EarthGov and the Ambassador

The flight from his apartment took about ten minutes. In that time, Dustin learned from the two men - agents of the United Earth Government sent to collect the winner of the ambassadorial lottery - that since he had entered and forgotten about the contest millions of entrants had been gathered, reviewed, some discarded because of late disqualifying features and eventually a single name picked at random. His name. At the same time, the first Earth ship to be allowed free flight beyond Sol space had been built by the engineers of the Rabyth, and ferried by it’s onboard AI to the shipyards around Titan where it had undergone a range of adjustments, the final tweaks of which were being conducted even now.

“Your full briefing with the ambassador from Velca and your Star Command liaison will take a while, which gives the techies time to finish off all the work they’ve been doing and get the ship sent over to earth space. She’s going to be landing on the main strip at Contact City, with the whole world watching. There’s a whole lot of pomp going to happen over the next few days - my advice son is to keep your head down and listen to your liaison. They’ll make sure you don’t embarrass yourself in front of the media before you even get to board your ship. And then, space awaits.” The explanations from the more talkative of the two agents had left Dustin with at least a pretty good picture of what would be happening next - but even so, he hadn’t expected the camera flashes the instant he stepped out of the shuttle at the far end.

A tall man wearing a Star Command uniform stepped up next to him, putting an arm on his shoulder and turning him to face the cameras. Under his breath, the military man whispered “Smile and wave. This is official press for the government, so they’ll tweak any bad notes but it’s easier if we give them a big smile now.” Dustin could do little but act as the officer indicated, giving a wave to the cameras which caused another round of flashing light. After a few minutes, he found the hand on his shoulder steering him away from the still flashing lights and into a quiet office. The officer gestured to a seat as he walked over to a coffee machine and poured a cup. “Have a seat, Dustin. Coffee?” Answering in the affirmative, Dustin took the offered drink as the man sank into the seat opposite him. “Star Command General Axworth. Formerly of the RAF if you’re curious” the gray-haired man began, taking off his uniform cap and setting it on the table between them. “I’ve been assigned as your liaison with Star Command, mister ambassador. My job, essentially, is making sure that you’re as prepared as you can be for any situation, and handling all your incoming communications while you’re out in space.”

Taking a sip from his mug, Dustin nodded. “Thanks, General. This is all a bit bewildering to tell the truth - I’d more or less forgotten I even entered the lottery.” This prompted a chuckle from the officer who gave Dustin a grin. “Well that should please the Velca. They’re very much on a high horse about the ambassador needing to be an average earthling, and forgetting you even did a thing is pretty much average behaviour for us humans.” As Dustin was attempting to formulate a reply to that, the door opened and another figure stepped in.

“I trust you have informed the lucky candidate of your role by now General?” the voice was a monotone, lacking inflection or emotion. An alien voice, one shaped by a mouth that was almost but not quite human. Turning in his seat, Dustin took his first look at the Velca ambassador. The man was not particularly tall by human standards, with the immediately noticeable feature of long pointed ears making the slang name for his species - Vulcans, after a race of aliens from an old pre-contact sci-fi - show seem entirely appropriate. Until you noticed the slits down each ear, with the upper half slowly rising and falling as he spoke, and the slightly-too large eyes turning them from a race of stereotypical elven humans into something obviously alien and not as immediately friendly in appearance.

The general didn’t bother to straighten up in his seat, instead gesturing to the remaining free chair. “The rooms clear Re’x, I swept it myself as soon as I got him in here. You can drop the pomposity down a notch at least.” At this, the Velca’s ears flicked irritably, but Re’x did take the offered chair. “As your fellow human has indicated, I am ambassador Re’x of the Velca Research Council. My role here is to liaise with your Earth government mostly, but in this current matter I am the principle contact for your primary sponsor race. As such, I will be conducting much of your initial training - to at least allow you to travel to my homeworld aboard your vessel and arrange for a suitable chief science officer to join you without any issues.”

Dustin looked blankly at this, which caused the ambassador’s ears to droop before he continued. “I see. Well, starting from the beginning. You will be the only human on your crew. In order to seek approval for humans to be granted free flight into the wider galaxy, you will need to gain votes from a number of species. This starts with your sponsor races, each of which may opt to provide - or you can request - a crew-member for your vessel. Then, the wider community. Once you have enough votes, we will submit your petition to the council in full and at that point your species will be granted approval to start it’s own independent flights.” At this, the general cut in. “And you’ll get to either opt to retire to earth and live comfortably - or knowing my fellow humans as I do I somewhat suspect you’ll take the other option. You can choose to remain with any of your crew that wish to stay aboard and join Star Command as part of the expeditionary fleet. Go out and find new stars for people to settle, explore alien worlds, the whole wilderness deal.”

The two men stared at Dustin after their explanation, seemingly looking for a response. Giving what he hoped was a passable salute, he replied “thank you both. I’ll do my best not to let either of you - or my planet down.” That got a smile from the general, and what looked like the ear equivalent of a sigh from the ambassador who then stood up. “Very well then. We have a busy schedule and only a short window of time to complete it in. General, I understand you will want to go over the fine details of the vessel with him closer to launch, so I will conduct the first phase of his training. Mr Smith, please finish your coffee and follow me.”