A Krogan misplaced: Chapter 3
X-Site 1 - Former Bicentennial Park - Sydney
"The Pit" as media outlets across the world were referring to it, had in just three days become one of the single most heavily defended areas on the planet. Soldiers from every member of the United Nations, hundreds of specialists in almost every field of science imaginable, the newest generation of Japanese hoverjets circled the air above, while six of the fearsome Australian "Dingo" superheavy tanks were set on the streets to block any possible form of attack from outside.
The setup of the camp itself was covered in all manner of devices and machines dedicated to learning as much as possible about Earth's newest visitor from afar, while a unit SAS protected the immediate vicinity of "The Pit" itself. If something could conceivably be done to further the chance of a successful first contact it was being done, and many further suggestions were being debated in what passed for the meeting area of the scientific minds present. All of which had lead to the small group of people currently sitting in front of a projector. The fifteen human beings came from that many countries, and were deliberately chosen to be such.
Ruth Nazarian had to admit the team she'd been given was good. Even as a member of the Sayeret you could get poor comrades, but the four in front of her were all professionals, not a single one had made a sound after she'd turned on the projector, in sharp contrast to the academic portion of the room, who were still whispering possible theories amongst themselves.
The bearded man in the front row may have been old and grim faced, but Andre Petrov had over twenty five years of combat experience in the Spetsnaz, something that wasn't as available as it used to be given the troubles that had occurred in Russia recently.
To his side rested the American and Indonesian contributions to the team. The young and seemingly inattentive Obadiah Jamieson starkly contrasting with the stonelike visage of Amir Vonko. If you didn't have access to their credentials beforehand, you might assume to two to be normal, if well built, civilians out of uniform. The high bodycounts listed on their files said otherwise.
The last member of the security team was perhaps the least overtly "military" in appearance. Being neither in the U.N peacekeeper uniforms of the main group, nor indeed anything at all resembling military gear, Christine Ackerson was controlling the dual purpose camera/fire support drone. Denmark's contribution to the effort going on was small, but noticeable.
Ruth only knew the lead member of the academic division personally, the rest being a eclectic mix of unknowns, but since Xi Wong trusted the group Ruth guessed she would have to as well. She was only there in case things went wrong after all. A biologist, two linguists, a psychologist, an expert in reptiles, a behaviourologist, an analyst, two diplomats and a geologist walk into a room. It sounded like the beginning of a bad joke, yet that was what Ruth had to deal with. After she checked her notes a final time, she gestured to the group to get their attention. In the three seconds it took for them to stop talking she started the presentation.
"I'm sure you all know why we're here today?"
Thankfully everyone nodded to that statement. It would have been awkward otherwise.
"As of three days ago, we know we aren't alone in the universe. The crashed vessel, currently codenamed as Enterprise, crash-landed just a block away, we don't have any clue on whether or not is intact, or even if there are any other such vessels nearby. Regardless, we have exactly one confirmed entity which emerged from the vessel."
The burnt and battered sight of the crashed ship was replaced by the single clear image anyone possessed of the alien being. Apparently Arnold was right in Predator. The alien was one ugly motherfucker.
"This is why you are here, currently designated as E.T-1, this guy somehow survived the crash landing of his ship. As far as anyone knows he could be the only survivor, or one of many. What we do know about him, and keep in mind we are assuming that this being even has the same concept of genders as us, is the following. He's wearing what appears to be some form of armour."
A picture flash onto the screen which highlighted said clothing, the bulky plates of metal didn't seem to be capable of use for anything else.
"It could be a space suit, but if it is one, then it's been rendered useless by a number of holes here, here and here."
The next picture on the screen was a closeup of the aliens wrist when he'd had that weird orange hologram thing active. The technology was fascinating to what few experts she'd talked about, mainly because the aliens fingers seemed to be actually interacting with the hologram as opposed to passing through it, causing some to claim that whatever civilisation the being belonged to had mastered hard-light.
"He also has this. Nobody is sure exactly what that is, including whether or not it could conceivably be used as a weapon. As such, be cautious if he uses it again, but don't assume nothing.
Then the picture that popped up was a closeup of the aliens face, the scarred and menacing look as it stared up at the people surrounding the pit. The internet had already made it a meme.
"The actual specifics of his biology is somewhat speculative, but I will let Professor Wong fill you in on what we have identified about that."
Xi tapped the remote controlling the presentation a few more times before the requisite dot points and arrows had appeared on the face, with explanations underneath for various features, before he spoke in his heavily accented english. Despite his faltering control over the language, he nonetheless managed to project the air of someone who knew what he was talking about, and considering the man was one of the premier evolutionary biologists alive he probably did.
