Okay, I have read a lot of Posts about Aliens, and if we are alone...or not. And lots of folks wonder what "First Contact' would be like. At least a dozen movies have shown what they think might happen that First Time. Well, now that we have a Space Force...I think it will be the Military that greets the Aliens - little green men ...or not.

So here is how I think that Duty Assignment would come about:

First Contact.

Mark stared back at his Commander. It took him almost a full minute to restore his face to flesh colored from the blotchy red patchwork of
embarrassed shock. Then he spoke, his words were as blotchy colored as his face was a moment earlier- tones smearing each word from
pure disbelief to outright fear:
“Commander Marcy - I can’t do this. I can’t. Heck, I have never even been on a date, let alone a blind date. Yet you want me to be the first
Human Being to meet these creatures? I can’t even make small talk with Mary and Sharon, and they have been my shipmates for eighteen
months.”
Mark shuddered at the ponderous weight that small talk buries shy people under, people like him. His shudder was lost in the shivering he
was undergoing at the thought of meeting the Aliens, alone, on their ship. If a mind could stutter - his was.
“Mark. Mark. Listen to me. We have searched the entire fleet, scrubbing the records clean, no one has been overlooked. The Psych profile
suggests that you, and you alone, are the best person among us all to meet these creatures - alone, on their ship.
If they were coming here, to My Ship, and they had a Council or something, the Ship’s Medical Staff says that Admiral Cane, and I, along
with Dr. Lev would be sufficient to the task. But they aren’t asking to come here. They want one Human Being. You."
“Me?”
“Yes. You. Apparently, they also scrounged through our records, or read our minds, or scanned us somehow, and THEIR Medical Staff
came to the same conclusion - you.”
Mark showed how distraught he really was, by sagging into the one Chair in the Commanders Office- burying his head in his hands - and
chanting:
“I can’t even ask a girl out, and they want me to meet these creatures. Is everyone insane but me?”
The Commander was a Mother, as well as a Commander, she recognized the switch in roles immediately. Her actions bespoke of the
immensity of this request in their own way, for she walked over to Mark and gently rubbed the back of his neck. With the same voice she
used to console and convince her children- and the same tone too, she told Mark he not only could do this, he WILL do this.
“When?”
“As soon as you are ready Mark. The sooner, the better.”
“What do I say? Why did they want me? Can you give me a clue at least?”
The Commander smiled. She couldn’t even imagine a person’s psych profile would show what Mark’s did. He wasn’t only the most
empathetic person on the ship, he was also the kindest, least judgmental, and most tolerant person ever measured in the Fleet. How in the
world he got into the Space Forces with that profile was beyond her. In a world of achievement he was also the most humble. It is why
everyone liked him, he didn’t care who got the credit, and he made sure it wasn’t him.
Until she saw his scores she didn’t know he was also a genius. He was so shy that most times he was invisible. He rarely spoke, but when
he did, it was always encouraging, enlightening, or enriching. Like most of the Crew, she had never noticed. At least not until they met the
Aliens. The Psych Search narrowed it down to Mark, as did the confirmation from the Aliens - they wanted Mark to be the one that met
them.
And so it was that Mark found himself headed towards the rendezvous in a shuttle with one passenger. Himself.
“Sir. The link is secure. You may walk over to their ship now.“
The Marine pilot pivoted his chair to watch Mark enter the linking tube.
“Good luck, Sir. Do us proud!”
A quick thumbs up, a swift smile, and a nod towards the linking tube from the Marine Pilot- sent Mark to his destiny.
When the door closed behind him- Mark felt the first stirrings of curiosity. What would he see when the door in front of him opened up?
What would he say? What was he supposed to say. After all, he represented all of humanity in this, the first meeting of an Alien Species.
What he did say when that door opened… well, nobody expected to hear those words. Every School kid in two different Galaxies and from
two different Species can recite those few words from Memory. It bonded the species together- forever.
The door opened, the Aliens stood lined up in two rows of three to meet their first Human Being. At Mark’s words the formality around them,
the tension in everyone watching (in both Fleets, from both Species), melted into surprised giggles, smiles plastered on faces that only
vaguely resembled each other.
Mark’s words escaped his lips before he really thought about them, and everyone agreed they were the perfect words:
“Oh. My. God. They smell like Strawberries!”