Say that again

Posted on Wed Dec 11th, 2019 @ 4:36am by Captain Abigail Laurens & Lieutenant Commander William Rogers

Bill watched security lead the alien interloper away. "Is negotiating with them a good idea?" He asked, turning towards the commander.

Abigail picked up her PaDD and started typing. Stopping half way through, she did a momentary double take and looked at him again, one eyebrow raised slightly as she erased the message and started over before holding the PaDD up to him.

"You can talk?"

Bill gave a nervous chuckle, and looked away slightly embarrassed. "Yeah. Didn't think I was all that unusual, but then the Doc started chatting away and everyone else kept texting. "

Abigail remained silent for a long moment before she nodded slightly. "Not everyone lost their voice, don't know why," she added to the PaDD. She paused again, contemplating over his question. "We have to at least try, don't we?"

"Lost my voice for a few days, but I guess I just got over it faster." Bill shrugged when he read the question. "Just feels like we're rewarding them for what they did, ya know?"

Abigail nodded slowly, typing out on the PaDD again. "I thought about that," she showed him that message then cleared the text and started typing again.

"What if they aren't the only ones? What if there are more of them doing this on other ships? What if this happens again?"

She handed the PaDD across to him, letting him read it before she cleared the text and started typing again.

"If we can do something that stops them from doing this to anyone else, I think we should, don't you?"

Bill's eyes scanned the device, rubbing his chin while he reflected on the question. "Course I do. I'm worried that by doing it this way we're telling the rest of the galaxy that if they want something from us all they need do is attack and we'll pay up."

Abigail shook her head slightly. "No, if this is going to happen there will be terms. I want a way to detect them and their vessels. We can program that into our computers and use it to alert us if they ever try to come back."

The Commanding Officer exhaled and shook her head. "I'm not any happier about than you are," she typed out, showing it to him with a chagrined smile.

As she was about to start typing again, her commbadge chirped. "Commander Laurens, can you please report to sickbay? We're ready to try restoring your voice."

Standing up, Abigail typed out one last message. "I'll make sure we aren't left holding the pointy end of the stick, trust me," she said, trying to be reassuring. "It'll be okay."

Without waiting for a reply, Abigail turned and started toward sickbay. There was still a lot to be done and it would all go a lot easier if she had her voice.