STC Acheron
Making contact with Pearl Fleet
Deep Space, Alari Abyss
Lt Cmdr. Zilicin
The entire procession was set and ready to go, for a bunch of non-diplomatic corps types they sure did a great job getting all the food and wine together. The procession included Officers and senior crew members all in their dress uniforms, followed by a small parade of various food and wine from the Septonian core worlds. Every medal, shoe, button and buckle was polished to an immaculate shine and every uniform was starched to perfection. “ This is the nicest we have looked since the ship got commissioned” said the cryptology officer slightly pulling at his white dress uniform “ I haven’t worn this since I commissioned”. This was met with chuckles and nods of agreement, this was new for the Naval officers aboard the Acheron, the same couldn’t be said about the marines onboard. Marines routinely had to wear their dress uniforms for every event and ceremony, for them this was routine. The only marines on board were from a special operations platoon which only had one officer on the ship. Cmdr Zilicin held the final say but they all agreed that the full platoon would be in attendance, making them the only junior enlisted members in attendance and the most decorated outside of senior leadership.
Quiet thud could be heard as the ship slowed and extended its docking bridge towards the alien vessel, followed the the hiss of pressurization as the bridge matched the pressure between the two ships. As the door slowly opened, the smell of the formerly aquatic environment wafted into the Acheron for a moment “ Smells like home” a junior officer said quietly before they marched their way onto the docking bridge between the ships, the food and wine following closely behind.
The second the Li Wen doors opened the welcome party was met with a wall of cold briny salt water that quickly rushed out towards them, flooding the airlock and part of the staging bay on the Acheron. Food was swiftly knocked out of hands and off trays as the water swept over them, luckily the wine and spirits that were carried remained intact and firmly in the grasp of the Aradites ( You can tell where their priorities lie). The welcome party's dress uniforms were completely and utterly soaked and stained with whatever was in the salt water, causing more damage to the Naval white uniforms then their marine counterparts. Stunned was the expression on everyone's face as they were strewn all over the docking bridge and airlock. It didnt take long to notice the slapping sound of what seemed like fish in the distance, coming from inside the Alari ship.
Commander Zilicin slowly got to his feet and half walked/waddled to the threshold of the airlock bulkhead before catching his first glimpse of the Alarai species. In an instant all of the messages made sense and he fully realized the mistake he made " Everyone inside the alien ship now"! he yelled before running to the nearest Alarai. Zilcian came to a sliding stop on the slick deck and fell next to the flopping Alarai before looking him over with a concerned demeanor " How can I help?!" he said looking towards its face, pointing around to try to add body language to his words. By the time he got there the rest of the welcome party had made their way into the Alari ship, closing the airlock door behind them.