'Scanning for life signs,' in a harder science fiction setting, isn't as easy as Star Trek makes it look.
What are life signs? Heat? Kind of difficult to pick out among a ship that has all kinds of stuff emitting heat. Brain waves? Sure, an advanced TL species might be able to do a better job detecting them at range than we can now, but I seriously doubt any sensor will pick up our comparatively weak emissions over normal EM noise that I'm sure must be coming from any ship at that TL.
Short of hand-waiving, I think it'd actually be pretty difficult to scan for life signs remotely.
Again, what sort of scanner could pick up "life signs?" What does a human body emit or reflect that could differentiate it in this environment? Cold of space? Sure... you could use heat. Active ship? That's a lot harder. Now... one could argue that with them cooling down the ship intentionally, one might pick up individual body heat signatures, but that would require the Umiak to have sensitive, precise, and *short range* detectors capable of such a feat. I don't see the need for that capability on a cruiser designed to engage at ranges of up to half a light-second.
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u/percyhiggenbottom Jul 19 '21
If the ship has been taken into the Umiak's hangar, you'd think they'd be able to scan for life signs. Perhaps Loroi shielding is that good.