Stardate 11th of march. 2215?
 
 
Amelia looked at her watch annoyedly. The aliens she was supposed to meet with were late. She checked her papers again to occupy her mind while she waited. “Incident report. Ambassador De Man has gone missing. Representatives of alien species X:01 have been summoned to explain the circumstances surrounding his disappearance.
 
 
The door on the other side of the room slid open. The chitinous aliens walked in and took their seats. They always traveled in groups of at least three when off-planet. Something that central command had allowed in the interest of keeping xenological studies of the new race as smooth as possible.
 
Species X:01. The first other sapient species discovered by humanity in the vast expanses of the milky way. A proper name for the insectoid beings was still being devised. They skittered around on six pairs of legs and had two pairs of arms. One pair terminating in sharp scythes for combat and hunting. The other in a pair of chitinous hands capable of fine motor skills.
 
The leader of the trio produced something from its pack. The missing ambassador’s field kit. The icon of the star exploration project still emblazoned clearly upon it. “Before accusations are made. Examine contents.” The alien’s words were roughly translated. Study of their language was still a work in progress. But the willingness of the creatures to please the esteemed visitors from the sky had helped the process along quite smoothly.
 
 
Amelia waited until the bag was deposited into the drawer that allowed objects to be exchanged through the glass screen separating her from them. She examined the bag. It wasn’t torn or damaged. Already something that spoke in favour of the creatures. She carefully emptied it out to reveal a half-empty pack of field rations. A solar-powered info slate and the ambassador’s holdout laser pistol. A quick check of the weapon’s internal control chip revealed no shots had been fired from it since the beginning of the mission.
 
Moving on to the dataslate, Amelia found it unlocked. Her attention was immediately drawn to a video archive labeled ‘IMPORTANT. WATCH THIS BEFORE ACTING ON MY DISAPPEARANCE.’ Amelia was now more confused than worried. Species X:1 was completely unfamiliar with technology. No way had they hacked the slate to forge its contents. But then that meant Ambassador De Man had willingly stopped reporting back to command.
 
 
Amelia excused herself and ordered some snacks brought for the alien representatives while she went through the video archive. Most of it was unremarkable. Video dairies about the ambassador’s daily activities. Then the first remarkable entry came up. It showed two of the aliens standing together in some manner of ceremonial garb with the ambassador before the camera. “The tribe has decided to invite me for their reproductive ceremony.” The man explained. “Given my mission directive of discovery. I gladly accepted. I’ve set the slate up to record the event while I spectate from my seat of honour.” The man walked away from the camera and took a seat amongst the tribesfolk.
 
 
The mating began with a chittering dance between the two creatures. The larger female taking the lead over the smaller male. Their dance looked somewhat like a mock fight. Their claws flashing and glancing at several occasions. It ended when the male stopped his claw right in front of the female’s neck.
 
 
It seemed this was enough for the female to accept him as her mate. She stripped her ceremonial garb so her sex was exposed. It was positively dripping… Had this all been an elaborate kind of foreplay? The male wasted no time. Fully stripping down naked. Oddly, no penis or other organ for seed delivery was visible anywhere on his body. The male crawled down to the female’s abdomen. He pushed his head forward. Soon slipping it in and sending a wave of pleasure through the female’s body.
 
 
The pair paused like this for a moment. The female quivering in pleasure. The male bracing himself to push deeper into his chosen mate. He continued onwards unflinchingly. The female screeching and burying her claws in the ground from pleasure as he went. Soon, his entire upper torso was inside. The female stood up to lift it off the ground. She held him with her hand claws. Caressing his body as she fed more of him inside.
 
 
The process continued until the female had completely inserted the male within her. Her lower body sagged with his settling form and she rubbed her flanks with something equivalent to a smile on her face. The tribe moved in to offer the newly mated female fine food, garments and other gifts. Somewhere in the commotion. Ambassador De Man managed to get to his slate to end the recording.
 
 
Amelia was staring at the screen. Why hadn’t the ambassador reported such a breakthrough. The reproduction of species X:1 was still a mystery to humanity. Perhaps he had been too caught up in festivities to report before his disappearance? That question was answered in the negative when she saw the stardate of the next log. About two weeks later. She hit play. Curious about what happened next.
 
 
Ambassador de man appeared again. It looked like another video dairy entry. “I’ve been an intimate part of the tribe these last few days. My position as a visiting deity of these beings has been a liability for a change. They’ve asked me to bless the mated woman and give her guidance. I’ve tried to give general advice but I think they’re starting to suspect I have no idea what’s going on.” He shifted the camera to a familiar form. The mated female. Her abdomen had shrunk and rounded out. “The male stopped moving after a few days. Feeling her abdomen reveals it filled with some manner of viscous substance. I believe the poor thing’s been completely dissolved. Strangely. He never seemed to resist his fate. It’s too early to know whether this is indeed an alien mating ritual or else a mistranslated execution of some sort.” The female stirred and began to wake. The ambassador abruptly ended the recording.
 
 
The next recording was dated about a month after the initial mating ritual. It opened to show the mated female, partially encased in some manner of cocoon. “She’s been gorging herself these last few days. I’ve been forced to come clean that I’ve been stringing them along. The village council has decided not to tell her as to, in their words, ‘not upset her rebirth’. I think they will be sending me back home soon…” He rubbed the female alien with a careful softness. “Her breathing is slowing. The material encasing her seems to be a secretion of the skin similar to the outer layer of the egg sacs we’ve found so far. I believe I’m starting to work out why they have no separate words for birth and rebirth…” His voice stalled for a while. Amelia noted he appeared emotionally compromised. “There’s a strange beauty about it. Both of these creatures willingly chose this fate…” He remained silently staring for a while longer before the recording ended.
 
 
Amelia was writing all of this down. The ambassador’s cover had been blown. She had reasonable suspicion that he wouldn’t be coming back. There was no protocol for this. But she knew high command would not like this. There was one video log left. Dated two months after the mating.
 
 
The log opened on a now familiar sight. The egg sac that the female had metamorphosed into. Newborn larval aliens were crawling from it. One of them was cooing seated on the ambassador’s lap. “I’ve been talking to the council for the last month or so. They’ve offered me a choice. I can stay here forever or leave and never come back…” The small alien was eating out of his hand. “I’ve been seeing one of the village chief’s nieces… And I suppose his sister as well. Family structures are kind of convoluted here. She’s a charming girl. I think I wouldn’t mind spending the rest of my life with her… What’s there to go back to? A desk job waiting for the next alien race that I have to dupe into opening itself to exploitation by humanity.
 
 
Another of the larvae crawled outside and stretched out in the sunlight. “I’ve been explained newborns inherit the memories of their parents. I won’t be around forever to protect these people… But perhaps… This is Ambassador De man. Signing off permanently.”
 
 
Amelia was trying to make sense of it all. If the Ambassador had insisted on staying he would still have shown up on the orbital station’s sensors. Yet he had disappeared… About six months ago. She remembered species X:1 matured in about four months time. She rushed back to the meeting room to examine the representatives more closely. She finally saw what she simply hadn’t been paying attention to.
 
 
They walked more upright. Their torsos were less chitinous and their faces had a faintly human shape. Amelia sighed and buried her face in her hands. She honestly didn’t know how she was going to explain this.
 
 
“Tell me… Tell me about your father’s demands.” She eventually said.