UNIF Mining Vessel Living Rock. Arendelle System

"There is absolutely no way anything could survive down there."

"You're wrong, Kristoff. I know it. There's gotta be something here. We can't be the only ones in the universe."

"Anna, that's not important. You know that the only reason why we're here is so that we can get to those deposits in ARD-13. The damn thing's almost all ice and metal anyway."

"Well, maybe they don't need to live in warm places like we do?"

"Anna, the planet's fucking atmosphere is carbon dioxide. The only liquid down there is goddamn nitrogen. Whatever the hell you're hoping to find, you're not going to find it here. Now go get some rest. We'll be arriving in a few days."

The strawberry blonde and her male companion departed the viewing deck of mining vessel Living Rock and made their way back to the crew's quarters. One fell asleep straight away, his mind focused only on getting as much rest as possible before the hard day tomorrow. The other lay awake in her bunk, the question in her mind slowly but surely fading away. Are we alone?

Planet ARD-13 (Human Designation). Frossiya

"The Seer has detected a vessel of unknown origin on a trajectory that intersects with the orbit of our world in approximately three days' time."

Within a crystal clear sphere of ice, another body, with all kinds of angular, straight shapes appeared. It and the ice globe that represented their world glowed blue as they were highlighted for everyone to see.

"Librarian, from where does this vessel hail?"

"Very far from this system. They come from many lightyears away, in the second quadrant of the galaxy."

"I have been there before, there is only one notable habitable planet in that sector. Currently"

The viewpoint in the ice shifted to become the Milky Way at large, before rotating to the Second Quadrant and zooming back in. A bright dot of light at its centre, the star only known as Sol to them, over four and a half billion years old. Around it orbited nine planets, two with rings. Four gas giants. The Explorer raised his hand and pointed to the third.

"Earth." They chorused.

The Librarian consulted her tablets on the inhabitants of the planet.

"They need oxygen and..." she wrinkled her nose, "water."

Murmurs echoed from around the table, and each and every member of the planetary council felt distaste tugging at their minds. Blasphemy. Sacrilege. To consume water was to take apart the very essence that their planet was constructed of, to change it to suit one's own need, to interfere with it at the molecular level. That was the ultimate sin. The ice would give itself to suit your need, but only in this present state. Their bond would only preserve if it was honored. To attempt to alter something as ordered, pure and clear as ice was unthinkable. All of them apologized mentally, banishing all thoughts of the thing called water from their minds. Instantly their emotions were brought back under their control.

"Why do they come towards us?" The Leader scratched his beard. "They cannot possibly want water, if they need it they must have enough where they come from to sustain themselves."

The Intelligence looked up sharply. "Water isn't the only thing we have. There are minerals below that we have found no use for, yet the humans might." The Librarian nodded, expressing her agreement. "There are several large deposits of the materials humans consider valuable all over the planet. The list is so large I will not bother listing. They must have found a gold mine, in their terms."

The Leader's blood ran cold at the words of the Librarian next. "To get what they want, they will have to open the planet. Forcefully." As he gazed into the sapphire blue eyes of the golden-haired female who was known as the Commander, he patiently awaited her assessment.

"It is too soon to make a decision. We will stop them first, then investigate why they are here."

"Why not just destroy them and be done with it?"

"I could do that, if you command it so. If you're willing to be the catalyst of the Second War of the Fourth Quadrant. Otherwise, you will wait. I will take my leave now, the Ringfleets need to be moved into defensive positions." With a curt bow, the Commander stood, her chair's legs leaving scratches in the crystal ice floor, which healed as quickly as they had appeared.

"Yes, Elsa," the councillors intoned, as she walked out the ice chamber.

UNIF Living Rock

A short, stout old man walked up to the podium. He smoothed out his silver hair and glared down at his audience through his round spectacles. At the touch of a button, the viewscreen winked on, and the image it was to be displaying began to load.

"This is the planet we have designated ARD-13. It's nothing but a ball of ice, and it orbits the white dwarf we have designated Arendelle ARD-00." A small white ball appeared in the centre of the viewscreen. "This white dwarf is one of the oldest in the universe, it has cooled to no more than a hundred kelvin. Its mass is approximately 1.2 solar masses..."

