"New Begonia control, this is the SUS Hurricane requesting landing permission."

"Please transmit cargo and passenger manifest and inform the purpose of your visit."

The former was transferred automatically, and Urle filled in the rest. "We are officers of the Sapient Union vessel Craton and we come in peace. We request a meeting with your governor."

There was a long hesitation before an answer came.

"Transport Hurricane, landing coordinates and guidepost path has been uploaded. Do not deviate from the assigned course."

The system showed him the path they'd given. It seemed entirely normal, but the landing platform was at the edge of the colony, not in the primary landing zone.

That was unexpected. Perhaps because they were being viewed as dignitaries? There were a lot of potentially bad reasons it could be, as well.

But there was no reason that the colonists here would be hostile to them. He again ran through every bit of information he had on the place, its people, and their religion - he'd spent the trip doing his own research. They had no violent issue with anyone, as far as he knew, and had left Earth in peace long before the system had even become as tolerant as it was now. No traders had reported issues, either.

It was likely just out of respect.

"All personnel, prepare for landing," he said over the comm.

The Hurricane was not a ship that could enter an atmosphere, and such an entry would have been a one-way trip for her. But fortunately, the colony of New Begonia wasn't on the world of Hope's Dawn itself, but its moon.

The moon was a planetary-mass object, smaller than but comparable to Earth's moon Luna. It had no atmosphere, but its surface had a yellowish tinge due to high concentrations of sulfur in its crust.

It wasn't enough to be pretty, Urle thought. Just enough to make it look dingy. Still, such satellites were rather rare, and his records indicated that the colonists had picked this world largely for having an Earth-like moon.

As he approached the landing pad, the sensors informed him that it was built of simple compressed regolith, as was most of the colony's exterior. The colony had been founded over two hundred years ago, and yet their industry didn't seem to have built up as much as he expected. Regolith constructions were fine, cheap, and easy early options. By this time, though, most colonies had full industrial production.

Nevertheless, the ship settled on the landing pad smoothly. Unhooking his restraints, Urle got up and went into the main hall. It felt good to have some sense of gravity again, even if this moon had only a small fraction that of Earth's. At least the floor was the floor.

As he entered the main hall, Hannah and Persis came out of their rooms, giggling and hopping in the low gravity.

"Be careful," he said quickly. "Don't hit your-"

Persis hit her head, letting out a shriek and nearly breaking down into tears.

Kell's door opened and he stepped out, pausing to spare a glance to her. As Urle comforted her, the Ambassador apparently decided he had no further interest, and headed towards the airlock.

"Next time be more careful, all right?" Urle said to his youngest daughter.

Persis nodded, sniffing, but he knew he'd have to keep an eye on them anyway.

As the Begonian docking clamp clanked into place on their hull, Urle changed into his full uniform. Upon returning, he saw that Brooks was already there, in his own.

The rest of the staff and crew also turned out in their full uniform - or in the case of their only civilian, Pirra's husband Alexander, in his best suit.

"We'd like to make a good impression," Brooks noted. "Not that I expect any less from any of you. The Begonians are friendly, but they left for religious reasons - and so we should respect their beliefs even if we do not hold them."

On hearing the disembarking signal, Brooks opened the seal. While the long docking tube seemed in good shape, Urle's sensors noted signs of age and wear from longer use than recommended. Nevertheless, he found nothing that overly-worried him.

Following the Captain, the other end of the hatch opened obligingly, and they met their first of the New Begonia colonists.

Several honor guards and officials awaited them. They did not look any different from baseline humans, and appeared friendly enough.

"Welcome to New Begonia," their leader said. His voice had flat intonation that reminded Urle of religious chanting. "We bid you welcome in the name of our Lord."

"On behalf of my crew, I thank you for the welcome," Brooks replied. "We come in peace and friendliness. Are you in command here?"

"Yes. I am Governor Hef Grenness, Blessed Plenipotentiary of the Lord of Dawn."

Urle was proud that neither of his daughters even cracked a smile at the man's pretentious title.

Brooks, of course, accepted it without any change. "It is an honor to meet you, Governor. I am Captain-Mayor Ian Brooks. May I introduce my staff . . ."

As introductions and pleasantries were made, Urle kept an eye on the governor's face and body language. The man seemed political enough to offer the usual platitudes, though Urle noted a definite spike of stress in his readings when he was introduced to the non-human members of the staff. There had been a general sense of unease among both him and his party all along, but they had hidden it until meeting Pirra and Cenz, the only obvious aliens among them.

Despite that, the Governor's expression only strained in the slightest.

". . . and Ambassador Kell, of the Shoggoth people," Brooks said. Explaining more than that seemed out of place at the moment.

The governor's eyes glinted. "Interesting - your Captain sent us information about you, but we had already heard of your kind's discovery even here, Ambassador. I will be pleased to become better acquainted with you."

