Author's Note: Sorry it took so long to post this!

Chapter 14

A bright screen flashed on, illuminating the surrounding room, along with Axel's face. She had returned to the snow base, and was beginning to miss the warm and fancy mayor's office. Anything was better than the cold, dark underground environment. And yet, there she was, stuffed into a cramped room in which she was meant to sleep with Peters. He seemed like much more than an escort, and was more like a companion now.

He wasn't in the small confinement now; he had left to go eat in the mess hall. She would have too, but wanted to try uncovering the many questions she still had. She tried looking up the odd snow planet's name, and found nothing. She searched up the horrid town she had been to, and nothing. She even tried looking up both Zeta and Cadet Peters. And, surprise, surprise, she had found nothing.

Now, she spun around in the swivel seat, twisting her dog tags in between her fingers. She felt as if she was supposed feel homesick, and maybe miss at least someone. But she couldn't think of anyone to miss. She had always been a bit isolated as a child, more of an observer rather than a social butterfly.

Axel found her thoughts drifting to the only two people whom she had been somewhat close to, Tony and Chris. She tried to imagine what they would probably be doing at the moment. Maybe studying battle strategies, fighting in another simulated firefight, or even possibly complaining about classes over lunch in the mess hall. She wanted to go back to the academy and train. Actually, no she didn't. At the academy, she was pushed around, hated, gossiped about.

Suddenly, the computer in front of her vibrated, and a recorded message began to play.

"Taylors, I have another job for you. There's a cruise ship on another planet near here. It has some...unique cargo that must be dealt with. We need you to find it and return it to me. I've sent you a picture of the symbol that should be on the outside of its container. There's a pelican waiting outside for-" Axel shut off the computer. Great, I'm supposed to run another stupid errand without even knowing why…

She gave a sigh, trying to make the most of having a clear head for once. Zeta had been needed to help check a failing pelican's wiring systems, which had begun starting random fires every time the vehicle started up. For the first time since leaving the academy, Axel truly was utterly alone. She didn't mind though. She got to her feet slowly, and decided she'd better go to the dock before she got in trouble.

A few hours later, she found herself in the middle of a large platform made of an odd-colored wood. It was dilapidated and rotted, and seemed to be hundreds of years old. After a very long and boring pelican ride to this new planet, Axel felt sore and tired of sitting down. After jumping off the flying vehicle, she took the time to give a large stretch until her back popped.

Suddenly, the loud blare of a horn sliced through the air, rattling the spartan's eardrums as a massive, majestic boat slowly chugged into the harbor. It was a vehicle of perfection, with a long, pointed front bow, and a sleek hull. The propellers on the thing were huge, and there didn't seem to be a single scratch anywhere. It was a boat of perfection, and the withered, creaky, and moldy dock Axel was standing on didn't seem worthy of its presence.

A metal platform was lowered from the top of the ship, and a crowd of people busily clambered off. Just then, a swarm of more people streamed onto the ship from behind Axel, seemingly unaware of her. Only when the chaos seemed to die down did she step onto the platform and walk up, closely followed by Peters.

Almost instantly they were greeted by a butler in a fancy outfit. He handed her a map of the giant ship, and she became astonished at how many different rooms there were. Peters leaned over her shoulder so that he could observe, too.

"Why is there a pool here? If you wanna swim, just jump in the ocean!" he stated with a gentle laugh, pointed at a blue spot labeled "pool" toward the top of the map. Axel shrugged as the butler gestured for them to follow him.

He didn't seem intimidated by the pair as everyone in the fancy town had been. Then again, he'd probably already met some pretty odd passengers anyways, and maybe the spartans weren't the most obscure and out of place. He remained silent for the majority of the small journey, and only spoke when showing them to a small cabin in which they would be residing in temporarily.

"The captain should be in to speak with you soon. Until then, I must ask you to remain in here for security reasons," he explained quickly. Just like that, the butler had ushered them in, walked out, and shut the door behind him. There was a clicking noise as he locked the door. The pair sat in shocked silence for a moment.

"What do they mean by 'security reasons'? Why'd they lock us in here?" Peters asked. The confusion was so clear in his voice you could almost hear one eyebrow raising.

"I dunno...maybe they don't want us snooping around in things we don't belong in," Axel replied, shrugging her metal-plated shoulders. She walked over to a porthole and peeked out. She expected to see blue water, and it was in fact blue, but the shade of it was absolutely astonishing. It was turquoise, and seemed to sparkle. However, on closer examination, Axel realized that it was actually millions of little turquoise fish that made a sort of cloud on the surface.

"But snooping around in things we don't belong in is kind of our thing!" Peters replied, shaking her shoulder. She quit gazing out at the ocean and turned to look at him.

"You aren't suggesting…"

"Oh, yes I am!"

"But won't we get in huge trouble? We could get kicked off the boat and thrown into the ocean! These suits probably sink like rocks!"

"Yeah, but we're supposed to find a box with a certain symbol on it, aren't we? Well, how are we supposed to find it if we're stuck in here?"

"I hate you."

"Eh, a lot of people do."

Axel gave a sigh. She didn't want to leave the cabin. She wanted to speak with the captain of the ship, like the butler had promised. She didn't want to get in trouble. Then again, she also didn't want to be at war with aliens, and she didn't want to be left in the dark while being ordered to do seemingly meaningless tasks. And yet she could do nothing about either.

"Fine, Peters. I will disobey the butler and go with you. Just answer me one question: how the heck are we supposed to get out of here? The door's locked, genius," Axel snorted, pointing toward the wooden door.

"Taylors, we're spartans. We battle aliens. We don't get stopped by wooden doors. We've got guns, right? Why don't we just shoot at it till there's a big enough hole to climb through? Ooh, ooh, or why don't we be like super-ninja-spy-dudes and just kick the door down? We could have our guns drawn, and we could look SO cool!" Peters explained excitedly.

Axel gave a groan, folding her arms.

"Peters, if we broke the door, someone would probably notice and then we would get kicked outta here faster than you can say 'grunt.' We need to find a way to sneak out," she suggested, a hint of annoyance in her voice. Peters looked around the room for a moment, then pointed straight up.

"We could crawl through the vents! All the cool people in the old movies do that! It's fool-proof!" he recommended. Axel gave another discouraged sigh, shaking her head.

"Ya know what? Fine! Go ahead, try crawling through the vents! Go ahead! Open the door from the other side and tell me if your plan worked!" she exclaimed, gesturing to the vent. Peters eagerly got on his toes, pulled off the vent cover, and pulled himself in.

Meanwhile, Axel folded her arms, a grin on her face. Three...two...one… The ceiling broke, sending dust, debris, and Peters hurling toward the ground.

"You know, you remind me of someone I know named Chris," she snickered, pulling him to his feet.

"Ok, smart alec, or should I say smart Axel. What's your idea?" Peters asked, disappointment in his voice.

"Ok, step one: stop basing your plans off of old tv shows. Step two: Stay in school. Step three: Crawl out the VERY OBVIOUS PORTHOLE and land on the deck below it. Step four: Find the crate, tell control, and maybe get some smoked salmon before we leave. Is that good enough for you?" Axel asked, feeling a pinch of pride creeping up on her stomach. Now it was Peters' turn to sigh.

"Lead on…" he groaned, dipping his head and gesturing to the porthole.