Personal Log - 009 - Sara Ryder, Andromeda Galaxy / Date: 2819 (CE, 0 1:17:17, AA - After Arrival) Continued: New Friends?

-resume transcript-

As we sank into the lower reaches of the atmosphere, we were accosted by some ships of unknown design. They were kind of flat and round but with obvious gun turrets trained on us. I was reminded of the famous "flying saucers" from before true alien contact was made.

An alien voice came over the speakers and we guessed they wanted us to follow the ships.

In the hopes they had better uni-translator software than we had, I replied that we come in peace. The ships escorted us over a dark, desolate, barren landscape, filled with volcanic activity, lava flows and lakes. It didn’t seem either inviting nor hospitable. Then we approached something that for a lack of a better word I can only describe as an oasis.

Right out of the middle of all this desolation rose lush, green life. It looked like the dormant caldera of a volcano or crater to me. Surrounded by curtains of mist, from water meeting the hot lava at its foot. Full of plant life, water and graceful, mostly white buildings. They seemed to conform to the natural shape of the hill and kinda snuggled up to it, blending in with the plants and rocks. 

Lots of terraces and walkways were visible, all covered with tarps in pleasant watery colors. It was in no way primitive, in fact the materials used looked similar to ours. Pretty high tech in fact.

Kallo set the Tempest down inside the caldera, on a landing platform barely big enough for the ship, while the patrol ships watched with unbroken vigilance. Gotta hand it to them, they handled first contact better than us. No one shot at us, for now.

I had to go out there and prove that we weren’t hostile. As I made for the door the others voiced their discomfort and told me to be cautious.

To mask my own nervousness I quipped that they’d please delete the video of me getting eaten.

Down in the cargo-bay, standing in front of its big door, which served as the main entrance and exit to the ship, I hesitated for a moment. My hand on the Button to lower the ramp, I thought about how dad would handle this kind of situation. He’d been one of the first humans to encounter alien life in the form of the militaristic Turians. He didn’t cause the incident that led to the thankfully short First Contact War, but he’d fought them in the trenches nevertheless. He’d go at this very cautiously and with lots of contingency planning.

Well, I had a burnt ship, a damaged engine and a very nervous crew.

Time to own up and find a path, Pathfinder.

I hit the door release.

Holding my hands up I slowly walked down the ramp. As it had lowered down I’d seen some alien soldiers or guards arrange themselves in a semi circle under the ship's hull, in front of the bay door. 

They trained their very efficient looking weapons on me and not one of them even twitched as I started to walk. They formed a protective circle and kept an eye on me as well as the people behind their perimeter.

These guys were professionals.

We walked on and I followed their gestures as they spoke to me but the software hadn’t yet caught up with their language. All around us a bunch of civilians, probably dock workers or similar, gaped and babbled in general excitement. Their language had a melodic flow that reminded me of some African languages I’d heard on earth. Good more for the Omni-Tool and SAM to analyze. I caught snippets of sentences and some words but not quite enough to fully understand them yet. I tried to take in as much as I could in our short walk.

These people were obviously bipedal, with one set of humanoid arms, though their legs were similar to Salarian, Turian or Quarian, bent backwards at the knees. It almost seemed like our legs were an aberration from the norm in the universe. They seemed to possess two genders, as some of them were slimmer, more delicate and seemed to have female “curves” to their bodies. Males seemed to come in a similar variety as humans, as I saw pretty muscular as well as “regular guys”.

Male and female seemed of similar height, with only slight, individual differences.

They had no hair that I could see and their skin came in a great variety of hues and patterns from blue to green to pink, brown and grey-ish, with irregular flecks and freckles of darker or lighter tones. A little bit like natural camouflage.

Their heads are actually hard to describe.

Those I took for males have necks that remind me of a cobra's neck-crest, though thicker, more muscular. The ”females” have something similar though more delicate and it looks like it continues down to their chest under their garments. Their heads and faces are rounder than their male counterparts' more angular features. The eyes of the ”females” are quite a bit larger and rounder than those of the “males” and surprisingly the “females” have full, sensual lips. With the guys having thin,at the moment mostly scowling mouths. Their noses are flat, almost just two slits.

Their clothes seemed quite utilitarian and form fitting but with a wide range of different, personal styles and colors. Some wore ponchos or jackets that actually looked quite nice and well crafted.

My guards led me to a short set of stairs, leading to a higher tier of the city. Atop it stood some more, stern looking Aliens. Two” guys” and three “girls”. I’ve no idea if the numbers are of any significance.

An older looking female, with a light blue design painted or tattooed on her foreheads dark blue skin took a step forward and addressed me.

