Contact (IC)

[North America Inc]

No godmodding
No spamming
No flaming
No exceptions

---

...The universe is too vast to be empty...

---

FIRST CONTACT

November 1st, 2013 AD

It started off as any normal day. The children played. The workers worked. Cities were alive. Commerce was steady. Politicians legislated. No one would have guessed that today would go down in history.

They called it an unexplained movement of mass in space. It literally poofed out of nowhere, appearing just outside Jupiter's orbit. At first it was thought to be some sort of asteroid that was obstructed from view by the gas giant, but its incredibly swift and maneuverable mobility immediately ruled out that explanation. One thing was for sure: it was heading towards Earth.

Within a matter of a few hours, it traveled a distance that would've taken several years to travel with the current technology on Earth. The massive spherical object decelerated as it approached the Earth's orbit. By comparison, it was roughly one fourth the size of the moon. It stood dormant above the Earth until finally, several skyscraper sized ships emerged from behind it and entered the atmosphere.

Each one of them occupied the air spaces of the capital cities of Neo-Assyrian Empire,North America Inc ,Guadalupadorr, Torsiedelle ,Zepplien -and several other nations around the world. They stood dormant in the skies above the cities, inciting mixtures of awe, panic, and confusion among the cities' populace.

It was obvious who operated the ships. Aliens from another world, there is no other possible explanation. It was unclear what they want. They were not attacking, but there's a possibility that could change. Until they engage in open communications, their intentions will remain unclear...
But what we did not know some Aliens have been here along

...and the story begins...

[Guadalupador]

OOC: EDIT: DISREGARD THIS POST

[North America Inc]

Do not post until we figure out the problem with the alien species.

[Kyuria]

What a world!
Sure, the universe was big, heck, the galaxy alone was mind boggling -millions of millions of stars, maybe even billions!- but there were some things that were just so hard to find. Like a large, dense, and resource rich planet with an atmosphere, magnetosphere, and was in the green belt of the local star. But one that was also capable of supporting life? It was no wonder the creatures that lived upon its surface were so obsessed with their big marble in their own little spot in the universe. Zeta couldn't blame them for it, nor could he even have blamed the majority of them who thought themselves alone in the wide, wide ocean of time. They were still fools of course, but understandable. Or maybe he was just being overly philosophical?

The deck plinked as his massive clawed foot set down. The towering alien form -even when hunched- was a terrifyingly magnificent sight to behold. Half reclined in the chair, what the natives no doubt would have called a "space dragon" was the commander of the VSNS Marche, and by direct line of logic, the default commander of the flotilla aboard. Woo.

Ah heck, what the hey! At the very least he was in a pretty good position to make thorough usage of the rank he didn't want. They had discovered a new planet! The only question now was, what to do with them? For that reason, Zeta had halted his fleet, and parked (mighty brazenly, might I add) above the southern pole, and sent notice back home. They in turn sent notice to the powers that be, who passed it up the chain of command and then thrown it to the politicos, who eventually after a decent time of bawling it out and thoroughly mauling each proposal until only the best one was left standing came to the best possible conclusion available to them at the time. Or so the reply went,... the one thing that you learned real quick about government was that some things were pretty universal, and bureaucracies were a special case in and of themselves that you never wanted to get tangled up in.
Which was part of the reason why they were still sitting here and waiting on the other ships that were supposed to reinforce them.

"Use your better judgement as the situation calls."

An absolutely AMAZINGLY competent answer.
Which was terrifying, because governments were rarely ever so competent or even functional enough not to blow themselves apart performing even the most menial of tasks.
And so, the Marche and its compliment and escorts were all sitting, staring, and waiting,... just kind of poised like so many space ducks above the atmosphere. Zeta had to admit, he was only waiting on them for one reason,... he had previously sent word that his ships would be holding position, allowing the other lot to take point on this matter. Truth was, he was partially doing it for selfish reasons. He didn't want it to splash back on him if things turned out bad, and if he did that, it would be not just his own ass he'd saved, but the asses of everyone else under his command.

Yes, he was a cautious one, and that was why he'd managed to have gotten as far ahead in life as he did.
Meanwhile, if they would not be making any active moves, they certainly could take passive ones. At this point, much of the fleet's resources had been taken up by hacking into and establishing data feeds with the global information network,.. the "internet" as it was called by the natives. While most of it was absolute garbage, it was really interesting stuff none the less. Unfortunately, it was very taxing on their limited resources, so at present all available energy and processing power that could be spared was diverted into the task,... leaving the fleet quite vulnerable to anything. Pshaw, it wasn't like there was anything at all to worry about. Surely, such primitive being would be content to go about their lives,... and even if they did notice them, they simply couldn't be so stupid as to launch an attack upon a superior foe in just about every way.

With a chuckle,Zeta collapsed the holographic globe he had been holding, staring out wistfully across the massive several hundred meter wide cavern of the ship's bridge, out the vast football field sized bay windows and out beyond across the kilometers of alloys that made up his sip,... and off further into space, to gaze lovingly upon the massive blue, green, brown, and white sphere bellow. It was such a beautiful sight,...

He flicked his claws suddenly and there appeared a holographic screen, and as he punched a square in the projected light, he couldn't help but laugh to himself as he began watching is 141st cat video of the day on a place called "YouTube."

"Heh, funny little creatures, so amused by even the simplest little things. HAH!!! And aren't I the one to talk, enjoying every single minute of it!? If they are any kind of reasonable, we'll definitely have to start importing culture from them- DAAAWW!! That's so adorable!!?!!"

[Primordial Luxa]

---

-----500,000 kilometers away from Pluto, February 1, 2017-----

---

There is a strong, very real and incredibly “blip” in space that is baffling to its discoverers. It’s as if reality itself simply disappears in this space replaced with a seething and unknowable nothing. While it isn’t directly seeable from earth any radio telescopes or satellites that try to photograph it will relay nothing. Not a black image but a complete blanked and deleted file where pictures should be. Over the next several days this “blip” slowly begins to move towards the center of the solar system at a rate of almost a quarter of a billion kilometers a day and is secluded to pass near earth in about two weeks.

