Posted by Ensign Rand Farquharson (Yeoman First Class) in Two Steps Forward, Five Steps Back

Posted by Lieutenant Quinn Emery Kindle (Chief Medical Officer) in Two Steps Forward, Five Steps Back

Posted by Ensign Rand Farquharson (Yeoman First Class) in Two Steps Forward, Five Steps Back
Posted by… suppressed (32) by the Post Ghost! 👻
The Sentinel was on her way to Risa for a week and a half if shore leave. Cpt Asam had insisted the crew had earned it and so it happened. Rand was running around helping everyone she could in her off time. Why? Because the more that was finished now, the more people who could enjoy their 6 day leave rotation. If an extra pair of hands could help then Rand willingly offered hers.

The sensor arrays were going through diagnostics and a part was needed down in the tube. Rand volunteered to take the parts so the engineers didn’t have to stop working. She knew the tube system as well as the rest of them.

Or she had.

She got to the officers and suddenly had no idea where she was or why. A dark haired man smiled, “Thanks Rand. We appreciate the help.” She didn’t recognize him, but apparently he knew her. He was holding his hand out for what she was holding and she passed it over. She stayed there not sure what she was supposed to be doing. “Hey Rand, you okay? Did you need something?” She looked at another officer and shook her head. “N… no. Bye.” She turned and headed down a random tube to get away from the unfamiliar people. The officers shared a kind smile. They all knew Rand was shy and could be quirky. They thought nothing of it.

Rand did not show up for lunch at the lab, but she wasn’t expected with the extra work. She didn’t show up for the evening reports either.

Rand

Roman wasn’t worried when she didn’t show up for lunch. Sometimes she was too busy. But as the end of the day came and went, and she never showed for evening reports? Then he started to worry. He had to finish his own reports, CSO and XO, on his own before he could go looking for her. It was another two hours. Then he started checking all her usual places: her office, the conference room, their quarters, Randy’s quarters, he even asked the Captain if she’d seen her. Then he checked the galley, the rec room, other common areas. Where was she?

~ Roman

Rende hadn’t seen her, but knew Rand was working to get shore leave arranged and Rende was more than capable of collecting and compiling her own reports.

Gorshin hadn’t seen her since breakfast. She hadn’t picked up the captain’s dinner or hers and Alden’s. He had taken it himself. Randy hadn’t seen her either, and she wasn’t in any of the normal places.

Rand was twisted, turned around, and lost. She had no idea where she was nor had she found a way out of the tube. Though, unbeknownst to her, she had been near one a few times. She tried to find her way back to those people, though she didn’t know how she would work up the nerve to ask for help. After a few hours of being lost her chest started to hurt, sharp pains shooting down her arm and it was hard to breathe.

Rand

Roman couldn’t find her. She was nowhere. He remembered she liked to use the Jeffries tubes to get around. Using the access point by the lift, he started looking for her. “Rand! Are you in here?”

~ Roman

After a few minutes crawling in the tubes, a group of engineers appeared having heard him. “Cmdr Alden? You looking for Rand? She was down near sensor maintenance with us earlier, but that was before lunch.”

“She didn’t turn up for lunch.” Roman said.

“I saw her crawling around deck 12 a couple hours ago. She’s always on the go.”

“She didn’t turn up for evening reports and she didn’t bring the Captain her meal. No one has seen her in hours.” Roman was trying not to seem too worried.

“Doesn’t she carry a communicator with her?”

Rand

=/\= Commander Alden to Rand. Respond please. =/\= Roman said, pulling out his own comm.

~ Roman

The small group looked immediately concerned and set their things down and started off down various tubes to help look for her.

There was no response from the communicator at first. Then after what felt like several minutes there was a break in the static indicating someone had connected the signal.

=/\=Tha? Cò…cò tha seo?=/\= the voice was thick, stuttered, and slurred. The breathing sounded harsh, shallow, and rapid over the comms.

