[u]Standoff [/u]

Jia-Jio initial inclination was to train the Watchman’s engine upon the radioactive surface of Enned and wholly expunge the huge alien-crafted landing pad below with impunity. 

After all, these slack-jawed lapdogs menaced her respected handpicked crew and her decorated vessel with indiscriminate annihilation should she decline to yield to their unsavory demands!

The nerve these unclean cretins had! Jia-Jio was a tribal king’s daughter! Jia-Jio was proper royalty! She was of potentate ichor! If anyone would be issuing inconsequential ultimatums, it would surely be her and her alone!  

But before voluntarily inaugurating Anuku’s 14th interstellar crusade with yet another series of hopeful foreigners, Jia-Jio’s conflictive demeanor warped significantly when her keen eyes mated with the icon of the Straylight Institute, the first and only “docile” political entity that the azu had made contact with in the last two-hundred cycles. 

Almost immediately, her igneous temper simmered into a dull, cold-hearted annoyance, for a set of predetermined directives surfaced to the forefront of her keen memory. 

The symbol--and the xeno dialect that it was accompanied by--were both entirely familiar to the youthful star lord. Jia-Jio’s patrons had informed her that, should she encounter a spacecraft known as “Letona's Gaze” (or any other vessel that lay in the possession of the Straylight’s Institute) she should refrain from acting in an overtly hostile manner. 

Of course, the masters of the Peaks of Hia-Hia had told her nothing of a dense nucleus of savage warships that thought it best to entertain her abrupt presence with open missile bays and swarming murders of petty strikecraft. Reluctantly, Jia-Jio opened a channel directly with Letona’s Gaze, ignoring the other transmissions that were vying for her undivided attention. 

She couldn’t understand them anyway. The azu lacked universal translation technology. 

[hider=Jia-Jio's Response]
[b]The Starylight Institute? Letona’s Gaze? You supposedly visited the world of my people some time prior to this altercation. Anuku yes? You must recall it. You were there. 

Regardless, my esteemed patrons have spun tales of you--but they failed to tell me of your organization’s other companions. As per the wishes of my sponsors, I am open to cooperating with you-- but these unknown heathens that you select to feast with are most troubling. Their intentions are a mystery to me. After all, what sovereign nation elects to bring an invasion force to an archaeological assignment? 

I will require proof of your integrity. I can contact Anuku if you desire to have a word with persons that are of higher station than I.

Additionally, I should offer cautionary advice against any boarding attempts. You will damn your ground teams--and a substantial chunk of Enned--to a swift yet thankfully painless death if you should decide to seize my vessel by force. The same fate will come to fruition if any other plans of immediate aggression are set into motion.[/b]
[/hider]

Jia-Jio spun the Watchman on its axis, its nuclear thermal rocket RCS points firing until the ship’s aft section was pointed diametrically at the surface of the queer planet, with the monstrous craft locked in geosynchronous orbit above the target. The [i]Eye's [/i]main engine slumbered for now, but there was no doubt that the jittery feline would unleash apocalyptic fury upon the hapless ground personnel and their favored dig site if sufficiently pressed.

But like any clever star lord, the azu woman stealthily began spooling the craft's FTL drive in preparation for a hasty getaway. The hanger bay's blast doors were sealed and the craft's repulsion barrier was brought to full strength in the event that weapons fire was exchanged. While the growing energy signatures of the FTL module were hidden, the power fluctuations of the [i]Watchman's[/i] shield were painfully obvious.