Anna struggled not to fall asleep as Officer Weselton, the man on the podium, continued to drone on about details that she deemed unimportant. What was the point of knowing all about a star system when there was no life there? Planets, stars, moons, all became the same thing when there was no life form to make it interesting.

She looked up into the viewscreen as a chorus of oohs and ahs filled the auditorium. She gasped along with them too, when the planet came into view. It was a uniform, completely smooth sphere of ice that glowed blue in the feeble luminescence of the white dwarf. Surrounding it were a few rings of the same glowing blue material, which seemed to orbit the planet, resulting in an effect similar to that of water flowing. Silhouetted against the darkness of space beyond it, ARD-13 was easily the most beautiful thing that Anna had ever seen in her entire life.

Weselton's eyes narrowed in distaste at this spontaneous display. "Yes, it is very pretty, ladies and gentlemen, but that is not why we are here today." He clicked another button, and the results of a scan of sorts came up, all lines and gradients and bar charts. "Beneath that boring, ice exterior is where all the nice stuff is. All the metals, rocks, gems that we can mine. And then, we-I will sell them, and make millions!" His eyes held a faraway gleam as he fantasized about his riches. Or at least, the riches that would become his after he sent his workers on to gather them for him. Anna scoffed and crossed her arms as her colleagues sycophantically praised Weselton and asked him stupid questions to boost his ego. I have lost all faith in humanity.

"Wait, wait, SHUT UP!"

All voices in the room ceased and looked towards Kristoff, who was now standing, and staring at the screen. The huge blonde man raised a finger and pointed it towards the screen. "What the hell's that?"

On screen, the planet's rings were now beginning to 'flow' faster and faster, and as they rapidly gathered speed, so did they change position into different segments. The eight distinct rings split themselves up, changing their positions around the planet to positions similar to a primitive atomic structural model. Weselton's eyes narrowed as the rings suddenly began to glow and pulsate with a bright blue light.

There was no sound, only a ripple and shudder as the hull vibrated. People began to scream as the lights went out, and then they fell backwards as the entire ship shuddered to a stop. Thankfully, Anna was caught in Kristoff's secure arms as they were both thrown backwards.

When the lights finally came back on again, they were distinctly weaker than before, and the projector screen itself refused to turn itself back on. The officer's eyes narrowed into anger, and his face contorted in rage at his presentation being interrupted. He grabbed a communicator from above him. "What the hell was that?" He snarled.

"Sorry sir," the reply came from the engine room, where it was strangely silent. "Whatever the hell that was, all the goddamn fuel's been frozen." Anna's mouth dropped open and she stared at Kristoff in wonder. "Gonna take us a few days to melt this down. We're running on emergency power for now."

The officer's eyes widened, and he looked completely lost for a second before he regained his composure. Gesturing to the microphone, he spoke again. "Well, you heard them. All the fuel is frozen." He straightened his spectacles and looked at the planet. "Due to the... unstable nature of the planet, I suggest we not move until we have confirmed that it is benign. Would anyone like to be part of a say... scout crew to check, and ensure the safety of your fellows?"

Anna's excited eyes met Kristoff's, and even though his eyes were just screaming at her not to volunteer, she couldn't help it. All her life, she'd been cooped up in her house, with her parents trying to train her to become the perfect woman to take over the family chain of hotels and such. When she'd signed up to become part of the UNIF Mining Crews, they'd been furious. Might as well make sure her time off world was worth it right? Maybe Kristoff was wrong, and there were really aliens out there, who lived on that ball of ice? How would she ever find out, unless she went to see for herself?

"I volunteer!"

The Ringfleets around Frossiya

The Commander lowered her hands and bowed to all of her Kai before leaving the chamber. The Ringfleets had been moved into defensive position, each and every single one of the eight rings of ships was now poised to counter any threat from any direction. The extra surge of her own power she had thrown into the bond with the Ice had ensured that the human vessel would not move for the next few cycles at least. Should they advance, they would find over five thousand ships, each the size of a small asteroid, waiting to destroy them. Now the Commander walked to her chambers, where the Hans awaited.

