Posted Sept. 18, 2021, 10:01 p.m. by Ensign Rand Farquharson (Yeoman First Class) (Jennifer Ward)
Posted by Lieutenant Commander Roman Alden (First Officer & Chief Science Officer) in And The Tony Goes To
Rand followed Scott to the nearest lift and then took it to deck 9. Rand could walk the path in her sleep. Then again she could walk any path to any destination in her sleep. Some early mornings and late nights, she felt like she did. She entered the lab, and made her way over to the enclosure and stopped, looked, brow wrinkled in confusion, she bent closer to make sure she was seeing what she was seeing. Then she turned to Scott. “She seems fine now.”
Yeoman Rand
Ensigns Watts and Carpenter watched from nearby. Another Ensign was doing his work at one of the lab tables. Amalia frowned. “Well, she wasn’t before… Maybe she was just playing dead… Right guys?” She asked, looking to her two cohorts.
“She was definitely curled up in that corner of the cage before,” said NEnsign Andrew Watts, pointing to the back corner of the enclosure.
“Yeah, she looked pretty green,” said NEnsign Joshua Carpenter, trying to back up Scott’s story. But they all looked pretty guilty.
~ NEnsign Amalia Scott (and others), Science
Rand looked around at them, and could feel some of the panic from earlier returning. She wasn’t sure what to make of the situation and they all looked guilty, but why? She turned back to Nibbles and read over the notes, and there was no mention of anything being wrong since 2300 last night. Everything was normal. Rand was no biologist, but she was good at observing and making notes. She had also learned a little about those that worked in the lab from their notes and in passing. Lt Cmdr Alden would be furious if they lied about their observations. And just from a professional stand point it irked Rand…
Rand turned to the sustenance cabinet and opened it with a muttered, “Oats it is, then!” Something about the the way it was said and the gesture that went with it would be oddly familiar to Scott. Rand grabbed a bag of food and jotted down on the PaDD and quickly fed Nibbles, who very much tried to get Rand to pick her up. But unless Alden was around it wasn’t allowed.
The gesture and the line were familiar to Amalia, but she couldn’t put her finger on where from. She was sure she’d seen it before somewhere… she had to think about it or it would bother her all day.
Finally she turned to look at Scott, her curiosity getting the better of her. She asked as she turned back to Nibbles. “So what is it you all want me to do? What’s going on?”
Yeoman Rand
“You’ve gotta come back to the lab. Everybody likes you here,” said Watts, shuffling awkwardly. “And… the Commander’s not as… well, him, when you’re here,” Carpenter added quietly. Amalia just looked sheepish. “I was put up to it, I swear, I didn’t want to,” she explained, earning herself glares from both the guys.
~ NEnsign Scott (and crew), Science
Rand hid her hands behind her back, gripping the edge of the table and leaning back against it. They seemed to be implying she had some sort of influence with Alden. Which was absurd. “I am in the lab, but I…I do this on my own time.” She did, but she liked it. “And Lt Cmdr Alden is himself no matter who is here. I certainly can’t…oh…you probably want Randy. He knows how to get Cmdr Alden to change gears and focus on work. He probably would prefer no one be in here.”
Yeoman Rand
All three of the ensigns exchanged glances. Even the fourth ensign had abandoned his work and was watching the spectacle in the lab. “He needs to focus less on his work, not more!” Amalia replied, giggling. “Randy can’t do that, trust me!” And Roman actually did prefer working with other people, usually, however his nature tended to turn people away from wanting to work with him, which in turn made him not want to deal with it.
Rand wasn’t sure what they wanted her to do, and it wasn’t her place or within her capabilities to…to…what? Change Alden’s personality? As far as she was concerned there was nothing wrong with Alden. He was professional, focused, and fair. And he never neat around the bush. No one had to wonder what he expected. Rand just really wanted to get out of there. “I…”
And then, Amalia snapped her fingers. “I remember! I knew I’d seen you do that before. That line, “Oats it is, then!” Isn’t it from Brave? You performed it!”
~ NEnsign Scott and others, Science
Rand turned white…like sickly white and there was a roaring, and black vision, and if she hadn’t been holding onto the table she would have fallen rather than sliding to the floor as her legs gave out.
Yeoman Rand
“You were amazing! I used to follow your work!” Amalia said. It probably wasn’t helping, but she didn’t know that. “Why did you quit? You were destined for stardom for sure!“
~ NE Scott, Science
It wasn’t that Rand hadn’t heard that before. But she’d left for a reason and she didn’t want to go back there…to relive that humiliation. Knees up head down she felt the room spin. Where was Randy? Nibbles started scratching at the cage and making distressed squeaking sounds, distressed from the pheromones screaming ‘fear’.
The others in the room were shooting off questions off to Scott about what she was talking about, what stardom and looking at Rand and back to Scott. Scott must be out of her mind. Rand an actress, stardom? There was no way.
Yeoman Rand
Scott insisted she’d seen Rand. She used to perform with a theatre group. Pride and Prejudice. Brave. Scott loved it when she was in high school. Attention off Rand, no one had noticed how the yeoman felt.
It was 0500, and Roman couldn’t sleep. Technically, he did not have to get up for another few hours, but he found laying in bed not sleeping frustrating and pointless. And so, a few minutes later, he was dressed in his uniform, tea in hand, and headed to the science lab.
And when he arrived, it was quite the scene. Several of his animals were agitated, pacing and scratching or hiding, his night crew stood around talking, and Rand did not look good. It was far too early for this. His tone steely calm, he said, “And what, exactly, is going on here?”
It said quite a lot that Rand didn’t snap to attention at the arrival of a senior officer. In fact she didn’t even register his presence. She was aware of the cold floor under her and the hard cabinet against her back. She’d felt hot as her knees went out, almost like heat exhaustion but now she was cold and beginning to shiver despite breaking out in a sweat that had nothing to do with the run she’d been on earlier.
All four ensigns turned to look at him, faces shocked. Then, they very quietly and quickly returned to work, looking for any excuse to leave the lab.
Dimly she registered the scratching and squeaking coming from the enclosure on the table above her. The room went suddenly quiet. Were they all looking at her? Oh lords…please don’t notice. Why did she have to have that annoying habit of muttering lines from old performances? She tried to open her eyes but the floor she should have been staring at was only a small pinprick of light through a dark tunnel and it was spinning.
Luckily for the Ensigns, who would be cleaning Nibbles’ cage for the next month, Roman was too worried about Rand to hand out reprimands. Roman crouched down next to Rand, leaving a little space between the two of them. “Are you okay? What happened?” He asked softly.
~ Lt Cmdr Alden, XO/CSO
And into the silence she heard Alden’s voice and she wanted to disappear. Was she going to get into trouble again? Or worse, be sent to sickbay to be evaluated and then told she had to go home? That she didn’t pass muster, as it were? She closed her eyes to stop the spinning and breathed. In through her nose and out through her mouth. No she was not okay, and she was not going to tell him that, even though it was obvious she was not. Simple denial, of course would not fool Alden, but Rand wasn’t exactly thinking clearly. Slowly, to make her voice stay low and not have anyone else hear her, and humiliate herself further, “Scott…said Nibbles was…sick. So I came to check,....but she’s fine.” She opened her eyes again but the room was still spinning and her temples started to throb. She closed her eyes again. “They said I had to come back to the lab…” and she stopped, oh she was NOT telling him that or about the acting or anything about any of those things. The first because he’d just look at her like she was crazy, the notion was crazy, right? And the second because she didn’t want anyone to know.
Yeoman Rand
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