Posted by Commander Roman Alden (First Officer & Chief Science Officer) in side - sim: In Memory of Jay

(snip)

“No,” he said, lifting his head. She explained to him the parts she’d have trouble with and he knew she understood, he wasn’t worried about her confusing it. He was just being his typical stubborn self. Without reading the label he stuck the next disk in.

It would be the last video on the disk that was taken on the day of the attack, the two before it would be filmed just a couple of days earlier and the day before. The file named were marked with the date. Roman was familiar with about when the videos were taken, and he knew they were getting close, but he hadn’t realized how close. Rand was doing most of the notes, after all, she was dealing with the dates. The first two videos on the disk were short, four and seven minutes, the last one from the 19th was longer.

~ Roman

Rand didn’t think he would let her just go through and get the information. He had to be part of it. The first two videos didn’t take long. They wrapped up several of the studies that bad been conducted. There was the venom antidote left and the life cycle studies, but the animals didn’t survive the attack. The attack! What had been bothering Rand suddenly became clear. The final entry was the day of the attack. She ejected the disk suddenly, “We’re done,” and took the disk with her as she left.

The videos had been upsetting as they always were for him, and they’d only been more difficult the further they’d gone. He wasn’t crying as much anymore, as if he’d simply dehydrated himself out of tears over the last week, but he was quiet, and Rand would be able to tell it was hard for him. He was lost in thought in between videos when Rand jumped up and made him jump. She ejected the disk and left with it. “Rand? We’re not done! What’s wrong?”

She had to find Randy. She didn’t care how mad she was at him, she couldn’t do this. She couldn’t watch it, she couldn’t watch Roman watch it. No. Enough. She found Randy still on shift in sickbay. She marched right up to him, “You, now,” and dragged him to an out of the way to a quiet corner. Randy stamped his foot and glared at her, “Rand I’m working. You might get to be lazy this week and goof off taking your leave time, but I still have things to do.”

Rand slapped the disk into his hand. “Yes work, this work right here.” She grabbed his arm and her voice dropped very low. “It’s recorded…the attack, it’s on this disk. I can’t…he can’t.” Randy pinched his nose, “And you just snatched it away and disappeared with it.” It wasn’t a question. He took the disk, dragging Rand with him and marched her right back to Alden’s quarters. “Alright, so Rand I want you back here in an hour, go play with Nibbles or something.” He looked at Alden and then sat down. “You know why she stole the disk?” He was pretty sure Alden did.

Randy

It had taken a few minutes after she’d marched off without a real word why, but yes, he knew. The realization had set in when he looked to see which disks were left: none of them. And they’d gone by date. That meant she had the last disk, and Roman… Well, he was never able to forget.

He knew what exactly they’d been doing that day and that meant he knew what was on the disk. It had to be, to freak her out like that. But he wouldn’t have guessed that the final video would’ve been saved. He’d have assumed that with the ship damage it would’ve been corrupted, like so many other files had been.

But somehow, it wasn’t. Of course it wasn’t. Roman’s face gave it away to Randy. He knew, and he couldn’t believe it. That that was on video. After all he’d been through trying to finish the project, he didn’t think he could handle it. He was upset enough at the knowledge of its existence. The fact that Randy was here, and that he was sending Rand away, confirmed it. He nodded slowly to Randy’s question.

~ Roman

Randy saw the emotions chase across Alden’s face and then shook his head. “Let’s start with, we don’t actually know how much information is there. All we know is there is some data from that date. The only way to know for sure is to look. Now there are a couple of options. You don’t watch that file at all. I’m sure every minute of that day is vividly clear to you. You let me watch it, like fast forward, not listening not really playing, just so I can tell you whether or not it’s intact, or we just dive in and watch it and be surprised. Professionally I am not a fan of the last option. There is quite a bit of proven benefit in retelling the events from your own words. To get them out, to practice saying it, and facing it. Watching it is not the same thing. It’s too traumatic. And since we haven’t even broached the subject in conversation I highly advise against it.”

Randy