What if: ST-esque first contact for real, in our time

[Deimos Anomaly]

Assume the universe out there is as imagined in ST. Vulcans, Klingons, Romulans, Cardassians, the works.

Then assume that the US military, just about now, is about to test out its most top secret black project - a FTL space vessel. Powered by a drive system identical to that known in ST as Cochrane warp drive. Matter-antimatter collision, warp nacelles, etc.

Also assume that the actual show Star Trek never existed. (I don't want replies of "Gene roddenberry is immediately worshipped for his impossibly clairvoyant vision of the way things are out there." and suchlike) Other than ST never existing, things are exactly as they are IRL.

A vulcan ship just happens to be in the area (oooh coincidence ) and pick up the US vessel's warp signature. Soon after the Vulcan vessel sets down in front of the Whitehouse, some Vulcans get out, flash the Vulcan salute, and say "Live long and prosper".

How do you envisage events would go from here? What would the future hold?

 

[captcalhoun]

Dubya would declare war on the illegalised alien-folks and we'd be fucked.

 

[Kegek]

The White House Vulcans would meet... the Vulcans.

Though a certain Congressional representative would have you believe that they're actually faux Klingons...

 

[Balthier the Great]

Deimos Anomaly said:
Assume the universe out there is as imagined in ST. Vulcans, Klingons, Romulans, Cardassians, the works.

Then assume that the US military, just about now, is about to test out its most top secret black project - a FTL space vessel. Powered by a drive system identical to that known in ST as Cochrane warp drive. Matter-antimatter collision, warp nacelles, etc.

Also assume that the actual show Star Trek never existed. (I don't want replies of "Gene roddenberry is immediately worshipped for his impossibly clairvoyant vision of the way things are out there." and suchlike) Other than ST never existing, things are exactly as they are IRL.

A vulcan ship just happens to be in the area (oooh coincidence ) and pick up the US vessel's warp signature. Soon after the Vulcan vessel sets down in front of the Whitehouse, some Vulcans get out, flash the Vulcan salute, and say "Live long and prosper".

How do you envisage events would go from here? What would the future hold?

I think there would probably be panic. The only actual event that comes close is the radio broadcast of "War of the Worlds". People thought that it was a real invasion, and panicked. So I'd expect something similar.

Although if we're assuming that Earth: Final Conflict existed (hey it's within the rules right), than the producer predicts aliens thing is plausible. Maybe. Or maybe they'd think he was an alien. panicky people are hard to predict.

 

[JD]

I think once people realized they were friendly and peacefull things would probably go pretty well. That is if our government actually gave them a chance to prove how friendly they are, which is a big question mark IMO.
Now what I think would be rally interesting would be if we ran into the Klingons, then we'd probably be in some SERIOUS trouble. You just know "someone" would piss them off and get us all killed.

 

[Navaros]

Deimos Anomaly said:
A vulcan ship just happens to be in the area (oooh coincidence ) and pick up the US vessel's warp signature. Soon after the Vulcan vessel sets down in front of the Whitehouse, some Vulcans get out, flash the Vulcan salute, and say "Live long and prosper".

How do you envisage events would go from here? What would the future hold?

The White House administration would find out as much as they can about the Vulcans and their planet. Then they would fabricate stories about Vulcan having WMDs and claim that it is about use them to blow up Earth. This would be used as a justification to invade and occupy the Vulcan planet and rob it of it's natural resources for the benefit of Earth dwellers.

 

[exalted one]

I seriously doubt they would land immediately. We are talking VULCANS here - they are rather cautious. They would probably try to learn as much as they could about us before landing; then they would contact Vulcan and request reinforcements. They'd probably set up a base on Mars or the far side of the Moon, they'd watch us and eventually they'd try either to contact us, either to influence us in order to make us ready for them.

I presume they would try to influence us. Some of them would probably pose as scientists and politicians in order to start a global reformation of mankind. They would want to be sure that their official first contact vessel won't be fired upon; they would want to prevent the panic.

So, we can just as well presume that they are already here, trying to make us ready - against our best efforts. :-) They are in no hurry, as they have enough time - remember, we are talking Vulcans. :-)

 

[Alidar Jarok]

Well, if we're talking about a Star Trek type history, Vulcans are already watching us (they observed us launch Sputnik, for example). But they aren't going to contact us until we get warp drive.

 

[Delta1]

In First Contact, they didn't land at the White House or any other structure related to government. They landed in Cochrane's research camp, in Montana. So your scenario would probably work better if the Vulcans landed wherever the FTL vehicle landed and asked to speak to the pilot and/or program manager.

 

[C.E. Evans]

Three possibilities:

1. We see the Vulcans approaching and blast them out of the skies. How's that fer First Contact?

2. We see the Vulcans approaching and try to blast them out the skies--and fail, upon which the ball will then be in their court. They could go away and try again a century later or so.

3. The Vulcans say "Humans are stupid" and allow the Klingons--who are only four days away anyway--to invade Earth and use Humans as bat'leth practice...

 

[Sci]

Delta1 said:
In First Contact, they didn't land at the White House or any other structure related to government. They landed in Cochrane's research camp, in Montana.

The implication in Star Trek: First Contact was that there was no White House to land at, though. World War III was established to have led to the fall of most of the major world governments, and Bozeman, Montana, looked like something out of the third world; the US government probably didn't exist anymore.

