[b]Deep Space Radar Control[/b]

Keral had waited and for some time, the silence within the room gnawed at his mind and for every moment that neither he nor any other dared speak it became worse. Yet what ended the wretched silence was by far worse. A single communication was patched though on standard laser comms and appeared on his brightly lit monitor, text only; it read simply, “ALIEN CONTACT CONFIRMED. ADVANCED STEALTH AND PROPULSION TECHNOLOGY. WEAPONRY EQUAL OR INFERIOR. ACTIONS INDICATE POSSIBLE HOSTILE INTENT, TRUE INTENT UNKNOWN. SEND COLONIAL FORCES, ARTICLE 5 IN EFFECT.”

Keral stopped three words in. Again and again they repeated in his head as if he was a computer that was broken. He tried to accept and move on but he simply could not, his world, the worlds of all, had been irrevocably turned upside down. Eventually the words had beaten his mind dull, and with his senses dimmed Keral had the strength to order, “Article 5 is now in effect, contacts are to be labelled as alien with potential hostile intent. Put me on the line with central colonial security at once.” Keral waited as everyone in the room had their own moments of realisation, as the dumbness swept the room and finally after some minutes a soul somewhere below enacted the necessary protocols and the room changed from darkness to a crimson red. On Keral’s monitor an open video line came on between him and the leader of Colonial security.

The older eastern man on the screen had a sagging face and brown scales, he ridiculed Keral out of habit, “What is it now Keral? A rock you want us to divert? Wait no, is it another false positive to waste resources on?” However it was then the look on Keral’s face and the red glow on the wall behind him became obvious. The old man’s face became harsh and determined as he asked, “Keral… What?”

Keral hesitated for a moment before with a noticeable tremor in his voice, “Article 5 is now in effect sir. Contact is positive and the small frigate we sent to investigate reports possible hostile in-“ Keral stopped mid speech stood and shouted some indistinct command before he sat down and looked back at the monitor, what was a scared face was now locked into an expression of confusion, and horror. Keral resumed hesitantly, ‘S-Sir, we have confirmation that more objects have entered the system, they seem to have instantaneous or near it FTL travel. Our frigate is now alone against a battle group.” Keral stopped and put his hand to his face for a moment in thought before continuing, “Sir I must recommend we go to planet wide alert.”

The old man sat confused, angry, and contemplative. Eventually he responded, “I… I agree Keral; I will scramble all orbital and suborbital fighters. We will mobilize all guard units and the cruisers will leave their docks immediately to rendezvous with the frigate. Kej save us all.”

The screen went dead and Keral leaned back in his seat. He never believed in the Eastern god, but for now it seemed Kej might do a lot more good than the ancestors. 

[b]CEGSS ONARMORIAN[/B]

The Captain waited with morbid fascination as the strange ships moved in and out of the system. Though the arrival of new ships disturbed him he had the feeling their intent was no more hostile than his. It was some time around that thought when a static and broken sound came in over comms. Harsh and painful but tailored to the first frequency that the Onarmorian tried to contact them with. The captain sighed in relief, though the communication that briefly came in on comms was blight to the ears it was communication. The Captain sat and thought i silence for some time before ordering Joek, “Maintain connection on that frequency, idle it.”

The Onarmorian sat silent in space before an unexpected communication came through; it appeared on the Captains screen, the head of Colonial security himself. The old man on the monitor spoke with confidence, “We have received your message and our two cruisers are on route with four more frigates. Hang tight up their captain, and remember that this cannot come to war if it can be averted. We have troops on the streets and birds in the skies though, the planet is on alert so if things do go south, we will be ready.” The face disappeared before the Captain could even respond, he had not received a call for discussion but rather he had received an order. Ships would arrive to reinforce them soon, though that only made the Captain more nervous. He had come to understand that more guns usually meant more danger, not less. So he would let time drag on. There was still some small hope that communication might be meaningfully established while the alien vessels felt safe in number, though what would happen if it came after then or not at all the Captain could not know.

((Note for Sigma, I have isolated the thing for you into its own post since it is getting big.))