you do not wish to put those officers on report for deraliction of duty, that is your call, Sir. But I will not be swayed from this.”
Yeoman Rand

Roman listened to Rand’s speech, and then he blinked. Once. Twice. Great. Now she sounds like her brother, he thought, and, infuriatingly, in the same way, he knew she was right. He took a long look at Mushu. At the rodent and the snake. And then the rest of the crates. And then back to Rand. The words he wanted to use weren’t coming to mind. Something that sounded leaderly. Something that didn’t make him look like a complete idiot. His duty… he was too new as an XO, used to being just a CSO. He hadn’t forgotten his duty to the ship, no… merely hadn’t thought it through. The way he handled his previous department wasn’t good enough, not anymore. And then came the words Rand probably did not expect. “You’re right. My experiments come second to the ship. They must always do so, and there must be someone trustworthy to handle them.” But was there? No one had been trusted with Roman’s experiments in three years. He’d had acceptable, even good, lab assistants and science officers in his department, he just didn’t let anyone touch his animals, generally. “Thank you, Yeoman, for your advice.” It was as if he used addressing people by their rank to distance himself from them.

~ Lt Cmdr Alden, XO/CSO

Rand let out the breath she’d been holding slowly. Okay, from now on she was going to let Randy deal with Alden. “That’s why you have Randy and me. We can comb the personnel files for your criteria and then we will give you the files that fit. And in the meantime,” Rand looked slightly hesitant, “I’m happy to help.” She glanced at Mushu and then the small rodent. She wasn’t to thrilled about the bright red snake bit that was okay. “You have a lot of responsibility, the ship and a department. I imagine those two don’t always mesh well.” Rand honestly meant that. She knew both Carmichael and Alden were new to their positions and that’s why they had her and Randy, to help. “What’s next?”
Yeoman Rand

Roman wasn’t sure what was next, honestly. He could see the hesitation in Rand’s face, and he wondered if she didn’t like him. It would be the first time in quite a long time he really cared whether someone liked him or not. He almost said I can handle it, but he realized that would defeat the purpose of the entire conversation, wouldn’t it? “Let’s finish feeding these guys. Then, perhaps, review some personnel files.” The last thing he wanted to do. But maybe, just maybe, Rand had gotten through to the rather stubborn XO.

~ Lt Cmdr Alden, XO/CSO

At his suggestion they continue she smiled slightly but noticeably. Rand liked Alden. He was no nonsense but she’d heard from Randy he could be difficult but always professional. She’d been worried he was going to get mad at her for her doing her job. She noticed he didn’t look to thrilled at looking at personnel files and she could do that on her own but if he wanted to be part of the process she wouldn’t complain. She looked at the cages and eyed the snake. “So…how exactly do you feed the dangerous ones?” There was a hint of apprehension there but resolve despite that.
Yeoman Rand

Roman gave one of those ever so rare small, playful grins. “Very carefully.” From the cabinet, he grabbed a standard Earth mouse. There was a stash of preserved, pre-dead rodents for feed, but for a demonstration, he had picked a live one. Heading over to the cage, he glanced back at Rand to see that she was watching, then in one swift movement, he popped the lid, dropping the mouse in with the same hand, and then closed the lid once more. The snake, being approximately six feet long, had a larger enclosure than Mushu, but the top worked in a similar way, locking down to be unopenable by the animal. Once the mouse was in the cage, the red snake was locked on. It watched the mouse for a long second, and then it lunged, sinking its teeth into the mouse’s side. It didn’t have more than a pinch of the mouse’s skin but it was clearly more than enough for the mouse began to squeal and struggle desperately but the snake’s jaw remained locked down. After several minutes, the mouse began to slow, and then stopped, struggling, and the snake released its side, snatching it up and swallowing the mouse whole. Disturbingly, one could sort of see the shape of the mouse within the snake’s body.

