Tasha's arrival back home with a ship-full of refugees from Earth's asteroid colonies created a huge hubub. Tasha's father, the leader of the colonists had gathered everyone together to discuss what Tasha had found.

"I came across a skirmish involving robotic attackers trying to destroy and kill the colonies on the asteroid belt. I didn't have much time or enough resources to do much but gather who I could and flee. I managed to outmaneuver or destroy the ones who tried to follow me but we know very little about who is the source of these attacks and why they happened. We also don't know if once they destroy the colonies around Earth that they won't come looking for us, now that they know we are out here somewhere. I have been training some of you to fly but I think we need to intensify the training and start building up a real army cause I have a feeling we are going to war. Those of us born on Kolob have the advantage since the machines won't be able to navigate like we can but that also limits who can help us as well. I think that those of you not born on Kolob can be a great asset. We need people to help build ships, mechs, and other projects and weapons. We will need people to go with our squadron when we leave, cause we must go, and be a support team for our pilots.

This isn't going to be easy and many may die, but we have a lot of people still trapped in Earth's solar system that need our help and we need answers before this gets to our doorstep. I need willing men and women to join us and help us build a Galactic alliance that will be a force for good in the universe so we can protect those that need it." Tasha stood before the assemblage in her uniform with her companion Po perched on her shoulder. Her back straight and her brown eyes steady and determined. Her stature and bearing radiated leadership and charisma.
Not too far back in the crowd Alexis Orion Star sat listening raptly and at the call she jumped up, her companion Jewel twittering in alarm at her sudden movement. "I want to be the first to join commander Reynolds! I am ready to fight and defend."

Tasha nodded with a pleased look on her face. Alexis was one of her prized students, a quick learner, if a little impulsive. "I am proud to accept you to the team Private Star. You will be a great asset and I feel a good group leader." She looked around at the others gathered there. "I hope to see more people as willing as Star to fight for the alliance and defend the weak."

Katt listened with her right leg stretched out. It was throbbing, making sure that walking was more of a pain than normal. She knew she would have to end up helping out, even if she didn't want to. She scanned the gathered group for Liz, but couldn't spot her. When the first person jumped up, it took a moment for her to think of who it was. Alexis, one of the top students in the army, or so Liz had told her before. Sighing Katt got up, her movements a little slow as she favored her bad leg.
"You have my services, what little help they may or may not be." before hearing if Tasha approved, she sat back down, rubbing at her leg once she was in her chair. She scanned the crowd again, knowing that Liz would volunteer now that she had.

---------

Liz cringed as Alexis stood up to volunteer first. Why did she have to have such low self confidence as to wait until others spoke? When Katt stood and offered her services, Liz felt much better. After her friend sat down she stood, trying to look calmer than she felt.
"You have my services as well my lady." she stayed standing at attention, waiting for permission to sit.

"Wonderful. I am proud that I have your support but i know that there are more. We need as many people to man the ships as possible for the mission to mars. We might be facing a dogfight as soon as we jump out of trans space and two mech pilots aren't enough to go against the numbers I am guessing the protectorate has at it's disposal. We don't even know if Mars may even be the ones responsible. We have to be prepared for the worst. I know it is dangerous but without your service many more people could and will die."

“Captain on the bridge!”

Marielle returned the salutes of her crew as she made her way to the captain’s chair perched on a dais at the center of the control room. As soon as she took her place, the crew immediately returned to their duties. They making their final approach to the target. Marielle could feel the entire ship shudder as it oriented its main engines to face the direction of travel so it could make its orbital insertion burns.

“Excellent work,” she remarked to the crew. “Estimated time of arrival?”

“Eleven minutes,” the ship’s navigator replied, looking up from her computer display.

“Prepare the ship for insertion,” ordered Marielle, sinking back into her chair. Her first officer, seated next to her below the dais, relayed the orders through the PA system, advising all personnel to return to their seats and fasten their seatbelts.

“All stations checking in,” he reported a short time later.

“Excellent. Sergeant, take us into orbit.”

“Yes ma’am,” the helmsman acknowledged. “Magnetic drag-chute collapsing, initiating first five second burn now.”

Vibrations wracked the entire vessel, and acceleration pressed everyone back into their seats. After the promised 5 seconds, the ship was calmed again.

