UNIF Reconnaissance Ship John Doe. On trajectory towards ARD-13

"Attention, all crew members, please make your way to the bridge immediately. Repeat, please make your way to the bridge immediately."

Anna groaned as she was roused from her sleep by Hercules slapping her back. What the hell's going on? Why couldn't I just sleep for a few more minutes...

"Hey! Stop sleeping over there, this is an emergency!"

Anna perked up again. Emergency? Well no one was going to get down to resolving one without her presence to grace the occasion. Thankful that she'd already tied her hair into her signature twin braids before going to sleep, Anna hurriedly strapped on her boots and ran to the bridge. The clanking sounds of boots against the metallic hull filled the air and Anna drew energy from this 'lively' atmosphere.

When she finally reached the bridge, Officer Weselton was standing on the Captain's podium, in front of a huge viewscreen that showed the position of the ship relative to ARD-13. "Attention, everyone!" He called. "A few minutes ago, the John Doe's sensors detected a chunk of ice detaching itself from the planet's rings. It is now accelerating towards us, and we saw fit to wake everyone up in case drastic maneuvers were required." Even as the bridge now erupted into a clamor, a speaker on the wall suddenly began to squawk a collision alarm. Instantly, all complaints melted into silence. "Brace, brace, brace-"

Crack. Bang.

With a loud scratching sound and a few clangs, the hull shuddered, before beginning to spin at an insanely fast pace as the weight of the ship was suddenly imbalanced. Anna held on for dear life to a piece of handrail that just happened to be in front of her, while the less fortunate around her fell to the ground and began to roll.

"What the hell happened?" she heard Weselton's voice above all the screaming from around her.

"I don't know. I- what?" The crewman sitting in front of her noticeably paled. "Sir, the engines are being cut off! They've been smothered by ice formations!" What? She barely heard Weselton's reply as the speakers began to sound off again. "Attention, all crew. Hull breaches detected in close proximity to the bridge. Recommend all personnel put on oxygen masks immediately. Hull breaches..."

The bridge immediately fell silent as the metal on the bridge's ceiling began to buckle and crack, before finally splitting and allowing ten circular holes to form. From each fell a single chunk of ice. That stood up. As the temperature in the bridge began to drop, Anna began to shiver, and frost crept over every single non-organic surface. The figures began to move, and Anna examined the figure closest to her. It was not a moving ice statue, but instead was actually a man wearing what appeared to be some kind of battle armor, with a full face helmet. But it was made of... ice?

A single brave soldier stood up and raised his assault rifle, but with a loud whine a beam of blue energy hit his chest, the concussive impact sending him flying across the room. With a crunch, he hit the wall and slid down, his uniform reduced to nothing, armor plates shorn apart. The ice-man who had fired the shot lowered his weapon, the muzzle emitting light condensation. Anna's mind was completely numb as she surveyed the boarders, and she found herself marveling over irrelevant things such as how her fellow crewmates were able to keep quiet through all of that. What?

With a loud crack, another hole appeared in the centre of the bridge, and onto the Captain's podium fell another ice-man. Wait, it was a woman! Anna, as well as several other crew members drew in a breath.

The woman wore form fitting armor plates that made her look beautiful and powerful at the same time. Her platinum blonde locks were tied into a braid that was wound around her head. She had high rosy cheekbones, perfect pink lips, a small dainty nose. And oh, the most perfect, large and round icy blue eyes. That ice longsword she held in her hand only served to make her look even more badass... and sexy. Too bad part of her face was obscured by a stupid transparent nozzle that covered her nose.

"What is the meaning of this?" Officer Weselton's voice rang out through the silence. The blonde woman whipped around to look at him. "How dare you stop this vessel, you traitors! This is a UNIF mining vessel on a course for the planet ARD-13! I demand you release us immediately!"

With a flick of her wrist, the ice sword dissolved into blue light and faded away. Officer Weselton's face paled. "Sorcery..." His eyes narrowed and glared up at the blonde woman. "I knew there was something dubious going on here."

To Anna's surprise, the blonde woman and her companions laughed. Gazing back into the old officer's now scared black irises, she smirked, then proceeded to speak in a strange accent. "Sorcery? I thought two thousand years would have been enough time for humans to progress beyond belief in magic." Anna's eyes turned dreamy at the sound of her melodic voice, and she nearly swooned as that musical laugh sounded again. Such a beautiful creature should not be humanly possible. It was clouding her judgement!

In a foolish move, Anna spoke out, desperate to get on the woman's good side. "Yeah, isn't magic a little old school?"

She was utterly unprepared when the deck erupted in a chorus of murmurs. The old officer's eyes seemed unsure whether to narrow in suspicion or widen in fear. Those soldiers that came from the holes in the hull immediately leveled their weapons at her. Most hurting of all however, was the longsword reforming in the woman's hand. Now when she spoke, she did so in a different voice, and it was slurred and nearly unintelligible.

"Human with the copper hair, where did you learn to speak our tongue?"

Anna's eyes widened and her palms began to sweat. I was speaking in a different tongue? What? You cannot be serious. "Uh... P-pardon me?" She stammered. In her head, she kicked herself for stammering. Now she was completely, utterly screwed.

