Life. Life was here. In so many ways, this was the greatest discovery mankind had ever made. We were not alone in the universe, and the greatest minds aboard the [i]Ljus[/i] would be the first to document this next chapter in human history. So many things to be learnt: What is their biology? Their culture? Are they peaceful? So many questions, it would take years to gather and process all of that. Unfortunate, that there were now going to land advance teams and start tearing the planet to pieces, devastating these people.

She crossed her arms, and watched the feed again for the seventh time, as she thought furiously and tried to decide the best course of action: The reasoning behind this was sound. No doubt the other ships would just abuse and corrupt them entirely. The captain did not entirely trust her fellow commanders, and she knew for a fact that they didn't like her. Some were down right brutish, and couldn't wait to start subverting this poor creature's lands. On the other hand... There was simply too much to give up. Mankind's first contact, and they have to abandon it, simply because of the jar head natures of some of these ships? For all they know, this could be an isolated colony, separated form the rest of their empire. This could be the chance of a millennium to expand further, if they could ascertain what exactly the situation was.

The bridges intercom crackled into life, and the familiar intellectual voice of the Head of Scientific Affairs came into life. "Captain Vilda, this is Professor Jakobsen. There is no way in hell we can let the other ships just roll over them. There is too much at stake here, and we won't get another chance at this in a hundred years. Maybe never. What do we do?"

Captain VIlda stared a moment longer in thought, before replying. "I agree with you, Professor. We can't let the others land just yet, they will ruin everything. I'll attempt to change the Admiral's mind, and see if we can't get a forward team down there from the [i]Ljus[/i]. The probes can only do so much, we need to set up a forward research camp."
"Comm officer Peta, open a direct link with the [i]Gaia[/i]. We need to talk."

Once the communications link was open, VIlda cleared her throat, and spoke assertively, addressing them in a timely manner. "Admiral, this is Captain Vilda, of the [i]Ljus of the Fleet[/i]. If we are going to do this right, you can't be the first ones on the ground, especially with such a drastic change in command. It will be a disaster. We have no idea what power they hold, and while it appears they pose little threat, we must be ready for anything. Also, we cannot afford for first contact to be a failure, and preparations must be made to ascertain what we are dealing with." 

Vilda paused, and let her words sink in, before continuing. "Permission to send a research team down to the surface, to set up a forward data processing outpost. Our security staff is minimal, so we will also need some added firepower, if anything goes wrong, but they are under my command for the duration of the mission. We'll work as quickly as we can, and notify you as soon as we have more information. Over"