Chapter Text
Captain Gloopsy was tired.
In Glongy Sploo, the primary vocalized lingua franca of the Captain’s homeworld of Mirthia, Captain Gloopsy would've used the word "Scrungly" which indicates an existential or physical exhaustion as a result of (usually metaphorical) dehydration. In the standard Ulna translation matrix of glongy sploo that universal translators are generally set to, scrungly is usually translated as just "tired." So as things stood, Captain Gloopsy was tired. "Uh… Captain?" The timid voice yanked Gloopsy out of their spell, and the purple spit bubble they'd been blowing was unceremoniously sucked back into their mouth. "Yes! Ensign. What's up." Gloopsy pulled themself into a modicum of respectability, sitting up to hide the fact that they had been absentmindedly blowing a spit bubble seconds prior. "We're receiving a long-range subspace hail from Starfleet command, what would you like me to do with it?" The shy human's name was Sammy, and he'd recently been moved to comms to give the normal denizen of that station, Lieutenant Araki, some much needed shore leave. "Oh! Uh, yeah, I'll take that in my ready room." Gloopsy said, letting out a slight grunt as they unmoored themself from the soft cushioning they'd been lodged in for the past few hours. "Yes, Captain."
Upon making their way across the bridge and into the blessed solitude of the ready room, Captain Gloopsy sat down and was greeted by the stern face of Admiral Franklin. "Captain Gloopsy, it's good to see you, thank you for receiving this hail with such brevity." "Uh, yeah! Sure! Great to see you too Admiral." Captain Gloopsy always found it difficult to stay within the realm of auditory communication. Mirthians had both visual languages, as displayed by the color patterns on their skin, and spoken languages, as produced by their amphibious respiratory system. While both are common and most Mirthians speak at least one visual and one auditory language, the visual languages are believed to have developed first, and Gloopsy spent most of their youth speaking primarily through the visual. In Mirthian visual languages, respect tended to be displayed with body language, rather than articulated linguistic elements, and partially as a result of this Gloopsy had always found it too much of a hassle to keep track of all the details involved in making their words show respect rather than their body. Thankfully, their prestigious Starfleet career usually made up for any linguistic faux pas.
"I'm calling because Starfleet's long range sensors have detected a unique subspace anomaly in the Ullani system, and you're the closest and best equipped ship to handle this." Captain Gloopsy was a bit startled. The USS Deringer, the ship Gloopsy commanded, had been assigned to meet with an Ardunian diplomatic assembly in order to abate tensions that had been emerging between the Federation and Ardunian leadership. "What about the assembly? I thought this shit was like… urgent or somethin." The Admiral let out a soft chuckle "Yes Captain, it is rather urgent, which is why I'd like you to give ambassador T'an a shuttle to rendezvous with the USS Galant and continue to Ardun." "Oh. Cool. Why the change?" The Admiral turned down to a data pad in her hand. "Well Captain, this particular anomaly was so strange, command decided we needed to intercept ASAP." "Strange?" Gloopsy asked. "Well Captain, it's like nothing we've ever seen before. Current readings are showing emissions that, well, don't even read as particles. We're detecting things that seem like particle fields, but not quite. Essentially, this thing is weird, and it has the eggheads a bit spooked. The Deringer has Lieutenant Onimo, who's expertise in subspace anomalies is essentially unparalleled. Further, it's an excelsior class, so it's well equipped to handle a wide range of situations, which is helpful since we have no goddamn clue what we're dealing with here." Gloopsy looked down for a moment, feeling something they hadn't for months: interest. "How soon should we get there?" They asked. "As soon as you can. Command is pretty interested, so as soon as you get there, report back." "Gotcha, Admiral" The Admiral nodded. "Dismissed, Captain."