General 6, Chance encounter, survives on mars

Pilot, bring up visuals of the red rock. I’ve gotten reports that several guests have seen something unusual in that direction through their scopes. Something tiny, but not moving like any sort of pebble.”

As the pilot worked to bring the visuals up, the doctor started calling up sensor data from the region of the red rock. A moment later, a complex sensor image of the fourth planet appeared on the main viewscreen, and it wasn’t long before the doctor spoke up.

“I’ve found it, in the sensor logs, which would put it about… there,” declared the doctor, pointing to a spot on the viewscreen. Instantly the image changed as the pilot zoomed in on that spot. The doctor rechecked the sensor log, pointed to another spot, and the pilot zoomed in again.

After the fourth zoom, they saw it: a tiny green dot in the starfield. The pilot centered the view on the dot and zoomed in again, giving the crew their first good look at the object. It looked like a green ship, but much smaller than even the escape pods on the ship. It also appeared to be pointed toward the ship, and the crew could see a large jet of green vapor apparently coming from the rear of the object.

“It looks to be fifteen to twenty feet long, all told, and maybe five feet tall,” reported the doctor. “And it appears to be headed for us on an intercept course.”

“Our cloak is still up, correct?” responded the captain, receiving affirmation from the pilot. “Then how can it pierce our cloak? None of the native sapients in this system should be able to do that! Unless….”