"Curse you, Nelani Fisher!"
Once again, Zurg had been defeated, humiliated, embarrassed, beaten, through methods that he did not like at all as they forced him to retreat from the site of his latest scheme. Fisher was on the ground, quickly being approached by Dafferdale, with the ruins of the latest scheme surrounding her. The Evil Emperor was tired, well deserving of a nap, with a bruised ego, fun asides. The Dreadnought was in transit back to the Zeta quadrant. He reflected off how it had been with his hands linked behind his helm, the wound in his pride fading, chuckling, beginning to laugh over it smacking his knee.
"Zurg, where are you?" Nebula asked.
Nebula appeared on the triangle screen looking upon the Evil Emperor.
"To your mother's place obviously, for a well deserved gossip, and maybe a bingo or two!" Zurg cracked a joke, bemused.
"DO WHAT YOU DO BEST; HIDE!" Nebula yelled, arising the alarm of the Evil Emperor.
". . . Is Barlos Methane spreading misinformation regarding my run ins with more heavily armed acquaintances?" Zurg asked, annoyed.
"The Hellbringers are out!" Nebula exclaimed.
"Can't attend rock concerts, the last one had a stampede and the singers kept singing without a care to their fans."
"No!" Nebula replied.
"New animals? Tv show? New mini series?"
"Hide!" Nebula instructed. "Nebula out."
"Hide?" Zurg asked as he stood up as the triangle screen turned to black. "Do I look like a Space Ranger? Obeying his orders? I am a Evil Emperor, he's a commander-Get me Brain Pod 1!"
"Contacting." A grub announced.
"Brain Pod 1, your evilness."
"What's a Hellbringer?" Zurg said.
"Oh, sir, it's-it's self explanatory." Brain Pod 1 said then added. "They're on the 'things to use on foes who've crossed me'."
"It is not easy to deduce what it means." Zurg hissed.
"Evil Emperor, you will have a new set of coordinates to take and swing yourself into the future very shortly."
"What ARE THEY?" Zurg shouted.
"If they've been released and they are set to eliminate a target; they unleash hell, somehow they arrange for it, historical tablets indicate that the unfortunate soul who was sic'ed on by them will face attacks."
"What kind of attacks?"
"Depending on the civilization they're in; for example, pre-lightspeed, it's being taken by demonic beings, attacked, ruthlessly, injured, harmed, terrorized, giving them some hope of the nightmare ending and then dragging them down to hell."
"In lightspeed civilization, though."
"Being fired on, unexpectedly, at random, the sources can be either from hornets, by Space Rangers inexplicably who are nearby become laser focused on you, Freeves bots, or some other means that is armed, captures you, and . . ."
"And? And what?"
"They let you run then they shoot you in the back right when there's a hope spot."
"And if they don't get to kill me today?"
"Then it's over with . . . unfortunately, you have to stay up all night. If you sleep, for a second, for a minute, being isolated, it will refresh the countdown, and you will be cornered, frightened, scared, and very alone, vulnerable, paranoid, unable to properly be evil being chased by them. Sometimes, it takes a entire lifetime, getting slower, losing opportunities to avoid, in order to be caught."
"Of course, escape will always be available!" Zurg shook his index claw. "That's a temporary existence that can be lived it until a remedy can be discovered."
"Your shell requires rest-" Brain Pod 2 butted in but was shoved aside by another Brain Pod.
"Evil Emperor Zurg, you do realize, that kind of traumatic event, night after night, being fired at immediately after waking up, it will lead to significant losses in your empire being focused on your safety instead of evil schemes." Brain Pod 65 appeared in the view screen. "And you will not wake up, peacefully, ever again the way that you did before once this problem is resolved."
Brain Pod 1 shoved Brain Pod 65 aside as the door to the bridge opened up.
"-the other brain pods are assembling new coordinates set 207,000 thousand years from now." Brain Pod 1 said.
Zurg could only see red as the cowboy stared at the bridge realizing that he had, again, gone where the Evil Emperor was.
"No more running!" Zurg smacked the arm rest of the throne, loudly, with rage. "The last time that I ran. . ." he was furious, trembling, his hand in a fist. "Warp Darkmatter went after me, anyway!"
