First Contact with the Aliens
Suchamelet groaned. Everything had been going so well - exploration efforts which had found new mineral resources, no mechanical breakdowns, and now they were going home having finished their mission. He had been looking forward to his promotion, favor from the Emperor, command of a quiet colonization mission, and being able to leave behind this damnable business of space exploration.
And now he was the one who was in charge of making first contact with.... these... aliens. They had jumped into the system at the end of his watch, as they were preparing to go elsewhere, following up on the reconnaissance work of a previous exploration ship for final certification for colonization, and sensor reports put them on an intersection course. An intersection course to trap him... well, he was already trapped. Lots of paperwork and forms to fill out, and even worse if it went wrong then his head would roll. They had been concerned about this for a long time, as the exploration and colonization missions picked up more and more, that they would run into something else. Some had said that it seemed unlikely - after all, surely if there were no radio waves detected, and given the immense scale of time present in the universe, it would be extraordinarily unlikely that there would be a civilization of a similar technological level.
Thoughts of opening fire on them and just eliminating these pesky strangers crossed his mind. His exploration vessel, the Sihgneg II, was based upon the design of the Pokirami-class cruisers, and was loaded to the gills with lasers and powerful shields. He had questioned why they needed so many weapons on what was after all, an exploration vessel, since so far they had never found anything that could justify even a laser bolt, but he had it now, so maybe he could open fire and not have to deal with the bureaucratic reports back on Nires.... A luxury that none of the other clans could hope, given their almost unarmed exploration vessels.
No, he didn't know anything about these strange new outsiders. For all he knew, they were more technologically advanced than his ship, and he would get blown up and destroyed by them.
The rest of the officers on the bridged looked equally concerned, but they were all turning to him, looking for his direction during these times. It was the communications officer who spoke first.
"Sir, we have received an attempt at communication from them, or so we believe. Do you want us to play their transmission?"
The comms officer looked even more worried than the rest.
"Yes, do so."
A bizarre grunting sound came over the intercom, completely unintelligible, alien, incomprehensible. It filled all of the corners, every nook and cranny, of the bridge, and he had to suppress the cringing feeling of horror that ran up his spine to hear this horrifying and terrible utterance.
His second officer waved his claws. "Could be anything. Not the slightest clue what it means."
Suchamelet shook himself, and glared at him. "Thank you, for telling us what we all knew. Now, " he continued on", comms. I want you to transmit what I have to say to these people.
"Yes sir." The junior officer's hands flew over the touch panel.
"I am captain Suchamelet of the Suessyde Confederation. We are a peaceful" - he had to resist the urge to laugh - "exploration ship. We cannot understand your message, but express our peaceful intent, and our intent to leave this system shortly to return to our homeworld. We hope that we will be able to part ways without misunderstanding. End."
"Now," said Suchamelet, turning to the helmsman, "I want you to plot a course out of here. Engines to full first to buy us as much time as possible to avoid their intercept, at least to buy us time. If they have the technology for hyper space tracking, make a detour to the galactic east, so they don't get led back directly to other territory."
The whine of the fusion reactors deep within the ship echoed throughout the vessel as they began to fire up at speeds well in excess of safety regulations. His second in command cleared his throat. "Sir, are you certain that we should leave? They might take it as a sign of hostility - and we don't know enough about them right now."
Suchamelet struggled to control his annoyance. Arguing with a superior in front of the crew - what insolence! He would have to cashier him as soon as they arrived back at Nires.
"We know they're here, that they have multiple ships, and we have their recording for the vocal experts to work on back at Nires. We have more information than them, since we know they have a fleet, and they only know we have a reconnaissance vessel. Now, do as ordered!" The last command was screamed at the helmsman.
The unfortunate subaltern gulped, looking back to his work as he plotted the hyper jump, numbers flashing across the holographic display, and seconds later lights flashing orange - ready. "I've got it sir."
"Then jump out of here."
In an instant, the Suesdyian ship disappeared into the void.
And now he was the one who was in charge of making first contact with.... these... aliens. They had jumped into the system at the end of his watch, as they were preparing to go elsewhere, following up on the reconnaissance work of a previous exploration ship for final certification for colonization, and sensor reports put them on an intersection course. An intersection course to trap him... well, he was already trapped. Lots of paperwork and forms to fill out, and even worse if it went wrong then his head would roll. They had been concerned about this for a long time, as the exploration and colonization missions picked up more and more, that they would run into something else. Some had said that it seemed unlikely - after all, surely if there were no radio waves detected, and given the immense scale of time present in the universe, it would be extraordinarily unlikely that there would be a civilization of a similar technological level.
Thoughts of opening fire on them and just eliminating these pesky strangers crossed his mind. His exploration vessel, the Sihgneg II, was based upon the design of the Pokirami-class cruisers, and was loaded to the gills with lasers and powerful shields. He had questioned why they needed so many weapons on what was after all, an exploration vessel, since so far they had never found anything that could justify even a laser bolt, but he had it now, so maybe he could open fire and not have to deal with the bureaucratic reports back on Nires.... A luxury that none of the other clans could hope, given their almost unarmed exploration vessels.
No, he didn't know anything about these strange new outsiders. For all he knew, they were more technologically advanced than his ship, and he would get blown up and destroyed by them.
The rest of the officers on the bridged looked equally concerned, but they were all turning to him, looking for his direction during these times. It was the communications officer who spoke first.
"Sir, we have received an attempt at communication from them, or so we believe. Do you want us to play their transmission?"
The comms officer looked even more worried than the rest.
"Yes, do so."
A bizarre grunting sound came over the intercom, completely unintelligible, alien, incomprehensible. It filled all of the corners, every nook and cranny, of the bridge, and he had to suppress the cringing feeling of horror that ran up his spine to hear this horrifying and terrible utterance.
His second officer waved his claws. "Could be anything. Not the slightest clue what it means."
Suchamelet shook himself, and glared at him. "Thank you, for telling us what we all knew. Now, " he continued on", comms. I want you to transmit what I have to say to these people.
"Yes sir." The junior officer's hands flew over the touch panel.
"I am captain Suchamelet of the Suessyde Confederation. We are a peaceful" - he had to resist the urge to laugh - "exploration ship. We cannot understand your message, but express our peaceful intent, and our intent to leave this system shortly to return to our homeworld. We hope that we will be able to part ways without misunderstanding. End."
"Now," said Suchamelet, turning to the helmsman, "I want you to plot a course out of here. Engines to full first to buy us as much time as possible to avoid their intercept, at least to buy us time. If they have the technology for hyper space tracking, make a detour to the galactic east, so they don't get led back directly to other territory."
The whine of the fusion reactors deep within the ship echoed throughout the vessel as they began to fire up at speeds well in excess of safety regulations. His second in command cleared his throat. "Sir, are you certain that we should leave? They might take it as a sign of hostility - and we don't know enough about them right now."
Suchamelet struggled to control his annoyance. Arguing with a superior in front of the crew - what insolence! He would have to cashier him as soon as they arrived back at Nires.
"We know they're here, that they have multiple ships, and we have their recording for the vocal experts to work on back at Nires. We have more information than them, since we know they have a fleet, and they only know we have a reconnaissance vessel. Now, do as ordered!" The last command was screamed at the helmsman.
The unfortunate subaltern gulped, looking back to his work as he plotted the hyper jump, numbers flashing across the holographic display, and seconds later lights flashing orange - ready. "I've got it sir."
"Then jump out of here."
In an instant, the Suesdyian ship disappeared into the void.
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