“Captain,” Marielle’s first officer said, as soon as the ship steadied itself again. “Do you really think all this is necessary? Contact, I mean. That alien ship looked rather crude, according to the satellite images. It looked like something someone might build when they first discover faster-than-light travel. And this planet is uninhabited save for the general area around the landing zone. There can’t be that many aliens down there – maybe at least a hundred or so, probably less.”

“But what you fail to recall, Number One,” Marielle replied. “Is that one vessel was observed leaving the surface, and returning some time later with a larger one, possibly carrying up to a thousand or so other aliens. We are witnessing the creation of a space colony, possibly the first one these aliens have ever created. Once we establish contact, then we can work our way backwards to find their home world. The rest should be easy. Besides, it’s either this mission, or cruising the Outer Zone trying to find artificial radio signals amid all the background radiation.”

“Still, I think it’s a waste of time and resources. We’d be better off waiting in orbit until the next ship leaves, then following it to its origin point. Then we’ll have the rest of the division rendezvous with us there. Then we can worry about mopping up. It would be so much more simple.”

“But you mustn’t forget, we’re an intelligence ship. It’s our job to gather as much information as we can before the other elements move in.”

Her first officer grunted, but said no more. Marielle sighed and leaned back in her chair. At times on this mission, she shared his sentiment. She personally wanted to follow up the path of the unmanned probe they’d intercepted during one of their mid-course corrections between jump cycles. Whomever launched it had to have been quite advanced to develop technology to eject a probe from their star system, and God only knew how much more they developed in the years that passed as the probe crept along well below the speed of light into the far reaches of the galaxy, where even light was sluggish.

Still, this new world offered its own opportunities for exploration. Mingling among alien life forms was far more exciting and exotic than hovering out of sensor range while eaves-dropping on electronic communications. She was glad the Empress and the Grand Space Marshal seemed to share her views, and thankful her superiors had chosen her to be their ambassador. This was going to be quite an adventure.

_The main headquarters for the Defense force stationed on Luna, one of the two moons in orbit around Kolob. General Takashi stood looking out the main view window of the base.

"Sir, Sir. I am getting something on long range sensors. It is rather large and coming up fast straight toward us." A Sergeant in charge of sensors and communications reported.

The general turned seeming unfased and calm despite the probable impending danger. This could be the protectorate already on their doorstep, perhaps they had followed the pheonix back. "First Signal the red alert and I need you to send word to Kolob to Tasha and the rest of our forces so we can be prepared in case this is an attack. I want all ships available but do not fire on whoever it is until we are sure of their intentions. When you get Tasha I want her ready to contact whoever it is and lead our defense if it is neccessary.

Back at the Gathering a few minutes later the alarm sounded. Tasha looked out "Based on that alarm, this is not a drill. I need everyone suited up and in their mechs and aboard ship in fifteen minutes. I need to find out what we know about this. Move It!" She yelled the last and ran toward the base to receive the details from the general.

Liz ran off to follow Tasha's orders, she glanced to where she had seen Katt as she did so. She knew her friend would stay on the ground, to make sure that nothing needed fixed. She faced forward again and ran the rest of the way to her mech, her pet chittering the whole time.

Katt watched as the people in the army ran out to follow Tasha's orders. She looked to Tasha as she ran out, for once at a lost for what to do. She had said she would help, but wasn't sure what that would involve on her part. Katt got up and walked as fast as she could outside, she knew she wouldn't be able to run the way her leg was acting up. Perhaps she had been a fool to say she would help, after all how much help could a woman with a limp be in battle? Once she was outside, she saw that Liz was already at her mech and sighed. She stood near the door, wondering where she should go.

"Ma'am, Tactical is picking up some kind of radiation reading," an enlisted astronaut reported from his post. Marielle's ears perked up, and she swiveled them forward. "I think it might be radar, but I'm not sure," the astronaut continued. "Shall we jam them?"

"No. We're here to make contact," Marielle said. By this time, the ship had slowed down enough to get caught into Kolob's gravitational pull. The helmsman was turning the ship's bow into the direction of travel, while the computers made adjustments to their orbit. "Anything being launched from the planet's surface?"

"No, but the radiation is coming from one of the moons."

