To Infinity and Beyond

To Infinity and Beyond

Episode 01: The most dangerous ally

This story is a Fan fiction, and only for free entertainment purposes.

“Buzz?” There was no reply. “Buzz!” The blue skinned girl repeated. The best Ranger from Star Command turned around, finally hearing one of his team members. “Where are you heading Buzz; I thought we were going to have lunch together.”

Buzz nodded. “I know Mira, but I got an urgent message from Commander Nebula. I have to go and meet him in the Training Department.”

The two other team members, Booster and XR joined both Mira and Buzz as well. “Really? I wonder what could be so urgent.” Booster wondered.

Buzz shrugged. “He didn’t tell me.” He answered truthfully.

“Shall we accompany you?” Mira suggested.

“And have lunch afterwards.” XR added. “We’ll just start and you join in later.”

“XR!” Booster corrected the robot. “We won’t have lunch without Buzz.”

“I’m not saying we won’t.” XR explained. “After all, we need someone to pay the bill. I’m serious Booster, we should get paid better.”

“Good is being repaid into peace and the thanks of those we saved.” Buzz raised his finger.

“Peace is nice, but peace doesn’t pay the bills.” XR mumbled.

“Buzz, you’re going to be late.” Mira urged him to move on. “And do you want us to come along or not?”

Buzz thought for a second. “You can come along, but if the Commander wants to talk in private, you can get lunch without me.”

His team members agreed, and followed the Space Ranger towards the Training Department. “I wonder what the Commander meant when he said we were having trouble.” Buzz mentioned.

“Trouble?” Mira thought as well. “Do you think it’s something with the robots?”

Buzz didn’t know it. “The last time I was asked to go to the Training Department, it was because he introduced me to you Mira.”

“I knew it!” XR suddenly exclaimed. “I knew it! He’s going to replace me.” XR rattled on in panic. “Don’t you get it Booster?! The Commander hates robots! I bet he found some organic creature to replace me! I’m going to be scrap metal! I’m going to be used as a cleaning machine again! Or maybe both!”

Booster tried to calm him down. “XR, don’t worry. You are part of our team! Buzz would never allow anyone to replace you.”

Buzz nodded in agreement. “Really?” XR recovered quickly. “I knew that.”

The sliding door to the Training Department Control Room opened with a soft wiz sound. Buzz stepped inside, followed by his team, and saluted the Commander with his wooden leg. “Team Lightyear reporting for duty.” Buzz said.

“You sure took a while before coming here.” Commander Nebula grunted. “And you brought your team along as well I see.”

“Unless you want to discuss this in private.” Buzz suggested.

Commander Nebula raised his hand. “It doesn’t matter. It’s not a secret. Everyone knows this… except the one who this is about.”

“I knew it!” XR hissed. “He’s going to replace me.”

“Replacing?” The Commander overheard. “Ranger XR, if it was only that simple! What we have on our hands, is more like a crisis. Everyone who knows her, worries about her!”

“Who are you talking about Sir?” Mira asked curious.

The Commander turned around and looked out of the window. “I’m talking about her.” He pointed down, towards the training field. Amidst the training rookies, Buzz and his team noticed a young purple haired girl. She wore a Space Suit just like any other rookie; white with green and high boots. The girl easily managed to avoid all attacks from the training robots; using her legs and hands to fight against them.

“Did she already use all her ammo?” Buzz wondered curious why she was not using her wrist laser, when she suddenly made a single shot to stop a robot that was coming from behind. Another robot wanted to throw a net on her, but she was too fast for him; and climbing on him with the speed of an ant, she easily reached his control hatch, and ripped some cables loose. She flipped back her hair, and went with her fingers through it, to make it a bit decent again. It reached her shoulders and floated a bit down her back, while the wild bangs dangled over her face.

“She has green eyes.” XR noticed after using his binoculars. “And she seems pretty hot… I mean good.” But Mira had still overheard him, and threw a meaningful glaze at him.

The girl on the training field looked around and noticed not much of her fellow rookies were left. She smiled confident, and sat down on the robot; waiting for following orders.

The Commander walked at the LGM, the little green men with three eyes and a collective mind. “Level 10!” He ordered, and the LGM obeyed without hesitation.

Buzz protested. “But Commander!” He started. “Mira and I barely make that level.”

