What if the Andorians made First Contact With Humans

[TheVortaKeevan]

How would First Contact turn out if the Andorians were the ones who detected the warp signature of the Phoenix not the Vulcans?
Now it been while since I've seen Enterprise, but weren't the Andorians not to fond of Humans because they were friendly with the Vulcans?

 

[BillJ]

How would First Contact turn out if the Andorians were the ones who detected the warp signature of the Phoenix not the Vulcans?
Now it been while since I've seen Enterprise, but weren't the Andorians not to fond of Humans because they were friendly with the Vulcans?

But if the humans hadn't yet met the Vulcans, then that wouldn't be an issue.

 

[Melakon]

Andorians tend to be warlike, so if they had detected a warp signature, it's unlikely they would have sent only a single science vessel to investigate.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

This is exactly what happened in one of the Myriad Universes stories ("The Tears of Eridanus"). Basically it goes like this:

Spoiler: story

Earth becomes part of the 'Interstellar Union', a Federation-like grouping led by Andor.

 

[Therin of Andor]

Early Andorian contact is hinted at in the Goldsteins' non-canonical "Spaceflight Chronology", but they were "claiming sovereignty over everything visible to the naked eye from Andor", IIRC.

 

[Timo]

Andorians tend to be warlike, so if they had detected a warp signature, it's unlikely they would have sent only a single science vessel to investigate.

Vulcans claimed (or so Troi told the story) that they were just "passing through" when they detected the signal. But nobody passes through star systems - there's no point in that, unless the system offers something of interest. It's astronomically unlikely that a shortcut from A to B would involve Sol in any fashion, say, even in a galaxy as densely populated as the Trek one.

So there was something at Sol that interested Vulcans. Earth, perhaps, as we learn in ENT that they spied on our progress and lack thereof until the 20th century at least. But Earth did not appear to interest Andorians in the slightest, so there's asymmetry right there already.

Or then something else interested the Vulcans. For all we know, their conflict with the Andorians included a sideshow at Sol!

So, possibly an Andorian ship detecting a warp signature would not even bother to report it. Possibly it would immediately send over a party to sign a military alliance with a virgin world so conveniently located right next door to Vulcan. I doubt there would be Andorian resources to spare for a conquest or even a sterilization, though.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[TheVortaKeevan]

Andorians tend to be warlike, so if they had detected a warp signature, it's unlikely they would have sent only a single science vessel to investigate.

Vulcans claimed (or so Troi told the story) that they were just "passing through" when they detected the signal. But nobody passes through star systems - there's no point in that, unless the system offers something of interest. It's astronomically unlikely that a shortcut from A to B would involve Sol in any fashion, say, even in a galaxy as densely populated as the Trek one.

So there was something at Sol that interested Vulcans. Earth, perhaps, as we learn in ENT that they spied on our progress and lack thereof until the 20th century at least. But Earth did not appear to interest Andorians in the slightest, so there's asymmetry right there already.

Or then something else interested the Vulcans. For all we know, their conflict with the Andorians included a sideshow at Sol!

So, possibly an Andorian ship detecting a warp signature would not even bother to report it. Possibly it would immediately send over a party to sign a military alliance with a virgin world so conveniently located right next door to Vulcan. I doubt there would be Andorian resources to spare for a conquest or even a sterilization, though.

Timo Saloniemi

They might simply use the Humans as ground forces on Vulcan and it's territory of other planets and moons. It like the East and West arms race of the Cold War in the 20th century. The Andorians give humans training and alien weapons to fight the Vulcan.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

It should be noted that in the Myriad Universes story I mentioned, this has happened:

Spoiler: story

There is no Vulcan. At least not the one we know. In this universe, Vulcans - or 'Minsharans' as they call themselves - have degenerated into brutal savages who constantly fight each other (apparently there is no Surak in this version). Their last nuclear war was much worse than the one that the regular universe's Vulcan fought - large parts of this other Vulcan are still radioactive. So this version of Vulcan is basically a forgotten wasteland with no spaceflight capability and which has never encountered aliens of any kind.

So in this timeline, Andor's interest in Earth was never explained. We don't know what the Andorians were doing here in the first place. Maybe they were monitoring Earth and, seeing how it survived WW III, sought it out as a future ally.

 

[eyeresist]

I don't think we really know what Andorians think about first contact. We don't know what they're like outside their rather fraught relationship with Vulcan.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

This thread might prove interesting:

Earth - 2063 Onwards - No Vulcans

There's a bit about Andorians in there. And how they might have reacted to 2063 Earth.

 

[Jeffe525]

How would First Contact turn out if the Andorians were the ones who detected the warp signature of the Phoenix not the Vulcans?

The party with Cochran at the bar would probably have been a lot more fun.

Now it been while since I've seen Enterprise, but weren't the Andorians not to fond of Humans because they were friendly with the Vulcans?

Only at first, until they got to know the humans. The Archer-Shran friendship really helped that along.