“There are innumerable worlds in our galaxy, but not all [i]that[/i] many intelligent species.” Marae remarked. “If my husband is correct, and there is a connection to intelligent life, specifically, then we only need to focus our search on their homeworlds. Now that we know what we are looking for, that is not an unreasonable search area. Rothians have spread sensors all across our galaxy listening for signals that would indicate undiscovered civilizations. A few of the species we know of now were discovered in that manner. There are parts of our galaxy isolated enough that civilizations could remain yet undiscovered within them, of course, but we do have a good place to start.” 

Nirann clasped his hands together. The body he was using had no capability for facial expression, yet he still managed to convey some sense of slyness to his body language. “And like I said, we [i]do[/i] know what we’re looking for now. We have…positive relations with a lot of species out there, to varying extents, especially when it comes to trading. Even your own estranged homeworld. It wouldn’t be that hard to stick a good quality sensor suite into a trading vessel and have it do the scans for us during its usual rounds. The other species out there aren’t as…advanced as either of us, so we should be able to do it without them being any the wiser. Of course, we’d need to involve them if we actually find something, but we could still do this first part ourselves.”

Vreta crossed his arms, slightly narrowing his eyes at Nirann. “I would really rather not choose trickery as our first option. As you said, Nirann, we have spent centuries fostering our relationships with other species. Not all are ‘friends’, or even formal allies, but we are trading partners with nearly every known species, and we have established beyond any doubt that we honor our agreements when we make them. If we make good enough offers to them, we can get them to cooperate diplomatically.”