Douhat pondered that with a concerned expression. Then, he switched to a jovial expression in a flash. “So it is, Captain. So it is. Good work. Please, extend our thanks to your crew. I’ll have my team study this thoroughly.”
Ximon stressed that it was simply what they could gather from available data and suggested that Douhat might request similar data from the various powers on the planet so the Republic could have a more comprehensive reference.
Douhat agreed to try.
As they neared the planned meeting with Crobham, Ximon could see Douhat and his team getting ever more stressed. They would spend large amounts of time locked in their cabins, then have animated, or even heated, discussions in the galley. Ximon just stayed out of the way.
Once the details were settled, Douhat explained the plan. They were to land at specific coordinates outside the Crobham capital at 0900 the next morning. They would be met by vehicles which would take them to a conference center at the nearby Crobham Space Agency. There they would meet with an ambassador, the head of the Agency, and others. Lunch would be served and then there would be a couple more hours of meetings. Douhat asked if Ximon and two of the crew could join them, in uniform. He also asked if Ximon could bring a basic, disposable tablet containing some basic information about the Republic and some detailed maps and data on Crobham from their scans.
After getting the plan from Douhat, Ximon met with the crew. He told Elsbeth and Raiza that he wanted them to join him, in KSF uniform. He had Mantis show detailed maps of the area and found that their meeting place was about five miles from the landing pad. He had Mantis calculate firing solutions to several nearby rocket launch pads, a very large hangar, and a nearby office building. If something terrible happened and they were captured, Shao would select targets and have Mantis fire, either to secure their release or in vengeance. They would all be wearing small audio and video cameras so Shao, Mantis, and Peter could observe what was going on and, if necessary, forward the recordings to the Federation of Nations.
When they gathered shortly after breakfast the next morning, the crew who were going looked pretty good in KSF attire, while Douhat and his team looked very sharp in expensive suits. All carried tablets and Ximon carried the extra ‘gift’ tablet.
Ximon set Mantis down at the designated spot about ten minutes before the designated time. The entire area had a loose cordon of security vehicles and some other vehicles which might have been for media or other observers. A line of five silvery ground vehicles, led and followed by a security vehicle, headed slowly for the landing pad and stopped about one hundred meters away. Then they sat. Ximon led the group to the bottom on Mantis’ ramp just before 0900.
At 0900 on the dot, the doors on every vehicle opened and people stepped out. Douhat took this as a signal so he led the procession toward the vehicles. Some of the people near the vehicles were clearly security, some appeared to be drivers, and there was one sharply dressed young man who Ximon took for a junior diplomat of some kind. He stepped forward and bowed slightly to Douhat.
He said, “Ambassador, it is my pleasure to welcome you to the great nation of Crobham. Please join us in the vehicles and we will take you to meet our official party.”
Douhat said, “Most honored. Please, lead on.”
They got in separate cars. Douhat was in the first with the junior diplomat. Lain and Sarah got in the next, Ximon in the third, and Elsbeth and Raiza in the fourth. Ximon was a bit nervous at being separated, but he made sure his communications were working and could track the crew.
They drove slowly for about fifteen minutes, going past several launch pads and a large runway dotted with atmospheric fighter aircraft. As they passed the runway, four fighters screamed past in what Ximon assumed was intended as an impressive display. The noise and speed were impressive, but Ximon was quite sure those things couldn’t reach space. In any case, Crobham was trying to show its space and air power.
They came to a large, white Space Agency headquarters and were escorted in. In a large foyer of glistening white and silver, they were met by, and exchanged greetings with, a large delegation of about twenty men and women in suits and dresses that Ximon thought would have been in fashion twenty years ago in the Republic. There was a primary ambassador, the head of the space agency, some trade representatives, some junior diplomats, and two generals from their aerospace force. The head of the space agency ushered them all into a large conference room. The conference table could seat over twenty and there were at least thirty additional seats. Ximon was seated at the table next to Douhat’s team, while Raiza and Elsbeth were seated along the wall. The meeting started promptly with a few welcoming speeches and then got into details without further preamble.
The discussion was long and winding. In general, Crobham wanted access to technology and expertise and for the Kremniy Republic to make a special deal with them over the other powers. Douhat frequently explained how anxious the Republic was to work with all of the great people of Onzarhat for peace, but also hinted that a ‘special arrangement’ might be possible. The Crobham trade ministers discussed all manner of resources that Crobham could trade such as rare ores, minerals, and food good. The generals explained how valuable Crobham would be as an ally. The discussion got a lot of ideas on the table, but no decisions were reached.
Lunch was a formal affair, almost a continuation of the meeting. However, as the dishes were cleared, there was a social time of about thirty minutes where drinks were served, and everyone stood about the room in small groups. Ximon and the crew were all asked about their ship’s capabilities, where they were from, and so on. A few of the Crobham were surprised to find that Raiza wasn’t human yet still seemed so human.
