Visitors

The embarrassment of the situation with Sammie had faded by the time they made it back to the ship several hours later. The Rabyth shuttle was fast, as were the fighters flying formation around them - but no craft could cross the distance from Earth to Titan quickly. That travel time gave Dustin a chance to go over a few other procedural things with his new pilot, as well as getting dressed and stealing a handful of final honeymoon kisses with his wife. As a result, it was a contented and relaxed pair of newlyweds that stepped from the shuttle into the harsh lighting of Sola’s main shuttle bay.

Dustin had braced himself the instant his foot hit the deckplate; it was the only reason the red-furred missile that threw herself at him didn’t knock him back into the shuttle. The impact of a pair of green-skinned arms with his waist a moment later did make him wobble slightly, but both he and Meli managed to remain upright despite her own entanglement with Rye. Trea’k and Bleu stood nearby, arms folded in clear disapproval at the spectacle the other women were making - although Dustin noted both of them had at least one limb tapping nervously until they’d received their own share of reunion hugs and kisses.

With the others whisking Meli away - to no doubt quiz her on all the spicy details of their honeymoon, judging by the look on Emely’s face - Dustin made his way back to his ready room alone. Running a hand over the desk, he got himself a mocha from the automat before sinking into his usual chair with a contented sigh. The time he’d spent with Meli had been amazing, memories he’d cherish forever - but there were memories aplenty in this space too, and with all his other loves on board it felt more like home than anywhere else in the galaxy.

As he was musing on that, the communicator chimed. Glancing at it, he straightened up - a call from EarthGov headquarters. Tapping answer, he was surprised to see the holoprojector on the desk spiral up into the visage of the head of interplanetary affairs. “Daniella; my apologies, if I’d known you were video-calling I’d have taken the time to put on my formal uniform.” Dustin said when he realized who he was speaking with; the woman on the other end of the line on the other hand just waved his comment away. “Don’t worry, Ambassador. I’m aware you’ve only just gotten back to your ship. I trust your honeymoon was good? Excellent. Sorry to get you back to work so quickly, but we received a transmission a little over four hours ago regarding visitors and I’d like your assistance with the situation.”

Dustin set his mug down and leaned forward. “How can I be of service?” From in front of him, the terminal chimed - an incoming data packet. “This is the information we have on the incoming ship; mostly from their own transmissions if I’m honest, the council’s database is a little sparse on them. They’re only just at the stage of flying their own ambassadorial mission you see - about where you were a month or so into your journey. I have been… reliably informed by a rather official document from the council that we are now able and expected to provide signatures to other species when they seek them. Something to do with the whole proctor business.” The woman’s tone took on a glacial edge when discussing the galactic council, and Dustin guessed that their stonewalling of anything to do with the hostile threat wasn’t the only bureaucratic scheme they were playing with Earth.

“What I need from you Ambassador is to liaise with the incoming alien’s representative. Get something viable from them that’ll be good for Earth, but don’t make it too hard - their message was polite, and their ambassador has apparently been following your exploits - she claims she viewed them as something of an inspiration prior to departing. All the information we have is in the file - sorry it’s not a lot of time, but I have faith you can get something organized before they drop into the system tomorrow morning.” Dustin winced at that, glancing at a clock. “Alright, ma’am. I’ll do what I can. Once I’ve got an idea I’ll send it across to your office, just in case we need anything to make it work.”

He’d hoped that his first dinner back with his lovers would be a purely social affair, a chance to reconnect after over half a week apart. No such luck it seemed; even as Naera set a plate of what looked suspiciously like burritos (but she assured him was actually a modified Vex’ess dish - and one that Yril’k had already dived into with gusto) Meli was scanning her eyes over the data. “From what I see” Dustin began, taking a bite and pausing to give the hovering shortstack a thumbs-up. “From what I see, the Yuran are a rather cheerful bunch. Happy little cat-folk.” Emely wiped a trace of sauce from her chin and nodded. “Yes sir. Literally cat-folk, from what I see. They’re adorably tiny. What are you going to get them to do?”

All eyes on him, Dustin shrugged. “I’m not sure yet, that’s what I wanted your help with. They’re an interesting species - what with the symbiosis with the… err, what was the name again…” As he scanned the files quickly Meli supplied the answer “Gvort. Big, slow, deep thinkers who basically just exist to pet the cat people if their files are to be believed. I must admit, the idea of humanity’s first issuing of a charter signature to be to a species that is basically domestic pets is both ludicrous and ironic in equal measure.” That earned a general round of agreement from the assembled women and Dustin sighed. “Alright. But I note that the ambassador and her people aren’t bonded to any Gvort; I’d like to know why… that… is…” He stopped, alien burrito halfway to his mouth. “Dusty?” Rye asked, shaking him from his thoughts. Blinking at her, he spoke. “I know what we can ask them to do. Do you remember how those kids responded to us dropping in on them when we flew by my old school?”

