Interstellar Online

49 - Diplomatic incident

[I hope we can get along, Gunnery Commander Alex.]

Closely monitoring his surroundings, Mike still had his hand firmly planted on his pistol as he extended a courtesy to the beastwoman in front of him before switching language and moving to a close comm channel.

"No need to overload the reactor, come on out."

[Rog.]

[While we did meet in unfortunate circumstances, as the leader of the group I am ready to move on from the subject as long as my group is compensated appropriately, our ship was not only first class and outfitted for extremely long endurance missions, but also a formidable fighter... We'll need a replacement for it to be able to complete our current mission.]

As the visitor from another world started negotiating he was joined by 3 others, 2 female and 1 male, and although only two of them were armed Alex's combat experience told her they were dangerous in a fight.

[What our leader means is that we want blood, I am fully prepared to see this entire ship burn over this, who attacked us even after we signalled we were friendlies?]

Before Alex knew what was happening, the conversation took a very unexpected turn as one of the arriving outsiders called for blood and made Alex's subordinates stir.

"Excuse me?"
Giving the outsiders a chance to back down, Alex hoped the other parties would de-escalate, but instead, they doubled down.

[You heard me fur ears.]

Putting a hand on her sidearm, the outsider quickly transformed the first contact event into a standoff.

"What the!-"

"STAND DOWN!"

Keeping her subordinates from escalating, Alex took a step forward as she tried to calm down the outsiders.

"The person who disregarded your contact effort will be punished, they've been problematic for years now and I've been looking for an opportunity to dishonourably discharge them for as long as I've been in command. When I drag him out of here by his hair I'll arrange for all of you to be present."

[That's all well and good, but we're not taking your word for it.]

As the conversations came to a standstill, Alex started thinking about the possible fallout of a firefight but stopped when she heard something seemingly impossible.

[You really haven't changed since last I saw you Alex, I'm guessing it's that moron Jesper having his ego running out of control again?]

Even though the voice was heavily modulated, Alex immediately recognised the other female's voice the seconds she spoke up.

"W-wait... I-it can't be..."

At a loss for words, Alex teared up as she completely forgot about her current mission and started walking over towards the outsider in pure disbelief. Removing her helmet, Jessica slowed a slight smile as she said hello to an old friend.

"I'm back, Alex."

"My lady! You've finally returned!"

Moving to her private office for a more private setting, Alex took a moment to collect herself before broaching the subject.

"My lady, how did you... You were missing for so long."

Understandably beside herself as she had long since accepted that Jessica was dead, Alex was now beside herself as she saw her old friend alive and well, having returned from another world.

"It would be easier for Mike to explain that... you can take that helmet off now by the way Mike, this one isn't going to gas you."

Turning to Mike, who still had a hand on his sidearm and helmet on, Jessica was initially met with silence, but after a few seconds of prolonged staring, Mike eventually relented.