Project O Adelfós
"This is a joke, right? The Director asked almost pleadingly.
"No, sir. Unfortunately this is not a joke. At first it was hard for me to believe too, sir," replied the first mission tech.
"How? I mean if this is real then…Get me a line to the President, now," ordered the Director as he walked closer to the video monitor.
"Yes sir," replied one of the accompanying security officers.
"Is that a smiley face on the side of the left crater?" he whispered to himself.
"Uhh, yes sir, one of them drew it while the others weren't looking, sir. I don't exactly know what it means though," replied the second mission tech.
Shaking his head the Director replied, "It means this mission is now classified, lock down the building and don't let anyone go anywhere until I talk with the President and the NSC."
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Location: Uncharted System, far Outer Rim, 40 days after Battle of Geonosis
"Well, this has to be the home planet for those tinnies, the life and robotic readings are off the charts," stated Jumps as he walked into the cockpit. There Tens, Riot and Right'eye were staring at a large blue/green half lit planet in front of them.
"Well, how should we approach this? I mean we can't just land in one of their cities and say we need replacement parts. I don't even know if they've been in contact with the Republic, ever," stated Tens.
"Well, you'll have to avoid the massive amount of communication probes orbiting the planet. There are thousands, though they're too small to have any life support systems," added Jumps who was also staring at the planet.
"We could try to send a message," suggested Riot looking back at Tens.
"Yeah, we could but they might not be able to understand it. And on the off-chance they do, I don't want to cause panic," replied Tens.
"I wouldn't mind panic, as long as I am the one causing it and I have my decee," added Riot with a smirk.
Ignoring Riot, Tens continued, "Lets land on the dark side of the planet, preferably through some clouds for cover, outside one of their population centers."
"Very well," replied Right'eye as he started the decent towards the planet.
'This could end very badly,' thought Tens, 'I don't know why but I have a strange sense that something is wrong, I just don't know what. I keep thinking that sending out that distress signal was a bad idea. And this planet, this star system, it just doesn't make sense why such a large alien population has gone completely unnoticed for so long. I just hope their friendly.'
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"Mrs. President, you're needed at once in the Situation Room," asked the Vice President urgently as he ran into the President's living quarters.
"Can't it wait till morning James; I just went to bed, for peat's sake its 3 in the morning," she replied looking at the nearby clock.
"I am sorry for the early wake up but it's very important you come at once," James replied anxiously.
"What could be so important? Is someone threatening nuclear war again or something," she asked while getting dressed.
"No, not yet…" he replied.
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When she got to the room, she noticed three things immediately. One, everyone had coffee, the aroma of the caffeinated drink was almost too overpowering. Two, every one of national importance was there, even all the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Three, the director of NASA was there too, which was unusual.
"What's going on, why the early wakeup call," she asked as everyone stood up as she entered the room.
At first no one said anything; they all either stared down at their shoes or looked away. For most it was too early in the morning for them to be called down, half didn't even manage to mumble 'Madame President' as she entered.
Finally the Director from NASA spoke up, "There is really no easy way of saying this Mrs. President but… We've made first contact." There was a pause as the various members of government reacted with gasps or sighs of disbelief.
Then the silence broke, "You mean like first 'alien' contact," she asked somewhat unbelieving.
"In short yes," the Director replied.
After another brief pause she asked bluntly, "Where, when and umm… What do they look like?"
"On Mars, at the site of Project O Adelfós. We made contact today, the 25th at 1:00 am. And as to what they look like, I'll, uh, let you see for yourself. Look at the video screen in front of you. I am going to show you the raw video from the project cameras," he finished.
After watching the recording, the President was the first to speak, "This is a joke right?" she stated looking around at the men and women in front of her, disbelief evident in her voice.
"I am afraid it is no joke Mrs. President; there is no way that those are not real," replied the Director.
"Their Clone Trooper's, like the clones from the movies, the movies! How can that be possible?" she asked with an incredulous look.
"I think it's premature to suggest that their clones Ma'am, if these beings have observed us for long enough they might be mimicking something that's familiar to us. In either case however, we should prepare ourselves for their arrival, their ship has technology far more advanced than anything we have currently," the director said pointing to a freeze frame of the ship lifting off.
Continuing the Director stated, "We don't know of their weapons capabilities other than that they seem to carry guns of some sort. I would recommend to you and the NSC to bring our troop readiness to at least DEFCON 3 and to alert our closest allies at the UN. We do not yet know of their intentions."
After debating the issue with the NSC and Joint Chiefs, she agreed.
"Very well, we'll raise our alert status to DEFCON 3 and alert our allies to do the same. And Director, have every telescope, every satellite and measuring device looking for that ship. Have our ISA agents on the ready for deployment to wherever they land, if they land," ordered the President.
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Authors Note: Yes, new cover art! So yes, that's Tens later in the story with new armor. Commando armor to be precise. But we're not there yet so that's all the info you'll get. As to the origin of the artwork please look at my profile page. As always please review. I do not own star wars... (Updated 6-20-13)