Part 1: Discovered

Pax'Del's patrol group fell out of jumpspace near the twin star.  The prevoius patrol group had skipped past this system for the past 20 or so cycles, because it was far out of the way.  The laziness of the civil space patrol never ceased to amaze Pax.

"Captain, we're getting scan results from the Duotex IV system, and it's as the Emperor had feared.  We have invaders.  Three of the moons have unidentified life on them.  We see evidence of advanced power systems, industry, and... wow.  They figured out how to farm on the abandoned, re-engineered moon.

Del's ears flattened in shock.  Back when he was a 2nd LT, he was part of the failed attempt to start farming there.

"Are the crops bioavailable to us?" Del asked.

Science officer Gekto'zzl answered, "Hard to tell, sir.  We'd have to directly sample the crops and assay the chemical makeup.  From what I can tell, at least one crop is very similar to Keln.  But we'd have to sample it."

"Can we do so remotely without letting the inhabitents know?"

"That depends on their technology.  I'd be guessing if I answered either way.  They might already know we are here."

"Send a probe, and make it as stealthy and as speedy as possible."

---

Mack Hunter was holding his daughter on his shoulder, pointing out the large Jovian planet in the sky, when he saw the shooting star in the sky.

"Look Lena!  It's a meteor!"

She looked up and laughed.

Then the meteor slowed down, and changed direction.  Mack put his daughter down, and picked up his communicator.  "Autry, are there any shuttles from Hooston or anywhere else that aren't scheduled to return tonight?"

The AI responded quickly.  "No, sir.  But something is entering our atmosphere.  It's very small, and it's not a natural rocky body, and it's under power.  I've alerted the General, and he's sending a CAP shuttle  to check it out."

---

The Galdon probe entered the atmosphere of Bonum.  It immediately noticed powered crafts in the upper atmosphere, and swerved to avoid them.  The tiny AI realized it was in danger of being detected, and immediately slowed itself down, and chose a more gentle entry into the planet; to attempt to better hide.  It was too late, though.  It detected pulsed electromagnetic radiation bouncing off it's shell, and figured it was being detected and tracked.  It sped up to maximum speed, and deceded to its target.  Elevens of minutes later, it hit the ground with a BANG.

Small, spidery arms slid out of panels in the side, and began cutting crops.  Immediately nearby, the crops were burned due to the reentry, so it crawled a few elevenmarks of distance, until it found unmolested plants.  The sharp knives on the side cut down the crops, and ingested them into its gas chromatograph to analyze.

Examining chemical makeup... DONE

ProlaminSUGARS FOUND:  6-(hydroxymethyl)oxane-2,3,4,5-tetrol

Examining proteins.... DONE  

Proamin Zein protiens found.

Examining Lipid proteins: DONE

Various lipids proteins found.

EXAMINING OTHER CHEMICAL COMPOUNDS:

Excess nitrogens found in soil. 

Chloryphill analogs found:

BIOAVILABILITY: 72%

POISON LIKELYHOOD: 0.002% (Allergies unlikely in primary genetic groups with proper Tricaeae tolerance enzymes)

Transmitting findings.......

 

---

"Bonum Civil Air Patrol wingleader, wing Alpha-27 reporting.  I found it.  IT looks like a headless spider.  It appears to be a drone, no known lifeforms detected. What should I do?"

"Go weapons hot.  Take it out.  Sending a squad of Marines to pick up the pieces."

"Wilco.  Weapons hot.  Particle cannons locked on and firing..."

---

Captain, the AI Drone stopped responding.  I watched as a flying machine approached and used some type of energy weapon on it. I was unable to identify the weapon.  It's unlike any of our projectile weapons or laser weaponry."  Gekto reported, alarmed.   "They figured out how to farm on that moon, and I don't recognize their flight technology or weaponry.  I'd suggest giving them a wide berth until we figure out who and what they are."

Pax'Del's ears flattened in fear.  "The Emperor will have my skins for cowardace, but I agree.  We need to return with a full detachment, and figure out what we're going to do with these invaders.  The Galdon Star Empire has spent too much currency re-engineering the environment in this system, to have someone just come in and take control."

"Set a course for Homeworld, full power to the Jump engines!" Del ordered.  

"Hopefully the Emperor will blame this on the lack of backwoods system patrols, and not me." he muttered to himself.

 "Did we get any information from it before it was destroyed?" Del asked, as an afterthought.

Gekto tapped on some controls.  "Yes!  We got information on one crop.  It not only looks like Keln, but it nearly matches the nutritional content of it!  They can grow Keln! There's more of that crop on that planet that we've been able to grow throughout elevens of worlds, too."

IF that was true, just 1/3 of that crop could feed many elevens of starving families back on homeworld, not to mention the starving families on the colony holdings.

Del'Pax was going to retake that moon, and he was going to feed as many of his elevens of starving citizens as he could.