Zurg pointed back at the screen as he descended down the throne approaching the screen getting very close to it then stretched his arms out pacing back and forth.
"It's a stroke of luck that the rock of Ipseadan was available!" he clenched his cape turning toward the screen. "Even that no Space Rangers died because of Evil Buzz Lightyear! That they really weren't needed at all for this evil scheme to rid of the galaxy a foe. Running into the future, arranging for a impostor, cowardly." he folded his arms, sighing, his shoulders lowering, regretfully. "It means well. . . but being a villain means having a favorite neighborhood irritation sticking around in their century to go back to after the problem has been resolved."
"If you wish for the existence of hell to end then someone has to give their life for your life." Brain Pod 3 butted in.
"Is there an underground temple that is relatively unknown and no one has gone there?" Zurg asked.
"We can use the tunnel extraction system to send you to a place like it." Brainpod 2 said after shoving Brain Pod 1 aside.
"If I am there for twenty-four hours then the Hellbringers will cease to exist! OOooohh what a brilliant shining pearl!"
Zurg began to laugh as he turned toward the chair then returned and sat down into it.
"Then destroy the Tunnel Extraction System after the fact." Zurg tapped his long claws on the arm rest.
"And once it has elapsed, we will rebuild it."
"You said it yourself, these bringers of hell, can manipulate anything. What if they are capable of manipulating every clock? The trust in time can't be trusted over here." Zurg reminded the alarmed Brain Pods. "I want to live, and living, being evil, and waiting, oh, it'll be worth the wait!" Zurg had a loud pleasant wicked laugh then twirled his finger. "And then find a way back."
"We'll have your chamber ready by the time that you get back."
"And my troll doll collection!" Zurg added.
"That, too. Brain Pod 1 out."
Zurg tapped his claws together with a laugh as Woody backed away appearing to be relieved. He wasn't mentioned; thankfully. Which meant plenty of ample opportunity to find a way home. Zurg rubbed his helm considering, weighing, what to do with the collection of toys that he had gathered lately over the last few years using them in his dungeon and dragon games on his date nights that he had gotten back into the groove. He was building his way back to the way things were socially, entertainment wise, and lifestyle was, not just returning to his old schedule.
The Evil Emperor laughed as he swung the extended throne from side to side then rubbed his wrist. Nana Zurg would find it to be the evilest thing to be done when it came to losing an enemy that could deter him in his wave of evil. If only she were there to see him taking a stand against fear and taking the quick short cut to the future. She would be proud of him, dearly.
He descended down the steps then walked around the throne linking his hands together, slowly, putting in a command for the hornets to be destroyed in the storage chamber. In a short moment's notice, the hornets were destroyed with a lone command that was carried out by a grub upon his order. He walked with silence back to the room that he had the recent toy collection set inside then entered with a deep inhale then light exhale. He packed up the small collection, less than ten toys in total for dungeons and dragon board game character representations, then looked toward the cowboy on his perch.
Zurg would never admit it to anyone around him, but he was scared. From afar, the doll looked big. Giant. It all had to do with perspective, much like the large Buzz Lightyear Battle Scar mode who looked smaller from afar instead of big. He stepped forward his foot stepping on something, lowering his gaze toward the ground. It was a green t-rex. He got an idea to send the other toys somewhere in the multiverse where they would be needed instead of some planet full of orphans and widows that had gotten his last box. Send them first, a fine and very evil thing to do.
The Evil Emperor laughed, menacing, upon the green toy. Wherever it came from, it had to be sent elsewhere. He didn't recall where he got it from or how he had gotten his claws on the machine. He set the green dinosaur into the box then picked up the cowboy that looked smaller drawing him forward closer to his line of view then picked up the red themed Space Ranger and weighed them, looking back and forth, debating, torn about whether to take one of them, both of them, or leave them both behind.
"I . . ." Zurg began to say to the small smiling doll. "Need a friend." he allowed himself to have a tremble. "This is by far the most recent upsetting . . ." he clenched the doll, tightly. "Turns out, being a villain in space is more frightening than being a super villain, a pest, a villain, a vigilante on one planet."
