Solena was stunned when she saw Sarah in the conference room.

"Sarah?"

"Solena! Sorry, I couldn't resist."

Solena laughed. "Wait, you are my Canadian aide?"

"Of course. There is a Canadian Space Agency member on the expedition to Mars, and they reached out to me because I had worked with you on the South Sudan project."

"And you are a naturist."

"Well, that too. But mainly that I visited your resort every winter, so we stayed in touch."

"What about George?"

"What about him?"

"Well, isn't he your boyfriend?"

"Well, yeah, but not my husband. If it had been more serious, I would have married him, but this... Going to the galactic council? I mean. Opportunity of a lifetime!"

Linda finally got a word in. "Happy you both know each other. Shall we continue Solena's briefing or wait for the other two members? They are on their way in."

"Shouldn't Sarah be briefed?" Said Solena.

"I was on the flight in. Perhaps not as much as you, but I won't talk to anyone else."

Linda spoke up.

"The galactic council recognizes one aide as the official assistant, allowed to join the ambassador into the council chamber. Sarah will be that assistant."

"Good. We worked well together."

Sarah nodded. Solena really appreciated how Sarah could be focused and dedicated to the objectives.

But this was a door opened that Solena didn't want closed so early.

"So I can't leave, and only Sarah can come with me. Any other regulations I should know?"

Kevin spoke up. "Powers, or races, speak in a certain order. We will always speak last since we joined last. The order at the top isn't that clear, but it's posted at the council. I think the Siluvor don't insist on it because, well, they are way down the line."

"So they have pride," says Solena.

"It seems so. The races we told you about is the supreme council. The two Denebian factions: the Trask, the Vorex, and the Loom. But also the Prax, but the notes say that the Prax is a proud information bartering power who do not want their information given freely. All we know is that the council president is always a Prax, and they also have an ambassador, so they get 2 votes."

"So I will need to barter information with them?"

"We have given you printed books with a ton of them. They love biology information, so you can trade details about animals for data about them, or perhaps the history of a country for some other information."

"Interesting dynamic."

"What's most interesting is that the Siluvors don't trade information, which is probably why they don't know much," said Kevin.

But Linda brings him back on topic.

"The protocol?"

"Right, so the president speaks between each declaration and presents who speaks next. It's complex, because if you mention another race, even just to thank them, they can either speak again or jump the queue. So let's say you have a disagreement with the Vorex. They already spoke, but if you name them in any way explicitly, they can rebuke you and speak again. If you don't, since we are last, the president will close the matter, and the council will move to another subject."

"Now that's interesting, and going last does have a level of power," says Solena.

Sarah agreed. "You can give a second opportunity to speak to a power you want to hear more from."

Two gentlemen came in with a marine that escorted them.

"Ah," says Linda. "On the left is Philippe, your internal aide from France, and on the right is Grant, the intelligence expert from the United Kingdom."

Both nodded. Solena thought that Philippe looked too young to be her aide, while Grant looked too old to help.

It was an odd contrast. Philippe also had a deep beard, which, far from making him older, showed his young age from how patchy it was. Grant was not only clean-shaven, but he had also shaven the top of his head.

Philippe spoke first. "It's an honor to be able to serve," with a tiny hint of a French accent. Solena was impressed.

Grant spoke next. "Ready to serve, Ma'am," he said, with an exaggerated British accent. Cockney perhaps, Solena thought.

Solena thanked them, and the team presented each other, mainly Sarah, Linda, and Kevin.

Soon enough, the four members of the ambassador team were sitting next to each other at the conference table. Solena still sat in the middle, but this time, she was flanked on her right by Sarah and on her left by Philippe, next to whom Kevin sat.

A general in uniform was introduced. He was just a 2-star one or major general, but still a general.

"The main objectives of the mission are to obtain as much information and technology as possible while establishing trade deals for technology in exchange for agricultural goods. Our goal for the first part of our introduction to the council is to not reveal any of our technology. We will not trade any electronics until we know for sure what the technological level of every other power is."

Solena had figured as much.

"We need to secure expansion space. From the little we got, stakes are as important as actual holding, unlike here. We need to know which star systems that could support us are unoccupied and stake a claim on them as soon as possible. When we finally get faster-than-light travel, which is part of the standard exchange packets, we will quickly establish footholds, so your work is to secure us that space"

Solena had to ask.

