The alarm clock read 4:30 A.M.
An empty bed lay to Lorenzo’s right, which could only mean one thing: His brother hadn’t gone to sleep yet. The captain felt a pang of annoyance. Emil should have been in bed almost two hours ago, according to the sleep schedule Lorenzo toiled over. He sighed. Emil would have no one to blame but himself if he woke up groggy later in the morning, but the crew deserved to have two alert captains, and Lorenzo was going to make sure of that.
A well-rested Lorenzo sprung out of bed and went to work making it according to Interstellar Forces specifications. He folded the sheets, tucked them under the mattress, and pulled them taught enough so that a quarter could bounce off of it. To make absolutely sure of that last specification, Lorenzo swiped his handy bed-testing quarter off of his desk and dropped it on his bed, catching it as it bounced back up. A faint smile crossed his face as he thought about how proud his commanding officers would be, including his dad.
The next order of business was to figure out what to do about the lieutenant captain. Surveillance cameras on the wall showed Emil pacing around in the gym. No one else was up right now, except for one crewmember washing his hands in the restroom. Lorenzo could go downstairs and tell his younger brother to go to bed before anyone noticed them. He could do that, but what he saw in the reflection alarmed him.
He was in his pajamas! His hair was a mess! This could not do, this absolutely would not do; if anyone happened to wake up as he retrieved Emil, they’d see the sight of their captain disheveled and underdressed. Unacceptable! Lorenzo immediately took a shower and combed through his wavy, dark hair. He even slicked down his sideburns for good measure.
Lorenzo pulled on the Interstellar Forces powder blue jumpsuit, complete with reflective orange stripes for visibility in space. He then donned the symbols of his captain status: An orange, brimmed cap and a star pin with two orange lines protruding to his left, placed over the heart. In the mirror, he now saw the spitting image of a respectable captain, but something was missing. A yellow cape draped over his chair, longing to be worn.
The captain confidently took a step out of his room into the observation deck, majestic cape flowing behind him. That confidence soon diminished as he realized he wasn’t the only one there.
“Oh, hi Captain!”
At the bottom of the staircase, just in front of the window looking out into space stood a stubby star ranger grinning up at him. Lorenzo recognized it to be Léonardo Summers.
“Good… morning, Ranger Summers.” Lorenzo replied, masking unease. He quickly made his way down the stairs, hoping to avoid further conversation, but just as he reached the bottom, the door opened.
In waltzed the curfew-dodging lieutenant captain himself. Emil stretched one arm, yawning, while scratching at his blond afro with the other. He jumped at the sight of his older brother.
“Oh! Hey..” He glanced away, laughing nervously. “Fancy seeing you here so early…” he trailed off in another yawn.
“Lieutenant Captain Galhardo, there’s something that needs your attention upstairs.” Lorenzo ordered. That was his way of discretely telling his brother to go to bed; he wanted to keep up the illusion that at least one captain was awake at any hour of the day. No one must know about the two-hour window where both were asleep. Lorenzo shuddered to think what his crew would do if they knew they were unsupervised.
Emil weakly saluted. “Aye, aye, Captain Bro...”
Lorenzo didn’t respond.
“I mean, Captain Galhardo.”
Lorenzo nodded in approval. He and his subordinate watched as Emil trudged his way up the stairs. The captain wished he could tell his brother to get a good night’s rest, but that would defeat the purpose of coding his words. He tried to think of something else to say.
“Lieutenant captain!” Lorenzo commanded.
“.....Huh?”
“Do your best on this task. I’m counting on you.”
With a chuckle, Emil gave a thumbs up in response. Good, he understood. The younger captain finally disappeared into the brothers’ shared room.
“He must have a really important job ahead of him. I’m sure he’ll do great!” Ranger Summers believed in the bluff. Not too surprising; he never struck Lorenzo as the most perceptive guy, but the captain knew he couldn’t brag in that department either. He could only pretend.
“What kind of assignment is it? Or is it confidential captain stuff?” Summers questioned.
“Confidential.” Lorenzo’s response seemed to placate the star ranger. He originally planned to stay on the observation deck and watch the stars go by, but now that one of his subordinates was here, the idea didn’t seem too appealing anymore.
Maybe he could go train in the gym for once. Normally, he exercised with some weights he stashed in his room, but no one should be in the gym this early, making it the perfect time for Lorenzo to use it. He wouldn’t have to worry about being forced into an awkward conversation with anyone.
“I’m going to the gym.” Lorenzo said as he walked out of the door into the meeting room.
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“Okay!” Summers chimed. “Good idea, actually! I’ll probably head down there myself in a couple minutes! See you later, captain!”
So much for that idea. Lorenzo hastened his footsteps in the hopes that he could fully cherish the few minutes of exercise he’d have to himself, but as soon as he opened the passageway down into the airlock, he spotted two rangers--Allen and Wattson--heading into the gym. Why were so many people up already? Only he should be allowed to be up this early! He quickly closed the passageway before they could see him.
It appeared the captain would be trapped into conversation no matter what he did, so he took this time to weigh his options.
If he went to the gym, he’d have to talk to two people rather than one, which discouraged him. However, from what he’s seen of Ranger Wattson, she kept mostly to herself. Still, there was the issue of Ranger Allen. It was stressful enough talking to the average person, but the few conversations Lorenzo had with her felt like walking through a minefield while blindfolded.
Summers wasn’t much better either, in that regard. However, whenever he talked about the Interstellar Forces, Lorenzo could sense the same kind of passion for it that he himself had. Knowing what to talk about would make the situation much less horrible. Also, Lorenzo wanted to look at the stars too. He opened the door back into the observation deck.
