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

(snip)

Roman watched as Rand attempted to feed the red snake, and before Rand did, he’d seen the warning signs. The way it watched her approach the cage was like stalking prey. Its body tensed as she prepared to open the top, and by the time Rand had popped the lid and the snake lunged, Roman was already in action, rushing to her side as he helped slam the lid of the enclosure down. He looked intently at the yeoman as he asked, “Did it scratch you?” His voice was almost as intense as his gaze, and while it came from a place of concern for one of his crew, it did not quite sound concerned, just dead serious. At that moment, he half wished he’d never let anyone but himself touch his animals. The snake’s venom was potent, and if anything were to happen to Rand (or any crew) while caring for his animals…

~ Lt Cmdr Alden, XO/CSO

Rand, having been totally scared by the snake, found Alden’s dead seriousness steadying. He was the expert after all. “No. No Cmdr. I never even opened the lid, just unlocked it. I hesitated…it seemed to be stalking me and I didn’t want to open the lid.” She held her arm out for him to look. Not a scratch and in fact she still had hold of the mouse tail where she had memiked the way Alden had held the live mouse to drop it in the tank. “I’m sorry, Cmdr.” She didn’t think the snake was hurt or his experiment messed up. But he was obviously upset that she’d messed up or…something. “You said only someone specifically trained should handle that snake. I assumed you meant taking it out and cleaning. My assumption was incorrect. You meant feeding as well. I won’t do that again.” Assuming of course he ever let her in the lab again. The thing was still eyeing her and not the mouse; Rand had to stop herself from taking a step back. She really was sorry and now could feel her anxiety rising wondering what Cmdr Alden was going to do. She hadn’t meant to mess anything up. Very old habits were a fall back. She picked up her PaDD again, disguarding the dead mouse and continued to take notes. That was her job, taking notes not discussing biology with an actual scientist. Only if he was paying attention though would he notice she started and stopped a few times before actually writing anything - to stop her hand from shaking while she wrote.
Yeoman Rand

“Nothing to be sorry for,” Roman said, as soon as he was sure she was safe. “I implied you should feed him. Had anything happened, it would’ve been on me, not you.” In Roman’s eyes, nothing was ‘messed up’ at all, though it was precisely why he was such a stickler for rules. The snake was fine, the failed attack would not have hurt him, and so nothing regarding his experiments had been affected. He could tell she was nervous, he thought it was because of the scare with the snake. “I can finish feeding him if you’d prefer,” he said. “Or you can try again, and I’ll keep his attention away from you.” He enjoyed her interest in his work, and he didn’t want her to be scared away from it, but he also wanted her to be safe. In reality his pickiness with his lab assistants was exactly that - that if anyone got hurt because of his animals, he’d rather it be himself.

~ Lt Cmdr Alden, XO/CSO

Rand eyed the cage. Her brother would tell her not to do something she was uncomfortable with. But would remind her that fears run from are fears that control you. She eyed the bite proof gloves and took one slipping it over her hand and picked up the mouse again. “I’m not quite as fast as you Cmdr. I think I’ll take the extra precaution.” Rand took a deep breath and waited for Alden to get the snakes attention.
Yeoman Rand

Years of playing with dangerous pets did tend to do wonders for one’s reflexes. Roman approached the cage from the opposite side of Rand, watching the snake inside. He figured he’d open the top and Rand could slip the mouse behind the snake. He got ready to pop the top of the cage open, and then looked to Rand. “When I lift the lid, you drop the mouse in. Whenever you’re ready.”

~ Lt Cmdr Alden, XO/CSO

Rand grabbed the tail of the mouse in a firm grip so she wouldn’t drop it. She nodded, “Ready.” As soon as Alden lifted the lid she dropped the mouse in jerking her hand away as soon as she let go. Rand wasn’t afraid of snakes, but this one made her realize that humans were not the predominant predator. But she’d offered to help him and so she would keep her word.
Yeoman Rand

When Roman lifted the lid, the snake lunged, but his hand was already gone and the lid snapped shut, leaving just enough time for Rand to slip the mouse in. The snake watched them for another moment, then slithered to the dead mouse, and swallowed it whole. These were just small animals from the world Roman was helping study. The large ones were likely nothing short of terrifying. Certainly and thankfully nothing he could handle keeping contained on a starship. “Poor thing seems agitated for some reason,” he commented about the snake.

Rand hung the glove back up, and looked at Wyvern contemplating. “Maybe he doesn’t like me being around his cage. I don’t think he would feel....attached to anyone, but you are familiar and I am not. Perhaps I make him as nervous as he makes me.” She took several steady steps away to see if that helped. “Can he be given all the mice at once? Or do we have to wait?” Rand was considering if dropping them all in at one time would be less agitating than having his home invaded multiple times.

“We can finish feeding some of the herbivorous animals,” he suggested. Except the goo lizard. One close call is enough… He was sure Rand felt the same.

