Posted by Lieutenant Commander Roman Alden (First Officer & Chief Science Officer) in A Glimpse at the Weekly Condition

Posted by Ensign Rand Farquharson (Yeoman First Class) in A Glimpse at the Weekly Condition

Posted by Lieutenant Commander Roman Alden (First Officer & Chief Science Officer) in A Glimpse at the Weekly Condition
Posted by… suppressed (6) by the Post Ghost! 👻

Rand wasn’t sure what it was but the day had gone by fairly well. No late reports, no fires to put out and mostly NO PRANKS. It was getting on Rand’s nerves. It was mid morning, everything was done and that meant Rand had a little extra time. She made her way down to the biology lab to work with Nibbles before she was supposed to meet Randy for lunch. She entered and waved to a couple of lab techs, seeing Alden working somewhere other than his desk she made her way straight to Nibbles’ cage.

Yeoman Rand

Roman was, in fact, not even in the lab just then. Rather, there had been an incident elsewhere on the ship he needed to handle as ship XO. It was about a half hour after Rand arrived that he returned. Unlike a couple days ago, his work was up to his usual standards, though he still looked like he was up at least part of the night. Sitting at a lab table with a microscope, he continued the work he’d been doing before he left, studying something on a slide, and then taking notes.

~ Lt Cmdr Alden, XO/CSO

Up early again the next day, Rand finished the bottle of ice water before stepping out of the office. She bent to tie her shoe and then headed for the lift and deck 6. She checked to make sure there was no scheduled events that day. She’d been up late finishing personnel reports for Alden and Rogers to review today. She’d heard no sound of Alden pacing. She hoped that whatever had been bothering him had decided to leave him be.

Yeoman Rand

This was Roman’s bridge day, and he spent all day on the bridge. He was his usual ‘enthusiastic’ self when she brought his reports. To say he’d slept ‘well’ would be untrue. But he had not spent the usual half the night awake. The one time he had found himself up that night, at about 0200, he’d simply read a book until he felt tired again, about a half hour later.

~ Lt Cmdr Alden, XO/CSO

Rand was working on the evening reports. Something didn’t look right from the science labs. She collected the paperwork off her desk and made her way down to deck 9 and then 10 to check. Most of the time people didn’t mind Rand coming to check if something was wrong. It saved them getting chewed out for bad reports. But their reports weren’t wrong. Neither were the lab supervisor’s reports. That only left one possibility. Rand returned to her office and fixed the reports. Probably just a minor misread or over sight. But there was still that nagging worry.

Yeoman Rand

The next day Roman might’ve seemed noticeably tired to her. He was trying to hide it. She could probably have heard him the night before if she were awake too. He was in the lab that day, and when she came for his reports, unlike usual, he wasn’t finished with them yet. It took him an extra ten minutes to finish and hand them off to her.

The day was a long one for him and he tried not to be too ‘cranky’ but his poor mood was certainly that day’s lab talk anyway. Scott the NE tried to ask Rand what was “up” with him, figuring she as yeoman might have some inside scoop.

~ Lt Cmdr Alden, XO/CSO

Rand did have the inside scoop. Or as much as anyone could have. It wasn’t like Cmdr Alden told her what was going on. She considered Alden a friend, well as much as one can consider a superior officer a friend. He obviously didn’t see it that way because he hadn’t asked her about making sure he stayed awake in the lab again, or for the tea. She was certain it was the tea that helped him get back to sleep. But she was not going to gossip about him…anyone, Rand would not engage in idle gossip about anyone.

Scott was irritating her, but she took a deep breath and told Scott that she was obviously wrong about her having any influence over his mood. That should be obvious because if she did have influence she would know what was ‘up.’ Rand left the poor NE Scott standing in the corridor and went about her work. Next pass through Rand quietly dropped off the citrus iced tea without a word.

So Rand had noticed, thought Roman when he sipped the tea and found that it was citrus, and cold. He’d hoped she wouldn’t, he hated to bother her with such things.

Rand seemed almost as cranky to Scott as Roman did. Was something going on for both of them? Between them? She returned to the lab to draw her own conclusions.

Middle of the night Rand couldn’t sleep. She must not have stretched well before her run because her leg was cramping and she ended up pacing the corridor trying to work it out.

Yeoman Rand

Middle of the night and Roman was awake again. Only, that night, it was he who heard pacing, out in the corridor. Preparing an explanation for why he was still up in case anyone asked, he went out to see who was out there and why.

