Posted by Ensign Rand Farquharson (Yeoman First Class) in Side sim: Try Not to Sleep on Duty

Posted by Lieutenant Commander Roman Alden (First Officer & Chief Science Officer) in Side sim: Try Not to Sleep on Duty

Posted by Ensign Rand Farquharson (Yeoman First Class) in Side sim: Try Not to Sleep on Duty
Posted by… suppressed (5) by the Post Ghost! 👻

It was later the same day of the run, and Roman had gotten in to the lab at 0600. His reports were finished at their normal time. All his early morning duties completed. But by 1000, four hours later, the energy gained by the run had worn away, and his tea was doing little to help. There was a saying about holding one’s eyes open with toothpicks, and that was quite accurate to how Roman felt.

He was trying to finish some paperwork for the lab, but he’d been staring at the same field for ten minutes. His handwriting wasn’t as neat as usual. Finally he wrote something in, signed the document, and moved on.

~ Lt Cmdr Alden, XO/CSO

Rand’s morning had been much more back and forth than usual. She’d appeared at the lab at her usual time with a very large thermos of extra strong black tea with extra honey, just for the extra sugar. She’d finished her reports for Rogers and had made the coffee runs for the bridge. She’d gone by the lab a few times, but Alden seemed find. Then about 1000 she walked in and though he wasn’t asleep he was going to be soon. She left crossing the deck to the galley and then returned and set a large drink bottle in front of him. The rest of the lab crew was strewn about the deck getting materials, coordinating with other labs, etc. “Cmdr Alden,” Rand said as she set it down. “Drink that.” That was extremely cold ice water. He’d been downing hot tea all morning so the temperature change should wake him up a bit, and then she had more black tea for him.

Yeoman Rand

The large drink bottle hitting his desk seemed to jolt him and he looked up. “Ah, Rand, you’re back,” he said. The bottle was quite cold to the touch, and a quick look in said it was water. Ice water. He took a big drink of the water, and an instant cool feeling spread through him, waking him up somewhat. He took one more drink of it. It was… Refreshing. That was the word he’d use. But at least it did what it was intended to. He didn’t look quite as much like a zombie as he had. “Thanks for that,” he said. He hadn’t caught on that her extra visits were specifically to make sure no one else caught him sleeping, and he wondered offhandedly how her timing was so impeccable.

~ Lt Cmdr Alden, XO/CSO

Rand shook her head, of course she was back. He’d said he didn’t want anyone catching him nodding off. She might be Roger’s yeoman, but Alden was the XO and if she could help him she would. Her responsibilities to Rogers had to come first, but that didn’t mean that Rand didn’t know how to care for the rest of the crew. And all that time working with Alden, after Carmichael left, had left Rand with a feeling of comradery with Alden. Plus she was much more aware now of how much his dual position required of him and she was willing and eager to help, for the benefit of the ship of course.

She looked at Alden, and although the almost shocking cold water did the trick, if he sat there for much longer, the stillness would make him drowsy again. She wandered over to the animal cages....perfect. “Cmdr, the Goo Lizard is doing that ‘afraid to get in the water’ thing again.” Usually that meant that the amount of goo washed off in the water is so high that the water was uncomfortable for even the lizard to get into. Rand took a clean test tube from the rack and dripped a sample from the valve on the cage and then set it by the testing equipment. Usually this meant that the cage needed to be cleaned. That meant, while he was refreshed Alden could get up and safely clean it and dispose of the waste. Getting up and moving and doing something would wake him up more.

Yeoman Rand

Had it been that long? He stood from his sport at the desk, stretching, and headed over to the enclosure. Sure enough, the strange little lizard sat in its den in the edge of the cage rather than ‘sun’bathing by the little pool of water. Cleaning the water required moving the lizard out of its enclosure, no easy task considering touching it without specialized gloves would mean nasty toxic burns similar to a chemical burn. Preparing a small dirt filled enclosure, and wearing his protective gear, the small slimey lizard was moved into the spare habitat.