He set the doll on the table and the Space Ranger.
"Honestly, I miss him." Zurg admitted.
Zurg felt better getting that off his chest.
"Turns out, Buzz Lightyear, he's a landmark, even when things were happening, unexpectedly, not going the way things that we both thought were going to turn out, it never caused either of us to be this shaken."
Zurg sat down into the nearest chair.
"What is the pro side?" Zurg asked.
Zurg looked toward the box.
"Being alive. The con side? Not seeing familiar faces for . . ." he held his free claw up, palm open, then lowered it. "Only the lord knows how long."
Zurg looked down toward the toy.
"Oh yes. . . Buzz Lightyear would say that Evil Emperor Zurg has no fear. That Zurg wouldn't need a small toy like you for companionship and comfort; maybe. . ." Zurg looked aside toward the box. "Buzz Lightyear is a beacon in the dark when all looks lost and down, he shows up, guiding a way to the light."
Zurg was quiet for a solid moment then smiled to himself looking toward the toy.
"You're a good listener, Woody Pride." Zurg acknowledged.
Zurg set the doll into the box then lifted the box, exited the room, only halting in front of the doorway.
"Grub, ensure this is taken to the tunnel extraction system as soon as we arrive and be transported to some place in particular, motel room, shabby one, one that has a child without toys."
"Anything else, Evil Emperor?" The grub asked.
"That's it." Zurg confirmed.
The grub shrugged then walked off leaving Zurg behind who waved at the wimpy toy.
"Ta. . ." Zurg lowered his hand, slowly, with a smile. "ta."
Zurg watched the box vanish from his line of vision for a long moment then returned into the chamber. He picked up Battle Scar Buzz Lightyear from the table then took one last look of his play room remembering how it did wonders for him during the last fourteen years. He was emotionally in a better position than before all because of them. The feelings that were reeled in from great and unexpected successful loss were not as great as before. Upon his return, the room would be given a new designation, not a play room anymore, something evil had to be made of it. For all intentions, it could be remodeled for the aesthetic to appear the way that Zurg wanted.
The ship trembled a short while later and the lights briefly flickered off; they had found him. Zurg kept himself balanced as the ship proceeded to make erratic movements, causing him to wonder, what kind of short cuts were the grubs taking? Zurg wondered very little about who was attacking him, it didn't quite matter, the hell bringers were compelling them to do the deed. Zurg exited his chamber holding on to the Battle Scar Buzz Lightyear tightly then waited for the turbulence to end. Zurg was pretty sure it ended after roughly an hour of what felt to be very frantic space travel and calm returned to the ship. The Evil Emperor made a quick departure to airlock making a bolt down the corridor but paused halfway observing that there wasn't a hornet to be seen, not even a grub, not even a brain pod as tension fell through him. The silence was disturbing.
The grub went through the gate. Pouring rain fell upon the grub in the dark holding the box then ran up toward a doorway with a bright light shining through a window. The grub peered in spotting a little boy, six at best, with a brown bowl shaped hairstyle all alone watching television and had a large set of rounded glasses. The grub set the box on to the ground in front of the door then lifted their hand up and knocked on the door repeatedly. The grub jogged then turned spotting the door hadn't been opened. The grub jogged back then knocked, loudly. The grub rapidly knocked, with pauses in between, irritated. The door swung open smacking the grub against the wall, the boy looked down upon the soaked box. The child picked it up, oohing at it, then walked in, and the door closed behind him. The grub jogged back into the portal, their shoes squeaking, small hands clenched.
A heavy dread lingered in the air as the tension built up. Zurg scanned his surroundings then made a bolt for the Tunnel Extraction System chamber where he came to a halt Zurg went over to the tablet on the counter as the defense shield powered to life, turning on, as hornets began to fill the chamber. He looked over spotting the brain pods cowering in a tight corner of the room carrying omni blasters with a tremble staring right at him. The door opened then the Evil Emperor activated it. A brilliant gust of blue waves tore out through the gate then the darkness of his shelter became apparent.
