The Cresperian Alliance by Stephanie Osborn Read Free Book Online Page A

species we discovered. We have no idea what they call themselves, as they proved completely uninterested in communication. Therefore we dubbed them Snappers, after the sound of what appears to be their speech."
    He punched a button, and glanced at the transmission screen nearby. His own image disappeared from the screen to be replaced by video of a fierce battle planetside. In the foreground of the image, Captain Bronson stood, issuing orders as advancing armored vehicles with laser turrets swept swaths through the defending space marines. The clacking and snapping of the aliens’ speech was clearly audible even over the sounds of battle. A sudden flash of red reflected into the camera's field of view, and Bronson was decapitated by a powerful laser beam, his body slumping to the ramp where it stood, as his head rolled and bounced away.
    Haley swallowed, his eyes growing moist; Bronson had become a friend in the Enclave, and his death affected Haley deeply. He keyed the mike as the pre-edited video continued to run, knowing what was coming next.
    "These,” he continued the voiceover, slightly hoarse, “are the Snappers. We followed diplomatic protocol to the letter upon encountering them, and all such overtures were ignored."
    Telephoto video now depicted a diplomatic party exiting the Zeng Wu to meet a group of Snappers just outside the walls of a town. Smiles were on the humans’ faces, and several times the lead Snapper appeared to nod in understanding.
    Suddenly laser pistols appeared in the hands of all the Snappers, and the two armed diplomatic escort guards were cut down with no warning. The other, unarmed members of the diplomatic party were immediately taken captive; when one of the men resisted, he was unceremoniously laser-disemboweled. A group of the armored vehicles seen previously suddenly flew from the nearby Snapper town, positioning themselves between the Zeng Wu and the prisoners, who were swiftly hustled away. The vehicles opened fire on the Earth ship, beginning a rapid advance.
    "As you can see,” Haley went on, fighting down the nausea in his gut, “there was no provocation, though the Snappers, per our ambassadorial personnel, patently understood the nature of the contact."
    A video montage next depicted in excruciating detail the weeks-long standoff between the Zeng Wu and the Snappers, the arrival of the Galactic , and the ensuing pitched battle and bloody rescue of the diplomatic team.
    Next Haley watched as the video cut to debriefs of the badly shaken diplomatic team.
    "There's no question in my mind,” the lead ambassador declared, tall, abnormally pale, his arm in a bloody sling. “Despite the language barrier, we communicated quite effectively through sign language, and their leaders indicated unequivocally that they understood we were there on a peaceful mission of exploration and friendship."
    The camera panned to a brunette woman sitting beside him, a bandage over one eye. “I agree with Mr. Murphy,” she averred. “We went through an entire sequence of hand gestures and sign language designed to ensure we were understood, before going into detail on our mission. They not only comprehended the sign language, they returned it in an intelligent fashion indicative of positive responses. Then... they turned on us."
    The camera zoomed out to show the remaining survivors of the embassage, bandaged and splinted, nodding as one in agreement.
    As the video ended, Haley punched the button to switch back to live images of his face, unaware that it was drawn with the pain that seemed to wrench his guts out—the pain of a commanding officer who had lost too many good people. He let another sigh escape before resuming his commentary.
    "I think that little movie pretty much speaks for itself, Wayne. The Snappers are flat out, son of a bitch, damn bad news. It is my considered recommendation that we quarantine not only Planet Swavely and its solar system, but a significant buffer zone around it,