“We are now in the Earth’s orbit. You may take off your seatbelts.” informed the captain, taking a few steps away from the helm. It descended into the floor until tiles covered up the hole it left behind. The same happened to Leon’s seat.

“Cooool.” Leon couldn’t contain his thoughts.

Emil thumbed toward his brother, mouthing ‘I know right?’ Though that wasn’t what Leon was referring to, he couldn’t deny the captain was cool.

Captain Galhardo appeared not to hear or see either of them, too preoccupied with gliding toward the front of the deck.

“We will remain in orbit for the next seven days to make sure each star ranger is accustomed to microgravity. From then, we’ll begin training with the Interstellar Forces-issued jetpack armor. Ranger Summers,” he addressed, not even turning to look at him, “I understand that you have not used this armor before, correct?”

“Yes, sir–I mean, no sir.” He tried to stand straight and salute, but he had tilted while floating.

The captain quickly glanced his way. “You’ll want to take advantage of this next week, then.” He returned to surveying the Earth below. “During our training, we will be headed toward the Moon Base to receive further instructions about how to start our mission. Any questions or concerns?”

No one had any questions or concerns.

“You are free to do whatever you wish to become accustomed to your surroundings, provided it fall within the Interstellar Forces Guidelines. With the exception of the room upstairs and the loading deck, you may go wherever you please.”

Leon had a question, maybe even a concern.

“Captain Galhardo?”

“Yes, Ranger Summers?”

“How do I get down?”

By now, Leon hovered a foot above the ground, and he drifted too far away to use the window to push himself back down. He was at the mercy of gravity, and there was none.

“Oh, whoops.” Upon noticing, Jun pulled him down by the hand.

“Thank you, Ranger Kim.” The captain quickly acknowledged Jun’s efforts before turning away once more.

“Thanks, Jun.” Leon offered his gratitude. “Wait, do I call you Jun? Is that okay? Ranger Kim? Gosh, I never thought I’d be on speaking terms with you at all. I’m not even super sure if all this is real right now, being in space, and looking at the Earth from all the way up here. I feel a little lightheaded!”

“That’s because we’re in zero-gravity~” A mass of reddish hair attached to a person’s body floated by. Hands parted it away to reveal Roxie’s face. “Junzie, can you give me a spin?”

“Sure thing.”

Jun grabbed one of Roxie’s ankles and gave her the momentum to do a perpetual midair cartwheel.

“Weee!” Roxie continued floating away like that. It looked fun.

Jun focused back on Leon. “Yeah, you can call me Jun. That’s my name.”

“That’s so cooool!” Suddenly, something occurred to him. “Wait, do you know her?” He turned to look at Roxie, who still spun.

“Yeah.” Jun nodded, sending wavy black bangs upward, but not down. “Aside from you and the captains, I know pretty much everyone else here, so I dunno how well the randomization worked out.”

“Really, everyone?”

“Yeah, it’s kinda funny. I met Roxie, like, a few years ago on one of the main vessels. Literally crashed right into me. She’s a riot. Then there’s,” Jun looked around, “Where is… Ah-ha!”

The two looked up to find the tall guy on the ceiling.

“That’s Aiden. Hey, Aiden.”

Aiden lazily lifted up a hand.

“Oh dang, I didn’t think he’d wave back. But yeah, he was my roommate when all the stuff went down a few years back. The first one I told, actually.”

“Wow. He must be so honored.” Leon couldn’t imagine being a part of such a historical incident.

“He’s a bit… Don’t get too discouraged by him. Annnd Mia? I don’t know her too well, but me and Roxie met her on the Moon Base last year. She’s pretty quiet, pretty chill.”

Mia. All the wonder and excitement made Leon forget that he meant to apologize.

“Anyway, if you need anyone to, like, show you around or give you tips...” Instead of finishing the sentence, Jun finger-gunned at Leon and floated away. Awe-inspiring.

“B-Bye.” He managed to blurt out. “And thank you! I hope we can be friends!”

Jun gave a thumbs-up.