---

-----Earth, all of it-----

---

At roughly the same time that this “blip” appears another more earthly phenomena begins to sweep the globe a subconscious malady that place a psychotic smog over the world causing incredibly lucid, exotic and nearly identical dreams in almost every human being. These are incredibly personal and resonate dreams that seem to affect everyone on a primal level as if their something horribly familiar about them and those of the population that have any already present subconscious abnormalities will be drive to near madness as the dreams emotional effects are amplified.

The nights are filled with strange and unusual shapes and sound that baffle and confuse even the most intelligent, however the effects on humans the animals get it much worse. Within the first week nearly every type of primate on the world has been thrown into fits of psychotic rage and suicidal tendencies, while dolphins and whales dive to the depths drowning themselves. Only cephalopods seem to be immune and all of the world octopuses and squids seem to be in a state of alert and presentness.

For all their similarity the dreams seem to be of three different types.

The first is the most common and is a begins with the dreamer either being forcefully drowned beneath the ocean during a raging storm of black lightning the brine and salt stinging their face as they sink and many claim to still smell and taste the ocean after waking up. Other times however they find themselves walking willingly and purposefully into the ocean across a beach of black glass like sand, no matter how hard they struggle however they continue to journey into the abyss. Once submerged the dreams simply walks toward a single calling point that beckons with a call that can only be described as instinctual. The fear of this journey is unbearable as they walk in the pitch black, lightless freezing cold wasteland of nothingness drawn by a lure or unknowable strength. Few people ever get to the end of this walk but those who do are most certainly driven stark raving mad by whatever is calling them. The only words that these crazies dare utter are unpronounceable syllables that relate to no known dialect.

The second begins with the dream looking up at the sky for what seems like eons as the sky races by at an incredible pace before exploding into fire and black ash. The dreamer has barely a second to scream before all of a sudden they are hurdling through space towards some unknown force. They soar on the aether for eternities that cause a certain terror in the dream as the entirety of space seems to be seen within a split second. They travel past raging radiation storms and awe-inspiring nebulas of seething sentience that can shatter even a scientist ideas of the cosmos. However eventual the dreamer is faced with a single force that has been drawing them, but none remember it. They all wake remembering every aspect of the dream except what was in that final frontier, they all know they saw it but none ever remember.

The final and rarest of dreams is one reserved for the already mental damaged or unstable. In this dream the dreamer watches through their eyes as they brutally murder everyone love. The awake unable to tell if its reality or dream and proceed to enact their daily rituals, however every time they meet another living person they take up whatever weapon they can find and kill them with a visceral and violent joy. However nothing in this dream is forcing them to engage in this perversion and a primitive side is unleashed in a wanton display of savagery and bloodshed. However all recount that in this dream their one figure that they dont attack, a man in a black cloak wearing a mask that no two can agree upon. He simply watches their action wordlessly and their is something about him that strike fear into the dreamer.

[Guadalupador]

1600 Hours: Dorian Radio Observatory 5-1B, near Divouga, Guadalupador. (24/2/17)

Itsuwo Levansky, a radio astronomer, working at the observatory was just trying to pass the time on a sleepy afternoon, a day of tracking asteroids could be tedious work sometimes. He counted down the clock, near his desk waiting for his shift to end, "Hey Levansky, take a look at this!" Itsuwo got up from his computer, and walked towards his colleague's computer terminal. What is it Vayanova, any activity on Jupiter we need to know about?" Levansky asked in a bored monotone voice. "No, these radio astronomers in the southern hemisphere are going nuts over these readings from above the South Pole! They're saying that there's something up there, objects of some sort, they in a orbit with the Earth. This might be an even bigger discovery than the signal that they got a few weeks ago." Levansky couldn't believe what he was hearing. "This is all hogwash isn't it? This is all just some elaborate prank you and your buddies down in the S. hemisphere are pulling again." "No! This is all really happening, look at the data." Vayanova pulled up some of the evidence on her terminal. "See? Look at these readings, they even have a rudimentary outline of what the objects look like." Levansky, humoring himself looked through the data, he then looked at the outline. His skepticism turned into surprise, it was all too realistic, nothing like the pranks that Vayanova would play on him on slow days. He went back to his computer and started to contact the other astronomers. Confirmation of the unknown vessels was all that he needed. Itsuwo, then checked the radio frequencies for a sign of contact. Something was talking up there, so the objects had to have been inhabited. He left the radio frequencies back to his desk and sat down. He took of his glasses and wiped his eyes, tears started to flow, Vayanova went over to him. "What's wrong?" Levansky looked up, and with a happy grin on his face, said "Nothing, this is fantastic! We now know that we're not alone in the universe!" He got up and contacted the Dorian government.

1900 Hours: Nosamo, Guadalupador. (24/2/17)
The people of Guadalupador were in a state of shock, an extraterrestrial vessel was just there, floating above the south pole as if it had always been there. No one knew what to make of the sight on their television screens, some were scared, some were curious, and others were optimistic about the outcomes of the event. The Grand Premier, Enrique Yanama was rushed into his bunker, all around him were, Guadalupador's finest scientists, and generals. "First of all, how did this thing get here?" the Grand Premier asked with concern. An astronomer from the newly re-established Dorian Astronomical Society retorted, "We're trying to figure that out, the vessels simply came out of nowhere." Enrique asked another question, "Have you tried hailing it?" "We have, but it seems they are either not ready to respond, or just don't want to. Who knows, this might just be a group of probes, sent here to study us." Another radio astronomer chipped in. "Probes?! That group of objects are probes? No way, no how! That thing just sent a vessel above the planet, and they aren't calling back? Those little green men up there are going to try and kill us all off!" One general proclaimed. "Ease off on the stereotype, General Omu they might not be here to kill us." the Grand Premier said. "Right, they might just be here to say 'hi'." the first astronomer said in agreement. "This also might explain the dreams that people have reported." Itsuwo Levansky remarked, tired from his immediate flight to Nosamo, from the observatory. "Well you station was the first to report to us, you honestly think that these things are here just to communicate, like through dreams?" General Omu, now calmer than before, asked. "Perhaps, we don't know if there is only one extraterrestrial species, out there, or maybe billions more in the universe, the only concrete evidence that we have now is that there is only one kind of species." Levansky stated. Grand Premier Yanama then ordered that the Dorian Aerospace Defense System be put on high alert. "This is for precautionary measures, we don't know their intentions yet. I hope you understand, Mr. Levansky." Enrique Yanama then said. The Grand Premier got up out of his seat, and walked out towards the elevator, "I need to talk to the people of Guadalupador about this issue, we need to be on air by 20:00."

