Objectively speaking, the direction that this exchange had taken made my mission a lot easier to execute. The grand leader of the Meldren was acting like a complete pushover, and I’m sure I could sign a wicked deal if I applied a bit of pressure. The moons on the origin planet were no brainers, being the ideal distance from the sun and all that. There was also a gas giant in the local system that we would gladly exploit, and the Meldren would be none the wiser since they mainly stayed on the home world instead of expanding to other celestial bodies.

Honestly speaking, the governor of the planet was terrified and it worried me. The data dump informed me that the Meldren had interacted with other extraterrestrials, meaning Humanity was late to the party, and the governor acting like this made me think that those others might have been less than friendly. If everything went well, other pioneers would find those planets and take care of the problem before it turned towards us.

Selfishly speaking, I wanted to get the hell off this ship and onto the ground. The ship was just finishing the orbit burn and I’d be passing over the governor’s building in a few minutes, so it was the perfect time to jump down. I’ll ask for permission but I’m going down there whether I get it or not.

“I’d prefer if we could continue this discussion face to face. The trip here has been a bit rough. Do I have permission for planetfall?”

Maybe that was a bit pushy. I did feel bad for imposing myself but I’m losing both patience and time before the landing window. A moment passed before I got a response.

“I, uh… yes, then, we should send a shuttle to you?”

“That won’t be necessary,” and I’ll be making sure it doesn’t happen. Last thing I want is some alien vessel near my ship. This thing, as much as I was fed up with it, was my lifeline and I would not be putting it in any sort of harm's way. “I’ll be coming directly to you.”

The governor let out another squeak before nodding and closing the call. I grabbed a supply pack, stepped into an ejection pod, which was really just a coffin shaped heat shield with a set of jets to slow my fall, and began the countdown.

“Please come back safely”

The ship's AI was made to mimic a real person. I knew deep inside that there wasn’t any actual emotion behind that request, but it still gave me a sense of obligation. It was really the only thing that kept me sane during the trip. After talking to it for a few weeks, I started noticing patterns in its responses and could predict what it would say with some success. But after a month or two? When I forgot how to count time and spent my waking hours worried if I was even moving or not? I’ve always prided myself in being headstrong, but the AI was the only thing that pulled me back from stepping out the airlock to check if it wasn’t all just a dream.

Falling down to a planet after months of mostly weightlessness was jarring even with all my implants. It wasn’t as bad as if I had been falling towards Earth per se thanks to the slightly lower gravity and thinner atmosphere, but it definitely wasn’t comfortable.

The heat shield had served its purpose and was discarded, leaving only the set of jets attached to my back. These things had enough juice to bring me back up to my ship the next time it circled around, so it’s not like I was stranded.

The view was absolutely breathtaking. The governor’s building was a massive, red, white and gold marble mansion with an open court in the center. Quartz roads spread out from the entrance like tendrils, covering the acres of trimmed gardens and fountains in front. If anything, these Meldren knew how to be fancy. I spotted a trio of them in front of the main entrance, though none of them looked like the governor.

If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

Upon landing and finally getting a good look at these Meldren, the first thing I realized just how short they are. I was average height for a Tritonian at exactly two meters tall and these people were maybe half my size. While their heads and bodies looked like those of mice, they walked on two legs and had six fingers in each hand. Their body proportions were pretty close to those of a human and their mouths featured a full set of flat teeth instead of the buckteeth that mice had. They wore robes of different colors on top of traditional clothing, maybe signifying rank?

I stood up straight and stretched my hardest stretch yet, breathing in the slightly sweet-smelling air. For the first time in months, I stood still and felt a moment of true silence; no thruster shaking me without end, no status reports or small talk from my ship's AI, no beeping and whirring of the countless systems built into the walls. It was mid-day right now and feeling the sun on my skin, unobstructed by a meter-thick window, gave an indescribable sense of warmth. The phytocells in my skin that could get me classified as a plant finally started working again after the months inside the ship, giving me a new sense of energy and uplifting my spirits.

Snapping back to reality, My enhanced vision immediately noticed the Governor looking at me from behind a tinted window in the mansion. Seems like they're still terrified, I sure hope I can show that my priority is peaceful negotiation. I brought My attention back to the three Meldren waiting near the main entrance. They were talking amongst themselves, my heightened hearing picked up that they were still figuring out how to address me. Considering their behavior so far, I decided to let them come and greet me when they're ready. It's not like I was in a rush, I could happily stand here for the next couple hours just soaking in the atmosphere.

________________________

It really was the worst timeline.

First contacts had always just been wireless communication between ships and planets, an extraterrestrial making planetfall during one was unprecedented. Differences in atmosphere, gravity, temperature and a million other factors couldn't just be ignored unless proper planning had taken place first. That meant that this contact was premeditated, we had been scouted by them without even an inkling of a warning, and now we were paying the price for being blind. It's not like I could deny the demon entry to the planet, I was very aware that I had pretty much no control of the situation. We didn't have any measures against threats in space and the nearest allied military force was a day away at best. Distress signals had been sent out, but I very little hope that it would make a difference at this point.

I offered a shuttle to the surface in hopes of showing hospitality but was promptly brushed off. Honestly, that was probably for the better since I doubt any pilot we had would be capable of flying with that thing on board. Watching the demon descend from the sky on streams of fire was a surreal experience. Secretary Milli had woken up after the call was cut and I had sent her out with a couple officiants to escort the demon; my goal was to buy as much time as possible before aid came. All I could hope for was that as long as this thing remained on the planet, we would be safe from annihilation on the account of their species not firing at themselves.

I had a couple minutes to steel my nerves before I met the thing face to face. I thought back on the words that'd been exchanged so far, and how outside of its initial display, it hadn't shown any direct aggression. Us Meldren were hard wired to see a set of teeth as a threat, historically relying on running away from beasts and avoiding confrontations as methods of survival. We had obviously reached the point of evolutionary superiority with our intelligent minds and knack for tool manipulation, but there were very high walls between our cities and any land preserved for nature. This notion was shared by the vast majority of alien species barring a few outliers like those that came from mostly aquatic worlds and the like, and I hadn't really considered that the gesture might have had a different meaning for their kind considering how rare that was.

Focusing back on the trio that had been sent out, I noticed that Milli had finally started approaching. I've known her for as long as I've been in the political scene and she saved my skin more than a few times throughout my career. I felt bad sending her out first, but she'd insisted on it, saying that I shouldn't be exposed to unknown dangers if it can be helped. And now, my jaw was agape watching horror unfold before me.

She tripped while walking towards the demon, and it took that moment as a chance to pounce. In the blink of an eye, my friend that I had shared the ups and downs of most of my life with was in the arms of a monster, and all I could do was let out an anguished cry in despair.