"As you can see, E.T is at least superficially reptilian. Currently we think it't convergent evolution, given that he displays several mammalian features like lips. Most relevant to our current situation is his eyes."
Xi used his cane to point at the aliens eyes, tapping it a few times against the material before continuing.
"Eyes can give details about how a species evolved, if they're forward facing like our own, then it means the creature in question is likely a predator, or at least had less reason to be looking in all directions constantly. E.T's eyes on the other hand, face almost sideways, giving him relatively little binocular vision. This suggests his species evolved as a prey item of sorts, and most likely the species retains at least some form of this in their psyche. We must consider the possibility that he could be easily started or angered, and as such I must stress that we make no sudden moves when interacting with him."
The elderly Chinese man then pointed his cane at E.T's exposed teeth.
"The teeth on the other hand, suggest that his species is an extreme omnivore, they superficially resemble those of a human, but on close examination you might notice that molar equivalents are far more prominent. I suspect that E.T could eat just about anything he could fit in his mouth, and given the large cheekbones, he most likley possesses a great bite force."
At that Xi stopped for a moment to gather his thoughts, before sheepishly ending his statement.
"So... you probably shouldn't put your hand in his mouth."
A small silence followed, with one of the scientists up the back sniggering a bit. It was abruptly ended when Amir voiced his question.
"What about the scars?"
The scars in question were perhaps E.T's most notable feature. One massive one cut several centimetres deep into the thick boney crest which dominated his head. The other set was a series of long scrapes down the crest and the left side of his face, only actually ending around halfway down the neck. Truthfully Ruth wasn't sure she wanted to meet whatever could scar something as mean looking as E.T, but given E.T had also survived those wounds it implied he won that fight.
Xi just gave a small shrug to the proffered question before answering.
"We don't now enough to judge, we speculated initially that they might be from the crash, but given the fact that they have healed up I would suggest otherwise. Regardless it doesn't affect our diplomacy besides perhaps not drawing attention to it."
The meeting continued for an hour after that, mostly questions on what to do if certain situations arose, while also confirming their various roles. Everybody knew that as the linguists of the group, Thomas Pell and Edward Amin would be the first to speak, but should they get something approaching a translation or understanding with the alien, then the Ambassadors should join in. Most everyone else was there for observation purposes anyways.
After the meeting ended however, came the hard part.
They'd all scaled their way down the slight slope which lead to the pit with ease, and after Xi reached the bottom, they began to make their towards the vessel. Ruth had to admit the blackened and dented hull made quite the impression, mainly because it was forty metres in length. It took a few minutes to actually make their way on top of the hull and towards the hatch though.
Andre heaved the hatch open, and entered down first, his flashlight shining into the darkness. After him went Amir, then the linguists and other scientists, Xi, Obadiah and she hopped down last.
It took a few seconds for her eyes to adjust to the light, but when they did she joined everyone else in open mouthed horror.
They'd entered a tomb.
Maybe that wasn't how it was supposed to appear, but the several hundred stacked bodies gave the impression of some of histories darker moments. They seemed to be of several different species, one corpse in particular being absolutely massive even compared to E.T, while the majority were almost human in size, shape. Even in facial features if a couple of the blue ones were to be the judge. Ruth sure hoped her camera was working, control really needed to see this.
Most of the corpses though...most were definitely not humanoid by any stretch of the imagination. They looked...spiky? They were strange, legs bent at the wrong angles, and although it was difficult to tell through the charred mass of corpses, she thought she could spy crests on them.
None of that truly mattered to her at the moment though. She was far more concerned by the sheer...awfulness of the situation. Easily two hundred beings had died in this room, and...wait where was E.T?
The group turned practically as one when they heard several loud footsteps behind them. For a split second Ruth wondered why she was staring at a metal plate. Then she looked up.
E.T was a lot bigger in person. Closer to three metres than two if she was any judge. He wasn't carrying any weapons, he wasn't moving towards them. He was just standing there, staring at them. The look on his face was...almost neutral. No obvious shows of emotion being visible at all.
Ruth quickly got over her shock as sh remembered why they were in the graveyard of a ship in the first place. As she pointed to herself, she spoke the first human words ever said to an alien.
"Ruth"
E.T repeated the motion, his massive gauntleted hand on his chest as he spoke a single word.
"Wrex"
AUTHORS NOTE:
Last chapter you guys get for the next week-2 weeks I'm afraid, but here it is.
(PS, I'm bad at spotting misspelt words so if you see any pls tell meh)