by Joe Crouch
Preparations continued as the table was set, tensions rose as the time ticked by, eventually forty-five minutes had passed and the shuttle’s arrival was imminent.
* * *
“Get out my damn way,” Sean shouted, bursting past Fez and Yumie, “I really wanna see it.” Hissing open, the door to the hangar bay split in two, revealing the vessel they would be taking down to Earth. The ceiling of the bay was covered in what looked to be structural girders, the entire floor was made from the same warm polymers that coated the rest of the ship. All three strode through, “What are those?” he asked, pointing towards large machines that sat above the exits into space.
“Those ensure the drives of the ships do not tear the hangar apart, they work by manipulating gravity and…” Sean cut him off.
“Gravity drives… Grav drives, gotcha’.” Huffing, Fez continued walking towards their designated shuttle, a smallish craft with no visible engines or exhausts. It was as sleek and aerodynamic as the Mar’Ell, it’s front sloped down from the large bubble which occupied its rear. As they approached, the ships side split to reveal its innards, a ramp lowered, its lip touched down gently onto the warm floor. Yumie climbed aboard and Fez stood at the ramp, waiting for the slow Human to catch up.
“So, what do you think?” Fez questioned. Sean stood smiling, unable to conceal his excitement for the whole experience, first they brought him back to life, now he got to mingle with aliens on a first contact mission involving his own government.
“Yeah, it's alright I suppose,” he declared in a futile attempt to play down the whole situation. Fez let out a weak laugh as he climbed aboard, Sean followed closely behind. “So, where should I sit?” At the front of the shuttle Yumie played with the controls making two thin grey objects slide out from the walls, they remained motionless for a moment before their surfaces began to contort, eventually moulding into two different sized chairs. “So, I’ll take the bigger one?” he quipped.
“Your Human body may contain more fat than mine,” Fez smirked, “But I think I’ll be taking the larger chair.” Sean gave a defeated wave as he turned, sliding down into his smaller seat.
“Is everyone ready back there?” Yumie shouted. Before anyone could reply the shuttle filled with a palpable energy and lifted off the hangar floor, making an oscillating humming sound as it hovered in position. A large cracking rippled across the smooth floor as the ship settled its weight. Again, without warning, the shuttle propelled forwards, the momentum pushed Sean back into his seat. He glanced over at Fez who was sitting comfortable and smiling, he glanced back at Sean before shouting to Yumie in the cockpit.
“Oh no,” Fez yelled in a dispassionate, sarcastic voice, “It looks like you forgot to activate Sean’s… Grav Plating.” Yumie cackled from the forward section, and within a few seconds Sean’s body seemed to relax, the G-forces being neutralised.
“How could I ever forget,” Yumie paused, his head peering around the corner of his pilot's seat, looking towards Sean and Fez, “It will not happen again my Earth friend.” Laughing, he turned back to face his displays. Mumbling obscenities to himself, Sean rustled around in his seat to find a comfortable position, a moment later, an enveloping hum engulfed the vessel.
“What’s that sound?” he questioned.
“The shield emitters just came online; your race has something similar I’ve seen from an analysis of the debris.” Nodding, he let himself wander off into his own thoughts once more, thinking about what was about to happen and how best to approach it. The trip didn’t take long. With a crash, the shuttle entered Earth’s atmosphere and streaked towards their designated coordinates. Peering out through a shielded porthole watched the large skyscrapers of the capital city - Celesa. Life seemed to be continuing as normal as land shuttles zipped around between the buildings, traffic was at a standstill in the city and commercial shuttles flew beneath them. If only they knew he thought.
Coming to a halt, the Ioution shuttle waited for the gathered crowd to move away from the landing pad. It lowered itself down, its drive kicking up pieces of tarmac and sand, it began to engulf the ship as the debris gathered above the craft. With a dull thud, they came to a stop on the pad and the drive was shut down. Rubble and dirt that collected above the shuttle came crashing down, banging against the hull.
“Oops,” Yumie groaned.
“I’ll go out first; it might lessen the blow,” Sean professed. Fez nodded and opened the exit hatch, as he climbed out, he turned his head back, “Who knows how my world will react to that ugly face.” Before he could get a reply in, Sean bolted down the ramp and onto the sand covered ground. A large squad of infantry had gathered, kneeling either side of where they had landed, they didn’t point their weapons directly at the shuttle, but they were ready. Stood at the bottom of the ramp, he waited for his new friends to step out. Moments later the crowd gasped in unison as Fez, dressed in his official looking attire, began to step down from the shuttle. His feet impacted the tarmac with a thump and kicked up the sand into a thin plume that blew away from him. He couldn’t help but smile, this was the world’s first interaction with a genuine alien, if you didn’t count the original aggressors. Looking around, he noticed three officious looking people appear from the back making their way towards him. Sean nudged Fez in his side, Fez let out an annoyed groan. “This is it, big boy, you are officially our first contact,” Sean boasted, the glee obvious in his voice.
“Great...” Fez hissed with dejection, “I’ve got to go through the first contact with a new species again.” Sean’s head bolted around.
