Rungrats

Interstellar travel involves very large, complex ships. While the ships are as diverse as the species that use them, there is one constant. Rungrats live in the ships and maintain them. They pay little attention to what nation or people the ship belongs to, only that they do their job and do it well. Gris is a rungrat on an embassy ship that encountered a broken down ship from Earth. As this was Earth's first attempt at interstellar travel, the ship's crew knew little about the existence of cultures outside of their own planet. But with the help of Gris and his friends, the two cultures learn more about each other as Earth's interstellar progress advances.