Odd, thought Marielle. The satellite data had only shown one vehicle leaving the planet's surface, and that one headed off into deep space and returned. Had there been another glitch?

"Tell Tactical to stand-by with Fire Control," Marielle ordered.

"Should we launch the fighters?" asked her first officer.

"No. But have them armed and put the crews on stand-by. We're moving constantly enough to not be strapped down. In the meantime, let us continue on with our approach. Lieutenant, has our navigation system been synced with this world's coordinate system?"

"Yes, ma'am," the navigator replied. "I've programmed the coordinates of the alien landing site into our system."

"Acknowledged. Sergeant, prepare for deflection burn and entry."

"Shouldn't we at least send out a fighter escort?" asked her first officer.

"No. What for? It's not like we have much to worry about anyway."

"I mean, in case they launch fighters."

"Don't be silly! These aliens are probably sitting at their radar or whatever consoles right now wondering what this over-sized return on their scopes is and why it doesn't have a transponder. If they have any fighters, They probably can't climb any higher than the stratosphere before their engines run out of air. Besides, our radars will give us enough warning if they do. And then, the aliens will probably just want to look us over, which is just what we want."

"Well, as a precaution, I'm raising the shields," Marielle's first officer said, his ears tensing tightly against the side of his head. "Just in case the aliens are stupid and jumpy." He waited for Marielle's approval. Marielle nodded.

"That would be prudent. You may raise shields, but keep the gunners on stand-by."

"Acknowledged."

Marielle leaned forward a bit in chair with anticipation, and her ears perked up anxiously. It was very rare for a lone Yiffierian ship to make first contact intentionally. The fact the aliens had an early warning post on their moon added another dimension to this occasion. She hoped entry would proceed smoothly, though. A fight would only serve to make the job of finding the aliens' home world that much harder.

Tasha had suited up in record time and jumped into her MEMS-CV or (Multi Environment Multi Stage combat Vehicle) called Nightshade, po riding excitedly on her shoulder. She had instructed the others in her squad to lift off a few moments behind her and stay back as back up only if things became hostile. She was going to be the ambassador for whoever this was. They had only had one other encounter similar to this, with Katt and that had turned out all right. She hoped this would too. Within an hour she had lifted off and the streamlined ship quickly had locked on to the huge ship in orbit. Her ship was a small but agile fighter, built for speed and deep space and perfect for space battle with missiles and laser rifle, mines, a rail gun and many other surprises. With it's great agility, thanks to po and her uplink it was easy to jump into orbit directly in the other ships path. She got on the comm sending out a broad range signal. She didn't know if they knew English, but she had to try that first as it was her first language. "This is Tasha Reynolds in the Nightshade. I am the commander of this systems defense force. Please state your intentions."

Alexis was hot on Tasha's heels when the alarm rang and she and her companion, Jewel excitedly jumped into her own MEMS-CV called Andromeda. Unlike Tasha's sleek black with red accents Alexis's was a golden color with white accents. She knew she would be second in command on this gig and it was scary and exciting at the same time. Jewel got in her special chamber and Alexis put on her headset to start the uplink to the Andromeda. She just hoped that the rest of the team would be ready for this. It was a rush as she lifted off into the atmosphere and took an orbit some distance back from Tasha but close enough to be ready in case they were needed.

"Contact fighter, dead ahead!" Tactical reported. Everyone's ears shot up in alarm. Marielle was especially surprised. Unless the technicians down in Tactical had fell down on the job, the speed at which this spacecraft had ascended was astonishing. Perhaps even more so than the fact it was a fighter, since no one had expected the aliens to be advanced enough to create spacecraft with the sole purpose of combat.

Do you think we should launch the fighters now? thought her first officer.

No, thought Marielle. Not yet. Aloud, she ordered, "Forward batteries, lock on to the fighter, but do not fire."

"Ma'am, a second fighter has appeared slightly aft of the first one, at about five degrees to the left," came a second warning.

From his station, the electronics operator turned to face Marielle. "Ma'am, the lead fighter is attempting to communicate with us. The computer is analyzing the signal and attempting to render a translation." A few moments later, the translation appeared on the operator's screen, and he read it aloud. Marielle cocked her ears in curiosity, and exchanged glances with her first officer and other bridge personal. God, in Her infinite wisdom, only knew what a "Nyte Shayde" was; but the rest of the message was clear: the aliens apparently were advanced enough to organize into a militia, and knew precisely what to do in the event of the appearance of an unknown ship.

