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The original was posted on /r/hfy by /u/LawTider on 2024-09-07 11:14:27+00:00.

Tears in Heaven.

It was considered the worst tragedy in galactic history. It was a genocide of enormous proportions, and it was all an accident.

The Saanu were considered the most empathic race in the galaxy, friends to all, and enemies to none. Even in the greatest conflicts and wars, they were considered untouchable. Would anyone dare to attack them, they were met with open arms, and they would apologize afterward for being so rash. Trade flourished with the Saanu, you would always get a fair deal, at a fair price. If there were any diplomatic problems between species, the Saanu, more than any other species, was chosen to arbitrate. 

Every cradle planet or star system with a center of power had Saanu embassies, consulates, and a large presence of Saanu civilians, even on the most warmongering planets around. 

The Saanu seemed almost god-like, but it was just a quirk of their nature. Their evolution developed the ability to sense other people’s emotions and react to their emotional state. The Saanu did not hide this evolutionary advantage so that no one would accuse them of manipulation, at least not in a direct way. 

The Saanu, being friends to all, were the prime candidates to handle “First Contact” missions, a task that required delicacy. A task the Saanu happily accepted. When the Central Galaxy Trade Organisation monitored the success rate of First Contact missions, the Saanu managed to have a 99.9% success rate. The few times they were unsuccessful were when they encountered species with no emotions at all, and then the task was handed over to the few species that were more based on logic than emotion.

The Saanu’s handling of emotions was not just an advantage in establishing new communication but it was also vital to their society. Every San (single person) was connected with a telepathic field to every other member of the species. This field extended around their own planet, but it was also transmitted with space relays to every Saanu ship. This way, every time the Saanu read the emotions of new species, it got filtered down to every member, in the entire galaxy. The experience would have biological reactions, mainly endorphins, but also stress hormones like cortisol. The Great Filter would make it all manageable. It allowed them to respond to any outburst with understanding and a way to quell any hostility, confusion, or panic. The Great Filter was their greatest asset and strength.

And it would be their downfall.

First Contact

The sign that kicked off everything was the tell-tale signature of an FTL jump. The previously considered primitive species managed to take the first step into the galactic stage, going faster than the speed of light. But with such an endeavor, it will garner a lot of attention. Some attention would be unwanted, some would be peaceful. And some, would be catastrophic. 

Usually, such a catastrophe would occur to the newcomer.

But this time…

The Saanu, once again were chosen to represent the Central Galaxy Trade Organisation to welcome the new species into the community. It was standard procedure at this point. The flagship of the Saanu, which in their own language was called “Friendship One” was the ideal vessel (although people would find the name tacky) to locate the FTL jump and make first contact with the species that created it. Multiple planets waited in anticipation for the news, media was buzzing and speculating how the new species would look like. Was it a peaceful species, a warlike species? Did they have a unified government, or was their world still divided into multiple territories? Have they colonized their own system yet?

The commerce planets were already making draft proposals for trade, although most were eyeing mining rights, which traditionally seemed to be the most lucrative thing for new species initially.

Rumors that the species lived on a high-gravity world, lush with jungles, sprawling cities, and intense weather soon spread when the first long-distance scans came in. The planet was the third major one in the star system, which was already remarkable for having at least 8 planets, some of them gas giants, an asteroid belt between the fourth and fifth planet, and an ice belt surrounding the star system.

After a day of waiting (standard galactic day), the “Friendship One” finally got into the orbit of the third planet from the star. 

Hell broke lose. Reports were chaotic, confusing, and filled with panic. Across the galaxy, embassies reported that all the Saanu on their planet screamed intensely, and then dropped, lifeless. At every Saanu settlement, in every city with a significant Saanu population, the same thing occurred. Screams followed by death.

And the Saanu home star system itself became silent.

Even the most war-like planets, pirate fleets, logic-driven worlds, and trade hubs were shocked by the sheer volume of death. Towns and cities were filled with corpses of the Saanu, overwhelmed and incapable of processing that amount. 

It took months before a preliminary tally was made of the dead.

203 Billion. There was a great search to see if any Saanu survived. 

428 individuals were found, but all were mentally unstable. Half of them took their own lives. The remaining survivors were all catatonic.

A great mourning began. Confusion was replaced with anger and fear. Was it a new weapon that killed the most peaceful and welcoming species ever to have been known? Voices rose up to swear revenge. The spark ignited the flames of war, from all corners. Worlds that have been at peace for centuries started gathering a mighty fleet. 

What has this new species done?

After one cycle, a great armada comprising billions of warships descended upon the Sol star system. All at the ready, cautiously. A species that wipes out an entire species must have great defenses.

Yet, when entering the system, sensors picked up almost nothing. No high-yield weaponry, no system-wide defense net, no interplanetary superhighway, so normal for any species to have, absent. What was picked up was a lot of chatter from the third planet, buzzing with primitive radiowaves. One frequency stood out, because it was more powerful and consisted out a looped message. 

Universal translators worked diligently (actual people studying languages, not the device used for communication) to decipher the message.

It was a call for help.

“For anyone out there, this is a call for aid. On the 19th of ***** in the year 2311, we, humans of the planet Earth made contact with a spaceship of otherworldly origin. It landed at ********** coordinates in Belgium. When it landed, what we presume was a door opened, and 3 individuals moved out of the ship. A delegation of politicians was there to greet them. Something went terribly wrong. The individuals looked at the politicians, grabbed their own what we presume were heads, screamed loudly, and then collapsed. 

We have no medical knowledge of their physiology and were helpless in reviving them. Their bodies have been placed in a biological cooling facility, isolated from the environment, and their ship has been placed in a military facility. We dare not investigate. We are open to any species, we mean no harm. If this call is heard, and you somehow understand what we are saying, land a ship at ******** coordinates, in the country of The United States of America. It has historically been a top-secret area, however, if you wish to land there, we will open it to the world. We welcome you, and we repeat, we mean you no harm.”

The message kept repeating until the coordinates were confirmed. The Taaad’k volunteered to send a ship to land, seeing they managed to integrate the language of this new species into their translator device. Normally, the Taaad’k was one of the last species to officiate contact with any new species. But since their relationship with the Saanu was so strong, they offered themselves. And so it was decided. One small vessel, armed to the teeth, and armored with the thickest shields, both in energy and physical materials, was sent. External speakers were placed and sound sensors installed, so that any communication would be done from within the ship. 

When the ship finally landed at the coordinates, silence was observed, for three rotations of the planet. No one dared to make a move, but since the rest of the Taaad’k armada was not experiencing any obliteration, what was happening was not killing them.

And then the grief-filled message from the Taaad’k ship returned. They found the reason for what happened.

The Great Filter was designed to take brainwaves that were received by the Saanu and literally filter it, to tone down the emotions the Saanu experience when encountering a new species. They learned that some species have such strong emotions, it would overwhelm them. The Taaad’k helped design it together with the Saanu, being very technologically advanced and considered a very emotional species. The “filter” was a dampened re-transmission signal, that could be spread via repeaters to the entire Saanu race, and then looped back. Instead of one member having to deal with the emotions of a new species, the entire Saanu society got a little dose, so that the impact was manageable and safe.

Until they met humanity. When the Saanu stepped out of their ship, they were greeted with an emotional bombardment they had never experienced before. The Taaad’k estimated it was on a magnitude larger than any other species could produ…

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