This was the third time this lightspan that the hyperdilator on Narboza's ship had shifted too quickly and it was starting to become tiresome. He would have to take it into Zangkrang's shop to get them to take a look at it before he ended up being stretched into shreds on the edge of a black hole somewhere.  With a bang on the dash of his ship from his fourth arm, there was an audible 'Thud!' and the awful grinding noise associated with a badly shifting hyperdilator went away.

He shook his head and then glanced back up at the viewscreen to keep an eye on the scenery.  Leaning back he smiled, his forked tongue licking a cracked upper lip as he did so. "The view of the Nebula never gets old," he thought to himself. "How many lightspans have I spent out here, just floating about and taking it in?"

Quietly he let the vastness of space envelop him for several blips, when his thoughts were interrupted by a crackling noise in his headset.

"SIGNALS DISCOVERED FROM ZONE 28-R9. SCOUTS DISPATCH IMMEDIATELY."

Narboza's brow furrowed as the zone registry number ticked it's way through his memories. 

"The watery talking meat planet?  But how?"  He ruminated aloud even as the picture of the planet came up on the panel in front of him. A non-descript, pale, blue dot, shimmered, surrounded by blackness and a glow of a star beyond.  "28-R9 was populated by barely living chunks of meat that communicated with audible tones and grunts. How could they possibly send a message that would reach this far out...?"

Another crackling sound and a new message over the headset.

"SIGNAL BEING UPLOADED.  STANDBY."

Narboza tapped the panel in front of him, swiping away the picture of the planet, a new image slowly coming into view.



A light whirring noise began in one of the instrument panels in front of him, and within a few moments a voice began reading out an analysis of the object.

"Watery Meat Bag Planet. Sent via Radio Telescopic Device."

"Basic Numbers"

"Structural components of Watery Meat Bags"

"Prime Digits"

Narboza's fifth arm reached out and swiped at the panel, clearing the screen in front of him.  This was all known already. It was humorous to him that these Watery Meat Bags were even advanced enough to understand their own makeup, let alone send it out into the vastness of space. He would need to check them out immediately to see how it was possible.

Reaching up, he tapped the side of his implant, projecting several days worth of thoughts back to his homeworld in an instant. His plans to investigate, the current state of his ship, a short message to his organic life splittings, and several other less important things, were off and on their way.  Focusing, he tapped a few more buttons on a display and could hear the hyperdilator spinning up and preparing him for the trip several decades into the future.  It was to be the last time he was this close to home again.

................

"WARNING!  WARNING!  HYPERDILATOR HAS FUSED!"

Narboza's ship was spinning wildly as it fell towards the planet below, even as the ship screamed out a warning that he already knew.

Frantically the Shardangian tried to get the panels to react, but with sickening moans they refused to obey any of his attempts.

"I knew I should have had this fixed earlier!" he screeched into the void, even as the planet grew closer and closer, it's blue surface spinning by over and over in blindingly fast increments.

The gravitational forces were immense, even for one who was able to resist massive sheer from being on a planet that was much bigger. He could feel himself losing consciousness and with every ounce of his strength he raised an arm to the side of his head and tapped his implant, hoping that the thought data would reach back to his home quickly, but knowing that the vast distances meant quickly was decades and decades.

Then. Blackness.

...........

Steam rose from the ship as it lay on the ground, its hull badly damaged and half embedded in the earth below.  Narboza's head was killing him but he he was fairly certain all eight limbs were intact and his ability to feel pain meant that he was still alive.  In front of him the viewscreen was smashed, revealing the true, outside world.  The watery meat planet was to be his new home for quite some time. Below the hill on which his vessel came to a thunderous rest stretched out a habitat of some sort. He would need to inspect it.  This was a new beginning.

(785 words)

Lmao I really love your character, bring on the alien invasion!

[img=0x0]https://i.imgur.com/ByNN8Jn.gif[/img]