Sammie

Sola’s elevator hissed gently as the party descended toward the planet’s surface, the women beside Dustin looking around in a mixture of eager anticipation and nervousness. The flight from the jump point to Earth had been swift, although none of them had expected the ranks of cargo haulers and shuttles that had lined up to provide a path down which Sola and her honuor guard had flown to reach the atmosphere. The hauler’s union emblems on the hulls of every vessel made it clear that while the working people of the Sol system might not have been able to travel with Dustin in person they very much considered themselves with him in spirit.

Atmospheric re-entry had been through crystal clear skies as they descended; the smaller fighters that had escorted them breaking left and right to smaller landing zones either side of the main pad, with only the lead craft remaining close - it’s pilot bringing the sleek vessel down to land beneath Sola’s bulk in a display of skilled flying. Said pilot was now waiting alongside a small group of other figures as the elevator continued it’s fall; as Dustin peered down he could make out the glint of sunlight off her helmet in contrast to the fabric outfits of the remainder of the welcome party.

As the lift reached it’s destination and the door slid open, Meli slipped her arm through his. “Li’ah’a.” She murmured softly; Rye replicated the gesture on the other side after a moment’s hesitation. “Dusty, let’s go say hi to Earth, huh?” The Rabyth woman’s voice sounded jovial, but Dustin could tell from the slight edge to it that she was full of nerves at the likely upcoming social events and the expectation of talking to official people. “We’ve got this, ladies.” He replied, stepping forward.

The trio crossed the tarmac to the waiting group, followed closely by the remainder of his senior crew bar one. Yril’k had - at her own request - opted to say on board to ensure that Sola remained ready for action at any time. Dustin had been tempted to overrule her, but in the end opted to allow it on the grounds that anything the warrior woman was likely to want to see would be either cultural - and thus could happen at any point - or military, and thus likely to happen later on during their stay.

To Dustin’s surprise, as he reached the group of figures on the pad Axworth saluted. “Ambassador, jolly glad to see you make it back in one piece. Good showing for humanity and all that. I assume these are your senior staff?” The man was all bluster and pomp, although he did wink at Dustin while shaking a rather stunned Naera by the hand and add “hope you didn’t mind the surprise guard on the way in, wanted to show off a bit for the suits.” Bleu gave a snort at that, causing the General to raise an eyebrow before giving a nod in her direction. “You’d be the doctor then? Pleasure to meet you - at some point we must have a chat - but first, where are my manners. Squadron leader!”

The suited figure stepped forward at the General’s bark and gave what to Dustin looked like more of an approximation of a salute, rather than the crisp one he’d have expected from someone in the military. As she did so, her voice came through slightly scratchily from the speakers mounted on the edges of her helmet. “Here sir.” Axworth turned around and frowned. “I thought I told you to take that getup off before the Ambassador got here. Can’t greet someone if their face is behind tinted glass and electronics. Lose the helmet, that’s an order.”

With a click of the latching mechanism, the pilot reached up to pull off her helmet. Hair puffed out almost the instant it was released, thick dark braids bound tight to keep it from spilling into the woman’s face. Snapping the helmet to a clip at her waist, she repeated the unfastening and removal process with the gloves of her suit before holding out one dark-skinned hand to Dustin. “Axworth’s Angels Squadron Leader Samantha Coastwood, at your service Ambassador.” Dustin reached out and shook the offered hand, before Axworth’s arm suddenly clapping him on the back nearly knocked him into the pilot.

“Coastwood here’s the best pilot I’ve got, Dustin. Absolute gem of a find, was a civvie when she joined the squadron but can’t hold it against her - she out-flew everyone else by a country mile the first time she got into a real ship. She’s also completely crazy of course, but in the exact way I look for in my fliers.” The General’s words were bluster as usual, but Dustin noted the hint of a smile of pride on Samantha’s face, which turned suddenly nervous as Axworth continued “Anyhow, while you’re here she’ll be in charge of showing you and your crew around - I’ve got so much to do, what with the fleet preparations. Got to delegate, and she’s the best I’ve got. Good to see you back Ambassador.”

The man then turned and began to walk briskly from the pad, followed by the majority of the other people that had formed the welcome party. Dustin was left with his lovers virtually alone on the tarmac, with just Meli’s uncle and Samantha remaining beside them. The Velcan ambassador coughed at that point, drawing Dustin’s attention before proffering his hand in greeting. “I’m glad to see you and my niece return safely, Ambassador.” The man’s ears moved into true gratitude and relief; Dustin shook the offered hand briefly before moving his own up to push at his ears. Trying not to wince at the discomfort folding them into roughly the appropriate position for familial joy, he spoke in the Velca ambassador’s own language.