“Hey! That was a quick work out!” Léonardo joked. At least, Lorenzo thought that was a joke. Was he supposed to laugh? Before Lorenzo could contemplate further, Leon spoke again. “Did you not go down to the gym?”
“Rangers Allen and Wattson were already down there, so I decided not to disturb their training.” Lorenzo answered.
“Ahhhhhhh. I’m sure Roxie and Mia wouldn’t mind! But if you wanna stargaze with me, feel free!”
“I... I think I will.” The captain’s cape fluttered behind him as he shuffled over to the ranger. He noticed Summers was sufficiently dressed, but his hair looked messy. “Ranger Summers, did you not comb your hair?”
“Ah!” The bucktoothed ranger averted his eyes. “I didn’t. I wasn’t really expecting anyone to be up this early! My apologies, Captain Galhardo!”
“Don’t expect such things. Have you been up here this early before?”
“Once or twice! The window in my room is too small to appreciate…all this.” He motioned towards the view outside. “No one else was moving around, so I assumed everyone was still asleep!” His face took on a questioning look. “Wait, should I not be here right now?”
Lorenzo resisted the urge to pull out the IF handbook he kept in his cape. He knew it well enough to know it didn’t cover this.
“I...don’t think there’s any regulations against it.” He silently wondered if he should redo his and Emil’s sleeping schedule.
The captain looked on as the other star ranger tried to brush his hair into place using only his hands. It didn’t quite work. Lorenzo anticipated how awkward the silence must’ve been, so he attempted to break it.
“Remember. The Interstellar Forces values appearance. A neat appearance symbolizes a respect for the institution, and respect is one of the hallmarks of a good star ranger.” He felt like a fool.
“Yes sir! I’ll do my best, sir!”
After Summers gave a salute, the room went quiet again. Lorenzo decided to take this chance to enjoy the scenery. The endless sky with millions upon millions of stars took his breath away.
Despite this being his ship, he never really got to enjoy this room as much as he’d like. He spent most of his time here monitoring the others, unable to truly appreciate the large, curved window and its view into the infinite cosmos. He couldn’t see a view like this from his room. Still, coming here would’ve run him the risk of having to interact with his crewmates outside of work, giving them more opportunities to see through his vulnerabilities. That was a risk he simply couldn’t take.
“Aren’t they beautiful…?” Summers asked. He was too mesmerized by the stars to make eye contact. Good.
“They’re quite amazing.” Lorenzo preoccupied himself with thoughts about what lay beyond the Solar System. The stars outside this window, would humankind ever be able to reach them one day? He hoped he’d be alive to take part in it.
Summers broke the silence once more. “I remember when my mom used to yell at me for staying up so late.” He gave a chuckle. What an awkward conversation topic. Lorenzo wondered if he should laugh along or express concern. Why were others so complicated?
Thankfully, the ranger continued talking. “I just wanted to look at the night sky before the sun came up. Now I don’t have to give up sleep to look at the stars. I can do it whenever I want!”
“And you’re still awake at 4 AM?” questioned Lorenzo, concerned.
“Haha! I guess some habits are just hard to break.” Ranger Summers replied. “Either way,” he turned toward Lorenzo, “I’m glad I got a chance to be here. Everyday, I think about how lucky I am to be a part of the IF, to be part of this mission.”
Lorenzo cautiously looked down toward his subordinate. “I feel the same way... It’s something I’ve prepared for most of my life, but actually being here, I don’t want to take it for granted.”
“Me either!” the younger star ranger replied. Something seemed to catch his attention. “Oh, by the way! I realized I never got the chance to tell you this, but you’re a really great captain!”
That caught Lorenzo off guard. All this time, he hoped he set the example of a good captain, but hearing someone other than Emil actually say it shocked him.
Summers continued. “I can tell you and Emil really care about what you do, and seeing that makes me want to try my hardest! Emil told me about how you have the IF handbook memorized--”
Great. Summers must’ve surely thought he had no life.
“--and I don’t think I could ever do that, but that takes a special kind of dedication that I aspire to have!”
Stunned silence overcame Lorenzo. He pulled his hat over his eyes in the hopes that his subordinate wouldn’t notice his composure slipping. Now he knew what Emil had to put up with from this guy.
Lorenzo cleared his throat. “...Thank you very much, Ranger Summers.”
“I hope we find a lotta cool stuff on our journey!” The star ranger rocked back and forth on his heels.
“I’m sure we will. After we pass the asteroid belt, we’re basically entering uncharted territory. We should be able to collect a lot of previously unknown data.”
“I can’t wait ‘till we get there!” He slowed to a halt. “I could stand here all day, but I should probably go work out at the gym. It was nice stargazing with you, captain!”
Lorenzo nodded in reply as his subordinate walked toward the door. He felt like he should say something to Léonardo before he left.
The captain coughed. “Ranger Summers. A moment, please?”
Summers stopped in his tracks.
“I just wanted to say,” Lorenzo continued, “being a captain would be a lot harder for me without crew members who take pride in their job. Keep up the good work.” Stoically, he gave the ranger a thumbs-up.
A buck-toothed smile spread across Summers’s face. “Thank you, captain! I’ll try!”
“And remember to comb your hair!” the captain shouted just before Léonardo exited the room.
At last, Lorenzo was alone. Though his conversation went much more pleasantly than expected, it still took a lot out of the 19-year-old. He decided not to go to the gym, and instead appreciate the view from the observation deck. All was at peace, all was quiet.