[Zepplien]

Educational Camp 389
Commissar Romanov 30028 ran toward a burning building, pulling her pistol out from her holster and firing upon the small group of pyros who were torching it. The Pyros turned their attention to the 17 year old girl, making her stop dead in her tracks and grab a machine gun from a dead corpse, an RPK if she remembered, and sprayed fire at the Pyros as emergency firefighting trucks pulled up, not letting their students out until the pyros were dealt with. After a gun battle lasting only a few seconds the Commissar and a couple members of the school guard stepped toward a seemingly more insane pyro, constant murmuring of what did not sound quite like words. The Commissar pointed to the young man "Take him to an interrogation chamber! We will cut the truth out of the capitalist traitor!" she then pulled out her phone and pressed the number for the representative from the Jr. Ministry of Sciences "Hai, Herr doctor. I require you to work faster on the mystery of the dreams, our pyros are starting to become even less stable. Conscript as many science students as you need." she then flipped the phone shut before making a second call back to Hegemony High Command "Admiral, this is President of the Student Council of Educational Camp 389. Yes Admiral, it is happening here too. Shall I alert the Tank club to deal with rebellion?" after listening for a few moments she nods slightly "Yes yes, do svidánʹja Admiral." she then closes the phone and holds her hand out "Halt that prisoner, I have new orders from command. Someone get me a Dragnov, I want to see how far away I can hit him though."

ZHS Red November, Near Hegemony Antartican Research Base.
Captain Werner 20092 looked at the first officer like he was mad "Airship here? I think you might need a little down time Commander." the XO joked back "I always do, the shift are..." seeing the harsh glance from the Commissar on the Bridge made him stop mid sentence and instead finish "They are very fair and I am happy to be a part of them in service to the endless glory of the Hegemony." the commissar turned back to hovering over a very uncomfortable helmsman. The Captain then ordered "All hands, prepare to surface." the then ordered "Red alert, prepare for hostilities." like the diesel counterparts the Zep nuclear submarines had non nuclear surface to surface or surface to air weapons, which the Captain ordered armed. As the titanic Zep ship surfaced and the Captain saw what he meant, not an airship, a starship, assumed to be an airship closer than it was. She slid down the ladder again and ordered "Commissar, input your launch codes for a nuclear launch order, XO, input a targeting package, aim for that ship." she pulled the launch key out from her necklace and slid it into the slot "Take us down to firing depth, and get me a secure line to HQ."

Hegemony Space Station Defender of the New Man
"Prepare to launch MIRV three at the object over Antarctica, hold fire until we have confirmation orders from Command." Cosmonaut-Commander Gustavson 20029 order to his men and women on one of the dozen orbital defense stations of the Hegemony. The Cosmonaut-Commissar gave a stern look to the Commander, informing him "Commander, I will not hand over launch keys till I hold in my hands orders from command, these weapon stations violate half a dozen international laws, and though we withdrew from the WA, we do not want to piss off nations that are WA. Long live the Hegemony!" the Commander responded with equal patriotic enthusiasm "Long Live the Hegemony!"

[Torsiedelle]

Torsiedelle, North Caucuses

It had been kept a secret for several decades. The government wouldn't let it be known just yet. The people weren't ready for this...

Deep within a secret underground bunker, the sounds of Morse Code beeps and metallic clanging was incessant, as signals were sent via radio all over the nation to agents and military officials. In the lower bowels, scientists worked in biolabs, testing viruses and cures, and other things...things....

The grayish-blue monster was just that. A thing. What looked like a chameleon had babies with a squid, which mated with a human, writhing and flailing its appendages wildly. The scientists watched it from behind a Plexiglas window, guarded by soldiers in SWAT armour. They had been creating and studying these creatures, spliced together from the DNA of a long-dead alien, recovered in the 1950s. They were studying it, as usual, when they received an urgent message to go upstairs and receive new orders. This wasn't the same alien. They had a new mission now...



Meanwhile, on the surface, other scientists were looking into the strange dreams that had been plaguing the world recently, with little progress. The military was stepping up its activity, knowing what they were facing, but the civilians were clueless. Building off of hastily-built blueprints, crews in the Southwest were hard at work, building a secret instillation, should their fears be realized.

In the City of Grozny, a man in a black trenchcoat and sunglasses, codenamed "Agent X", had no idea just what he was about to find out.

[Creataris]

Southern Garmillan Mainland (southern Greenland)
Baleras
15:00 GMT-3
Sirens could be heard throughout the city and its surrounding settlements as not only the military but also the militia (everyone between the ages of 16 and 75) took up defensive positions in every street, plaza and public park. "ATTENTION CITIZENS. ALERT CONDITION RED IS IN EFFECT. ALL CHILDREN AND SENIOR CITIZENS ARE TO BE TAKEN TO THE BUNKERS. MILITIA PERSONNEL ARE TO OPERATE IN SIX HOUR SHIFTS, THESE SHIFTS SHALL ALTERNATE BETWEEN A SHIFT MANNING THE DEFENCES, A SHIFT OF REST, A SHIFT IN YOU'RE NORMAL PLACE OF WORK AND A SHIFT ON STANDBY" comes the booming voice of the public announcement system across the city as people are given emotional suppressants to combat the dreams and foreigners were being arrested as spies (that carries the death penalty). Fighters flew overhead to ensure that whatever trickery was being used on them would not work as their enemies had hoped, the empires naval vessels were also boarding all foreign vessels that they could catch whilst those that could outpace them were being sunk.

