All Elizabeth Morningstar ever wanted to do was help people. She was born into a life of privilege. Her father was a rich executive with IRC, the Interstellar Resource Conglomerate. While her friends and classmates were happy staying within their gated communities, focusing on building their own future as corporate leaders in the Terran Accord or letting their family money work for them, Elizabeth wanted to make a difference for everyone else. That is what originally led her towards medicine. She got the best education her fathers money could buy and right out of college she took a job with Cosmic aid. 

 

Going from her penthouse apartment within walking distance from campus to a cramped spaceship was a bit of a shellshock. But this is what she had always wanted. She had left terra, left upper class society. She would be able to use her family fortune to help the rest of humanity. It was worth taking a bit of discomfort in order to help people living in even worse conditions. They were heading to a factory world called Ratchet with an ongoing riot and a lot of people in need of healthcare and basic resources. The Cosmic Navy had been deployed, but they weren’t known for providing humanitarian help.

 

Her life had not prepared her for what she experienced at Ratchet. She didn’t think any upbringing could prepare one for the amount of evil she saw there. The deaths, the suffering. There weren't enough resources for anyone, not enough medecine, not enough equipment, she and her colleagues were trying to patch people together as the bullets were flying just blocks away from them. She wouldn’t have time to sleep at night, probably wouldn’t have gotten to sleep even if she had the time to lie down. The only way to get any sleep during her time at Ratchet was to be so exhausted one had no other choice. 

 

Ratchet was the first time Elizabeth broke. It didn’t matter how much work she put in, how hard she tried. She watched innocent men and women die under her care. She saw the evil of the system that had coddled her all her life. People who only wanted a slightly better life for themselves, killed to set an example so those who won the lottery of birth could live a life of absurd luxury. She couldn’t take it, she gave up, and as soon as she was able found herself on a ship that dropped her off at the nearest resort planet. From there her father got her on a luxury space cruise back to Terra. Overjoyed to have his jewel back with him he didn’t notice the dead look in her eyes.

 

Once back on Terra it didn’t take long for some of Elizabeth's drive to return. Pushed by guilt over her failure at Ratchet and a wish to do something she threw herself into work, soon finding a position with Terra Medical, on their research team. Her drive slowly returned as she jumped at the work. She had the chance to help make healthcare more affordable for everyone. She would get to be a part of teams who found new solutions to the problems that had been plaguing humanity for centuries. 

 

It was when the reality of her new job hit her Elizabeth broke for the second time. She soon realized that it didn’t matter how cheap she could make an operation. Terra Medical would charge whatever they wanted for it and pocket any money she managed to send it off to their investors. Terra Medical had no interest in new drugs to solve problems, they just wanted slight changes to existing drugs so they could justify a renewed patent. Everyone around her argued she should be happy, after all she was one of the investors, her trust fund had plenty of money in Terra Medical. She didn’t need the reminder, and soon settled into a pattern of doing just what was asked of her. The drive was gone but because of her family name and fortune she still received promotion after promotion. She soon settled into a cushy job in upper management, any thought of actually changing anything long gone. She instead spent her time as a corporate spokesperson, the face of all those little PR campaigns they did that at best wouldn’t get people addicted to drugs they soon would be unable to afford. She got to be seen as the idealist she wished to be, proof that change could be achieved from within, without violence or riots. But in the end nothing really changed.

 

However, towards the end of 2550, a new administration got into power and she got one last chance to make a difference. She got offered a position in the cabinet, top advisor on healthcare to the President of the Accord. Elizabeth would have her chance to make life better for everyone. She would be able to affect policy for the entirety of the Terran Accord. Her enthusiasm was killed in her first meeting. It was made clear, in politically correct yet firm words, that her appointment was wholly symbolic. She might be given a small win here and there, but in the big picture nothing would change. She would be expected to smile for the cameras and defend the administration's decisions. She would be expected to keep the population calm, call for patience and promise future legislation that would never come.

 

Elizabeth didn’t break this time. She was already done. There was nothing that could be done unless she wanted to be executed for crimes against capital. The act of going against the best interests of the free market and it’s investors. Her entire youth had gone by trying to make life better for the less fortunate, but the system wanted anything but that. Her drive had gotten her nothing but a job as a smiling mascot for a government puppeteered by people like her father and it was the only thing she could have ever hoped for.