~ Lt Cmdr Alden, XO/CSO

Rand glanced from the goo lizard back to the snake contemplating. “What about a drawer? Built into the side? It would slide in and have a lock to stop them from pushing it open and a hinged too on the outside. So you could pull the drawer out and then lift the lid, drop the food into the drawer and close the lid. Then push the drawer closed and lock it. Then you don’t have to actually open the cage, or at least whoever is your assistant will be won’t have to. And it would give you some peace of mind when you can’t be here.” Rand looked at some of the other habitats guessing the rest were herbivores. She retrieved an empty container and waited for Alden to tell her what he wanted from what she was internally referring to as the nutrient cabinet.
Yeoman Rand

Roman nodded. It was a great idea, this he could not deny. But with all Rand’s great ideas, he was going to owe somebody in Engineering a lot of favors. And while any enclosure was being worked on, the animals would have to be transferred to a temporary enclosure - something he would certainly need to handle himself. “That would be an ideal addition,” he said, and he was thinking considering what Rand had said before, if he were unable to deal with the lab, safety precautions would be necessary, and it would be worth the favour to Engineering to add them.

Rand had been a yeoman long enough to recognize the look that passed across Alden’s face. “Cmdr, if I may? When you are ready to send in those engineering requests, let Randy or I do it. People tend to like favors for special projects, even if they are easy. And,well to be blunt, that’s why you have a yeoman. We know what favors to trade for and how much each of those favors are worth. And some things don’t need a favor traded, they are part of standard requests, and everyone knows I can recite regulations to a T. We’ll get your critters taken care of.”

So could Randy, of that Roman was confident - though he was fairly certain his own yeoman would object to being voluntold by Rand. “Then once I’ve got a basic schematic of what I’d prefer it look like and do, I’ll hand it off.” Whichever of the two ended up doing the work would need to be timely about it, and any of his lab assistants could attest to that.

“Once we get them to Engineering we’ll get a time table for you. Engineers can be finicky to work with. Fake time lines, over perfection, hurt egos, that sort of thing. I don’t want you to have to move any of them until we know for sure engineering is coming down here to do the work.”

Roman raised an eyebrow. “Not much faith in the Engineering team?” He said, a note of amusement in his voice. However, he appreciated the thought immensely. Moving the dangerous animals once would be difficult. Doing it multiple times might just be suicide.

“The Atariva mouse could use more. The seeds for him. Mushu is well fed for today…” He was mentally going through a checklist. The red snake was fed, the goo lizard had the food it needed within the enclosure, the mouse, the chinzilla was fed… He looked around the room double checking he hadn’t missed anyone.

~ Lt Cmdr Alden, XO/CSO

Rand could have skipped to the Atariva cage, but that would have been undignified, so she walked. She grabbed a handful of seeds and gently opened the top of the cage. She put a seed on the floor and slowly pushed it closer, and then backed away, letting the little mouse get the seed without feeling caged, although watched. She made a trail of the seeds like before until the mouse was eating next to her hand. She looked away from the mouse momentarily having heard the door open and close, when the mouse got her attention again. It was sitting in her hand picking up the seeds and eating them. “Cmdr.” She whispered trying not to spook the little thing, “look.”
Yeoman Rand

Roman turned at Rand’s whisper, slowly. His mouse was in the hand of the yeoman, cautiously taking seeds from her and sticking them in his mouth. “He must like you,” he said, keeping his voice low as to not startle the mouse. It wasn’t as if Roman hadn’t ever tried to be friendlier with the mouse, but he’d had little success, partially due to having insufficient time to devote to the project.

~ Lt Cmdr Alden, XO/CSO

Rand smiled, “He’s surprisingly heavy for his size. Or maybe it’s just the way I’ve contorted my arm.” Rand waited patiently for the mouse to finish it’s food. Then it sat there for awhile sniffing her hand, wrist and arm. It was a test of self control since Rand was ticklish on her inner wrist and whiskers and twitching noses are natures perfect way of tickling sensitive skin. Eventually the mouse curled up as if going to sleep. “Oh no no no. You are not sleeping on my hand. As cute as that might be, I have work to do.” She very carefully lowered her arm all the way down and slowly, she didn’t want to startle him and get bit, rolled him off her hand and onto the bedding in the cage. Then she closed and locked the lid before rotating her shoulder several times. “Thank you Cmdr. I’ve never held an alien animal before. It’s an experience I won’t forget.”
Yeoman Rand

“I quite hope it won’t be the last,” said Roman. As a biologist, his hope was to visit and see many alien worlds. And study the life upon them. Even if the mouse did bite, it would be little more than a nuisance, though somebody smart would treat it as any other animal’s bite and clean it. “Thank you for your work today. You’ve been quite handy,” he said. Perhaps he could’ve finished everything sooner, but he had to admit it was quite a lot of fun to show Rand the wonder of alien animals and plant life.

~ Lt Cmdr Alden, XO/CSO