Southern Garmillan Mainland
Baleras
Imperial Palace
15:05 GMT-3
"Please my lord you must get to safety" begs President Redoph Hyss as the emperor dons his combat armour. "If our lord wishes to remain and fight then the Imperial Guard shall protect him to our dying breaths" replied the commander of the Imperial Guard Director-General Heydom Gimleh with a look of disdain on his that was directed at Hyss "My lord I believe that now would be the time to mention that there is an alien vessel approaching the planet and we believe it to be the source of these dreams that we've been having". "Hyss, you and any others that wish to hide may do so but I shall remain with my people" said Emperor Abelt Dessler just as he put his helmet on and began walking out of the room for his throne room "Gimleh my old friend, I want you to get me a direct video comms link with the alien vessel if you can, if you can't then you are to prepare to fire on it and I shall make a public address on it later today."

[Primordial Luxa]

---

-----Earth-----

---

The dreams (now becoming more like nightmares) only intensified as the "blip" moved closer to the earth and the sanity of the entirety human race would be dearly tested in these hours. The population would begin to shun sleep entirely for fear of the waiting pain and anguish that would most certainly await them. However for some it would simply be too much leading to a dramatic increase in both suicide and homicide rates through out the globe as well as the inevitable human response of worship that traditional occurred when the unknown was presented to them.

These acts of violence would be sporadic and intensely disturbing as the primordial animalistic urges of the people began to boil the the surface. The emotions and beliefs that supposedly 'civilized man' tried to distance himself from where become more real each and every day. This coupled with the rise of incredibly hedonistic and violent cults devoted to the dreams and the "blip" added an apocalyptic tone to the earth as the sky were watched in fear rather than wonder.

---

-----1.2 million km away from Saturn, Titan-----

---

The "blips" march stoped for a split second as it past by Saturn's most famous and exotic moon of Titan. This hides it from veiw for almost an entire day before the "blip" continues on its original course once more revealing Titan. However this version is much different from the ice orange orb that one circled the ringed world. Now it is a blackness waste of a celestial body. Its surface is covered in silver and grey fire that burns almost 600 kilometers above the surface in the void of space, seething in the gravity-less vacuum and moving over the surface like great churning mercury oceans. Etched into the moons surface are a set of deep green scars that go straight to the rocks core and burn with a dark green eldtrich fire that damages all recording devices that document it.

---

-----Earth-----

---

The Creataris message was replied to only a split second after it was sent.
It begins with a rush of static and dead pixels that move freely rather than simply popping into view.
This is followed by a scream of rapturous pain and then one of pleasure before a single light flashes on screen of a color that the screen shouldn't be able to produce let alone the human eye see. Another flash this time twice and then again three time. before the screen returns to static and screams followed by a string of numbers 47-9-126-43 both spoken by a voice that sounds like glass sliding down an animals throat. Then again static and screams before the words "We Wait" are broadcast into the minds of those who view it, before it disappears.
The message deletes itself from the Creataris records 5 minutes after it is revived leaving no trace of its existence.

[Torsiedelle]

"Watch the sky..."

That had become a common phrase among the people over the last few days. The government was taking that advice seriously, and astronomers were closely monitoring the blip. Meanwhile, around the nation, military comms were on fire, and information was being swapped at lightning speed. several nations were being targeted as possible manufacturers of the dreams, including regions of North America and Western Europe. In the underground of the nation's cities and suburbs, undercover agents and workers were taking part in a secret project. The people were finding themselves struggling to sleep, but still sleeping.

[Creataris]

Southern Garmillan Mainland
Baleras
Imperial Palace
Throne Room
15:46 GMT-3
"people of the Earth, it is my solemn duty to announce that we are under attack. Some thing is attacking us, it has been the cause of these dreams and it is on its way to our world as I speak. This thing has already left destruction in its wake and this is a clear sign of what is coming for us" announced the Emperor as he was being broadcast across the world after hijacking the other nations tv signals, radio waves and internet pages (uber hacking) whilst an image of Titans current state appeared "This is what it has left behind it. We attempted peaceful communication but all that we received was a horrifying message with the numbers 47-9-126-43. If you know what this means then please share it with the rest of the world. If we do not find out what this means then we at least shall be ready, our orbital defence platforms stand ready to repel this thing. Together we stand united, Together our world shall be safe. Gahle Garmillon". With that the feed cut and outside the palace all that could be heard throughout Garmillan territory was the repeated chanting of "Gahle Garmillon, Gahle Dessler".

[North America Inc]

Columbia, RUSNA
White House
11:00 Eastern Standard Time

"What do you mean aliens" President Jackson asked with as much confusion as fear. One of the most powerful men in the world had just been ordered to hed into the Presidential Emergency Bunker (PUB) a few seconds before as a dozen Secret Service Agents surrounded him and forced him to get out his meeting with his top economic advisors, and he wanted to know why.

Agent Jackie Sanchez stared at her boss and without any noticable tone in her voice "SOF and NSA along with NASA has stated an Alien Craft with a large, undetermined size is currently orbiting in our atmosphere." She stared right into his eyes with fear almost overcoming him and then he changed. He realized the situation he was in he can not appear scared, he needed to tell his people, the American People not to freak out. Chaos will overcome the cities for sure, within some time as individuals and organizations will start noticing it. He collected himself looked up to the ceiling wishing he had a cigar and got back to work.

"Immediately all RUS forces will be in Defense Condition 2. I want National Guardsman and Marines to prepare for the securement of all major cities" Jackson ordered as he got into the elevator. Jackie stayed back and asked for anything else.

"Yes, I want Strategtic Orbital Forces to give me a timeline of how long they have been here and how this effects the ODIN project" As the elevator closed to go into the Bunker, Jackie nodded her approval.

