A History of Interspecies Relations

				Chapter 1

	James(Jim to his friends and most of NASA's staff) Lovell, John Swigert, and Fred Haise were in the middle of a terrifying crisis.  Little over two hours ago they had heard a very loud bang, felt it as well.  From there, just about everything had started to fail on the Odyssey in sequential order.  They had been just doing routine tasks at the time, rotating the ship so the windows would give a better view of the Bennett comet for their cameras.  It started with half of the electrical system going under-voltage.  Then the computer reset out of nowhere.  Then they noticed their second O2 tank had no reading on it.  It was at that point Jim looked out the window long enough to notice they were venting a gas.
	They had spent the last two hours trying to lower their power draw, isolate the bad systems, and finally rushing to get the lunar module Aquarius up and running before they ran out of power and breathable air.  They had air and a little bit of power again finally, but were having a bit of a conversion issue.  The 8-ball or gimbal was how their computer kept track of their yaw, pitch, and axis.  This was highly important when maneuvering in 3D space.  And when they moved from the command module into the lunar lander, the numbers they converted over weren't adding up.  They were in the middle of having Houston check their math when they suddenly got a radio transmission from an unfamiliar, feminine voice.
	"Apollo 13, this is the De Tas, rescue has arrived."
	Jim and Fred looked at each other in confusion.  In unison they looked at the CO2 sensor readout, which told them they were not hallucinating due to asphyxiation.
	Jack poked his head into the tunnel that connected the Odyssey with the Aquarius, looking just as confused as the other two.
	"You guys heard that, right?"
	"Yeah Jack, we heard it.  I don't think I heard it right, but I heard something."
	"You think it's someone playing a really bad prank?"
	"I don't think anyone who spends the money on a transmitter that can reach us would waste it on a prank."
	"Maybe the stress made us think we all heard something?"
	"Aquarius, Houston."
	CAP COMM was calling.
	"Go ahead Houston."
	"We thought we heard something over comms, can you confirm?"
	They looked at each other.
	"Did we hear something?"
	"I know for a fact I heard a woman's voice.  She said something about a rescue."
	"Alright, let's go quiet first, we don't need to be part of any Roswell stuff."
	"Uh Houston, should we turn on the fan?"
	"The fan" was a bit of code.  While the majority of transmissions were done in clear radio for publicity for NASA, the command module and lunar lander both had encryption systems onboard.  They usually switched it on when they went to "sleep" for the night, so they could have private communications with ground control.  The CIA had wanted them to check on two Keyhole spy satellites while they were in the area.  It went without saying they didn't want the public to know the satellites even existed.  So if Houston asked them to turn the fan on, and didn't specify a specific fan, they meant to turn the encryption circuit on.
	"That's a yes on the fan Aquarius."
	Fred was closest, so he switched it on.  Now only CAP COMM would be capable of hearing their radio.
	"Houston, all three of us heard a woman's voice.  English, odd accent, sounded very clear.  We think something was said about rescue, but we might have imagined that."
	"Copy that Aquarius."
	They continued to cut off unneeded systems while waiting for Houston to give them a direction.  After about 50 seconds, they got a reply.
	"Aquarius, Houston."
	"We're listening Houston."
	"Aquarius, see if you can establish a dialogue with the unknown caller, see if we can get some more info."
	They had finally gotten good numbers into the computer on the Aquarius, there wasn't much else they could do for now.  It made sense to figure out the little mystery.  Unknowns were the worst thing possible in space.  Fred flipped the "fan" back off.
	"Apollo 13 here, please repeat unknown caller."
	Any thoughts that they had just imagined the first call vanished quickly, as they got a response three seconds later.
	"I say again Apollo 13, this is the De Tas, help is here.  I don't know what kind of experimental can you are flying there, but it'll fit in my cargo bay easy enough.  You'll probably have to suit up in case you end up cracking against the hull.  I can pressurize the bay pretty quickly if you folks are willing to take the risk."
	Jim looked at Fred, who turned encryption back on.
	"Houston, Aquarius, the fan is on."
	"Go ahead Jim."
	"We can confirm the voice is real, sounds like a woman.  Claims to be the "De Tas", and says she is here to help.  She says she can fit the whole shebang into her cargo bay and pressurize.  Are we completely sure this isn't some cruel prank?  Any way to pin point this thing?"
