Posted by Ensign Rand Farquharson (Yeoman First Class) in Side sim: The Report Dilemma

Posted by Lieutenant Commander Roman Alden (First Officer & Chief Science Officer) in Side sim: The Report Dilemma
Roman was in a great mood that day, and having a difficult time hiding it as he got to the lab that morning. His cheery mood had gained the attention of the science crew, who wondered why he hadn’t chastised NE Carpenter’s sloppy uniform or told NE Briggs to tie his shoes before he tripped and knocked something over.

The reason? Rand was to return to duty today. He was sat at his desk in his office, trying to have everything ready before she arrived with the daily reports. She’d only been off a week, but Roman could swear that was the longest week of his time on the Sentinel. He had a mountain of things he was trying to catch up on before she got back, and he was nearly done.

~ Lt Cmdr Alden, XO/CSO

Rand was not in a great mood. The week off had been frustrating. Rand hated that she was missing her duty even though Rogers had told her repeatedly that it was fine and to take care of herself. It had taken all week to get 2 decent uniforms back. TWO that’s all she had because the others had been ruined! Personally she should be on cloud nine, and she was. She wasn’t worried about on and off duty behavior. Rand was the epitome of protocol and regulation, and no matter her personal feelings, work came first and foremost.

But something was not right today. It was not the fact that all the over night shift leads sent their reports electronically, stopping her from physically having to run around the ship. It was not that the reports had to be sent back for corrections, or that she had a weeks worth to correct and file correctly (which was why she was up at her normal time even though she wasn’t cleared to start running again, yet). Oh no, it was her printer…it was malfunctioning. The ‘i’s were dotted with hearts, and the ‘o’s were alternating smiley and frownie faces. After an hour of trying to get the past reports to print correctly she gave up and went to the conference room. She got a 1/4th of them printed before that printer started messing up as well. She could NOT turn in reports with hearts and faces on them. At 0630 when she should be in the biology lab to give Lt Cmdr Alden his reports, she was still fighting with the printer. Finally she gave up and put them all electronically on a PaDD…only to discover the error was now embedded in the electronic files as well. And she was supposed to see Nibbles again today!

At 0630, Roman expected Rand to be there. But she wasn’t. It was unlike her to be late. By 0645, he was thinking it was very unlike her to be this late. He dismissed worries that maybe her ankle wasn’t as healed as expected and she hadn’t been able to return.

She entered the labs, having barely remembered Alden’s tea, and set the mug on his works station. She did not put reports down or offer the PaDD. In fact it took her a moment to realize that Alden was not in the lab. With what others would assume was an annoyed huff, was really anxious annoyance at herself for not noticing he was else where before putting the drink down. She walked down to the office, moving carefully, her foot taking full weight without problem, but if she moved too fast or twisted wrong sometimes it wanted to give out. Pressing the chime, she waited, and then entered, setting the tea down. One hand holding the PaDD staring at the horrifying thing, while her other hand fidgeted behind her back. She didn’t know how to make the computer fix the error.

Yeoman Rand

The chime rang at last and Roman called to come in. Rand set the tea on his desk, holding a PaDD. Her hand was behind her back. “Ah, Rand! You’re back. Late, but I’m glad to see you back on duty,” he said. “Those are the daily reports?” He asked, gesturing to the PaDD. “What’s wrong?” She wasn’t putting the PaDD on his desk, in fact, she seemed to be staring at it as if it were the Klingon’s new horrifying delicacy.

~ Lt Cmdr Alden, XO/CSO