[b]Strategetic Orbital Forces HQ, Branch of the United States Air Force
30 miles outside of Federation City
12:57[b]
"What do we got?" Lt. General James Patterson asked as he entered the Global Operations Center. Orbital Operations Center the Crown Jewel of SOF monitored all activity outside the atmosphere although this in of it self was difficult. The room was covered in people in military atttire, Scientists, and the obvious Sentries at the door. Computer lit up the room, while the actual lights were of. In the far wall was a large screen showing live images from a Satelite as it monioted the craft.

"We got nothing, despite us knowing the shape, we can not get anything from the actual design." Colonel David Norton said as he joined Patterson at his side.

"I want this on full survilliance on this at all times, and I want a current Sitrep on the ODIN project" Patterson shouted as the room went to a short moment of silence to hear their general.

One of the privates rushed to Patterson and handed him a report. "I got that sir, um the ODIN project, the Kinectic Bombardment System, is still not yet fully operational. Despite us actually having fully functional Satelites Online, the actual system is not yet complete". Patterson looked through the folder, read the pages,while not actually at the Private.

When he turned his head to look at the Private he muttered "Can it be used as a Worst Case Scenario against that?" Patterson pointed his hand with the folder at the images of the Ship.

The Private gave a grin and said "Yes sir but why not use our nuclear arsenal, it is much more reliable?"

"Private our ability to hit that would be seriously diminshed, the enemy could easily hit us before the ICBMs get even close. This ODIN system gives us an oppurtunity to at least strike back. Do you understand Private?"

"Yes sir" the Private answered with his noticable grin gone.

"Get back to work" Patterson ordered which the Private Complied. Patterson stared at the Images wondering why they came, why are they here, he asked in his head. Are they here to free us or destroy us. Anxiety instantly came over him and his Subconscious daydreaiming came to an urupt stop as a Srgt. asked him to come.

"What is it" Patterson demanded as he headed towards his Desktop.

"This sir" The Srgt said as the computer showed Columbia, their Capital in chaos.

[Guadalupador]

0800 Hours: Grand Premier's Residence, Nosamo, Guadalupador. (1/3/17)

Enrique Yanama was outraged at how the message from Garmillia could appear on each and every monitor in the world, but there was another time and place for that. Enrique rushed into the situation room, defense advisers, and astrophysicists mingling with one another, quickly turning their attention to Yanama's entrance. "Any information on what those numbers mean?" No one answered, Yanama already in a crabby mood, from his lack of sleep, then said. "Well anyone? Are you serious? Nobody?! You've got to be kidding me, for Veii's sake!" Itsuwo Levansky, now permanently part of the Grand Premier's panel on Extraterrestrial Life, then announced: "The anomaly that's causing these bad dreams and other horrible things, is now confirmed to be coming from somewhere other than the unknown ships above the South Pole. The pictures of Titan are pretty terrifying to look at, especially when we don't know how something as simple as this spatial anomaly could do that." General Omu then said, "There's two types of extraterrestrials out there, and we need to stop this 'thing' before it's too late, and the Earth turns out like Titan." Yanama then sat down, rubbing his eyes, "Any suggestions?" Several officers chipped in ideas: "Grand Premier, we can try to continue contacting the mysterious fleet above the South Pole, see if they're having the same problems." Another officer stood up and said, "We need to contact other leaders, and try to figure this all out together, combine our intelligence, so that we can build a full frame on what's actually going on." Yanama then looked up at the two officers, "Combine those ideas, and we could be on our way." Enrique said sleepily. He went back to his office, to find a letter from the Dorian Intelligence Service, it read that the RSUNA's capital, Columbia was in a state of emergency, and that Yanama couldn't really contact the President of North America right now. 'Damn', he thought. He then called up the Dorian Space Command. "Can I speak to Director Jolin please?" "Yes, Jolin? Good, Can you get the Astronauts in Burk III, to redirect their course towards the unknown ships? We need to make first contact as soon as possible."

0900 Hours: Low Earth Orbit, 120 Km above the South Pole, Burk III Orbiter. (1/3/17)
"I can't believe this, we're going to attempt to contact these things directly, as if the command couldn't get any more desperate." Astronaut Raiko Tolsky grumbled. "Eh, get over it man, we're making history!" His flight engineer, Saren Oppani tried to be positive. "We're getting closer to one of the ships, redirect our course over towards that largest ship over there." Raiko pointed to the small sword shaped object in the distance. "Burk III this is command, what is your status?" The transmission from ground control asked the two, "Command, this is Burk III, we are redirecting our course to the flag ship, no attempt at contact is being made from the extraterrestrials, we are continuing to try and hail them." Saren reported. Command paused for a second, and then responded, "Continue on your course towards the flagship, and continue hailing attempts." "Roger that, command, Burk III out." Raiko said. "Mother of Veii, what are we doing?" Raiko asked fearfully.

[Kyuria]

Goodness gracious!
One, two, three,... five, eight, nine, twelve, fifteen, twenty! And they just kept coming! Zeta studied his hologlobe closely, observing the rapidly spreading red patches that marked areas of the planet aware of their existence. Sure, it had been expected, but,... if the statistics from the data mine were accurate, well,... the rate at which their discovery was propagating was immense,... exponential even. Perceptive little bugger they were,... perhaps they really were as highly intelligent as their potential technological development hinted at? What spectacular creatures! Whatever the case, this was a most exhilarating but nerve wracking development. At the same time there were no words to describe the happiness and elation he and every other member of the fleet felt now about their discovery, at the same time, there were no words to describe the sheer terror. They were intelligent,... they had culture,... they had technology,... they were sentient,... and the fleet was isolated, far from home and cut off on its own.

Either they were going to find success comparable to the native's ancient explorers who sailed to far away lands much like the Marche and all who served aboard in the modern day,... or they would find themselves getting the entirely wrong brand from an entire civilization.
The implications were,...
Mind boggling.

