Milky Way: First Contact, A Documentary
Timestamp 32:46
[M.C.]: It had all really started around the time the planet was discovered. I mean, it wasnât too big of a deal. Planets are discovered all the time. Hell, species are discovered all the time!
   But first contact? For the rag tag remnants of a scrapped galactic integration project, that was a big fucking deal.
[Interviewer]: What did it feel like? What was running through your minds?
[M.C.]: We were excited. Of course, we were excited. It still leaves me a little breathless, to be honest.
   No one ever thought we would do anything. Not anything important, at least. But here we were, 6 different species represented among us and an entire planet full of people who had just reached the first contact limit.
   Appey, our navigator, was just â bouncing with excitement. It was just like it was at the beginning, Appey too excited to sit still, eyes bobbing everywhere. It was nice, to see that there was still some enthusiasm left.
   The only reason we even got the assignment was the ridiculous back log of shit in the government. There werenât any other crews to take the assignment. So it got sent to us.
   None of us had really thought much of it, and what that might mean about the research done on this new planet.
[Interviewer]: What do you mean?
[M.C.]: We werenât prepared.
   Shit, we werenât even close to the right team for the job. These people, you have to understand, they arenât bad. The species. They arenât bad.
   Itâs taken a long time for me to be able to see that. It isnât their fault, it was their government.
[Interviewer]: What wasnât their fault? What happened?
[M.C.]: It was an ambush.
   We touched down, and the planet was gorgeous. It stretched on for eons. The plants, they shimmered under the planetâs star. It was the colour of oceans, and minerals, and the gleam of that star so far awayâŠ.
   It paralyzed me, it was so fucking pretty.
   That was when it all went to shit.
   There were loud bangs, the kind that makes your spines stand on end, and a flare like magma. And there was the pain.
   It was sharp, spreading like creeping vines and burning like kerosene. And the screams.
   Fuck.
[Interviewer]: Do you need a break?
[M.C.]: No. No, Iâm okay. JustâŠ.let me get my breath back.
[Interviewer]: Of course.
[M.C.]: Okay. All right.
   It all happened so fast, I didnât even know what was happening until it was over. Fyg dragged me back into the ship, and TipâŠ.
   Tip carried Appey.
   IâŠ..I woke up. A little bit later, after we were already heading back to the jump point. But Appey didnât â
   Appey didnât make it out.
   Igur and Hapat didnât make it off the planet. We couldnât even grab their bodies.
[Interviewer]: Iâm so sorry.
[M.C.]: Look, do you have enough?
[Interviewer]: That should be all, thank you.
