This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.
The original was posted on /r/hfy by /u/ArmouredCadian on 2024-12-02 15:12:26+00:00.
The scouting vessel Searches for Danger glided through the void of space, its mission to probe for the territories of the dangerous dragons and mark them out so that the Galactic Alliance could warn people away from them. It was a dangerous job, in a dangerous galaxy, and Captain Sass’threen viewed it as a method to prove that she was a talented and worthy Car’thoon.
Afterall, were the Car’thoon not the best members of the Galactic Alliance, even if the other members didn’t acknowledge it, since they were the best users of psionic power? And in Captain Sass’threen’s mind psionic power was the most important metric to measure anything by in the universe! Afterall, it’s what made the Dragons so deadly, and the only reason that her people were able to fight back against them!
Her musings were interrupted by a report from the sensor station of a vast psionic presence on a rocky planet.
++Any signs of Dragons?++ she pulsed at Lieutenant Newt’rual, her Orthoid Science officer.
++Negative so far++ the small grey being thought back at her as he peered at the various readings. “Sergeant Marknrak, I’m getting signs of EM waves from this planet, are you picking anything up on your instruments?” he called out to the Arcoinian communications specialist, and the only non-psionic species in the Galactic Alliance.
It annoyed Captain Sass’threen when they communicated non-psionically aboard ship, although Galactic Alliance regulations meant she couldn’t force psionic only communications even if she really felt that she really should be allowed to… Talking allowed felt dirty to her, and it totally didn’t have anything to do with the fact that her species wasn’t actually capable of it… Not at all!
Sgt Marknrak, a 1.8m tall bipedal reptilian with a wide snout that extended 40cm forward from his face and a wide powerful body was staring at his communications panel and processing all the information that was flowing from it. He turned to look at the captain, and said “We have a first contact scenario Ma’am”
This shocked Captain Sass’threen, as there had never been a first contact scenario while probing in the direction of the dragon territories. The dragons meant that sapient life had very little chance of developing, so this was a very unexpected development.
++Initiate psionic handshake then! Based on the heavy psionic presence they must obviously be a civilized psionic race!++
The Sgt snorted in reply “I’ll bet you 20 credits that these beings have no psionic communications ma’am”.
The psionic handshake protocol was initiated, and they watched on the viewscreen as it reached out to the planet… only to disappear completely as soon as it made contact with the psionic presence.
++Complete drainage of the psionic power as soon as contact was made ma’am++ Lt Newt’rual reported.
++What? How can that be?++
++Unknown at this time, ma’am++
“Initiating EM signal handshake protocol” Sgt Marknrak reported.
Captain Sass’threen spun to look at him, what protocol was he initiating? And why was he jumping to it so soon after one failure… what was he aware of that she wasn’t? She tried to remember why there was a tendency for Arcoinian’s to be communication specialists in the Galactic Alliance… something about how they were aware of multiple methods of communication because they didn’t rely solely on telepathy to convey everything at once?
++Sgt, why are you so convinced that they don’t have psionic communication? What have you seen that suggests that beings with such powerful psionic presences don’t use the more pure communication methods?++ she inquired of the communication specialist.
“With your permission Captain, I’ll throw some of what I have picked up from their planet on the main viewscreen to show you”
She nodded at this, that was sensible, making it easier to show her his evidence.
“So, if you look here, I scooped a bunch of the EM waves from the planet, and believe I found entertainment programming being broadcast. Nothing too unusual in that, but look here, here and here.” He glanced at the Captain as he was talking and realized that he was going to have to make it even more straight forward for her.
“Body language Captain. This species uses body language while communicating. Psionic species don’t bother using such a thing because they communicate it as part of the thought waves. Species that have to worry about their communication being potentially misunderstood include body language as a form of redundancy.”
Captain Sass’threen was devastated by another realization… in the videos she could she this primate looking species moving a jaw similar to the Arcoinians although not quite as pronounced, and they were quite obviously vocalising their speech! How could a race with such a strong psionic profile resort to such a primitive communication method?
“We have a request for communication from the planet now, after successful exchange of Lexicons through the EM signal handshake protocol Ma’am. Permission to put it on the main viewer, and to engage the psionic to EM transmitter for you ma’am?” the Sgt requested, dragging the Captain out of her rampant thought spirals.
++Yes to both Sgt, it seems I owe you some credits now++
The native species of the rocky planet below popped up on the viewscreen, and at first glance, they slightly resembled an Orthoid, being that they had 2 eyes above a slight nose, and a mouth rather than a snout like the Arcoinians had, although the facial structure of these beings was more oval rather than the tear drop shape the Orthoids had. Also, the eyes didn’t take up nearly so much up of their head, and they had some fur on top similar to the Rhondions.
The body to head balance was more in line with the Arcoinians as well compared to the Orthoids, given that the typical Orthoid had 1/4th of their height devoted to their head, whereas these beings looked like it was only 1/5th.
The teeth revealed when the being smiled at her in greeting – which was another point in similarity with the Arcoinians – were more like the Rhondions, suggesting a possible scavenging past?
“Greetings, I’m Colony director Sharon Lalonde of the Human colony New Belfast, how can we help you?”
Wait, had the creature just said that this was a colony? They set up a colony in Dragon space? Having your home world in Dragon space was one thing, you don’t really get a say in that, but a colony was a whole different matter.
++Excuse me, but are you unaware that we are in Dragon space at the moment? How long has your colony been set up, and how have you dealt with Dragon attacks?++
The creature stared at her blankly for a moment, before looking at the rest of her crew for confirmation that they were serious.
“What Dragons? We have been here for 30 years at this point and haven’t seen a single ‘Dragon’ the entire time. Could you maybe transmit a depiction of these Dragons and any known information about them?”
++Yes, of course. We are currently on a mission testing the edge of their territory because they have spent the last thousand years or so being suspiciously quiet, which isn’t too unusual for creatures known for living several thousands of years, but it has our government concerned++
“Uh, how accurate is this information that you just sent us?”
++As accurate as possible, why?++
“I’m going to have to call you back”
And with that the Human that called themselves Sharon disconnected the call, leaving a very confused bridge crew.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
In the headquarters of the Colony of New Belfast, Sharon Lalonde and the other heads of the colony were staring at the data sent by the alien vessel. It didn’t seem to be a joke by the aliens as far as they could tell, but the information that the data was telling them was simply unbelievable.
Because if it was to be believed, the supposed nesting grounds of these Dragons was Earth!