Catplayz
Fort_Master_Gustav
gearshift48
The telescope changed position again, focusing on the second alien ship.
The capsule that was released from this black-and-orange ship was... Strange.
Most pessimistic (and therefore, from the perspective of Irri, most possible) option would be the assumption that it was a bomb or something like that. But the commander was embarrassed by the fact that this "bomb" was released without any attempt to hide its launch and, in addition, with a ridiculously low speed. Irri had no idea about how such can act as a weapon of a potential enemy, and in that case the protection gained by gravitational shields was not very trustworthy, however, to avoid a "bomb" would still be too easy. The aliens had to know about the speed and maneuverability of Irri ships - they saw the speed of diplomatic vehicle and the speed with which the "Empress's Eye" turned. And also... do they not fear death? They are so confident because they have perfect protection systems? They do not think that a counter attack may be much faster than their attack and it also can be much more destructive?
Such an obvious and low-power attack performed by aliens from black-and-orange ship just didn't make sense.
Or did it? The commander has decided to temporarily postpone this theory.
Let's say that it is not an attack. Then what is it? Distraction maneuver? But this object is too small and discreet in the space scale to attract a lot of attention. Or was it meant to be like this from the beginning? Maybe the aliens understood the possibilities of gravitational telescope and decided to gather all the attention in a strange, tiny object?
The second option had alerted the commander. Yes, it could make sense. Actually, this would be a great tactic - not less than you would expect from unimaginably coward alien minds.
The gravitational telescope once again began to move and looked sequentially at all three alien ships. Nothing suspicious...
Continue. Is it possible that the aliens threw into space a capsule with some kind of message? Maybe they use this as a primitive, but reliable method of communication? Irri use courier ships for confidential communication in space, and that concept didn’t seem to them like something incredible. Perhaps the crew of this alien ship wanted to send the message to Irri which is guaranteed not to be intercepted by the two other spaceships?
It made sense, but it was too optimistic to be true. However...
"Ai'urri'va" class spaceship once again aimed it's guns at the black-and-orange alien ship, this time with undisguised threat. Then from the void nearby a smaller ship came- prior to this it was based at the docks of the spacecraft carrier, which is still invisible. It is aerospace transport ship, thirty meters in length, and it took course to intercept the unknown capsule.
Yes, this container can be something like a biological weapon or a boarding party. For this reason, the transporter has received the order to send detailed reports about its condition every seven minutes, confirming a report from two independent backup transmitters; in addition, in the next few weeks this ship will be quarantined in space, and scientists working there will be completely isolated from other Irri for even more time. This protocol was invented a long time ago, though it had been never used until now.
The same ship also appeared near the damaged fighter. It carefully moved to a distance that is approximately equal to seventy meters, and stayed still after that. Perhaps, the only survivor on this fighter was wounded and right now he is dieing, but caution for Irri was always stood in the first place.
Most of all, the commander of the "Empress's Eye" was concerned with the question of how exactly these three dissimilar ships could be connected. Judging by the lack of reaction on each other, they were part of one fleet... Or weren't they? Such different equipment, architecture and heraldry of the ships led the commander to confusion.