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 Ensign Rand Farquharson (Yeoman First Class) in side-sim: The Study of Kelmao
Posted by… suppressed (3) by the Post Ghost! 👻

(snip)
About that time Harvey placed a cup in Alden’s hand and then one in Rand’s. Normally, Rand would serve herself last, but she was past caring. It was niggling in the back of her mind that something wasn’t quite right with Roman, but she couldn’t put her finger on it.

Roman nearly dropped the cup. The feeling hadn’t yet fully returned to his fingers. He managed to keep his grip and took a long drink of the tea, enjoying the heat. Then he set it down next to him, not wanting to drop it. The heat on his hands was nice but he’d rather not lose the tea trying to hold it.

She cupped her hands, using palms more than fingers, around the warmth of the thermos. She was warming up and though it was painful it was a welcome sensation. The hypo was easing the pain but she moved her ankle…the one that had been hurt before, and realized she’d sprained it. That was an issue for later, she wasn’t walking anywhere any time soon.

While they drank, Rand walked Harvey through heating food. “This stuff is nasty cold, Rand. Not sure I want it hot.” Rand nodded sleepily at the ration pack. “Foil pack, smaller than your palm. Dump the contents in. It’s called a flavor packet.” Meanwhile Franks and Valos we’re trying to talk Alden’s ear off. At least long enough to keep him awake to finish the tea. “Water is safe, and there is a lot of plant life around here. When the rain stops I want to get a look. It’s too bad for the sink hole, I would have loved to sample that old river bed.” Valos shrugged, “Doesn’t matter we used all the empty sample containers checking the cave.”

Rand mumbled to Morgan who grinned and went to Rand’s pack and pulled out two black padded cases. Rand waved lazily at them. She was too drowsy from the meds to wonder if she should keep her mouth shut or not, or if it was her place. “You can get plenty of samples from my and Cmdr Alden’s uniform and boots. And there are two empty sample cases.” And then she was curled up on the sleeping bag almost asleep. Valos and Franks looked at her like they had never seen her before. Valos opened one case and sure enough all empty sample cases. “Rand, I could kiss you.”

Rand didn’t even move, “No. You won’t, but you’re welcome.” And then she was out.

Yeoman Rand

Roman listened to them talk his ears off, but only just. He didn’t quite grasp most of what they were saying. It sounded like distant chatter. “I’m sure the storm will pass before we leave,” he mumbled, his speech slurred in exhaustion, “Can’t wait to go looking for the wildlife…” He sipped the tea slowly, but he was drifting to sleep, the thermos still mostly full. He was just too tired.

The storm raged on outside the caves. The wind howled at the entrance. Water seemed to pour out of the sky. They could still hear the relentless thunder. The clouds had brightened slightly, letting a small amount of sunlight through, showing that the storm might slow soon, but it had yet to show any sign of doing so.

Roman must have been thoroughly exhausted by the events because he did not wake until 0600 the next morning, sentinel time. That made it day two of their trip to the planet surface. By then the storm had slowed to a drizzle and some tolerable winds. The sun was lower in the sky. It looked like late afternoon, nearly evening.

His awareness returned to him slowly, and he felt groggy and tired. He was no longer cold, the hours sleeping near the heater had warmed him up. Roman flexed his fingers, testing the sensation. They felt better.

His leg still hurt, and a lot more than it normally did, but at the same time it was nothing like the day before. It felt a lot more manageable. His story about pulling or spraining it trying to pull Rand out of the sinkhole could explain the limp he expected to be unable to hide. Before moving around too much, he looked around their cave to see who else was awake.

~ Lt Cmdr Alden, XO/CSO

The only other person in the cave was Rand. She was sitting up, leaned against the cave wall. Working with something at stove. As he moved slightly she looked over and smiled. “Good news is the storm is over. Franks said to tell you there is a lot of animal activity near here. He and Valos set of the motion sensor cameras and the receiver is there beside you. They have been going back and forth collecting different samples. Morgan and Harvey went to scout a different path back to the clearing. Franks said the ground should be stable, but they don’t want to risk it. The comms are working again. Morgan reported the equipment and previous samples survived but the clearing is gone. Several trees fell, would have crushed the tents.”

