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

Posted by Commander Roman Alden (First Officer & Chief Science Officer) in Side sim: The Report Dilemma

Posted by Ensign Rand Farquharson (Yeoman First Class) in Side sim: The Report Dilemma
Posted by… suppressed (7) by the Post Ghost! 👻

(snip)
The implication was accidental, however Roman did hope they at least still knew each other by then. She was his first friend in a long time and the first person he’d been on a date with in even longer. He couldn’t really imagine not knowing her anymore. “It’s more or less a game of balance and knowing how to keep the horse in control.” He was by no means the best horse rider ever, especially considering how long it had been, but he was confident he still knew the gist of it. Like the d earth saying about riding bikes, it wasn’t really something you forgot one you learned.

~ Roman

“Oh well I’m pretty good with animals but I can be clumsy. So if balance is important then I should maybe wear a padded suit.” She laughed at the idea. Her clumsiness wasn’t nearly that bad. Her foot had had nothing to do with being clumsy, she just used it as an excuse. She’d been distracted, watching Roman. “Have you actually ever been on another planet?” Rand hadn’t, not yet, but she hadn’t been serving long. She really enjoyed looking at the planets they orbited. The first time she saw Earth from space had been both humbling and scary.

Yeoman Rand

“Eh, with a docile horse I don’t think you’d need to go that far,” said Roman. Turning to her for her question, he said, “I caught Mushu the lizard myself. I’ve been to Aldaria III twice, and a dozen other planets in the course of my Starfleet duties. And another planet I was studying at the time.” he replied. “Have you not been down on a planet yet?” There were several planets he’d found either particularly interesting or particularly beautiful, and visiting other planets was one of his favourite parts of his job. The ones with intelligent species were fun, but challenging due to having to hide his technology from any pre-warp societies he encountered.

~ Roman

“No wonder he likes you so much. He wasn’t able need from scientist to scientist. But he does have a certain level oh I ate curiosity. He’s not as skittish as the other animals.” It sounded exciting to get to see all those worlds first hand. Rand would love to be able to see them. She wondered if that “other world” was what Roman and Jay had been studying.

Rand shook her head. “No, Sentinel is my first posting. And Cpt Carmichael never sent me anywhere. It’s okay though. I like looking from the observation deck. The colors through the atmospheres are stunning.”

Yeoman Rand

“He does, and it’s likely also because I’ve had him the longest of all of them,” Roman said. The lizard had been a baby when Roman found him, and from what Roman could tell, he was still not fully grown. “Rogers will put you on a landing party. Planets are nice from space but there isn’t anything like exploring them firsthand.” The ‘other’ planet was indeed the one he was studying previously, and he’d visited the place a multitude of times. But he didn’t feel like talking about that just then.

~ Roman

Rand grinned, they were back to talking about the lab animals. “Did you know that some of the star bases are letting people keep pets now? I can’t imagine having the time to keep a pet, but I guess Rogers is going to try. Do you think her cat will get better?” Rand would love to have an actual pet on board, but she wasn’t sure how fair that would be to the animal. “She may or may not, it’s okay if she doesn’t. Yeoman aren’t exactly high on the list of needed personnel for landing parties.” She would make due with the view from space, but if she ever got to go she’d count herself lucky.

Yeoman Rand

“She will be fine if the Captain can keep her fed, which will be… quite difficult if the Captain is as busy as I generally am,” Roman replied. “Lovely little cat.” He had found no signs of disease, which was good, because he wouldn’t know how to treat a large majority of diseases. The kitten just seemed very malnourished and skinny. Roman was busy enough keeping his lab animals in humane, acceptable conditions. He knew he’d never have the time for a pet. And he thought it would be distracting to have a cat or dog running around the decks. Unless it was kept in the owner’s quarters, but… that wasn’t really enough space for most animals.

~ Roman

“Star bases have more recreational facilities. They are bigger more places to take a pet. I heard Starbase 2 was experimenting with an arboretum. Not just the botany labs but an actual garden. Poor cat will probably climb the furniture, the walls and tear stuff up.” Rand held her hands in a shrug. “After the last week I completely understand feeling stir crazy in a small space.”

