Civitas Colony HighCom Bunker Fenrov wondered why he was recalled to the capital's deepest and most guarded command center for this. A simple tele-chat would have sufficed for all he was doing, sitting in a corner waiting for orders. The governor must be in one of his paranoid moods again, not trusting comms for some reason or another, like the natives knew how to work a radio. All he could do was hurry up and wait, and fret for some reason as he listened to the reports going back and forth. [i]"Outer sensor picket confirms we have an alien vessel in our system."[/i] Finally reported orbital watch command. [i]"Size and capabilities unknown, but likely far beyond anything my gunboats got. Its a big one."[/i] "But they arn't advancing on our planet yet. And just the one?" The governor paced about in place, fretting as usual as the gears were audibly grinding between his ears at the very situation their colony was meant to escape and prepare for was now right on their doorstep. "This can't be the Enemy. One lone capital ship roaming about? A design completely unlike anything we know from the Enemy Coalition? Must be someone else." [i]"Whether they are the enemy or not sir, I got sixteen gunboats and a couple hidden hangers of LAC's against that behemoth. Advising all possible alternatives before direct combat."[/i] "Dispatch the First Contact package along the lower-E band, and set it to repeat until they send some message of their own indicating understanding." The governor ordered, surprising almost everyone in the room at his rapt command of the situation. "Have the ansible station set to recieve any transmission they send, and alert all other stations to immediately block any anauthorized message packets effective until ordered otherwise. We must keep tight control over whatever data packet they send, lest it wreck havoc among our systems by design or accident. Get our xenologists up to the ansible too, make them earn their keep. Brigadier, mobilize our reserves just in case. The natives may misinterpret the output of a starhip's engines as a symbol or sign to attack again, or our new guests may not be as friendly as they look. Get it done! All of you, now!" Fenrov nodded and followed orders, still not sure what was still nagging at him despite the outbreak of reason and restraint from the colonial administrator, maybe he wasn't so bad in dealing with threats besides natives. Then it hit him. "OH SHIT! Someone tell Colonel Kalar not to drop the nukes!" * * * * * * Along the southern mountain range, a thin line of garrison forts were in almost non-stop conflict with the hordes of enraged natives charging north against the "sky-people". Machine gun ammunition was running low, vehicles couldn't maneuver and were vulnerable to native Vandite armor-piercing weapons, artillery effectiveness was severely reduced due to thickness of jungle canopy and inability to deploy spotters or sensor relays, air support couldn't be maintained or flown under the constant rainstorms. In lieu of all conventional options and resupply becoming increasingly infrequent, the Garrison commander had requested authorization for nuclear bombardment to clear a kill zone and wipe out native resistance before the next charge north. Seven 5 kiloton-grade tactical nuclear artillery shells were issued in response as the colony itself was growing desperate to beat the natives down quickly to refocus efforts on the Northern front, and the Colonel had wasted little time himself in herding the wild Bokrat wolf-people into concentrated forces before giving the fateful order, ignorant of the dispatches and frantic worries of higher command the moment he gave the order to fire. Thus when the alien carrier received the first Meknik reply to their first contact package, they would also be greeted by the light of seven tactical nuclear bombs detonating in full view of their sensors, sending a clear message of their own. This world was at war, and not even the arrival of an outside power gave pause to it. Shortly afterwards, the Meknik's sent a first contact package of their own, consisting of a collection of pictures with attached audio and symbolic meaning in a hopefully universal basic code format. A children's guide to language and concepts in essence, and the foundation of a proper translation package and hopefully proper communication as the xenologists quickly caught onto the meaning of the first contact signals the aliens were sending. With any luck, an update to translation systems could be made within a few days and open talks could begin, if the aliens didn't mind the nukes that is. * * * * * * * * Crimson Forge Colony System Defense Vessel Leoheart "Firfrek, those are big sons of bitches." Muttered a sensor watch ensign. Nobody chastized the tenderpaw for his outburst, as it matched the thoughts of everyone else on the bridge. Captain Serin turned to her command chair's personal screen to assess the intruders. Two dreadnought vessels, a dozen ships that ranged from heavy destroyer to grand cruiser class tonnage and size by Meknik standards, and that wasn't even touching the pair of massive.....things that were holding behind them. Motherships? FTL tenders? Whatever they were, they were bigger than even the original colony ships that founded the Crimson Forge by several factors of measurement. In comparison, those ships made her own Leoheart look like a crude tin-can of a cruiser. Barely five hundred meters long, it was more of a flying railgun with starship parts attached to it, with even more railgun turrets tacked ontop of that. But none of the turrets on those alien ships looked like a railgun to her, and there were a lot of anomalous energy readings her cruiser couldn't even begin to make sense of. Starting a war here and now was likely to end very badly for her. "Captain! We have an incoming transmission! Signal format is similar to an older video media system. We can process it." "On screen." Steeling herself, Serin fought the urge to put on her vacsuit helmet to cover her face to hide from the alien. No, she would remain firm and standing. Well, sitting, it was difficult to get out of the crash webbing after getting in it. What came on screen was.....she didn't even know where to begin to describe the vistage of the alien in front of her as it spoke/growled/intoned itself. [b][i]"Attention unknowns, this is Admiral Da'ran of the Grand Fleet of Ch'ak speaking. This system, designation Val'kik, has been claimed by the Ch'ak'ii state for the purposes of mining and resource extraction and your presence here is in violation of our sovereign territory. Please, identify yourself."[/i][/b] The bridge was left in confusion at the incomprehensible message, and Serin could tell all eyes and ears were on her to determine how to respond. They counted on her for courage. How could she avoid telling them she had little of her own? Well when in doubt, pretend. "They aren't hostile. If it were the Enemy, they'd be shooting from the start. Ensign, can we play back on that channel? Respond to them?" "Yes ma'am, easy conversion. But without translators, how could they understand us?" "We can make them some pretty pictures." Serin said, grabbing for her personal tablet. She honestly had no idea if her mad idea would work, but they had to send a message out quickly to at least make sure they wouldn't come shooting before breaking out the First Contact protocols and in the process exposing more of their operations. Scratching out a few quick pictures, Serin nodded to the comms watch to open the channel and turn on the vid-screen camera. "This is Captain Serin of the Crimson Forge defense fleet. We are the protectors of this system we call the Crimson Forge in the name of the Meknik Union of Worlds." Serin tapped her tablet and showed the Cogwheel insignia of the Union to the camera before dragging it on the screen to a depiction of the solar system, before then pointing to herself. was what she was trying to convey. "We greet you in the name of the Union, and wish to know your intent. Do you come in peace or war?" Drawing upon some archives, the next set of pictures depicting a digital Meknik ship and a alien vessel. In the first instance, the two vessels were flying together. In the second, the two were shooting at eachother. In the third instance, both sets of pictures were set side by side with alternating blinking. was the question. Hopefully. How would these aliens interpret the barks and chitters of Meknikspeak? Serin wondered as she cut the connection and slumped in her seat before flipping her chair display to a tactical overview of the local Meknik assets. A dozen gunboats and fighter-hangers were hidden in the moon of the gas giant the aliens were close by and no matter how big these aliens were, nukes were still nukes right? To engage or not? Did they already know they were there? Questions, questions, questions. And all she could do was wait.