{A/N- Sorry for the very belated update, I have been incredible busy. I don't own Starship, Red River Valley, Tootsie Noodles, Taz, Specs, GLEE, Junior, Dr. Spaceclaw, or any other aspects NOT from my imagination.}

Tootsie couldn't believe he had gotten this far. Walking down the halls of Starship 14E-7, or The Raider, as Commander Ranley called it, was like a dream come true. He was fighting the robots, going to their base planet, Granmauri, helping to end the war that took his life away. Now he may be dumb, but Tootsie could get revenge. And that was his fuel to succeed.

There were five other rangers assigned to his mission on the starship: Tarren, Hughes, Francis, Maurie, and Aaron. Tarren seemed to lead a posse of himself, Hughes, and Maurie. He was from New York on Earth, a once bustling, now burning place. Hughes was from Orlando, one of the only flourishing cities during the wars, quite the opposite of New York. Maurie was the science officer from Ireland on Earth, a place that seemed to have steered clear of robots, and wasn't affected at all by the wars. Francis, hailing from Germany, was a very intelligent, very tough, and very independent person, however, she was immensely afraid of nuclear work and radioactivity, having been a spectator in her family's death from radiation poisoning. Then there was Aaron. Tootsie liked him the most. Aaron was from Oklahoma, and loved the same things as Tootsie: playing guitar and banjo, harvesting crops, riding horses. He had invited Tootsie over to his room after they had dinner, and he happily accepted the chance at a friend.

Tootsie turned the corner and found himself face-to-face with Commander Ranley, who scowled at him. "What are you doing, soldier?" he asked suspiciously. Tootsie started to speak, but Ranley interrupted him. "Go back to your quarters, and don't let me catch you out after hours again." Tootsie turned to leave, but the commander grabbed him by the back of his uniform. "Listen kid, I hate to rat you out, but this isn't the Academy anymore. You have more rules to follow, and I have to be harder on you. Galactic League standards. " He sighed, and let go of Tootsie's uniform. "I know you must be out for a reason. Look, I'll let it go this time. Just don't expect me to do this again."

"Thank you, sir," said Tootsie, and waited until Commander Ranley was well on his way until knocking on Aaron's door.

"What took you so long?" asked Aaron, as he opened the door and beckoned Tootsie to come in. "Is everything okay?"

"Yeah," replied Tootsie, and told Aaron everything Commander Ranley had told him.

"Those dumbasses at the Galactic League. They are too strict. Can't be out of bed after hours…" Aaron smirked. "Well, at least Ranley let you off the hook.

"Yeah, I got lucky. I doubt he'll do it again," said Tootsie, still thinking about the Galactic League.

"That idiot Space-claw, you know, head of the G.L.E.E., he should be fired," Aaron was saying, and suddenly Tootsie remembered one of his classes at the Academy. Some fellow named Junior had taught a weaponry class of his. All Tootsie remembered from it, however, was that Junior had spent the entire class time talking about his dad, Dr. Space-claw, and his future plans for the G.L.E.E. That was his least favorite class anyway, so it didn't matter much to Tootsie.

The pair spent the rest of the night playing cards, drinking old beers Aaron had found behind his fridge, and trading stories about the Academy, the robots, and their long-lost lives. Aaron had a pretty similar life to Tootsie's, although he never had any friends. He lost his family to the robots, however, so his desire to fight back was even stronger than Tootsie's. Tootsie had been an orphan, and grew up with Hunter. By 11:00, Aaron had fallen asleep over his poker hand, and Tootsie snuck out of the room and down the hall, the feeling of friendship still fresh in his heart.

-oOo-

"Come on, push it! Don't stop, don't stop!"

"I thought training was supposed to end at the Academy," said Tootsie to Aaron through gritted teeth. The pair turned the corner of their 30th lap around the Raider's large gym, ending their 10th mile and the morning training session. The entire Starship had been up since 6:30 hours, and had been training since. Laps, sit-ups, push-ups, pull-ups, these rangers had done it all. And there was still more to go.

"Bring it in!" the trainer yelled, and about 50 rangers ran towards him. "Good work today. Get some lunch and report to your commander by 13:30." The trainer walked out of the gym, and the rangers went to lunch.

It was spaghetti and meatballs, a new dish to Tootsie, having access to only certain foods on Farm Planet. Once both he and Aaron had finished eating, they went to change, then joined the rest of the rangers assigned to the mission outside Commander Ranley's office. They were then redirected to a large meeting room, where the six rangers and the Commander sat down to strategize. First, however, Commander Ranley had an announcement. "I am appointing Francis as Lieutenant for this mission and for future missions with me as Commander. This is not yet approved by the GLEE, so don't spread the word, but that is the current situation. Francis, stay after this meeting, and I will explain more."

The rangers then proceeded to strategize for the mission ahead. They were leaving at the end of that very week, and the original plan had been changed a bit. The rangers now had to rescue a few human captives that were held in that same building. Aaron and Maurie were going to hack the robot's security system, while Tootsie, Hughes, and Ranley were sneaking into the hostage room. Lt. Francis and Tarren were getting the weaponry information, but only when they got the word from either Aaron or Maurie that the computers had been hacked. They would all eventually meet up in the hostage room. Space-claw had said that there would be quite a few captives, and they may have been tortured both physically and mentally.

Ranley wrapped up the meeting with the Ranger's Pledge, and the rangers were dismissed.

Over the next week, the rangers finalized their plans, and trained for the different geological features of Granmauri. Tootsie also received a letter from Jamie, which read:

Dear Tootsie,

I asked my commander on my Starship to locate you, and he said you had been reassigned to this mission! Congratulations! Sorry my letter is so late. It must be difficult for the postmen, even with their galaxy-traversing rocket ships and locator devices.

My mission on Khonera was wonderful. It was truly very successful. We discovered another galaxy, which is labeled G-12E5T6 for now. I met a few very interesting people. There was a man named Franklin, who I think you would have liked, a new little girl named Specs, who is the smartest person that I've ever met. Also there was Taz. She was the toughest son of a bitch I've ever met, however she kept ranting on about this man named Up. He is apparently the toughest soldier she knows, but if he's any tougher than she is, he would have ended the war already.

Anyway, sorry for the ranting. Good luck on your mission! Sounds like a good one.

-Jamie

It was good to hear from Jamie again, but Tootsie was ready to go. He was getting nervous, and couldn't sleep at night. But he managed to make it to Saturday, because before he knew it, he was loaded in, and the Starship was getting higher up as he went further down. Down, down, in the drop pod.

After a good 20 minutes, the pod slammed itself onto the ground, and Maurie stepped out. Scanning the air, she beckoned for the rangers to join her. All was well on this planet, nothing like Tootsie had expected.

But suddenly, there was a scream so cold, it chilled your blood. So petrified, it froze your mind. So unnerving, it scampered up you back. Something went off, and all was quiet again.