Outside the Wasperian Stellar system

A lone ship travelled in the cold, empty darkness of space. They only carried some food in the storage systems of their ship apart from the crew's supplies.
The crew, led by captain Raran, a Dahxi aeronautics expert, were generally relaxed. His copilot, Tiri, a Fengnau, dozed off on her little perch. A few humans played some card games with each other, and a couple other Dahxi on the ship drank a few glasses of Kiltargan, a popular Dahxi alcoholic beverage. They loudly discussed politics from their homes.

"Tiri, hey. Could you go tell Gartan, Claw, and Rai to keep it down?" Raran gently poked the little bird next to him. Tiri woke up, and flitted over to the group of Dahxi and, upon realizing none of them noticed or heard her, screeched loudly.

Once the collective roars from all the Dahxi on board settled down, Tiri flew right back to her perch.

"Are we there yet?"

"Not yet- wait, hold on. Unauthorized ship ahead." Raran glared at the radar on his dashboard, which detected a ship just a couple dozen AU's ahead of them. He reached up and poked a button with his nose, and with his right wing, slammed the big red button on board. Very quickly, the entire crew was at their stations, armed and ready. Raran then tapped a few more buttons, which deployed the interstellar communications system.

"This is flight 1.45M Serre's Pride, Captain Raran, Species: Dahxi. Please state your business in the Wasperian system, if applicable."

Raran stared at the communication device, anciously waiting for a response. Empyre Finixis was relatively isolated from the rest of the universe, but this did not look like any kind of ship that the Empyre produced.

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The craft didn't respond at first, angling it's sleek, pointed prow towards the Serre's Pride and increasing its engine speed until a voice could be heard over the comms.

"Serre's Pride, this Captain Lucius Oranon of the Revealing Light, representing the Drakari Imperial Corps of Exploration.  We were about to begin charting this system when we received your comm frequency.  From what world do you hail from, friend?"

The strange ship didn't seem to veer from its present heading, slowing down only when it began to reach the edge of visual range as a glittering spike in the void.

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Raran felt his scales quiver in excitement, hearing the message from the strange ship.  He felt that the ship could be trusted intuitively, though the fear of pirates or space monsters still gnawed at him. 

"Captain Lucius Oranon, we are not familiar with this 'Drakari Imperial Corps" you talk about.  To answer your question, the crew members of my ship hail from various parts of our empire.  I myself hail from Waspe, a planet in the Wasperian system a few light-years from our current position, which is our current destination."

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"I see... Captain Raran, I suggest we attempt to establish visual contact to further aid in this admittedly impromptu first contact scenario.  Would you be amenable to such a proposal, should your vessel possess a holoemitter or viewscreen on your bridge?"

Captain Oranon's sonorous voice practically rumbled over the comm channel, but even then, his giddiness could be felt by those listening in.

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Raran quickly turned the viewscreen on in his end, projecting a live video feed of the captain, a feature useful for when face-to-face viewing is necessary.  However, he quickly realized that he had forgotten to adjust the camera angle, which he quickly adjusted, though the transmitting picture still wouldn't get his entire face on screen.  It was better than streaming a video feed of his legs, however.

"Our screens are transmitting, captain.  Pardon the weird camera angle, a human had last guided the Serre's Pride and I had not adjusted it prior to this trip."

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Captain Oranon's mirthful chuckle could be heard as his horned, scaled visage came into view, standing proudly in front of his... was that throne on the bridge of a starship?

"It is good to meet you face-to-face, Captain Raran.  And do not worry.  Technical difficulties tend to happen when one least expects them to, so I can understand a having to take a few moments to get things up and running.  So!  How might I--"

The Drakari took a step back as he gazed upon his counterpart, his expression one of absolute shock at the Dahxi's appearance.

"I... this is... what in Io's name is...?!"

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"Our appearance is very similar, this is unexpected. Though your species seems to be bipedal. This is very interesting, I must admit."

Tiri flew into view, resting on Raran's head, looking into the viewscreen curiously.

"Raran, I had no idea you had a two-legged cousin!"

"I think the Empyre will find it imperative to talk with your Drakari empire further."

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"How... how is this possible...?  I thought we were the only reptilian species in the region."

Someone in the background spoke up.  "Well... perhaps there might be genetic similarities?

Oranon rubbed his bronze chin as he mulled that over.

"I see... would you be open to a face to face meeting, Captain Raran?"

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"I believe that I would be overstepping my boundaries with a sudden face-to-face meeting, though I am certainly very intrigued-"

Raran nodded to the viewscreen, dipping out of view for a few brief minutes, grabbing the tablet to the corner.  Tiri took the opportunity to fly as close to the viewscreen as possible, making a few faces at the camera playfully, flying away when Raran turned his attention right back to the viewscreen.

"I really do believe that we will be very late with our delivery run if we don't hurry.  However, I will get in touch with the Imperial authorities, who will be very, very curious about your existence?"

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"Ah!  My apologies for causing a travel delay... I take it you are interstellar merchants?"

Oranon looked over at Raran and smiled warmly.  "Perhaps later on, you might be able to be among the first traders of your civilization to bring your goods to the Drakari Celestial Imperium?  When should we expect a communiqué from your government?"

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