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 Ensign Rand Farquharson (Yeoman First Class) in side - sim: Honoring the Ardent
Posted by… suppressed (5) by the Post Ghost! 👻

(snip)
Rand got the feeling Roman didn’t want her to do that, so she let it drop. She wanted to help, but she could only do as much as he was willing to let her. She didn’t like that, but she had to accept it. Of course maybe they could take a couple days off after it was done. She noticed they weren’t listening to the audio or video , she would do it herself, but she wasn’t going to be sneaky.

Roman looked at her when she didn’t say anything else about. It seemed like Randy had thought it was a good idea, and Roman was already struggling with this. When they did the audio/video files he’d been avoiding… “You… You should. It would help.”

Rand looked over at him and nodded. She would take care of that when she saw Rogers later that evening. By the time she was done working it out, Rand had to work late that night and her regular shift the next day to make sure everything was handled for Rogers. Then she had a week and half she could take. Rearranging her regular days off along with leave time she should have more than enough for the project to be done. If she was lucky she’d even have a single day between returning to duty.

They had gone through a lot of preliminary notes across the days. It was so much data. The project was huge. Rand put in the next disk and bit the inside of her cheek to stop from squealing. It didn’t quite work. It was SO CUTE! It was a rabbit, it had to be, but the colors!! “Is that… chameleon like camouflage?”

Rand

Rand put the next disk in and Roman had to smile as she let out a little squeal. It was, as Jay had called it, a Chamelo-bunny. Of course, Roman had not let him put that in any of the reports. The memory was painful to think about. Why had he always been so serious? Why hadn’t he let Jay have more fun with it? Roman’s emotions were obvious in his voice as he tried to speak, “It’s camoflauge is perfect. It looks like fur it has, but it isn’t, not like Earth rabbits. They can change the colour of that fur as easily as a chameleon. But they aren’t a cuddly as Pipkin either, they’re more like… The chinzilla.”

~ Roman

Something that cute should not be dangerous! That wasn’t fair. Rand kept that thought contained. She could tell it really bothered him, and she felt bad being excited to see it. Questions about the science seemed to help. “Did you discover how it was able to change its fur?”

Roman touched his hand when he thought about the viciousness of the chinzillas. By now the marks were little more than fading scars. “It releases a special chemical into its bloodstream that effectively changes the pigment of the hair. Like I said, their hair isn’t like Earth fur, it’s not dead cells. It’s living tissue that looks like fur. It… It feels like it, too. Soft fur.” He’d had one on the Ardent, but it had died in the attack. Lucky animal. The ones that survived he’d had to put down, so he didn’t have to watch them starve before the ship was rescued. There wasn’t enough food to support all that extra life. By the time the ship was rescued they’d begun rationing it to last the remaining crew. He took a deep, shaky breath and grabbed Rand’s hand, squeezing it. All those animals… There hadn’t been another choice, and Roman wasn’t supposed to be attached to them anyway, by his own rules. Jay had always teased him for that, despite being just as attached to the animals himself. Roman’s eyes had welled up with tears and his face was turning a bit red as he tried not to start crying again. “We, ah… we tested the chemical and the pigment, but Chearian animals use different pigment than Earth ones, so the chemical couldn’t change the pigment of an Earth animal.”

Rand squeezed his hand back. “That’s amazing,” she studied the photos of the process and shook her head in wonder. There was so much that was amazing in the universe. But after that part was finished she called a brief stop. She sat with him for long quiet minutes and then they walked down to the Galley for more tea and then back to work.

Roman hugged her while they sat in silence. It always made him feel at least a little better. Then he went down with her for the tea.

The whole disk was about the animals and initial observations and goals. Rand was just as curious as she had been about Mushu that first day.

Rand

Every animal there was a story, and every animal all Roman could see was the attack, or putting them down. It was a long and hard disk for him. He tried to answer all her questions, but some of his answers were short.

~ Roman

Rand thought if she watched the videos and listened to the audio herself she wouldn’t have to ask Roman so much, and that would give him a break. He was studiously/stubbornly avoiding them. Even though they were going by date he was skipping all of those files. She didn’t blame him. She knew, without looking, that Jay would be on those files. She didn’t bring the suggestion up though, not yet. She knew he would stubbornly refuse to let her do it. He wouldn’t do it and neither could anyone else.

