It might be more punishing than it seems.

Gharr notes that Earth is unlikely to be a candidate for the Alliance, and Earth is possibly the furthest planet from the Raharr, with intelligent life, thats been discovered so far. Thus visitors from his own species and others in the alliance could be very few and far between. Even if the Fleet hangs around for a while it will inevitably move on. The scout ship said it would see them in a year.

Unless others elect to stay behind (likely requiring the captain's permission) it could mean Gharr is one of, if not the only, Raharr or even alien, on Earth and must deal with not only pre-space explorer technology and whatever Earth can provide for Raharran needs.

Its still the opportunity of a lifetime and I'm sure that when ships visit they will take copies of his studies and work back to Raharr space for publishing where it will be highly regarded in academic circles and studies... But he won't be attending Raharran conferences and lecture halls or leading departments and study groups in Raharr.

I'm sure he'll be quite the celebrity on Earth as well, but that will be more for his existence as an alien and such, rather than any of his xenopsychology or xenobiology work on humanity. Humans might be interested in how they compare to other races discovered, but anything else they would likely tell him their own psychologists and biologists have known for decades.

Regardless, Gharr will regard it as better than a prison sentence and Zane will still need to explain the deaths of 6 soldiers to their loved ones.

Zane is explicitly referring to his authority as the expedition commander here, and when he did so previously, I was under the impression that he knows very well how far it does or doesn't go. Hence, I suspect that whether the authorities back home realize and/or like it or not won't make a difference.

That does not, however, mean that whoever the Alliance sends to officially keep contact to humans in the long run would not be able to remove Gharr from that activity as soon as Gharr gives him the slightest reason to do so. As far as to the Easter Islands, or making him the personal liaison (and lab animal) of professor Zelenkov ...

I think Gharr's initial concern is for the fleet. He noted to Dan that the fleet would need a Xenopsychologist and believes his exile will harm the expedition's mission... Its POSSIBLE this means that Gharr was aware of the hidden mission for the Ghosts. While a Xenopsychologist is important in the event of discovering intelligent races, I could see that not happening often enough the exploration mission would be seriously jeopeardised. BUT, it might be a critical role for chasing down a specific alien race, such as the Ghosts.

...I guess the other possibility is to think of Gharr as the Fleet's psychologist for the various aliens, onboard to consult with and confide in. It just happened they discovered humanity and he got this opportunity of a lifetime.

The fleet probably already has at least a few who can step into Gharr's position. Maybe not as well-trained but decent fits (if the situation ever actually happens again.) Encountering another "advanced" race on the edge of space-exploration is like buying a single ticket for the Lottery, or the chances of being hit by lightning twice in the same day.

Umh, no, they don't? That's why Zane had to turn to non-[EXPUNGED]-psychologist Shuru for a second opinion ...

(... why does the comments section accept "xenobiologist", "-psychologist" etc., but feels it necessary to replace my hyphen-separated "x...o" with "[EXPUNGED]" ... ?!?)

The software is probably also used for Warhammer40k stuff, and we can't have people use slurs like filthy хеnο

Probably, a lifetime.

Hm, I thought it would indicate the exact opposite.

Meh. The established English idiom is not "pick your prison".

It does *if* we assume that Zane wants to explicitly forbid Gharr accompanying humanity's first space forays ... ?

Yes, the Ghosts. The expedition has only found traces of their existence or interferrence. Arguably thats more a confirmation they're on the right trail and should continue. But if the Ghosts are still on Earth its an opportunity for the fleet to possibly catch a contingent of the Ghosts off guard. Whoever and whatever the Ghosts sent to Earth were expecting to deal with pre-space explorer technology. Now a much more advanced race has shown up it may might be more than the Ghosts anticipated and capturing Ghost technology or even individuals could yield better information.

Oooh! The Human Forces will be enlisted to deal with the "Ghosts" who it turns out have plans of their own for Earth that include eradication of those who won't be their willing allies. Gharr will assist the Human Forces, to bring them up to speed and this act will exonerate him from the mistake he made.

I think, so far, the Ghost will remain as this enigmatic "Neutral-to-Evil" boogieman never clearly seen but sometimes lurking in the shadow pulling some strings & pushing some players to manipulate humankind in directions sometimes for better but mostly for worse.

Like a child that wants to see how much abuse its toys can handle..

With complete hidden access to the entire Internet , they could create wealth out of thin air , set up funds , create legal and official campaign-donations accounts in the billions inside big but empty companies who coincidentally own each other in a web of boardrooms and individuals who never show up but get paid handsomely to sign papers as CEO´s , advisors and consultants, all placed in headquarters that turn out to be postboxes in Dublin (for tax reasons), then purchase major media-outlets to skew news coverage , throw a few Claims of misconduct at unwanted genuine candidates using a closed loop of own media as reliable sources then donate billions for the Player you want in the High White Castle supported in public by the Tech-Gurus and Cryptobros they in reality has build up in the hidden and presto : "Il Presidente del Meatpuppet" by hidden Alien handywork...

..Now wait just a minute here..... This just went full IRL Horror movie!