You press the all-hands broadcast button.

“All hands, all hands. We are in a first contact scenario. I say again, we are in a first contact scenario. Secure from warp jump stations and go to Action Standby stations. Weapons systems are to be warmed up but left secured in travel positions. First Contact Protocols are active.”

You release the button and run your hands over your face. This is a situation that is covered in every Surveyor's Corps training course but is still unexpected. Scraps of information and the first echoes of panic start to crawl about your mind. You force them away with an effort of will and start with the things that you can control.

You tap in a command for an automaton to bring your void suit to the bridge so that you can suit up in accordance witch Action Standby stations. It's one step below general quarters and has provisions for crew rotation so that it can be maintained for long periods of time. But none of those measures were designed with a crew as small as yours in mind. Your next commands are to select a series of eggheads and regular crew automatons as the 'relief parties' to rotate in when you and your mortal crew need to stand down for rest. You attach the groups to yourself as well as the two midshipmen and then pause.

CWO Fish has vastly increased endurance at her station because of her automaton body. You assign a relief group to her anyways and send along a quick memo with the notification.

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“I know you technically don't need rest like the rest of us, but you will take those rest periods anyway. I need you mentally fresh as well as physically ready.”

An affirmative response comes back at once from CWO Fish. The Midshipmen respond a few moments later. Satisfied with this you take a moment to change into your void suit as you ponder the next steps. The first contact protocols are fairly clear on this point at least and you set about following them. You put the Night Horse onto a stable orbit well out in the outer reaches of the system and set up the preliminary system scans to run on passive only. Next you fire off a FTL comm link message up your chain of command and to the relevant parties.

TO: RDML Aquila Barantyn the 2nd, commanding officer, Surveyor's Corps, Celesmore detachment AND the Ministry of Interstellar Diplomacy and Communications

PRIORITY: UTMOST

REASON: FIRST CONTACT

My lords, I report with the greatest urgency a first contact situation in the Gayle system. Night Horse is proceeding with first wave system scans per first contact protocols. Initial passive sensor data indicates that this unknown race, designated the Gayle Contact per the protocols, is a space fairing race that has already fully colonized this system at a minimum. Passive scans show five colonized worlds, two orbital habitats, a permanent orbital shipyard facility, and twenty eight space craft of all types. The presence of this species was not, I say again not, present in the sensor data passed to Night Horse in our pre departure briefing.

At the time of transmission of this message no communications attempts with the Gayle Contact have been made or received.

SIGNED: CAPT Lawrence Warde, Commanding, HMSCS Night Horse.