Conquerors' Pride Author:Timothy Zahn The four ships were small and milky white in color, shaped like thick hexagonal slabs of random sizes attached to each other at random edges. Alien as hell. — Like everyone aboard Kinshasa, one of eight ships in the Peacekeeper task force, Commander Pheylan Cavanagh was tense as they transmitted the standard first-contact package. There was alw... more »ays a chance the message wouldn't get across. This time it didn't.
Unthreatened, unprovoked, the bogies attacked. A double flash of light cut across the bow of the human flagship, vaporizing the metal of her hull. Kinshasa's crew went into action immediately, but not quickly enough. The alien ships opened fire with a dazzling display of multiple lasers; within moments Kinshasa was dead.« less