[quote]"New radar contact!" the radarman said. "It just... appeared!" [color=00aeef]“This is colonel Darius Mills, commander of the United States Air Force Vessel Helios. We do not wish to engage in any form of hostilities.”[/color][/quote] Venera eyed the transmission incredulously. Was it possible that the United States had sent up a rocket covertly before the war had ended? "Seal the bridge," she ordered. Venera turned to the commsman. "The identity of the aliens is now a Particularly Important state secret. Burn all relevent tapes in the document handling room." More loudly, she said, "Anyone failing to adhere to procedure will be shot." What sort of Imperialist trickery was this? Undoubtedly they had no intention of peaceful contact with a Soviet ship - not if they had come from Earth. Not after the U.S.S.R. turned on the sleeping Imperialists and crushed their weak and corrupt forces to install benevelont leadership. But if they had launched before that, when the two superpowers had united to destroy the evil traitor Yuri, then it was possible that they were serious. On the other hand, what were the odds that a ship from the same planet just [i]happened[/i] to end up in the same chunk of space that the [i]Romanova[/i] had been thrown into? Perhaps they were the ones responsible for dragging the [i]Romanova[/i] here- "New radar contact!" [quote][color=008B8B]"My Name is Raiden Korten, and I am the current SOSCOM commanding officer of the Heavyweight Research ship codename:Oblivion. We are a research Vessel. and intend no harm. our ship shall remain open to communications, Good day to you."[/color][/quote] Apparently aliens spoke... English. That was unnerving, but at least most crew on the [i]Romanova[/i] could speak it. English was a necessity when half of the ship's technology came from- "New radar contact!" Venera growled. A spaceman handed her a report from cosmogation. They weren't in known space anymore. As a matter of fact, they appeared to be outside the [i]galaxy[/i]. She immediately classified this, too, as a state secret. [quote][color=0072bc]"Unidentified contacts, this is Captain Leonard Powers of the United Earth Government Naval Command battlecruiser [i]Paramount[/i]. Please identify."[/color][/quote] 'United Earth Government'? Impossible! The only Earth government was the Soviet governement, and we speak Russian, not English! Again with the English! "Commsman, broadcast the following message at the-" "New radar contact!" [quote][color=6ecff6]"VV Pale pendet operam magistratus Markurio foris. Foederis Valinosian verum boni sumus, et audite verbum tuum in pace. Quamdiu nolueris perpetrando barbare habeo quod naviculas elit. Dabo varietate aliena arma humili virtutem spei non est errare; si iusta vindicta sicut ceteri erit."[/color][/quote] ...Venera had no idea what that meant. At least they weren't American. "...as I was saying, broadcast the following-" "New radar contact!" Venera sighed, and waited for the communication to come through. [quote]"Keia luna o ka Intrepid o Sara Parker, aole he poe hoaaloha a kakou i ko kakou mau moku e hiki ia ia ke kaumaha i ka hookahi-manawa pilikia? Aiiio lawelawe. Ina oe e pono ai kekahi kokua, aole he poe olioli, e hoike maikai makemake, a me kōkua."[/quote] She glared at the spaceman manning the radar station. He steadfastly stared at his screen, risking an occasional glance back. Venera kept waiting, shaking her head with annoyance. "Commander, two new radar contacts!" She waited. No communications came through. Fine. "Broadcast the following message at the [i]Paramount[/i]," she continued. [color=red]"Attention-"[/color] "New radar contact!" [i]'To hell with it,'[/i] Venera thought. [color=red]"-Paramount. Whatever 'United Earth Government' you claim to represent-"[/color] [quote][color=bc8dbf]"Greetings unknown vessels. We are the Advent, and we come with no ill intentions towards those who mean us none in return. To those who do, know that we will not hesitate in defending ourselves as we deem fit."[/color][/quote] Venera's head hurt; her brain was telling her they spoke Russian while her ears heard... something else. [color=red]"-either has or will be crushed under the heel of the Soviet Union as the rebellious upstarts that they are. There is only one government, and it resides in Moscow. ...however, given our obviously extraordinary circumstances, we will overlook your identification [b]'mistake'[/b] in the spirit of goodwill."[/color] [hider=That message in full][quote][color=red]"Attention Paramount. Whatever 'United Earth Government' you claim to represent either has or will be crushed under the heel of the Soviet Union as the rebellious upstarts that they are. There is only one government, and it resides in Moscow. ...however, given our obviously extraordinary circumstances, we will overlook your identification [b]'mistake'[/b] in the spirit of goodwill."[/color][/quote][/hider] The central status display finally updated itself, line by agonizing line. A spaceman flew between sensor stations, updating which ship was which via grease pencil on the screen. Suddenly, Venera was very glad to not further antagonize the [i]Paramount[/i]. It dwarfed the Romanova. Time to try her luck on a completely different gamble. "Re-aim the dish at the [i]Helios[/i]," she ordered. [quote][color=red]"[i]Romanova[/i] to the [i]Helios[/i]. In the spirit of goodwill, we would like to send an envoy to discuss our situation."[/color][/quote] If they accepted, at least she could confirm if they really were American. A spaceman handed her a note. Apparently Zelinsky had managed to get the tesla coils online, although there was triple underlined, [u]"Ionizable materials tanks [i][b]will[/b][/i] blow if used at present; you get [b]one shot[/b]!"[/u] Better than nothing, anyway. Possibly she could sneak Zelinsky over to re-appropriate some of their technology. "Finally, broadcast this to all ships:" [quote][color=red]"[i]Romanova[/i] to all ships. We propose a meeting on a any other ship to discuss our situation and confirm our present location."[/color][/quote]