After a few minutes of hovering there in dead silence, suspended above the earth and watching all of the commotion going on down below, the ship once again started to stir.
However, instead of more panels opening up, the ship's open nose exuded a few more bursts of hot steam. Upon which, the small pod that could be seen sitting inside it retracted and disappeared into the hatch. It was shortly replaced by another pod with a similar shell and plate design as the main vessel, with gaps and channels in between each panel that glowed orange. Once it'd been moved into position and placed in the opening of the vessel, it was then ejected from the ship and sent rocketing down toward the planet's surface.
The speed at which it traveled down to the surface was ridiculous.
As to its destination…
XXX
(Central City)
In the very heart of the mega city that served as the capital of planet earth, there stood the eloquent, multi-rimmed tower representing the forefront of the main parliament building known as King Castle. Sturdy, tall, and majestic, reflecting all of the attributes of royalty and leadership, it was this very place that the leader of all the nations of the continent and most if not the entirety of the world, oversaw all the affairs of his countries and its people. By extension, it also served as his home and a symbol of peace and prosperity in their world.
Beyond the walls surrounding the castle, through the bustling courtyard filled with tourists and armed guards, and between the many other towers making up the castle, the main building stood proud above all. It was in the main office of this very construct, a few floors above ground and with an impressive balcony sticking out over the central quad, the King could be found hard at work.
Sitting at his desk in his trim suit and perusing through his paperwork, an anthropomorphic blue dog with a large mustache and glasses breathed a heavy sigh of relief as he finished reading through a long report. Closing the file up and setting it aside, the man then set the pen he'd used on the rack in front of him and leaned back in his chair.
At that exact moment, the door to his office burst open. The guards standing on station drew their weapons instinctively, only to retract them when they saw the King's adjutant come jogging into their midst and up to the presidential desk. The frazzled man, a young male with spiky red hair and wearing a brown military uniform with the rank of Private First Class on his jacket, skidded to a stop a few feet away from the leader's table.
The high-standing ruler was quick to acknowledge the boy's presence as well as his salute of greeting, "Yes?"
"Sorry for disturbing you, Koku-sama, but I was told by the head officers down stairs that they received an urgent telegram from one of our air bases to the West and ordered me to deliver it to you immediately."
"Well then, read it out," the King replied, sensing the urgency in the man's voice.
The Private swallowed uncomfortably while looking down at the paper, "Commander Nishi reports that a small craft… a UFO of some kind, has appeared out of nowhere and positioned itself in high orbit above our planet, and is currently holding over the western part of the continent."
"A UFO? In orbit?" King Koku murmured, narrowing his eyes suspiciously. Whenever he received news of an unidentified flying object or a blip on their radar that his men considered abnormal, it always spelt trouble for him and the rest of the planet. He'd been getting a lot of those in the past several years and by this time he'd stopped being surprised. "How long has it been since it appeared?"
"The radio telescopes picked it up about half an hour ago, sire," the messenger answered. "The staff running the station didn't report it immediately because they initially believed it was a satellite that had strayed off course."
"Has there been any activity surrounding the craft that we should be concerned about? Positional changes? Attack formations? Deployment of weaponry?"
"N-No sire," the soldier responded, standing stock straight while the King gave him a deeply inquisitive look. "The ship is just… sitting there. It hasn't done anything other than open a hatch at the nose end."
Raising an eyebrow, the earth's leader remained sitting in place, twiddling his thumbs nervously and murmuring to himself. After meditating on it for several moments, he then gave a nod of acknowledgement and pointed across at the runner. "Get me General Rin. Tell him to-" Unfortunately he wasn't able to finish relaying his instructions.
Without even the slightest bit of warning, the ceiling of the King's office where the chandelier hung proudly from its fixture suddenly caved in with an ear-splitting 'bang', an event that not only knocked the messenger off his feet but caused the entire building to shake. Koku and his guards, instantly stunned by the unforeseen explosion, had their visions blocked out by a thick wall of smoke and dust, which choked up the air and filled every corner of the chamber. Coughing and waving the cloud of fumes out of their faces, the nation leader and his stricken attendants peered back towards the center of the room to see what the hell had just happened.
Almost all of them, especially the king, did a hilarious double take when they noticed a large metal sphere with glowing, symmetrical orange lines patterning its surface hovering directly in the center of the office. Having obviously been the cause for the sudden cave in, the perfectly round pod had stationed itself above the floor and was emitting a very eerie, radioactive like glow and a very distinct humming noise.