“Oh, good,” Roman said in response to the news, pulling himself carefully into a sitting position. So the mission was going better. That made him happy. He wanted to be out with them, not sitting in a cave. He’d try standing once he felt a little more awake.

She passed him a bowl of oatmeal and from the smell is was apple cinnamon. “Not much, but it’s hot. Bad news, neither of us are going anywhere. Your leg and my ankle are swollen almost double normal size.” She had her leg stretched out with a wet wrap around it, and even with out it it was obvious her ankle was swollen. “Franks isn’t budging on it. Quoted me all sorts of regulations that we both know. But if we are careful we should be up and moving later.”

Roman accepted the bowl of oatmeal. “Thanks.” Then she gave him the bad news, and his face fell. He looked down at his leg. Even through the pants it was obvious she was right, his right thigh around the area that hurt looked much larger than the same area on the left leg. Perhaps it wasn’t entirely a lie, and he had actually pulled it or something. But he was sure something else was wrong, a simple sprain or pulled muscle wouldn’t cause so much pain. “It’s feeling better than yesterday, I’m sure it’s fine.” He said stubbornly. He still planned on trying to get up.

Rand paused in what she was doing and looked at him. It was the same hesitant, unsure, but steeling herself, look she’d had the night she confronted him about his reports. “It would be extremely unwise and inconsiderate, Cmdr, were we to push ourselves before we should. We could put the whole team at risk doing so, and help is very far away.” She was right of course, but there was more too it, but she left it at that simple statement.

Roman gave a long sigh and slumped back against the wall of the cave slightly, discontentedly picking at the oatmeal. Rand was, as always, right. He’d tell any other officer the same thing. And yet, he knew he was still holding back information from her, the fact that his leg had been a constant problem for the last several days and an intermittent problem for the last few weeks. Whatever had happened at the sinkhole, it was likely because his leg was already messed up.

Rand saw the look on his face, he was disappointed, but it was more. He looked guilty, and that confirmed her suspicion that something else was going on. At the time his request to tell Franks he’d twisted something hadn’t sounded odd. That’s what had happened, and she was too disoriented from adrenaline and the cold, and apparently pain she wasn’t aware of, to notice. Now, it seemed odd. And the guilty look on his face told her she was right. She wasn’t sure if she should press or not. What was the protocol for this situation. Was she simply the yeoman or was she his…girl friend? Or both, and where was the line? She felt like maybe she’d pushed her luck with the ‘girl friend’ title last night, forcing him to take the meds.

Roman wasn’t upset about the meds anymore. He had been, the night before, but not in an ‘actually angry’ sort of way, more in his usual stubborn way. The line between on duty and off was usually easy, but on the mission it was like they were always on duty and that made it harder.

The truth was, Roman was sure his leg gave out not because he twisted it, but because of whatever might be wrong with it. Whether it had been twisted in the fall or not was irrelevant to him. Last night when he’d asked her to say that, he’d thought she’d known. Now that he was aware she didn’t, he felt like he was deliberately hiding it from her, and he didn’t like that. He had no idea how to explain it to her. He still wasn’t sure this was the place. Surely she’d worry about it, and after yesterday he was pretty sure everyone had enough to worry about. He was conflicted and he felt awful not saying anything.

She passed a pot full of ice cold water and some bandages - cold compresses for the swelling -over to him. “In other news, they all left a few hours ago. The work is progressing so the mission isn’t a failure. Harvey said the storm left her with data for months. Also Franks knows.” She looked like she wasn’t sure if she should be embarrassed or relieved. “After everyone else left, he came back and told me he hated to leave when we were both incapacitated. But he figured you wouldn’t try to leave if I didn’t have a partner to stay with me.”

Yeoman Rand

Taking the ice water and bandages reluctantly, unsure if he actually planned on using them just yet, he shrugged at the information. He wasn’t sure how to feel about it, either. It bugged him that Franks was right - he’d not go anywhere leaving Rand alone. It was an effective way to keep him from going anywhere.

