Aiden’s impatience rewarded him with a lunch in the cafeteria. He ate it proudly, knowing that the other chumps were probably just getting in. The bearded ranger finished his meal and got rid of his tray. All that was left to do now was chill out and make sure he didn’t get caught by the captain or his cronies.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Leon and that redheaded girl, Mia. She saw him too, but turned her head away, probably to tell the doofus with her that she spotted him.

This seemed like a good time to change location.

“Kelly? Kelly, is that you?” The voice calling after him might as well have been nails on a chalkboard.

Aiden reluctantly looked behind to see two star rangers walk up to him, but it wasn’t Mia nor Leon. Instead, it was some blonde chick and a downbeat-looking dude.

“Yo, AK! It’s us! Remember?” asked the girl he didn’t know.

“No.” Aiden answered and walked away.

“C’mooon! You gotta remember your posse!”

“We wouldn’t be Triple Trouble without you!” her friend whined.

Getting passed between so many ships, Aiden couldn’t keep track of everyone he met, but now that they mentioned it, he vaguely remembered some obnoxious dweebs calling themselves Triple Trouble, along with him. He also remembered wanting nothing to do with it. A bad reputation never bothered Aiden, but he’d rather earn it on his own than through association.

He tried to walk away again, but somebody must’ve felt like testing their luck by grabbing his arm.

Naturally, Aiden flung it off. “Don’t touch me.”

“That’s our man, alright! I couldn’t miss that ugly mug anywhere!” Blondie had no sense of self-preservation, apparently. Aiden didn’t feel like wasting his breath to explain he wasn’t a man. She could barely understand the word ‘no,’ let alone ‘nonbinary.’

Her friend, on the other hand, hovered behind her. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d think you’d forgotten us.”

“I wish I had.”

“Told’ja he couldn’t forget about Bella-Bellatrix and her old pal Gordy Golden!” She elbowed her sidekick. “Aidennn, you should hang out with us! Catch up on things, you know?”

Aiden scanned the room for his crewmates. Mia was leading Leon towards some other area of the cafeteria. This would be a perfect time to leave, but the dipstick duo currently tagging along would expose him in an instant.

“Yeah.” He agreed against his will. “Let’s catch up.”

They dragged him over to a table nearby, where some other people sat eating their lunches. Good. If he can get more people to join the conversation, they might all distract each other. It’ll give him an opening to get out of there.

He started with an obvious question. “Is there a meeting or somethin’ goin’ on?”

“Yeah! Those new units came in today, the Celestion units.” The disgust with which Bella said ‘Celestion’ was palpable. “There’s already two other ships docked in today, including ours, and now we have to deal a buncha flabby freeloaders hoggin’ up all the food! It’s nuts!”

“Plus, they’re just annoying.” Gordy sulked. “At least the rangers are. Us higher ranks already get a free pass to be lazy, but I can’t stand how I had to bust my butt doing busy work as a ranger while those Celestion creeps get to do whatever they want.” Judging by the pin on his uniform, he’d somehow been promoted to corporal.

Aiden wasn’t too bothered by what they had to say. It was true that rangers were usually expected to do menial labor and physical training, and anyone who ended up on one of the Celestion ships lucked out of having to.

“I’d ditch physical training altogether.” suggested the bearded ranger. “It’s not like we have to fight or nothin’, and we have regular gravity, so we’re not gonna turn into jelly or whatever they had to worry about back in the day." He leaned his face into his hand. "Besides, if you’re mad, why not get mad at the commanders who set all this up? They have control over who gets picked, not the rangers.”

“Yeah…” Gordy’s expression softened.

“But Celestion rangers are still annoying! The thought of seeing one of their smug little faces makes me wanna--” Bella boxed at the air.

Aiden’s eyes wandered around, eager to get away from his new “friends.” He spotted Mia and Leon again, this time as far away as they could possibly be from him. At this point, he had to wonder if Mia was going out of her way to avoid him. The thought brought a smile to his face.

“See, he gets it!” Bella pointed at Aiden.

“Huh?”

“You’d like to deck ‘em too, wouldn’t you?”

“No?” Neither Leon nor the captains gave Aiden a reason to want to punch them, and he’d be out of a job if he did anything to the latter two. Sure, Leon and Captain Galhardo could be annoying, but they weren’t a threat to anyone yet.

