Starship Armstrong - Season 1

Part 42 - "We Come In Peace" (X)

"I'm not in the mood Kang," said the Captain, who had never addressed the man without his honoriffic in the entire time she'd known him. This was also the first time Dr. Kang had ever seen her drunk.

"You're upset," he observed "Because you believe you failed."

"I am upset," growled the Captain "Because I happen to know that we failed. You and I both failed right along with me doctor. Neither of us held to our ideals. I believeded I was a good person, and I was wrong, and you believed you were a great scientist, and you were also were wrong. The others were all working under us, we're the us two who failed."

"This is unbecoming, Captain," said Dr. Kang "I've never known you to admit defeat so easily."

"I'm not admitting defeat," insisted the Captain "I'm wallowing in it. There's is a difference."

"Well don't try to drag me down with you. If you're giving in then you were defeated today. I, however, have not. The day will come when humanity is able to communicate with the aliens from Gaia, and I will be the man to bring this about. It didn't happen today but that doesn't mean I stop. I am going to find a way to bridge this communication gap, and as I always do show all those fools who doubted me."

"I'm glad to see that your- that your ego has survived this massive failure intact," said the Captain.

"You think you've set humanity on the course for war with an alien species we don't even understand, and you're more than likely correct. So you can either throw the entire premise of the New Era out with the bathwater, which seems to be your current inclination, or you can find the mental fortitude to get past this major setback and find a way to succeed," said Dr. Kang.

"Is 'is your idea of a pep talk?" asked the Captain.

"Think of it more as a dressing down," said Dr. Kang "You're better than this, or at least I thought you were. It's bad enough having to serve under my intellectual inferior, but if you don't even have the courage to make hard choices then I might as well put in my transfer request with Mars at the next relay. Or perhaps you should. You're in command of too important of a mission in too murky a moral grey area for you to allow yourself to be affected by this kind of thing."

"Thank you Dr. Kang," said the Captain "I think I will finish my drinks-s now in private thank you."

"Of course," said Dr. Kang "I'll leave you to your numbing agent."

Captain Littlecrow slumped back in her chair a bit, and decided that maybe Dr. Kang wasn't so bad after all, and also never to tell him this.