Posted by Commander Roman Alden (First Officer & Chief Science Officer) in side-sim: The Study of Kelmao

Posted by Ensign Rand Farquharson (Yeoman First Class) in side-sim: The Study of Kelmao

Posted by Commander Roman Alden (First Officer & Chief Science Officer) in side-sim: The Study of Kelmao
Posted by… suppressed (2) by the Post Ghost! 👻

(snip)
Rand moved toward the camping equipment, making quick work of clearing a spot before staking one down. Sticks, rocks, thorns, or whatever else, under the floor the tent could puncture holes and that defeated the purpose of having shelter. When the comms beeped she reached for hers, out of habit, before she heard Roman responding and she slipped hers back on her belt. She looked up at the sky as if she could see the Sentinel leaving. She knew such things were routine, but she felt her stomach drop at the knowledge they were now on this planet, alone, for three days - well three Earth days.

Roman was watching the sky too as the Sentinel departed. Though he couldn’t actually see the ship leaving, it felt as if he could sense it was no longer there. Then he turned and began helping set up the tents. All were the same size, just enough for the crew - two per tent.

Morgan helped set up the tents and then stowed her gear in one of the tents. Harvey piped up, “I’m bunking with Morgan. No safer place than with security right?” She was laughing, but in her mind it was the obvious solution for she and Morgan to share, leaving the guys to share a tent. Morgan shrugged, “Cmdr I’m going to finish walking the edge of the clearing, just to become familiar with what is and is not there. Rather than guessing later.” She wasn’t planning on venturing into the actual forest without a partner, but her job was to keep the team safe, mostly likely form wild animals. She wanted to know what the terrain and vegetation looked like, so that at quick glance or at night she knew what should and should not be there.

Rand had been camping many times, and was familiar with most of the equipment they had. She could also tell Franks, Valos, Harvey and especially Roman were eager to get started. “Cmdr I can finish setting all of this up on my own.” She figured it would be a little bit before they actually had samples or notes or readings she would need to organize and label, and they would probably start in the clearing and move outward. At least she thought so. That made the most sense to her, to test what they were ‘living’ around first to make sure it was safe. She wasn’t foolish enough to go wandering anywhere.

Rand came across the combination camp stove/heater. Mostly they would use it for warmth. The rations they brought with them would taste much better cooked and prepared, which Rand could do, but they were designed to be eaten as is. Looking around she spotted Harvey, “Hey Harvey, do you think it will get cold enough to need the heater?” The question mattered because if she didn’t need to unpack it she wouldn’t, but also if they needed it for heat, the tents should be pitched to circle it so that it was blocked from as much wind as possible so the heat seeped into the tents rather than being snatched into the wind. If they didn’t need it for heat, then she’d just set up the stove portion. They were going to need hot black tea, and coffee for the others.

Yeoman Rand

The region was mountainous, but the terrain was more hilly than rocky. There weren’t any drop offs or tall cliffs within the immediate area, but there would be within a mile or two. About a quarter mile to the east was a large lake, fed by a river which originated deeper into the mountains from where they were, flowing southwest into the lake. Through the trees, it was hard to see but there were a few wispy clouds in the sky. The temperature currently sat at a warm twenty three degrees Celsius or seventy five in Fahrenheit. The gentle breeze brought a light chill to the air.

Roman was indeed excited to get started, though he was trying to resist the tiredness resulting from neglecting to at least sneak a nap in before they left the ship. He nodded to Morgan scouting the immediate area. “Don’t go out of line of sight of the camp without a partner,” he warned. It was one of his safety rules. “Valos, Franks, scan the immediate area and make sure everything is safe. Harvey, Rand, finish setting up the campsite.”

Morgan nodded crisply and moved toward the edge of the clearing, one hand resting on her phaser. Not that she expected anything to come rushing at her, but bad things happened to red-shirts that were lax. Valos and Franks grabbed their tricorders and a small sample case each. “Yeoman!” Valos called to get Rand’s attention and she looked up from where she was threading a tent pole. “When you’re done, this case here,” he bent down and tapped it. “See if you can find a flat area to set it up. It’s a chemical analysis kit. I want to be able to run some basic chemical analysis when we’re done.” He didn’t bother to explain why. She was a yeoman, not a scientist. He was part of Beta shift and although he knew that she was often in the labs he figured it was because Alden was XO and he wasn’t aware of her role in helping with the animals. Rand nodded, “Sure thing.” Unless they brought a table she wasn’t sure what he thought she could do. She went back to the tent pole.

Harvey’s comment about sleeping arrangements caught his attention, and he glanced at the team he’d chosen. Harvey and Morgan would be a good match to share a tent. Valos and Franks as well, especially since then, they could go over samples or data in their tent if they wanted to, considering their specialties were adjacent to each other, quite similar. But that left his tent… Himself and Rand, together. In a tent. For three days. That was… quite the thought. But it would have to be that way, it wasn’t like he worked it out, it just happened that way.