In the first few seconds of staring at the intruder, King Koku was able to determine two things about it.
One, it definitely wasn't something from this planet. Two, it certainly didn't come here for a cup of tea.
Gulping at the sight of the celestial orb, the King then watched as the gaps along its hull emitted sharp bursts of steam. Then, just when he thought his day couldn't get any stranger, the entire ball opened up at the front in an origami like manner. The entire outer surface of the ball unwrapped itself and retracted when, stepping out from the confines of the floating pod, a shapely leg appeared followed by what Koku immediately recognized was a woman.
Not just any woman though. The person that emerged from the pod was a beautiful, radiant girl around sixteen years old with human skin coloration, a curvaceous figure, and wearing a highly sophisticated, very pronounced figure-hugging plug suit. Silver and white, with grey components and outlets sticking out of it, it was a sleek costume with small gaps and channels between the plates that glowed orange like her ship, and had shimmering blue nodes on certain parts of the limbs and torso. Completely symmetrical, the design was absolutely beautiful, yet terrifying at the same time.
But aside from the visitor's cute face, sharp blue eyes and serious expression, the most defining trait of the woman was her hair. She had long, flaming orange hair with a third of it that would have been touching the floor were it not already waving in the air as a singular mass behind her. If she wanted too, the girl could easily blanket all of it around her lithe body. What's more, it was also shining a luminous radioactive-like orange and seemed to waft on the air like a flame, literally defying gravity.
The pod that had used to transport her vanished into her back as a mere component of her suit, bringing realization to those present in the room that the girl was in fact the sphere.
Completely awestruck by his unexpected visitor, King Koku looked up through the hole in his ceiling, where he saw that the ball had crashed through all thirty levels of the building before coming to a stop directly inside his office. It was a sight that had the man gulp and look ahead of him once again to see the woman taking in her surroundings. Upon which she then focused her gaze onto him and began striding forward.
Elegantly traipsing across the floor, the alien girl came to a slow halt on the other side of the King's desk, at about the same time to the doors to the office burst open and dozens of soldiers began pouring in. The heavily armed guards encircled the woman and cocked their weapons, pointing them at her as she stared their anxious leader down.
After several moments of unnerving silence and with an unflinching stare, the woman began to speak, "Excuse me, but are you the current ruler of this planet; the keeper of the peace, King of Nations, and the one who is recognized as the most powerful man on earth, King Koku?"
Snapping out of his daze, Koku frowned uncomfortably, "Y-Yes. That's me?"
"And are you the chief warden tasked with safeguarding the lives of all of the people underneath your banner, protector of the world's lands, animals and resources from the northern point of Gaia to the south?" the young woman continued in her cool and collected tone of voice. Her questions almost seemed casual in nature, like the fact that she'd just busted into the king's chambers to speak with him meant nothing to her.
Baffled, the man glanced around at his guards, whom he could see had all of their rifles trained onto her, before slowly looking back at the inquisitive alien girl. "Yes… I guess."
This answer brought a small smile to the woman, who then placed a hand over her chest and bowed, an action that baffled the soldiers. "It is a pleasure to meet you, your highness. My name is Kana; I am a part-time privateer and freelancer for the Planet Trade Organization of the Four Quadrants of Space. I have journeyed far from the core systems of the universe seeking a world that has been completely terraformed to suit a variety of flora and fauna. I must say… you have a very beautiful planet, King Koku; one that is both rich and overflowing with life."
Not really sure where this was going, King Koku nevertheless nodded, "Th-Thank you. That's very kind of you to say."
Straightening up, the woman now identified as Kana brought her hand back down and beamed brightly at the nation ruler, "This earth is a very rare gem, unlike any other planet I have ever encountered before. If it isn't too much trouble, I would very much like to begin negotiations as soon as possible."
"Uhh… negotiations?"
"Surely as this planet's ruler you are willing to partake in a spirited discussion," the woman said with a hopeful voice. "I know that this is a bit forward of me, but as much as I would love to have a guided tour of your world, I'm unfortunately on a very tight schedule. I have another business transaction with the Brench of Sector 15 tomorrow morning and I do not wish to be late."
King Koku, hesitant at first and picking up a sense of foreboding hanging in the air, gave a very nervous murmur before, after much consideration, conceded to the girl's pleasant approach. With a wave of his hand, he ordered his soldiers to lower their weapons, which they slowly and cautiously did. "Very well. I see no harm in having a friendly chat. Would you like it if the negotiations took place in here?" He was completely willing to overlook the massive hole in the ceiling.
The workers could clean that up afterwards.