On the Earth of the Avatar World, the concept of national governments had become incredibly tenuous, existing virtually in name only. The true rulers of Earth were the powerful capital oligarchs who controlled immense wealth and cutting-edge technology. The ICA, or Interstellar Commercial Administration, stood as the highest authority, established by several giant corporations to manage all interstellar affairs. Its power far surpassed that of the RDA, the Resources Development Administration; indeed, even the RDA's mining rights on Pandora were granted by the ICA. It was also the ICA that deliberately restricted the RDA's weapons and equipment on Pandora, forcing them to use only obsolete gear phased out by the military.
This wasn't an act of kindness, but a calculated move to make the RDA's mining and resource plundering appear more "legal" and "humane" to the public, especially their shareholders. And now, all high-ranking officials of the ICA, who also served as the decision-makers for these colossal corporations, were holding an unprecedented emergency meeting.
"This report, coming directly from the ICA's Earth orbit space station, I trust you have all reviewed it," Barry, the Executive Chairman of the ICA, began slowly. "Everyone present is intelligent; I don't need to elaborate much. You should understand the immense importance of this information."
"What about other laboratories?" a director questioned, frowning. "Have multiple confirmations been conducted?" Even now, he struggled to believe that an extraterrestrial civilization would appear so abruptly and actively send out a message.
"More than a dozen laboratories have observed a physical target, and it is approaching us at high speed," Barry confirmed.
"Our monitoring stations at the edge of the solar system didn't detect them?" another director pressed. The ICA had invested heavily in a series of monitoring stations at the solar system's periphery, specifically designed to track every spacecraft entering and exiting, such as the Star of Entrepreneurship that traveled between Pandora and Earth, and other mining and colonial vessels. Theoretically, it was impossible for a spacecraft to appear so close to Earth so suddenly.
"Reports from all detection stations show everything is normal; no spacecraft have entered or exited the solar system during this period." This implied a shocking truth. Either the spacecraft possessed the ability to completely shield itself from Earth's most advanced detection technology, silently slipping into the solar system, or this mysterious vessel had directly warped into the solar system through some unknown, advanced means.
Just as the people in the conference room erupted into heated discussions, several staff members pushed open the door and handed the latest report to everyone. "Abnormal spatial index fluctuations detected near Neptune." Merely scanning the first few words of the report plunged all the ICA directors into a deathly silence.
This confirmed their worst-case scenario: the unknown spacecraft possessed spatial navigation technology and had directly warped into the solar system. Immediately, the conference room erupted into even more intense discussions, almost tearing through the roof. The ICA directors, hailing from various giant corporations with complex and often competing business scopes, were certainly not of one mind. Everyone began scrambling to think about how to secure greater benefits for themselves amid this crisis.
"Quiet! Quiet!" Barry, as the Executive Chairman, forcefully suppressed the wave of discussion. "Activate Emergency Plan 1 for Extraterrestrial Contact. We will now proceed with the vote." Barry wasted no words, moving directly to the decisive voting stage. The other directors had no objections; the most crucial task now was to focus solely on that enigmatic spacecraft.
A few minutes later, the vote concluded. "17 votes in favor, 4 abstentions, 0 votes against," Barry read out the results. "I announce that Emergency Plan 1 is officially activated. Three warships will depart and attempt to intercept the target." After the vote, the people in the conference room turned their attention to the message sent by the Ishimura.
"This is The Ishimura. We come with goodwill." The message was brief and included many different language versions.
"Goodwill? Heh heh." The vast majority of directors present did not believe in such a concept as "goodwill" from an unknown, powerful entity.
"However, at least we know the name of that spacecraft," someone noted, drawing attention to the Ishimura's prefix.
"I wonder if the other party's ship is armed," Executive Chairman Barry mused, shaking his head. "Regardless, we must prepare for the worst. All warships in port must be ready for battle. In the worst-case scenario, we may need to use anti-matter bombs." The ICA had encountered alien civilizations before; the Na'vi on Pandora were the most typical example. But those were merely natives who couldn't even fly off their own planet, incomparable to this spacecraft that possessed spatial warp technology.
"Agree." "Concur." The other directors quickly voiced their opinions.
"Alright, relax. Perhaps the other party truly has no ill intentions?" one director offered a different perspective.
"After all," Barry added, "if the other party truly had ill intentions, with their currently demonstrated technological level, they could completely warp a bomb to Earth and detonate it directly."
"We will make two sets of preparations," Barry concluded. "In any case, let's first see if those few warships can intercept the other party."
"I doubt it," another director shook his head, expressing pessimism about the capabilities of Earth's warships. "The other party's current speed is still maintaining 0.5 times the speed of light. Our warships will probably just begin accelerating when the other party has already reached Earth. I propose that the orbital defense platforms be immediately prepared, and ground-based defensive firepower also enter a state of readiness." Barry nodded, and then a new round of voting began. Ultimately, this proposal was also passed.
For the next period, the people in the conference room did not leave but continued to discuss the Ishimura and develop countermeasures. This continued until a new report was presented.
"The target has passed Saturn and is decelerating and turning, heading towards Earth. It is estimated that the other party will dock in Mars orbit." This news, which was neither entirely good nor entirely bad, made all the directors present halt their discussions.
"Connect to the Mars orbit space station feed," Barry said in a deep voice. Immediately, the giant screen in the conference room displayed a view from Mars. With the human technological level of the Avatar World, preliminary colonization of Mars had already been achieved. Originally, the ICA had focused its colonization efforts on Mars, as it was closer. It was only after they discovered Pandora that they abandoned the already built colonial facilities on Mars and shifted their focus to Pandora.
However, those facilities on Mars were not entirely abandoned; they were converted on-site into docks for loading ships and various armed space stations. Through the screen, the people in the conference room could see that the various ships in the Mars dock were undergoing emergency assembly.