 

But there was still one more twist left in the tale of Elizabeth Morningstar. One early morning she was called into the office of the president, the grim looking middle aged man looked like he hadn’t slept all night. “Miss Morningstar. Good of you to come.” She could hear how exhausted he was. Not long ago this would be how she would picture a president, but after a year working with him she had learned his position was mostly ceremonial. Most systems were run by corporations, leaving him to make speeches. Theoretically he had a lot of power, but just like most presidents in the history of the Terran Accord he had very little interest in anything changing, so this was a change of pace.

 

“At 2am last night we received a transmission. Before I show it to you it should be obvious that this can’t leave this office. It’s a matter of confederal security.” Elizabeth gave a confused nod. She was supposed to be a figurehead, an advisor with no political power. A position probably granted to her on request of her father. Why would she need to be aware of secrets of the Terran Accord? The President didn’t say anything, but turned his screen around so Elizabeth could see what they had received.

On the screen in front  of her was a pile of plant matter, formed into a vague approximation of a person. It’s hair formed from long green leaves. It even had a mouth, and eyes one could get lost in. Then the president unpaused, and the plants started to move. It’s movement, just like it’s form, was a strange approximation of humanity, and when it started to talk, it’s voice was out of this galaxy. The voice was feminine, and through her utter bafflement Elizabeth couldn’t help but recognize how beautiful it was. Hypnotic, musical, and clearly alien. She, or at least Elizabeth assumed the plant was a girl, delivered a clear message.

“Greetings leaders of the Terran Accord. I am Oxalis Platena, Seventh Bloom, and I am speaking to you on behalf of the Affini Compact. We are hereby demanding your immediate surrender and compliance with the Human Domestication Program. We would be happy to welcome representatives of your government to discuss and explain what the future of humanity will look like as part of the Affini compact, but expect a swift decision to be made. Please don’t fight us, we would hate to see harm come to any sophont.” For some reason the words coming from the creature didn’t seem to fit it’s posture, it’s bafflingly cheery voice. The words reminded her of a politician, but the tone was more akin to a kindergarten teacher. It probably said a lot about her that the first thing she noted was how constructed the video seemed, when what seemed like an alien race was demanding humanity surrender to them. But really, the only question she was left with was simple. 

 

“What does this have to do with me? I’m a medical expert, this seems way above my paygrade.” 

 

The president looked at her for a while, treating her like an idiot when she felt like her question was incredibly valid. “There is no way we are surrendering to these… whatever those things are. Plants. Weeds. Tentacle monsters. I don’t care. We are not going to bow down without a fight, regardless of what their terms are. But if we send someone important out to them we could buy some extra time. You will be our representative to the ‘Affini Compact’ under the pretense of negotiating the terms of our surrender. But the real reason is to figure out whatever you can about these… things, and drag things out as much as possible.”

Elizabeth was shocked as it dawned on her what was happening. She would finally be allowed to make a difference, and the difference she was going to be making was maybe increasing the existing system's chance of surviving. With a sigh, she realized she had no choice, and gave a nod. “I understand, it will be my honor to represent Terra.” She closed her eyes for a second, before asking the only question left to ask. “When do I leave?”

 

***

 

That evening Elizabeth found herself on a small, official craft heading towards the edge of Terran territory. It would be about a month long trip, and they would have plenty of time to relax and prepare for the negotiations to come. Not that they had much to work on. There were no rumors, no words from scouts. But yet, unless someone was putting on a very elaborate joke, there was an army of plant people of unknown size and technological prowess just outside the border of the Terran Accord.

 

The meeting was going to take place on Cathedral-x32, a former colony technically within the borders of Accord territory. It was abandoned after the fall of space Mormonism with the rest of ‘Smiths cluster’ when it turned out Joseph Smith wasn’t actually waiting for them out in space. 

 

That is where Elizabeth was heading, a portion of space there had been little interest in developing, apparently already under the control of some alien force. An alien force that was expecting Elizabeth and her companions.

 

The Terran Accord hadn’t invested much in this diplomatic envoy. It was herself, her usual government assigned bodyguard, a muscular, bald man called Aleister Thorn, and a xeno intelligence specialist introduced to Elizabeth as agent Yung. Elizabeth was certain the agent had no experience with aliens that weren’t Rinans, but that meant he had interacted with one more xeno civilization than Elizabeth ever had.