Harvey turned to look at Rand and shook her head. “It’s late spring and this area shouldn’t drop below fifteen degrees Celsius.” She said. That would be about fifty nine to sixty degrees Fahrenheit. Her specialty was weather and atmospheres, and she was excited to get a read on the precise chemical makeup of the air. And she wanted to see if her equipment could guess the weather. It depended on how similar it was to Earth weather.

~ Lt Cmdr Alden, XO/CSO

Rand considered that. The current temp wasn’t too bad, but the breeze carried a chill. And even with the tree cover the breeze still reached them, and there was the stream coming off the mountians into the lake. Which meant the water was cold…wasn’t it? Rand wasn’t sure, but she knew on Earth it would be. She and Harvey each finished one of the tents and then it was very short order to pitch the last one. Then sleeping bags and various other gear was divided into 6 and then two sets were placed into each tent. Rand took the time to unroll the bags and store the other gear out of the way. She didn’t think anyone else on the team found time to grab a cat nap, so by the time they were done, everyone would crash.

Setting up the camp stove didn’t take long, not for Rand. It seemed to vex Harvey, but Rand was familiar with the equipment. It was an upgrade from what her dad used back home, but still familiar. She didn’t start the heater, but she did the stove, and started heating water for tea and coffee. She pulled collected the thermoses she’d passed out earlier, and then while that was starting she found the kit Valos asked her to find a place for. An inspection of the tree stump proved to be a good place. It had two sections where it had fallen, but both were flat with no large cracks or uneven places. She flipped the kit open, took one look and closed it. She set the container on the stump and left it. She wasn’t messing with chemicals and vials. Roman would have a fit.

She moved back into the main camp and helped Harvey finish separating the gear out for who needed what, and then they were done.

Yeoman Rand

Rand was at the stove, thermoses emptied and rinsed. Coffee, tea and rations were taken out. The coffee and tea was kept in her own bag. Rations only came with water, and there was no way she was letting anyone at her small stash. She was willing to share, but she could only bring so much. The kettle was ready to come off and she had picked it up to start filling each thermos when Roman called for their attention and she put the kettle back down turning to listen.

With the camp put together and Morgan finished with her security check, Roman got the attention of the team. “The sleeping arrangements will be Harvey and Morgan, Valos and Franks, and… Rand and myself.” He figured if anyone commented he could say it made sense to house command with command support. “It’s been a long night already. If you’d like to get some sleep before we start, that’s okay. Better data collected correctly and safely by well rested officers than haphazardly by tired, rushing officers.”

Roman had plans to test the water, he figured that could be what they did day two, hike up to the lake and river and collect samples there. But he thought it best to start with the clearing and surrounding forest. There were more than enough things to collect and test for the first day.

~ Lt Cmdr Alden, XO/CSO

Rand froze, she hadn’t even considered that. She just assumed she’d bunk with the other female officers…but the numbers were off. She was holding the can of coffee grounds and she fumbled it in her hand, caught it, and prayed no one noticed. It wasn’t that she objected to the arrangement, but…but…well it was one thing to fall asleep in his desk chair in his quarters, by accident. It was another to..to…share a tent with him.

She covered the fumbled coffee with reaching into her pack for what Roman would recognize as the ‘help him sleep’ tea. Then she reached for more water rations for those who didn’t want anything hot. Morgan was the first to take his offer of rest. Being the only security personnel on the team she knew it would be more than foolish to allow herself to become over exhausted. Harvey shrugged, “Might as well sleep. The wind is too strong to send up the sample drones.” They both took rations from Rand. They both knew how they would feel if they were in Rand’s situation. “You know Rand, we can make room and you can share a tent with us, if you want to.” Rand was a little surprised, she hadn’t expected the offer and it made her feel a little better, but then she laughed. “Three people can not fit in those tents. Besides I room with my brother. No one can be worse than him.”

Franks and Valos opted to finish collecting samples of the clearing and then go to bed. That way they could run tests after they got some rest. Franks had thought a first that Rand looked like she might be sick, but she liked Alden. He was certain after seeing them in the observation deck. Of course that didn’t mean she was ready to share a tent with anyone. But after hearing her joke about Randy he reminded himself of what his sister always told him, ‘mind his own beeswax.’ “You got anything without caffeine that won’t make me more tired, Ensign?” Along with the rations he got cold, but not ice cold, citrus tea. Valos didn’t quite grin. They had a cook, it was great. He got to be like the captain for a few days. “Make me coffee, yeoman.” Franks glared at him, Valos was bordering on rude. And unlike Valos, Franks was well aware of how valuable Rand’s help would be. Valos cleared his throat, “Coffee please.” Rand just shook her head, and handed him the thermos. Franks outranked them both and he’d handled it, thankfully. Rand didn’t want Roman involved in anything petty concerning her. She grabbed a different thermos and rations, after the other two walked away, and brought them to Roman. The thermos was the ‘help him sleep’ tea. She hadn’t asked him, and it was a very quiet way of her stating her opinion. Then, being the only one who’d actually slept she went to help Franks label and store the samples he’d already taken. That was the reason she was there.

