Beaconkeeper

I had just finished communicating the coordinates of all the navigational beacons in the sector to the new arrival when another call came. The other captain saw the indicator and told me,

"Well, the commstat is hailing us, and that's what we came here for; we'll be in touch!"

I was not surprised, as I knew where I was in the universe of people. Having been about to discuss replacement equipment and the local culture, I was still a tad disappointed.

In the string of video calls that ensued, I knew I stood little chance. Much of what I would of said was ignored as out-of-channel banter, with bits and pieces considered off-topic in-channel noise. Once I saw this, I realized that I was being a pain. Something needed to change.

"Helmsman, what is the current cloaking charge?"

The middle-aged officer glanced at his dials and then eyed me. "Sir, we're at 75%."

That was odd. We'd been charging it for a week and I had told him to keep it at peak readiness.

"Sir, we're at 75% of what you need. I can see that you're plotting the old Malay Turk maneuvre, and we haven't quite got the staying power to do it."

Realizing that he was three moves ahead of me, I ceded his point. "Well, we can at least ameliorate the interstitial jitter. Put us on full electromagnetic silence and engage the cloaking engine."

If you can't help 'em, don't get in their way, I thought. At least he has what he needs for when he gets here.

---

P.s. On a completely unrelated note, 21 days remaining. :)