While it would have been easy to simply have the computer translate her response into the alien's language and broadcast that to the alien, Marielle decided that was too inefficient. Besides, some aliens were so paranoid, they might think the translation was actually a recording meant to deceive them into lowering their defenses for a surprise attack (though their fear was legitimate, since the Yiffierians did sometimes broadcast false messages). It would be easier to converse face to face, where Marielle could telepathically translate hers and the alien's speech into each others' tongues.

"Number One, you have command," Marielle ordered. "I'm going outside."

"Shall I jam their communications in case more follow them?" her first officer asked, straightening up in his seat.

"No, I mean outside in a suit," Marielle corrected him. "I'll let the aliens have a good look at me, then see if I can get them to come aboard."

Shouldn't you send some marines instead? thought the first officer.

Probably, but I do not wish to place them in unnecessary danger, thought Marielle

How about yourself?

You have a lot to learn, Number One. You're still fresh out of the Training Corps.

But you're an officer, not much older than me!

Don't worry. I won't be out alone. I'll have a contingent of marines standing by with rocket launchers in case things get bad, but I don't think any being with sense would open fire on an unarmed person in space suit.

With that, Marielle rose and exited the bridge. She heard her first officer ordering a fire team of 3 marines to report to the primary air lock. Marielle met them in the suit locker room, and noted to her satisfaction they were all carrying rocket launchers. As she suited up, she telepathically transferred her orders to each marine. They acknowledged her out loud. When she was finished, Marielle stepped into the airlock, and let it cycle through its release phases. Once the outer door opened, Marielle pushed off the threshold and floated outside.

Her suit was a simple white suit, with a white helmet and a gold tinted visor. She carried a pack, which contained her oxygen recycler unit and her maneuvering thrusters. She wore a cap over her head and tiny ear pieces embedded in each ear for communications.

"Number One," she radioed. "I'm outside. How are the aliens?"

"No change. Still matching our velocity."

"Excellent. Marine leader, take up your positions along the superstructure. I'm going in."

Marielle fired her thrusters and jetted off toward the lead alien. At a hundred yards away, she started matching velocity and maneuvering into view of the alien's cockpit. She came to a stop just a few yards away from the canopy, where she could just make out the shape of the alien inside. For a moment she hesitated. It dawned on her she didn't know what she was going to do next, now that she was here, staring at an alien almost face to face. Perhaps she should have just sent a translated message via radio. Then perhaps they could have arranged a face to face meeting. Out here, she was all but mute. She decided to do the only thing she could do: she started waving her arms frantically, trying to get the alien's attention.

Liz was slow getting into her mech, it was the most plain looking one of the lot. She cursed herself mentally as she finally lifted off, her companion sitting in it's area. As she exited the orbit, she took a brief moment to look at the stars, then piloted her mech so that it was behind Alexis.

Katt watched as Liz lifted off with a frown of concern. Her friend had taken longer than normal to get inside her mech. She hoped nothing was wrong with it, something broken on the ground was quite different from something broken in the air. Then again, maybe her friend was just nervous, in any case she wished for the best.

In her head po spoke "There is much mind talk but I could not understand them."
Tasha's eyes widened. Telapaths? Interesting. Then a figure in a space suit exited the ship and maneuvered in front of her. Now what? The figure waved their arms and Tasha waved back. She concentrated on the figure and sent a message in her mind toward the figure "Should I bring you aboard?" She wasn't sure the other person spoke her language so she used images and symbols to convey the thought, hoping the other figure was one of the telepaths and would receive her message.

Alexis sighed in relief when Liz finally joined her. "What took so long?" She said mind to mind. Not long after her two more of their squad joined them. Alexis hated just waiting and not knowing what was happening. Then she sensed Tahsa's mind and saw the message, wondering what exactly was going on. Had the alien's mad contact. "Be ready everyone." She said this last through the comlink.

The alien gave no sign understanding Marielle's gestures. However, Marielle was aware the alien was trying to communicate with her telepathically. It was crude - images and symbols rather than coherent thoughts - but it was at least an attempt. Before Marielle could respond, a warning came over her ear piece.

