[voice]

[jurisimpudent]

Tranquility - the last transmission on the network was not a hoax. We have been boarded.

All non-combat personnel should keep to their quarters at the present moment. Further instructions will follow.

Note please that the boarders are able to hack all transmissions, including those which are highly encrypted. Do not discuss tactical information over the network. Do not discuss extraneous things. We do not know what will be of use to these brigands, and we need to deny them as much information as possible. Keep silent; keep vigilant; updates to come.

Comments

voice;

[jurisimpudent]

What is that to mean?

voice;

[cargojet]

I was a lawyer too, Miles.

[ And they did at one point discuss things in latin terms and it was all lawyerly. ]

voice;

[jurisimpudent]

I know.

voice;

[cargojet]

Then use that head of yours. How many years do you suppose these people have been reliant on translators to do the job of their brains when it comes to language? And for all we know everyone in space is French; there's no point trying that.

It's the best I can come up with when mathematics fails us. Pretty sure morse code is a dead loss too, considering our friend Smiley's familiarity with it. This is worth a try.

voice;

[jurisimpudent]

I know about using other languages, and I don't object to this one, but the translator keeps translating mine.

voice;

[cargojet]

[ Oh so he does have to spell it out. You're meant to be smart, Miles! ]

Try it again without the perfect diction.

voice;

[jurisimpudent]

I - I did! It...I deliberately didn't distinguish vowel length!

[Alas...the problem wasn't the lack of understanding - it was the inability to get imperfect enough.]

voice;

[cargojet]

That's not it at all. Try a hard V in salve, or add a hyphen to break up qui-d. Speak like a foreigner with a phrasebook, not a student of classical arts.

voice;

[jurisimpudent]

But - I -

[Hrnnngh. It's nearly physically painful, but he manages haltingly:]

In such a manner as this.

voice;

[cargojet]

There, I knew you could do it.

[ It is very painful, but it seems to work. ]

voice;

[jurisimpudent]

[He doesn't like this, and it makes him more than a little bit snappish:]

Don't talk down.

voice;

[cargojet]

The real problem with this idea is that we're probably one of only a few on board who know a word of Latin.

voice;

[jurisimpudent]

[The changing of the topic makes him settle down a bit.]

There are others. Lady Borgia can speak freely in this tongue. Other tongues, though? Do you speak other tongues?

voice;

[cargojet]

[ These people are terrible with Earth history, so he names the languages he speaks awkwardly. ]

Voltaire's like a mother tongue, some of Catherine of Aragon's, a handful of Tchaikovsky's. Not nearly enough to get by.

voice;

[jurisimpudent]

And English, naturally.

voice;

[cargojet]

If mispronounced English didn't get translated, we'd find the wolves difficult to get along with.

voice;

[jurisimpudent]

Do you mean the Starks?

voice;

[cargojet]

Yes, but I like the word for wolf.

voice;

[jurisimpudent]

It is a good word. But their tongue is standard. They use only unusual words.

voice;

[cargojet]

I was joking. [ Why is he still talking Latin? ]

You remember what a joke is, I hope?

[ And now he's laughing. ]

voice;

[jurisimpudent]

I -

[He flushes, breaking back into English, self-conscious at the laughter - ]

Of course I...I don't see what's funny.

voice;

[cargojet]

We've been talking together all this time and not once between us a single secret worthy of speaking in tongues. That is funny.

voice;

[jurisimpudent]

That...I don't think it is. It's simply - We simply did not happen to.

voice;

[cargojet]

I should let you get back to work.

[ Because he's not sure he can explain it, really. ]

voice;

[jurisimpudent]

I...Very well.