Author's Note: Don't mind me, I accidentally deleted this story and had to reupload it. Now the chapter orders are all messed up.
The flagship of the Zootopia Starship Fleet cruised across space, with innumerable stars in the background. It was the ZSF Preydator, a handsome, slightly angular ship with equal parts black and white coloring, it's smart markings communicating the joining between what some would consider opposite philosophies of life.
On the bridge of the ship, clean, white color scheme prevailed, with black for the monitors and view-screens that dotted the bridge. Captain Judy Hopps stood there, surveying her command crew. They all had mostly black jumpsuit uniforms with some white markings and stripes on them. Each of them also had a colored collar in a primary color to signify what role they had on the ship. Commanding officers like Captain Hopps and Commander Wilde wore a red collar, officers in charge of the ship and its operations wore yellow collars, and officers in charge of mammal relations wore a blue collar. They all also wore a pointy "Z" shaped insignia, to show their belonging to the ZSF.
Captain Hopps turned back to the main viewscreen, which currently showed nothing but the endless starry expanse.
"Space, the final frontier," Hopps proclaimed wistfully with her hands behind her back.
"As far as we know, anyway," Commander Wilde chimed in, posed the same as Hopps. "There could be other sorts of exotic planes of existence, or forms of space we cannot as yet detect or perceive."
"Yes, thank you, Commander Wilde," Hopps gave a terse, amused chuckle. "That is our goal, isn't it? To find something out there. New forms of existence, new power sources, new *anything*."
"Thus far we've come up empty," Commander Wilde gave a short sigh.
"We have to keep trying," Hopps said, giving a determined nod. "It would be nice to be able to justify having such a powerful and state-of-the-art spaceship to play around in."
"So! Where to today, Captain?" The helmsmammal, Ensign Benjamin Clawhauser, had a cheery voice as he asked this question.
"Set a course for the Cerulean Nebula, Ensign Clawhauser" Hopps instructed. "Whatever is in there has evaded our long-range sensors long enough. Do we have a burrow point there?"
"Plotting a course now, Captain," Clawhauser said energetically.
Hopps touched a bud in her ear. "Lieutenant Honey, is everything okay down there in Engineering?"
From the room that housed the main power core of the ship, Honey touched her earbud and responded. "Aye, Captain. Everything's at peak power."
"Okay, engage the burrow, Ensign, let's go!" Hopps pointed forward at the main viewscreen. Captain Hopps always found this the most exciting part. The space in front of the ship shimmered and the burrow drive projected streams of energy from emitters near the ships wings. The streams essentially created a "tunnel" that connected two distant points in space using what the mammals had discovered about curved space-time. Though they couldn't use it to go anywhere, it certainly expanded where they were able to explore on a reasonable timetable.
The Preydator flew through the tunnel and it collapsed after a minute of not being occupied. The trips always made Wilde a little nervous. Everything in him knew that the Burrow Drive had been tested innumerable times by countless other starships and was essentially safe, but part of him always wondered what was "in" the tunnel, and what would happen if it ever closed in on them. He shook his head subtly.
Hopps gasped in delight as the view changed dramatically; the main viewscreen was now filled with wispy strands and clouds of various blue colors. "They don't call it the Cerulean Nebula for nothing, I see!"
"Lieutenant Commander Bogo, are there any unusual readings or radiations emitting from the nebula?" Wilde asked the large buffalo at the tactical station.
"Negative, Commander," Bogo shook his head. "Everything is well within safe parameters."
"Take us in, then!" Hopps chirped happily. The Preydator moved into the nebula.
"What are we hoping to find, Captain?" Wilde asked her.
"Probably a whole lot of nothing, like other nebulae we've explored," Hopps flashed a small toothy smile, looking a him. "But everywhere that our sensors can't reach is like a box waiting to be opened, and who knows what could be inside!"
"Hopefully something that isn't murderous," Wilde quipped wryly.
After about an hour of cruising, Captain Hopps still looked engaged at the proceedings, asking her officers about the readings they were getting, whereas Wilde was getting a bit bored. He busied himself near Bogo's console and also checked on the Communications Officer, Lieutenant Karen Skippel, an arctic hare.
"Captain, energy readings!" Bogo stated suddenly.
"All stop, Clawhauser," Hopps warned. "What sort of readings?"
"Uncertain, but they're coming fast!" Bogo grit his teeth. On the viewscreen, a streak of light blasted into view and suddenly halted. The light was another ship, predominantly gray with prominent forward-curved wings. The ship had an almost pearlescent sheen to it. Captain Hopps let loose an enormous gasp.
"Another ship!" Wilde marveled, blindsided as well.
"We're not alone in this universe!" Hopps hopped up and down excitedly, then shook her hands to try to calm herself down. "Okay okay okay, no big deal, we've just made first contact with an alien race, that's all!" She made a squeal of excitement. She gazed over the ship, which was pointed toward theirs, the two just staring each other down. "Lieutenant Skippel, can we communicate with them?"
