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What happened next shaped the future of the galaxy for generations to come.

The human leader removed his gleaming white helmet, holding it at his side, with the red cross insignia facing forward.

"Hello," he spoke through a translation device.

"We're from Doctors Without Borders. How can we help?"

(end)

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J. Steven York

@drmaddkap
I will cast into this space:
1. If you haven't read slush for a major publisher or magazine, you have no idea how often ideas are repeated.
2. This is the internet, and if you see things similar, but not word-for-word without other evidence, the most plausible explanations are that it is an accident, or both authors, consciously or not, directly or not cribbed to some extent from the same source material.
3. You can't copyright an idea. Only the execution of an idea.

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J. Steven York

@drmaddkap I will also add to this specific discussion, that the idea of powerful aliens fearful of humans, attempting to limit their danger, who end up being surprised, subjugated, or one-upped in the end, is an old and deep well that has been revisited countless times (published and not) to greater and lesser degrees of success, often by well known authors. I thought this was an enjoyable execution of the trope.

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