Hi! Glad you could make it. :) This chapter here I hand wrote while at a week long camp. So this is a slightly shorter, less rambl-y version of my original. This is also not as heavily edited as my earlier chapters... whoops. Enjoy.

Disclaimer: Taz and Up and the G.L.E.E. are not mine. Makes me really sad sometimes.

Chapter twelve

Taz plopped down at one of the mess hall tables and slowly lowered her forehead to the flat surface. Her arms wrapped around her head and formed a wall underneath her unruly hair. She groaned. Loudly, because Taz didn't care if anyone heard... you wouldn't either if your entire body ached. Man, every muscle was going to be very sore in the morning. The scraping of chair legs again linoleum flooring signaled that someone had just joined her. A plastic dinner tray clattered onto the table across from the girl. "Ungh." She grumbled.

"What sort of 'hello' is that?" Up chuckled as he sat down. He dug his fork into a helping of macaroni and cheese.

"Meh." She muttered. He chewed and swallowed, watching the gal in front of him intently. She had put up a good fight today in the gym. Almost landed a punch. But right now she wasn't moving, save from the rise and fall of breathing. Up shrugged his shoulders and leaned onto his elbows, casting a shadow on his tray. He used the tip of his unused straw to part the fan of hair covering her face.

"You alright?"He said. She responded to him then, tilting her head so that he could stare into her brown eyes. Up didn't look that worried.

" body is sore and stiff, and my arms are about to fall off." Taz sat back into her seat, running a hand through her hair. This was her third consecutive day of fighting with the hombre in front of her and the rigorous physical training was starting to get to her. The girl closed her eyes and sighed. She had an entire year of this even before her education and training as an Academy G.L.E.E.k started. Then three years of that... and after that, she realized, fighting and protecting the human race for a living. There would be no letting up on the physical stuff... "Dios mio!" She breathed, her eyelids fluttering open to stare at Up.

"You're gonna have to get used to it." He answered with a grin.

"That's the bad thing about it."

The mustached ranger nodded and leaned back, copying her posture."Your body will become accustomed to the soreness, and then you'll actually put some muscle on that small frame of yours!"

Taz stuck her tongue out at him. "Aw, shut up. I know I'm small." He chuckled and then started to eat again.

"Uhmm... so does the macaroni taste good?" Taz asked.

"Oh, yea" He said between chews, "Ish really goobd." waving his fork around emphasizing his words. He swallowed. "Did you help make it?"

"Si!" Taz grinned proudly, forgetting her soreness for a second. Just then Dancing-Tacos and Anthony sat down on either side causing Up and Taz to jump.

"You made this?" Anthony said pointing at his plate. "It looks delicious."

"Of course it does," Dancing-Tacos bumped shoulders with the small girl, "It's macaroni and cheese!"

"OWWWW!"Whimpered Taz as she scooted closer to Anthony.

"Please don't touch the human punching bag."She hissed. Up snorted and tried not to choke on his chocolate milk.

"Punching bag?" He bit back laughter. "I was the one letting you hit me out of the kindness of my heart!" Taz stuck her tongue out at him again and everyone laughed.

"I never got a punch in!" She pouted and everyone just laughed harder. Their favorite little Guatemalan girl was finally starting to fit in at the G.L.E.E. As the meal progressed and food was digested, Taz marveled at her new life. From small town village-girl to an orphan-trained-by-the-G.L.E.E. Wow. The strange thing was... she already seemed to have a new family. They couldn't replace her real one of course; but Dancing-Tacos, Anthony, Drew, Kent had all stuck by her... they actually were her only connection to her old life.

Anthony told a joke and Up burst out laughing, his entire face lighting up. Taz smiled. Of course she had to add Up to her little family unit too. Who knew that when he walked by her during a poker game that eventually they would be spending all their time together? She sure didn't.

After dinner the group froze as a voice came over the intercom. " Starship Cardinal had docked. This is a code Orange, all available rangers report to the the landing bay 15-A2. Repeat code Orange." All three men around Taz jumped out of their seats along with every other ranger in the vicinity. Boot-clad feet ran out of the mess-hall doors and in the direction of the landing bays. Taz sat dumbstruck having no clue what was going on. On his way out the door Up turned around to see if Taz was following. Instead she was still sitting amongst the chaos. "Taz!" He shouted, running back to her.

She looked at him confused. "What the heck is going on?"

"Come on!" Up wrapped his calloused hand around her wrist and guided her towards the landing bays. The next few minutes were a blur. When the duo arrived Taz saw that there was a team of medics scrambling onto the Starship behind a line of armed rangers. She tugged on Up's hand to get his attention.

"Ese! you need to tell me what is going on!" He started at the tremor of fear in her voice. He released his grip on her and took his pistol-zapper out if its holster and set it to 'pew.' His emotions started to separate, becoming slightly disjointed from what was going on.