It wasn’t stubbornness entirely. Well, it was, but not for the sake of stubbornness. Roman wanted to see those disks, he really did, he just also knew how hard it was going to be so he had been putting them off.

They stopped for lunch because Rand refused to let his current work be ignored. Franks would do a fine job of stepping in, but Mushu and Nibbles had to be cared for. Roman also had requests from staff and letter/reports as XO that needed attention.

Rand made him stop for lunch and do his current work. He had to play with Mushu (that was the pleasant part) and do his XO paperwork and duties (that was the less pleasant part). It didn’t take too long to finish up. Then they went back to working on the project.

When they were finally done with that disk Rand give him a cool cloth (that she had grabbed during one of their breaks), turned off the computer, and began to rub the knots out of his shoulders. She had half an hour before her evening reports.

They finished that disk at last and as Roman reached for the next, Rand turned the computer off and gave him a cool cloth. He got the meaning of it, stop and take another break. So he set the disk down. Then she started to rub his shoulders. They were tight and it felt a lot better when she was done.

Before leaving she handed him a disk. “You’ve gotten several responses to your inquiry about Mr. Wyvern.”

Rand

Then she had to leave for her evening reports she handed him another disk. “Oh, good. I can take care of this while you’re gone.” And that was what he did. One of the responses was from a nearby sanctuary that had the perfect resources for the large snake. He sent a response to them.

~ Roman

Rand stopped at her office and brought several things with her when she was done. She sat down at the computer. “I am going to be working late, but wanted to come here first. I can work here unless it will bother you.”

Rand

“You can work here,” Roman said, and moved over and made space on the desk for her things. The next disk went over the technical details of several studies pertaining to the animals, antivenoms and behavioural patterns. It was an easier disk for Roman because it was all science and most of the notes were done by him. He skipped the next disk. It would be the videos from the same set of studies. He worked all night until Rand stopped him.

~ Roman

Rand was trying to multi task -take notes as Roman gave them to her, and while he was working she was doing her own work. It wasn’t too hard, more like making the most of her time. The technical details weren’t something she could really review for accuracy so she was just creating a final draft after Roman reviewed it for anything missing or incorrect. Eventually Rand stopped him and herself. Pipkin was rather happy about it, demanding quite a bit of attention before she would leave them alone.

The next day went much the same way. The following day though, Rand stopped him before they left. She was hesitant and didn’t really want to say anything, but it had to be done. “I need to watch the video and audio tapes. There are gaps in the summary report - evidence, examples, things like that. I can do that by myself, or…we could stay here and do it. Away from everyone.”

Rand

Roman paused when she stopped him. He immediately started to shake his head, but this was Roman’s project. The things she said were missing… Well, Roman already had an idea what was on each of the disks. Rand’s missing information would be there, alright. Roman let out a slow breath. He still didn’t want to skip out on watching them. “Let’s… stay here and do it.”

~ Roman

It wasn’t that the reasoning or synthesis of the data wasn’t there, but the examples and proof of the where the data came from. Rand just needed to find the specific section and link it in the report. Just to make sure it was thorough and Science command didn’t send it back. Rand went over to the counter and set the kettle to keep the water hot. She had a feeling there would be a lot of tea consumed that day. She waited to see if he wanted to sit at the computer or on the bed and work from his PaDD. Then she joined him and then put the disk in and let it load. She held is hand in her left, the stylus in her right, and made sure she wasn’t holding any tension in her shoulders.

Rand

They first thing Rand it was set the kettle back on. That was appreciated. Roman drank way more tea when he was upset. In typical British fashion, of course. He picked the computer desk, mostly because technically, he was on duty and it was more professional. She put the disk in and let it load and then took his right hand with her left. Roman leaned back, squeezing her hand, as the first video saved on the disk began to play. It was from the earlier projects, by the date, just after their second landing party to the planet surface.

