Posted by Commander Roman Alden (First Officer & Chief Science Officer) in When Paparazzi Hide in the Bushes

Posted by Ensign Rand Farquharson (Yeoman First Class) in When Paparazzi Hide in the Bushes

Posted by Commander Roman Alden (First Officer & Chief Science Officer) in When Paparazzi Hide in the Bushes
Posted by… suppressed (46) by the Post Ghost! 👻

(snip)
Roman nodded. “We won’t have need of the room.” Then he turned and left to let Kovan work, heading back up towards his own quarters to check on Rand.

~ Roman

Randy waited for the door to close behind Roman and then went and sat on the bed with Rand. She was doing a great imitation of sleeping. She was hugging her pillow, blanket tucked in around her, face half hidden by blanket and her arms. Randy sat, propped up by the headboard, legs stretched out and crossed at the ankles, arms folded across his chest. Despite his bulk, he looked very solid and protective sitting there staring at her. “Ya know, ya can’t hide in here forever, Miranda. This is not a thing ya haven’t dealt with a’fore.” He waited, and finally with a deep sigh he bent down and lifted the edge of the blanket to look her in the face. “Sister-mine, ya can’t hide in here. I know ya wanted ta keep it secret…”

“Why do they hate me Randy?” She sounded so d@mn forelorne that Randy wanted to break something, preferably whoever sold those pictures with is fists.

“They don’t hate you, Rand. Most love ya, some are jealous and wish they were ya, and the others, well that’s the Paparazzi isn’t it? And they do it ta make money because of the other two groups.”

“B…but wh…wh…who would do that? I w…w…work hard.” Randy brushed her hair back from her face. “I don’t know, but the picture is over a year old. Whoever it was is probably gone.” Randy wasn’t so sure of that but he was going to tell Rand that anyway. “It’s really not that bad. Excitement that you’ve been spotted, speculation about you and Roman. They got his rank and position wrong, but they usually get facts wrong. They don’t even realize you are serving. We won’t respond at all. The Clan won’t either. You are going to get up and do yer work.”

Rand pressed her face into the pillow making a negative sound. “Yes Rand. Get up. Come on. Get up and put on the part. You said you wanted this, you wanted to be useful. You can’t do that hidin’ in yer room. You are the captain’s yeoman. You run this ship. If we learned anything from your accident, it’s we can’t function as a crew without you.” He tugged the blanket off her. “Come on, go get a shower, dress the part and plaster that polite, but I know better look on your face.” He gave her a long hard look, “It’s that or resign and go home.”

Rand looked at him, devastated. “I don’t wanna go home.” She hated when Randy got all tough on her. Randy knew it was necessary. He tugged her up to sitting, “Then Miranda Arabella Blair Elizabeth Scarlett Farquharson, get off yer arse, clean up, and do what you do best. Hold yer audience in the palm of yer hand. Go,” and he pushed her toward the bathroom.

Rand and Randy

Roman returned just as Randy pushed her into the bathroom. He sat on the bed and waved Randy over. “It was my attacker. My assassin sold our photos to the press. He’s not on the ship. Nothing we can do but make sure she’s okay.” He decided to lie to keep Randy from throwing away his career. It was mostly true anyway. “I am doing what I can, but the images are already sold. At this point ask we can do is wait until it dies down.”

~ Roman

Randy leaned against the half wall and stared at Roman a moment as that sank in. “Let’s not tell Rand that, unless we have to. We don’t know who did it. I told her it was probably someone who had already left the ship. Let her believe they were sent after the person left.” He glanced over his shoulder toward the closed door. “She’s…not okay, and she’s a bit miffed at me. I told her to deal with it or resign. She can’t hide in here.” Randy shrugged. “I told her to put on part, make the role hers. It’s what she did when she first came on board, she can do it again. She’s amazing at it. She can play the part of the perfect Yeoman. She is anyway, and be all business. She can’t not report for duty. It’s not good professionally or personally.”

Roman glanced at Randy. “Not tell her? He’s not on the ship. We’ve confirmed who it is and that he can’t do it again. Why wouldn’t we tell her that?” Then he sighed and nodded. “I’ll make sure she reports as normal. She knows she can’t not, regardless of personal issues. We both know she can do this.”

Randy nodded,”No you’re right. That might help. I’m just so used to…” he blew out a breath. “What bothers me though is the end of the article. It said there was more to come. That could be a tabloid ploy to get people to keep buying, or there could be more.” He glaced at the door again. “She can; she just needs to remember she can.”

