Chapter Two:

Belazar sat in the briefing room, surrounded by his senior staff. They were less than two hours from reaching the source of the transmission. He hand't divulged this information to the rest of the crew yet- he had no idea himself of how to handle a First Contact. In previous instances of Onyx making contact with new life, it was usually followed by an all out assault and subsequent annihilation of culture- all done in the name of the Empire. As a result, there was no protocol to fall back on. It was, he thought, without a trace of irony, completely alien to him.

"What we are about to do has never been attempted by Onyx before. I would appreciate all of your input in how to approach this." When Belazar had been in the military, he had favoured the consensual approach to leadership. Now was to be no exception.

Draax was the first to speak.

"I recommend caution Captain. As much as we would like this meeting to pass off peacefully and hopefully with new friends, we know very little about the xenomorphs on board that ship. I suggest we approach with weapons charged- but our plating down. Anyone out in these reaches of space can probably see this as a sensible move and one of a purely defensive nature- not one of hostility."

"But with out weapons charged, surely this could be interpreted as a hostile gesture? As you say Colnoel we know nothing about the ship or its inhabitants- for all we know they maybe easily provoked." Raaes countered.

"Sir, I believe we observe the craft from a safe distance and monitor their transmissions. See if we can learn something from there. Maybe can even tap into their database to find out who they are, where they are from- what they look like."

"I'm not sure hacking their master computer would come across as a friendly move, Lt. Raaes" Draax said curtly.

"Why don't we just hail them? Surely a face to face meeting is the easiest option? Ensign Yaul said, a little unsure of herself. We have a translator that works...and surely a face to face meeting will allow us to convey our intentions without any misunderstandings or clandestine operations..."

Yaul trailed off as the others looked at her. The youngest member of the crew, she felt somewhat out of place, particularly in the presence of Draax, the military man. Why was he even here? she often wondered that, especially since there was to be no conquest on this mission.

Belazar sat back in his seat, his index fingers forming a rest for his chin.

"Ensign Yaul, ensure that our translation systems remain in peak condition. We are going to meet the vessel...Enterprise...and speak to them face to face. Draax, I want the weapons charged in case we need them. We'll keep the hull plating off-line as a counter. I'm fairly certain that a vessel orbiting a star is not going to want to start a skirmish. Raaes, you will have the bridge until we reach the co-ordinates. I'll finish writing the speech I'm hoping will convey us as genuinely friendly and dress in something more formal."

Belazar pressed a button on the arm rest of his chair.

"All hands, this is Captain Dal Belazar speaking. The reason we all signed up for this trip- meeting new life- is fast approaching us. In less than four fraco-hours, we will be arriving at co-ordinates where an alien vessel is currently situated. We are about to make history. Captain out."

Belazar stood on the bridge, dressed in his formal uniform- a strange hybrid of his dress uniform he'd worn in the military and an ambassadorial tunic. He'd removed his military service medals as he wasn't sure how the aliens would react to seeing a catalogue of military activity. Belazar had served in several counter-insurgency operations throughout the Empire and had been at times, forced to wipe out villages and even towns to secure victory. It was a chapter in his life he was looking to finish- the command of Iacon represented his best chance.

"How long until we reach them? he asked Valdus, the helmsman.

"Fifteen fraco-minutes, sir." Valdus replied. Belazar could feel the Helmsman's excitement.

Reed looked up suddenly. He'd been busy, if that was the word, looking at the radiation levels of AX401 when his sensors chirped into life.

"Captain Archer- a vessel is approaching. It's dropping out of warp and is heading towards us at full impulse."

Archer spun around from the science station.

"How long until it arrives?"

"At present speed, two minutes."

Archer turned to T'Pol.

"This could be interesting."

Belazar saw the ship- the NX01 Enterprise. So this was the vessel the aliens were on. It looked sophisticated- even more so than the Iacon, which had the look of a battleship as opposed to a science vessel. The Enterprise looked as though it was an exploration vessel- one he'd be more than happy to look around assuming the aliens would let him, of course.

"Draax, bring the weapons on-line. Yaul, prepare the translation system and a comm-link to them."

Reed looked up at the ship he and the others saw on the viewing screen. His initial scans caused him concern. Unlike anything he had seen before, the ship was heavily armed and had some heavy duty armoured plating on it. Then, the alarm went- it was charging weapons.

"Captain! They're charging their weapons!"

"Go to tactical alert! Polarize the hull plating."

Having been burned so many times in Enterprise's initial missions, he was not going to take any chances.

"Captain Belazar! They are arming their weapons and preparing for battle!" Draax called out. Yaul had been unable to gain contact with the vessel. At first, Belazar had put this down to nerves on the aliens part. Now, faced with the ship charging its weapons, Belazar had to act. He would prefer Yaul to reattempt communicating with the ship again, but the military instincts within him forced their way to the surface. He had a crew to protect above all else.

"Take all steps to defend us, Colnoel!"

Draax didn't wait for the words to leave Belazar's mouth. The Iacon's phaser cannons roared into life. The high plasma electrical yield roared into the saucer section of the alien vessel. Belazar stood horrified as he watched the damage unfold before his eyes. He spun around to face Draax.

"You fool! What have you done? I said defend us, not attack them!"

"You told me to take all steps to defend us. In my opinion, the hull plating would take too long to charge to offer us protection in time. Thus, I took steps to disable them."

On the bridge of the Enterprise, Archer stood, bleeding from a cut in his forehead. The attack had caused him to fly into the science station, hitting his head as he did so. There were small fires raging on the bridge and crewmen racing around to put them out.

"Malcolm, return fire!" he ordered. He was damned if these aliens thought they would kneel down before them.

Reed met the Iacon's challenge, firing a volley of torpedoes and phaser fire at the alien vessel.

"Have you any idea what you have done!" Belazar demanded of Draax, but before the Colnoel could reply, the bridge rocked. Electrical damage quickly unfolded, then fires. The technical station exploded, the young Onyx crewman attending it launched across the bridge. Raaes quickly tended to him.

"Captain, he is dead." Raaes said, the shock sinking in.

"Damage report! NOW!" Belazar demanded of Draax.

"The aliens have caused substantial damage to the Iacon. Initial reports suggest decompression of Gamma deck and 17 dead."

Belazar looked at the chaos around him, then at the vessel on the screen, turning to move away.

"Return fire."