3050 C.E

UNDESIGNATED STAR SYSTEM, ORION NEBULA

The T.E.S. Supernova materialized in a bright burst of light, announcing its presence in the quiet void of space.

From the bridge of the Coriant-class Tenebrisian battleship, Captain Zarya Hakker could see a single planet: an abstract painting of blue, red, and forest green. A few other planets shone brightly, but their surface wasn’t visible by the naked eye. As the ship neared the closest planet, a man monitoring the radar sprinted to the captain.

“Captain Hakker! We have nine large objects rapidly approaching!”

“Power on the weapons systems. They might be hostile, and I’m not making the same mistake like what I did with the Terrahadians.”

Zarya thought back to when she fought the Terrahadians, before they became allied with the Tenebrisian Empire. She wasn’t aware of how advanced Terrahadians actually were- they used krypton gas to power their spacecraft, and used soundwaves as weapons. Along with that, their hearing was exceptional, and they could echolocate. Almost half of Zarya’s military friends died while fighting on Terrahadia, or the other one hundred and seventy-one planets in the Terrahadian System.

“Captain, the weapons are online,” a voice said, likely the person who handled the weapon systems on the ship. Suddenly, three massive gold-plated ships and six smaller gray ships appeared at the center of the bridge’s vision.

Commotion erupted from the bridge.

“What are those things?!”

“I don’t know, ask the radarman!”

“Silence!”

Zarya’s voice tore through the bridge, eliminating all voices but her own. “Kuro, can you identify the ships?” she asked the radarman.

“Unfortunately, no… the ships don’t have digital identification numbers. I don’t think they use the same technology as we do.”

Zarya hit the ship-to-ship radio button. Might as well test if any of the ships have Tenebrisian comms, she thought.

“This is Captain Zarya Hakker of the T.E.S. Supernova. Identify yourselves.”

Zarya waited.

The ship’s bridge speaker usually had a fuzz of electricity to indicate the other ship was contacting the ship, but there was nothing.

“Unknown spacecrafts, please identify yourselves.”

Silence.

Two small bursts of light came from the sides of the golden ship closest to Zarya.

She didn’t think much of it, until the objects came into her line of sight. 

“Any information about the things coming closer?” Zarya yelled.

“No identification numbers…. Nothing Tenebrisian!”

As they zoomed closer, Zarya noticed that the things had black, oval-ish hemispheres on the tops of the things. They’ve gotta be fightercrafts, Zarya thought. The fightercrafts had a gold plating, like the massive ship they came from. 

One of the ships zoomed past the bridge. Zarya caught a glimpse of the pilot through the black-tinted glass.

The pilot had four arms, and was about two times larger than Zarya. It wore a helmet, with two built-in goggles. The larger pair, near the sides of the pilot’s head, resembled a wasp’s eyes, and the smaller pair, near the center of the pilot’s head, were circular.

They’re definitely not human, Zarya thought, and they’re not Terrahadian either. What are they?

The two spacecraft circled back around to their home ship, leaving Zarya dumbfounded. 

“Captain, what should we do?” asked a voice.

“Send in a small fighter squadron to try to communicate with them. They don’t seem to want to attack us… for now.”

From the bridge, Zarya could see the ten gray fightercrafts streak past the hull. She looked at the golden ships, suspicious about their next move. Zarya’s squadron was about halfway to the closest golden ship when she noticed something.

A massive glint of light from some of the ships, specifically on the sides, top, and bottom.

The things from the glints weren’t piloted spacecraft- they looked way too small.

They went at an extraordinary speed, too, far exceeding the speed of the two alien fightercraft.

Zarya stared into the black abyss of space, and saw the flight leader erupt in an explosion.

Then the other two ships.

Then the entire formation.

“Captain…?” Kuro asked

“Send a volley of missiles. They’re clearly not interested in peaceful communication,” Zarya said through gritted teeth.

The Tenebrisian government spends all their money and time on training small militias in the Pleiades, but they don’t bother giving us higher-quality fightercrafts? Zarya thought. Especially since we’re the ones doing over half of the space exploration work? 

Zarya’s missile barrage streaked towards the ships. Every corner of the unknown ships was ablaze with smoke plumes- likely from missile launchers or cannons. Most of Zarya’s missiles exploded, likely from the enemy’s counterattack, but some still flew. One of the missiles apparently struck the left golden ship, as smoke was spewing from a crater of golden armor near the front.

However, Zarya didn’t realize she had essentially toyed with a hornet’s nest.

Every ship in the fleet, even the damaged one, fired every missile, turret projectile, and ship from their hangars. Zarya gulped, realizing her error, but still kept a cool head.

Which instantly melted.

“Well, don’t just sit there! Deploy the fighters! Shoot them! Let them see the full might of my ship!”