"Um, I'll try to set us up a video link," Skippel nodded, tapping some controls. "It's not working, Captain. They seem to not be responding to my signals."
"Oh..." Hopps had a disappointed face. "Is there anything else we can try?"
"Try...?" Skippel seemed to consider this. "Oh, three, of course. Uh, I could try adapting my software to a ternary computer language, if they don't use binary. I have another operating system set up just in case. Let's see here... uh... I th-think they're responding!"
"*Yes*!" Hopps pumped her fist. "Put it on the main viewscreen!"
The viewscreen changed to the bridge of the other ship. Everyone on the bridge of the Preydator had to marvel at what was inside. The creatures there seemed to be floating, and were all of vivid colors; either red, blue, or purple. The large eyes of the other species seemed to come in a rainbow of colors, with fuzzy, ill-defined white pupils sitting prominently on their almost angular heads with swept-back, flowing antennae. Their bodies were long, almost serpentine, with each of them having three pairs of limbs with three fingers on each. Some of them operated consoles on the walls of the bridge and even a couple on the ceiling.
"Do they not use artificial gravity?" Wilde wondered, stroking his chin. "No, the way one of them is undulating through the space of the bridge, they're aquatic!"
"Greetings, I am Captain Judy Hopps of the ZSF Preydator!" Hopps proclaimed with an enormous grin. "It is an absolute pleasure to be the emissary to Earth's mammals!" She smiled widely. "We come in peace, and seek to greater understand your species!"
The other species responded by speaking among themselves in a chirpy, bubbly language. They appeared to be deliberating among themselves, but of course all of the words and even their gesturing was completely foreign to the lot. Skippel stared at the screen in fascination.
"What a delightful-sounding language!" Hopps kept a large grin with her teeth showing. "Skippel, is there any way to translate what they're saying?"
"Uh, I'd need a lot more of them speaking, I think, to do that," Skippel said, unsure.
"Let's keep them talking, then, if possible," Wilde nodded. He smiled as well. "Ah, so, is this your neck of the woods? We're not intruding on your space, are we?"
There was a bit more chirping from the other ships bridge, then the communication terminated.
"Captain, reading an energy buildup in the other ship!" Bogo suddenly warned.
"Guess we might be!" Wilde winced.
"Shields! Get the shields up! Skippel, trigger a ship-wide alert!" Hopps waved to both of them as they carried out these duties, and the Preydator was engulfed in a temporarily visible oval of energy.
The alien ship fired a swirling blast of red, blue, and purple spheres, which missed the Preydator by quite a bit.
"A warning shot...?" Wilde mused.
"Don't power up the beam cannons yet!" Hopps commanded. "Show them we mean no harm!"
"Just being in their space might be crime enough, Captain," Wilde warned.
"Skippel, is there *any* way we can decipher their language?" Hopps almost pleaded.
"I'll put all spare computing power on it and make some educated guesses..." Skippel frantically pressed buttons at her station, grimacing. "It's not like suddenly deciphering a language with this little to work with is almost impossible or anything..."
"Just do what you can!" Hopps instructed.
"And with a little less sass, please," Wilde added with a tiny smirk.
"Sorry, Commander," Skippel nodded.
"Clawhauser, can we burrow out?" Judy asked.
"We could..." Clawhauser looked pensive. "But being in a nebula, I couldn't guarantee the burrow would be safe with one hundred percent accuracy. Maybe only ninety-nine."
"And the one percent means we could end up burrowing into a star," Wilde huffed.
"Just hold position..." Hopps said carefully. The other ship fired another blast; this time the shot impacted the ships shields.
"The shields have been compromised," Bogo grit his teeth. "There's a small hole in them on the starboard side. The rest of the shields are holding."
"Clawhauser, try to move the ship away to not expose that side to them!" Hopps commanded. "Bogo, activate the beam cannons, fire when ready!"
"Aye Captain, firing!" Bogo replied, and the Preydator's wings shot short bursts of orange energy at the other ship. "Our weapons seem to be not very effective against their shielding."
"We're the new kits on the block and we're about to be shown the ropes," Wilde grit his teeth. Another blast from the alien ship hit their shields in a different place.
"New hole in the shields on the port side," Bogo reported. "Another well-aimed shot will hit our hull."
"Bogo, can you rotate the shields at a high rate of speed so they don't have a clear shot into the bare spots?" Wilde asked.
"Yes, sir!" Bogo retorted, accomplishing this.
"Try oscillating the frequency of the beam cannons; see if that can make it through their shields," Hopps added.
"Yes, Captain!" Bogo nodded. The beams from the Preydator became purple and almost seemed to wave through space, and they made it through, though with limited power, to the other ship's hull. "Direct hit, Captain, we've penetrated their shielding."
"Yes!" Hopps pumped her fist. "Okay, try to target their weapons systems!"
"Aye," Bogo attempted this, but the enemy ship engaged evasive maneuvers and managed to avoid their fire and returned a few shots in kind.