"Alright. Code Orange means that a ship has been compromised by robots and is in headquarters." Her eyes widened at the news. "We don't know if there are active robots still on board, so we've been called to guard and attack if necessary." Taz nodded, the reality of the situation setting in.

"So you sent in a scout team to know whether it's clear or not?" He nodded. "What about the medical team?" Up's military training was showing though, his friendly exterior fading. His stance was more erect and his steely gaze was almost always on the ship, only flickering to see if Taz was listening. The young girl bit her lip and shifted foot to foot, clearly nervous.

"There was probably a hostage situation. Crew members could have been harmed or killed." A sudden movement flickered in the open hatchway of the compromised starship. Immediately every single ranger dropped to one knee creating an echoing BOOM. The *ca-chick* of a thousand weapons being cocked littered the air, sounding like a heavy rainfall. Taz fell to her knees. Something serious was about to go down and she most definitely did not want to be the only person standing when it did. Up nudged her with his foot. "Get lower." She complied.

Not wanting to be totally helpless her fingers slipped underneath her tank top and skirted along the waistline of her sweatpants. They found and grasped her blade and she pulled it out. Her heart was starting to beat wildly. Drawing the small weapon, Taz flicked it open. Up nodded in approval. At least his friend wouldn't be helpless if this situation became dangerous. There was movement on the ship again and everyone seemed to hold their breath. Two of the scout team ran out onto the ships' lowered platform with their guns and arms raised above their heads.

"WE'RE IN THE CLEAR!" Over a thousand men and women, and one Taz sighed in relief. No fighting would take place today. Someone called for a stand down and then in an orderly fashion for people to stand up and leave. Medics rushed out with two people on medical beds. A few of them had crew members leaning on them for support. Taz strained her neck to see if one of them was her father or brother. No such luck. She turned away dejected and followed the crowd to leave. Up was standing just outside the doors waiting for her, wondering what was taking so long.

When they finally found each other they walked in silence back to their room on the second floor of the living quarters wing. The reality that the galactic war wasn't just impacting earth had come to the front of Taz's mind. Before it seemed like it was only impacting her part of the world, which was silly she knew. But it had just been proven to her that the war was everywhere, and that no where was truly safe. Not even the headquarters of the Galactic League of Extraterrestrial Exploration, the current protectors of mankind.

They entered their quarters to find that Mary had already returned and was sitting at the little dining table. She turned to see who had entered and grinned tiredly at the two. "Crazy stuff today, eh?" They both nodded. Mary stretched and stood up. "I'll be taking a shower, alright?" Nods again. Taking that as a confirmation, Mary disappeared into the bathroom, the door lock clicking behind her.

Up walked over to his bunk and sat down, then leaned over to unlace his boots, then kicked them off towards the end of his bunk. Taz was on the floor by his feet and did the same. She finally broke their silence by looking up at her friend. "Does Code Orange happen a lot?" He shook his head slightly.

"Nope. That's the second time in G.L.E.E. history that Code Orange has occurred." Taz bit her lip thinking about what that meant and then slowly stood.

"What would have happened if there were active bots on the ship?" up yawned and flopped backwards onto his pillow.

"Most likely there would be no crew to save, and we would have had to fight."

"That doesn't sound fun."

"No it doesn't."

Up took a moment then to really look at Taz. She suddenly seemed so small and lost. Exhausted. Her clothes were all wrinkled and there were bags under her brown eyes. the usual spark was absent. He realized that it was probably because of her reoccurring nightmares. Her long black hair was pulled up into a sloppy bun and her posture was slightly slumped over. This was not the tough girl he had saved from being a robot pinata. This was a sore, tired, fifteen year old girl who had seen too much tragedy. "You alright?" he asked after a moments hesitation. Taz opened her mouth to answer, then reconsidered. No, she was not alright.

"No." Taz said and took a deep breath. Wordlessly he opened his arms, inviting her over. She shrugged and then crawled up next to him and gave him a hug, resting her head on his warm chest. "Sometimes life sucks, you know?" He sympathized.

'Yea, sometimes it does. But life gets better." Up heard a sniffle and realized Taz was trying not to cry. And she was trying hard. It was only last week where they were in the middle of the street next to Taz's mama, and she had been bawling her eyes out. Up didn't need to see that again, Taz thought.

"You sure?" She asked.

"Do you think I would lie about that?" He raised an eyebrow and looked down at her face, counting the freckles on her nose. Three.

She sighed tiredly."No." She was quiet for a second. "You're too noble for that."

Thanks for reading! Remember, review! I absolutely love them, and I always respond, sometimes with hints about what's coming up next. ;) Also suggestions and critiques!

Love all of you.