The Replacements

Like most of the galaxy, Star Command had a dark underbelly.

As far as dark underbellies went, it was less dark than a lot of them, and a lot underbellier. Izzy Hawthorne didn't think that was a word, but working in the dark (but not that dark) underbelly of a belly-less space station wasn't the worst job in the universe. By no means was it the best job either, but if there was one thing life had taught her, it was that you had to take what you could get lest what little you had be ripped away.

Not that life had only taught her one thing, far from it. Life had taught her how to separate a quantum computator from a quantum compu-gradient, and as she worked on both, she found herself yearning for a positronic hyper-sorter, which would make the whole thing run faster. Alas, this was Star Command, and despite all the pomp and bluster of the Galactic Alliance, credits made the galaxy turn, planets spin, and budgets be cut year after year.

"Could be worse," she murmured, before the door to the workshop clunked open. Proving that the universe had a twisted sense of humour, and that Izzy Hawthorne was the butt of it. The arse ends. The black hole. The-

"Ma'am?" the alien asked.

She looked at the newcomer, her smile fading. Not really a newcomer at all, since she'd seen her on the holos, alongside a jo-adian and a hyperactive robot of indeterminate design and origin. As a group, the newest members of Buzz Lightyear's team had made the headlines.

Princess Mira Nova, however, had been a galactic darling even before joining them.

"Ma'am," Izzy repeated. "How quaint…" She leant back in her chair, the tangean standing on the other side of the cluttered table. "What can I do for you?"

Izzy had no doubt that Mira's intentions were genuine, or at least, had been. Because rather than answering the question, the alien looked around the workshop – at the dust, the grime, at the tools that came from over a dozen civilizations, not all of them up to code.

"You work down here alone? In this mess?"

"The mess keeps me company," Izzy said, before adding, "and I didn't used to be alone. There used to be a crew of three."

"What happened to them? Retirement? Budget cuts?"

"Good question. The answer is yes." Izzy frowned as she looked the alien up and down. "Course, being royalty, I bet you don't know what it's like to lack for credits."

"I work in Star Command. I know a thing or two about budgets." She took off her wrist gauntlet and plopped it down in front of Izzy. "I also know that there's a techie down here who can do what you need done in half the time it takes the replicators, and do a better job at that. So…"

"So you decided to come down and see how the plebs live."

"While I do my job ensuring people live at all, yes."

In an ideal world, Izzy would have smirked. Self-confident, but not full of herself. She didn't know that much about tangeans, only that they were humanoid, but 'better' than most humans and humanoids, and they knew it. Also, they were ruled by a planet-wide monarchy. While most species had embraced democracy to at least some extent, even before discovering FTL travel and joining the Galactic Alliance, tangean history had involved lots of kings and queens slowly losing their heads until there was one single monarchy and nobility left, who acted like they were better than everyone else. And after making first contact, that included the species beyond their homeworld.

Princess Mira didn't seem too stuck up, but in every sense, she was above Izzy – higher height, higher rank, and as a member of Buzz's team, of higher standing. So while it wasn't the woman's fault that her mere presence caused a screw to twist in her heart, Izzy couldn't help but scowl as she took the space ranger's wrist gauntlet.

"Laser's acting up," Mira said. "Stun setting, kill setting, all I get is a flashing light."

"Oh don't worry, maybe you can blink the enemy to death." Izzy looked the gauntlet over, before opening it up. "Wiring's fried. Gimme a sec, it'll be good as new."

"A sec?"

"A sec. Give me a few minutes, and I can make it even better."

"Better," Mira said. "I like better."

Izzy liked credits, so after a scan of Mira's cred-chit, she got to work. She put the gauntlet inside a suspensor, while she put on some glasses and shoved her hands into gloves built into the device. The gloves wouldn't actually interact with the gauntlet, but rather, combined with a HUD on the glasses, would allow her to adjust the wiring through small servos – thinner even than ants. It was the type of work that nanotech could do in a "sec," but in Izzy's experience, nothing beat the human touch.

"So…" Mira said awkwardly.

"La," Izzy grunted.

"Excuse me?"

"So, la, ti…?"

"I don't follow."

"It's old human music stuff."

"Oh, I see. I'm afraid I didn't study the music of more primitive cultures." She paused. "I mean…wait, I didn't mean to say that-"

"Relax, sweet cheeks, I've had worse." And that's not even counting having your planet overrun by killer robots.

Did the 'worse' include your former commander stabbing her in the back? Perhaps. Either way, Izzy kept working on the gauntlet.

An eerie silence filled the workshop. If Mo or Darcy had been here, silence would be as non-existent as quantum strings (a theory that refused to die because some scientists were dreamers), and as exponential as dark energy. She'd work. Mo would work. Darcy would complain about working. Mo would get the heeby jeebies, which would cause him to break something. Darcy would shout some more, Izzy would play mother, and they'd retire after work for a cold one.

But they weren't here. Budget cuts, retirement…one had followed the other. Izzy would have brushed something from her eye, but focusing on the gauntlet, she couldn't afford to.

"So…how's things?" Mira asked.

Izzy scowled.

"XR loves this kind of stuff."

Bully for XR.

"I mean, maybe he could come down here."

"Maybe he could." And if he does, I have a point singularity projector ready to test.

"Or Booster. He's a mechanic. Technically a janitor, but who's asking?"

No-one.

"He grew up on Jo-Ad, did you know that? Agri-world. Jo-adians are really well suited for that kind of manual labour. I know that might sound speciest, but it's true. We're all the products of evolution, which means that-"

"So how's life in the big leagues treating you?" Izzy asked – if Mira wasn't going to be quiet, she could at least change the subject.