Luckily SAM and the translator software had in the meantime picked up enough between them to translate with only a slight delay. Her voice was firm and obviously used to command.

She introduced herself as "Paaran Shie", governor of Aya. I’ve no idea if that’s just this city or the entire planet. She gave “Angara” as the name of her people.

I was surprised to hear she knew who we were and that we’d crossed dark space from another galaxy. But just as she was about to elaborate she was rather rudely interrupted by a burly Angara, with purplish skin, one of these cool ponchos slung over his shoulders and a visor over his right eye. He’s got a massive scar on the left side of his head, looks like something tore a bit out of his flesh there. He demanded that I be taken to someone called „Evfra“. Probably some high ranking military guy. They’re the same everywhere.

The governor unsuccessfully tried to establish authority over this bully, she called him “Jaal”, but he was not to be deterred. Got right into my face and demanded to know how we found this place and what we wanted. I assured him that we came in peace but he turned his back on me, muttering with no small amount of scorn that others had said so before and stalked off. He ordered the governor to bring me to this Evfra guy, at his headquarters. She reluctantly agreed and offered to lead me through the city as a guest, not a prisoner if I behaved and didn’t do anything stupid.

So I followed about two steps behind her through the city.

I have to admit, the city is beautiful. An abundance of plants and a general sense of pleasant aesthetics did lots to ease my misgivings about this military HQ I was being led to and the behavior of that purple bully. SAM said that this was a completely new ecosystem. It’s fascinating.

The people around us were held back by a few guards strategically placed along the way but apart from a few fearful and derisive comments from some, most seemed more curious than hostile. I even overheard one woman admonish a guy for voicing his mistrust of me and telling him to give me a chance to prove myself to them. Good for us. SAM detected unusual levels of bio-electricity in the Angara, I wonder what that means.

We arrived at our destination and I entered the building alone. From the outside it looked like any other bigger building in the city but inside it was bustling with activity. To my right I could hear distant weapons fire, echoing up a stairwell leading down, deeper into the building. A firing range? Training grounds? This Jaal fellow stepped up to me again. 

This time he cradled a sleek rifle in one arm and I couldn’t help but notice the nervous twitching of his trigger finger. As a silent, blue Angara stared at me with open hostility he explained that their people were naturally distrustful of aliens, since their encounter with the Kett. 

The Kett abduct their people, often never to be seen again. I understand that they aren’t giving their trust freely. How horrifying to have an alien species come to your planet and take away our people. It almost sounds like an old horror story, but for these people it is true. 

All around us Angara were taking readings from computer consoles, listening to radio chatter as well as relaying orders and receiving reports and updates. This looked like the comand center of an ongoing war. 

Jaal ushered me into another room, no less busy than the first, a big desk dominated the far side of the room and a huge bank of screens stood on the left wall, operated by several busy Angara. The face of an Angara was on full display on one of the screens, black and white, for some reason. Maybe a casualty, a fugitive?

A tall, burly Angara was harshly giving orders to the others. Jaal waited for a lull in the activity and introduced me, stumbling a little over the pronunciation of “Milky Way.” 

So, that was Evfra.

His blue-marbled face creased in suspicion around a huge scar running from his forehead down to his chin on its left side, as he asked about our motives for coming to Aya. I explained who and what the Initiative is and surprisingly he sounded genuinely concerned as I told him about our food problems. But he was adamant in finding out the reason for me coming to this planet, particularly as it is hidden by the scourge.

I told him about our experience on Eos and what we found there. That we needed to look inside the vault on Aya.

He knew of it, but it had been closed and no one knew how to open it.

Jaal cut in then, “The Moshae”, a great scientist of theirs, could help, he said.

Evfra added that the Kett had abducted her recently and they hadn’t been able to rescue her. He seemed quite frustrated and angry about that fact. Of course I offered to help, but Evfra didn’t want to hear about it, he didn’t trust outsiders and saw no reason for me to help him. To my surprise Jaal stepped in and offered to act as an observer or liaison to me and the Initiative. Testing the waters, so to say, seeing if I could be trusted. 

If I truly would help the Angara.

Evfra wasn’t thrilled with the prospect but agreed, after some choice words from "Jaal Ama Darav" as he introduced himself, after Evfra had left. He still didn’t trust me, he added and would kill me in my sleep if need be … wonderful.

We went to the landing zone, back to the Tempest where Jaal talked to a representative of Governor Shie, I was confined to this area until I’d proven that the Angara could trust me/us. Fine, we’ll show them.

I’ll go to the meeting room now.

Let’s see what the others think about our newest crew member.

-pause transcript-