Crystal clear

"Hello!" came the cheery reply from the mouth flaps. Wait, what?

"Um, hi!" Tamara replied, giving her brain time to process. Assumptions are aggravating, and so when the human she expected did not materialize on the comm screen, Tamara tried not to appear rude by staring.

"Are you alright? You appear to be staring." The eyelids blinked upwards, then downwards, as the alien spoke, looking almost concerned behind the prominent proboscis.

So much for that. "Uh, yeah, I'm fine," she coughed. "So, you need some assistance, yeah?"

"Indeed!" The alien spoke pleasant baritone, clipped with no hint of accent. Tamara quickly noticed the universal translator pinned to the upper right breast of the uniform. These guys had to be traders or haulers, people that need to communicate as easily and clearly and so invested in some top if the line comm tech. UIs were often clunky affairs at the best of times. The one on GUTS occupied a good portion of the main computer bay.

"So what's the mess?" Tamara asked, nibbling on her burger.

"We passed through a micrometeorite storm some six standard hours ago, and accompanying radiation seemed to have disabled the deflector array. We now have numerous microbreaches across several decks, including the command deck. I am actually speaking to you from the emergency operations center." The alien dipped closer to the screen. "We are also carrying time-sensitive equipment, and our engineering staff is overwhelmed. Can you assist us? How familiar are you with our type of predicament?"