Randy pinched the bridge of his nose before crossing his arms over his chest again. “It’s not like we didn’t deal with this sort of thing for years. She’s just…” he sighed, “She felt safe here, and now she doesn’t.”

Randy

Roman huffed an angry little huff. “Those rats don’t leave anyone alone, not ever. Took me years to get out of their way. Now it’ll take forever to do it again.” He shook his head again, “But I won’t let them get to her. I’d rather them harass me than her. And the missing Alden heir would be plenty of big news for them.”

~ Roman

“It would be, but in certain circles they wouldn’t even mention you except you are associated with Rand. Four years of total silence and they picked up on her before they mentioned you. She’s still a very big deal.” He stood up from where he was leaning against the wall. “I’ve got to get back. Maybe go do diagnostics on the field kits or something.” Randy left.

Randy

“I know…” he sighed. Roman sat on the bed and waited for Rand to come out. He was going to tell her that it was the assassin, and that they might have more old pictures but that they weren’t on the ship anymore and she should be safe. He hoped it would make her feel better.

~ Roman

Rand was in there for a lot longer than normal. Roman heard the water turn off and could hear her moving about quietly. When she came out she looked exactly as Roman knew her when she first came on board. Poised, perfect Officer. Her uniform was always immaculate, her boots were shinned, no tartan sash, her hair braided and twisted into a bun. All normal. What was different was Rand was wearing make-up. Not to inhance her looks but to hide she’d been crying. Her skin was flawless, no red spots or splotchiness. And just enough pale neutral eye shadow to distract from her eyes that were still slightly red. Most noticeable was that careful mask of strict professionalism and quiet attention and that subtle hint of something that made people not notice her.

She tugged at her sleeves and brushed invisible lint off her skirt as she walked out. Expecting Randy, Rand was surprised to see Roman. She had thought he went back to the lab. “Roman?”

Rand

Roman went up to her and hugged her, tightly. “A few more pictures might turn up but they’ll all be old. The seller of the images was my would-be assassin. No longer on the ship. You are safe.” He hated to see her this way, so upset like that. He would do anything to help her. “You have to go back to work, we both do, but everything will be okay.”

~ Roman

Rand hugged him, resting against his chest. Why would the assassin take pictures? Sell them of her? What was the point? They were trying to kill Roman and then her…why sell pictures to the paparazzi? Money? For lawyers? He wasn’t getting out of jail. Why sell them? He was against the old nobility, selling pictures of her didn’t help belittle her. The article was positive over all. Randy was right about that. Rand just didn’t want to be in the news.

Roman was right, she had to go back to work. She squeezed him tightly and then stood straight, tugging her uniform. “I’ll…be in the conference room. I have all my paperwork to finish, I’ll miss Nibbles today, I guess.” Rand had no idea Kovan was working in the conference room, but she couldn’t work in her office. She still couldn’t go in there, and the conference room was a good compromise because it got her out of her quarters.

Rand

“Not the conference room.” Roman said, looking down at her. “Sorry. It’s in use. Something came up without warning.” He really didn’t care why the assassin did it. He hugged her again, “I’ll see you after our shifts.”

~ Roman

Rand nodded, “Okay.” She supposed she would have to work here. Maybe that would give her more time to calm down before she had to talk to anyone.

It was a few hours later when Rand appeared in the science labs, looking quite put together, serene and all business. “Cmdr Alden, I need to speak with you, Sir.”

Rand

Roman had his hands in a jar of alien slime at the time Rand walked into the labs in search of him. When she said she needed him, all businesslike like that, he found himself assuming it was something serious. “Let me wash up.” He turned to the wash up station and washed his hands and arms and then gestured Rand to follow him to his CSO office. When they arrive, he looked at her. “What do you need to speak with me about?”

~ Roman

Rand set her PaDD down on his desk, turned toward him. “This. It came through the communiques. Marked priority 2 directly to me.” On the PaDD was a memo from Star Fleet command ordering her to download the attached files and give it directly to Alden, and specifically ordered not to speak to anyone, not even Cpt Rogers, about this communique. There was a place for him to sign that he had received the file. Rand set a data disk next to his console. “I have no idea what is on it. My codes allowed me to download the file directly to a secured disk, but weren’t high enough to open it.” Once Roman had signed, Rand left the office.

