"Land here," Commander Snu pointed at the largest continent on the view screen, they started descending through the upper atmosphere in a carefully practiced slow and nonthreatening manner. From orbit they had established this was a Class 3 Civilization, either on the verge of total self-annihilation or migration to Class 4. It was an opportune time to make first contact and Commander Snu had done this hundreds of times. Their telescopic observations indicated the primary sentient lifeforms on the planet were bipedal and tool wielding. Not uncommon, although unlike Snu's species they had evolved a total loss of their fur.
They came to a rest in the middle of a large clearing near a well populated area on the largest continent. This seemed like the best place to make contact. Snu grabbed two of his officers and they began making the descent of the ramp towards the ground. As expected a large group of the natives had flocked to their landing location, they were standing in a circle and at a distance from the ship. Snu and his men walked down the ramp slowly and with carefully practiced precision, closed mouths baring no teeth, no facial movements whatsoever, arms spread slightly from their bodies and pointing at the ground. After much trial and error this had been determined to be the least threatening possible approach to greeting a new civilization.
Once they were at the foot of the ramp Snu and his men stopped and waited. The natives stood around and looked at each other, local military vessels were circling above their heads watching but making no aggressive overtures. Eventually one member of the crowd stepped forward, slowly approaching them in an unpracticed imitation of the way Snu and his men had exited the ship. Good, this meant they were open to cordial relations, if they weren't they probably would have been attacked before landing, but it still made Snu feel more relaxed.
Once the volunteer was standing before Snu he held his hand out in front of his torso. Snu imitated him, then the volunteer moved his hand to Snu's and grasped it. Not an uncommon gesture among bipedal species with two upper limbs and hands. It's a very natural gesture to symbolize "joining", although among Snu's people it was a intimate, usually preceding copulation. Joining the service had certainly taught him to set aside his own modesty. The volunteer's lips curled up and he started shaking Snu's hand up and down, there was a general increase of sound from the crowd. Snu's ears went back in alarm, but he still perceived no direct threat so he held his ground.
The volunteer was talking but Snu did not yet understand, the Universal Translator was still collecting data for comparison, and would probably be able to begin translating very soon. They would record all conversations and review them later once the language was understood, but for now, this symbolic first contact was meant as a brief meeting.
Just at that moment he heard a gurgle and thump from his left side. The bio monitor in the corner of Snu's vision indicated one of his men had dropped dead. Alarmed Snu ripped his hand free and retreated back towards the ramp, he crouched and his ears went up. Almost unconsciously he raised his battle shield with a hum then everything went quiet, his HUD automatically swept his surroundings looking for threats. Soon he established what had happened, insects. A small insect had landed on Lieutenant and bit him, bit him! Was this an attack? Were these people attacking them? Why, then, would they remain so near to such an obvious biological attack? Just then the HUD alarms started going off and little specks of light started coming up. Everywhere, the entire planet was infested! Billions of them just within this little clearing, and the locals, they seemed completely oblivious!
"Retreat to the ship!" Snu ordered, and before he'd made it up the ramp they were already in flight. Snu went straight to his command station and opened a communications channel with the homeworld.
"Sir, the first contact did not go well, first observations indicate that 'insects' are native to this planet and achieve unfathomably high populations!" The Admiral's fir stood on end and his ears went back. "I recommend a total and complete annihilation of the star system, it's the only way we can be sure the infestation doesn't spread to other planets."
"Agreed," the admiral replied gravely. "You will need to remain in system and prevent any vessels from leaving, although I gather from your earlier report that is unlikely. We will begin dispatching the armada in preparation for Nova Induction" The Admiral paused and took a deep breath. "Your vessel may have also been infested, you and your crew will have 3 days to prepare for the arrival of the fleet, make peace with your families and say farewell."
Commander Snu acknowledged the order wordlessly then terminated the transmission. His crew knew the risks and would do their duty gladly. There was no sufficiently effective way to sterilize against an insect threat, and any number could have laid their eggs or flown into the ship during their brief landing.
Who would have thought when they woke up this morning that they would be landing on the deadliest world in the known universe?
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