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 (1) by the Post Ghost! 👻

(snip)
The conversation slowed again, and Roman found himself unsure what else to say. He’d all but forgotten about her last upsetting question, and if he knew she was avoiding asking things because it made him upset, he’d feel bad about it. He wouldn’t want her to feel like she couldn’t ask him anything, though he knew there were a lot of questions he couldn’t or wouldn’t answer, just because of how intertwined his life had been with Jay’s, a death he’d never really gotten over. And he still hadn’t told her much of anything about his family, either. “What about you? What made you want to be a yeoman?” He asked at last.

~ Roman

Could she tell him? Yes. Would she was another question. “I saw a Star Fleet officer once when I was 18. She was with another officer, but everyone seemed to forget she was there, but she was everywhere. It wasn’t just meals and coffee; I watched her on her communicator, and her PaDD, and she seemed to know what exactly had to be done all the time and the other officer seemed to be the only one who noticed all the stuff she was doing. She even knew how to find the nurses and doctors and what to ask them.”

She tucked both her hands into her lap. She was upset and sad. She hated thinking about that time and being in the hospital. Her voice was suddenly thick with her accent. “Randy convinced her ta talk ta me. It seemed like a godsend, ta be useful and go unnoticed. I never wanted ta be in Star Fleet afore that.”

Yeoman Rand

Roman felt bad for asking. He could tell she was upset, and he wasn’t sure what the appropriate response was. Finally he decided on, “I’m glad you found something that works for you, that you’re happy doing.” At least he was pretty sure she liked her job. She seemed to. “And your work is appreciated, by me at least. And it was by Carmichael.” He wouldn’t know about Rogers yet. But he assumed she liked Rand.

~ Roman

“I enjoy it. I’m good at it. I mean I won’t say I enjoy writing reports and proofing them daily, but the content of them is fascinating, if you can get past the tediousness of the headings and red tape details. At the Academy I did my senior year internship with Admiral Zuweki. I got to experience a lot of new cultures and learned a lot just by listening. On K5, while I was waiting for Sentinel to arrive, I got to hear about all the fleet movements and encounters first hand from Cpt Jensson. I even got to go with him to tour one of the newest ships when it docked. And every once in awhile I get to see some of those stars we stare up at, at night. And I get to be useful and do my share, especially since no one notices.” She did enjoy what she did, but she wasn’t passionate about it like she was acting and performing, but at least she wasn’t hiding at home. “I think Carmichael was just glad when I wasn’t around. I heard him in the Galley one night. I had already been there, working late, and Carmichael was complaining to another officer that he couldn’t escape me and that I never left him alone, that I probably had a tracker on him.” She shrugged but it had bothered her. One of her biggest responsibilities as a Captain’s yeoman was the captain’s well being and that meant ensuring off duty time and sleep and eating well. It has bothered her a great deal to hear him make such comments and not directly address them with her, and so she was left guessing and floundering on what he expected of her.

Yeoman Rand

Roman frowned. “You were only doing your job. He shouldn’t have said such things, nor should the captain of a starship be engaging in idle gossip.” To him, that sort of gossip was for ensigns, and even then, if he heard it, he put a stop to it. No one wanted to be talked about. It did sound like she liked what she did but it didn’t seem like it was her first choice, especially after she said she hadn’t even cared for Starfleet until she was eighteen. So he asked, “What would you have done had you not joined Starfleet?”

~ Roman

“Oh…um…” She fidgeted with her glass, turning it slowly one way then the other without picking it up. She wanted to be honest, she didn’t want to lie. To say ‘she never thought about it’ would be a lie. The few people who knew thought she was lying, that there was no way with her anxiety she could get on stage and perform, but on stage she wasn’t Rand, she was Miranda or Trinity or Elizabeth or Arabella or whoever the script said she was. She glanced at him and sighed, stressed over past events and possible reactions and torn with hiding her secret and staying unseen. But he saw her didn’t he? Otherwise they wouldn’t be having dinner together. She took a breath and another, putting her hands back on her lap, trying to hide the apprehension. “Umm..I…I was an actress.”

Yeoman Rand

Roman believed her. He didn’t ask her why she quit, he figured it was the anxiety, though he certainly didn’t understand the specifics. “You must have been good at it,” he said. He’d seen her in the lab that once, but that was the only time he’d seen her do any sort of acting. She had the vibrant character voices she often used when she told stories. He could see her being an actress.

~ Roman

That was the thing, Rand knew she was good. “I was. I was the female lead for the Dionysian Actors’ Guild,” It wasn’t boastful or pride, simply the truth, she’d been…amazing. And at 18 to be the lead for such a prestigious group was…well outstanding to say the least. “I did a few voice acting parts for audio and animated performances during Academy. But the media was…relentless wanting to know what happened, so I just stopped.” Randy hadn’t given up when he struggled with his grades, and ‘give up’ probably weren’t terms in Roman’s vocabulary.

Yeoman Rand

Roman knew of the group, but he didn’t know much about it. “I’d quit, too. Media are vultures,” he said and his tone indicated he’d probably had experience with that particular topic. He wished she could’ve gone on, because it seemed like she had wanted to, but he also found himself glad she hadn’t, because then she would never have been in Starfleet. It was a selfish thought.

~ Roman