On the disk was a file. It instructed the Sentinel to hold position and in two days, the Landry would arrive and Cpt Rogers would be shuttled over with her things. It directed Alden to take immediate command of the Sentinel and to remain so until a replacement could be sent.

Rand

Roman signed for the file, entered his credentials, and opened the file. Once he read it, he immediately sent orders to the bridge to hold their position and that he was in command until further notice. He gave no other information. Then he went to find Rand.

~ Roman

Rand was making deliveries of special personal items that had been requested. She had to get signatures of delivery for these items. She was on deck 6 crew quarters when Roman found her. She paused in the corridor to wait for him.

Rand

Roman smiled at her, but his look was a little stressed. “Miranda. I am in command of the Sentinel until further notice. Command is sending transport for Captain Rogers. They’ll be sending a replacement. Didn’t say when. I trust I can expect your help until that replacement comes.”

~ Roman

Rand’s eyes widened in surprise. Again? Rand could already feel the exhaustion of those long endless hours. “Of course. I will make sure everything is ready for this evening.” Rand paused…they had to reset the security codes which could be done anywhere. The key rods had to be re-etched. That had to be done in her office.

Rand

Roman put his hands on her shoulder. “I will go in there with you.” Then he hugged her. “It’ll be okay. We’ll get the key rods done.” He smiled down at her. “It’s been more than six months. You can do this.”

~ Roman

He was hugging her in the middle of the corridor. Were people watching? Did anyone even care anymore or notice? They were on duty, but Roman obviously didn’t care at the moment. No she couldn’t. She still got sick and had saw those terrifying flashes of light, and her hands and stomach would feel like they were burning for a split second. She had to do this though. She absolutely couldn’t avoid it. He was hugging her though, and that always made her feel better. “We can do it after we finish the reports. Do you want to use the conference room? Will it be open by then?” Before they had worked in the conference room because it was the only place big enough they could spread everything out at once to get it done.

Rand

Roman nodded. “It should be. We’ll use the conference room again…” He gave a long sigh. “It’ll be easier than doing it anywhere else.” He finally let her out of the hug and smiled at her again. “We’ll get everything done.” He was still looking at her a moment with one of those adoring gazes, “I love you.”

~ Roman

Rand looked up at him turning pink and whispered, “I love you too.” It was so weird, they were on duty, but it made her smile shyly. She knew that Roman said it had been the assassin that took and sold the pictures, but Rand was suddenly very self conscious. What if he wasn’t the only one? Who else was watching them and taking pictures. Years of training kept her smile in place. “I need to get back to work. I’ll make sure there’s plenty of tea later.” It was going to be a long evening. It was going to be at least a week of long evening and working through dinner.

Rand

Later that day they were both in the conference room, a PaDD in front of Roman and a lot of paperwork spread over the table. Roman looked frustrated and upset and judging by the amount of tea he’d already downed he was quite stressed. “Where are my lab reports?” Roman asked, looking through the paperwork. “And the ship supply requests, I need those.”

~ Roman

Rand looked up from the PaDD she was working on to the others scattered about. She paced down the conference table and handed him one. “Lab reports.” Thank goodness for Frank’s picking up some of the work from the science dept. “I’m almost done with the supply requests.” With a new CO coming, it was a good time to front load some requests and Rand was trying to get it all together. Another 7 minutes exactly she passed him the supply requests and started on the ship repair and maintenance logs.

Rand

Roman started on the lab reports. He hadn’t been that nitpicky and grouchy doing reports in months. Not since he’d gone on his meds. He was sending reports to Rand back to have corrected left and right. “This isn’t right. What was he doing when he wrote this? That’s not up to standards. This is filled out incorrectly.” Then he snatched the supply requests. “Finally.”

~ Roman

As he handed her back the reports she had to pause in what she was doing to make notes of what needed correcting. Rand was taken aback by his abrupt attitude. Not only by the the tone of his voice but the way he snatched the PaDD from her. Like he thought she was wasting time. She finished compiling the maintenance logs and set those to the stack. Then she grabbed the unacceptable lab reports and headed out the door.

Rand

Roman kept working, signing reports, organizing them, and trying to get them sent off. He waited for Rand to get back. Where was she? How long did it take to return reports? He needed her here. He needed help sorting through all this paperwork. That was her specialty. It was too much for him, especially with the things going on in their personal life. He had received a letter through communications, and hadn’t told Rand about it. Rand didn’t need to see that. But it had soured his mood from the moment he had the time to read it.