“Again!?”
Chapter 5
“Be seated everyone,” the President insisted, motioning around the room towards the variety of chairs that had been assembled. Sitting at the large wooden conference table was every powerful player planet side that had clearance. Fez sat at the opposite head of the table to the President, he shifted about in his seat as he tried to find a way to fit. Sean had been given circumstantial clearance to sit in on the meeting, pulling up a chair he positioned himself next to Fez, who sat with a jaded look on his face like he had seen it all before.
A few moments passed allowing an awkward silence to fill the air before the Ioution captain began to speak. Heads snapped towards Sean as the noises coming from its mouth were indecipherable to those gathered. He nudged Fez in the arm and looked down at a device that he had brought with him. Shaking his head in embarrassment, Fez picked up the device and placed it in the middle of the table. The device took the shape of a metallic doughnut, antennas extruded from its silvery, reflective surface as the entire device was propped up by four small ceramic feet. Fez fiddled with the device for a moment before retaking his seat.
“Better?” the alien asked. Attendees gave confused looks to those beside them, each wondering the same thing, why does it have an English accent.
“Thank you, Feghouli,” President Camilla smiled, the object took her words and translated them, displaying the result on a handheld device Fez had in front of him. He gave a respectful nod towards the President and continued.
“As I was saying, we come to your world searching for peace, we have no intentions of enslaving you, exploiting your resources or committing mass genocide.” Backs straightened at the mere mention of the prospects, putting people on edge. “These are worries that Sean has conveyed to me that your people would have about first contact,” he explained. Going red, Sean looked down and scratched the back of his head, ignoring the room’s gaze.
“Be that as it may, it is still good to hear that you bring good tidings,” the President acknowledged. Looking around the room, she knew the question that was on everyone’s lips, “Who exactly were our aggressors, you seem adept at fending them off, and arrived just in time…” she trailed off, leaving a hint of suspicion in her words.
“Ah yes,” Fez groaned, “They are the Xuron.” People leant in and hung off his every word. “They are an aggressive race of insectoids, we have been at war with th
em for hundreds of years now, their resilience is quite impressive.” The audience scribbled notes as he continued, “Your machine, a probe I am told, triggered their defensive grid that monitors for slip-space signatures, they seemed to have taken that as an act of aggression.” The room fell silent as the furious scribbles of those gathered came to a halt, instead their heads drifted about the room, looking to place blame.
“That is most… unfortunate,” the President scowled, her gaze turned towards General Hagen, “Will they be returning within the near future do you think?”
“I doubt it,” Fez replied with confidence, “Now that they know your planet is under our protection…” the room perked up at the mere mention, “... They will not be coming this way without a sizable armada.” The excitement was drained in an instant, replaced with a look of despair on their faces. The prospect of dealing with one, maybe two of their ships was bad enough, but the Terran race might be able to handle it with their reserve fleet, an entire armada was impossible. Calming herself and showing a brave face, the President spoke up.
“Your protection is most welcome Feghouli, we took heavy casualties in that battle and will now be focused on their memorials,” she stopped, thinking to herself, “What is it we can offer you in return for this protection?” she asked with a hint of hesitation. Fez placed his hands on the table and smiled.
“We ask for nothing in return,” he smiled, “A refuelling station would be most welcome, though.” The President forced a smile, which didn’t suit her persistently scornful face.
They were lost for words, unsure of what to say or ask, feeling an opportunity to put forward a difficult proposition Fez spoke up. “It might be prudent to discuss a Human liaison to be stationed on my ship so we have a means of contacting each other with relative ease,” Sean turned to look at him, Fez only partially matched his gaze, giving a wry smirk. The President relaxed backwards into her chair and spoke.
“It is something we should…” Fez interrupted her.
“Non-negotiable,” he insisted. Taken aback, the President lurched forwards and went on the offensive.
“I am President of this world and her colonies, I will not be interrupted, and you will not be making demands that I release a citizen of this empire into your custody,” she barked, slamming a fist down on the table. Fez remained calm and looked her in the eyes, oblivious to the discomfort of those gathered.
“You are,” he empathised with a calmness he didn’t feel, “This is a project that is widely adopted through new advanced species we meet, it helps ease their integration into the galactic community,” he paused, “Whatever your feelings may be, it would be beneficial to your race as a whole.” His words took a while to sink in as people began to realise the magnitude of what he had just said.
“Galactic community?” she asked, “Exactly how many species do you know of or interact with?” Every head in the room snapped to the Ioution.
“Twenty-Six we know of, at least half of those are pre-industrial intelligence, but we have representatives of nine different species aboard our vessels.” The revelation was massive, twenty-six intelligent species in their sector of the galaxy alone, not counting ones who the Ioutions had no contact with so far. This put humanity as just another bipedal species amongst the stars, a thought that was comforting to some but would equally panic others. After a few moments of reflection, Fez continued, “As I was saying, it would be best if we could have a Human liaison aboard my vessel, each ship has its own race representative if possible, mine is currently lacking.” Small chatter rippled off the walls as groups discussed the idea before the general spoke up.