Rand

Roman’s face immediately fell. She was confused and panicking. =/\= ‘s e Ròmanach a th’ ann. Miranda, càit a bheil thu? =/\=

~ Roman

=/\=Ròmanach?,” there was a pause and he could hear the effort she made to try and breathe. It did nothing to easy the slurring. “Tha mi… chan eil fhios agam.=/\=

Rand

=/\= Fuirich an sin, tha mi a ‘tighinn thugaibh. Dè tha timcheall ort? =/\= Roman said into the comm. His English accent was heavily evident in the words. He started heading towards Deck 12 where she was last seen.

~ Roman

“Tunailean.” He could hear the click and static as the communicator hit the tube as she crawled. “Sia dhiubh. Càit a bheil mi?” She started to wheeze as her breath caught as her heart began racing as she desended into full panic. She began to cry which only made it harder to breathe.

Rand

Six tunnels. Roman knew where that was. He started to head there. “Fuirich sàmhach agus leig dhomh tighinn thugad.” He said into the comm, working his way through the tubes.

~ Roman

“Ceart gu leor.” Her voice was quiet and stilted and seemed to be getting more slurred and harder to understand.

---

Her head hurt. The pounding seemed endless and was making her vision blurry, the edges black and tiny pricks of light. Her heart hurt and, she couldn’t breathe. There were voices in the tunnel. What if they could help her? What if they were the reason she was lost in the tunnels?

There were strange coded numbers and letters that made no sense. Where was she? What was she doing? She looked down at her hand and the communicator with confusion. She closed it. Why did she have that? Should she leave it or keep it?

She heard noises near by and more voices. Were they closer? She tried to crawl toward the opening to see, but her head swam and she thought she might be sick. She scooted as close to the wall as possible, trying to hide. Where was she? She sobbed silently, terrified of whatever might or might not find her. It only made her head worse.

Rand

Roman worked his way through the tunnels. “Rand? Miranda! ‘S e Ròmanach a th’ ann! Tha mi gad lorg!” He said occasionally, hoping she’d recognize his voice or name and come to him. He kept moving toward where he thought she was.

~ Roman

Rand heard the voice, but irrational anxiety kept her from answering. Instead she crawled back further into the tunnel where there was a narrow cut out. It was to allow the engineers more room to work at the access panel. Rand didn’t remember that. She just tried to hide in it, abandoning her PaDD and communicator in the middle of the tunnel.

Rand

Roman came across her PaDD and her communicator a couple moments later. He’d been right about where she was but she’d moved and left her comm behind. He paused and looked around the tunnel. Where would she go?

~ Roman

Further down the tunnel and in the silence he could hear the harsh sound of hyperventilation. Then there by the alcove a black boot and hint of a gold uniform skirt.

Rand

He crawled down the tunnel towards the boot. When he reached her, he pulled her into his arms and sat with her in the little alcove. “Rand, what happened?”

~ Roman

Rand gasped when he grabbed her, but when whe opened her eyes, she recognized him immediately. She seemed to latch on to him and began to cry through labored breaths. “Chan eil fios agam. Chan eil fhios agam càit a bheil mi. Bha daoine ann, ach cha do dh’aithnich mi iad.” Her voice was slurred still and stuttered from confused sobs.

Rand

Roman just held her tightly for several minutes, glad he found her. He kissed her forehead. “You’re safe. It’s okay. I’ll get you out of here, okay?”

~ Roman

Rand nodded, face buried against him. It took several minutes, but she finally started to breath slower. There was no telling how long she had been in a state of high panic. His words reassured her. She had absolutely no doubt Roman would get her put of that terrifying maze.

A few minutes later she looked up and around. Her brow scrunched in confusion. “Càit a bheil sinn?”

Rand

Roman looked down at her in confusion. “The jeffries tubes. Are you okay?” He asked, concern in his voice. “Let’s get you out of here.” He wasn’t mentioning it yet but he was going to take her straight to medical.

~ Roman

His tone and the look on his face stopped her from saying that his answer didn’t help. Was she not supposed to be here? Did she say something wrong? He asked if she was okay though. “Chan eil. Tha mo cheann air a ghoirteachadh agus tha mi a’ faireachdainn tinn.” She shifted back so she could follow him. She wasn’t sure she felt well enough to move though. But he knew the way out.

Rand

Roman started towards the nearest exit, checking frequently to make sure she was following. It wasn’t too far and he crawled out, and then helped her out… and then lifted her into his arms, a worried expression on his face. “Come on.”