~ Roman

Rand was moving as quickly as possible. Rather than running back to the conference room just to take off again to collect them and return again. Especially after she stepped on her bad ankle weong and it gave out on her. Now it was sore, but she didn’t have time to deal with it. So she stayed to make sure they were done correctly this time. On her way back, Gorshin stopped her with a refill of tea. Rand hurried back into the conference room. “Here are the corrected lab reports.” She set the tea down next to him and looked at what he was doing. She glanced through the PaDDs and grabbed the next one he needed.

Rand

Roman wordlessly took the PaDD with the lab reports and began signing them off. A few he sent back again for correction. Then, “How much more is there? Are we going to be here half the night again?” Between Carmichael and Rogers, there had been a few times they had worked late on all the things that needed doing.

~ Roman

Rand was on her way out the door with the next set of wrong reports and paused. She was working as quickly as possible without making errors. “As soon as I get these back, I will finish compiling the rest for you to sign off on. As long as nothing is wrong it should go quickly.”

Rand

“Then we will be here late,” Roman sighed irritatedly. At least it would be with Rand. He worked through another stack while she was gone, disciplinary actions from the last week. There weren’t too many of those.

~ Roman

Roman’s irritation and snappishness was starting to make her anxious. Rand hurried to get the reports fixed, even helping and fixing the reports herself. She was trying to get it all done as quickly as possible. She usually had an hour minimum between finishing the XO reports and prepping the CO reports. When Rand returned she set the fixed reports next to him and picked up the stack that was finished and sat down to begin compiling summary reports.

Rand was doing her best to not think about the media article and what pictures might be floating around waiting to be published or had already been released. She was mostly ignoring the ache in her ankle, but her anxiety was growing. Roman was displeased over something and snapping and irritable. She didn’t know what she had done and in her nerves when she grabbed a PaDD she knocked the stack next to her over with a loud clatter. She slipped out of her chair quickly to gather them and then had to sort them back in order before she could return to what she was working on.

Rand

Roman jumped when the PaDD stack hit the floor. “Be careful, those were organized.” He snapped, and then, seeming to realize what he’d done he got out of his own chair to help her gather them. “Sorry. Are you okay?” He asked, voice much softer.

~ Roman

Roman couldn’t see it, but Rand twitched as he snapped at her. “Yes Sir.” Crisp, polite, formal. She hurried to sort them back in order. “It’s okay, I should have been more careful. I apologize.” She kept the top PaDD firmly in her hand so she wouldn’t start wringing her hands together. She picked up the connecting cord and began transferring the information to the summary report. “I,” she took a breath she didn’t want to stutter, “I’ll have this done in just a moment.”

Rand

Roman nodded, touched her shoulder briefly in a show of affection, and then sat down, not noticing how anxious she’d become. He grabbed another stack of paperwork and began working through it. “We’re almost done… Like you said. Almost done.”

~ Roman

Rand worked quietly, not disturbing him unless required, setting PaDDs next to him quietly, except for an occasional request for him to review, clarify, or sign. “This is the last, Cmdr.” She said setting a final PaDD beside him. There was still a large stack left near her chair. Rand however still had at least an hour’s worth of work left.

Rand

Roman looked up at that, at her. She never called him commander anymore unless they were on the bridge. “What’s wrong?” Then he saw the stack next to her chair and looked at her again, “Last one? What are those?”

~ Roman

Rand’s eyes flicked up at him nervously, like a deer in the headlights, and then quickly away. Then she glanced from the PaDD she handed him and the stack. “That’s the last one for you. Those,” she made a tiny gesture toward the stack, “are for me. I have to file and condense and prep them for transmission and then forward them back to each department for the next shift and…oh we still have to re-etch the keyrods.”

Rand

She was not answering his question. She was giving him that nervous look and trying to dance away from it. “Then I will do those and the key rods with you. Rand, tell me. What’s wrong?” Roman wasn’t going to leave her with a stack of paperwork by herself. After all the help she’d given him wouldn’t that be rude? He hated paperwork but he was done when they were both done.

~ Roman

Why did he have to notice? Couldn’t he just focus on his paperwork instead? She just wanted to do her work. She didn’t want to tell him, it just made her sick thinking about it. It took supreme effort not to hide her hands behind her back and grip them till her knuckles turned white. “No, you’re done. It’s part of my job. I can do it, really. W..,” no…nonono she couldn’t start stuttering, “We can do the rods and then I’ll finish.” He didn’t have to stay while she finished. He was already annoyed it was taking so long and she kept having to leave. She thought it would go faster this time, but it just seemed worse. He was even more annoyed by the paperwork than usual. Rand couldn’t figure out what she had done.