"More alien fighters have risen from the surface. Major Eldenbrass has placed two fighters in the launching bay and they are standing by for immediate take-off."

"Tell Number One to hold his fire," Marielle radioed back. "The lead alien is attempting to make telepathic contact. It's very crude - ideas and concepts, but not coherent thoughts. There's another mind in there two - just as intelligent, but at the same time, very simple. I am attempting to make contact with the first being." Focusing on the shape of the alien inside the cockpit, Marielle thought, You will follow me into the my vessel. I wish you no harm, but I do wish to speak to you in a more comfortable environment. I promise, we are not here to harm you. Her thoughts would manifest themselves in the form of spoken words in Marielle's voice, but in the alien's native tongue.

Liz didn't answer Alexis, she was ashamed enough as it was. She tensed when Alexis cautioned them to be careful. This wasn't like when Katt crashed to their planet, there were more aliens this time. That and there was no telling if they were friendly or not. She could sense Tasha and the alien outside trying to mind talk, but besides that there was nothing but silence.

"You will follow me into the my vessel. I wish you no harm, but I do wish to speak to you in a more comfortable environment. I promise, we are not here to harm you." Tasha "heard" it and understood. The alien had translated into her language inside her mind somehow. It was amazing. She wandered if the reverse could be true. She radioed her team. "I have received telepathic communication from the alien and they want me to board their ship. I want all of you to stand on alert status until I give the all clear." She concentrated again, this time thinking sending it in English, not ready to try and translate as the Alien had. "I understand. Lead and I will follow." She gunned the engine and moved forward slowly waiting for the figure to turn back and lead her to the ship.

Marielle heard the alien's confirmation. Apparently, it was capable of normal telepathic conversation. Perhaps it was similar to Yiffierians, in that telepathy was a natural function of its mind.

"I have contact with the alien leader, and am preparing to bring it aboard," she reported. "Have the fighters stand down, and return the marines inside." Without waiting for confirmation, she pivoted around with her thrusters, and made her way back toward the ship, glancing back to make sure the alien was still behind her and not trying anything funny.

Tasha followed closely and cautiously easing her ship into the much larger ships hold. She put on the reverse thrusters to slow her down as the nightshade's wheels touched down then slowed to a halt. She took off her headset and helped po out of his alcove and he was quick to jump back onto her shoulder wrapping his fox like tail around her neck for balance. It was reassuring having the furry warmth around her, it kept her calm in an uncertain situation. They would probably have to talk telepathically unless they had a translator. They had started to work on one but since these were the first aliens they had met their language would have to be documented and programmed into it for it to work. She opened the door as soon as the outer door and the air was proved to be breathable. She carried a laser rifle on her left hip as well as a long dagger along her right leg. This may be an attempt at first contact with a peaceful people but she wasn't stupid to take needless chances by going unarmed. If the aliens proved to be harmless, they would try to work toward an accord perhaps even an alliance. She walked out slowly keeping her hands up and her ship closed automatically behind her. The MEMS-CVs were keyed into each pilots genetic code and no one else could pilot it and if someone tried to start taking it apart or try to pilot it, it was rigged to self destruct. Tasha moved toward where the alien had landed and waited to see what would happen next. "I'm on the ship, wait for further instructions." She shot in Alexis' direction not sure if the alien could hear it but since it was innocuous she didn't think it would matter. She had been trying to search the alien's brain for clues to where they were from and why they were here but the mind was well shielded.

Marielle touched down inside the fighter launch bay, and watched the alien ship come in behind her. As soon as the bay was sealed and re-pressurized, Marielle removed her helmet. Her Yiffierian physiology kept her from getting nitrogen bubbles in her blood from the pressure change. She changed out of her suit right then and there, counting on the enlisted astronauts to gather her gear up and stow it in the proper lockers. The access bulkhead slid open, and her first officer appeared, with his uniform done up as best as possible to appear formal, and a detachment of 12 astronauts and marines behind him, their ears perked up with alertness.

An honor guard, he thought. Marielle nodded. Her first officer was also carrying Marielle's pistol holster and sword, which he handed to her. He himself was carrying his own weapons, and each astronaut and marine was carrying an energy rifle with mounted bayonets. They took their positions just outside the bulkhead in two lines of six each, with their rifles held rigidly across their shoulders.