"But which systems? Don't we need them to have habitable planets and such?"

The general laughed. "Sure, if you can get that. But what's most important is just more systems. Those with asteroid belts are the best. Easy to mine for more metals so we can build our own fleet. With FTL, we could send a mining ship with all the resources they need; they could harvest for a few weeks and fly back home. Like the old whaling ships of old."

Solena nodded and spoke up. "So the goal is a multi-pronged approach."

The general agreed, but Solena soon felt like he was mostly talking to Grant, who also was the one asking the most questions.

That's in part because she was disappointed. The post had been described as mainly diplomatic, but these goals were more than just pure diplomacy. There was an air of intrigue, of obfuscation, but also of expansionism and of protectionism, which was far from her free trade as an objective she usually pushed for.

And yet, she also served the interests of her employer. It's just that previously, when she was picked for a job, it was because it really aligned with her diplomatic values. This time, it's only because it appeared to align, and of course, the lack of clothes in the council.

Grant seemed a lot more at ease with the operational parameters, so Solena let him have the floor.

Soon enough, the general left, and updated translations of protocols were available.

Mainly subtleties that were missed by the computer translation program.

Kevin had a perfect example for this. ""Hebrew and Arabic often omit short-vowel marks in ordinary writing, so the same consonant pattern can represent different words. It's the same with their diplomatic language, which omits a lot of information that we need to fill the gap of."

"And how can you know for sure?" asks Solena.

"The Siluvors! They learned English, so we can ask them for clarification, but it's a slow process."

But soon enough, even Kevin was done.

There were other races, but they only had names for them in the diplomatic language, and new ones in English might be used once more is known about them.

For example, one of the races had a name in the diplomatic language, which sounded a lot like "skunk" with no details and only mentioned because they backed the Loom in their privacy initiative.

Left with only Linda, Solena took the opportunity to try to get to know her staff better.

Sarah, she knew enough, and Philippe was easy to get to know.

He grew up in a naturist resort in the south of France, had a degree in office management from a remote university, and learned English from his father, an American man who moved to France.

Solena could detect from him a certain attraction to Sarah, but he kept it quiet.

Grant had experience but also couldn't talk much about his career. Never married because of his job, he retired from some sort of special forces to be an intelligence officer. He made no mention of naturism.

The four got to talk about their expectations and plans.

Slowly, a dynamic was installing itself.

Sarah would be Solena's diplomatic aide. She would sit at negotiation tables, discuss with the diplomatic aides of other races, and initially focus on learning the common diplomatic language.

Philippe would be Solena's administrative assistant who would communicate with Linda and other liaison people on Earth while managing Solena's calendar and ensuring the needs of the four-person team are met.

The Council requires one person to be responsible for the delegation's habitation module, and that would be Philippe.

Grant was the simplest and yet the most complex.

His job was to coordinate all intelligence and counterintelligence operations. That could mean tweaking a speech from Solena to hide some information or secretly signal a potential ally. It would mean sending questions to the other three members to casually ask around.

The computer box was brought back so they could familiarize themselves with it.

Grant did declare he would be the one in charge of it and that he would decide when it would be safe enough to open.

Solena felt like Grant had other objectives in mind, notably military-wise, but she decided not to press.

She did not have to help conceal an operation she knew nothing about.

The rest of the team had to be briefed on the various races, a briefing Solena had already received.

As such, she was left in an office turned into a bedroom to sleep for a few hours.

"But my team?"

"All of them got some sleep before arriving. You need to be on your best foot when the shuttle arrives."

Solena nodded, and when alone in the bedroom, she wondered, does she sleep nude or not? They did offer for her to undress, but she decided to be conservative and keep her dress on.

Not that she wanted to wear clothes. Not that she wanted to safeguard her modesty.

But because this was a one-way trip. And once on the shuttle, she would be nude for it.

In a way, these few hours were the last time she would be wearing clothes for her whole life.

Despite being a naturist, this was something she wanted to savor for one last time.

Sleep did not need an invitation. The information dump had made her head heavy, and the pillow was just the right amount of fluffy.