The next afternoon, Dustin stood flanked by Emely and Naera as the airlock cycled. He’d picked those two for a reason - Emely as comms officer was appropriate, and Naera as her height meant the Yuran ambassador hopefully wouldn’t have to stretch her neck looking up in greeting. The door hissed open, and he got his first look at their visitors. “Ambassador D’hust’hin?” The first figure’s voice was soft, with a purr-like quality to it as she looked up at him. He smiled in response. “Ambassador Prd’r. Welcome to the Solar Ascent; this is comms officer Emely and my head cook Naera; if you would like to follow me, we’ve prepared a light meal to accompany our discussions.”

As he lead them down to the observation deck - his ready room being too small for the Yuran to feel comfortable eating in according to the files they’d sent through, he pondered on the little aliens following behind. Short, looking like nothing more than a bipedal cat - albeit one with horizontal pupils and uniform sashes of office, they looked… remarkably cute. A fact that Emely had commented on immediately after he’d ended the call with Prd’r that morning after the sleek Yuran ship had dropped out of the weave.

Glancing over at the Feliax, he was relieved to see she seemed to be pure professionalism when dealing with their guests - he had worried a little that her sometimes bubbly nature would win out and she’d end up trying to adopt one of the catfolk as a ship’s mascot or something. “Ambassador?” Prd’r’s voice cut through his thoughts gently, and he paused, turning to face the woman. “Yes, ambassador?” He replied, dropping into a squat to make talking easier. “I…” she glanced away a moment, then looked back at him, eyes sparkling with determination. “I’ve followed your exploits; before we get into formal discussions I was wondering if you’d mind…” There was a moment’s rummage, and she produced a data crystal and some form of pen. “Would you mind signing my info-slate? I’ve got copies of every official record of your journey on here.” She rubbed one of her legs against the other in a very human looking gesture of embarrassment. “You’re kind of an inspiration to me.”

Dustin had signed the crystal, naturally. He’d also had Meli transfer her a handful of files detailing some of their encounters in more depth than had been shared in the reports the council had put out - nothing about the hostile aliens as that was confidential, but about their less violent visits to alien worlds. As a result, Prd’r was happily rocking back and forward hugging the crystal after a light dinner when he decided they needed to get back on track. “So, ambassador” Dustin began, earning perked ears from both the catgirl and the Feliax at his side. “What I have in mind is this; your species is very close to one we have on Earth - they’re not sapient however. And our students globally are obsessed with learning about new life in the universe.” Prd’r interrupted at that point. “Ours are the same; bonded or unbonded - obviously, the bonded can’t leave the system so it is fascinating for them to hear about what’s out here.”

Emely nodded at the Yuran’s words, leaning in as she did so. “On that subject - why are you and your crew all unbonded?” Prd’r took the segue in good spirits. “Because bonded want to stay close. We’ve evolved to be able to live quite far away - the Yuran almost all live on the second planet now, to allow the Gvort more room to breath on the prime world - but once bonded that’s about the limit.” She chuckled then, a gentle rolling purr that **** Dustin to fight against generations of human instinct telling him to pet the kitty on the head before Prd’r continued “There’s actually a real issue when the planets get to the extremes of their orbit; the bonded mostly try and sleep through that month because of how crummy being that far from their Gvort makes them feel.”

At that point, Dustin decided to regain control of the conversation. “So, that was fascinating - and that brings me to what we’d like in exchange for a signature. We’d like to do a set of recordings of you, maybe some of your crew talking about yourselves. Take a few questions from some of our young scholars as well if that’s alright, so we can distribute them to all the education centres in the system.” Prd’r nodded thoughtfully, her tail whisking as she did so. “That would be more than alright; would you mind sending me a copy so I could send it back home? Oh, or if you have any similar material on humans? I know the kittens would find it fascinating.”

The recordings were an outrageous success. A week later, Dustin stood on the bridge with the sensor glow from Prd’r’s departing weave signature fading and shook his head. “They are so like cats it’s uncanny. And yet… engineers, scientists, explorers.” Rye punched him gently on the arm. “Remind you of yourselves, maybe? ‘S probably why all you humans went so nuts for them, Dusty. Think Emmz is gonna have a fit if she gets one more call asking if someone can adopt a Yuran as a pet. Feels good though, don’t it?” She stretched, arms above her head drawing his attention to her before shaking them out. “Actual honest ambassadorial work, with no horrible monsters trying to burn planets and whatnot.” He nodded, wrapping an arm around the delighted bunny girl and drawing her in close. “That it does, Rye. That it does.”