Posted by Commander Roman Alden (First Officer & Chief Science Officer) in side - sim: Honoring the Ardent

Posted by Ensign Rand Farquharson (Yeoman First Class) in side - sim: Honoring the Ardent

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

(snip)
The test Roman was running would take forty eight hours to complete. He needed something else to do in the meantime. It did not take long for “something else” to find him. When she came back, Roman was out of the labs. It took him until nearly halfway through their lunch to get back. He sat at his desk, looking as though he were in a bad mood, seeming to not notice that Rand was in the lab as he sat down to start on his afternoon paperwork.

The records would show the last time Roman spent a substantial amount of time with Mushu was when he was still restricted to light duty. He tried for at least a few minutes a day, but sometimes, he did not manage that. Especially lately as some of his research reached its final stages with the other animals.

~ Roman

Rand wasn’t allowed to interact with the animals on her own, not anymore. So she sat and watched, she was allowed to feed Nibbles and Mushu through the feeding doors. Mushu ate several flying insects, watching and tracking them before he did. Rand made note of it. Nibbles only sniffed at the food so Rand didn’t give her much, but she did investigate the little ball. Nosing it about for a few minutes and sniffing it.

Roman returned while she was watching Nibbles and reading over the old notes for Mushu. Even before Roman was on light duty it seemed that Mushu had been acting off. Reading back further she noticed that the amount of time and the types of interaction had changed after Carmichael left. When Roman had taken over as aCO for a while and he was swamped. Things had not returned to ‘normal.’ She looked up when he entered, to tell him what she saw, or thought she saw. Any topic was better than talking about her admission of guilt. He’d want to say something, wouldn’t he? He didn’t speak or look at her, in fact he looked mad. Was he mad at her? He had a right to be, she wouldn’t want to talk to herself either. She remained quiet, finishing her hour out, and when the lab tech returned, Rand left.

Rand

He wasn’t mad at her. There had been a headache in another lab because someone wasn’t doing their job correctly. And it was something Roman had addressed previously. There was no swifter way to ruin his day. Then came the excuses. Rand would know how much Roman disliked hearing those. It was irrelevant. The fact was, something that needed to happen, didn’t. There were few reasons that couldn’t have been planned for. That was why Roman saw what happened to his hand at least, to be his fault. It wasn’t relevant why he was distracted, the fact was he had been, and his lack of attention was to blame for it. He looked up just in time to see Rand leave, and realising she’d been there all along, wondered why she’d just let him think she wasn’t there. Then he chastised himself for being so caught up in his work he didn’t notice her there.

~ Roman

Rand told herself not to be silly. There were lots of reasons Roman might be upset. She was not the center of the universe nor the most important thing in the course of the day. She had the rest of her day to herself. She felt strange doing so, but she stopped and let Pipkin out for a bit. She sat at the desk and worked from her PaDD. Rand was not a scientist, but she did know how to do effective research. Part of her skill set. The majority of the files from the Ardent had been returned to the officer working on them, but for those that didn’t survive they had been returned to the department heads (or closest ranking). Science command wanted to know if the projects were still viable and should be passed on to others to complete? Rand could do that, she could find out if the work was still viable. And she hoped it all was, so their effort wasn’t wasted.

She ended up loosing track of time, lost in reading the lab notes, trying to find out what they were doing and why and then searching the library for references to the subjects, and then reading more.

Rand

The rest of Roman’s day went fairly smoothly, except his paperwork took forever because he was used to Rand helping, and she did not turn up again after lunch. At the end of the shift he planned to go looking for her. First he wanted to stop by his quarters and make sure Pipkin got out before bed time.

He headed into his quarters and quickly paused, stopping cold. He didn’t expect anyone to be there. He recognized it was Rand and relaxed. He could see what was on her PaDD’s screen: a scientific report with a photo of a Chearian snail like creature. Rand was reading the Ardent’s science reports? Why? He froze. She was probably just curious, he didn’t blame her for that. It wasn’t like she was reading his personal logs. That snail… Ensign Sadauk had been researching the slime it produced. Unlike earth snails, it had potential medical applications. Sadauk had been a very promising Vulcan scientist… No. Roman couldn’t think about that. He wasn’t going to start crying again. Rand had spent enough time comforting him while he cried.

~ Roman

Rand was flipping back and forth from the screen to the papers on her PaDD taking notes. The door opened, but she honestly forgot where she was. She glanced up and then froze. Roman? Did something happen? What time was it? How long had she been sitting there? She followed his gaze back to her PaDD. She flipped the papers down, flipped the power switch and sat there in silence. She didn’t know what to do or say. He looked desperately curious as to what she was doing and then resigned. She should leave, but he looked so upset and looking at her strangely. She’d never seen that look before. She didn’t know what to do. “I…I....I....” she was at a total loss for words until Pipkin hopped by, “let Pipkin out.”

Rand

Roman didn’t mine she was in there, she stayed there so frequently she might as well live there. “What are you reading that for?” The question did not sound angry because he wasn’t. She was only reading science reports, which he knew she liked doing. But why did it have to be those science reports? He glanced down at Pipkin. “That’s what I was coming to do. I’m glad she’s been out longer than I planned.”

~ Roman

“I had the afternoon off.” Explaining her presence, but now wondering about her thought process. She’d messed up again. Roman didn’t sound mad, but he wasn’t thrilled over what she had been doing. She supposed he could have had Franks do the research or one of the other lab leads. She didn’t think he would want to answer questions about them to everyone else. She was trying to fix it, a little bit. She looked down at the PaDD, she didn’t want to answer, she didn’t want to bring it up. Could she have been more stupid?! She had no business reading these, here of all places. She forced the words out, around the closed tightness in her throat and her better judgement. She willed her voice to just stop working, but then he’d want to read it. “Someone had to, they came with orders from Command.”

Rand

“There were orders from Command? And you didn’t tell me?” Only now did he seem irritated. He had to know what those orders were. What was it he was supposed to be doing that he hadn’t yet? He wanted those files, he was glad they were able to be recovered, but he also wanted to be able to wait until he was ready for them. If orders from Command came with them… “What were the orders?” There was force in his voice he didn’t intend for, an edge of anxiety he couldn’t hide.

~ Roman

Rand flinched, but the tone had her rising to her feet, her PaDD held in front of her, tapping rapidly to find the file. Her hand shook. “I didn’t know until this afternoon. It wasn’t labeled as orders.” She handed over the PaDD and then very quickly hid her hands behind her back. She stopped talking before she uttered another excuse.

To: Cmdr Roman Alden
From: SF Corp of Engineers
Subject: Recovered files USS Ardent

The majority of the files from the Ardent have been returned to the officer that had been working on them, before the attack. However, for those that did not survive, their work has been returned to you as the Chief Science officer over these projects. We would like you, as time permits, to review these projects to determine their viability and if they should be reassigned.

Rand