STF

Ships in the Night

Posted Sept. 15, 2021, 9:26 p.m. by Ensign Rand Farquharson (Yeoman First Class) (Jennifer Ward)

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

(snip)
“They may be easier to understand, but a more meaningful relationship isn’t possible,” he replied, after a moment’s thought. It wasn’t something he’d put much thought into himself. He chose to be alone, and he liked his animals, but to him, they were no subsitute for human relationships. “Like anything, the harder something is, the more rewarding it is.” Joining Starfleet had been hard, yet he wouldn’t have it any otherr way. His research was difficult, sometimes, but discovering new medical compounds, learning more about alien life and how it differs from terrestrial life, was all worth it. In his mind, a human relationship was the same. If one worked for a great relationship, it would be far more rewarding than that with an animal.

It wasn’t to say that one couldn’t love animals. He’d had a childhood dog that he loved. He’d be saddened if his animals died, even though they were lab specimen. He hadn’t had a truly meaningful human relatioship in manny years, and he did not seek them out, but he couldn’t deny the differences.

~ Lt Cmdr Alden, XO/CSO

Rand suppressed a sigh. That wasn’t what she meant…she didn’t think relationships with people weren’t worth the work - she just had a hard time with people. She fought every day with her anxiety, just to walk into the galley, full of people and pick up a tray and leave. If someone waved and said hi, did they expect her to wave back or come talk. If she couldn’t because she had somewhere to be was that rude? If she didn’t notice at all was she stuck up and uppity? And then there were those people that felt like they could simply fix her fear and anxiety by forcing her into more and more intense social situations. Assuming because they liked their life that way she had to as well.

She’d been to familiar, over shared, and didn’t explain herself well. Now what did he think of her? First she neglected her duty and now she appeared to not want to put the work in? Is that how she sounded? That’s not what she had meant at all, just reflecting on…on things better not said. Rand was fully aware that the severity of her anxiety could be reason to be discharged from duty. “Things easily gained have very little value, those that have to be reached for, earned, are worth working hard to get and keep.” Then very softly she slipped into Gaelic, “Ach an rud a tha furasta dha cuid tha blàr dha feadhainn eile.”

Yeoman Rand

Roman could tell that she seemed bothered, but by what he hadn’t any idea. It was not at all the case that he thought she didn’t want to put work in, it was quite clear to him that she did. But without knowing that’s what the problem was, what she thought he thought, he couldn’t tell her such. He understood exactly no Gaelic, however he did recognize the spoken language, and so while he heard her say something, he was unsure what she’d said. “Gaelic is rather an uncommon language to be fluent in,” he said.

~ Lt Cmdr Alden, XO/CSO

Rand grinned sheepishly a bit of color crossing her face at the slip up, well okay it wasn’t a slip, exactly. “Our whole clan knows it. Most of the clans do to some extent. Randy and I grew up speaking it. We learned it along with English. I think it’s a beautiful language.” She finally sat down, right across from him, “Do you speak Gaelic?”

Yeoman Rand

Roman shook his head. “I’m English, I can recognize it but I never learned it. I’ve dabbled in Welsh,” he replied with a shrug. “From what I do understand it is quite an interesting language.” He added. He really didn’t know much about it, but he was fluent in four languages already and had studied several others. He was always open to adding a new one to his list. “Your clan?” He asked, just thinking of it. He found himself curious, wanting to know more.

~ Lt Cmdr Alden, XO/CSO

“Our clan name is Farquharson. Within the clan there are many families with many different surnames. It’s like a giant extended family, full of aunts and uncles and cousins and grandparents. We just aren’t necessarily related. We are connected due to property boundaries and historical connections. Our clan has lived and worked the land in our current location since 300 BCE. With some give and take to boarder skirmishes and marriages and alliances. All those archiac things we learned about in ancient history. There was always some one around and things to do, Randy loved it.”

Yeoman Rand

Roman got a kick out of knowing Rand’s family was as old as his was. Older, more likely. His family was thought to have come to power, nobility, in the middle ages. There was even a family story that Robin Hood had stolen from them. “Why did you leave?” He asked. An unusual question, normally he would never ask anything so personal. But he was wholy invested in the story.

~ Lt Cmdr Alden, XO/CSO

Oh that was…she looked sad for a moment. She didn’t want to tell him that she had failed so miserably at what she loved. That it was something that had to be worked hard for and she’d wanted it more than anything. But she’d failed at it. “I wanted to actually see some of the suns that are the stars we look up at. To see what was there. Are there people who look up at their sky and see Sol and wonder who we are. What do those worlds look like? I wanted to see one or two. Just once to say I had done it.” She looked up from her hands and he was looking at her, intently, and she turned pink. She wasn’t that interesting. “I..I’m not really good at too much, but have an an incredible memory especially for fine details. My professor at Stirling said joining Star Fleet as a yeoman might be a good fit.” Especially since her degree didn’t work out....

Yeoman Rand

Roman guffawed. “‘Not good at too much?’ You’re the best Yeoman I’ve ever seen in the fleet. You have fantastic memory for details. You never stray from your job. You keep everything orderly and finished in a timely manner. You may not be command but you are indispensable to our team. You’re one of the hardest working Ensigns I’ve ever seen in my career. If you went into science or medicine, your name would be known forever.” He believed every word, even when he said she’d probably be able to achieve great things as a scientist or doctor. It seemed like she wasn’t telling the whole truth with her reasoning but it was such a personal question he did not want to push. If she’d asked him the same question, he wouldn’t have answered entirely either.

~ Lt Cmdr Alden, XO/CSO

The laughter caught more than Rand’s attention. Unseen by the two the cook popped his head around the corner of the kitchen door to stare for a moment, grin, and disappear again.

Rand was too shocked to react at first. His intense praise was shocking and surprising. She’d never heard him talk like about another officer. She would know she helped with crew evaluations. He filed out both positive and negative criticism. He was strict but fair.

On the other hand she was stunned to silence by his laughter. At first she thought he was laughing at her. And that horrible feeling of panic, dots of light, racing heart, shallow breath started until his words registered. She realized two things: she liked his laugh and she hadn’t had a panic attack around him in months. And that fact made her pause as well.

She stammered for a long painfully embarrassed moment, “Oh…umm…thank you....oh…thank you sir....I mean it’s just hard work. That’s not talent. I could never be a scientist or a doctor. I could never do what you or the doctors did. Making that compound for me or making an anti-toxin or healing the sick.” She thought about Randy and all the people he helped as a therapist. He had a talent with people, Alden with his animals, her father with his music. “Those take hard work and talent…” Her voice trailed off.

Yeoman Rand


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