What,... then,... were they to do? There was so much to consider, so many possibilities. There were countless things the scientists still needed to do, but they were rapidly running out of tim-

"GYEEAAAAAAAAHH!!!" A sudden explosion of activity aboard the bridge! Zeta's head jerked up with a quickness, just in time to witness an flurry of papers blasting into the air, sending data plates equipment and general materials scattering every which way. And at the center of it all, one somewhat humanoid alien, with avian like features stared wide eyed,... those eyes,... they were insane, feral, unintelligent, struck with the madness of horrors incomprehensible. "Dreams, dreams dreams dreams dreamsdreamsDREAMS!!!" The poor tormented ensign had said his last words, before instantly devolving into some animal from a primal time long before history could even have been considered as a vague concept in the eyes of the first sentient of their world. Blast it all! With a snarl and a leap he cleared two whole terraces of consoles, tackling the nearest guard who had been just to slow to react, or recover from the initial shock. That didn't matter, mere seconds separated the poor soul from being mauled by the mere shell that lay atop her, eyes bulging out of its head and foam dripping venomously from a contorted maw.
At once, the rest f the bridge crew was in motion, and Zeta saw it all in slow motion. Those nearest the commotion were startled beyond belief, heck, he could even see them still falling through space. Those further away were also stunned, but not to such a degree and were all looking towards the scene, but only still now registering exactly what was happening. And then there were those furthest away, who not only saw but recovered first and were already moving, but too little too late, they could never possibly make it in time, not even the guards already drawing their side arms. He even registered himself in motion, as if he were naught but a spectator in his own head, privy to the thoughts going through his own mind, but that they were not his own,... it was as if he were looking at the scene as a mere detached observer, emotionless and calm beyond what ought to have been possible.

It was a strange feeling, but at the same time one that was vaguely familiar. And kind of amusing. His kind were sort of odd balls anyway, not exactly like other species out there. Speaking of which, if there was one thing you did not try to contest one of those space dragons over against, it was reflexes and reaction time.
Instantly everything seemed to snap back into reality, every thought in the instant in time jumbled together in one ball of emotion and sensory memory that could never be unraveled, and was simply tossed from his recollection, and reality resumed its fast pace course. A scream a shout, and a nasty war cry rose from scattered corners of the bridge. The heavy stomping sound of Zeta leaping up and stepping over a file lock box and sending it toppling over beneath his weight startling and distracting the feral crewman, buying the guards woman just enough time to plant a vicious uppercut along his jaw. The added height the force of the impact lifting him was all the captain needed. In the blink of an eye a flash, glinting metal bedazzling any onlookers, the a booming noise like a cannon, once, twice! The first impact took the ensign in the back under the right shoulder blade,his chest exploding outwards as the massive slug tore through the weave of his uniform and body before burying itself two meters into the deck. The second exactly to the left, almost perfectly opposite but a few factions of an inch to the right and down a few centimeters, the exact same result though was no less horrifying, or sickeningly satisfying. And yet, death was not instantaneous, no, not by a long shot.

Both wounds were quite extreme, more than fatal enough on their own, but there was always that grace period where it took time for one's life force to completely drain from their bodies. Unless another simply snuffed it out all together in much the same way as the captain did in the coldest of blood, a single third shot to the back of the head that sent the battered corpse flying then sprawling three whole rows away.
And with that, all at once, everything was calm.

The papers only just now reached the deck, the whole event having taken place in just one instant in time. Everyone was frozen perfectly still, petrified like statues and not a sound other then rustling and the clinking of scattered tools, both of which quickly died down to nothingness. And they all merely waited. Entire seconds passed before finally zeta let out a long pained sigh. Not again,... no,... "Please, fetch me his file, I must notify the next of kin,... and summon one of the priests or a chaplain. A moment of silence for all, say a prayer, just,......." He choked on his next words, a knot having seemed to form in the back of his throat before he simply gave up, thumbed the safety of his weapon and tilted the barrel upwards. Still, no one could bring themselves to stir, as if if they didn't move, nothing else could happen. The captain closed his eyes, and pressed the barrel to his face before bowing, a sign of respect for the fallen.

How many was that now?

---

"Are you sure it's not the planet? Maybe it's the natives, they've certainly noticed us by now, we all know it, and they know it, and they probably know that we know."

"Please, come now, such an idea is almost absurd. Their technology level, not on average, but of their highest ranking sects seems,.. well,... they' just too low, too far down to be behind something like this. It's just not possible, it shouldn't be possible at least, I know there's no real thing such as truly impossible-"

"Please, save us the lecture. I was just asking a question. I'm sorry for being hostile, but I haven't slept in days, and I've one of the more stressful jobs on this Great Ship-"

"Both of you, hush! Enough of this nonsense, just,... let me think for a while." Zeta sat now in his command throne, flanked by the highest ranking Science and "Special" Tasks personnel aboard. Sometimes it was good having what was effectively an entirely self sufficient mobile colony under your jurisdiction. Other times, it was the worst possible fate, worse even then the worst of deaths.

Out bellow on the terrace laid before him there was a small vigil being held, centered around a small memorial that had been quietly erected over the past half day cycle aboard the Fleet Carrier piece by piece. The guards who had cordoned off the area had seemed not to mind at all, and were even discreetly taking part in the short ceremony in their own little way, despite being on duty. The entire shift and that section of the bridge had been locked down shortly after the,... "incident" had occurred. Sadly, it only meant that things were going to get just that much harder for everyone who had been involved.
"If it weren't for these blasted dream! We've held out until now,... but I think they're starting to get to us. It must be some kind of weapon, meant to erode us mentally, maybe test our capacity to tolerate stress. Whoever is doing it, they certainly want us all dead, that's for sure. Is there any defense we can possibly mount against it?"

A slender silvery rat like creature, the most esteemed of the scientists aboard and by defacto elected head of the Carrier's technical personnel's representatives, one Zei' DeRvon Chaumbaün (Or however the hell you were supposed to pronounce it) adjusted a holographic visor over his eyes, taking a data plate, a thin sheet of glass functioning much like the handheld tablets used by the natives of the world below. "Well, if what you say is correct, then what we're looking at must be some form of psionic weaponry. Now, I'm going to channel my more militaristic counterpart here and go one step further: The real question we're going to need to ask first is how the Phinu'Qe they're doing it, and more importantly, how in the name of-" "Sir!" "Right,... how they managed to design something that works on us, creatures that, from what we've learned so far, they practically have a negative chance of knowing anything about. From there? We'll use some of our data on ESP species and come up with something halfway decent."

