Sylksskra let out a happy trilling as she bit into the current slab of meat, it was lab grown on the ship itself before being dumped into an alchemical compound to enhance the taste, spiced with wonderful condiments such as cyanide and then exothermically cooked to perfection with a sear outside as the wonderful middle still remained barely raw, it was wonderful in flavor alone.

‘This one would wonder why we can’t eat these more often’ She composed as she felt the heat and pheromones of the slab with her antenna even though she will have to clean it later, it was worth it as she bit and stole a piece for chewing, a bit crude but nobody really cares about it here.

It was a meal made in celebration of the fact that nothing bad has happened since they entered the system a decorum or 12 days ago. She let out a happy chirp as she finished savoring the chunk and swallowing it ‘Right, the lab doesn’t grow meat fast enough’ She answered her own question right then and there as her crest feathers brightened and her antenna alone splayed and drooped in light bliss.

She looked out through the fake windows down towards the planet below, apparently the local aliens call it Dirt or something ‘Weird name, then again Kassia basically just means Den in an older language or so the Librarians would like us to believe, not too sure either way’ She splayed as she just watched.

It was weird in other ways to their home planet, the flora seems to be generally smaller, less oxygen in the atmosphere, the climate seems noticeably warmer, flora is also much greener in coloration which seems weird to her and also the natives themselves are the weirdest part of it all.

‘They look kind of cute’ She composed as she remembered the image, it was easy to see them when they’re transmitting everything into space and eventually some of their media which came as a shock that they even have media was accidentally or intentionally recovered by the instruments.

They looked odd, they were bipedal but their legs were way too straight, they lack any sort of tail structure whatsoever and their body completely lacks any sort of feathers. They also have obvious sexual dimorphism with the males being smaller, slimmer with longer crown feathers in general though the 2 organs on their chest seems odd though they may be venom or potentially air sacs.

The females are larger with crest feathers sometimes covering their head and even chest to display dominance and to woo the males. They even have this weird blocky visual thing on their short necks which seem to emulate their calls more which might be good for females.

Most stunningly of all is the fact that their breathing holes are on their faces which is just plain baffling ‘How do they even breath like that? Do they have to just manually do it?’ She wondered as she finished her food and just lowered her ears ‘We’ll see when we meet I guess’ She composed her thoughts.

‘This one does hope that communications with the aliens would get better soon though’ She thought as she picked up a bottle and drank from the straw as she looked back at the cafeteria, one of the few on the voidcraft ‘Maybe we can make physical contact soon enough’ She thought as she daydreamed.

“Sylksskra, this one needs you on helm for a bit” Her brother snapped her out as she quickly turned towards him “Y-Yes sir” She quickly chirped a reply “Very well, mayhaps there will be some important development lately and well this one would prefer some advice mayhap” Sang Rasnessk firmly.

Her crest feathers brightened as she lowered her head, tail and ears “This one would be enlightened to do so sir” She sang back as she saw his crown feathers brighten in return “Very well, please head forward in a few moments if possible” He sung as he walked back to the helm.

Sylksskra let out a low hiss as she finished her Tzuzzizz juice ‘Wonder what is happening on helm for him to call this one for guidance’ She wondered as after a moment of rest, she got up and headed to the helm herself, curious as to the machinations that caused her to be called in person.

“Ah there you are Sylksskra, there’s this conundrum that mayhaps needs answering too in particular” Rasnessk sang as she entered the helm “Alright, sing it but what does this one have to do with this? Wouldn’t you want the top Archivists or the head of the Constables or the chief Technomancer?” She sang her questions as she lightly glared at him, antenna glowing instinctually to show dominance.

He looked at her for a bit before singing “Careful, you might need to get those urges tempered or mayhaps get some stress therapy but yes, the reason this one called you here is that you were the only one to actively bring out your composition on the helm about first contact” He explained in song.

Sylksskra quickly muted her glow as she shifted the coloration of her crest feathers in embarrassment “Right, this one did sing” She chirped out a quick song “Yes and well this one is going to have a talk with the other seniors in a little bit but your thoughts would be well appreciated as a pack mate and valued Helm Rider who likes to learn unusual things on their free time” He quickly sang as she hissed lowly.

