Near the outskirts of the town, a small army of fifty black armor clad soldiers marched slowly to the town. James Sky, their commander, took point. He kept a solid pace. Fast enough to make good ground, yet slow enough as to not stir up concern in his troops.
James was a former solider before he was recruited by the organization. His short sandy blonde hair was neatly tucked beneath his beret. He was a hulk of a man, still in his prime. He wished he could say the same for the "troops" behind him. Most, had never seen combat and all of them depended on their technology or diplomacy to win the fight. Nearly every scuffle before had simply ended with some chest pounding and a small scrap or two, leading to quoting of directives, treaties and then the invaders would just leave.
James saw a shimmer of light just ahead and signaled his force to halt.
"Fire a flare, straight ahead!!" James ordered.
Despite the noonday sun providing plenty of light, the flare would reveal any cloaked structures in their path. As the red beacon arced ahead, a large metal structure was revealed to the naked eye. A wide door slowly opened along the side of the structure.
"Make some cover and hold your fire! Keep your eyes pealed and alert if they try anything!"
The troops threw down black bricks which suddenly grew into barriers. They crowded in behind them with their weapons drawn. They looked intently as the doors fully opened. Out from the structure 50 of some of the largest men they had ever seen walked casually out and toward them. They were all shirtless, their oversized muscles appeared to have a permanent sheen of oil which caused them to almost glow in the sunlight. The only clothing they were wearing were loose fitting trousers and a belt, holstering an alien pistol of some sort. Though to it's credit the pistol was nearly the same size as the human troops assault rifles.
The men sauntered out and formed a single line formation and stood there quietly and almost serenely. Out of the ranks of the hulking aliens a single man wearing a gold sash started towards the human troops position. He calmly waved his hand in the air and even removed the belt holding his weapon as he casually walked.
James wasn't about to allow himself to be lulled by their casual demeanor or intimidated by their size. He removed his weapon and rose from cover. He too raised his hand and matched the aliens pace to meet between their two forces.
The alien stretched out his hand in a too friendly gesture. "Good afternoon to ya sir. What brings you down to our little community here?"
James' hand met with his, despite his own size his hand barely fit around the alien's palm. James finished the handshake and got down to business.
"Cut the folksy talk, we know you are not from around here. We sent two operatives in there and now they are gone. You want to explain, just what the hell you are doing on our planet?"
The hulking alien smiled and nodded his head. "Fine, Fine, I am Gevalt of the former planet of Parsche. We are survivors of a war that claimed our homeworld. As such we are protected by interstellar refugee laws. We came here to build up a force capable of defending ourselves on our way to our new home."
"Why didn't you contact our representatives here then! You think you can just land and do whatever you please! Refugees or not this is our home!"
Gevalt raised his hands calmly. "We are kind of in a hurry, we just wanted to get down here, resupply, and be own our way. Or would you rather we stayed here and and let our enemies blow your world to ash to get at us?"
James was near the point of exploding. He knew this guy was up to something beyond licking his wounds. "Where are our people!? We have dozen of reports of our citizens entering that town and never coming back."
"That is because, your people are just so dang kind" Gevalt said with a grin. "They have been helping us get our forces back up." He gestured to the men behind him. "These fine men wouldn't be here today if it wasn't for your generous assistance to our cause."
"You didn't answer my question! What have you done to our people!"
"We challenge you to Parku." Gevalt said calmly.
"What?!"
"I know, you know, what that is. You boys have been in the game long enough to have had at least some experience."
"I heard ya, but as you well know we are being monitored here. You try anything funny and the whole intergalactic community will be after your hides as well!"
"No worries there son. Now lets just review the details real quick to make sure everything is clear."
They went over the details of the event. The Parku was a small scale battle used to resolve diplomatic stalemates on foreign land. No lethal weapons or actions were allowed. Enemy units could be captured but no harm could come to them. They would use only the weapons and units they had with them, no aircraft, no vehicles. The battle would end when one side surrendered or ran out of units to capture. They finally agreed that if the humans won, they would receive all property of the alien forces who would have to leave on the first ship they could secure off world. If the aliens won they would be allowed to operate with no harassment for one month at which time they would peacefully depart.
"Very well then," James stated. "Give me some time to prepare my forces. We will signal by flare when we are to begin"
"Don't take too long. We are itching to get out of this sun and back to work soon."
Both walked calmly to their forces.