WHO: Bail Organa & Obi-Wan Kenobi WHEN: Now WHERE: On board the Leviathan. In space. SUMMARY: Bail receives a communique and tries to answer it. (prompt) WARNINGS: None.
Bail was definitely no pilot. In fact, his experience in such matters was relegated to land speeders or small crafts that never left a planet's atmosphere. He was more used to being piloted around, which was precisely why he didn't even bother to lobby for control of their ship - the Leviathan - in whatever odd scenario they'd been tossed into.
However, Bail did know a thing or two about communications, even if this ship was unfamiliar to him and he certainly didn't fully comprehend its language. When a red light on the console in front of him began blinking, first steadily and then rapidly, he reminded himself to remain calm before clicking through to figure out what it was.
A communique, repeated in several languages unknown to him, and then offered a translation into Basic by the ship, which read thusly:
Attention unidentified ship. You have entered restricted space. You have 3h30 to respond and state your purpose. If you do not respond before that time is up, a nuclear assault missile will be launched at your ship. Attention unidentified ship. You have entered restricted space. You have 3h29 to respond and state -
Bail clicked the audio off before it could repeat again, not wanting to listen to an unknown language garbling at him. He glanced around, not spotting any of his fellow passengers. Ben might have a good suggestion about how to handle this. He supposed any of them might, but then again, Bail's life's work had been diplomacy and communications like this. It wouldn't be difficult for him to explain that they were simply passing through and perhaps ask after a different route, if the reply turned hostile.
He took a moment to consider his reply before opening up the channel the original communique came through and clearing his throat before beginning:
"This is the ship, the Leviathan, and we're explorers. We mean you no harm. We're simply passing through and were unaware of the restricted nature of this space. We would gratefully appreciate a new course direction or an alternate route if safe passage through this space is not granted. Thank you."
He sent the message and received only static in return. Then, a moment later, the same warning (now at 3h15) came through. He resent his message. He entered his message out as text and sent it. He tried everything all over again, but the only reply he received was the same warning (now feeling much more palpable as a threat as the time shifted under the 3h mark).
Bail really wasn't the best being to start taking apart a ship's communications drive, even after determining that something must be wrong with it. He sent his message through every channel possible and then alternately received it parrotted back at him or the same threat on repeat. Once, he received a questioning transmission asking for a repeat transmission, which he sent, but once that went out, the entire communications array burst into a screech of static.
At the 2h mark, Bail stood up, whipping his hands into the air and stalking off to find someone else on the ship who might have a better background in the systems (as opposed to his communication, which was absolutely fine) than he did.
It was certainly true that the last thing any of them wanted (he hoped) was to be blasted out of space by some hostile threat because of a communications failure.