Yeoman Rand

Roman noticed her fumble the coffee. He knew she’d be uncomfortable with it. He reminded himself he hadn’t meant for it to turn out that way, it just had. There were three female officers. And even if he switched her and one of the other women… He wasn’t comfortable with that. If he had a nightmare while they were here, he wouldn’t want anyone other than Rand there. He didn’t like people to know about those. He wished he could talk to her about it but there wasn’t anywhere private to go. And talking to her in front of everyone would probably make her more uncomfortable.

Instead, he went about his business, making sure his own equipment was ready to use. A thermos was thrust out to him and he looked up as he took it and the rations. He gave a small smile. “Thanks.” He looked tired, his eyes kind of bloodshot and it looked as if he couldn’t quite get them to stay open. Unscrewing the lid of the thermos as she turned and walked away, a whiff of the tea told him which she’d given him. Apparently even if he hadn’t already decided he needed sleep, Rand had.

“Any time,” and she smiled slightly at him. In truth Rand wasn’t upset over arrangements; she just hadn’t expected it. Rand would have liked to be able to talk to him about. She she could tell him that it was okay, just unexpected. At the same time she hoped he’d sleep, that by sharing with her, he wouldn’t worry so much about the memories and things that woke him up at night. That it was a huge relief that she didn’t have to share with someone she didn’t know. She wouldn’t be expected to engage in awkward social conversation and gossip with someone else. That sharing with anyone else meant she probably wouldn’t sleep well because her anxiety would run too high. That, and all of those long small group lectures about behavior and firm lines between on duty and off. And though there was no regulation stopping her from dating Roman, at the moment she was his yeoman. Did that change things? She didn’t think so, they were both aware of where to draw the line while on duty. She couldn’t say that to him right now though. There was no where they could just talk. She hoped he realized, as she got to work, she wasn’t upset at him or over the announcement, she was just doing her job.

He trusted Franks not to do anything dangerous, and it looked like Rand would be helping him, which made Roman feel better. He didn’t like officers being out alone in alien environments. And that image of something awful happening while they didn’t have the ship close was still haunting him. He crawled into his own tent, and after getting his bedroll ready how he liked it, on one side of the tent, he sat down to drink his tea.

The breeze from before had turned into gusts of wind, but the sky at the time remained fairly clear. A few heavier clouds could be seen, nothing to indicate foul weather. The clouds seemed a little different than Earth’s in the way they looked. They could still be thin and wispy, high in the atmosphere or lower and solid, heavy with water. But they didn’t look quite the same colour, maybe a little greater than Earth clouds. It had taken them long enough to get camp put together that now the sun was directly overhead, if they had a sundial it would say it was just past noon. The second half of Kelmao’s day cycle would take a full earth day to complete before night fell over their forested location. The forest was still eerily quiet with not a fly nor an alien tick to be seen. It was something Roman had noticed, but hadn’t considered why. He was too tired.

The samples around the clearing were quite varied in nature, leaves from surrounding ferns and the trees, one of the shrubs nearby was home to brightly colored yellow berries, and a sample had been taken of those. Nothing in the clearing has proven dangerous to touch, but of course, no one was allowed to eat anything from the planet. Not until it was deemed absolutely safe. There was a sample of the grass that grew here, even of the bare, empty dirt. It wouldn’t take Franks and Rand too long to label and organise them all. He was making sure she knew the labelling procedure: Name of sample, date taken, place collected.

~ Lt Cmdr Alden, XO/CSO

Rand watched Roman, Harvey and Morgan slip into their tents. Valos was going around collecting plant samples, and Franks was collecting plant and everything else samples. Rand didn’t talk much unless she needed clarification for a label. When she was done helping Franks, she went to help Valos. Franks slipped off back to where the camp heater was and started it. The breeze was picking up and the air was chilled coming off the river and lake. Rand wasn’t sure why but she was very grateful that Franks hadn’t totally left her alone with Valos. Valos wasn’t inappropriate but he was passive aggressive, and she wasn’t sure why. When she joined him to lend a hand he simply muttered, “about time.”

Rand just quietly went about helping to label and organize the samples back into the case. When he was done collected he set the last of his samples in front of her, “Finish and store those.” and walked away. She hoped he’d have a better attitude after he’d slept some. Luckily the questions she had about his samples were covered by his tricorder readings and the commentary it picked up while he worked. The finished sample cases were secured and stacked inside what was best described as a storage tent. Too small for a person, but protected the cases. Rand spent another hour or so transferring data from everyone’s tricorders to data disks, and then labelling and storing the data disks. She finally realized that she’d been sitting out there too long, and alone, when she opened her eyes and realized she’d fallen asleep staring at the tricorder. She was chilled. The wind seemed to be picking up more, or it could just be the temperature dropped. The difference in the day cycle was a bit disorienting. She knew she’d been working for awhile, but the sun hadn’t moved but maybe an hour. She made sure the data had transferred and then quietly returned the tricorders. Then she carefully slipped into the tent. If Roman was asleep she didn’t want to wake him.

Yeoman Rand