With that done, he could drain the tainted water and refill it with fresh water, also clearing away the animal’s waste. All waste was saved to test before disposal. Once the enclosure was clean, he carefully replaced the lizard in its home and ensured the lid was safely locked in place. “There, that’s better, all clean,” he said, half to the lizard and half to Rand. It seemed her plan was working, at least he appeared more awake. He almost said something to Rand about ‘no time’ or how tired he’d been but it would have sounded horribly like an excuse, and so instead he remained silent.

~ Lt Cmdr Alden, XO/CSO

While he worked Rand had been in and out of the lab taking care of other tasks: fresh uniforms for Rogers, Alden, herself, and Randy because it was Randy. She’d picked up lunch for Rogers and delivered it and taken drinks to the bridge again. She reappeared about the time he was done and was checking the logs of the other cages. “Hey Rand. What are you doing back in here, again?” NE Morgan asked. “Slow day and if I sit in one place I’d get bored. And it’s bad for the CO to see her Yeoman bored.” Morgan smirked, “I don’t buy it. You just want to play with the mouse.” Then most of the staff left for lunch. Engrossed in what she was doing Rand wasn’t watching the animals. There was a loud reverberating slamming sound and Rand yelped, stumbled backwards into another table and cursed in Gaelic. “Tha Demon sìolachaidh ag iarraidh mo ithe.” Well if she wasn’t awake before she was now…Mr. Wyvern had lunged at her again.

Yeoman Rand

“Keep it to yourself, Morgan, unless you plan on taking over her duties,” Roman warned as he finished taking off the protective gear for handling the goo lizard. He began filling out the log indicating the cleaning. The sound of the shake’s head slamming into the plexiglass side of the cage had his attention instantly and he looked up so quickly one would be surprised if he didn’t have whiplash. The log clipboard clattered to the ground.

Everything seemed okay. He checked the enclosure, making sure the lid was still tight, the walls undamaged. “Rand? You’re alright?” He asked, looking at her.

~ Lt Cmdr Alden, XO/CSO

Rand glared at the giant red snake. It never seemed to bother her if she was actively watching it. It liked to scare her. She wouldn’t say that to Alden, he’d probably laugh at her, but it was true. She stood up and turned around checking the table she’d bumped into. “Bu chòir uilebheist sleamhainn mallaichte olc bean fhaighinn na cheann le ball millteach. (Evil cursed slimy monster should get beaned in the head with a wrecking ball.)” The table was fine and she watched Alden check the cage. Transparent aluminum. Forget the plexiglass, transparent aluminum was stronger. “Yes Sir, I’m fine. Just startled.” She cursed again, words a lady should never say out loud. She straightened her uniform, taking a shaky breath, and walked over to the other side of the lab and picked up the dropped clipboard.

She left the lab momentarily can came back with a small food tin. She’d seen the reports on his desk, and they were…dismal. She collected them. “Lunch Sir. It will take me about an hour to input these reports. Lunch is a good time to move out of the lab.” Movement rather than sitting still, and if he remembered lunch time was a good time for a cold shower to wake up…but after the snake....the lunch was light, a salad and fruit. Nothing heavy, hot heavy food made a person sleepy.

Yeoman Rand

After she left, he’d made sure everything was orderly and sat back down. And then she came back with lunch and he appreciated a light lunch. Her comment about moving reminded him of the cold shower plan, and honestly even after the snake it was probably a good idea. The artificial energy boost adrenaline caused would quickly fade and probably leave him with even less energy. “A salad, lovely, thank you,” he said as he opened the tin. He did quite like salads, and he was honestly happy with the lunch for the day.

~ Lt Cmdr Alden, XO/CSO

Rand just shook her head as he sat down at his desk to eat. She placed a thermos in front of him. “Iced lemon ginger tea with extra citrus added, and it’s cold.” She waited for him to try it. If he didn’t like it she’d make something else. It would help him wake up, but he’d have to drink a lot of it until he got used to it. She took the reports and sat down at the spare console and fought the urge to shake her head. The reports were dismal and some of the information he wrote down she knew wasn’t accurate. He was more tired than he let on…how long had this been going on? Rand looked up at Alden, her face passive but concern chasing across her features.