Yet, some twisted part of her brain was able to find some kind of joy in the situation. Oh look, I've finally found aliens. She thought happily, before a stinging pain hit her in the back of her neck and the world exploded into ice shards.


Human space vessel en route to Frossiya

The Commander stared at the copper-haired human now being brought into the hold of her own craft. This was most intriguing. It wasn't every day that a member of an alien species on the other side of the galaxy was able to speak your own native tongue.

However, the curiosity and humor she derived from that interesting incident was short lived. Now she turned back to the rest of the humans aboard the vessel. What was she going to do with these?

Elsa had two options. The first was of course to simply slaughter all of them, and destroy their mothership. In a matter of minutes the whole problem of the humans would be solved. But deep down she knew that this was a temporary solution at best. Even if the humans never returned to this part of the galaxy again, they knew of its existence. There was no knowing what they would come back with this time. In any case, it would be a break in a long clean streak for Frossiya since the last War. The Council of the Quadrant would surely call her to stand trial.

The other alternative, of course, would be to destroy this little vessel, then send a warning to the mothership. It would be a better alternative because there was less bloodshed, plus the mothership would get the message and leave. If they were lucky, the humans would be so reluctant to come back that they would not disclose their existence and would never return to this part of the galaxy again.

The final solution would be the ultimate solution. The Commander would tell the Frossiyan Council that the humans were a threat to the galactic status quo and the safety of the galaxy in general. The Ringfleets would be sent to Earth, wherever it was, and they would destroy it completely. No more humans, no more troubles. And a statement to the rest of the galaxy that Frossiya had not gone soft. A sign that the ancient strength of Frossiya five hundred years ago still preserved. Perhaps then those fools from South-Islerii would keep their mouths shut.

As she turned to give her orders however, she saw a human female with long golden hair much like hers but a few shades darker. However, her eyes were much rounder and had brilliant green irises instead of blue. Yet these eyes which she could imagine shining brightly with happiness and light instead were welling up with water. As she watched, the human female's mouth contorted into a grimace of sorts, before clenching and releasing a strangled cry of something like sadness and frustration. The water in her eyes began to run down her cheeks, creating trails over the skin, even as more pools gathered in her eyes. Ignoring the loathing of water in the back of her mind, she made her way over the the female.

As expected, the female looked up once her shadow fell upon her and began to dry off the water with the sleeves of her purple shirt. She stiffened when Elsa laid a hand upon her, and the Commander hastily removed her cold hands. "What's your name?" She asked in her halting human speech. She was not sure how she knew the words, but they came to her and she simply repeated them.

"Rapunzel," the human female sniffed.

The Commander's eyes widened. Healer. When she saw the human female looking at her, she blushed and covered her mouth. She'd actually said it out loud. Quickly changing the subject, the Commander asked again. "Why do you cry?" So this is how humans cry.

The golden-haired female looked down into her lap. "I'm crying because... you're going to kill us aren't you?" Elsa's eyes widened as she saw the female looking at her with fearful eyes. "That's what all the movies say aliens do. I'm never going to see my dear Eugene again, or my children. Or my mom and dad..."

The female's rambling voice was lost upon the Commander as she reflected upon what she'd said. That's what all the movies say aliens do. Does the galaxy really think so lowly of us? The humans haven't even met us properly yet, and they already think we are hostile. Elsa thought back on her meetings with her Kai, with Hans. All had been regarding the best way to deal with humans if they were threats. The very reason for her existence was to help guard against threats both internal and external. She gazed back to the human who was still talking, now close to crying again. She had a family, offspring, love. She had a life beyond this. If the Commander decided to destroy the entire vessel, she would deprive her children of one parent. She would deprive countless others of the same thing. She would cause great loss, and sadness on Earth. Great hate too, towards Frossiya. Perhaps not directly, but hate towards the cause of death would be felt on them.

She'd felt the same when the news had come back of her mother's death in space. The tears, the anger, the surge of terrible emotions. The hatred towards space and everything that lay outside the planet. Hate towards whatever had killed her mother. Fear that it would be back to destroy the rest of them.

Humans were so much like them, it was unnerving.

Elsa refused to be the cause of all those emotions. She would not be the cause of fear, anger, pain. She would not cause unnecessary deaths for the sake of her own people. They could handle themselves. They were the elder race. The humans were the younger. So they had to learn. But how would they learn if she destroyed their homeworld without giving them a chance?

Surprising herself again, she placed a hand on the sobbing human's shoulder, patting it until she stopped sobbing, before standing. "You will be allowed to return to your vessel, with the exception of the one who spoke our language. Never return to our world, or there will be consequences. We will trouble you no further." An unusual warmth flooded her veins as she heard sighs of relief and cries of happiness echoing around the bridge of this queer metal vessel. She allowed herself a rare smile towards the human who was now embracing another of her crewmates. After seeing the female smile back, she turned to leave, stepping back under the tubes connecting the metallic hull of the human vessel to their own.

As Elsa flew upwards back into her vessel, she caught a glimpse of the human female being wrapped in several layers of insulation, still unconscious. She massaged her temples and nearly groaned in frustration as she walked back to her seat in the bridge of the ship. Another problem waiting to be solved. Was there no end to this?