Marielle watched the alien hop out of its fighter, armed with a gun of some sorts and a knife, while a small creature curled up on its back. The alien appeared to be a common pseudo-person - like 99% of the other alien species encountered in the galaxy - though unlike other pseudo-people, this one did not have the long, pointed ears. Because it was a pseudo-person, it was easy to sex as female. Marielle could feel the alien's caution and apprehension; and she could also sense the alien attempting to probe her mind. Not a chance, she thought to herself. The Yiffierians had yet to meet a telepathic species that could even come close to their level of psionic powers; and this alien appeared to have acquired its powers through practice, not birth, as every man and woman on the ship and the whole Yiffierian Empire had.

At the same time, Marielle was thrilled to be in the presence of a newly discovered alien species. All the aliens she had encountered until now were fully domesticated and loyal subjects of the Empress, and were reborn as Children of God. Yet here she was, Marielle Silverstar, daughter of Miria Silverstar, about to make first contact with a previously unknown alien race. She felt the eyes of her first officer and her soldiers upon her as she took a deep breath. They too were anxious about this first encounter, and eager to know what their commander would say to this ambassador of a new species.

"Greetings," began Marielle, speaking in the same tone she used when addressing her superiors. "I am Lieutenant Colonel Marielle Silverstar of the Imperial Yiffierian Space Command. We are here on a survey of this system. It is a pleasure and an honor to meet you, ma'am. We did not mean to startle your defenses. We are here on a peaceful mission." While the alien heard Marielle speaking her own language, Marielle was really speaking the Yiffierian language. If the alien paid attention to Marielle's lips, she would notice they did not sync with Marielle's words. Marielle would be able to understand the alien's speech too in this manner.

Tasha noticed immediately that what the alien was speaking and what she was saying was different but at hearing "peaceful mission" She relaxed her posture slightly but still stayed alert in case it was a ruse to get her to let down her guard. "I am Tasha Reynolds Commander of the first MEMS_CV Psionic division of Kolob's defense force. This creature on my shoulder is my companion Po. He and is kind are native to Kolob and highly advanced intellectually as well as psionically." Tasha might have failed at reading the woman's mind but she knew that Po could have but had not asked him to in case it was viewed as an offensive action. He had however snuck around the periphery of the woman's thoughts just enough to sense that the aliens intentions seemed to lean toward peace. Unless the alien was highly sensitive she shouldn't have sensed the feather light touch that Po had used. "We are colonists that settled here after finding that this particular system is a sort of loop. You can enter but can not exit without the help of my companion here." She reached up to pet Po's silver gray fur and he made a deep rumbling sound like a cat's purr.

Marielle twitched her ears slightly. A loop, the alien said? This sounded odd. She wondered what that could mean.

"Perhaps we could talk more comfortably in my ward room," she suggested. "I would very much like to know about this colony of yours. We Yiffierians have been studying this planet for quite some time with unmanned probes, and we have observed your colony from its inception to today." She lead the alien past the honor guard, with her first officer falling in behind Tasha. "But please, tell me more about this 'loop' of yours. I do very much hope to exit this system once my mission is done, unlike most of our sample retrieval probes."

Tasha simply nodded and followed the, woman? she thought it was female. I mean they looked human except for the ears so based on that this had to be a female and the name Marielle was feminine as far as she could tell. So she followed Marielle to the ward room and took a seat without being asked. She wasn't the type to wait around to be seated. "I don't really know what else I can say that i haven't already. When we first arrived we had planned to leave immediately to report Kolob as a prime location for a colony but found that no matter how many times we tried to leave the system we would jump into hyper space and yet end up right back where we started, so we call it a loop. "

"Hyper space is imperfect and inconsistent at best still taking a long time to get from one galaxy to another. When we discovered our companions at first people thought they were just animals, but it was strange that they didn't seem to eat much of anything and they seemed intelligent. When the first children were born their though each child gained one of the creatures as a companion. It wasn't until much later they were discovered to be telepathic and later than that that they were at a much higher level of intelligence and psi ability than we had ever thought possible. We found that they had a unique ability to navigate what they call trans-space. It is ten times faster than hyper space and accurate and reliable and could get us out of the system unlike simple hyper drive. Only lifeforms like our companions can navigate trans-space though I suppose their might be other lifeforms out there that also have this ability. So the only way you will be able to leave is if I escort you out of the system. My po is powerful enough to be able to bring your ship with mine, if you wanted to leave. I am sure though that the leaders of the colony are anxious to discuss relations with your people and perhaps an accord or even alliance."

