"Stop fidgeting will you."

"Sorry! I'm just nervous..... Do I look stupid."

"You always look stupid, that's not going to change anytime soon."

"Ha ha, Hilarious, Just answer the question."

"You look fine stop worrying."

Adam turned to face the mirror tugging at the sleeves of his dress shirt, fidgeting obsessively with his tie, and the open front of his jacket. Conn floated over his shoulder grinning somewhat malevolently at him.

Krill slapped his hand as he tried to reach for the tie again, "Stop messing with it. Look what you did now. We will have to do it all over again."

The little doctor angrily undid the tie and began to redo it.

Adam sighed, "Thanks mother."

"Don't give me your sass." he finished tying the knot stepping back so Adam had room to button the vest back up before turning around to face the mirror. Conn had sidled over to the side of the room still leering at him as he was prone to do.

He tried to ignore him and eyed himself feeling more than a little strange in such formal attire, a three piece suit minus an eye patch, and plus a shiny pair of dress shoes he could have seen his reflection in. He reached up to grab his tie again, but his hand was slapped away.

"What did I say!"

"Sorry, Sorry." he grumbled pulling back to message his hand .

There was a hiss as the door at the far end of the room popped open, and Sunny stepped inside trailed by waffles, "Look." Sunny began, pointing proudly towards the dog, who trotted into the room to sit politely before Adam looking up at him with her big brown eyes head tilted slightly to the side.

He laughed, "Is that a bow tie?"

Sunny Hummed to herself, pleased, "Why yes, yes it is. She's adorable and you're welcome."

He reached down to rub the dog's ears before looking up, "You look nice."

"I know." Sunny announced striking a rather, heroic pose, which, all jesting aside, actually completed the look: bright silver armor, a horned helmet, all pulled together by the electric blue silk cape that hung at one shoulder.

"Wish I could wear a cape." He frowned crossing his arms in mild dejection.

"Why not?"

"What do you mean why not?"

"This is the movie industry, Adam, they wear outlandish stuff onto the red carpet all the time."

He seemed rather miffed at the observation, mostly from the fact he hadn't thought of that before, "Well now it's a little too late, don't you think?"

"Sucks to suck, you look good though."

He sighed and turned back towards the mirror adjusting himself, "I look like a poser."

"Stop worrying so much, and stop fidgeting. The fidgeting is what makes you look like a poser. Relax and own it, you know for someone who spends a lot of his time unwaveringly confident to the point that I worry about your health, you can be very insecure sometimes."

"Thank you so much! for that boost of confidence, Sunny."

His sarcasm wasn't lost on her, though she chose, rather obviously to ignore it.

"There is one thing I think you should do."

"Oh, and what is that."

"Put the eyepatch back on. Be you, just the fancier version. I have a theory that the reason people aren't comfortable is because they aren't being themselves."

He raised an eyebrow at her then shrugged, "If you say so, I guess."

He could hear Conn snort internally, "That is horrible advice for most people, since the vast majority of them are miserable hacks."

He ignored the starborne, again.

There was a sudden knock at the door, and they all turned to see another man dressed in a fine black suit, "Mr. Ellis has just arrived, and is his car is waiting for you outside."

Adam took a deep breath glancing down at the eye patch one more time before slipping it on, "Alright, ready everyone?"

They chorused their readiness, and he squirmed with nervous energy.

How were they all being so calm?

Together they made their way out the door and down the hallway to the large, black limousine waiting for them just outside the door. The man from earlier was waiting for them, pulling the door open and motioning them inwards.

Conn floated in first, Krill climbing in second, followed by Adam and then Sunny.

Director Clayton Ellis sat just inside the door grinning widely.

Adam had to blink a few times to determine which part of the man was which. There was just so much of him ... everywhere . He wore a white... something absolutely crusted with sequins and jewels including the frames of his glasses. As far as Adam could tell he could have been wearing a dress, or a suit with some strange alteration, though it was difficult to see sitting here in the car.