Urle's sensors noted his stress levels rise as he met Kell; the effect of meeting the strange being was telling on him. But the Governor was struggling hard to hide that; if anything, there seemed a genuine excitement to him.

Perhaps, like with his daughters, the man's curiosity was overcoming that innate reaction?

"You are surely wondering why we'd like to speak with you," Brooks said.

"Of course - you are welcome here. We have granted you all 14-day visas for your visit. Should you need longer, the matter can be arranged." His eyes swept over Brooks's group, but lingered on Cenz and Pirra. "With some small discussions. But let us retire to my office to discuss the more important matters. In the meantime, I invite the rest of your staff and crew to wander freely in New Begonia. Learn of us and our ways - we offer a peace and purpose that much of the rest of the universe is lacking."

His smile seemed genuine, and Urle felt almost fascinated seeing a man with such a belief in his ideals when they were so . . . unrelated to the physical world they knew.

Such religious devotion was not unheard of in the Sapient Union, but it was rare. Religion itself was not widely held, and those that did typically viewed it as a private matter.

"Let's go," he said to his girls. Their beaming smiles full of excitement at getting to see a new and interesting place. Urle smiled, too, feeling for a moment that same sense of wonder and devotion that the Governor had displayed only moments before. He felt blessed that he was able to hold his devotions, his purpose, in his arms, and that they were real and present, instead of in a sacred text.

*******

As the Captain went off with the Governor, Dr. Logus at his side, Pirra followed the line of the rest of the crew as they moved through customs.

It was more of a formality than anything; it was clear that the colonists wanted to give a good impression - though this place had seemingly not elected to join back with Earth since zerodrives had been created, either collectively or through the Sapient Union, most such colonies were still keen to maintain friendly relations. Trade and movement of peoples could be a great boon for them.

Each person ahead of her was being scanned and processed briefly, and then handed something - it looked like some sort of text printed on sheets of paper bundled together. It was a very archaic way of transporting information, but some humans seemed to find them meaningful in a cultural sense, and she could understand that.

Pirra watched as each of the children of Executive Officer Urle were given one. They seemed quite excited - probably for the novelty.

Science Officer Cenz stepped up next. The official seemed somewhat flabbergasted about how to scan him.

"Most scanner wands will detect a decentralized nervous system - this is very normal for me," he helpfully explained. "I am not a singular entity but a macro-entity of nearly one hundred small polyps."

Pirra tried not to laugh as a large, almost goofy smiling face shone off his face screen. She respected the science officer, but his electronic face was ridiculous at times.

"Ah, very well . . . Cenz," the bureaucrat said, frowning and looking troubled.

"Commander, if you please," the coral replied. "I am here in an official capacity."

"If you say so," the man said. "Your visa is good for fourteen days, no more." He jerked his head off to the side to indicate Cenz should move on.

After a moment of hesitation, the science officer did so.

Pirra stepped up next. The man gave her a scowl and waved the scanner wand over her. He frowned at the results.

"Your visa is good for fourteen days, no more," he said shortly. "On your way."

She stepped on and passed the man giving out the booklets. Absently, she extended a hand, but the man looked suddenly quite uncomfortable.

"I'm not allowed to give you a book," he finally said.

"Oh," she replied, surprised. "All right." Stepping on, she noticed that he gave one to Alexander.

"What was that about?" he muttered, catching up to her. "He told me my visa could be renewed after fourteen days."

"Did he?" she asked.

"Yeah. And why wouldn't he give you a booklet?" He held his up, and she saw that the cover was something about the glory of the dawn.

Cenz came over, nodding. "May I see your booklet Alexander? I admit, I have an interest in the supernatural beliefs of other species."

"That's fine by me, I'm not really interested in their religion." He handed it over. "But do you have any idea why they didn't give one to you or Pirra?"

"Treaties between species in the Sapient Union," he replied absently, thumbing through the book. "There have historically been incidents of . . . what we might call overly zealous attempts at conversion between some species. Now it's very standard to place very strict limits on evangelization. And even though they're not in the SU, trade agreements always include this clause - otherwise it can cause very messy situations." He continued to look through the booklet. "In addition, it seems the faith of New Begonia is very human-centric." He looked up, his electronic face showing a wry smile. "It seems you and I cannot go to heaven, Pirra."

"A pity," she replied dryly.

Alexander was looking at her, his expression bothered. She patted him on the arm, but then noticed that the bureaucrats were watching them. Their expressions were not friendly.

"I think we should move on," she suggested.

Cenz must have noticed as well. "I believe you are correct," he said, giving Alexander back the booklet. "Good day, Lieutenant - Alexander." With a stiff semi-bow, Cenz headed away.

"Well, perhaps we should go see if there's a museum," Alexander said, forcing a smile.

She knew he felt bothered on her behalf, but she didn't feel particularly bothered by being excluded from the weird human religion club, even if their magic friend had wanted to include her kind.

"That sounds great," she said, giving him a smile.