“You just watch.” The Commander mumbled. “And understand my worries.”

Level 10 proved to be too hard for the rookies, as most were captured during the training. But with mouths wide open, Buzz, Mira, Booster and XR saw that the girl had no trouble at all with the level. “Wow, she IS good.” Booster exclaimed, as the last robot of the field was shut down by the girl one by one, with only using 3 shots of her wrist laser.

The girl noticed she was the only one left, and started looking for her fellow rookies. A bit confused she looked around, while the Commander gave another order to the LGM. “Level 11!”

“Level 11?!” Mira and Buzz exclaimed. “There doesn’t exist a Level 11!”

“It does now.” The Commander casually mentioned.

Out of nowhere, six gigantic robots closed in on the girl. She looked around, a bit surprised and worried, and was too slow for the rope that the robot threw at her. It didn’t take long before she dangled upside down.

“Oh dear, it’s too hard for her.” Booster sighed worried.

Commander Nebula didn’t stretch a muscle. “You just wait and see.” He only said.

The purple haired girl raised herself and used her wrist laser to cut the rope. The hands of the robots easily closed in, but the girl held on to the other side of the rope and climbed on the arm of the first robot. She used her wrist laser to damage the arm, and just before another robot wanted to grab her, she jumped away to another robot. The second robot grabbed the damaged part, and both got electrocuted.

“What is she?!” Buzz exclaimed, when he saw the speed she was moving around with. “Tangean?!”

“She’s not from my planet.” Mira concluded. “She’s not using Ghost Powers and her skin is not blue.”

Commander Nebula filled them in. “She’s human. 100% human.”

With mouths almost lying at the ground, they stared at the training field, where a purple haired rookie dusted herself off, while six gigantic robots were ready to be called scrap metal. They were even more surprised, when she started to look for other rookies again.

“But… but… It went so fast!” Booster mumbled.

“How much ammo did she use?” Buzz was more curious to know. He had counted around 30 shots; she had to have a trick for this all.

The LGM waggled closer, with a notepad in her arms. “We counted 113 shots.” They said united.

“That’s pretty much.” XR concluded.

“Ever since she reached the Academy.” One of the LGM mentioned.

“And everyone else has an average of 1345.” Another added.

Silence filled the room. “She… she used that little ammo?!” Both Mira and Buzz gasped.

“What was your average Buzz?” XR liked to know.

“That’s not important.” Buzz quickly said.

“He used 1267 in the same time.” One of the LGM helpfully added.

“Maybe you now see our problem?” Commander Nebula started again.

“But she’s good.” Mira raised her arms in disbelief. “Isn’t it great to have a rookie this great?”

“She might be even better than you Buzz.” The Commander added. Buzz couldn’t believe it, and he raised his voice. However, the Commander stopped him easily. “And that’s why she’s so dangerous.”

“Of course!” XR started. “It’s dangerous to have a rookie this great. Who knows, maybe we’ll even have the chance to beat the Evil Emperor Zurg.” He said sarcastically to Booster. “We can’t have that happening!”

Commander Nebula scratched his voice. XR stopped and pretended that nothing had happened. “She is still young. We found out Zurg wants to get her to his side. And I don’t want another incident like Warp Darkmatter.”

Buzz nodded. “Zurg promised him money, and he fell for that. But only a true Space Ranger doesn’t care about money!”

“We don’t?” XR asked.

“But how does Zurg want to do that?” Booster wondered. “Bribing her like Warp?”

“We don’t know yet.” Commander Nebula looked at the girl that still looked around for some other rookies. “But if Zurg succeeds, it might be the end of Star Command. Ever since Warp is fighting for Zurg…”

“If she goes to the other side, I will defeat her!” Buzz heroically proclaimed.

“Oh, you think so?” Commander Nebula asked. “Then come along.”

Team Lightyear and Commander Nebula walked down the stairs and into the Training Room. The girl looked up, and walked at the Commander, saluting him. “Space Ranger Nané Sophia reporting for duty!” She smiled. “Permission to speak freely?” The Commander nodded, and Nané continued. “I don’t wish to sound bold, but when can I go to level 4? I think Level 3 is too easy for me now.”

It became silent. Commander Nebula never lost his steel face, while Booster gasped: ‘oh dear’. Mira couldn’t believe it, Buzz thought he had heard it wrong, and XR simply fainted.

