Even after we had received the signals from Criah's probe, we continued to monitor any incoming data from the other probes that had ventured to further stars. While Criah-3 had already been chosen as the destination for our crewed interstellar mission, it would be foolish to throw away the only data from inside these other star systems.

Certainly, the news of a living, habitable planet in less than 10 light years was the focus of everyone's excitement, but if you turned your eyes to the dead planets, a curious pattern emerged.

Each probe would enter a star system, and enter whichever planet had the highest chances of being habitable– thick atmosphere, habitable zone, water content, among other variables. Some probes failed, thrusters dying en-route or burning up on entry over a botched trajectory. Plenty of these planets had nothing of note, just an inert atmosphere with a dead landscape; a barren rock with nothing of note. But for some planets, there was something odd. Something that was clearly… wrong, and they all had the same… wrongness, to them.

It certainly caused some discussion when the photos and measurements came in. Over the many years that spanned the IHV program’s development, new data from a landed probe would come in. More than half of them had the same attribute. Gray fog and dust, sometimes what could be interpreted as artificial buildings could be seen, but the stationary and short-lived nature of the probes meant that further exploration was impossible. Ash stuck to everything, coating the planets’ surfaces and everything on them, in a perpetual rain of flakes as wind carried it in storms.

There was a lingering chemical. Something the spectrometers couldn't recognize… our administrator obsessed over them for days on end. There were small hints of organic material; carbon, slivers of what could be protein chains, which floated endlessly like dust in the wind of gray, cloudy worlds.

They all looked like that, they all had that dust, those ashes.

/////

Everyone was quiet. Looking around, everyone else saw it too. People started to murmur.

"Are those… those lights can't be artificial, can they?"

"That bright? There's no way they're natural."

"But that would mean…"

"Maybe they're other Serri? The pre-war astronauts could have-"

"Are you serious right now? Something of that magnitude would be impossible to do without some record of it being left behind… besides… look, they're everywhere. They've been living here for a long time…"

"They're definitely cities. Look how they form spokes and concentrate around coasts… people live here."

"How did the probe never see this?"

"It fell in the ocean, remember? We never got a close look at the land… or the planet at night."

We aren't the first to this planet… how could that be? Were they like us? Were they as advanced as us? Judging by the extent of its cities they were at the very least post-industrial. Did they have a concept of spaceflight? Would they be peaceful?

...where are we supposed to land now?

The surveying team wasted no time training all the ship's sensors on the planet below.

"Everyone remain calm," Rhys commanded. "Nothing is known for certain yet, we will be making observations and determining what action will be taken. I will be convening with our lead engineers, in the meantime, we will be postponing the wake-up of groups one and three until we have decided on a course of action."

Riys always maintained a steadfast demeanor, but here, I could sense just a hint of trepidation. His blue, keeled scales bristled across his body, his scale color and shape was a recessive trait, one thought to indicate good luck to an infant born with it. He always exuded an aura of confidence, but the way his scales flared up gave me the impression that… he was scared too. The concept that we weren't alone… it was simultaneously exciting, and deeply uncomfortable. He told us to rest… but sleep was the last thing on any of our minds. Those who weren't staring out the windows were chattering among themselves, trying to make sense of everything.

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

Who were they?

Did they know we're here?

/////

The next two days were abound with confusion, panic, deliberation, and arguments. Everyone was looking for some explanation, some course of action to take. No one was prepared for this.

I studied the old photographs with renewed vigor. The cruise stage took a photo every few minutes, with the entry probe increasing that rate to every few seconds as it descended. The photos, regrettably, lacked a great resolution– data had to be kept small, and then further compressed, to effectively make the journey back. The area the probe descended was dominated by ocean, though large landmasses were still visible. No trace of civilization was visible… but of course it was. We were viewing the planet in direct daylight, mostly at the ocean, with a resolution fewer than 500 pixels across. There was no real reason to believe the planet was uninhabited; it obviously had fauna, as birds could be seen flying during its descent. The only reason we were taken by surprise… was because we simply never considered it. We had completely failed to account for an additional intelligence, and expected to claim the planet as our own.

Undoubtedly much of the crew were doing the same thing as I, looking at the photographs for any clues they could find. I groaned and steadied myself, covering my face in my hands. The commander must have a plan in place for something like this, surely, right? With any luck, the aliens here wouldn’t be hostile, but if they were… there wasn’t anywhere we could go.