“Sure brother, but this one’s opinion on what exactly?” She questioned as he cleared his throat with a guttural hiss “Right, well this one thinks that it mayhaps be time to go make physical contact with the primitive aliens down below” He sang as she stared at him in disbelief for a critical few moments

“W-What? But that’s social suicide! We do not have any facilities that can potentially inhabit the aliens, we still don’t know their size in general so bringing them on board is not a good idea!” She explained in her song “This leaves going down to them directly but then they have the advantage and they might be scared and they occupy the planet, sending a pod down at a population center causes panic in general”

“If we do then it would be best to find a location that is neutral, widely uninhabited and not claimed by any of the major states” She finished her singing as she realized her brother was in affect smiling at her as shown by how bright his crown feathers were in general.

“Thank you sister, this one agrees with your point, sending their own up here might be seen as us controlling everything plus we don’t have the facilities to house their diplomat and since we rudely entered the system causing all this panic, it’s right that we start on their planet” He started singing.

“Of course, sending people down there could end disastrously since we only have an estimate of their size and capability and who is to say they won’t just shoot down our pod if we attempt to land on one of their population centers or an aggressive state” He pointed out as he sings.

Then, he started to brighten his feathers once more “So, as you have suggested, this one thinks that it would be best to send a team to the southern pole of their planet and we already agreed on a group of 3 and a placeholder coordinates for landing already” He finished his song as he turned to her.

“So who’s going?” She quickly asks “We still have no idea but we’re hoping for volunteers am-” “Okay so sign this one up then” Sylksskra sang immediately as Rasnessk dropped everything as he stared at her “You want to do WHAT?” He quickly chirped as she just splayed out her ears and antenna for a moment.

“As this one just sang, just send this one down there with the other 2” She reiterated on her song “W-You better enlighten this one with a good explanation onto why this one can mayhaps let you represent our entire species” He sang at her with a rougher more serious tone than before.

Sylksskra took a deep breath before helding out one claw “Firstly, you need a Helm Rider down there, the drop pods are automated but what we really need is an actual craft that has maneuverability, not only will it be more durable for landing in case of certain factors but it can comfortably accommodate the 3 in case the locals cannot accommodate us, the craft can” She started singing her explanations.

“Sure, anyone can operate an escape pod or even a drop pod but only a helm rider can ensure the safe landing of a voidcraft of any size or shape on the spot and operate all the instruments necessary to maintain the craft in the void, on the skies and on ground” She then held a second claw up.

“Secondly, this one is quite literally the least important of the helm rider, sure this one is an excellent pilot which is quite obvious but not the best, 7th class helm rider Farrassk is better and this one is the only junior of the helm riders” She sang as she then held up the last claw of her right wing.

“Third and finally, this one was actually paying attention and learning about the language of the aliens, they are fascinating and is probably the best when it comes to communications if not accounting for the Archivists themselves, dare this one enlighten you further?” She sang as she glared at him with intent.

Rasnessk stared at her for a moment, his antenna frozen in a slack position in front of him before singing “Where did this all come from? This one has never seen you like this before, is this because of that… incident?” He questioned her as all colors left her crest feathers and her antenna started glowing blue.

“This is an imperative mission to ensure good relationships between us and the aliens, one that we must not make ANY mistakes. This one simply elects herself as a good fit and enlighten the senior officer to reconsider the team composition” She firmly sang without any frivolities as she stared him down.

He let out a low hiss as he swayed his tail side to side “Well, this one absolutely detests it when you are right sister and this one shouldn’t have mentioned the incident, this one deeply apologizes for that action” He sang as he looked at her with a sad expression, crown feathers and antenna relaxed.

She let out a low his herself “It is an incident of the past, one that stems from a single minor mistake, one that this one would want to come to ensures to never happen ever again and it is an important diplomatic meeting in addition” Sang Sylksskra as her own crest feathers showed that she was tired.

Her ears circled against repetition as Rasnessk sang again “Well, tell me the truth here, why do you want to enter into the mission in the first place?” she took the time to think about it for a moment before splaying her ears and antenna out for a moment “Their cute” She simply chirped as he brother stared.