“Need to say more?” The Commander finally said after the girl had stared confused at the Space Rangers that had come along. “Rookie Sophia.” As a result Nané saluted again. “You just finished level 11.”

“But there doesn’t exist any level 11.” Nané responded in an instant.

“It does now.”

The girl let the words get through her system. “Really?” She said without thinking. “Bummer…” Then she saw the Commander’s face. “I mean… I mean: Really? I can’t believe it! Not that I think that level 11 is easy or so and I… I… I messed up again, didn’t I?”

“I gave you permission to speak freely, didn’t I?” The Commander replied.

But, Nané wisely kept her mouth shut. She felt uneasy, just like Team Lightyear, when she suddenly noticed the clock. “Craters!” She exclaimed. “I have an exam right now!” She wanted to turn around, but then stopped. “Am I excused?”

The Commander nodded and the girl rushed out of the training room. It was once again silent, until the Commander decided to speak again. “She still has trouble with the protocols, but what she lacks in discipline, she makes up in fighting skills.”

Buzz finally managed to speak. “She… she…”

“I see you get my point.”

“She has no idea how skilled she is!” Mira added finally. “Why?!”

“Zurg realized that as well.” Commander Nebula replied. “And that means Buzz, that you need to protect her from him!”

“What??!” Buzz was flabbergasted. “The best team of Star Command needs to baby-sit a rookie?! I have to baby-sit a rookie?!”

“You heard me!” The Commander walked away. “And your mission starts right now!”

In the cafeteria Buzz put his head on the table. “Baby-sitting a rookie…” He said depressed. “What a humiliation…”

“There, there…” Booster tried to comfort him. “Don’t worry so much.”

“Yeah!” XR smiled. “We all reach our peaks one time, and it seems yours was with the last mission. Don’t feel bad!” But in return, XR got some devastating looks as a thank you. “Oops! I mean… Oh, I’ll shut up.”

From that day on Team Lightyear followed the rookie named Nané Sophia throughout all Star Command. Mira followed her into the pool, XR followed her into classes (claiming he had to do some inspection of all software), Booster followed her wherever he could, and Buzz followed her into the training room as long as he could keep up with her (but alas, she indeed turned out to be better!).

But Nané turned out not to be born yesterday, and started to suspect something. However, whenever she turned around, Team Lightyear acted innocent and as if it was a complete coincidence. Booster even once dressed up like a woman in order to stay hidden!

One day Nané was walking through Star Command again, with Team Lightyear behind her, but when she turned around, all she saw were 4 simple cleaners. A bit ticked off, she turned around the corner, and Team Lightyear followed.

However… the corridor was suddenly empty! “Huh?” Mira wondered. “Where did she go?”

“She couldn’t have gone up into smoke!” Buzz mumbled investigating. “That’s impossible.”

“It indeed is.” They suddenly heard above them, and when they looked up, they saw a purple girl hanging upside down from the ceiling. “So since we got that out of the way… why in Jupiter’s Name are you following me?!”

“We are not following you.” XR tried to laugh it off. “We just wanted to ask you something. Is that color your natural color of hair?”

“And it took you 13 whole days to gather the courage?” The girl jumped down.

“Well, is it?” Buzz played along.

Nané became a bit red of anger. “Yes it is!” She exclaimed. “Am I a suspect of any crime or so?!”

“No.” Booster honestly admitted.

"Am I considered mentally unstable and dangerous?"

"Not yet." XR mumbled. “I mean, not really!”

"Then why are you following me?!" Nané's green eyes were filled with anger.

Mira felt bad, and nudged Buzz. “Maybe we should tell her. She’ll probably understand it.”

“No!” Buzz forbid her. “Our mission is classified.”

“Fine!” Nané yelled upset. “Be that way! And since there is nothing important, I’d like to get you all off my back!” Nané turned around and headed for the Space Station.

“What is she going to do?” Booster asked worried.

“It’s weekend!” Mira told him. “She’s probably heading home to Capital Planet!”

“Not if I can help it.” Buzz ordered his team, and headed left when Nané had turned left as well.

The LGM were closing the doors to the space shuttle, but the little human girl ignored all stop signs, and jumped in just before the door would close. With her space suit glove, she rubbed her eyes dry. She was so angry she was ready to cry. But a true Space Ranger would never cry. Why? Why were they doing this to her? She couldn’t help but let this thought controlling her mind on her way home to Capital Planet.