The ribbons that flowed down from his back and hips sort of reminded him of Conn.

"Adam! So good, so good to see you. I am so glad you could make it for the premier. I think you're going to love it, absolutely visually stunning, heart rending at times, and just the right amount of action. Best piece I think I have ever directed, and all thanks to you, the man of the hour. And don't you look sharp, absolutely working for me very old fashioned very provincial late 1990s early 2000s maybe."

Adam rubbed the back of his neck, blushing, "Er, thanks.... You look good.... Too."

"Well thank you! Designed it myself, well with the help of some famous friends." He motioned towards Conn, "Took the concept idea from your starborn there, very ethereal, very flowey, though doesn't look so elegant when sitting in a car."

Adam just continued to nod along adding an mmhmm or a yes, or and of course whenever he thought it was necessary. Luckily Mr. Ellis provided most of the conversation, so he didn't have to open his mouth too much.

He noticed almost immediately when the car slowed down glancing out the window and finding.... An absolute mob of people. His stomach lurched and churned as cameras flashed, some held in hands, others as little ball drones hovering over the crowd. He craned his neck to see ahead of them, watching as a line of fancy dark cars slowly scooted up the line.

His stomach was churning.

From where he sat, he watched as Keith Jenning, the actor who had played him, stepped from the car. The lashing grew in intensity, outside the window he could hear a muffled roar.

Mr Ellis Grinned, "Me, you, and then your extraterrestrial friends, eh? Give them something to talk about.

The next car ahead of them stopped, and Rita. Ortiz, and Adler Handen, krill's voice actor, stepped from the car. Rita was dressed in a tight black suit, not dissimilar to his own, silver watch shining on her left wrist.

And there it was.

He suddenly needed to pee.

Their car lurched forward as the cameras flashed and stopped. Clayton Elllis got ready, and then the door was opened releasing a wave of sound that absolutely deafened him. Clayton stepped from the car trails of ribbons billowing behind him, hands raised to the crowd. Lights flashed pictures snapped.

Adam was ushered out next, Stepping from the car, foot planted straight on the red carpet. Lights dazzled his eyes, and in a daze he stepped forward to follow Clayton, who was making the most of his moment.

"WE LOVE YOU COMMANDER!"

He turned his head to the side suddenly blinded by another flash of light, as one of those camera drones zipped past him.

He blinked the light from his eyes just in time to see a group of women leaning out over barricade waving their hands and screaming furiously.

At that moment he wondered which was redder, his face or the carpet.

He gave a rather awkward wave towards the girls who absolute erupted into screaming and jumping.

Then the crowd silenced a moment later, the lights stopping.

And he turned to see Sunny step foot after him, light glittering and sparkling form her armor and carapace. She held her regal armored head high.

IThe moment of silence continued for a second, and then it was as if the world around them was alight with stars, a flashing roaring thunder, which only grew louder with Krill and finally with Conn, who flouted outwards completely stealing the spotlight with his ethereal presence. Together they slowly walked forward stopped on occasion to get group pictures

In their turn, each of them was kidnapped by Ellis and forced to pose for a thousand pictures.

He just grinned dazed and confused star struck as he looked around him.

He even thought he could hear his name being called from the crowd, though that was uncertain.

TV reporters stood at the end of the red carpet speaking frantically into their cameras and waylaying celebrities as they walked by.

"Keith Jenning, tell us about what it was like to make this movie."

The man flashed a charming smile, "Well, at first I was a little unsure. I mean I had never done anything based on a real life story before, and emulating another person was hard. I worked with posture coaches, and accent experts for weeks. A mid Americana accent is surprisingly subtle, but very hard if you want to get it right. Over all, I actually ended up really enjoying shooting the movie despite my doubts at first."

"Rita, was it hard to perform in stilts and motion capture, we heard you almost broke your legs."