Zurg ran on through the portal then the shields lowered and the machine was destroyed. Zurg remained still, clinging to the toy that glowed red, feeling tension for a long moment, bracing himself. He began to calm down as each hour in the silence, the terror began to fade away. Zurg used the toy as his flashlight searching for a place to be seated until his gaze landed on a large rounded boulder. He set the toy on to the nearest perch, set down on to the boulder, and waited, and waited, and waited, patiently. A fairly long waiting game before opting to do some evil in the brilliant red light in the dark with the shadows outlining his figure.
Warp could see a faint red with faint dark lines, parts of his eyelids, facing aching. His eyes began to open slowly being hit with the high beam intensity of the lighting belonging to Star Command, and he had lived as largely expected.
"Urrgh."
"Good evening, Mr Blow Up!" Booster greeted Warp.
"My head." Warp whined, placing a hand on his forehead. "It aches."
". . . you did hit several tree branches on the fall back." Mira nervously laughed.
Warp lowered his hand then looked upon the others with his jaw dropped.
"I FELL?"
XR, Mira, and Booster exchanged a sheepish laugh.
"We thought you were dead, Warp." Mira said spoke up.
Warp's brows had furrowed in disbelief.
"Exploding ship in the orbit of the planet, Space Ranger not responding to our hails, junk flying, and there was a lot of smoke!" XR gave a clear picture as he shook his hands. "Hard to see through that smokescreen!"
"How exactly did I fall into orbit?" Warp cooled down. "Sound like I was drifting there for hours."
"There was a lot of debris." Booster said. "A lot."
Warp tried to imagine being in their shoes, seeing a ship self destruct with him trapped aboard; horror, shock, disbelief, denial, searching for him, then acceptance.
"I insisted to find your corpse before returning to Star Command." XR folded his arms then motioned his head toward the others. "They wanted to give up on you, can you believe it, giving up on a survivor!"
Warp eyed at the others with a look that could tease that became softened then replaced by concern.
"And Van Selling?" Warp asked.
"He's off duty." Nebula appeared from thin air as he moved aside a curtain. "Under the impression that you're dead and we're being loud about it."
"Commander, how long is this going to hold?" Warp asked
"Got an idea how long it has to go." Nebula confessed
"If he goes to my kids place-"
"He won't, Drilla has passed on the information to the kids."
"Oh god, a bunch of melodramatic teenagers."
"What's going to happen to Van Selling?" Mira asked. "Once we get him into custody."
"We're using UPA." Nebula replied as the Space Ranger's head bobbed up in horror. "Tourist Guide personality."
"And Lord Freeves is going to restore him once he gets his hands on him."
"Not if things go the way that they're meant to go." Nebula assured the Space Ranger. "Don't worry about it, Lord Freeves won't be our headache for much longer."
Warp looked aside toward the gap where his arm once was then his features became saddened at his loss. He could still feel it. As if it were still there. That he could still move it, that it ached, it was all wrong for lacking an arm.
"Explosion, sadly." Mira said with a pout.
"Would have been a lot more funnier if it had been a bad rescue." Booster had a moment to laugh.
"Uh huh, like that failed rescue flop that you and Van Selling did rescuing that off duty Space Ranger." Mira folded her arms looking down upon Warp with fondness.
"Zavik lost an arm and a leg because of it." XR reminded as Warp chuckled.
"And by the way, Crockett's wife is delivering and she wants Booster there." Nebula said. "She is at Morph's Main Prestige hospital, 123."
"I'm the baby's godparent!" Mira phased out the door.
"I'm her spare hand to break!" Booster charged after Mira.
"Wait for me, cheetahs with an advantage!" XR rolled out of the room.
Warp fondly watched the crew exit the room with a very small smile then looked toward the commander.
"How is Ranger Grace Buck, Commander?" Warp asked, concerned. "Was she told? She is his closest friend."
"Not yet." Nebula said, shaking his hand. "And you can stop calling me Commander." he folded his arms sporting a finely aged grin. "The desk is your problem starting next friday."
"Tomorrow morning? Oh thank the stars, signing paperwork after waking up? That would have been bad."
"It would have." he set a box on the table then slid it open and picked up the arm. "Look at that; your new arm."