"Ack!" Hopps grabbed a console to keep her balance as one of the particle blasts from the other ship made it through one of their shield gaps and grazed the Preydator's hull. Wilde toppled to the floor, but quickly righted himself. He touched a paw to his ear.
"Damage report, a few bulkheads exploded on decks six and seven. Minor injuries reported," Wilde said.
"Send the injured to Chief Medical Officer Pedshark at the sickbay!" Judy directed. "Clawhauser, keep evading them if possible. Bogo, keep firing!"
"I'm trying, Captain, but this ship moves slower than I do before my first sugar rush!" Clawhauser wailed, doing the best he could.
"Skippel?" Hopps asked hopefully.
"I'm trying too, but constantly getting shot at isn't helping my concentration..." Skippel bit her lip.
"Well, this is a fine mess," Wilde grumbled. "Either our initial first contact ends with us becoming stardust, or we defeat them and probably start a war with the rest of their species."
"That's not helping, Commander," Hopps grumbled.
"I... got it!" Skippel said suddenly. "I think..."
"Put it on the secondary viewscreen!" Hopps typed some commands in and a secondary viewscreen shifted into view, partially obscuring the top right of the main one.
The same video from earlier showed, with emotionless computerized voices dubbing in for the aliens.
"Leader, an alien ship has managed to contact us."
"They are quite diverse."
"They do not appear hostile."
"Leader, the small gray one of them is making a hostile action."
"What?" Hopps was baffled, thinking back to their first interaction. "Was it my... wait, my smiling...? How could that...?"
"Baring of the teeth, maybe?" Wilde shrugged. "Your guess is as good as mine."
"That sounds probable..." Skippel offered.
"Another of them makes the action." Wilde grimaced at this; he knew they meant him.
"We will give them a warning."
"Yes, Leader."
"Okay, okay!" Hopps tried to calm her nerves. "Can we send a message back?"
"I think so, but only using the words I figured out," Skippel nodded. Clawhauser was doing well at avoiding the shots from the enemy ship, but another few blasts might completely remove the *Preydator's* shields.
"Send them: 'Not hostile! Not hostile action!'" Hopps said. "We might sound like cave-mammals, but it's better than nothing! Bogo, power down our weapons!"
Bogo's expression communicated that he clearly didn't think this was wise. "As you wish, Captain."
"Sending the message," Skippel said nervously.
After a brief pause, the other ship stopped firing.
"They're... powering down their weapons?" Bogo seemed astonished. Hopps gave a huge sigh and collapsed into the Captain's chair.
"I think they're trying to re-open the communications channel...!" Skippel seemed equally surprised.
"By all means!" Hopps nodded. "Oh! But whatever you do, don't smile!" Everyone on the bridge tried to put on their most blank expression as the aliens again met the mammals face-to-face. One of the purple ones swam up to the camera of the viewscreen and regarded them; their white, fuzzy pupils moved to each of the crew members. The alien then tilted its face up to show its mouth, which was in a large frown.
"...Uh..." Hopps had a nervous look, but tried mirroring the look. There was a burst of discussion among the aliens. More of them frowned.
"Frown, everyone!" Hopps gestured with both hands. Everyone on the bridge did just that. The purple alien made more conversation with the other aliens on their bridge.
"Captain," Skippel looked at her console. "We're receiving some sort of ternary information package... I think it might be some sort of greeting and information about their species...?" Skippel was starting to look like a kit in a candy store, but she was still doing her best to frown.
"Oh, we have one of those, send it!" Hopps nodded through clenched, frowning teeth.
The aliens discussed some more, then seemed placated, and terminated the communication. The ship seemed to be engulfed in light, then disappeared into a streak in the distance. Cheering broke out on the bridge.
"We'll, neither of us ended up as stardust, so I'd say this is a good day," Wilde chuckled.
"Thank you so much, Skippel, you might have saved us," Hopps allowed herself to smile now, as they weren't being monitored. Skippel rubbed behind her head.
"Permission to pore over this data...?" Skippel asked hopefully.
"Of course!" Hopps said. She put a finger to her ear. "Honey, how long till we can burrow home?"
"That battle took a big hit out of our energy supply," Honey reported. "I'd say about an hour. Probably less, but this stupid core of ours is made by sheep."
"Okay, do the best you can," Hopps chuckled. "I'll be in my quarters; I need a break. Commander, you have the bridge."
"Aye, Captain," Wilde nodded.
Before long, Captain Hopps found herself staring at the space station that served as the "home" for the crew, and the port for the Preydator.
"Audio log," Hopps said aloud. "Skippel has already decoded some interesting things about our new friends, the first alien race we've ever encountered. Their name translated to something like 'Triamphi'; they're a mostly aquatic race with three sexes. Turns out smiling, baring the teeth, is one of the most malicious gestures one can do in their culture, whereas a closed-mouth frown with the head tilted up is one of the most polite. There will definitely be some cultural pains trying to understand them, but I think it's important we keep trying."
Captain Hopps made a face at the recording; she thought it sounded kind of hokey. She hoped she'd come up with something better when she made her report to High Command.