Codename Alpha: Intervention

Chapter Five - Cold War

To say that getting the new equipment hooked up went by quickly would absolutely be a lie. It took several hours of repeated trial and error, adjusting display ports, firmware checks, and so forth to finally reach the point where it could be used. This certainly wasn't wasted time, though - not only were we fixing an absolutely vital part of the ship's systems, I was helping David talk less like someone plucked from the fifteenth century, and more like... well, just generally normal. He was catching on to the nuances of our language impressively quickly, though not without some issues here and there.

I found that David was having a surprisingly easy time learning how to use our computers, always with an understandable amount of amazement and lots of enthusiasm. Even though the work we were doing was, by all standards, very boring, we both had dumb grins on our faces the entire time. Really, I couldn't help but be reminded of Dyson, whose constant optimism and enthusiasm was quite infectious.

I sighed and shook my head. That was neither here, nor there, and I needed to be focusing on our work.

"Are you good?" David asked, concerned, looking down at me, beside the console he was sitting at.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine," I said, as I connected a media interface cable to a new receiver we had installed together. "I think that just about does it, though." I stood up slowly after putting the panel back into place. Looking at the screens, I could see that there was now a waterfall display showing - it worked.

"Awesome," David exclaimed. "Looks like you're good to go. You know... it wouldn't hurt for you to send a quick message to Mission Control, would it?" He asked, smirking. "I'd be glad to show you how."

"Really?" I asked with an unsure tone, while moving myself to stand next to his chair. "I mean... how much do people on your planet know about us? Like... does 'mission control' even know what you're doing here? From what I know, we're typically meant to communicate with that deep space comms base in Madrid and the variety of NATO stations throughout Europe."

"That's actually a good question," he laughed. "Your existence hasn't been disclosed to the public, if that isn't outright obvious. Most information, even for me, was on a need-to-know basis leading up to the launch. See, the cover story for this operation, at least on our side, is that we're bringing a Department of Defense..." I wasn't exactly sure what that was, but I wasn't about to interrupt him. "...Satellite into orbit, as well as doing some microgravity experiments. There's then a second cover story, which is more truthful, that we're on a diplomatic mission with the UN, docking with the Soviets for... something. Like the Apollo-Soyuz project, if you know what that is."

"I do, yes," I nodded.

"Oh, really? That's cool. But, yeah... it wasn't made exactly clear how much ground control knows about this operation. To me, at least. I'm sure if you ask Carpenter or Bradford, they'll give you a more definitive answer. Actually..." he was lost in thought for a few seconds, shaking his head. "Right, I just remembered. Capcom knows, and they've got guys that have been trained to speak Rekanian. So... would you like to?" He asked, with his earlier smirk returned.

I shuffled around. "Eh, I think I'm good." I could talk to David just fine, but that was because I knew him, at least on a surface level. I wasn't about to start talking to some random alien who I may not even be allowed to. "Besides, we're supposed to let the communications officer know so she can do something."

"Alright, if you say so," he said in a sarcastic, and joking, tone. He continued speaking as I moved towards the other side of the console, to the public address system. "Well, should you ever need to radio in an emergency, this is already on the same frequency that Columbia is using for ground communications. This is also largely the same equipment, too... obviously modified to work with your systems."

I nodded in agreement, then motioned for him to be quiet for a second. I held down the button which brought on the intercom and notified Ensign Věnceslav, the bridge comms officer, that repairs to the communications were complete. "So, with all that out the way," I said, as I leaned against the console, facing him. "Feel free to throw out some questions. Stupid ones, even."