 

[Delta1]

The US government, in the event of a nuclear exchange, wouldn't be located in Washington DC anyway. The fact remains that the Vulcans didn't attempt to seek out authority, but went directly to the warp ship.

 

[Sci]

Delta1 said:
The US government, in the event of a nuclear exchange, wouldn't be located in Washington DC anyway.

Interesting how you assume there'd be enough warning for the government to move. But I'd point out that a government can fall for many reasons besides nuclear exchanges.

The fact remains that the Vulcans didn't attempt to seek out authority, but went directly to the warp ship.

Yes, but we don't know if this is their standard policy or if it was undertaken because the Vulcans already knew that there was no authority to seek out.

 

[FPAlpha]

It really depends on the type of alien that lands.

Vulcans are diplomats, peaceful and logical enough to not barge through the front door like that because it might incite panic.

If first contact would be with Klingons or Cardassians.. good bye world.

As much as i like to believe we'd handle this with coolness i think the majority of Earth would panic at first. This race is totally unknown to us, obviously technologically far superior and since we're an angsty bunch we'd automatically think that their weapon systems are also far superior so we may be fucked if their commander got the wrong beverage for breakfast.

However i do also believe that when the first panic feelings subside because the aliens didn't pull their guns and obliterate the US Senate while making a speech (god i love Mars Attacks! ) we may slowly begin to understand them and calm down.

The first televised speech by the Aliens would certainly break every TV record imaginable.

Being the social pessimist that i am soon all the nations would start the biggest asskissing maneuver of all time so they can get their hands on alien tech first and thus gain advantage over the others.

 

[Balthier the Great]

JD said:
I think once people realized they were friendly and peacefull things would probably go pretty well. That is if our government actually gave them a chance to prove how friendly they are, which is a big question mark IMO.
Now what I think would be rally interesting would be if we ran into the Klingons, then we'd probably be in some SERIOUS trouble. You just know "someone" would piss them off and get us all killed.

Well, even if the government gave them a shot, I'm not sure about the people giving them a shot. They'd be pretty scared, definately suspicious.

I would expect a lot of people would be suggesting that the "nicey nice" thing is just an act so that the aliens can take us over easier. We have similar myths about muslims going around. The basic premise is that Muslims are apparently allowed to lie to further Jihad, so if a muslim disagrees with jihad its an act. I think such a myth would probably be spread about aliens, because we'd be scared of them.

 

[Deimos Anomaly]

C.E. Evans said:
Three possibilities:

1. We see the Vulcans approaching and blast them out of the skies. How's that fer First Contact?

2. We see the Vulcans approaching and try to blast them out the skies--and fail, upon which the ball will then be in their court. They could go away and try again a century later or so.

3. The Vulcans say "Humans are stupid" and allow the Klingons--who are only four days away anyway--to invade Earth and use Humans as bat'leth practice...

The Klingons being only four days away was weird, since it was near 100 years after Cochrane's flight before FC with them occurred (that Klingon gov. messenger crashing in OK).

 

[C.E. Evans]

Deimos Anomaly said:
The Klingons being only four days away was weird, since it was near 100 years after Cochrane's flight before FC with them occurred (that Klingon gov. messenger crashing in OK).

One internet theory I heard that I kinda like is that the Klingon Empire was really expanding in the opposite direction from Earth until the 23rd-Century and really didn't even know Earth actually existed until "Broken Bow."

The Vulcans may also have played a part in keeping Earth under the Klingons' radar as well. We know that they had been observing Earth since at least the mid 20th-Century.

Who knows? Even now, there might be a benevolent alien race out there somewhere secretly keeping us safe from would-be aggressors until the day comes we can stand on our own...

 

[Hambone]

Panic followed by confusion. If the landing was "public" and broadcast on TV, there would be a total shutdown of transportation (ala 9/11) and communication lines would be frozen. Since most of our military is involved in other parts of the world, there would ba a rushed attempt to bring them home to defend the homeland.

If the landing was "private" (ala "Close Encounters") the government would immediately start bargaining with the Vulcans for their technology. I think a "In A Mirror, Darkly" scenario is more likely than a "First Contact" scenario.

After the initial panic, the Christian conservatives would be scrambling to explain the alien's presence as "a test from God" (just like with the dinosaur fossils), or immediately identify the Vulcans as evil (Satanic in appearance). Either way, most of them couldn't deal with the concept of extraterrestrial life.

We are, as Kirk said in "The Voyage Home", a primitive and paranoid culture. The populace of Earth is not mature enough to accept proof of extraterrestrial life.

 

[Deimos Anomaly]

I'm thinking if the Vulcans land, disclose that they have been watching humanity since at least the 50's (sputnik), but that they wait until a less-advanced species develops FTL ability before contacting them... the US gov's hitherto secret warp drive project will be blown wide open in an instant. Though they may not be that concerned about it, under the circumstances.

 

[Sci]

You know, for fans of a TV series that's so optimistic, a lot of us Trek fans here seem to be really pessimistic at the prospects for a positive reaction from the general public towards aliens. Which is odd, since people have been telling each other stories about aliens for over a century now, so you'd think we'd be mentally prepared for the idea...