“A full garden?” Roman seemed genuinely surprised. And maybe slightly jealous? Despite his specialty being animals, he did also study and like plants. “If she plays with the cat, she can burn off some of that destructive energy,” Roman said. When she said she understood stir craziness, he nodded slightly in agreement.

“I mean I can’t even imagine the engineering required to hold the weight of the plants and soil and water. We even have to consider all that with a potted plant and support beams.”

Roman nodded. “It would likely be exorbitantly expensive to build.” He was no engineer though, and he had no idea how or if it could be done.

She must have been feeling comfortable because what she asked next was the most direct personal question she had ever asked him. “Why did you choose Star Fleet? Instead of one of the big universities or research facilities?”

Yeoman Rand

Roman blinked in surprise. That was definitely the most direct personal question she’d ever asked. He hesitated a moment, as if considering carefully what to say. Finally, he found a way to word it. “I’d been fascinated with star ships and deep space since I was six years old.” It brought back a not so pleasant memory: he was six, and excited, his new friend, Jay, had a super cool Starfleet captain father, and that had been his inspiration. When he went and told his parents what he’d decided he wanted, they told him it was pointless, no good future, and he should do something else.

He hadn’t spoken about Jay since the night he told her everything, and so he took a deep breath before finishing his next statement: “My- Jay’s father was a starship Captain. He was our inspiration.” He would normally evade the question, give some vague answer like ‘I always knew it was what I wanted’, but he wanted to be honest with Rand.

~ Roman

And much like that night, without thinking she reached aver and took his hand and squeezed gently. “He must have told the most exciting stories to catch the imagination of a 6 year old boy.”

Yeoman Rand

“He did,” said Roman softly, taking hold of her hand. But he didn’t want to dampen the evening’s mood, and so he went on, “Still the best decision I’ve made.” It was, despite his friend’s death, he never ever second guessed his choice to join Starfleet. “Who wants to study earth biology when you can study a million, billion planets a thousand light years from home?”

~ Roman

Rand couldn’t help but smile at his question. He really loved what he did. “Not you apparently, and you get to spend time with all kinds of new animals.” Now if Rand was talking about herself she would say play with the animals. “It’s wonderful that you get to do what you always wanted to do.” She picked up her drink with her free hand and sipped it. “Is there any planet you really want to visit?”

Yeoman Rand

“I can’t wait to discover a non-carbon based life form,” Roman said to her. “There’s a planet out near the border of Federation space, there’s hardly any land at all, the crust was never pushed up like it was on Earth. There’s a sentient species that lives entirely in the water and a planet full of unique water based life forms,” he explained the planet. He’d seen it in one of those class M reports they’d spoken of earlier.

“I wonder how a species like that would travel the stars? I mean if they had to live underwater all the time. Maybe like a reverse diver’s suit?”

“Something like that, their ships would be constructed like giant fish tanks, I bet,” Roman guessed. “And their space suits would cycle water rather than air.” He had some idea how something like that would be doable on a scientific level, but the engineering of it was way beyond him, so he could only guess.

“Or, there’s another planet, other side of the Federation, no one can find signs of life despite it having class M status. Environment isn’t breathable to humans, no oxygen, but there is an atmosphere with other gasses. If I were going to discover a non carbon based life form, I’d bet that’s where.” He was excited and he could talk on about such things all night.

~ Roman

“What would they be like? Do you think? If not carbon based what would they be based on? How would you explore an planet like that. If we can’t breathe the air would the air even be safe for our skin or eyes?” His excitement was contagious and Rand was truly curious even if what some of what he said might go over her head. She liked learning new things. She could listen to Roman talk about it for hours. It both endeared him to her and made her envious that he was getting to do what he was so passionate about.

Yeoman Rand

“Whether it would be safe for our skin or eyes is more based on radiation, brightness of the sun, the gasses in the air just decide how well we breathe. It would most certainly be safer to stick to EVA suits,” Roman said thoughtfully. “I dunno, that’s just it,” His ‘posh’ accent had slipped slightly into something a little more casual, which was quite rare for him. “We’ve never discovered anything like it, so I can’t even begin to guess what they’d be like, or how their bodies worked. If you ask me, it’s a life form so long as it has the ability to move on its own, shows some kind of thought or instinct.” The idea of plants that didn’t live on oxygen was also interesting, they likely wouldn’t be anything like earth plants.

~ Roman