With a nod, he turned it over to his counterpart, the shadowy commander of the fleet's special forces, almost stereotypically shrouded in shadows and only known by whatever alias he happens to come up with for the hour. "I actually would have suggested something rather peaceful and passive, not to sound insulting to my counter part there. Knowing what is is only gets us so far. I wouldn't say we need to strike, but we're going to have to get a feel of these natives. I suggest launching a quantity of probes and more actively collecting information. Find their hidden bases -they WILL have some- figure out who's who and what locations are the most important and where what is concentrated most. It wouldn't hurt to do so if things turned out for the best, and if worst came to worst we would have an extra advantage. But I must caution, we will have to make a move soon,..."

Now it was Zeta's turn to nod and close his eyes, the sounds of some lonely lover wailing and sobbing in despair reaching his ears as the memorial procession continued on. No matter what, life continued on. "Make it so, I want all available science resources that are not a complete necessity to the current task reassigned to this counter measure. In the mean time we'll launch probes and satellites, get a good feel of this world and it's inhabitants. Launch a few armed buoys with them, and a squad of fighters for each group as well rotating between five separate guard shifts. As for the Marche and her retinue, I'll take care of the ship as best I can. Curse our rotten fortune, where are those reinforcements when you need them?"

---

But a moment, it merely took for the targeting systems to calculate their optimal trajectories, another moment for the lids of each launch tube to flip open, and several more as one by one hundreds of probes were blasted out of the Fleet Carrier's bow simultaneously, spreading out in a fan shape to rapidly encircle the globe. Each hurling mass of metal, sensors, and gadgets were sent traveling thousands of kilometers per hour, and in minutes many were in position over their targets. Every major population center and capital now found itself with between one and five dozen spies in their skies, who rapidly launched and assault on their information networks. The time for subtlety was over. Each one, using the power of a complex VI simply smashed through fire walls with the equivalent of a data sledge hammer, raiding files with impunity. Nothing was left to chance, as every single byte of data that could be reached on any electronic device was scanned. Particularly interesting or suspicious files would be cloned, whilst there were certain rare times when they would find particularly,... sensitive and classified files,... which would be completely locked down and denied access external access. Slowly but surely the sphere of this irresistible influence spread, uncontested at first, but once news spread beyond the affected areas an online resistance was promptly formed by a number various spirited individuals and powerful groups such as Anonymous, who quickly contested the attacks, and outright halted them in some areas after grueling hours of hacking showdowns.

At the rate it had gone, governments would not have been able to miss it if they were anything more than utterly oblivious, and to guard against physical counter attacks, the Fleet Carrier did what it did best. It did Carrier things.

Several massive sets of launch tubes catapulted over a hundred star fighters, dispersing them amongst the probes that were launched previously. They mobilized with a quickness to them that couldn't be readily matched, streaking through space like shooting stars, just as fast, sleek, powerful, and deadly as the phenomenon they resembled. Ironically enough, for all their reasons for doing it, however, the alien fleet was in for a surprise. In fact,... they would be getting more than they bargained for.

"Roschan Squadron, Craft #03 here,... what the heck is that?"
"Zeivein Squadron, Craft #22 here,... I've got an odd blip on my radar, anyone care to confirm?"
"Leisevin Squadie 7, yeah I see it too."
"Roschan Squadron, Squad Leader, we're getting something as well,...
"Marche Airspace Control Tower, Starboard 5 to Airspace Command, unidentified object confirmed, orders on how to proceed?"
"Airspace Command, all units be advised, we have an uniden-"
"WHAT THE PHIN-"

=========== Burk III Orbiter-Flight Path
Roschan Squadron, Craft #03,... the poor rookie schmuck,...

A blip suddenly appeared just on the edge of the scanner's range and rapidly approaching the Burk III. As in, hauling obscene amounts of ass directly towards the tiny craft! If there was one thing what wasn't a good idea, it was flying around in a somewhat busy airspace blind. In a second the blip had crossed nearly two fifths of the distance from the edge of its range to the orbiter, and an object much like a space shuttle slowly came into existence in the distance, growing rapidly,... too fast!! For a brief moment, the Astronauts all experienced something surreal. Whether some primal force that lay dormant for millennia, or perhaps some strange form of communication on a base level that all living things share, they came to a mutual understanding with the pilot of Roschan Squadron Craft #03,... a pure undiluted storm of absolute utter mind shattering abject terror.
In the blink of any eye the fighter crossed the remaining distance, the pilot far too panicked to shut off the afterburners like the rest of his squad mates had, and remained hurtling on a direct course to intercept with orbiter. Whether by blind luck or divine intervention he slammed into the controls, smashing the thruster control and sending the craft spiraling out of the way, nearly clipping the orbiter as it blasted by.


The incident did not go unnoticed. At once, his squad mates gave chase attempting to rescue their comrade as his craft went careening out of control, radioing back the situation to the Marche's air traffic control. Who in turn, forwarded the message to the entire fleet.
Almost instantly, once cold and seemingly empty space came alive. First one, then two, then dozens, scores, hundreds of running lights and external markers came alive, a spot light here, followed by several more illuminating a strange pattern on a metal surface, a search light there, waving wildly about before finding the orbiter and locking on. The once blackened shapes of the ship's hulls became bright and clear in their detail. And so did their numbers,... 39 massive ships surrounded the Fleet carrier, a huge fleet by any measure of reckoning. And strangely enough, few of them seemed to even resemble what might have been a warship. Indeed, the vast majority were of somewhat bulky design, yet their hulls were sleek and angular, with a stylish curve here and there.