 

The travel time was long, and since her two companions were not exactly engaging conversational partners that left her a lot of time to think. About her life, her failures, the future. Honestly they were bleak thoughts. Her life was perfect, seen from the outside. Born into luxury, well educated, humanitarian experience, successful in the private sector, a popular spokesperson. All translated into a coveted political position and after that? Maybe a relaxing advisory role, or perhaps a marriage to some CEO. But to Elizabeth this was the exact opposite of what she had wanted. Every step of her life, her career, another failure to help those that really needed it. 

 

The future didn’t look much brighter. The Terran Accord would keep ticking and she would retire having accomplished nothing but reinforcing the existing power structure, and that was not even considering her current predicament and what it might mean. She was sent out to negotiate humanities surrender to some alien species that had already demanded compliance with some domestication program. Not that she had a good idea what that meant. 

 

Reasoning she should probably try to figure out, With days to waste, a mind to distract and an overnett connection she logged into her KnowledgeBase user and after updating her decade long subscription to include scientific vocabulary, looked up domestication.

 

Domestication turned out to be the process of adapting wild plants and animals for human use. She knew that already, obviously. At least vaguely, but it was the details she was there for. Apparently, while domestication of plants was still happening on a galactic scale, that was what farming was, after all. On the other hand domestication of animals had become less widespread over the years. The existence of artificial meat had outcompeted factory farming and most systems never bothered importing many pets, and if they did usually only one or two species. Keeping a dog or cat was a luxury many couldn’t afford, and the people she grew up around prefered more exotic pets from far away planets. Most of the old domesticated races still existed, dogs, cats, hamsters, goldfish, cows, pigs, chicken, but especially those used for food were near extinction, only kept alive by some very devoted and very rich landowners who provided real meat for the most expensive restaurants on Terra. Back in the day there had been three general types of domesticated animals. Food, beasts of burden and comfort animals, and while there was overlap most fit mainly into one category. 

 

This knowledge did not bring Elizabeth close to knowing what the Affini meant by “comply with the Human Domestication Program.” Were they going to be breeding humans for food? Use us for labor? She considered for a second that they might want to take humans as pets, but quickly discarded the thought. That wasn’t how the world worked, a pet was a drain on resources, nobody would invade another galaxy for pets. Even if it was a comforting thought, especially when compared to the two other options her mind managed to concoct. 

 

The rest of the trip was spent with terror building over her predicament. There was a real, maybe even likely chance that the future wouldn’t be more of the Terran Accord, it would be one of humanity enslaved by alien plants. “Domesticated” as they called it, forced to work until they could work no more, or worse, being bred for food. Elizabeth would never make the world a better place, the world had made that abundantly clear. The universe was and would forever be a cold and unforgiving place. But maybe this was her one chance, not to make the world better, but to do her part in avoiding the world becoming significantly worse. 

 

Elizabeth's days of waiting in terror finally came to an end as their luxury craft jumped into Latter Day Saints solar system 3, and Cathedral-x32 came into view. The planet was about the same as she would have expected, an almost entirely blue ball of salt. But that was not what caught her eyes and kept it. That would be the giant spaceship hovering over the planet. many times bigger than anything the Terran Cosmic Navy could brag about, and instead of the steel aesthetic of Terran ships this creation seemed to be a perfect fusion of plant life and technology. Elizabeth and her associates all couldn’t help but stare dumbfounded, and they might have been there for hours if not for the communication unit flaring to life. 

 

On the giant screen there was another plant, a similar, vaguely humanoid form like that of Oxalis Platena, still a bunch of vines and flowers contorted into a vaguely humanoid form, but this one looked a little more bulky. The new plant had a similar, musical quality as the one Elizabeth had already heard, but this one had an obvious masculine tone, even if he was avoiding too much bass in his voice. “Finally! You must be the Terran representatives! It’s so wonderful to have you with us. I’m Tortolin Fren, Eighteenth Bloom, and I will be your professor in Xeno Domestication during your visit with us. If you would join us at the new salt city landing docks we would love to be properly introduced to you lovely sophonts!” The message was clear, and after a quick look between said Terrans Elizabeth took the initiative to set the autopilot and they were on their way. Soon they would be meeting with these aliens, and Elizabeth was sure, all her worst fears would be confirmed.