Awkward First Contact
All Raynor could do was just watch in amazement. Whoever these humans were, they'd just destroyed almost a quarter of the enemy forces with 3 shots, and now, in an attempt to defend themselves, they were tearing through the Zerg like a hot knife through butter. And all he could do was just stand there and watch. He could even feel the Protoss' awe, psionically resonating through the entire fleet. That one ship, the USS Enterprise, had just destroyed the entire Zerg Horde in a matter of a couple minutes. He was so amazed that his comm officer had to repeat himself before he heard him.
"Sir, can you hear me? That ship is attempting to contact us." Raynor pulled his thoughts back to the bridge.
"Oh...yes. Put them on the comm screen." The bridge Raynor had seen before was not what he now saw on the screen. Before, what he had seen was a clean, efficiently run bridge, obviously technologically advanced. But now, what he saw was quite different. The bright lighting that he saw before was gone, replaced by dim lights and red flashing ones all over, which he assumed were representative of some kind of alert status. Half the consoles at the back had gone dark, and one had obviously been the source of some kind of explosion. He saw several bloodied crewman being carried away on hovering stretchers. Sparks were bursting up all over the place, but already it appeared that repair crews were attempting to fix the damage. The holographic images that were previously being used as controls panels were offline, replaced now by two-dimensional touch-panels. The captain got up and began to speak.
"We've sustained heavy damage and have a few critically wounded crew members. Is there some kind of base nearby where we can begin to repair our ship?"
"First things first. Who are you?" The man seemed to pause for a moment, as if he was reluctant to reveal that information.
"I am Admiral Jean-Luc Picard from the United Federation of Planets." Such an imposing title, Rayner thought to himself, but wherever this 'Federation' is, it's not here. He was ready for a barrage of questions to ask this Picard, but before he could, he was interrupted.
I think we can trust him. The comment from Zeratul came so unexpected that Raynor nearly stumbled backwards when hearing it.
Why do you say that?
I am for some reason unable to feel their thoughts, but rather can only feel their emotions. Despite that, I can gage that their intentions are honorable and they have no desire to harm us.
All right Zeratul, but with that kind of weaponry, having them as an enemy could prove fatal.
Why are you viewing this situation from such a pessimistic point of view? That is not like you, Raynor.
Well that's usually your job, and since your not being pessimistic, I have to be. Zeratul let out a mental chortle, then quickly suppressed it, as he did not want to openly admit the Terran sense of humor had gotten to him.
"I am General Jim Raynor of the Terran Liberation Forces. Where are you from?"
"That would take some time to explain, General. May we invite you aboard our ship to discuss it?"
"I suppose so. We'll man a shuttle pod over to your ship in a few minutes."
"I'm sorry General, but our shuttle bay was badly damaged in that fight. We'll have to beam you over."
"Beam?" Whatever that was, it didn't sound pleasant.
"Sorry, let me explain. You see, we have the ability to convert matter to energy and visa-versa. We will convert your molecules into a data stream and then reconstruct them in another location." Raynor understood enough to know that the experience would be similar to traveling through a Protoss warp gate.
"Sounds fine. Jon, Mako, come with me." The three of them proceeded to stand in the middle of the bridge, and Raynor turned back to the comm screen. "Well, we're ready when you are." Picard then tapped the emblem on his chest, which proceeded to make a clicking noise. Raynor assumed that it was some kind of communications device. "Bridge to transporter room." A voice replied from the badge.
"Ensign Korey here, sir."
"Ensign, lock on to Raynor and his men and energize."
"Yes, sir. Energizing" The instant that word was spoken, he, for an instant, felt like he was being painlessly disintegrated before appearing on the bridge of their ship.
Even with the damage they'd sustained in the attack, their technological superiority was plainly evident. Not a moment after he'd materialized a loud beep sounded from behind him, and startled, he whirled around to see a console screen turning on, displaying what he took to be the emblem of whatever nation these Terrans hailed from. There was a large black circle filled with stars and olive branches coming up either side, and underneath the words "United Federation of Planets" clearly stood out. He turned around to see this "Admiral Picard" standing there with his hand placed out in front of him towards Raynor.
"Welcome aboard the Enterprise, General Raynor." Hesitant, he shook Picard's hand, but when he did he knew that this Captain, whoever he was, had every intention of offering assistance, if not reluctantly. "The conference room is this way. I assume you wish to begin discussions right away before we begin transit to your base."
"Uh, yeah. That'd probably be a good idea."
"Good." He then began to walk toward a door on the other end of the bridge, Raynor following close behind. When Picard approached it, it opened, revealing a room with a long, curved table with chairs along it. Picard gestured him to a seat at the far end of the table. After Raynor sat down, his men followed suit, and Picard, along with a somewhat younger man with a slightly grayed beard, sat down at the other end.
"Well, General, where should we start?"
