[@MissingAxis]

"Well... At least they gave a response..." Admiral Erling muttered quietly under his breath as he stared out at the ships orbiting them.

"Do you think that was a happy gurgle? Or an angry one?" Erling's XO deadpanned from beside him.

"Sir, it looks like they're sending a shuttle of some sort!"

Instantly, all of Erling's attention returns to the situation at hand. "Is it armed?"

"It... Doesn't seem so, sir... If anything... It's barely a shuttle at all." The bridge crewman was right in that regard. As Erling gave the thing a closer look, especially as it neared their vessel, it seemed more like the skeletal superstructure of a small ship, open to the vaccum and equipped with nothing but engines and propellant tanks.

As it lingered, matching their velocity, they were able to get a good look at the figures within, particularly as the pilots reported in what they saw, and the drones still latched onto the hull of the ship oriented their cameras onto the vessel. Within were three solitary figures, standing stark against the vaccum of space. Each of them wore what looked to be enviroment suits, full body coverings of some sort of dark blue alloy. Two were armed, the third and shorter one was not. An envoy of some sort?

The alien's earlier message seemed mostly clear now. "Alert the marines. Have them get a squad, or more if they can manage, into shuttle bay two. Open up the doors, and pop the landing lights. We're going to be accepting some guests." As the bridge crew moved to relay his orders, Admiral Erling moved to step off the bridge, only stopped by Commander Ruthyard, who clasped him by his shoulder. 


"Woah, hold up there. Where do you think you're going?"

"To meet our new guests. What else?" Erling replied back as he glanced over his shoulder.

"Are you sure that's a good idea?"

Erling gave a snort. "No, not particularly, but who else would go? You? I need you here to take command in case things go sideways. Besides, it's a safer option than bringing them up here to the bridge, don't you think?"

Ruthyard seemed to deliberate that thought slowly, before giving a nod. "I suppose so..."

"Good. Then you have the conn."

-----

A set of bay doors slid open on the outside, near the forward bow, roughly centerline of the ship. Not quite large enough for the shuttle to land in, but the invitation was obvious nonetheless. Several sets of flashing lights lit up in order to bring attention to it, greens and reds lined around the bay.

Within, the boarding party would find a relatively spacious room, though the warriors may find themselves uncomfortably close to the ceiling. All around were metal crates and boxes, haphazardly set up in a semi-circular position as makeshift cover for the roughly dozen men that awaited them. All were dressed in vacuum proofed suits, plated with a combination of thick bullet-resistant padding and titanium alloys, colored a mixture of black and matte gray. In their hands were ballistic rifles, utterly puny compared to the bulk of the Ophisian warriors. The tension in the air seemed to rise as the gathered soldiers first set eyes on the boarders, beginning to doubt if their simple rifles would do much against the seemingly impenetrable armor of the aliens, and several quickly radio for heavier equipment to be prepared if necessary.