“Aww. I thought at least you’d be on my side here!”

Aiden looked for someone else to talk to. Thankfully, there were a few people around.

“What do you guys think about the whole Celestion thing?” he asked no one in particular. “Any of you.”

“I’m a part of the Celestion-2.” a corporal spoke up. "It's not my fault they picked me, though..." he added, as if being picked wasn't something he could opt out of. As if people would care.

The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

Nonetheless, a few pointed looks were shot at the guy for daring to admit his association with the Celestion Project. Bella mouthed a sarcastic “great” and rolled her eyes.

“We’re basically a glorified supply ship and guinea pigs on the side, so I’m pretty neutral about the whole thing. All of us are a little older, so I don’t think there’s any rangers on our ship.” The corporal glanced at Gordy. He must’ve heard him earlier. “If you really wanna get mad though, there’s the Celestion-5.”

“What about the Celestion-5?” Gordy craned his neck toward the other corporal.

“I heard their crew is all rangers. Basically teenagers. And they get to go to Neptune!”

“What? That’s no fair!” huffed Bella.

“Not gonna lie, I’m a little jealous, too. And you wanna know the real kicker?” A medic chimed in. “Their captains are a coupla kids right out of basic training!”

“Nuh-uh!” Bella slammed her hands on the table, while Aiden pretended to be mildly surprised at this news.

“Aren’t they that Galhardo guy’s kids?”

“No wonder they’re captains!”

“And they get the most exciting mission! What a load of garbage!”

“None of them deserve it!”

So many people were getting worked up about the Celestion-5. Even people who weren’t involved in the conversation before threw in their two cents. As funny as it was to watch, Aiden figured it would be a good time to make a run for it.

“I don’t know how you can stay so calm about this.” Gordy shook his head at his fellow corporal. “I’d be so mad if I were on any of the other ships!”

“Oh, you shoulda been here earlier. This one captain was fuming ‘cause his ship had to follow behind them.”

“That doesn’t sound so bad, actually.”

“That’s what I thought, too. He was joking at first, but he kept bringing up the fact that the Celestion-5 would get all the fame, while his crew would be a footnote if they’re lucky.”

“What a bummer...”

The conversation faded away as Aiden distanced himself from the table. He looked back one last time to see that Bella and Gordy were too busy ranting to notice he left. Too easy.

Aiden strolled off into the crowd, too pleased with himself to see where he was going. That was when he bumped into someone.

“Aah--!” A red ponytail swung around to reveal a round, freckled face, frozen in shock. “A...Aiden...”

Aiden could curse himself for bumping into Mia after coming so close to freedom. She didn’t seem happy to see him, either.

Someone else did.

“Aiden! We found you!” Leon smiled his usual dopey grin. “I was starting to think we might be wasting our time here, and maybe you were at the gym like Jun said.”

Aiden swore under his breath. Of course Captain Galhardo would get Jun’s help in tracking him down. That guy knew him too well.

“The captain’s been looking for you!”

“He can keep looking.” He took a couple steps ahead of them.

Leon followed. “Not if we bring you back to him.”

“We?” Aiden scoffed. He glanced at Mia, trudging along and looking like she would rather be anywhere else.

“Yeah, me and Mia won’t let you out of our sight until all of us are back together!” Leon hooked an arm, brimming with the kind of foolish confidence that made him look pitiful.

“You will?” The blond ranger addressed Mia this time.

Mia shook her head at Leon. “I dunno about this…”

“What?” The rookie took on a puppy-dog-like expression. “But the captain told us to bring him back if we find him.”

Image: A worried Mia, in the middle of Leon giving her a sad face, and Aiden being apathetic. [https://f2.toyhou.se/file/f2-toyhou-se/images/22802939_R1sqgvAG6xkczLJ.png]

“I know but--” Mia grimaced in pain. “What are we gonna do if Aiden doesn’t want to go?”

“Good question. I’ll leave you two to figure that one out.” Aiden continued walking ahead.

“Wait! Come back!” whined the buck-toothed ranger, as if that would make him change his mind.

“Hey! You got a problem with our guy AK?”

