In a family home in Austria a happy family could be seen sitting in a nuanced living room while waiting for the New Year's countdown to hit zero. The room was still lavishly decorated from Christmas eve and one could feel the effort and money the family invested in this holiday embroidery.

Whether one liked Sylvester celebrations or not this year everyone on earth was eagerly awaiting that final second. It wasn't surprising either as the year was 1999 and humans wouldn't be able to commemorate the beginning of a new millennium for the next thousand years.

Anyway in that cozy home a small child could be spotted gleefully staring at the flames of the fireplace, while his parents served some champagne for the kid's grandparents. The father was a tall, black haired man, in his thirties, with a three day beard and a bit too much fat on his belly. In contrast the one year younger mother was at least 20cm shorter and had beautifully combed dark brown hair. One could see that she was also struggling with maintaining a slim figure, albeit she was way better off than her husband.

"Harald, please put the glasses on the table, I'm getting the champagne!"called Dorothea Strono on her way to the kitchen. Her husband just grunted but nonetheless he got up to get the glassware. Kazimierz also got up to help his son-in-law whilst the grandmother kept watching her cute little grandson with doting eyes, from her countenance everyone knew she would stop at nothing to make his life heaven.

As soon as the whole family was back at the table, with glasses full of champagne, they focused at the timer and saw that only three minutes remained of this millennium. Quicker than a sixty-two year old should be able to move the grandmother picked up her cutie-pie, placed him on her lap and gave him a chocolate euro.

"Mum please put Alexander down, he could spill your drink and mess up the whole tablecloth and you shouldn't give him too many sweets, that isn't healthy!" displeased Dorothea berated her mother for overly spoiling her son.

"Dorota, it's just one piece of chocolate, he won't get diabetes from just this much, stop worrying so much." the grandmother responded flatly.

Already seeing a fight erupting Kazimierz interrupted them,"Irena, Dorota don't start arguing now, let's embark into the next millennium without being at each others throats." With that he held up his champagne as it was already time to count down from ten. To not ruin the mood both women kept quiet and held their glasses up together with the silent but grumpy father. The two year old Alexander also cheered and flayed his hands in the air.

"Ten!"

"Nine!"

"Eight!"

"Seven!"

"Six!"

"Five!"

"Four!"

"Three!"

"Two!"

"One!"

"Happy New Ye-!"

BOOOOM!

As every single human on earth wanted to wish their loved ones a fulfilling and fortunate year, whilst watching the grand display of fireworks, a loud booming noise could be heard everywhere on the planet. At the same time all TVs in every household and public place were hijacked and a transmission of some weird humanoid looking creature was displayed to each citizen of earth.

The alien had grey skin and two gigantic black eyes on an oval formed head, just like every generic alien movie would portray one.

"Greetings earthlings, we wish you all a happy new annual cycle and would like to inform you that your species is eligible to join our Intergalactic Federation. Your leaders are being informed by our ground teams as I speak and you should receive an announcement some time later. Since we want every citizen to also be aware of the consequences of that verdict I will now explain what will happen from now on."

Most humans didn't believe in such nonsense and tried to switch to another channel or turn off their TV completely but none succeeded, the devices were totally wrestled out of their control. So without much of a choice they continued to watch the supposedly transmission from outer space.

"First of all I'm Balluo'nok. In case your planet joins I will be responsible to handle any matters related to the federation until you become independent. Now for some general information. The Intergalactic Federation consists of billions of different species and we try to maintain peace between all of us as much as possible. It's comparable to your earth's organization called European Union. We also offer any new member full protection from outside forces for the next two decades and will help develop your intergalactic travel in the same time span. Afterwards you will become independent and have to secure your species survival on your own. There are multiple ways to do so, for example by creating contracts to mine your galaxy's resources with other members of the alliance or letting your people work as mercenaries or any other profession. In general the Federation works the same way earth's society does but with way more options to start a career in. Your leaders will inform you about our rules and political system in more detail after a decision has been made."

The alien Balluo'nok continued,"That scenario will take place if your leaders decide to become a member. In case they don't agree they are able to either swear allegiance to an already existing member of the Intergalactic Federation and are thereafter nothing more than slaves for that race, or they can completely disagree to join. In which case your planet will be open to subjugation from any race in or outside the federation. We won't offer any kind of help and you will have to fend for your own. Be aware that your planet and galaxy wasn't invaded so far because of the rules of the Intergalactic Federation and the same status quo you enjoyed until now will change drastically."

As soon as Balluo'nok finished almost all humans began to panic as they didn't know what path their leaders would choose. Even the ignorant ones that didn't believe in aliens began sweating since no government would pull a joke like this for so long without fear of getting toppled the next day. But before any riots or mass hysteria could start the alien addressed earth's citizens again.

"Do not worry though, in case your leaders vote against joining our alliance we'll still offer each earthling the chance to join the federation's army. This army consists of every species from our members, is neutral and only acts to defend the federations interests. You will have to endure a rigorous and dangerous training but if you survive you will have the chance to take your family to live on a prosperous member planet and enjoy every luxury the alliance has to offer. With that the short introduction of our Intergalactic Federation is over and your leaders will have one week to make a decision. I wish you all good luck with whatever choice you make and implore you to think carefully."

Humanity as a whole was too stunned to speak or even think after the broadcast shut down. Some fell into denial and thought this was just a giant hoax instigated by their government, a lot began to cry because they suffered a mental breakdown after realizing that their whole lives were about to change. Then there were a few humans who just ignored it and kept partying since they thought the entire thing wasn't their problem but the most unexpected group were the ones who started celebrating a new age of opportunities and space exploration.

The Strono family belonged to multiple of those categories. Harald didn't really believe the whole situation and thought some hacker managed to hijack the television. His wife instead started sobbing and nearly fainted because her mind couldn't comprehend how such a nonsensical event was happening. Grandma Irena didn't really register the danger they all were in and was just worried that she won't be able to secure her grandchild's future. As for the kid he was crying ever since the loud noise drowned the firework show.

The most collected of them was Kazimierz since he knew that as a 65 year old man he wouldn't live for long anyway. So he just had to find a way to keep his family safe in case the leaders of earth made some moronic choice and didn't join the federation. In which case he would just have to subscribe to the federation's army and survive the boot camp but as a man who lived his childhood in a from Nazis controlled Poland and survived World War II he had the mindset that nothing should be impossible.

So the first thing he did was comfort his daughter and help his wife calm down little Alex. After everybody was as composed as they could be he explained what he thought should be done.

"I know you think this is all just some major hoax and not real Harald but please listen to me, in case this broadcast turns out to be genuine we should make some preparations. I would suggest we all go to bed for now and wait for earth's leaders to confirm whether this is real or not tomorrow since they surely won't be able to do so in the next few hours. And if they truly are just idiots with power and make the choice to not join or become slaves I will join that mentioned army and make sure all of you will get to live a life worth living."

Without any real confirmation of the true nature of this broadcast everyone agreed and went to sleep for the day, eagerly awaiting an announcement from their government.