~ Lt Cmdr Alden, XO/CSO

Rand was pacing…stiffly on her right leg. She’d just turned away from him and stopped bracing her back against the bulkhead and slid down the wall, left leg bent like she was sitting on an invisible chair, right leg extended, foot flexed backwards to stretch the calf muscle. Until she finally slid all the way to the floor and bent forward, forehead on knee, palms laced behind her right foot and forced the flex further. She groaned, frustration and pain, but she had to get the cramp out before it got worse.

Yeoman Rand

With a raised eyebrow and a tone of slight concern he asked, “Are you alright out here?” This time of night, it was usually just Roman (and the night crews of course) that was awake. He’d never heard Rand up until the early morning hours. He looked about how he felt, and that was tired. He wished he could fall back asleep, but it was a night of little success in that aspect.

~ Lt Cmdr Alden, XO/CSO

Rand turned her head to look, even though she recognized the voice. He looked exhausted, oh lords! She hadn’t woken him up with her pacing had she? “Just trying to work out a leg cramp. I…I didn’t wake you up…did I? I’m sorry.” And she was, not out of her usual embarrassment but obviously sleep was still hard to come by for him. She sat up slightly releasing the flex on her foot carefully. She started to get up, and half way there the muscle tightened up again, and only a quick shift of her weight stopped her from stumbling. Why didn’t star ships have soaking tubs?

Yeoman Rand

Roman shook his head. “You didn’t, I was awake anyway.” He didn’t mean to make her think she’d woken him. He could unfortunately offer her no solution to her problem, he had little experience with running cramps. Hopefully her cramp would go away soon, then at least one of them could sleep. But he watched her get up and then her weight shifted and he could tell it still hadn’t gone. “Your stretching isn’t working?”

~ Lt Cmdr Alden, XO/CSO

Rand shrugged, “Not at the moment. I must not have stretched enough before my run and then running around the ship all day…now I’ve got a cramp.” She shrugged again. It happened, didn’t make it less painful, but it happened. The trick was to keep the muscle moving as much as possible so it didn’t freeze up. She paced back and forth near him as she spoke. If it got bad she’d ask Randy for something. “Do....would you like me to make you some tea?”

Yeoman Rand

“I wouldn’t ask you to. You should be sleeping, not making me tea,” he replied. Roman liked her tea, he just hated feeling like he was asking something of her off duty… Even when she offered. “It’ll be fine.” He added, leaning slightly against the wall between their quarters. “I hope your cramp gets better,” he said, still thinking if he knew how to help her get rid of it faster, he would.

~ Lt Cmdr Alden, XO/CSO

“You didn’t ask, I offered. Besides it’s already made. I started it before I came out to walk. I figured I might need the help,” she grinned. Something she seemed to be doing more often, though she didn’t seem to notice. “And you should be sleeping, not watching my futile attempt to get rid of this cramp.” Her eyes danced a little as she turned his words around. She liked talking to him, but she’d rather he slept, if he could. She stopped the pacing to lean back against the wall again and try to stretch the muscle again.

Yeoman Rand

“Oh, alright then,” Roman conceded. If it was already made there wasn’t any point in turning down her offer. He enjoyed her grins, when she seemed relaxed rather than anxious and uptight. And he liked that she seemed more relaxed around him. It used to seem like his presence alone was stressful to her. He grinned sheepishly, a rare expression from him, and shrugged. “Sleep and I don’t much get along.”

~ Lt Cmdr Alden, XO/CSO

“Then you and sleep should call a truce.” The expression was somewhere between teasing and ‘you know I’m right’. She slipped through her door. Now the tea wasn’t ‘exactly’ already made, but with the high tech hot plate it only took a few minutes. And to cover up for the fact it took longer than just pouring two cups, she found some of the strong-smelling muscle rub all the Farquharson men swore by. Then she poured two large mugs.

She stepped out the door, a hint of menthol, camphor and clove, not unpleasant but strong, lingered. She handed Alden the cup and stepped back because she knew the smell could be a lot for someone with a sensitive nose and she had no idea if Alden was or not. “There ya go.” She held her own mug up closing her eyes and savoring the heat and the aroma before sipping carefully at it.

The next day Rand skipped her run, choosing not to do something that might land her in the med bay. She collected the reports from across the ship. But now Rand was concerned. Alden’s weren’t wrong they weren’t done. She could fix reports, she could fill them out, she could not sign them. And so she had to go back, return them to him. Quietly she laid the PaDD on his desk with the unfinished reports on top and then the other “XO” reports on the bottom.

Yeoman Rand