"Ooooh." Warp stared at the large arm lifting his brows up repeatedly then grew a smirk. "It has a missile launcher on the side."
"And guess what it can become." Nebula bore a broad grin.
Warp looked up toward the commander from the arm that was packed back up.
"A plasma cannon!" Warp guessed.
Nebula had a short lived laugh.
"No, no, no." Nebula set his hands on his hips. "Something far better than that."
"A energy cannon! A oil cannon? A rock blaster!" Warp snapped his fingers. "No, no, no-a hydro cannon!"
"Close but not quite." Nebula grew a broad grin at the expense of the Space Ranger. "A laser cannon." he pointed at the gap. "The prosthetic was built specifically for your body and designed that way; no chances of your body rejecting it. It'll need to be removed once you retire and decide to get a different kind of prosthetic arm."
"Having to oversee some court martial and those are horrible things to be part of, seeing evidence, judging a Space Ranger, not in the field-" Warp cut himself off shifting his attention aside gazing toward the box. "I don't look forward to that."
"If you retire at the rank of Commander; you can avoid it altogether." Tempting. . .
Warp looked toward the box.
"It's gonna be bad losing the bad boy to a lighter weighted prosthetic getting older."
Nebula squinted back at the Space Ranger who had deflected from the topic as he understood the implication.
"Spending your entire life as a Ranger?" Nebula asked with his brows raised, stunned, namely in skepticism.
"Like you becoming an admiral?" Warp countered, lifting a graying brow bearing a smirk. "That's even more paperwork."
"But no desk." Nebula pointed toward the desk that had followed him in. "Worth the promotion."
"Surely, for one of the finest commanders, you had some inkling of how your career would end." Warp shifted the subject back toward Nebula. "How do you think your career will end?"
"Being a Ranger, Darkmatter." then looked down upon the younger Space Ranger, proudly, content. "Once you do that sneaky thing, you will retire."
"Affirmative." Warp said with a nod then grew curious. "Who's Lord Freeves's competition, though?"
"Someone who will make him pay for the attempt." Nebula said.
"I wasn't aware that he had any competition." Warp noted. "Sounds a need to be concerned."
"You don't need to be." Nebula assured Warp. "All you need to do is rest because everything is going to work out."
Nebula turned away then turned around and exited the lab leaving Warp behind. Warp leaned halfway up then rubbed the port where the prosthetic arm needed to be hooked in with gentleness and care brushing his fingers along the smooth cold metal parts as a melody echoed in the air from the music box set near.
The doorbell's kind melody rang through the house late that night. Gamma was in the middle of reading a heavy book when he lifted up from the couch in the middle of studying. The boy climbed off the couch then approached the doorway, put on a stack of books, then peered out the peephole. The student set the books aside, then opened the door, moved the books back, and punched Van Selling at the face causing the rookie to stagger back.
The rookie was shocked, colliding against the ground, knees first, then rubbing his eye. Gamma was flinging his hand in the air shaking off the rough and soreness from his fingers. The other Lightyears peered out behind him, Quark was the tallest member looking quite appropriate as a fourteen year old cracked his knuckles behind Gamma, Oort and Chari exchanged a glance then proceeded to yank back their older brother as Hoichi shook her head in disappointment. Quark, Chari, and Oort wore purple hoods while Gamma and Hoichi were not.
Chari and Hoichi were as tall as their older brother and his age. Their features were more defined, their foreheads not as big as before, their heads in proportion to their bodies, their frames were identical save for a few subtle facial features that set them apart from each other and the big chins. Each member of the Lightyears wore looks of contempt upon the rookie. Quark stood out the most to Van Selling with the large forehead scar.
"You should have died." Gamma said, his hand in a fist. "Not our dad."
Van Selling looked up toward Gamma, apologetically.
"He was dead meat when I was able to get there." Van Selling said.
"You could have brought his body back." Gamma said.
"In pieces!" Quark roared as he struggled to throw punches.
"But you didn't." Hoichi snarled in disgust.
"Go away." Gamma warned.
"I wanted to apolog-"
"For making us orphans! You fiend! You betrayed him!"