My train of thought was interrupted by the emergency P.A.

"ALL HANDS, AT ATTENTION"

This must be important.

"This is Commander Rhys. All crew, stay awake and alert. An artificial object has been detected on a trajectory to our position. Remain calm and prepare for further instructions."

Wait what!?

I quickly looked out the window, but I could not see anything but the planet below and the cosmos surrounding it.

I exited the bunks and into the main hall, where I saw all of the crew huddled around a window. They were murmuring to each other.

"That's an alien spacecraft!"

"Are people on board?"

"Look, it has wings! It must!"

I tried to crane my neck to see through the glass. It was still far from us, but it's shape and color could just barely be registered. It was some kind of spaceplane, it appeared to be much smaller than our shuttles, but at this distance it was hard to tell. Puffs of white exhaust occasionally became visible leaving parts of the craft as it oriented itself and slowly moved closer to us.

"Does it have windows? I can't tell!"

"It's getting closer! Is that writing on it?"

“Look at that insignia! I think it's alien lettering!”

They were right, the side of the craft had what appeared to be a round, red and blue insignia, accompanied by black text near the front. A name perhaps? I was equal parts fascinated and terrified. These aliens were a completely unknown variable, and their approach to our craft only gave me more concern.

"That thing is definitely being piloted, I see a hatch!"

The craft halted its momentum roughly twenty meters from us, and just… stayed there. Were they observing us? They must be…

There looked to be windows, but I couldn’t see inside. If I could, we might have been able to see what they looked like. The ship’s presence made me wonder why they were able to so quickly send a craft here. Assuming their technology was no better than ours, it takes several weeks of planning ahead before a spacecraft launches. Mission planners need to know the exact orbital inclination to achieve, train the proper astronauts, include the needed equipment, among a myriad of other variables that shaped a mission. This ship was here within two days. Were they somehow… expecting us? Did they see us traveling through their star system, and now that we’re in orbit around their planet, they’ve already prepared for it?

/////

A team was sent out on EVA, hovering around the airlock. It was decided that the best course of action to take would be to attempt some kind of communication, or at the very least gain some information about the mysterious craft.

The team stayed in physical contact with our ship, carrying bright lights on their suits, to draw attention to themselves. It was impossible to know what these aliens' intentions were, but if they were hostile, there was little we could do. Our ship was the culmination of rebuilt post-war technology, but it was still not but a humble exploratory vessel, with no armaments or defensive measures to speak of. The best thing we could do was hope that they were peaceful, and attempt to make clear our peaceful intentions as well.

"Movement!" One astronaut shouted. On the camera feed, we could see a suited entity exit from a hatch. The suit was white, but it was difficult to make out specific features from the screen. A second followed after it, carrying what appeared to be a long tether.

"They're… carrying something. It looks like an umbilical? I don't think it's connected to their suits though… they're looking straight at us now."

I shuddered. The prospect of a race other than ours… it was unprecedented. Who knows what their beliefs or culture could be like, if they wanted to exterminate us, is there anything we could do? What if they boarded our vessel and found the location of Dayden, to conquer for themselves-

I steadied myself. That's just paranoia. The vessel they're emerging from is quite small compared to our shuttles, they can't be that advanced, surely.

The one with the tether was floating closer now, one end still connected to their spacecraft, while tiny thrusters visibly pushed it. As it got closer, the details became more visible. They didn't have a tail… instead it was as if they had two more arms at the bottom of their body. Were these a bipedal species? With a lower gravitational field, it wasn't impossible… how bizarre to see…

The first suited alien reached the hull of our ship, appearing to deliberately target a section of the hull some distance from our astronauts, about a tail's length.

"They're… they're here. I can't see their faces. Their visors are opaque. They lack any tail, and appear to be a bipedal species. They're smaller than I expected… estimate two meters, roughly."

It hooked its end of the tether onto one of the exterior grab-rails. It turned back and motioned a signal to its partner, who began to climb the length of the tether. They were connecting their ship to ours.

I turned to Riys, who was closely studying the images on screen.

"What do we do now… are we supposed to just… let them in?"

"We wait and see what they do," he replied simply, not moving his gaze from the screen.

Now both of them were right next to the airlock. They just… stayed there. Were they talking to each other? Examining us?

Then, one made a move.

One of them extended an arm toward the EVA team, with a gloved hand open.

/////