“Ambassador, I greet you formally. However, as uncle to my li’ah’a, I must express my joy at seeing you as well, Re’x.” The man blinked slightly, then bowed. “Indeed. We are both ambassadors for our people, but thanks to my dear niece we are to be family as well. Welcome back to Earth, Dustin.” The tall Velca straightened, then turned to leave before hesitating and turning back to Meli. “Senior researcher Venn agreed with your request, Meli. I got the message after sending you the packet earlier, so thought it easier to tell you in person. I’ll forward the details to you once I get back to my desk.” Meli paused for a moment as if trying to decide on something, then moved forward to hug her uncle in a very human gesture. The man’s eyes grew wide briefly, before he only slightly hesitantly returned the hug, arms wrapping gently around his niece. It was a very un-Velca gesture, but Dustin was sure he heard Re’x whisper “this is a human deviation from protocol I rather appreciate” to Meli before the pair separated and bowed.

As the man left, the only remaining member of the greeting party coughed somewhat nervously. “Right. So. Ok, ambassador I’m going to fuck this up somehow so might as well get started. Ohh fuck, I just said fuck to the Ambassador didn’t I? Fuuuuck.” Dustin turned to the woman who was grimacing - when she saw him look in her direction she shook her head and smiled. “Sorry, forget I said all that. Where do you want to go first, Ambassador? Sammie’s got you, whatever you need.” Dustin raised an eyebrow. “Sammie?” She nodded, before gesturing towards the main building of the star port. “Samantha, Sammie to my friends, easier to yell across a bar or whatever. So, where to? I think there’s some press event in the main concourse you’re supposed to go to, but if you’d rather I might know a way we can sneak out of the port without getting spotted.”

Dustin was really tempted to let the woman try and sneak their party from the area just to see how she’d manage to get the assembled band of aliens out without notice, but he knew his job came first - and so after a brief discussion had her lead the way to the entrance to the starport. To his surprise, rather than the mob he’d expected the concourse had rows of chairs lined up - all filled with people clutching tablets, while a few more in EarthGov uniforms operated cameras further back. “We’re on holo-recording” Sammie hissed, adding “EarthGov decided there was a risk of the journalists doing something stupid otherwise, so the only footage is government provided - well, that and anything people are doing without permission obviously. Press conferences suck, so I’m just going to stand to one side and look like a guard.”

What followed was more or less what Dustin expected - although he’d wished he’d had more time to speak with Axworth about what was and was not allowed to be talked about with the press regarding the hostile aliens he’d met in space. He kept his answers around questions about danger circumspect to be on the safe side, reassuring where possible that humanity was more than a match for things he’d encountered. His retelling of saving the crystal aliens early in the mission - with added input from Meli - earned some appreciative scribbling, while three younger journalists wearing badges that identified them as working for lifestyle magazines found his, Rye’s and Emely’s highly-sanitized tale of meeting Rye’s family on a colony world utterly enrapturing.

Eventually, he checked his watch and stood. “Apologies, everyone, but this is my first time back on Earth in quite some time, and I’d like to show my senior crew a few places I remember from before I left - assuming the lack of my patronage hasn’t caused them to go bankrupt in the interim.” That earned a few chuckles from the press-pack, and a gap was cleared to allow Sammie to lead Dustin and his partners through and out into the late afternoon sun. “Glad that’s over. You handled that better than I did when Axworth decided that as squadron leader I needed to do a loop through the press circuit.” Sammie muttered, before perking up. “Where to?” Dustin frowned and looked her up and down. “For now, I think we’ll go look at the plants in the garden opposite” he said, gesturing towards the ornamental planting that had been set up to allow new arrivals somewhere peaceful to sit to get over any re-entry (or transit hub bureaucracy) related nausea.

Sammie nodded and was about to step down from the pavement to cross the road to the garden when Dustin’s arm blocked her way. “You, on the other hand, are either not coming with us any further than the park, or are going to go and get changed. None of the places I’d like to go are going to let you in wearing a space suit.” The woman blinked as she processed what he’d said, before reaching down to gently but firmly remove his arm from across her midriff. “Right. Good point. I’ll… be right back.” At that, Sammie spun on her heels and jogged back into the building, leaving Dustin shaking his head and sighing as he lead his women to the park.