Yeoman Rand

Roman was unaware of the quality of his work. Surely, if he looked now he’d wonder what he’d been thinking when he filled them out, but mostly because the incident had him more awake than he’d been all day. He took a cautious sip of the tea.. not as satisfying as a hot tea. But it wasn’t awful, in fact, the flavour wasn’t bad at all. “It’s good,” he said. The salad was, too. A refreshing, if light, lunch. It had been weeks since he’d slept what one would define as well, but the severity of the problem came and went. Sometimes he got several hours per night, sometimes he was awake nearly the whole night. Recently, in the last few days, he’d been awake most of every night.

~ Lt Cmdr Alden, XO/CSO

Rand bit back a grin, “I’m glad it’s adequate, though I’m sure it’s not as good as your black tea. I hope it helps.” She worked away at the reports, ones she didn’t normally do, but she didn’t mind. They would have had to been fixed anyway if turned in orginally. She kept an eye on him and when he was done eating she got up, taking the reports with her and clearing the meal. “I need to finish these at my desk.” She didn’t but she knew after that incident with Mr Wyvern, there was no way Alden would leave her alone in the lab. So she got up and stopped at the door and looked at him waiting for him to get up and go with her. He needed to get up and move. The idea to not get comfortable or ‘rest.’

“Lift or ladder?”

Yeoman Rand

While she worked away at the reports, he finished his lunch and the tea. “Alright,” said Roman. Sometimes she finished things at her desk so it seemed a normal thing for her to do. And then she stopped and waited, and he glanced up at her once more. Her question made him realize she was expecting him to follow her. “You need me to finish the reports… in your office?” He asked, brow furrowed in confusion.

~ Lt Cmdr Alden, XO/CSO

Rand shook her head, “No, Cmdr.” Rand took a deep breath, Need him so she can finish reports? No, no she did not, she needed him to stay awake. She waited for the lift to arrive and then stepped on. They were the only ones on the lift so she continued, “You said you didn’t want to be caught dozing at your desk today. I have absolutely no intention of allowing that to happen. So now we are both up and moving, and while I finish these reports, you can find something to do that will wake you up. There is a certain amount of ribbing expected of the crew towards yeomen, but I won’t tolerate such behavior towards the command and senior staff.” Especially not when Cmdr Alden worked so hard…Cpt Rogers too, of course. Part of her job was to be the go between for the command staff and the rest of the crew. So the ‘teasing’ was normal, she supposed, even though she was never comfortable with it.

Yeoman Rand

He stepped into the lift after her. When he’d said that this morning, he hadn’t expected Rand to go to such lengths to prevent it happening. He’d honestly expected to deal with the trouble. “That shouldn’t be your job to deal with.” He said and then he sighed. “Thank you. Perhaps I’ll go for that cold shower you suggested.” He also thought the ‘teasing’ of her because of her position on the ship was uncalled for. Even when Randy had been a yeoman, he didn’t allow that sort of thing when he caught it.

~ Lt Cmdr Alden, XO/CSO

Rand looked over at him, “I didn’t say it was my job, Cmdr.” It wasn’t, so why was she going out of her way to help? “We are all part of the same crew. We’re supposed to help each other, that’s what friends do.” Even awkward ones that…Oh lords…she didn’t actually say that did she?? Presuming an awful lot wasn’t she. Command officers weren’t friends with low ranking yeoman. Oh Randy was going to have a field day with this one. Before she could embarrass herself further she disappeared into her office with a mumbled assurance she’d have the reports finished before his lunch hour was up.

Yeoman Rand

Roman was speechless by that comment, in a good way. It made him inexplicably happy that she thought of him as a friend, not just a superior or a crewmate. Before he could come up with a response, she had disappeared once again.

One shockingly cold shower later (who knew water could be so cold?) he headed back to the biology lab, looking as neat as ever. He still felt tired, like a nap would be nice, but the shower definitely helped. Now, instead of toothpick eyes and sluggish, heavy limbs, he at least felt half human again as he re-entered the lab to get back to work.

~ Lt Cmdr Alden, XO/CSO