~ Lt Cmdr Alden, XO/CSO

Rand watched attentively to make sure she knew how to work the lid. The snake was fast though and when it lunged she flinched only slightly. The speed and not the attack surprising her. The mouse squeals didn’t appear to bother her. “I think I will use a dead mouse. I’m not sure how you managed to do that so fast when it’s paws grabbed the lid. I don’t want to still be fighting with the mouse when Mr Wyvern there lunges for it and gets out.” Despite the shape of the mouse still being seen Rand was curious. “How much does it eat at once and how often?”
Yeoman Rand

“Snakes in general are curious creatures. He’ll eat just one or two mice per meal, a meal once every three days. But he can be quite hasty, and his venom is painful and fast-acting. This is one of my creatures which could very well end in someone’s death with a lack of caution.” Roman explained, watching her reaction. He enjoyed the name ‘Mr Wyvern’ though he did not see the strange snake as very dragon-like. After finishing the swallowing of the mouse, the snake curled its long body around a small fake tree Roman had placed in the cage. “If ‘mr wyvern’ has to be handled for any reason, one should use bite-proof protective equipment and a snake hook. And, ideally, have special training.”

Rand nodded taking note of the gloves placed near by and what she assumed was the snake hook. At his use of the name she flushed slightly, “The color of his scales remind me of fire. Do we need to feed him another right away or wait?” The name was probably to whimsical for science but he’d named the Verbose after a dragon. Maybe a theme?

He pointed to one of the other cages, which housed a reptile-similar animal that carried little resemblance to any Earth animal. It had a slimey body like a snail or slug, and no shell. It was a four-legged animal with a long tail and strange all-black eyes that blinked sideways. And it had a ridged back like some lizards. “That one is also quite dangerous.”

~ Lt Cmdr Alden, XO/CSO

“The slime?” She asked if that was toxic. “Is it a lizard or slug?” Noticing it seemed to be similar to both. “What does it eat?” Rand was back to taking notes again.
Yeoman Rand

“This one is particularly dangerous because her goo is toxic. She’s herbivorous, which means the toxin is for defense. If she perceives a threat, she will fling toxic goo at the perceived danger,” he warned. “I haven’t studied the poisonous effects of the goo yet, that is next on my list. But it may well be deadly, so I almost never open that one. The plants in her terrarium are real, so she’s generally fed just by the growth of the plants. As for which she is… she’s a little of both. Like Mushu, she usually likes to hide,” he explained, pausing occasionally to let her catch up in her note taking.

~ Lt Cmdr Alden, XO/CSO

Rand nodded and moved closer to look at her, careful to move slow and not startle her. “Does the goo affect the plants? Or just animal matter? What about fresh water? Would a similar system that we talked about for Mushu make it safer to care for her? The water being cleaned, changed, replaced from the outside. That way she doesn’t have to be moved and upset?” Rand found this all fascinating. She didn’t consider herself more than average in science but she was curious. “There is a bit of raw beauty in her design, isn’t there?”
Yeoman Rand

Despite her not being a scientist, Roman enjoyed Rand’s interest. Like Anderson and his snakes, most people found his creatures revolting. When he lost his animals three years ago, the only ones who were upset about them were him and other zoologists. He took the time to answer the questions one by one. “It doesn’t kill the plants, no, but it’s quite painful to animals. It causes something similar to chemical burns as it absorbs through the skin. At this time, I’m unsure of the effects besides the burns on the skin. I know it can be fatal, but I have no specifics. She does require swampy water, like Mushu, where she spends a lot of her time in order to keep her skin wet. But her goo can make the water slightly toxic. They aren’t common animals, even on the planet they originate on.” The explanation was long winded but patient as he went over each answer. “I’m not sure how to set up a water system like the one you planned for Mushu.” And then, to her last question, he nodded. “An evolutionary beauty indeed. She cannot be eaten by predators, unless they possess resistance to her poison, and she seems to be able to eat nearly any plant material, even the ones something like Mushu would avoid. Though they aren’t common, I’d assume these critters do well in their natural habitat.”

~ Lt Cmdr Alden, XO/CSO

“If I remember my highschool biology plants cells have a wall where animal cells only have a membrane. Could the wall be what stops the toxin from hurting the plants? Can I assume that handling the plants in her enclosure is dangerous too? If the goo rubs off on the plants and then touching the plant?” She pondered the filter question. “Maybe an engineer would be able to come up with a solution to filter her water. It’s just not stagnant but dangerous with the goo in it, correct?” She looked at it and thought ‘so few and you do well alone but I wonder if your lonely anyway?’ But to Alden, “What happens to them when you are done studying them? Do they go back to their planet? You said Mushu is a baby, and he seems comfortable with humans, he may not adapt to the wild?”
Yeoman Rand


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