"No, it's generally understood to be pure upside. It does not handle infection but it doesn't cause or worsen it either."

The other soldier shadowing this lady has been poking around on a device; He says something.

"Oh, that was fast, I'm clear to describe ordinary non secret psionics and precautions to you. Most known cases of psionic attacks last the length of a combat, no more - minutes at most - unless they involve physically putting things in the body and brain of a target. There is a species of aliens called Psyons. If you attack them and fail to hurt them, and they can see you, they automatically attempt what we call 'mesmerize'. If you - fail your will save? - not quite, I think, or maybe it is - you are stunned about one or two rounds. Psyons are also capable of causing people to go berserk, attacking anything in sight, terrified, generally fleeing or freezing, or sometimes dominate. All of these usually last only around two to five minutes and can be disrupted by injuring or killing the Psyon that did it. On the battlefield, standard procedure is to generally prioritize Psyons over other hostiles, and if domination is identified to try to kill the dominator as fast as possible even at the expense of other objectives."

"Understood. Which ones are the Psyons?"

She pulls up an image of an alien; It's different than the two species he's seen attacking that town. Huge bulging head with bone ridges, big black eyes, three-fingered hands, jawless mouth. There's a short and a tall example. 

"These are Psyons."

He studies the image carefully and then nods. "If I have enough advance warning to prepare the appropriate spells there are anti-enchantment protections."

"An ongoing objective of ours is the live capture of a Psyon officer. We believe they are a leadership caste and hope to understand their objectives and command structure."

"Understandable. Do they stop being able to use their enchantment powers after some number of uses, or without the use of their hands, or without line of sight, something like that? It seems otherwise challenging to hold them."

"The security procedures around that are part of what I am not permitted to tell you at this time. Aside from the fact that they exist."

"Understood." Means he can't help much but they must know that.

"In terms of other known alien units, I've been asked to give a general overview of the known threats to you. The ones you encountered yesterday were Mantids and Sebillians. In terms of notable strengths and weaknesses, Mantids are the four legged ones. They are relatively fragile and weak, but their threat is still potent due to the deadly ranged weapons aliens use. They tend to go into battle lightly armed and armored. They are the only type of alien that sometimes wields what we call a bio-launcher, which launches Tiny aggressive insects at high speed. The impact of the launched insect can hurt somebody, and then you have a creature with aggressive claws and jaws right next to you mindlessly attacking anything that is not a Mantid. These tiny units, symbiotes, move and act quickly and are dangerous, but die after three to six rounds. Mantids have a very wide cone of vision and can see almost everything around them except for directly behind them, so don't assume one can't see you lightly. Sebillians have poor eyesight and therefore bad aim at distances longer than 30 to 50 feet, with objects and people beyond those distances apparently being blurry or with a distorted sense of depth perception. However, they are fast on their feet, very tough, and fast healing, often requiring much more damage to take down than, say, mantids or the smaller psyons. They'll also bite and claw in melee, and are surprisingly deadly up close. Some people automatically judge Sebillians to have poor intellect and will, but if anything it is the opposite, they tend to be quite cunning and brave. Deadly at close ranges. Other known alien types include psyons, wraiths, servitor golems, reapers, and mentarchs, but do you have any questions so far?"

"The symbiotes die, they leave bodies, it's not that they're summonses? Will they attack non-mantid hostiles if put into proximity with one? What is it that makes Sebillians stereotyped in this way if it's not true?"

"Yes, the symbiotes die and leave bodies. The summary for non-biologists says that they are designed to use all their fat and muscle at once and have no mechanism to eat or even breathe, once disconnected from the gun. They will attack non-mantid hostiles if they land near enough one, yes. Sebillians have visible reptilian traits which I suppose just for cultural reasons is commonly associated with brute strength and low intelligence."

"Understood, go on."

"Psyons are likely the best all-rounder soldiers the aliens have. I have already described their most common psionic traits, but another is that they are - effectively - reading each others' minds on the battlefield, which improves tactical coordination and also makes them significantly more accurate if several psyons are within about 200 feet of each other. We're not sure on the exact effective limit of that distance. Psyons are generally the most deadly due to the combination of generally high accuracy and competence, reasonable toughness, and psionic traits. Wraiths look superficially similar to psyons but have two large bulbous pale sacs on either side of their heads. They have natural visual camouflage- It's not invisibility, just rapidly shifting colors to match their environment, including their armor and equipment. Easily seen up close or in bright lighting, but makes shooting at them much harder. They prefer to engage at long ranges, with powerful weapons, good accuracy, and sufficient stealth that return fire is more difficult. The servitors are golems that float above the ground and have six small limbs and one tall head. They are slightly less deadly than many other units and serve a support role - their main weapon fires weak shots at a very fast pace with poor accuracy, which can suppress or panic soldiers. They can also heal most other alien units with a spray of dust particles at around twenty to thirty feet of distance."

"...with a spray of dust particles?"

"The dust particles are... Tiny* semi-biological machines which act as medicine, 'regenerative nanites**'. Our newer medical treatments actually use a derivative version of them that can be manufactured by our society's technology. Or well, bred, more or less. The reason Sebillians are so tough is that they have especially good compatibility with them and a gland that produces them."

*not the size category, a word for really really small.

**'nanites' is loanworded

"And the spray is selective, it won't heal other creatures in the area?"

"It's a narrow enough stream to be effectively single-target... One moment."

Here's a shaky helmet cam video. It looks like a glittery golden beam the width of an arrowhead from the 'head' of a weird hexapedal floating machine, visible for half a round, impacting a Psyon with green blood pouring from its head. The wound closes in seconds. Then the psyon shoots at the recorder and the camera blacks out.

"Do they consistently object to scrying sensors?"

"...That's from what is called a 'camera', a device that functions as a physical scrying sensor in many ways. Specifically a helmet-mounted camera in this case."

"Ah."

"I think you will also require primers on many commonly used technologies of our society. It seems like you have a very different paradigm where you are from, lacking some things and having others we do not have."

"Yes, I get that sense."

"Would you prefer to get into that, or finish the primer of main alien types first?"

"If there aren't too many more alien types they seem important to have a rundown of."