User blog:WatermelonTrooper/Unknown Planet

For decades we've been plagued by those infernal creatures. Kongōsho, we called them, strange spacefaring creatures that raided our spaceborne settlements and fleets before disappearing. At first they were believed to be a type of wildlife, no matter how bizarre it was. After all, Humanity had only explored so little of the Galaxy. A type of wildlife that had access to lasers, guided missiles and what seemed like machine guns.

After capturing a few, we made many unsettling discoveries. The first partially alleviated our concerns that we were dealing with a true non-Human sentient race. How could the Gods allow such an abomination as a non-Human sentient race?! The creatures were found to be lacking intelligence, mainly a part of a hive mind structure. Their weapons were biological in nature, with biochemicals producing the lasers, their missiles being parasitic organisms that detached and their machine guns being rapidly-expelled biomatter. They travelled faster than light due to an organ in their abdomen. Then we discovered something that overturned all our preconceived notions of the Galaxy. We were not alone.

The creatures were all largely genetically identical. They were all comprised of clones of a small pool of initial specimens, as far as we could tell. This revelation thus disproved all earlier theories. We immediately assumed that an as-of-yet unencountered Human society existed out there.

Then we met the Kuans. Non-Human sentients, a slap in the face of the Gods. We were shocked and sickened, but dealt with them as we needed. However, the Kongōsho raids did not cease. We now believed there was another non-Human race out there trying to attack us. So we searched, painstakingly charting the Kongōsho swarms' paths and attack areas, until we found it. An inhabitable world, nestled away between two nebulae. We sent in signals, but none were returned. Our drone scouts remained in orbit unharmed for several years, not finding any sign of civilisation, though the Kongōsho were confirmed to emerge from large orbiting cocoon-shaped structures. Any drones sent to investigate these structures were destroyed, but surface drones returned scenes of vast jungles teeming with life. So we decided to send a Human exploration mission to the surface of the planet.

We arrived on a cruiser-sized vessel, which the Imperial Navy had insisted on. Gunboat diplomacy at its best, if we were dealing with an as-of-yet unknown society. The scientific team was sent down with a contingent of SNLF marines for security, and they outnumbered us two to one. Gunboat diplomacy, I thought at the time, though I did not know how useful these men would soon prove to be.

The shuttle touched down on the surface of the planet, in a vast green field covered in what looked and felt exactly like our own grass. Just like we had encountered all over the space region, basic green grass seemed to be one of the most ubiquitous and most parallel-evolved plants in the Galaxy. The marines fanned out. There was a clump of trees in the distance, and a thin figure could be seen, unmoving, before it disappeared. We thought it was just some kind of wild animal, though I was unnerved by how it had seemed to be watching out landing.