Annie had picked Li Boli to come along on the mission, and Li Boli was delighted. She arrived at the landing-bay hangar right on time, then joined Annie and the team led by her second uncle, Li Kui, as their landing craft sped down toward the planet's surface.
As the landing craft descended, the copilot in the cockpit once again began using some kind of directional short-range communication device to call the unknown human settlement:
"Bzzzt—"
"This is the landing team from the starship Tibbers. Repeating, this is the landing team from the starship Tibbers."
"Unknown human settlement, please respond if you receive this."
"We've detected your signal and confirmed your presence... We're also a human faction, and we mean you no harm."
"Repeating, we mean you no harm."
"If you can receive this message, please reply on this channel. We..."
But no matter how long he called, the other side remained silent. Aside from faint electrical static on the channel, the copilot heard nothing at all.
He frowned, pressed his thumb against the gain knob to boost the output power, then hit the repeat key and sent the same message again.
Unfortunately...
A few minutes later, the landing craft had begun gliding through the atmosphere, but the other side still hadn't responded.
"Captain Li!"
"Still nothing!"
"What should we do?"
With no other choice, he turned to look into the landing craft's cabin. Seeing that the little girl captain was busy whispering to a female pilot, he reported the situation to Li Kui, who was checking the weapons and equipment.
"..."
Li Kui listened, furrowed his brow in thought, then gave a low order.
"Keep calling!"
"Use clear text on every channel!"
"We're already in the atmosphere. At this distance, they'd receive our signal even if they were hiding