Codename Alpha

Epilogue and Author's Note

To call the immediate aftermath of our wonderfully successful first contact a blur would be an understatement. Following whatever Marine said to them, we were brought inside the communications center itself, carrying the translation laptop, where we spoke for hours with the scientists who worked here. They, and we, were both absolutely ecstatic to make peaceful first contact with aliens.

I did get the feeling that they were weirded out by our appearance, though. Not in the sense that we looked weird, but animals from their planet walking on two legs was probably not what they were expecting.

That aside, though, our proper first contact went very well. Following Ibrahimov's orders, we requested that we could evacuate the crew to live on this planet, and I was extremely relieved to hear how enthusiastic they were for that to take place. Of course, it couldn't happen right away, as first they had to find someplace secluded. This was because we could not be revealed to the public, like I had been expecting, as the potential response to the sudden reveal of alien life could go in any direction. There were also concerns about the spread of disease. Nonetheless, arrangements were made for an organization called NASA to provide material support, in the form of medical supplies and food, as we worked on finding out what diseases were infectious to them, and what of theirs were infectious to us. I wasn't quite sure about the specifics of the whole thing, but they ended up providing disease samples so we could do tests to find out which were dangerous to us, and synthesize our own vaccines.

We also spoke at length with the West Germans, as they were called, and apologized for our actions. Thankfully, they were readily accepted, and any criminal charges we had accrued were voided under the pretense that they were done out of necessity. The West German representatives made it entirely clear that them shooting us down was entirely a misunderstanding, as they had been under the impression that we were 'Soviet' spy plane pilots - the 'hammer and sickle' people, as Marine so affectionately called them.

I was a bit unnerved by the fact that there was obviously a tense rivalry between some two fairly powerful nations on this planet. It didn't bode well, since rivalries like that only really have two ways of ending, and none of us wanted to be around for the more likely outcome. It wasn't like we had much choice, though.

The rest of the crew was also ecstatic to hear that the Menschen - or Humans, as it turned out - were friendly, and receptive to us. Following another, and a more in-depth, medical screening, it was decided that we could walk around the ship as normal, thankfully being able to return to our quarters. It was good to see Rostov in person again, and although neither of our quarters were in good condition, Max and I were visiting regularly, just like we had been before the disaster. We were also eating lunch with Marine now, alongside Alexei, Adriana, and Laika, if any of them had the time.

Nonetheless, after a couple days, the Valiant was towed into a low orbit of their planet, as a sign of good will. It certainly took a while, and it came as a surprise that the shuttles even had towing capability. Of course, it wasn't actual hook tows, and rather it was accomplished using magnets, but it was definitely impressive.

It was a bit hard to keep track of everything else happening. Despite the fact that not many people had much work to do, thanks to there being no real way to accomplish it, we were pretty much constantly busy, with one thing or another.

Because of all the chaos, I brought up the prospect of visiting Julian and their family while we were en route to the planet. Even if we were being hunted at the time, the German countryside we had been in was nice, and now would be a good time to go back and visit people who were hopefully friends there. Marine and Max were both in favor of the idea, and once we began communications with Madrid, we also raised the idea. I didn't phrase it like 'can we go visit some people who may or may not have violated the law while you guys searched for us,' and rather as us looking to collect some of the equipment we had left in the forest. It certainly wasn't a lie, but it also wasn't quite what we were planning on doing.