"Excuse me?"

"Big leagues. Grand finals." She looked at the princess. "I mean how is it to be on the same team as Star Command's poster boy?"

"Oh, Buzz? Yes, he has been on a lot of posters. The 'I want you for the Space Rangers' thing and…oh, about being on the team." She shrugged. "It's alright."

Izzy gave her a look.

"Oh, it's awesome!" Mira exclaimed, giggling like an LGM on spice. "I mean, I always wanted to join the Space Rangers, and just getting in was hard enough, but to be on the same team as Buzz Lightyear…"

She let out a high-pitched sound that was so high-pitched, Izzy could swear that some of her teeth vibrated at a sub-atomic frequency. Since this wasn't science fiction, she shrugged, and got back to the job.

"So, yeah, awesome," Mira said, still giggling.

"Good for you," Izzy murmured, gritting her teeth. "I'll need to replace some of these wires, by the way."

"I mean, we get to go on missions, we get to save planets…I've even heard there's a new toyline coming out. Me, a toy! The andynonians have floated some of the concepts by Commander Nebula, and while he puts on a gruff face, he's really a big old softie."

"Sure is…" Not so soft that he couldn't save my friends' jobs, but hey, a softie.

"But it's a big occasion," Mira continued. "Everyone knows how Warp Darkmatter died, even if he isn't really dead now, but Buzz has never worked with a team before and-"

"Alright, we're done!" Izzy shouted. She tore off her goggles and handed Mira the gauntlet. "Try it."

Mira gave her a weird look. Nevertheless, she fit it onto her suit, and looked around for a target. With a grunt, Izzy pressed a button under her desk, and from the ground popped up a target dummy. A giant stuffed grub.

"It's not real, I assure you," Izzy said. "I'm an engineer, not a taxidermist."

Mira gave her a look, but nevertheless, aimed her wrist blaster. She fired, and let out a yell, as the red laser completely disintegrated the target.

"Nice," Izzy said.

Mira frowned. "It's a bit excessive, isn't it?"

"Completely disintegrating a target? I'd say it gets the job done."

"I didn't join Star Command to disintegrate things."

"Why not? Better than wounding them." Seeing Mira's look, Izzy added, "wounds ain't nice, princess. You live, the wound remains. You try to treat it, but it never goes. And every step you take is a knife twisting in that wound, and we-"

"…are no longer talking about Zurg's minions, are we?" Mira whispered.

Izzy grunted. "You can adjust the settings manually if you want. We're done here."

She meant it. She expected Mira to leave then and there. Or if she didn't expect it, hoped, at least.

"Are you alright, Izzy?" Mira asked.

Alas, hopes were as empty as vacuum. "I'm fine."

"You don't sound fine."

"Really? Why wouldn't I be fine. Buzz has got a new space ranger team which everyone's calling his first team ever, and I'm stuck down here fiddling with scrap like this, and princesses with starships so far up their…" She sighed, and took off her glasses. Wiped her eyes, and told herself not to cry. She'd made that promise to herself when her grandmother had died, and despite all the failures she'd had in her life, from cadetships to space ranger duty, it was a promise she hadn't broken.

"First team," Mira whispered.

Izzy remained silent.

"You said what people are calling Buzz's first team," the tangean added. "And that's true, as far as I'm aware. The only person Buzz worked with prior to taking me, X, and XR onboard was Warp Darkmatter. Which means either you're wrong…or I'm wrong."

Izzy looked at her. Truth of the matter was, she had no desire to spill the beans to Princess Mira Nova. But on the other, the beans had long been unspilled, and Mira, at least, seemed willing to listen.

"I was part of Buzz's first team," Izzy whispered. Mira remained silent, so she continued. "It's true. I was born on a world called T'Kani Prime. Way outside GA jurisdiction, first world to be attacked by Zurg. After the battle, we were inducted into Star Command, got pretty spacesuits, and the rest, as they say, is history."

"If it's history," Mira whispered in a low voice, "why don't I know about it?"

"Because it's history barely worth mentioning," Izzy said. "After a month, we were disbanded. Barely had a few missions to our name. Buzz met Warp, and just like that, things changed." She clicked her fingers for effect. "Less of a team player, more of a dangerous duo guy. His ship veered off course, had a run in with the local law enforcement, there was some giant alien that tortured people and long story short, that's how he met Warp. Two-man operations, highest priority, best of the best. And me and mine were left here to rot." She spans around in her chair. "Just me, now."

"Does Buzz know?" Mira whispered.

"Maybe, maybe not. He's never come down here. I've never seen him. Frankly, after all these years, it's better this way."

"Better for who?"

"Him. Star Command. It gets to parade its poster boy with his quote, "first team." Me and mine, we're an unwelcome distraction. And if they were ever gonna put me, Mo, or Darcy back on ranger duty, they'd have done it a long time ago."

Mira didn't say anything.

"Better this way," Izzy repeated. "Like circuits. Got you something better in that laser gauntlet, but that was by putting in something new. Some things that break stay broken."

That was the end of it. Mira tried to say something, but already, Izzy had buried herself in her tools. She heard a whisper – "I'm sorry," maybe – before the door hissed open and shut. Returning Princess Mira Nova to the sights and sounds of Star Command, and leaving Izzy Hawthorne alone in its underbelly.

"Take what you can get," she murmured, before checking her balance. "Take what you can get…"

Maybe a new hydro-spanner to replace the glitchy one.

After all, she was well versed in the realm of replacement parts.