“Craters!” Buzz cursed. “When does the next ship leave?” He asked the LGM.

“Tomorrow.” The answer was united.

Buzz almost punched a hole in the wall. “Don’t worry.” Mira comforted him. “She is going to Capital Planet; I doubt Zurg will try anything while she is there.”

“If he would try it, Star Command would notice it.” Booster tried to help.

“Just don’t tell Commander Nebula, okay?” XR started. “Then we’ll really have trouble.”

“Oh, don’t worry.” A voice sounded. “You already have!” And when Team Lightyear turned around, Commander Nebula stood there with his arms crossed, and strict face.

“Commander, we can explain.” Buzz started.

“Good.” The Commander turned around. “I’m dying to hear that!” He stomped away, and Team Lightyear had no other option than to follow, knowing they were in deep… deep trouble.

Nané opened the door to her small house. “I’m home!” She called out, but there was no reply. Curious she walked around, till she spotted a note on the refrigerator.

‘Dear Nané’ It started. ‘I’m so sorry I had to leave without being able to tell you. I was called to negotiate with the Tyronian; they want to join the Galactic Alliance. There’s some Mushroom Lasagne left in the fridge. Be back in 5 days. Love, Corona.’

“Again?” Nané sighed and sat down on the couch. She took a photo from the table next to her. On the photo she saw herself and a brown skinned girl with pointy and frilly ears. “Welcome home…” She greeted herself, and then decided to look what was left behind in the fridge.

That night, Nané was sleeping in her own bed. She was sleeping peacefully; hugging her pillow and making soft chirping sounds. Suddenly her face changed for a second, and she started mumbling. “But… I don’t… no…”

At that moment the doorbell suddenly rang. Nané shot up in her bed scared, but when the doorbell rang for the second time, and she had seen the time, she got up growling. Cursing she started walking at the door. She started mumbling words like: ‘idiot’, ‘moron’ and ‘middle of the night’, and took the handle of the front door, while the doorbell rang for the fourth time.

When Nané opened the door, she saw a young man with a mechanical arm and an armour suit. His blue skin betrayed he was not human, and the 5 yellow robots behind him did not promise anything good. Nané knew what kind of robot’s they were; they were Zurg’s Hornets.

However, she was not impressed. She was ticked off. “Good evening Miss Sophia.” Warp Darkmatter greeted her. “Please follow me.” He raised his hand that was holding a laser gun.

Nané simply boiled. “Do you have any idea what time it is?!” She bellowed at him. “Get out, or I’ll help you out!” Furiously she slammed the door. “Come back tomorrow!”

On the other side, Warp was staring astounded at the door; what just happened? Then he raised his weapon confidentially, and blew out the door.

“Oh great!” Nané yelled angry. “Now you also ruined my door! I expect Zurg to pay for the damage!”

“Hornets!” Warp ordered ticked off. “Get her, now!”

Nané was unimpressed. If six level 11 robots at Star Command were little challenge, 5 Hornets from Zurg would most likely be no problem at all. She dove away in time, gave a kick here, a knock there, used an arm laser from a Hornet to ruin another one, and when there was only one Hornet left, she simply kicked the head off.

Without getting hurt or even tired, herself, Nané moved a strand of hair away from her face. She tried to stay calm and rational, but those were not her threats. “Now get out!” She hissed at Warp. “I’m in a very, VERY bad mood!”

Warp tried not to show he was surprised by her skills. “What Zurg wants, he gets.” He smiled. “Simple as that.” He raised another gun, and Nané was ready to duck away if he would fire. “Last chance!”

“No way!” Nané yelled back.

“Then so be it.” Warp grinned, and fired. However, instead of releasing a laser, a small ball came out, which slowly grew. Nané was a bit curious yet cautious, and waited for what would happen.

Suddenly some sort of gas escaped from the ball, and Nané tried to get away. She coughed and coughed, and Warp enjoyed seeing her struggle. He knew what the outcome would be. He knew she would collapse.

And she did.

Warp, the traitor of Star Command, walked at her. He smiled and kneeled, checking up on her. “Like Zurg ordered.” He only said. “Without a scratch.”

To be continued…

Previous - RETURN - Next