The video was taken in the Ardent’s lab, at a desk in the lab, just like Roman’s current one, and to start with, it was a slightly younger looking Roman in the middle of the scene, his hair and his uniform as neat as ever, except when he raised his arms, it only had one gold ring on the sleeve. A Lieutenant’s uniform. He was only four years younger (this was nearly a full year before the attack), but he looked different, more relaxed. Almost like he had that first day he’d teased Rand by taking his shirt off. Carefree and playful. There were a few other science officer milling about in the background, going about their jobs. A few enclosures for small animals were visible in the background. The lab was, though only partly visible was obviously much bigger than his lab aboard the Sentinel. Roman was grinning slightly as he started to to speak in the video, holding up a small bright blue frog, with his bare hands. The frog was shorter than his pinky finger, maybe two or three inches long, and cobalt blue. “We found this little guy on the planet surface, under a Hikagua berry bush.” From the reports, they’d know that a Hikagua berry bush was a small bush with spiky, jade green leaves, and bright yellow, like dandelion yellow, berries. Jay had noted in that report that he’d sneakily tried one when Roman wasn’t looking, and it was really sweet, like candy. ”We’re calling him a Cobalt Hopping Frog. Little guy jumped what must’ve been six feet.” said Roman on the video tape.

Then the camera shook and from behind it came another officer, wearing the blue science uniform. The golden band on his sleeve was dotted, a junior Lieutenant. He had messy red hair and freckles across his cheeks. He was very good looking, like Roman, but in quite a different way than Roman. He was only an inch or so shorter, but lankier, with sharper features. His eyes were a greenish hazel, always seeming to carry a bit of a mischievous quality. He looked athletic, but more like a track runner. Roman, by contrast, was larger in build, not like a wrestler or anything, but not as small as Jay. “Nearly jumped away from us, little bugger. He was my catch though, don’t let Roman here, fool you.” His voice was a bit higher pitched than Roman’s and he was smiling as as he elbowed Roman playfully. It was notable that every time Jay referred to Roman, throughout the video, it was always by first name. Anyone else, as Rand would know, called Roman by his last name or his rank. Never, ever his first name, except for Rand. “Jay, this is supposed to be an official report video. I’m going to submit it along with the written reports to Starfleet command. They don’t care who caught the frog,” said Roman in the video, but he scooted over in the shot to make space for Jay. Jay shrugged and grinned. “It’s important information!” Roman gave a noticeable eye roll and continued on as Jay sat next to him. They were sitting so close, they might’ve been sharing a chair.

Roman was letting the little frog crawl all over his hands, keeping one hand cupped over the other so it didn’t jump away. “He’s not poisonous, we’ve run the proper tests, of course.” Then video Roman went on to explain in technical detail the tests, pointing to the frog and showing different parts of it as he spoke. Occasionally, Jay would speak up and interject something, and Roman would just nod. “He seems quite fond of heights, definitely a tree frog,” Roman continued. It was just like hearing him talk about Mushu or Nibbles or the Chinzillas. He was very into it and looking at the little frog fondly, like a pet. So was Jay, of course. In a moment of silence, Jay blurted, “His name’s Blue. I just decided.” Roman scowled and looked at him. “He’s not supposed to have a name. He’s a lab frog, not your pet.” Jay pouted, “He’ll be Blue in my notes.” Rand would notice, that in the accompanying notes, any of the ones written by Jay, the frog was indeed referred to as Blue. Roman in the video got back on topic. “He’s a bit shy, but not like I’d expect of a prey animal like this.” He went on to describe the frog’s behavior. Like with the more technical topics, Jay would interject frequently and add detail to his statements. Several times throughout the video the two would look at each other while they were talking. The video ended when Roman grinned and said, “I’ll look forward to keeping an eye on this little guy.” And Jay, as Roman reached to turn off the camera said, “He’s cute! You’ve got to put him right over there, next to the-“ and then the video cut off as the Roman of the past turned the camera off.

There were a few more videos on the disk, but these were obviously going to take time. Roman of the present was having trouble with the first one. He hadn’t made them pause it, it was only a few minutes long, a four or so minute clip, but Roman was crying like in his office, when he’d broken down in front of Randy. He’d started as soon as Jay had come into frame, but he hadn’t started crying so hard until Jay in the video had said, “His name’s Blue!” Now, he was leaned onto Rand, trying in vain to get himself together, one arm around her, his other hand still in hers, squeezing tightly. He tried to take a deep breath, but instead, he sort of cry-hiccuped and entered a new cycle of sobbing.

~ Roman