“Okay fine, this is a very momentous occasion and it is right that one wants to be part of it, this one also thinks that being a part of a high stress situation with lots of folks depending on one self builds character and helps mitigate disasters” She fully sang in truth staring at him with tail swishing uncomfortably.

“You know what, fine this one can see the wisdom in your singing, it will be one of the smaller ships capable of supporting 3 persons with let say 6-years of nutrition with you on board… who do you think would make for 2 other good crew members?” He questioned her as her crest feathers rised and brightened ‘This one knows exactly who’s going’ She excitedly composed as the craft drifted.

Phil yawned as he watched the speech being given by the president of the US ‘You know, when aliens suddenly appear in the solar system, you expect something to happen and yet the only thing to have happened now is the ship orbiting our planet, I would’ve thought it was just another moon if the things on it wasn’t so important’ He groaned as he plopped another popcorn into his mouth.

Ellie and Matt was there as well but they were actually interested in the president’s speech about opening our arms with our extraterrestrial neighbors. Only a week ago, he was spouting about how everyone should stay at home and stockpile to defend their planet as well.

‘Fucking hypocrite, why did we elect him again? Oh right, the other candidate was even worse’ He thought as he watched as the president received a few questions machined gun into him by journalists taking notes and trying to get juicy details.

‘Still, it is weird that the aliens haven’t done anything at all yet, the riots have stopped for the most part but crazed fanatics saying we should fire missiles at the alien ship are still at large. If it was say less than a kilometer long that may work but it’s 5… the only ships that size in fiction are those that can kill planets but who knows, life is stranger than fiction in most if not all cases’ He thought mid chewing.

“Hey Phil, what do you think about the president’s speech?” Ellie suddenly asked as she turned to him “It’s boring I barely even know what’s it’s about” He answered truthfully as Matt glared at him “You need to pay attention, who knows if this can be important or not, it may talk about our general defense plan against the alien when they invade” Matt warned as Phil shrugged “IF they invade” He corrected.

He didn’t really care even if the US is the most influential country of the world for good reason and the speeches by its presidents has always been important in some ways… for the most parts though these days they usually just read off of a script written by some politician that held the true power or are so repetitive in nature that a lecture about cereal would at least be informative than time wasting.

History has seen truly inspirational speeches where presidents have inspired their fellows to war or through states of poverty or crisis. There had also been terrible speeches done that did absolutely nothing but raise questions, suspicion, anger and sow distrust in the government, this one right here that Phil was watching was part of the later as the president was approached by an agent of some kind.

“-I think that we all shoud… what?” The president asked as a member of the secret service went to whisper into his ear “What do you mean they want a meeting now? And in Antarctica of all places? And what abo-…Uh nevermind dear citizens, please ignore all of that” He said with the worst poker face ever.

The entire room went into a frenzy as reporters literally trampled through themselves as the president was escorted out by his guard ‘You know… maybe I should’ve expected this, it’s been a while since they did something as stupid as this’ Phil thought as he turned to his petrified work friends.

“MATT, WE’RE GOING TO MEET ALIENS!!!” Ellie screamed as she shook Matt like an overstuffed plushy “Wh-What? OH GOD The aliens are coming to get us!” Matt panicked as he held his head and screamed as Phil just sat there staring at a tidal wave of reporters “Chill down, it’s not like it is today or anything, there are also plenty of other research stations out here” He assured them as they calmed down a bit.

At that very moment the phone rang, Phil held a finger out as he went to get it as the 2 others probably weren’t in the best of shape “Hello there, this is Ant-” “Sir, I’m going to cut to the chase here, the aliens are coming and they choose your coordinates and you need to do exact-” He hung up then and there as the screaming behind him guaranteed that he put on speaker mode which makes matters a lot worse.

He sighed as the phone rang again seemingly louder and angrier this time around ‘You know what, I should’ve probably expected this… just my fucking luck’ He grumbled as he picked the phone to a sleuth of cursing and commands by 4 different people ‘Guess this is my life now, Phillis Evergreen promoted from penguin researcher to alien ambassador in a span of 24 no 25 days to be exact here’ he thought as he sighed again and started listening to the demands and orders from the agents on the other side.