Challenge #01539-D078: Strangely Met
The world's reaction when a ship looking a lot like a vaguely aerodynamic brick lands at Cape Canaveral, looking for some fresh fruit & veg ("Reconstituted is good, but fresh is always better"), a top-up on hydrogen for their fusion reactor ("Haven't seen a depot for twelve jumps, and my magscoop's on the blink again - old damage from some pirates, probably should replace it"), a repair tech for said magscoop ("Got anyone qualified in Grade As? It's a Lurrkon Class Three, if that matters"), and if anyone wants any of their cargo ("Looking to offload these room-temp superconductors I got burnt on - they were supposed to be good enough that I could make a profit off 'em, but the guy I bought 'em off cheaped out on quality control, so they're only good for about [14 Celcius] - I know that's pretty crap quality, so I'll trade you them for some good fruit'n'veg and if you've got any media libraries I haven't already seen? Long-haul trips get pretty boring, y'know.").
The pilot did not realise we were not part of the galactic community.
Eventually people find out about the weapons mounted on their ship for defending against pirates.
(Been playing a bit of Elite over the Uni hols, and this got stuck in my head) -- RecklessPrudence
The ship did not hang in the sky in the way that bricks didn't. It descended slowly and gracefully in the way that bricks didn't. The bright, yellow , rectangular prism bristled with things that had to be guns, so naturally the field where it landed soon bristled with Earth's own armaments. And for an entire day, nothing else happened. The ship didn't fire on anyone, and several edgy generals had to be restrained from firing in self defense.
It became a camp, with the media covering the continuing inaction on the half-hour. Memes about it flooded the internet.
Finally, on the dawn following the landing, the door opened and disgorged... a lizard in a space suit. The headpiece was clear and showed a rainbow of bright scales on what had to be their face. They twiddled with their suit and spoke.
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