"Another one of those messages coming in" Lt. JG David Corwin announced to the commanding officer of Babylon 5's C & C.
"How many so far?" Lt. Commander Tanner N. Baum asked his subordinate officer.
"That's the fifth in the last seven minutes" he responded quickly after reviewing his board. "I can't make heads or tails of it, but they seem to be coming from that small ship that came through the gate ten minutes ago."
"Run it through the computer; if it isn't a language maybe it's a code" Baum ordered.
"Roger." Corwin grabbed a set of headphones and listened to the messages while he fed them into the computer. The messages were all short, and had come at irregular intervals. He listened closely but was unable to detect any spoken words; however, he was experienced enough to know that communication came in many more forms that he was familiar.
He waited for the analysis to be complete, and was rewarded with a message informing him that it was no known language and showed no discernible pattern or algorithm. He relayed the information to his superior.
"It doesn't seem to be hostile, is it holding position?"
"Affirmative."
"Maybe it's waiting for us. Order a fighter out and let's haul it in for investigation, then report back to me."
"Shall I inform Lt. Commander Ivanova or Commander Sinclair?" Corwin asked.
"Negative, they need their rest. We can always alert them if there is a problem you can't handle."
"Me?"
...
"Thank you for coming, Ambassador" Corwin addressed Delenn as she entered the hanger area.
"I'm almost afraid to ask" Delenn answered "but what is it?"
"The nearest we could tell, it was a small drone carrying some livestock. Four birds were located inside, with full atmosphere and quite the setup for water and food. The oddest thing was that each chicken had a touch-sensitive pad set up in its cage that would initiate communication over a preset band and open a microphone located nearby. We've been getting messaged while the ship stood just outside the station entrance. We found this inside the ship" he said as he handed an envelope to the Minbari.
Delenn, once again the ritual requires the sending of avian species for observance of custom. There seemed to be no specific species required, as long as they were able to carry out a simple task for which I managed to train them quickly. Obedience is service, Lennier.
"What do you want to do with them?" Corwin asked.
"I'm wondering how well they would fit in a fruit tree without leaves" Delenn thought out loud.
"I aint cleanin' it up" George said as he walked past.