Marielle's ears twitched with interest as she listened to the alien describe trans-space. Physicists back home would love to pick this theory apart, equation by equation. Still, she found it a little hard to believe Tasha's little fur-ball - Po, she called it - was as intelligent, or more so than a Yiffierian. Growing up on her father's farm back home, she'd seen little critters like him. Her parents kept them in wire enclosures. They were cute, cuddly, and fun to play with; and tasted marvelous when cooked in a stew or roasted over an open fire with herbs and spices. Inadvertently, Marielle licked her lips and flicked her ears.

Both her and her first officer - who had sat down across from Tasha - perked up their ears when Tasha mentioned discussing an alliance or accord with her leaders. This was going to be easier than she thought.

"I'm only a Lieutenant Colonel," Marielle said, pulling her ears back to appear more shocked than she actually was. "My ship is simply a scout vessel. Only a general would have the authority to negotiate any sort of diplomatic agreement. They're closer to the Throne than I am, and any agreement we make would have to be approved by the Empress. My mission is merely one of exploration, to find out more about your colony, your species, and where you come from. If you wish, however, I could arrange for a formal meeting with a proper government official for a treaty of some sort."

"They think I look tasty." Po thought at her and snorted indignantly. Tasha didn't flinch at that thought but nodded. "Yes I too do not have the authority I only had the authority to meet you and offer you the chance for a treaty. We would very much like a meeting with your leaders. We would allow a small ship of such dignitaries or personages as would come to land on Kolob to meet with our leaders. In the meantime I can agree to allow a group of you to land and be welcome on the planet so we can get to know you. This particular ship is too big but if you had a smaller shuttle or ship you can take as many as wish to come down. I am sure my people are just as curious to learn more of you as you are of us." Tasha concentrated inwardly. "Alexis some of the Yifferians, I believe they are called, might be coming down to the planet. They appear to be friendly so I will be their escort. You and the others can return to base."

Alexis sighed in relief as she received the message. "All fighters return to base the aliens are friendly and some may land on the planet soon. We must be ready to welcome them as guests." She radioed the others.

All too easy, thought Marielle. She cast a quick glance to her first officer. Signal the regiment. The first officer left the room.

Aloud, Marielle said to Tasha, "That would be very much appreciated. Perhaps we could take the samples our probes were unable to obtain. We do have a few small shuttles for landing, though our ship can also come within several thousand short distance units of the surface. I can have a shuttle bring us down, or I could take us into the atmosphere." She reached over and pressed a button on the table, at the place she usually occupied.

"Prepare a shuttle craft for landing," she ordered the personnel near the shuttle stations.

Alexis turned the Andromeda and led the others back to the planet. As soon as she landed, she took off the headset and got Jewel out of her alcove. Like most of the creatures Jewels favorite spot was riding on Alexis' shoulder. Unlike Tasha's po though, Jewels' tail was too short to wrap around Alexis' neck but Jewel could hold herself on easily with her telekenetic abilities with little to no effort or even concious thought. Alexis exited her ship and General Rafe Hagen was waiting for her at the edge of the landing pad. She strode over and saluted as soon as she was in front of him.
"At ease and report team leader." He commanded after he returned her salute.

She stood with her legs apart and hands clasped behind her back. "General sir. Tasha made contact and a group of the aliens are soon to be on route as a peaceful delegation."

"Good. I will tell the President and the other department heads. We will want you to help with the welcome so have all the team ready to greet the aliens and if find out what they eat and give them a tour."

"Yes sir" She said and they saluted each other and went their seperate ways.

Tasha stood. "I will go back to my ship and wait til you are ready to leave and lead you down."

"There is no need for that," smiled Marielle, circling around and patting Tasha on the back. "You can ride in with us. Come, I'll show you to the bridge. We could use you as a pilot to guide our ship in. There's a jumpseat behind our helm control you can sit in for the ride down."

Prepare the ship for entry, she thought to her first officer.