“Our transmissions have been received Tannar. Let’s hope these humans don’t panic.” Glorb clapped his upper and lower mandibles together in excitement.
“Did you do as I requested Glorb?”
“Yes, yes I did. Please stop asking me about it for the 100th time.” Hesitation ensued from both as they looked at each other. “I meant no disrespect to you or your kind, Tannar. I’m sorry.”
“Understood. We both know I could crush you with one leg and not much effort. No offense taken.”
“I’ll keep that in mind, friend. We’ve spent so much time flying through the cosmos...I’m just ready to go home.”
“Me too, Glorb. Let’s focus on work for now. Bouncing the signal off the back side of their moon will keep our true location in their solar system safe for now. Trust me on this. It’s necessary when dealing with hairless apes. I don’t need to remind you of that planet we visited 800 cycles ago, do I?”
“You must be talking about Planet Harler. Don’t think for one second that I don’t regret how that went, Tannar.”
“Glorb, don’t take what I’m about to say the wrong way. Operation Earth has to go better than Operation Harler did.”
“Of course, Tannar. How could it go that poorly again?”
“The native apex species on that planet got sick, and you wanted to help them.”
“That’s right! I always want to help our new friends.”
“They got sick from you. You didn’t decontaminate properly due to faulty hardware and you knew it.”
“True, but we did help.” Glorb put emphasis on the we part.
“That is a factual statement. WE did help. You took DNA samples and worked up some medicine for those poor organisms. Do you remember that?”
“I remember and I know where you’re going with this.”
“Then the medicine ended up killing roughly 30 percent of the planet’s population.”
“Only 30 percent, Tannar. Substantial...yes, but 70 percent of any species is plenty to repopulate a planet of that size. That whole group was totally immune to the effects of the medicine.”
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“Also a factual statement, Glorb. We--” he put emphasis on the we part, “—then observed the tiny insectoid lifeforms that fed on the blood of the apex species. A small and perhaps annoying inconvenience, but not a big deal as they had coexisted for millions of cycles around their star together.”
“Yes, until we arrived.” Glorb emphasized the we again which caught an angry glare. “Then the entirety of the insectoid species died because of the medicine, which led to the extinction of two species.”
“You certainly have the facts straight now. Let’s not continue with how that caused other species in their food web to die too. Instead, Let’s focus on making sure we don’t mess anything up this time.”
The two clever lifeforms had used a special probe that was sent to the dark side of the moon. It had been carefully directed in its trajectory and flight path to avoid detection. Stealth capabilities were enabled, keeping it invisible on multiple spectrums of light.
The probe slowed itself as its approach brought it closer to the natural satellite that orbited around planet Earth. It warped spacetime affecting the gravity near it. The power needed to do such a thing was vast, so it channeled just enough to make a blip on the radar.
The signal they had beamed to Earth was received by the probe, and wrapped around the moon before rocketing towards its mother planet. Working together had netted Glorb and Tannar’s species large leaps in technology, as well as their understanding of physics. Reality could be warped to some degree, but it was dangerous.
Eventually they agreed that such amazing gifts as what they had should be shared with those who were less fortunate. Off they went with star-faring vessels that had defenses nearing impenetrable with the level of technology they possessed. Their pacifist lifestyles had been nearly bred into them through millennia of generations being taught that violence is strictly forbidden. They saw no need for it for any reason.
Many planets they visited had primitive species, which needed to evolve further and be left alone to allow intelligent life to flourish. Other planets had intelligent life, some of it was friendly and some of it was downright evil. Generally they were left alone, although monitored from there on out, to ensure peace for the rest.
Only once, in the 1,300 years since they started sending ships out, had one of their friendly ships been attacked and damaged. No damage was done to the crew, and the ship was still flight-worthy, although limping home to safety. One single enemy ship had been able to track them most of the way, but they outsmarted the evil beings.
They knew they were being followed, and had no choice but to make a mad dash toward home. If they actually went home, then the other ship could just go back where they came from and tell their planet. Once they were forty light hours from home, asteroids large and small started getting in the way which caused some dodging.
It was no problem for the leading ship who had a computer system with a map of the area. Milla had slowed the ship intentionally to gain better maneuvering capabilities. It also allowed the enemy ship to close in closer on their trail. They needed to make sure that whoever was in it followed them and also died.
Milla’s ship sent a ping ahead to an oblong shaped asteroid marked with a long designation number on her display. The ship’s AI took over just as she instructed it to do. They continued on at a jogging pace and passed right by the asteroid, and stopped. Sensors behind the ship were picking up photons from the enemy’s ship. Milla rolled two of her eyes as she realized they didn’t eve have faster than light travel speeds cracked yet. FTL was a common goal for any space faring species that knew what they were doing.
As the ship approached the asteroid with a long numerical designation, batteries inside generated large amounts of energy. That energy was discharged through dense magnets produced from a rare and exotic metal found only on two sister planets so far. A rail-gun projectile accelerated until it reached the end of the asteroid, exiting through a hole on one side.
The projectile was formed from several repeating uni-atomic layers that worked together to absorb radiation. The enemy ship’s sensors were unable to detect the pyramid tipped lance, however its occupants were able to see it coming as intended. It at least allowed an enemy or ship with quick enough reaction time to escape...at least that’s what they told themselves when designing it.
Milla and her crew went to investigate and found a few identifying pieces of information. Computer systems were hacked; data revealed that they called themselves the Veyrix. Their level of technology was surprisingly advanced, but missing some key pieces with physics. A side panel from the ship had the number 326 etched onto it with a colorful logo.
“Sorry, 326. I didn’t mean to hurt you,” said Milla.
