[b][i]EFG Curious[/i][/b]
“They’ve seen us. But there isn’t much going on. That’s good, correct?” the Oracle asked, and Astra nodded. “Better than getting pummeled by those weapons. They certainly didn’t spare any resources on those, the ship looks like a pincushion, even if the caliber isn’t as large as ours. What other readings are we getting?”

“About as much electromagnetic radiation as could be expected. There is a radio spectrum with repeating regularity. It could be an attempt to communicate, or just an IFF beacon.” the Oracle notified.

“On display.” Astra ordered. The hologram shifted from the ship to display the radio wave the unknown was sending. “The period on the signal is far too large to be an IFF unless they are using some monster coding or convoluted language. I think it should be a message, but how do we read it? Even assuming we use same technical base we would still need the file system to know what to do with the ones and zeros.” Astra frowned. [i]No other choice, we’ll have to see face to face.[/i]

“Drop the shield, but keep the generators powered. Decelerate and take uson an approach orbit, nice elliptical and pulse the reactor vents in regular pattern, I want them to know that we want them to know what we’re doing. Shut down all external lights save for the docking port navigation, and leave the airlock open. Let’s see if they get the invitation - it looks like their ship has hangar bays, hopefully they thought to pack a shuttle along. Send a message to the Explorer and ‘Hexus about what is going on, we’ll need Admiral Libra sooner than we thought.”

Astra swapped the display back to the alien ship, expanded the view to the planet’s orbit and watched as the Curious approached it, ready to give orders if the unknown turned hostile.