Talks then formally resumed with more serious requests and proposals put on the table. The Crobham laid out specific technologies they were most interested in and what they could pay with Douhat noted some things the Republic was interested in including, perhaps eventually, a base. He also noted some more immediate interests—potential sponsorship for him and his team to continue working with them and more detailed information on the planet that Mantis could take back to the Republic so they could better assist.
After about an hour of this, the group went back to informal discussions while several members of the Crobham group went to “formalize.” They returned in about an hour with several copies of meeting minutes printed on fancy paper. All the ambassadors, including Douhat, studied these and then signed them, agreeing to what was discussed. As a final act, Douhat presented the Crobham ambassador with the gift tablet and showed him how to work it. He seemed very impressed.
Then farewells were said, and the group was ushered back to the Mantis. When they got onboard, Ximon took off and put them back in orbit.
Douhat kept explaining that the meeting had gone “splendidly, exceptionally well, and better than could be hoped.” Meanwhile, Lain and Sarah were hard at work on writing detailed reports. Douhat said the process the next day would be very similar in Olexita.
Privately, Elsbeth was not impressed. “Ximon, that was painful and boring. Let someone else go tomorrow.”
Douhat was quite correct about the next day. It was very similar in format, discussion, and duration. The location was different—in a large conference room in general purpose government building. The Olexita delegation was slightly smaller and had different clothes, uniforms, and titles. The clothes and uniforms were all rakish and had almost a plastic sheen. The food and snacks were tastier and Ximon enjoyed them more. Ultimately, the overall effect of the two meetings was the same. The Olexita spent quite a bit of time talking about all of their great accomplishments in space—first man in space, first EVA, first space station, etc. They also bragged that they had an advanced space vehicle and pointed to a fairly modern looking shuttle that someone had apparently traded to them. They were trying to develop something similar on their own so it was being reverse engineered and was mainly used for study.
This time, Ximon took S
hao and Raiza and both attracted a lot of conversation during the social periods. They appreciated Raiza’s beauty and tried to pick Shao’s brain for technical details.
The meeting adjourned with formal minutes and they headed back to the ship. Though the days had seemed nearly identical to Ximon, Douhat was far more pleased with the Olexita discussions than Crobham. Ximon asked why, but Douhat couldn’t explain in a way that made sense.
The next day was the big meeting at the Federation of Nations. Here they would have a ‘short,’ ninety-minute discussion with ten nations who were on some kind of “Senior Council.” They would then have a ninety-minute informal reception with representatives from all the nations of the Federation who wished to attend. After this, Douhat had several small meetings with individual countries planned. This time at Douhat’s suggestion, Ximon brought Elsbeth, Shao, Raiza, and Peter for greater gravitas. Douhat didn’t expect to be back to the ship until nightfall.
The day went well and was interesting, but long. All the nations were quite different and wanted different specific things, but similar themes kept recurring. They all seemed to want to ensure that their country was central to any agreement with the Republic so they wouldn’t be ‘left out.’ There was considerable interest in getting help with space efforts and in ‘demonstrations of Republic commitment.’ However, there were also voices of dissent, some nations arguing that this was all just a prelude to the Republic turning them into a helpless, vassal state. Those seemed to be the exception, but it came up several times.
The reception was an almost harrowing affair. Over the course of ninety minutes, representatives of dozens of countries tried to corner one or more of them for private chats on every topic under the sun. Some seemed to be in awe, while some were fairly demanding, and others just vague. Again, the representatives of a few nations, told Douhat, Ximon, or the others that they didn’t want to be ruled by the Republic and that they’d ‘make their own way.’ Whether the comments were good or bad, many were made more tedious by the fact that many of the representatives spoke other languages, so everything had to go through interpreters. The constant stream of visitors prevented any of them from eating much of anything.
Whenever Douhat got close enough to any of the crew to say anything, he would remind them not to make any commitments. During the reception, Douhat had to fend of requests for additional, unplanned sidebar meetings, though he agreed to an alarming number of private audio or video chats.
After the tiring reception, they were led to a small conference room where their subsequent meetings would take place and had almost an hour of downtime before the first meeting. They were all pleased to find that it had been stocked well with food and drinks. They all ate greedily while comparing notes. Again, Douhat was overflowing with excitement and felt confident that things were going splendidly. The ladies all said that they had been propositioned at least once. Sarah said that two had tried to recruit her to be their ‘private secretary’ and Shao reported something similar. Elsbeth said that she had only barely resisted punching one guy who had slapped her on the butt. Raiza said that two separate representatives had asked her if she would be interested in some ‘afternoon delight.’ Douhat downplayed all this, chalking it up to societal differences and things getting ‘lost in translation.’
After an hour, a small delegation was brought in from a nation called Miisi. Their clothes were particularly strange—brightly colored and patterned robes that Ximon assumed were some evolved image of some ancient cloth. They spoke through translators when not babbling in their unique language that sounded like it was nothing but consonants. They just wanted to show their importance and make a plea for being involved. It didn’t seem like they had any space program but were hoping that the Republic could give them one. They had some resources that might be of value, notably minerals and ores, but otherwise seemed somewhat backward.
