While reading MP3.1415player's latest Terminator/Mass Effect/multi fusion and listening to Alestorm I had an idea for a first contact gone either amazingly wrong or horribly right, I'm not quite sure. The basic idea is that humanity found a decently low-cost way past, under, or around the lightspeed barrier and has been expanding long enough for the initial systematic exploration and colonization programs to bloom into a far more chaotic second wave, with various ideologically or morally marginalized groups heading to the fringes whether by choice or necessity, including actual goddamn space pirates. Naturally, it's likely that these far-flung outliers will be the first to encounter any alien civilization that may exist, a thought which has provoked many a sleepless night you may be certain.
And then, it seems to have come to pass - a small fleet of damaged warships with hull designs and markings not matching any known human designs arrives, a known major pirate obviously no longer spaceworthy but recognizable under tow and then moved to the fore as the newcomers take up a formation emphasizing its central location. It looks very much like something approaching the worst case has come to pass, with an alien military force come to demand an accounting after running across human outlaws. Radio signals are broadcast simultaneously from the fleet, hundreds or thousands of voices singing something fierce and aggressive sounding at once.
Except...
Once the song ends, further communications are opened, the aliens' programmers and linguists apparently having been good enough to arrange for translation from recovered computer data, and it turns out that the fleet is here as an honor guard, returning the remains of the ship and crew in respect for their valiant battle, and to share the song of their glory. Diplomatic staff previously trying to decide whether they'd need to be shocked and dismayed by the foolish and criminal actions of renegades or grateful and congratulatory for bringing them to justice have a whole new spin they need to adapt to.
Obviously, the aliens are sort of Klingon-y, and while I have no clear idea of the actual encounter itself it was probably something along the lines of Yesterday's Enterprise without the time travel, though probably not quite so planet-of-the-week -- perhaps the pirate crew had actually discovered an outlier alien colony some time before, made relatively peaceful contact (for not-Klingons and pirates; a goodly amount of alcohol and brawling were certainly involved) and started using it as a home port since they'd been getting a little too well known to easily approach human worlds with their shit even slightly together, and then some third group attacked?
This would also provide a more reasonable basis to have already worked out human language and comm formats, though the longer interaction before hand has other impacts on the premise as well. Maybe it was planet-of-the-week after all, with the third party attack coming a few days after initial contact? Just long enough for the humans to have found some reason to stick around and fight rather than book it, even if that's just having sent a shuttle load of booty down to trade for alcohol and not having finished loading it yet, and/or the captain needing to be retrieved from an intense session of, ahem, "diplomatic" relations in the spaceport
The aliens don't even have to fall into the classic "warrior race" pattern, I suppose - it would probably be easier to justify a single ship with a lot of bodged up jury rig kludges due to an outlaw's poor supply situation being a decisive factor if the locals aren't particularly warlike and battle-focused, and would in no way impede the desire to honor them after the fact.
I find myself torn over whether it would be best told from the viewpoint of the official group receiving the visit as initially outlined, a pirate crew survivor returned by it explaining things to them after the fact, or as it happens. It's basically just 70s SF flavor HFY, but that doesn't mean it couldn't be a fun read if executed with at least moderate competence.
And then, it seems to have come to pass - a small fleet of damaged warships with hull designs and markings not matching any known human designs arrives, a known major pirate obviously no longer spaceworthy but recognizable under tow and then moved to the fore as the newcomers take up a formation emphasizing its central location. It looks very much like something approaching the worst case has come to pass, with an alien military force come to demand an accounting after running across human outlaws. Radio signals are broadcast simultaneously from the fleet, hundreds or thousands of voices singing something fierce and aggressive sounding at once.
Except...
Once the song ends, further communications are opened, the aliens' programmers and linguists apparently having been good enough to arrange for translation from recovered computer data, and it turns out that the fleet is here as an honor guard, returning the remains of the ship and crew in respect for their valiant battle, and to share the song of their glory. Diplomatic staff previously trying to decide whether they'd need to be shocked and dismayed by the foolish and criminal actions of renegades or grateful and congratulatory for bringing them to justice have a whole new spin they need to adapt to.
Obviously, the aliens are sort of Klingon-y, and while I have no clear idea of the actual encounter itself it was probably something along the lines of Yesterday's Enterprise without the time travel, though probably not quite so planet-of-the-week -- perhaps the pirate crew had actually discovered an outlier alien colony some time before, made relatively peaceful contact (for not-Klingons and pirates; a goodly amount of alcohol and brawling were certainly involved) and started using it as a home port since they'd been getting a little too well known to easily approach human worlds with their shit even slightly together, and then some third group attacked?
This would also provide a more reasonable basis to have already worked out human language and comm formats, though the longer interaction before hand has other impacts on the premise as well. Maybe it was planet-of-the-week after all, with the third party attack coming a few days after initial contact? Just long enough for the humans to have found some reason to stick around and fight rather than book it, even if that's just having sent a shuttle load of booty down to trade for alcohol and not having finished loading it yet, and/or the captain needing to be retrieved from an intense session of, ahem, "diplomatic" relations in the spaceport
The aliens don't even have to fall into the classic "warrior race" pattern, I suppose - it would probably be easier to justify a single ship with a lot of bodged up jury rig kludges due to an outlaw's poor supply situation being a decisive factor if the locals aren't particularly warlike and battle-focused, and would in no way impede the desire to honor them after the fact.
I find myself torn over whether it would be best told from the viewpoint of the official group receiving the visit as initially outlined, a pirate crew survivor returned by it explaining things to them after the fact, or as it happens. It's basically just 70s SF flavor HFY, but that doesn't mean it couldn't be a fun read if executed with at least moderate competence.
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noli esse culus
noli esse culus