STF

Ships in the Night

Posted Sept. 15, 2021, 12:58 p.m. by Lieutenant Commander Roman Alden (First Officer & Chief Science Officer) (Lucas Foxley)

Posted by Ensign Rand Farquharson (Yeoman First Class) in Ships in the Night

Posted by Lieutenant Commander Roman Alden (First Officer & Chief Science Officer) in Ships in the Night

(snip)
Nothing was wrong… just, he found himself enjoying his work less when she was there. Kind of like… the Ardent. But different, because his relationship with Rand was different than that with Jay. Because she wasn’t the same rank as him, perhaps. But he couldn’t deny that Rand wasn’t really just another officer. “I… have always had an affinity for avoiding deserved lectures.” It was probably the first time he’d said anything about his history. He wasn’t known for getting in trouble, but when he did, he was an expert at avoiding the lecture.

Roman seemed slightly surprised by her question, but not in a bad way. He was glad she was comfortable enough to ask something so… casual. But the smile still faded slightly. His old friend had been on his mind again. Perhaps that was why he found himself comparing Rand… But it also meant he couldn’t sleep. “Work. I’ve got reports and transfers, research papers to read, I lost track of time, I suppose.” That would be believable over the true reason, probably. He did tend to throw himself into work.

~ Lt Cmdr Alden, XO/CSO

Rand didn’t quite smile but there was a shared acknowledgement. “I have found that with Randy the only way to avoid his lectures is to not let him know that something has happened that requires a lecture. And since Randy…sigh unlike me…is good at reading people, the only way to hide it is to avoid him.” But Rand new she could only avoid Randy so long. He always knew, he said he could feel it, when something was going on with her. “Siblings can be frustrating,” but the way she said it was with light hearted seriousness and maybe a hint of laughter.

“I had three of them,” he replied easily, returning her lighthearted seriousness. “All frustrating in their own right.”

The smile slipped…she’d over stepped…there was work to be done, yes, but they were technically off duty. But she was a yeoman and yeomen were never off duty and he was a much higher rank than her. She dropped her hands to her lap ringing them over her misstep. “I’m good at paper work and red tape. I’m happy to help, Cmdr. Just tell me what you need.” In truth Rand missed working with him, and that confused her, but at the same time she knew she enjoyed the work and the learning in the lab. It wasn’t just Alden…

Yeoman Rand

Roman shook his head. “We’re off duty, don’t bother yourself with it now. Whenever your schedule returns to normal, I can always use your help in the lab,” he said. His paperwork was caught up. Technically, he didn’t really need extra help. But he’d fall behind, he always did. He’d never been one for paperwork, despite his orderliness. “I think Nibbles misses you. It keeps sleeping on your sleeve,” he mentioned. “I’ve put it in my observations. I think in the future, I could see them being a popular pet.”

~ Lt Cmdr Alden, XO/CSO

She started to tell him she’d make the time to help in the lab, but was distracted and then looked at him and leaned back, relaxed in her chair. She’d never heard Alden refer to the animals by anything other than their species, even in casual notes. “Nibbles, Cmdr?” He liked the names, and that made her grin at him. “If they will be popular pets does that mean you’ll let me take Nibbles home and keep him?” She was teasing him, just a little bit and she was totally mortified, and tried to change the subject, but probably only dug herself deeper. “I’ll…umm…make time to spend with you…I mean in the lab when you’re there so I can interact with him more.” Then she spoke under her breath in Gaelic.

Yeoman Rand

He glanced up, as if distracted. “What? Ah, I suppose I am getting tired.” He said. He hadn’t touched the remaining few protein cubes. He recognized that she was teasing him and he wasn’t upset. “The day I let you take any specimen home will be the heat death of the universe,” he replied, sporting a new half-grin. And then she said she’d ‘make time to spend with him’ and for a short moment Roman was speechless. But he recovered quickly. “They seem to like routine. I think they’d like if you made a little more time with them. I do understand that you’re busy, if you can’t,” he said.