Leon turned around, covering his mouth. “Ohmygosh, ohmygosh, ohmygosh! I can’t believe I got to talk to…!” Now facing the window, the big blue sphere outside gripped his attention, rendering his thoughts into little more than high-pitched squeals. The moment he dreamed of since childhood was finally here. He was in space.

In turning around, he trapped himself in a spin but eventually steadied himself. He now faced where the captain stood. Leon needed to thank him.

“Captain!” Leon propelled himself forward.

Captain Galhardo turned toward Leon’s voice. His cape hung static in the air. Leon nearly reached where he was standing at this point.

“Permission to speak, Captain?” Leon saluted, not really sure if it was necessary. He drew a blank on what he learned from basic training; hopefully, he didn’t break a rule of some kind.

“Permission granted.”

“Thank you so much–” The side of Leon’s face smacked into the window. He adjusted himself. “Thank you so much, sir. Going to space has been a lifelong dream of mine, and I just-- I just wanted to thank you from the bottom of my heart for making that a reality for me.”

“You’re welcome.” The captain seemed so cool and unphased. “Though part of it was your own hard work.”

He had the look of someone choosing his words carefully, like a true leader.

“Being accepted into the Interstellar Forces is no mistake. If you’re here, it means you put forth an effort worthy of being recognized as a star ranger and are trusted to continue putting forth that effort for the sake of science and discovery.”

“Yes, sir. You can count on me to give my all!”

“I expect no less. Expect no less from me, either.”

Leon watched the captain gaze off into the distance. Though probably a few years older than him at most, he had the presence of someone wise beyond his years. This was a captain Leon could put his faith in.

“Also,” Galhardo spoke once more, “I would advise you to stay close to the walls and floors to prevent,” he looked at the print on the window left by Leon’s face, “accidents.”

“Ah.” Leon felt slightly embarrassed, but that was overpowered by his gratitude. “Thank you so much, sir. I’ll be on my way.”

The captain gave nothing more than a nod, and with that, Leon turned toward someone he’d been meaning to talk to for a long time: Mia. Until recently, she stood alone, but now Emil was chatting with her.

“Sorry to interrupt.” Leon began.

“No problem, I was just on my way.” Emil drifted backwards in a reclined position.

“I just wanted to apologize for what happened earlier.” Leon turned his attention to Mia. “I should’ve waited until later to strike up a conversation. You were just looking out for me, and it wasn’t fair for you to get in trouble.”

“Oh, um,” Mia seemed surprised, “thank you.”

“Ohhh, so that’s what that was all about.” Emil almost floated on his back. “Don’t worry, Mia, I’ll put in a good word for you with my bro.” He winked and gave a thumbs up.

“Thank you, Lieutenant.”

“Can I come with you?” Leon asked.

“Sure thing.”

Together, the two drifted back to the captain.

“Hey, Rookie’s got somethin’ to tell ya.” Emil got the captain to turn around.

“Captain, sir?” Leon began. “About earlier, when Mia was talking? That was my fault, actually. I was talking to her and she was trying to get me to shut up.”

“I see…” Captain Galhardo looked up, closing his eyes. “I’ll inform Ranger Wattson that a mistake was made. Her name will not be written up for a conduct violation.”

Leon turned around to smile and wave at Mia. Emil gave her two more thumbs up.

“But yours will.”

“I understand, sir.” Leon nodded solemnly.

“As for punishment… Lieutenant, you mentioned the refrigerator being empty?”

“Yeah.”

“And the storage room’s lights aren’t working?”

“They aren’t.”

“I see.” The captain raised a hand to his chin. “Ranger Summers, your punishment is to retrieve food from the storage room and stock the refrigerator.”

“Yes sir.” Leon saluted.

“Lieutenant, please supervise him and make sure to record what’s being taken out of the storage room.”

“Will do~”

The captain glared at him.

“Yes, sir.”

“Thank you.” The captain returned to stargazing, and Leon followed Emil out of the room. On the way, he tried to wave to Mia again, but she was too busy looking out of the window. He wished he could stick around for longer. Maybe having to leave so soon was the real punishment.