"Get him to his room." Gamma's stare remained on Van Selling.
"You betrayed him, intentionally, you bastard!" Quark swore as he was taken away by his siblings. "You have been trying to kill him under every circumstance available without making it seem that you were!" The boy's high pitched voice echoed. "HEARTLESS!" he began to shout, accusingly. "Villain!" his voice echoed through the house and out the door. "YOU HAVE NO CONSCIENCE!"
Gamma's attention was focused on his brother until he turned his attention toward Van Selling, not quite phased, but finding it quite humorous.
"We're going through a really rough patch." Gamma said, cheerfully. The stern, the somberness, the grudging demeanor, it had all faded away, making it hard to believe that the rookie was punched at all by the young boy. "Facing the possibility of moving out, moving in with Nana, living in the middle of no where-" he clenched the handle of the door. "In a community full of strangers."
The easy going demeanor had faded with a look that didn't quite belong on Gamma's features, it belonged to an adult, staring with resentment toward the Space Ranger.
"I'm sorry for the way things turned out." Van Selling confessed rubbing the back of his neck.
"Me. . . too." Gamma agreed with a nod. "He talked about you as though you were his favorite character in a cartoon short in the beginning before introducing us to you." Gamma looked regretful the way things had gone from there. Disappointment, namely, in Van Selling. "He told us to give you a chance."
"Always imagined it happening very differently, losing him, in the field, fighting side by side like-" Van Selling switched mid-sentence. "Your dad fought with his first partner by his side, you know, until the bitter end, having his back."
"Don't mind my big brother; Quark's yelling and shaking the bars of his cage. And just. . ." he descended down the steps then shoved the books aside. "Just go, really, before the others decide to let go of Quark and let him attack you."
Van Selling had a look of pity, turning away, then flew off as Gamma looked in disappointment toward the mole.
"Dad wants to know if you can sneak dinner into Star Command!" Oort called.
"What are we having for dinner?" Chari asked.
"Rice, chips, and breaded fish." Hoichi said as Gamma closed the door with a tired smile. "You know; the easy stuff that a fourteen year old can make."
The door opened and the grub came into the tower, tired, then stepped on something that squeaked. The grub looked down in confusion then picked up the wimpy cowboy and gazed around, confused. But wasn't that toy removed from the tower? The grub recalled that the Evil Emperor had put the toy in the box as noted by her friend.
The grub shrugged then exited the tower that was relatively empty and waited for a new ruler. The grub walked through the darkness of the night heading for home holding the wimpy toy in her hand. She returned to her home, small, but not great, her little ones, larvae, without legs but having arms, they were capable of crawling. The grub walked over toward the oldest larva then handed the wimpy toy over.
The larva's big translucent eyes stared back at her, curious.
"His name's Woody."
The larva yanked the cord then smiled and hugged him.
"He's a good toy of the Evil Emperor, take good care of him, he doesn't know he's still here, got it, Faran?"
The larva nodded then the grub departed for the shower walking past a painting of two tall figures in the middle of walking.
Milky and Raptor Chill walked side by side, tired, heading for Nebula's office. They had been called in before clocking out for the day and retire to their social lives after work, they had just finished up their assignment at a Morph embassy on Victor Bravo as security and had returned for the first time in a few months since their assignment with their bags slouched over their shoulders.
"When's the last time that we went to his office since he assigned us as partners?" Raptor asked.
"Ages." Milky said.
"The whole age it feels." Raptor Chill said, softly laughing over his short companion.
"Wonder what it must be." Milky said, distantly. "Important assignment on a ranger station? Classified mission? Bad news from home? News about finding out if there's a spy?"
"Either way, it is significant." Raptor commented with a nod.
"Oh, what if he's got some roboranger program getting set up and he thinks one of us could be the meal ticket?" Milky asked, optimistic.
"The meal ticket to being part man, part machine." Raptor grimaced over it.
"With baby food." Milky's optimism shined brilliantly.
"Being that badass would be worth it." Raptor amended. "But the immortality, the drawbacks, the whole reprogrammable thing-outliving everyone, losing family, friends, partners. . ."
"What is being a ranger if not persevering?" Milky asked.