The Commander sighed as she walked through the Chamber of Remembrance in the Flagship, where the ice replicas of the previous Elsa stood. The entire chamber tingled with ancient power, and knowledge. The surge of strength she felt every time she walked into this room, where all her predecessors lay, their minds preserved in the everlasting memory of that which they came from, never wore out. The Ice reached out to the Commander, and she felt a sudden hostility towards the Earth people that were now moving towards the planet.

She shook her head, and attempted to brush it off when she saw that this feeling originated from the most recently deceased Elsa. A flash of images, explosions, pain, the Explorer, and then silence. The Commander shook her head and banished the images from her mind, clearing her head of all hostility and rage. Conceal, don't feel. Conceal, don't feel. It was particularly due to her most recent predecessor that the name Elsa translated to 'warrior' in so many other had all ended, of course, after her death. The Fourth Quadrant had since then been ravaged by a series of interstellar wars that were only ended after the Ice had chosen this Commander. Many brothers had perished in the War of the Fourth Quadrant. No petty vendetta with humans possessed by any of her predecessors, even her mother, would be the cause of another. She was the strongest Elsa to date, and her bond with the Ice rivaled even that of the Bishop. She could not afford to lose control, for everyone's sake.

Conceal, don't feel. Conceal, don't feel. She would need all her emotions under control to deal with the Hans anyway.

The Strategist, as his name meant in the ancient tongue, sat opposite the Commander's desk, lounging lazily in a chair as he consulted a diagram on his tablet. She was immediately unnerved when he laid his eyes upon her, his tongue darting out almost imperceptibly to lick his lips.

It was quite obvious that he knew how much impact he had on most women, with his auburn red hair, bright green eyes, and well sculpted features. His face was the picture of perfection, those pearly white teeth flashing a dashing smile at the Commander as she took her seat behind the desk. However, the smile did not reach his eyes, she noted. There she saw naught but a very, very strong hunger.

Hunger for me. The Commander knew of the effect she had on people too. But unlike Hans, Elsa knew that just because she had a gift, she should not use it for her own benefit. If her predecessor had taught her anything, it was just that. The Strategist's smile faded a little as the Commander drew up an ice tablet with a star chart on it and began to discuss possible courses of action instead. When he left, his scowl of displeasure at being unable to achieve his goal was visible to Elsa through the smooth panes of ice that made up the interior of the Flagship. She lay down on her soft bed of snow, and closed her eyes.

The humans are not a friendly species, they must be stopped.

You will keep silent, the Commander responded. Your death was caused by a silly, personal reason. That is why the power is now mine. It sounded like a terrible thing to say to your ancestors, but it was true. The last Elsa had died because she had deserted her post for some strange reason that no one understood, and the Ice refused to disclose. The Commander would not let emotions cloud her judgement. She would make the right decision, for the good of her people. That was the role she had been selected to serve, and she would serve it. She would not allow herself, or her people to be remembered as the aggressors, for starting a war with a species they had had scarce contact with, on a brief hunch.

The humans had made it to the stars. They must have some form of civilization at least, it would be unrealistic to assume that they come with the intent only to hurt and kill. Well, they cannot possibly be too different from us... Apart from the oxygen and water-

No! Elsa berated herself silently. What they look like or require to survive should not matter. Only their actions do. Elsa's hands clenched with shame and she fought to contain the power tingling in her palms. It was strange, how even Ice would shift to such a belligerent state to match her emotions. She could not let it get free. She'd nearly considered xenocide on an alien race solely because they were alien. She would be no better than those who bullied her for having erratic control over the Ice when she was young.

The Commander banished all the emotions from her mind and collapsed into her soft bed of snow. Involuntarily, her head turned to face out of the pane of ice that made up the wall of this ship, this combination of ice and metal. Her eyes wandered to that black mess of straight lines and irregular protrusions that blocked out the beautiful stars and nebulae that sparkled beyond them. Threat or not? The Commander didn't know. But she would try her best to make sure it was the latter, for everyone's sakes. She'd always enjoyed the feeling of being able to look up into the darkened skies of Frossiya and see the stars above. She wouldn't be the cause of anyone, human or her own people, being unable to enjoy that with her.