She laughed, "It was hard yeah sure, but it was so, very fun. You know what you act normally, you do your best to act as convincingly human as possible, but when playing an alien, the rules change, go out the window. I had so much fun learning about Drev culture, and the way they think about war. It was a fascinating and eye opening experience. I loved it, and I encourage everyone to get to know a little more about our interstellar neighbors."

Lights flashed, more cameras snapped.

"Did you find it hard to connect with the character?" Someone asked Adler Handen.

"Not in the slightest, it was actually a very excellent way to get out there and stretch my proverbial wings. It's always good to get out of your head on occasion.

Sunny was grabbed and pulled to stand in a picture with Rita, who seemed more than pleased to be spending time with Sunny.

It was the same for Krill, and finally Adam who was dragged forward to get a picture with Keith.

Off to the side Clayton Ellis was excitedly rambling on, "Oh I absolutely love the movie, couldn't be happier. I really think we did the source material justice, and honestly I think it really puts perspective on the Drev war, and the people involved. You know with all the negativity going around about the LFIL, there are a lot of people who are scared of aliens, Xenophobic in nature, and I think this really puts into persepctive just how similar we all are. They are intelligent sentient lifeforms not so dissimilar to us at all, and I think this movie, this real life story really demonstrates how we can all get past those differences."

Adam was quite pleased to hear the relative positivity that was coming off the actors and the director, even if it was fake.

That was before the camera crews descended like vultures around him, and he was surrounded by a wave of cameras.

"Commander, Commander Vir! Tell us how you feel about all this."

He hemmed and hawed for a moment stuttering over himself before taking a deep breath, "Look I'm A kid from mid Mericanda, I honestly ended up here mostly by accident, and I'm pretty sure this is some kind of insane dream."

"What did you think of the movie."

"Well, I haven't actually seen it yet, I was deployed when they did the beta testing, but I've gotten to know Director Ellis a little, and he was very open to my suggestions and the story, so I feel confident he did his best to do it justice."

"We hear that you won't be taking any of the royalties."

"Well no, not entirely. Maybe a little for my family, but most of it is going to a charity for Drev war survivors, especially operation Steel eye. A lot of those people had it rough after the war, and I want to make sure they get something back."

Across the red carpet, Sunny had been stopped, "Do you worry that depictions of the war will put your society in a bad light."

Sunny tilted her head, "Why would it. The Drev are warlike, and we always have been. The only difference is that we practice and view war differently than humans. War has never come close to destroying our planet. To die in war is an honor and a victory, so we do not hold grudges against each other or assume it to be a tragedy. War on our planet's mean two different things."

"Dr Krill, is it true that you were the first alien surgeon to perform on a human trauma paitent.

"That is actually true, yes, even during the Drev war, it turns out 98% of attending physicians were human because humans tended to be the highest rate of survivors from injury. Humans being slightly more durable than the rest of us."

In the center of the red carpet, Conn had taken up a large space given a certain amount of personal room by the awed crowd, "Is it true that you're a telepath."

The starborn raised his hands signing, voice dictation taking over as he did so, "Think of something, try it."

"Oh, Ok."

"Big purple muffin."

"You could have just made that up."

"But he didn't, that's exactly what I was thinking."

"Don't be nervous. I promise not to spill any of you deep dark secrets." Conn laughed like the psycho he was."

After more pictures, more questions and a hundred more handshakes, they were then ushered into the building, and sat down on comfortable seats facing the screen.

Adam breathed a heavy sigh of relief and leaned his head back.

Director Ellis grinned at him.

Light overhead went dark and speaking turned to distant quiet muttering.

The screen was dark for a long moment before.

"Mom?" A child's voice

"Yes Adam?" A womans

"I know they're out there ."

The woman laughed, "Who is out there."

"Aliens of course."

"Oh?"

"I'm gonna prove it one day."

You could hear the smile in the woman's voice, "I know you will."

And then the room began to shake with the thrilling roar of the F-80 Darkfire engine.

He would have known that sound anywhere.

It sounded like home.