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

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

Posted by Commander Roman Alden (First Officer & Chief Science Officer) in side-sim: The Reckoning
Posted by… suppressed (4) by the Post Ghost! 👻

(snip)
Roman nodded, then at least Randy would check it. Then he smiled one of his playful smiles. “Would it help if I carried you there again?” He knew he couldn’t actually carry her just then, his leg would barely allow for his own weight, but if the comment made her smile, that was the goal. He took his PaDD back, and then she was gone.

Rand grinned but she turned really red at the same time. She stammered out a very quiet and flustered, “It would.” Sure, she’d even let him when he was better…but by then there would be nothing wrong with her foot so it didn’t matter....right? And as long as the corridors were empty.

That made Roman’s smile wider and he wished his leg were better already. “I’ll remember that. You’ve injured that foot how many times? I’m sure another chance will present itself.” He was teasing her and enjoying it. Though, if he could, he would absolutely carry her to sickbay again.

She was already partly out the door and Rand wasn’t really sure how to respond to that. So with ever reddening cheeks she slipped the rest of the way out the door and into her own quarters.

She’d heard Randy head down the corridor and she slipped out and was back a few minutes later. She finally sat down, slipped her boot off and began to wrap her ankle. Quickly before it decided to swell, which it was, but not much. More it just felt weak and tired. She grabbed her PaDD and looked at him. “Kelmao notes?”

Rand

Then Rand was back a few minutes later and at last she sat down. When she was finished with her ankle she looked at him and he smiled, pulling the notes up on his own PaDD. “I almost wish we could’ve had more time there. With everything we did get, I think there’s a lot more we missed out on.” He’d already read over most of the notes while he was in sickbay, but he hadn’t finalized anything or finished writing up reports and comments on them.

~ Roman

“Do you think they might let us go back? It is in our ‘patrol’ route. It would make sense to me to send the same ship since they already have experience there.” Her job was command support but sometimes she wondered about the common sense of ‘command’. “I mean we already know the cave is safe…or where it is anyway. It may not stay that way, and familiar with some of the animals and flora.” She shrugged and then reached over him for a green data disk and handed it to him. “The photos and recordings I took.” She grabbed an orange data disk and slipped it into her PaDD. A copy of his Kelmao notes so she could add to them.

Rand

Roman made a ‘pfffft’ sound. “Probably not unless there’s literally no other mission anywhere near this sector to send us on. I can’t even get them to send us to the planet my animals are from.” Then again, that wasn’t quite in this region of space, but it wasn’t like it was on the opposite side of the Federation, either. He leaned out of her way as she reached over him and then took the green data disk and loaded it to his PaDD, starting to go through them. “All from while I was down in the caves with Franks?”

~ Roman

“Well, we are supposed to be exploring and learning about new life, not just sentient life.” She didn’t know where the other planet was, she supposed it was near the Klingon boarder since that’s where the Ardent had…been attacked, but she didn’t know for sure. She’d have to see if she could find out. She looked over at what was on his PaDD and nodded, “Yes those are all from while you were gone with Franks and Valos.” She’d been really thankful Morgan and Harvey had stayed with her instead. “The first ones are of the lizard. I’m not sure if it’s the same one or not. It’s hard to look for specific marks when it’s transparent.”

Rand

“It seems Starfleet command forgets that from time to time. They would much rather observe planets with pre-warp societies than look at an empty planet. Unless, of course, they find it a decent location for a colony.” Roman, like most, obviously had a few gripes about how command decided what they would do. Roman would have made sure Valos hadn’t stayed with Rand. He clearly made her uncomfortable and Roman was not a fan of his… crush, on her. He smiled at her comment. “Might be easier to look for slight differences in the shape of the face. If we had a picture of both lizards, that is.” He said. He was still looking through the pictures, and reading all her notes. He had a few questions here and there as he did.

~ Roman

“Colonization…I mean I get it, but…we need to look at our history first. Colonization without strict rules can progress in ways that aren’t beneficial. We aren’t just looking at those inhabited planets to study. Maybe one day we’ll have rules against contact with species who are less developed. Who are we to play god?” Rand wasn’t unaware that Valos took a huge 180 on his opinion of her, she just wasn’t sure why he decided he liked her like that. And he was pushy, not inappropriate, but pushy and that made Rand uncomfortable.

“We do!” She got up, now with her foot wrapped it felt better and didn’t hurt to walk on. She picked up a yellow data disk and the water she had earlier and returned. She slipped the disk into her PaDD and pulled up the pictures Roman took of the first lizard. “These are the ones you took.”

Rand

“There’s the Prime Directive,” Roman pointed out. “Never interfere with the development of those people. But rules on uninhabited planets are much more relaxed.” Roman had no idea why Valos’ opinion of Rand had changed so drastically so quickly. He didn’t hold it against the officer, it wasn’t like Roman and Rand were the most open about their relationship and Valos didn’t know. Roman watched as she got up, but with it wrapped it didn’t seem to be bothering her so much and that made him feel better about it. “Fantastic!” Roman looked closely at the pictures Rand had pulled up, comparing them to the pictures of the second lizard, for several minutes. “These… do look like the same lizard. Impressive little guy must’ve been curious about us.”

~ Roman

Rand nodded. Everyone knew the prime directive, but not all captain’s or command for that matter, followed it. It was good in theory but only if people didn’t feel they were above it. There was enough history to attest to that. But that was problems for far above her pay grade. Rand answered his questions as he went through his notes, her almost eidetic memory allowed her to recall details of what she saw and heard. “I’m not sure…” to his comment of it being curious. “Do you remember how as the sun set it kept crawling up the rock face? It stayed above the line of the shadow - in the light? Maybe it came into the cave because of the fire light? It didn’t offer to come near me specifically, and Morgan and Harvey were outside.”

Rand

That was above Roman’s pay grade, at least until he was a Captain. He believed he would follow the Prine Directive given the chance but he preferred not to think about what he’d do if he had to pick between Rand and the Directive. He nodded. “When it defended itself from the hawk, it used light to make itself reflective. It may prefer to stay in the light where it can use its defenses.”

~ Roman

Rand nodded, “Most animals try to stay where they know they can defend themselves. I wonder if the light works passively too. I’d love to see what they look like in the dark, in shadow.” She was thinking out loud mostly while she wrote down all the things Roman was saying. After several lines she stopped and glanced up at him. “Um…I need a name for it. So I can stop writing ‘alien lizard that appears transparent but can reflect light when needed’. So what do you want to name it?”

It wasn’t long after that, that Rand was due to make rounds again. But without the pain medication…which she was pretty sure Roman hadn’t taken, because he was awake even if slightly distracted by the pain…they had gotten a lot done. There was still the cat to go over and the elephant sized bear/goat things. And that bird. It had been beautiful. And if that was too much he still had the disk of her performances. She opened Pipkin’s cage before she left.

She had mid day rounds, the captain to check in with, drinks to the bridge, Nibbles to go feed, and then after all that she returned with lunch.

Rand