Inside a horrid amalgamation of flesh and steel drifting through space at about half a percent the speed of light, a small ball of tentacles and teeth stirred as long-offline systems automatically engaged deceleration protocols. Slowly at first, the creature twitched and started, then with greater energy began to awaken in earnest.

Old joints and muscles emerged from dormancy and regained feeling as the small dog sized alien awoke from long hibernation. It's appendages searched the space craft, latching onto nerves and more traditional controls as, with a few tugs and pushes and switches, sensors on it's ship came to life and put the target on display. A green and blue rocky planet, the third planet from the star it orbits. As retro thrusters and chemical expulsions slowed the ship, the alien corrected trajectory and steered the descent. Within the hour, the ship came down to less than a hundredth of its initial speed, all the while entering a closer and lower orbit. Finally, enough momentum had been shed that the ship was enroute to land about three miles away from the nearest native city. After atmospheric entry, the creature engaged a second set of deceleration mechanisms, these designed to work inside an atmosphere. In the minutes before landing, data was collected by a litany of scanners and sensors, and the creature rapidly skimmed through them. Mostly nitrogen, some oxygen, a tiny bit of argon, and a multitude of trace elements that weren't substantial enough to mention. Gravity was slightly higher than expected, but then again not nearly high enough to be an issue, and a bit on the chillier side.

All in all, almost perfect conditions. Initial readings finished, the ship compacted itself just before impact, organosteel plating sliding over each other and shock reducers slipping between to ensure the violent slam of ship against ground did minimal damage to the alien inside. The creature felt the ship hit the ground once, then bounce and hit it again less violently, then several more times until hitting a tree and rolling over a few times more before coming to a complete stop. Not exactly a pleasant experience, that.

After getting his appendages in order, the creature pulled at a couple more nerves and flicked a couple more switches. With a hiss, a clank, and a wet suctioning noise, a circular hole in the top of the ship peeled back to let its passenger out. Stretching it's appendages for the first time in what was likely actual centuries if not millennia, the stout tubular body was heaved out by its writhing mass of grasping tentacles and onto the dirt below. Behind it, the ship sealed itself again before shifting texture and color in a way not dissimilar to an octopus or cuttlefish, and promptly took on the general likeness of a grey boulder. It did little to hide the skid mark of devastation leading up to it, but it was better than nothing to obscure the alien ship from casual inspection.

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With that, the alien. or rather Sol-1 as it would now be named, shook itself out and began to climb up a tree. Animals would likely be scared off from the area for some time, but judging from the advancement of the city it had seen from orbit an intelligent response would likely arrive soon. In under a minute, it had made it to the top of the tree, surveying the immediate area. A canopy blocked Sol's view of the forest floor, but what was visible delighted it. Clear skies, verdant plant life, a single large moon barely visible on the horizon and a thriving settlement no doubt filled to bursting with biomass. Practically a paradise, ripe for the taking. It was almost too good to be true.

Then something flew a hundred feet overhead so fast that the tailwind following it threatened to throw Sol-1 clean off the branch it clung to, Sol barely holding on with lightning fast natural reflexes and the sheer amount of limbs anchoring itself to the tree. The tree that was now swinging back and forth from the disturbance.

Suddenly going very still, Sol-1 dared to turn back to get a look at what had been travelling at such speed. There in the clearing, hovering in the air just in front of the ship, was a vibrantly dressed mammal, about six feet in height, that seemed to be investigating the landing site. As it leaned in closer to the disguised spacefaring vessel, the new arrival brought a limb with five small digits up to it's ear and spoke. Unfortunately, Sol had no clue what it was saying.

Those had been supersonic speeds. Mach 1, at the very least, but probably closer to Mach 2 or 3. With no visible means of acceleration or deceleration. Then it stopped near instantly.

In the time it took Sol-1 to catch up, the mammalian had already taken out a device of some sort, waved it around a bit and, appearing satisfied, picked up the ship before flying up and disappearing with a sonic boom.

The ship that Sol knew to weigh in at over ten tons.

Sol-1 would need to revise initial assumptions.