FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Encounter

Copyright (c) FarmWolf's player

Aboard Alliance Starship Lindbergh_, Survey orbit of Polaris_

Our trip to the North Star had been uneventful, my five astronomer guests making observations and cataloging data at various points throughout the trip. Now they began studying this trinary system in earnest, researching every piece of data they could think of and comparing it to Earth-based observations to determine their accuracy.

We'd been in the system about one ship day when Petra made an unexpected announcement.

"Captain," she informed me, "I'm reading a ship approaching. Its current speed is Transwarp factor 35. It should arrive here in 40 minutes."

This intrigued me. The interesting thing about coincidences is that they do happen, but with less frequency than one might think. If I'd learned anything in my ten years as a master, it was that there's a reason for almost everything.

I could see the alien ship on our compact viewscreen. It looked like a cross between an asteroid and a molecule. It was oblong and very rounded, like a brick that had had all suggestion of edges removed. Low, wide bulges protruded from the hull at regular intervals. The ship was about twice the size of the Lindbergh and perhaps four or five times the mass. Our passive sensors picked up massive transwarp drives as well as shields and weapons systems. Those were dormant now, as were the Lindbergh's. The ship appeared to be in a peaceful configuration. As it drew closer and finally inserted itself into a parking orbit a few hundred kilometers behind us, the Lindbergh's telescopes showed the alien lettering on the ship, presumably its name and registry number. For some reason, I thought I should recognize them.

"Hail the ship, Petra," I ordered.

"Hailing frequencies open, Captain," she replied.

I stood beside the pilot's chair and said, "This is Captain Peter Icefield of the Alliance Starship Lindbergh. Our mission here is a survey of this star."

After a moment, the ship on my viewscreen was replaced by a view of its bridge. Or, what I assumed was its bridge. We saw a forest clearing, with crew stations in a circle in the middle, as if around a campfire. The vaguely canid officers appeared to be operating holographic controls and observing holographic displays. Their fur was different colors, but they still seemed to harmonize with the background and each other. One officer sat in the center of my view. I presumed it was the captain for this reason and also because it had only smaller displays at either of its hands. When it stood I noticed that it was wearing just a vest and calf-length pants in a deep green color. I took a second look at the aliens and noticed that the officers who were not wearing this color had deep blue uniforms. When I looked back to the probable captain, I thought this being's fur was the most striking of all--silver-grey that changed from dark grey to bright silver depending on how the light struck it.

"I'm Captain Kisara Steiger, commanding the Kataran Naval Vessel Ceokera," the being informed us, "and our mission happens to be a survey of this star as well."

"Perhaps we can work together," I suggested. "Our primary goal is to compare readings taken in proximity to this star to readings taken from our home planet."

"From our home system, direct observation is quite difficult because another star is almost directly in line with this one," Captain Steiger replied. "We're making preliminary surveys of systems at the edge of our space. Our mission includes learning about other life-forms we encounter, as well."

"That's part of my mission, too. I'm looking forward to meeting with you."

We finalized the details of our visit to the Ceokera and Steiger ended the transmission. I assembled an away team consisting of myself, Petra, and Kurt Halley, a biologist as well as an astronomer. We had a short briefing and then prepared to transport to the Ceokera.