“Yes, what is it?” Chancellor Volte grumbled into the black screen of the vidcom as he slumped into his borovaesi skin recliner. His dark but thin eyebrows were tightly furrowed, producing a tripartite crease between his hawkish eyes. His scowl was meant to convey his displeasure at receiving a call this late in the evening but would go unseen by his interlocutor, who also chose to forgo the vid option of their telecommunication. Though vid-displays were officially mandated in the space telecoms portion of the imperial handbook, it had become standard operating procedure to keep them off. Starship commanders and their planet-bound superiors had re-discovered what their distant ancestors had learned during their great plague: video calls were just horrible. Audio-only coms, on the other hand, were tolerable, even if just barely.
This was a fun read! Love the repentant Imperial angle. Also love the modern conversational touch of “eMeRgEnCy” in the sarcastic response. :)