	"We can confirm it on our end too.  Caused a bit of an uproar down here.  Negative on the triangulation Jim, can you try and ask...uh...the De Tas what her location is?"
	"Will do Houston, turning the fan off."
	Jim was about to key the mic, then he had a thought.
	"De Tas, does that sound Russian to anyone?"
	"Vaguely, don't recognize it though."
	Jack chimed in from the command module.
	"I wasn't aware the sputniks were taking in female astronauts."
	"Hey fellas, let's get our suits on."
	"What's up Jim?"
	"In the event something else breaks in here, might save our lives."
	Wasn't much protection, but it was better than sitting in their innerwear in the event the hull cracked or glass started flying.  They spent a few minutes pulling their suits out and getting them back on.  They were bulky and affected their mobility, but it was better than nothing.  Once suited up, they hailed the mystery voice again.
	"De Tas, what's your position?"
	Again the smooth feminine voice spoke to them.
	"Look out your window."
	Jack had finished shutting down the Odyssey and had joined them in the Aquarius just in time for that message.  All three looked at each other with disbelieving stares.  There was no goddamn way...  They all lowered their sun-shield visors and rushed to whatever window was nearest, Jim looking out the aft and port-side window, Jack looking out a fore facing window near the tunnel, and Fred looking out the aft and starboard window.  Fred was the one to yell.
	"HOLY SHIT!  I see something!  It's big, really big!"
	Jim and Jack practically yanked themselves to Fred's window using handholds, and saw a massive space ship.  It was easily the size of two or three football fields down the length, and as wide and tall as a two or three story building.  Jim tore his eyes away from it, and reached over to flip on the encryption circuit.
	"Houston, Aquarius."
	"We read you Jim."
	"The De Tas is right next to us, and this thing isn't Soviet.  There's no way they could push something this large into space.  It's about the size of the Empire State building...  I think I see guns on it.  Procedures would be appreciated right now Houston."
	"We copy that Aquarius, we're going to go around the room now and get you some answers."
	Jack and Fred were glued to the window, their helmets bumping into each other as they tried to get a better look at the gigantic ship that had snuck up on them while they were busy dealing with their own crisis.  Jim partially wondered if they actually had a CO2 problem and only thought the sensor was reading safe.  This couldn't be real.
	"Aquarius, Houston."
	"Go ahead Houston."
	"Everyone down here agrees, you are not looking at a Soviet craft.  We are thinking you gentlemen just made first contact."
	Jack and Fred finally pulled themselves away from the window at that.  Their gold visor-ed helmets turned to Jim, and Fred keyed his mic.
	"Are they serious?  We've met aliens?"
	"Seems that way Freddo, would be nice if Houston said what they expected us to do.  I think I slept through Alien Encounters class."
	They didn't have to wait long for direction.
	"Aquarius, the consensus from the scientists down here is you should try to see if you can secure a peace treaty with the alien."
	Fred and Jack both spoke up.
	"Are they FUCKING serious?!"
	"Woah, wait, what?  Who do they?"
	"Uh Houston, this is Aquarius, please repeat last."
	"Aquarius, we want you to attempt to get some form of a peace treaty or agreement with the alien if possible.  The explanation I'm getting is that if we don't get a treaty of some form, we're just giving information about humanity to an alien species, one that could be hostile.  If we secure a treaty, that could protect us in the event they are a major threat."
	Jim looked at the gold visors of his fellow crew.  It looked like they were going into the history books.
	"Affirm Houston, accept on the rescue offer?"
	"That's affirmative Jim, play nice and keep eyes and ears open."
	"Understood Houston.  Turning fan off."
	Fred flipped the encryption off, and all three looked at each other's helmet.
	"I hope everyone is ready to meet an alien."
	Jack just shook his head, "All I wanted to do was fly a spaceship, why is this happening?"
	Fred was still staring out the window.
	"I hope they aren't hungry aliens."
	This was probably as good as they were going to get given the situation.  With that in mind, Jim keyed the mic.
	"Affirm on that De Tas, we would appreciate the assistance.  Everyone here is suited."
	Again that oddly accented female voice.
	"Alright Apollo 13, make sure your seals are good, and strap yourselves down.  This could get a bit bumpy."
	They all grabbed onto handholds, and hooked their feet anywhere they could.