~ Lt Cmdr Alden, XO/CSO

Oh thank goodness, he didn’t notice her so very awkward comment. She’d die of embarrassment if he had, because then it would have been take the wrong way. She didn’t mean it like that. Rand glanced away, guilt all over her face. She didn’t have any reason to not be in the lab as normal. She wasn’t that busy. She was busy but not to the point she had to adjust her schedule. She had just wanted to avoid interacting with people. She’d chosen to join the yeoman corp because they worked behind the scenes and were rarely noticed. It seemed everyone noticed her here, no matter how hard she tried. “No, no, I will find the time. It was my idea after all, to give him something akin to a pack. I’m sorry Cmdr that was careless and thoughtless of me. I hope I didn’t mess up your data.” She rubbed a hand over her inner fore arm, over a patch of skin that hadn’t quite healed from her ordeal at the mining colony. She looked at the bowl of now mostly melted ice cream pushed the bowl away.

Yeoman Rand

“Not at all. They aren’t your responsibility but mine. They just don’t attach to me they way it did to you,” he replied, “and any data is valuable data. You haven’t ‘messed up’ anything at all.” It was true, he didn’t mind the data blip, it gave valuable insight to the mouse’s pack mentality, and how they clearly didn’t do well when on their own. The motion of her rubbing her arm caught his eye and he caught a glimpse of the patch of skin, the mark from the mining colony. A pang of guilt found its way into Roman’s chest, a painful ache he couldn’t shake away. He’d been the lead of that away team. He hadn’t kept track of everyone. Couldn’t keep everyone safe. If only they’d kept closer together, if he’d kept a closer watch, she wouldn’t have gone missing at all.

He had to snap his mind out of the thoughts, they were juvenile. But they plagued him anytime anything bad happened. Worse when it was someone he- someone he worked closely with. It wouldn’t do him any good to dwell, he reminded himself. “At any rate, they will be happy to see you, I’m sure.”

~ Lt Cmdr Alden, XO/CSO

She looked down at her arm when she noticed Alden’s gaze landing there. The burn…she’d gotten that because she’d allowed herself to be taken....abducted…eaten? She wasn’t sure the word to use. But she’d wanted to get away from the press of the crowd as the additional crew arrived and she’d allowed her anxiety and panic to over ride her judgement. Maybe it was time to have a few strict sessions with Randy. Her voice was very soft, “It’s better, the compound you made has helped a lot. This one spot is just harsher, I guess.” Rand couldn’t help but grin at him again though. ‘Happy to see her.’ Now Alden was assigning emotional awareness to the animals. “I’m not sure how much I really affect them, I just happen to bring the food.” Kind of like her actual job. Create reports, leave them for those in charge, bring food and drink, and clean up the mess. “It would be nice though if they were used to me.”

Yeoman Rand

The information seemed to relax him and he spoke in a soft tone she wouldn’t have heard since she was rescued: “That’s good. The credit belongs to medical, I developed the idea, they adapted it to work better with human biology.” And then she grinned. Was she rubbing off on him? ‘Happy to see her’… “I am quite positive they are used to you, the way they’ve reacted recently,” he replied.

~ Lt Cdmr Alden, XO/CSO

“I’m very thankful for what everyone did to help me.” She looked at her bowl and then at his tray. He hadn’t touched the last remaining pieces and the knew from the way he’d put his fork down that he was finished. “I like the animals. Even just to observe them. They make sense, people don’t.” She stood up taking her bowl and then walked over and took his tray and carried it back to the kitchen. She reappeared a moment later, wondering why she had made that last comment. It was an extremely personal thought and one she should have kept herself. She stood there, not sure if she should sit back down, or even where, or if she should go back to finish her work. The whole encounter was so strange and Rand had no idea what the protocol was and how to react to it. She hid her hands behind her back to stop from ringing them.

Yeoman Rand

“You didn’t have to take my tray,” Roman told her. He was done with it, he didn’t mind, but he didn’t want her to think she had to do things like that when she wasn’t on duty. It was her job, not her reason for existence. People don’t make sense. He had never considered it like that. His animals were easy, sure. But people were more or less the same. Finally he settled on a reply of: “They are less complex than people. They are simple.”

~ Lt Cmdr Alden, XO/CSO


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