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

(snip)

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

Early that morning, Roman planned on taking Rand up on her open invitation to join her runs, as he was up anyway. He discovered her usual routes empty well beyond her normal run time, and so instead, he returned to his quarters and read a book until he had to go to the lab. His uniform was spotless as usual, his hair neatly combed. Apparently, some things never slipped, no matter how sleep deprived one became.

He arrived in the lab and got to work. His normal morning stuff first, and then there was a supply issue he had to take care of. Upon his return to the lab, he handed Rand his report stack… straight unfinished from his desk where he’d left them. He gave her a confused expression when she returned, earlier than usual, PaDD in hand. And then she placed it on his desk and it was… his stack of reports. Unfinished. Surely he’d done those that morning? Or… Was that the morning before? He struggled to remember. With a quick, embarrassed glance around the lab, he grabbed the PaDD and began working on the reports in a hurried manner.

~ Lt Cmdr Alden, XO/CSO

No one knew the reports were any different than what she normally brought in because Rand, ever the professional, made sure no one looked at them but Alden and Rogers. And Rogers’ reports weren’t finished yet. Taking the finished reports Rand disappeared about her duties. But that gnawing worry was back.

Roman wrote himself a note, reminding himself what needed to be done. His poor sleep quality was affecting his memory, hence the report mistake. Everything else it affected, he’d done a good job of anticipating and covering up. The poor concentration (his reports were taking longer to do), the poor coordination (he thankfully hadn’t tripped or run into anything in public. And no one was testing his ability to fire a phaser accurately, he wasn’t security), all he’d kept unnoticeable to the crew. Anything he forgot, he blamed on being busy.

The next day went about as normal with not oddities. Except that night, Rand had been called to help in the cargo bay. She could take inventory with a speed like no one else. Randy had the night shift and so she had stopped to talk to him before turning in for the night. It was around midnight, but she could already hear Alden pacing as she passed his door. She stopped, hand raised to knock softly, but hesitated. If he wanted to talk to her, wanted tea, anything really he’d ask, right? It was her job to anticpate the COs needs and orders, and by default the XOs as well when appropriate…but this wasn’t anything to do with his duty assignment. Maybe she’d over stepped? She’d wanted to help but that didn’t mean it was welcome. She lowered her hand with a sigh and continued on to her quarters.

Roman desperately needed better quality sleep. The report incident was a bit of an alarming wake-up call. But he couldn’t. It was getting worse, not better. The nightmares, and flashbacks, too. And general inability to sleep. But he didn’t know what to do about it, and the stress only made sleeping more difficult. Perhaps he should just go to Sickbay, surely a doctor could do something…? But they’d ask him why and those were questions he wasn’t ready to answer. He wished… well, that his friend were there. And that only made it worse. Part of him wondered if he could ask Rand her advice… but that was absurd, wasn’t it? Besides, he needn’t saddle her with his problem. She had more than enough work. As he paced that night, his stomach was tense with an anxiety he was unfamiliar with.

The next day she looked at the reports…they were wrong again. Rand fixed them, but then the evening reports were…odd as well. Rand sighed, she was going to have to say something. And that made her stomach churn.

Yeoman Rand

He’d barely gotten any sleep at all. It wasn’t surprising then that they weren’t right, though he didn’t know he’d messed them up again. His notes were barely legible, didn’t really make sense, either. Roman seemed outwardly distracted that day, as he asked for, and then downed, Rand’s citrus iced tea. Perhaps his distracted mind played into his less-than-adequate reports, why it appeared all of them were… weird. That evening, he skipped dinner and sat on his bunk, unsure what to do.

~ Lt Cmdr Alden, XO/CSO