~ Roman

Rand followed slowly. She couldn’t seem to get her bearings and things would look familiar and then not. Her head pounded and made her sick. Moving too fast made her dizzy. Being suddenly and swiftly lifted into his arms made her moan miserably. Her head and stomach rebelled at the quick change to her center of gravity. Thankfully, she didn’t actually get sick all over him. Of course she hadn’t eaten in awhile either. She didn’t protest, nor worry about who saw, which was unusual. She just closed her eyes and laid her head on his shoulder. “Dè tha ceàrr orm?”

“Nothing. You’re just a little confused is all.” Roman said comfortingly as he walked to sickbay with her pressed to him in his arms.

They got several looks on the way to sickbay, all full of concern.

Rand

When they arrived in Sickbay, Roman went directly to a biobed and sat her down on it. Then he sat in a chair next to her, holding her hand.

~ Roman

She was dizzy and stayed laying in the bed where Roman put her down with her eyes closed. The sounds and smell were familiar though. She recognized a hospital without seeing it. That realization filled her with dread and fear and she squeezed his hand with a vice like grip.

Nurse Nathanial Barnes, quietly comm’d Doctor Kindle as he watched the First officer carry Yeoman Rand through the door way and to a bio-bed. He didn’t know what happened but it looked at first glance like the Yeoman had been crying among whatever else was bothering her.

Quinn walked in through the door way a few moments later she nodded to Nathanial and headed for the bio beds and eyed Rand and the First officer. “Can either of you tell me what happened?” She asked softly in gentle tones, as she came closer quietly, and not making any swift motions since she wasn’t completely certain what type of situation Rand had been in before Roman brought her into the Sickbay.

Kindle, CMO

Rand peeked at the owner of the voice. She felt like she should know her, but she couldn’t remember the name right away, but she did recognize the medical uniform. “Chan eil fios agam. Bha mi air chall.” She seemed to realize she hadn’t spoken Standard and tried again. “I don’t know.” Her voice was slurred.

Rand

Roman squeezed Rand’s hand, smiling soothingly at her. After Rand spoke, Roman looked concerned and apologetic. “Her first language is Scottish Gaelic. She slips into it when she’s confused.” The first officer had a crisp English accent. He didn’t want to go into the full story of the assassination attempt and the attack on Rand because they were engaged to be married, so instead he simply said “She had a head injury some months ago and she’s still having bouts of confusion like this. She was working, last I knew, and then no one had seen her in hours, and I found her lost in the Jeffries tubes. I don’t think she recognized the engineers.”

~ Roman

Quinn nodded softly, “Alright, well, first off, Rand can you tell me how you feel right now? Any nausea? Are you cold?” she asked gently, she wanted to see how much Rand could tell her before she started running scans. Plus she wanted to to see how much Rand could focus on.

Kindle, CMO

“Tha,” Rand responded quietly. “Head hurts.” She didn’t seem to be willing to let go of the commander’s hand. “Feel sick,” she added after a moment. Her voice was slightly slurred and she kept her eyes mostly shut. She wasn’t sure if she was cold or not. Sickbay always felt cold to her.

Rand

Roman kept hold of her hand, focusing on Rand. He kept hold of her hand, squeezing gently, staying quiet so the doctor could evaluate her.

~ Roman

Quinn gave a soft frown, “How does your head hurt, like a headache or did you bump your head somewhere?” she paused and added gently, “Sick as nausea or something else Rand?” she was making notes as Rand replied, she was never one to complain about others offering touch as a form of support to another in Sickbay, so if the First officer expected her to tell him to leave, he was going to be mistaken unless Rand asked for him to leave Quinn wasn’t going to say a word until then.

Kindle, CMO

“Throbbing.” Had she hit her head? She wasn’t sure. Her head hurt so bad it was hard to think. “An do shleamhnaich mi air àradh?” The way she said it Roman could tell she wasn’t so much asking him but herself. She probably had and was trying to remember the details. “Nauseated.” The word was thickly muttered through her suddenly heavy accent. Rand absolutely would not ask Roman to leave. She would protest quite profusely and become quite uncooperative if he was told to leave.

Rand

Bump