“I would nominate Diplomat Anthony as our liaison, he has a cool head and intricate knowledge of Humanities laws.” Full of judgement, Fez glanced over in the diplomat’s direction, what he saw was a skinny man with black hair, the expensive suit he wore moulded to his minute figure.
“I would rather not,” Fez admitted, shaking his head, “I already have someone in mind.” Curiosity built in the room as all eyes were on the alien, standing, Fez smoothed out his Captain’s attire and looked down at the Human sat beside him. “I would request the presence of Sean aboard my vessel.”
“Me!?” Sean cried out, “I’m just a private with little operational knowledge,” Fez beamed a genuine smile at him.
“That is of no importance, you seem to have already gotten along well with some of the crew and would integrate into our dynamic well, believe me when I say this.” Of everyone that had assembled in the room, he was quite possibly the least qualified for the position, and from the cold looks he had been getting, some thought his presence there would be almost detrimental. He was just a planet lander, a soldier, not even an elite one, his scores were good, even excellent, in training he had always tested well, but he was the bottom of the ladder, fodder compared to the elite that sat alongside him. A well-decorated official scanned Sean in a manner that made him uncomfortable before standing to address the President.
“Maybe this is something we shouldn’t fight the Ioution on, Ma’am.”
“Maybe you’re right,” she admitted, pausing to think for a moment. “We agree to your terms, Feghouli, they are most acceptable and we will begin planning and construction of a fueling station right away once you have provided us with your specific technical needs.” She glanced over at Sean, doubt scrawled across her wrinkled face, “And you may take Private Sean Maguire with you as the Liaison to the race.” Fez stood, clasping his hands together while letting out a large, infectious smile.
“Most agreeable!” he beamed, turning to glare at Sean, “Oh we are going to have so much fun.” Slumping into his chair, his limbs going numb, Sean replied,
“Great… Just great.”
* * *
Sean and Fez sat waiting in their assigned lounge, the bright lights revealed a cloudiness to the alien’s eyes. The President had decided they could stay here after the meeting had concluded as Fez had wished to sample some of Earth’s delights – The favourite part of any new race integration for him. Sean stood and leant against a wall, he was observing his alien companion closely as he poked around the assortment of food that had been laid out.
“This is magnificent,” Fez choked between chews of what the British called a ‘Jammie Dodger’, crumbs from the biscuit fell into his large lap. “Where did you say this came from again?”
“This comes from an island state on Earth called Britain,” Fez looked up at Sean, his eyes gleaming, but a puzzled expression quickly took hold.
“I was under the impression the planet was united.” Technically the Ioution was correct, the planet and her colonies fell under a single banner, with universal laws governing them all, but certain powers remained under an amount devolution giving them the ability to enact their own twists on certain malleable laws.
“You’re right, it is, but most countries on Earth are treated as their own ‘state’ giving them freedom to enact, within reason, their own take on some laws.” Fez nodded, seemingly uninterested in the answer to the question he asked.
The previous meeting with world powers had ended well enough, the government was now committed to constructing a refuelling station in orbit for any Ioution presence that may pass this way. There was no real frontline it seemed, instead, it took a dynamic approach over time, with certain territories falling to Ioution, Xuron or Other control. The revelation that there were far more intelligent species in this sector of the galaxy was enlightening. Maybe arrogantly, some Humans had always thought they were special, the only species to have evolved to build cities into the clouds and the only ones capable of toying with Mother Nature. Now they knew this was wrong, the species had a lot to look forward to with new interactions on the horizon, many them most likely coming with Sean as the first contact - Whether this was a good thing was a discussion for another time. Fez leant backwards into his seat, he pushed his plates aside and made a neat pile of his rubbish. “This world has such a variety of flavours,” Sean f
elt oddly proud at this, “I think you may need to requisition some supplies to bring with you if this is what your species is used to consuming.” Smiling, Sean sat beside Fez and watched as the alien toyed with his tablet computer.
“So, what’s the plan now Captain,” he struggled with an ironic tone. Fez glanced over, puffing out his chest he stood up straight.
“Now my underling,” he paused, “I’m sorry, my respected representative, I think we should return to the Mar’Ell and await further orders, I’m sure there will be plenty of things for us to do.” Shaking his head in amusement, he could only be impressed at the bond that had formed between them so quickly, he pushed a lot of his friends away with his style of humour and life choices and it was nothing but remarkable that he would be the first contact to a plethora of species.
An hour past, the two enjoyed the down time before a rasping at the door interrupted their peace. “Enter,” Sean said. President Camilla stepped through with a glum look etched across her face - But this was nothing new. She made her way through the lounge and positioned herself on the black leather sofa across from the pair.
“So, Sean,” she began, “This a big ask for you, I’ve been over your records and to say we have concerns about this arrangement is putting it mildly.” Sean knew he wasn’t the right person for the job, he had only gotten the position because he got on well with Fez, but what he knew was that if given the chance he wouldn’t disappoint. He had done a lot in his life, some not-so-great and very little just above average, but he always knew he could accomplish more if he just applied himself.