~ Lt Cmdr Alden, XO/CSO

It was also possible that Franks was banking on Roman’s strict adherence to the rules and didn’t know anything. But it was the way he’d said it that made her think he knew. After their date on the observation deck, Rand knew someone had to have noticed. She’d had a couple hours to consider whether or not her concern was more based on stories they were told at the Academy than on actuality. She scooted across the floor, lifting herself on her hands, careful to keep her right ankle still. She reached into the medkit and pulled out two long rectangular packs. She squeezed both and then shook them and passed them over. “Ice will reduce the swelling faster.”

Roman took the ice packs and began icing his leg. He also finally gave in and started preparing himself one of the cold compresses. He still looked unhappy about it. Something she’d said occurred to him. “How is your ankle? Did you hurt it yesterday?”

Rand nodded, “I did. It’s really not surprising. The ground I was running on wasn’t really ground, was it? It wasn’t slippery squishy mud, there was nothing underneath it at all. And it was collapsing as I was moving. It is most probably twisted and sprained. We don’t have a medical tricorder, but nothing feels broken. The cold compress seems to be helping.”

Roman nodded, looking relieved. “That’s good. It will heal quickly, I’m sure.” Applying the cold to his leg, either the ice packs or the compress, was painful in that he had to jostle it slightly to get them placed correctly. But after a few minutes, he had found a way to make it more comfortable. He hoped the ice would help.

She ate quietly, they’d both fallen asleep before Harvey had finished cooking. From what Morgan said, Rand and Roman were the lucky ones. Putting the bowl aside when she was done she pointed to the control box for the cameras. There was another small case. “Harvey left a drone outside, and that’s the control She said it’s made to go in the air and water. The ground is too unstable to walk to the river, but you could use it to get samples and vids of any aquatic life in the river.”

Yeoman Rand

He picked up the control box for the camera, looking at the present feeds. Nothing was there, not yet. He wanted to be out on the planet, looking for things himself. The camera was a useful tool but unfulfilling to him as the only means of exploring the planet surface. The drone was a little more interesting to him, but still he preferred to observe things with his own two eyes. Still, he was grateful they’d set them up at all. They could’ve left him with the samples to label. Picking up the oatmeal, he started nibbling it.

~ Lt Cmdr Alden, XO/CSO

Rand watched him while she tried to straighten up, just a little. Finally she sighed, “Roman you look like I just told you your whole life will be nothing but paperwork and I’m not going to help you.” She managed to scoot her way over next to him. “I know you would rather be out there yourself. But we both know, wild animals are skittish, the won’t come out till you are long away from the area. You’d be setting up cameras and watching through the camera anyway. And you would never allow anyone to go diving in the river or lake, so the drone is your best option for the equipment we have.” She squeezed his hand and held onto it a moment. She wasn’t worried about anyone coming back. They hadn’t commed and no one wanted to startle Rand and then her accidently shoot them with the phaser Morgan gave her.

Truth be told, Rand wasn’t sure she was really excited about being on the alien planet anymore. If it hadn’t been for the pain meds, she probably wouldn’t have slept. The previous days events had her rattled. She thought about what Randy had given her before they’d left. She hoped neither she nor Roman would need it. “Come on, if we’re careful, and use the cave wall for support, maybe we can sit right outside and you can make some ‘eyes on’ observations.”

Yeoman Rand

Roman still wanted to be there. Desperately so. Dangerous or not, he loved it too much. Things like the day before had happened before and would again. It wouldn’t have been so bad if his leg hadn’t given out. But nothing could be done about that either.

Rand moved next to him and Roman listened to her. He felt like someone told him he’d have a mountain of paperwork every day for the rest of his life. She was right, again. The cameras were a normal part of his routine when it came to these types of studies. And letting anyone dive into water filled with who-knew-what was way too dangerous.

She squeezed his hand, and that always made him feel better, but he was still put out he couldn’t go anywhere. Then she offered him a compromise and he looked back to her hopefully. At least then he’d be out in nature. Not in a dank, dark cave. “Alright. We’ll move slow and I’ll stay right against the entrance,” he promised.

~ Lt Cmdr Alden, XO/CSO