The two academy friends walked into the office with a laugh then their bright demeanor faded.
"Commander Nebula, sir." the duo saluted as the commander turned toward them.
"At ease." Nebula requested. "How are you with being prepared on the ready for a important mission."
"We're good with that." Milky said.
"Too good, actually." Raptor Chill smirked, broadly.
"One day soon, we're going to face the greatest threat in the entire universe, don't know when or how close it is, but we got a problem and it's Lord Freeves and Ranger Van Selling."
"Oh craters." Milky swore. "That guy?"
"Actually kind of liked him as a ranger." Raptor Chilled complained with a pout looking aside.
"But but but-he's-h-h-h-h-h-he's so promising!" Milky exclaimed.
"Vahoon isn't promising at all." Nebula flicked his cigar on the edge of the ash tray. "The two of you, me," he took another puff, it was wedged between his two fingers looking toward the personnel file that belonged to the mole. "and Warp Darkmatter are the only ones aware of it. . . . And Warp is very alive, sleeping in the LGM lab."
"So he isn't dead!" Milky beamed, thrilled, then grinned. "Can't keep a man like that down."
"What a surprise." Raptor Chill said, sarcastically, facing Milky. "Almost everyone knows." he turned toward the commander who nodded. "Almost everyone."
"And he is your new commander starting next Friday." Nebula announced with a grin.
"That's why you two have been spending a lot of time together for the last few months!" Milky said as it dawned on him. "Incredible! What a career."
"And speaking of careers. . . " Nebula began to say looking from Milky Weight's taller partner towering over him. Raptor Chill was a tall golden being with spikes standing out along his neck, rocky structures beneath the armor and around his face, lacking eyebrows. "Yours are shining." he pointed toward the duo with a grin. "And your avoidance of climbing the ranks from rookies has been showing."
"We're enjoying being big nobodies." Milky spoke up with a grin. "Solo missions not withstanding."
"I like to imagine us as the back up for the captains." Raptor Chill agreed with a nod.
"You're getting promoted to captains, NO WIGGLING OUT OF IT!" Nebula yelled. "It's overdue! Both of you should have been eligible for promotion a few years ago. How did you ever get under the radar?"
"Under all the paperwork probably that hasn't been filed."
"Back in the beginning of the Space Ranger corps, that would have flied but it doesn't now. It's all digital and on back up servers, one of you removed both of your names from the main frame computer with none the wiser."
"Neither of us did that, sir." Milky said.
"Besides, that's invasive." Raptor Chill added. "And wouldn't that be known if we did it?"
"Dead give away because how could two rookies do that?" Milky added as Nebula squinted at the duo. "It's beyond our skill."
"Then it was some kind of data corruption, something like that," Nebula confessed as the point was made. "Our mission, should it arise, will be on Planet Z."
The door to the office opened with two other Space Rangers, rookies, fresh out of the academy drawing the trio's attention.
"Oh no, it's the twins who have fun annoying hornets and making fun of them while destroying them."
"It's wildly fun!" the twins chimed at once.
Nebula filled them in what he had just told the other two then continued with a another train of thought.
"Rangers Faudile and Faudill, normally, this would require having Fisher and Dafferdale but since those two have a bad case of trauma they're not part of this event. We're keeping the rest of Star Command out of this operation, because, if I did; the risk of losing half of Star Command officers is unacceptable."
The rangers stood in front of the desk as they gasped then nodded at once.
"We're going to be having this event most likely on Planet Z. Delta Squadron will be providing a much needed distraction, Alpha Squadron will be launching an attack on the non-Zurg Dreadnoughts that approach, and I deal with Lord Freeves. Gamma Squadron will be jail handlers for either Freeves or Van Selling. At the end, this event will last one hour."
Nebula had his hands on the desk.
"We don't know when it's going to happen or how soon, both of you need to be available at all times until the call is made. Dismissed."
The Space Rangers departed the office then the commander turned away then looked out the window, terrified, lowering the look of certainty gazing into the dark window.
A/N I. . . shall admit . . . Derived inspiration for Lord Freeves name from Freevee that had once been Imdb TV.