Then, after a short break, they met with a large delegation from Baeda. From Mantis’ encyclopedia Ximon knew that Baeda was a large populous country but was considered somewhat backward. They had only recently begun serious industrialization, but they seemed to be advancing rapidly. The group was somber and self-important, and the clothes of both genders were almost uniform. They all but demanded that they be treated as important as Olexita, Crobham, and the others. They refused to be ‘left out.’ Some of their comments almost came across as threats, hinting that they would work to prevent any deal if they were “insulted” or “demeaned” in the process. Ximon took this to mean they’d cause trouble if they weren’t given a ‘seat at the grown-up table.’ It was a tense meeting, but Douhat still thought it went wonderfully.
Finally, they had a short meeting with representatives from a small nation known as Trugren. Their entire, small delegation was made up of women. All of them were very attractive, with long blonde hair, severe make-up, and very stylish suits. Their nation didn’t seem to have much technology but had a few scarce resources and wanted to be ‘in’ on any deal. In some side comments, their deputy ambassador hinted to Douhat that they could make his time on Onzarhat very pleasant if he worked with them. One hinted something like this to Ximon, but they cut off when he said he wasn’t staying on the planet long.
After that series of meetings, they all went back to the ship exhausted. Ximon checked in with Mantis and ensured she had gotten full video of all the key meetings and was adding data to her encyclopedia. He needn’t have worried – Mantis and Euclidia were already incorporating tidbits that the crew had streamed to them throughout the day.
The next day they met with Medesides, a sizable nation that had just had some of its first successes in a space program but seemed to be advancing rapidly. The meetings went very similarly to those with Olexita and Crobham, except that the entire thing was in the afternoon and dinner replaced lunch. Other than that, the clothes, accents, and titles were different, but the topics largely the same. However, since they had some information from the first two meetings and the previous day’s agenda, their proposals were somewhat more concrete. Douhat took them quite seriously and his queries and proposals were more concrete as well.
He was very pleased with how the evening went and was jubilant when they returned to the ship.
He said, “What a diplomatic success this has been. We’ve achieved so much in so little time. What a tour de force!”
Ximon said, “I’m not exactly sure what we’ve achieved. What’s the next plan? Where are we dropping you off?”
“Patience, Ximon. While we were meeting today, we got messages and invitations from Crobham and Olexita. We must just wait a couple days more and we’ll have multiple proposals to choose from. We’ll also work out your subsequent role. In the meantime, we’ll be composing formal reports for you to take back—”
Ximon interrupted. “Subsequent role? We’re not part of your permanent staff and we’re not staying for an extended period of time. We’re ready to drop you off at the selected location and leave.”
“Oh, nothing like that, Ximon. Perhaps just a few days.”
Ximon walked away, shaking his head.
Elsbeth cornered Ximon, “So, when do we ditch those guys and leave?”
“In just a few days. They’re still figuring out where we drop them.”
“Well, we could just push them out the back. They’d land somewhere.”
“None of that. They’ll figure it out soon.”
“Fine, but I don’t want to sit here circling this rock for another week.”
“Patience. Good things come to those who wait.”
“Give it a rest, Ximon. You don’t believe that any more than I do. I’m going to be in bed and may not get up or dressed for a few days. Wake me up when they figure this crap out!”
Ximon made a little wave. “Nighty-night, Elsbeth.”
Ximon could understand her frustration. They weren’t used to being at someone else’s disposal for so long, especially when it involved processes they weren’t involved in and couldn’t q
uite understand.
Douhat excitedly discussed messages he received over the next couple days.
After dinner one night, with everyone around the table, he told Ximon, “Okay, the plan is really coming together now. I’ve got some long-term plans laid out and we’ve worked out your immediate role.”
Ximon was interested but suspicious. “And that is?”
“Oh, I think you’ll love it. The whole Federation Senior Council asked for a demonstration of Kremniy Republic goodwill and resolve. As you know, most of them are very interested in getting more space capability. So, that’s where you come in. In two days, you’ll drop us off at the Federation of Nations. That’s where our permanent offices will be, though we’ll shuttle to other nations frequently.”
Ximon nodded, impatient for Mantis’ role. “Uh huh, and?”
Douhat continued excitedly, “When you drop us off, you’ll also pick up three satellites and four astronauts. You’ll deploy the satellites and recover several others that have ceased functioning. You’ll have the astronauts along for the ride and keep them entertained. You’ll also demonstrate how they can clean up the considerable ‘space junk’ they have in orbit by gathering, destroying, or pushing some out of orbit. Then you’ll land and we’ll meet you with a bunch of “gifts of goodwill” for you and the Republic that you’ll have to take back.”
“What the heck are astronauts?” Ximon asked. “Aren’t those some kind of ancient seafarers?”
“Astronauts are what they call their space explorers. Several nations that haven’t yet gotten a man into space see you as a great opportunity to do so.”
“So, they’re tourists?”
“No,Ximon, you mustn’t think of it so. They’re distinguished guests setting forth on an exciting and perilous journey into the mysteries of space.”
“If you say so. Okay, in two days, we do this and then we leave, right?”
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