As if this moment couldn’t get any worse, Bella showed up, followed by Gordy.

“Hi! Who are you?” Leon asked. “Are you Aiden’s friends?”

“You better believe it!” Bella announced. “I’m Bella-Bellatrix and this here is Gordy Golden.” She slung an arm around him. “Together with AK, we’re Triple Trouble and we’re gonna give you triple trouble if you mess with us!”

Aiden mouthed to Mia that he’d never seen these people in his life. She seemed to understand.

“Did you guys need him for something?” Gordy asked like a normal person.

“Maybe we should go--”

“We’re with the Celestion-5, nice to meet you!” Leon interrupted Mia’s common sense. “I promise we're not looking for any triple trouble. Aiden just left the group earlier and Captain Galhardo sent us to find him!”

Bella marched up to Leon and Mia, with Gordy trailing behind. She sized them up and down, clearly unimpressed with what she saw. She and Gordy traded smug grins.

“Celestion-5, eh? You guys are rangers?”

“Yeah!” Leon couldn’t read the room if it were spelled out for him. It was kind of sad. “I just joined, actually!”

“Heh. I can tell… Do you guys do PT?”

“We don’t have mandatory physical training, but I try to keep myself in shape at the gym.”

“Oh really?” She looked him up and down again. “Doesn’t look like it.”

“It probably doesn’t right now, but I’m hoping results’ll show soon!” Leon nervously chuckled.

“What about you?” Bella turned to Mia.

Mia wore a blank expression, though Aiden could see a flicker of discomfort behind it. “...I’m sorry, but we need to take Aiden back to our captain.”

“Why don’t you guys stick around and have lunch? Sure, all the good food is taken, but I’m sure the salad bar is still open!” Disgust seeped through the blonde woman’s words.

Bella acted like Leon and Mia were personally responsible for the supposed lack of lunch, even though Aiden could see other star rangers easily getting food. Gordy stifled a laugh. Aiden was embarrassed for everyone involved.

“Don’t you guys have places to be?” It took everything for Aiden not to pick them up and place them into the nearest trash can.

“Don’t worry, Kelly, we got this!” Bella waved her hands. “We’re all friends here, right?”

Aiden said no, but was drowned out by Gordy having a coughing fit. Upon any inspection, it was incredibly fake.

“Can you guys stand back a little?” asked Bella. “I think you’re taking up his oxygen.”

Leon legitimately believed in this. “Oh, sure thing--!”

Aiden took a deep breath. “Let’s go, you two.”

“Good idea!” Bella piped up.

“Not you.”

Bella looked offended. Aiden was offended it took her this long to take a hint. “C’mooon, Aiden, why are you playing nice with these guys? I know they’re your crew or whatever, but they obviously have it too good. Look at ‘em! They’re lucky to have made it past the physical exam!”

Instead of answering, he walked away. Mia didn’t hesitate to follow, though Leon had to take some persuasion.

“But Aidennn, you can’t leave us!”

Aiden had no trouble leaving them.

“Kellyyy, come back!”

“Yeah, we need you.” Gordy joined in. “We’re a team!”

Aiden whirled around. The look in their eyes told him that they understood he wasn’t playing around this time.

“I’m only gonna say this once.” He began. “We’re not a team, and we never were. Never will be! Find somebody else to bug or go cry about it; I don’t care. Just get lost.”

Bella had the nerve to look hurt. “But why… Why would you choose them over us?”

“I’d rather hang out with genuine nerds than a coupla posers,” he turned to Mia, “no offense.”

“None taken.”

He turned back to Bella, whose face flushed bright red, and Gordy, cowering behind her.

“Anyway, uhh… scram.”

With that, Aiden left the cafeteria with Leon and Mia, Leon lagging behind.

“Uhh, they were…” he looked back, “Interesting.”

“You can say they’re annoying.”

“They’re annoying.” Mia spoke up.

Aiden snorted, not expecting that from her. From the little he knew of her, she seemed the type to take anything thrown at her with polite detachment. She probably didn’t get to say stuff like this often.

“So, where are we going?” asked Leon.

“To the captains.” After putting up with Bella and Gordy, a lecture from Captain Galhardo sounded almost pleasant. “Now hurry up before I change my mind.”