Suddenly several ships broke off, a trio warships followed by one of the more civilian looking vessels shortly behind, each banking until facing the orbiter and began to thrust, moving to intercept its path. From the window it would have looked like the behemoths were charging in super slow motion, when in fact they were slowly paddling forward at their lowest possible speed setting. The last thing anyone anywhere wanted was to have the little thing crash into and splatter itself across those armored hulls. I mean really, do you know how expensive it is to fix the paint job on a warship? The captains knew, and they sure enough were not about to have to shell out hemorrhage that much cash again so soon, and especially not here or for that reason.
However, the civilian vessel showed no such restraint. It accelerated past the warships, who quickly turned out of its way in surprise. It seemed hell bent on reaching the orbiter first, and once close enough to obscure the others from view it opened up a hangar bay along its belly, a waiting mechanical claw ready to snatch up the little orbiter in a heart beat.
They wanted a first contact? Oh, they were getting a first contact alright!


=========== United States Air Force Strategetic Orbital Forces satellite
Else where, the North American satellite found itself under,... "attack?" Errrr,...
Even as the monitors watched their screens, an odd little unmanned orbital drone latched onto the orbital asset from off screen. It had come out of nowhere and blindsided it! Now,... wait what? A triangular mechanical head suddenly appeared in front of the camera then snapped sideways, revealing the upside down visage of the drone. From the side its head appeared saw shape, with a zigzag edge for the mouth curved into an eerie looking permanent grin, and a large shimmering camera lens for its eye; which was promptly pressed against the satellite's own camera, with the other peering in as if to see who was watching from the other side. The oddly adorable machine moved back and breathed on the lens, then gave it a few experimental taps. Then the view shook again as another drone latched on, and pushed the other out of the way from below, smiling broadly as it did so. It cocked its head from side to side, before eventually biting the camera and licking the lens with a weird mechanical tongue. Some invaders,... This would continue for quite some time with the two drones alternating between bickering back and forth and examining the satellite.

---

Navigation

A beep, and a quiet alarm.

The sensor suite had detected something anomalous,... and something impossible. A whole moon, practically obliterated in a day. And a massive void in space that was steadily warping the space, and subsequently the reading around it, and systematically frying any equipment the astrogation AIs were daring to turn its way.

Unfortunately, not a soul was around to hear and answer the call. They had all already passed on. The navigation bridge was deserted and dark, not a light on save for the monitors which cast their eerie bluish glow over all surfaces in the room, revealing dark tattered heaps that had torn themselves asunder, and now lay strewn about like the papers and tools around them amidst dark stains that decorated the walls and formed giant splotches covering the decks.

A beep, and a quiet alarm.

[Guadalupador]

0945 Hours: Burk III Orbiter, Extraterrestrial Hangar Bay. (1/3/17)

The crew of the orbiter fell silent as their space craft was quietly and gently put down in the hangar, their heart rates, being monitored by mission control back on Earth, were skyrocketing. Communications with mission control were still active, surprisingly. Saren Oppani contacted mission control, his tone a fearful whisper: "Command, this is Burk III, we've just been picked up by one of the extraterrestrial ships... Command, we're going to conduct First Contact procedures. Everyone on the orbiter is pretty tense up here." "Burk III, this is command, authorization has been given, conduct First Contact Proceedures. Do you have any visual of the extraterrestrials?" Mission control responded. "No visual, so far. The other five astronauts will be going out to meet them, if they come down here, I will stay here and keep you updated on what I see." Oppani whispered quickly. The remaining crew of the Orbiter put on their Extra Vehicular Activity suits on, not knowing what the aliens breathe. With the team of astronauts all suited up, the looks on their faces, ones of fear and uncertainty. "We're all suited up Saren, you can open the airlock now." Payload Specialist, Marta Kuletzanova said. The airlock opened, and the five astronauts all slowly walked out of the Orbiter, they were amazed of how large it was. "Look over there." Raiko Tolsky pointed towards what appeared to be a large door at the other end of the hangar. "Maybe that's a way to the bridge, but I suggest we stay here, and wait for them." Engineer, Saigo Roman retorted.

0945 Hours: Dorian Space Agency Mission Control, Nosamo, Guadalupador. (1/3/17)

Director of the Space Agency, Boris Jolin, Grand Premier Enrique Yanama, and Itsuwo Levansky along with every one else working at mission control were on the edge of their seats, waiting for any contact. "How are their vital signs?" Jolin asked the medical officer. "Their vital signs are mostly normal, their heart rates are high though." "Good, nothing has happened to them..." Levansky whispered towards Yanama and Jolin. The entire room fell quiet as the report of the team exiting the orbiter was recieved. The silence was broken when one officer, in charge of the Dorian Satellite Command Network, called out to the Director: "Director Jolin! Our satellites are reporting that a variety of objects have exited what we believe is the main extraterrestrial ship!" "How many are there?!" Jolin shot back. "...Hundreds, sir." The SATCOM officer then got out of his chair. "We're tracking their trajectory now, it seems that their projected trajectories are towards major cities all over the planet." An air of tension and fear filled mission command. The room was filled with comments such as "Oh my God", "By the Gods", "Mother of Veii", gasps and crying filled the room as well. Enrique Yanama, as sleep deprived as he was, couldnt help but think about what was going to happen next, were these objects probes, or weapons? He got up out of his seat, and started to run out of the room as fast as he could, he burst out of the front door, and found his motorcade, he ordered the driver to take him back to his residence, he wanted to check back with his Panel on Extraterrestrial Life as soon as possible. Halfway there, and he was called by Levansky, left back at mission control. "Grand Premier, this is some pretty important news! It's about the numbers." YES? What about them?!" Yanama yelled into his phone. "I think I know what they are. I did some searching, they might be coordinates! I'm not exactly sure though." Levansky said quickly. "Coordinates? Are you serious?!" "Well I kind of got the idea from being on a forum on the internet, about what they mean. It's not exactly my idea." "I don't give a damn who's idea is it, we'll see if it's true, you hear me Levansky?" Yanama retorted, likely angry that some of his best analysts were over-analyzing and probably outsmarted by some random person on the internet.