Rand

Now she was stuttering and it looked like she wanted to wring her hands… Or hide them. She was anxious. He knew how to help with that and maybe pull the truth out of her. He pulled her tight to him and hugged her. “Miranda… I can’t help you if you won’t tell me what’s wrong, remember?” He looked down at her, “So tell me, what’s wrong?” It could just be doing the key rods but he got the feeling it was something else as well.

~ Roman

Well now Rand was confused. He was hugging her and acting like nothing was wrong, like he hadn’t been upset with her. She wasn’t looking at him, but she heard him. She wasn’t sure what she was supposed to do. They were working. They should not be hugging, but he was finished for the day now. But it made all the sickening jolts of electricity the sparked all over her nerves stop and she didn’t feel so much like she was flying apart. “You’re mad and snapping, and I don’t know what I did wrong. I know I’m slower because of…of my concussion, but I can do it. I…I…’m just slower.” And she really didn’t want to go in her office.

Rand

Roman internally chastised himself. He needed to contain himself better. He hugged her tighter. “You didn’t do anything wrong. You’re doing fine, concussion or no. Okay? I was angry at the paperwork. At the job. Not at you or your work. You know I couldn’t do any of it without you,” he reassured her.

~ Roman

Rand nodded, “Okay.” Of course that was what every yeoman wanted to hear was that things couldn’t be done without them. To be indispensable. Of course left up to Roman, the paperwork would never get done. If he didn’t love his science so much, his lab notes wouldn’t get done. “We c…c…can do the key rods. I can finish this after.” Rand did not want to go into her office for the key rods, but there was no getting out of it.

Rand

Roman nodded, not letting her out of the hug just yet. “Okay. Let’s go do that. It’s just an office. The person who made it unsafe is gone.” Finally he let her out of the hug but held onto her hand. “Ready?”

~ Roman

No Rand was not ready at all. She never ever wanted to go into that office again. The amount of unfinished organization bothered her no end, but not enough to get her to go back into that tiny space. Rand began to play a game. ‘What would (insert character here) do?’ Elizabeth would be supportive and practical. Let someone else go into the scary room. Scarlett would go in and swoon for the attention. Rand made a face, she didn’t want attention. Arabella was too much like Rand. Merida on the other hand would go in, bow out and shoot anything that moved with the air from the ventilation system. Well Rand wasn’t going to go shoot anything, but she could at least try to be as brave and reckless.

Her office was the next door down from the conference room. She had to use her key to open the door. Secure information was stored there and after the attack it was deemed her office should have better security. Rand fumbled and dropped her keys before she could get the door open.

Rand

Roman kept his hand on her shoulder, thinking the touch would help, remind her he was there. When she dropped the keys he picked them up and handed them back to her. “Deep breaths. It’ll be okay. I’m here with you.” Like he should’ve been the first time. It was irrational but he couldn’t help but wish he could’ve protected her from this.

~ Roman

Rand nodded and did just that. She took several deep breaths. She inserted the key into the lock and turned it. There was a soft red glow as the pattern etched on the rod was scanned and then it flashed green and the door opened. Rand wasn’t sure she could do it, but found herself stepping through to the tiny space anyway. She felt sick and her arms and stomach hurt.

The office looked like nothing had happened. Randy must have been in there after engineering had fixed everything. The key coder was attached to her computer terminal. It was a simple matter of telling the ship to remove access for the captain’s key etching and allowing the machine to scan Roman’s key and hers. She reached over to turn the terminal on and suddenly backed into him. “I can’t,” her voice wavered and she shook her head.

Rand

Roman hugged her when she backed into him, his hands on her arms. “It’s okay. Breathe.” He gave her a minute, just hugging her. Then he reached over and turned on the console. “There, see? Nothing is going to happen.”

~ Roman

Rand leaned back on him, eyes closed and tried to breath. Her pretense wasn’t working, not that she was able to concentrate on it enough to make it work. The computer beeped once as it loaded. Rand held his other hand and leaned over and tapped a square panel on the desk and slowly the etcher rose out of the desk. The computer screen scrolled to a menu and Rand tapped through the choices.

Please insert Excecutive officer key

Please enter security code.

Rand