Learning to Dance

“Yes, sir!” the ensigns chorused.
“Then let’s get the job done,” he said, and the Rangers
filed out. Stopping to load a copy of the map into his
handheld scanner, he listened to the banter coming from the
weapons room beyond.
“Yo, Taz, chiquita, it’s your first mission!”
“Roooookie!” Another cheered. The chant began.
“Rookie! Rookie! Rookie!”
Up smiled. It was a ritual, a hazing, and Taz, swinging a
zapper confidently over her shoulder, didn’t seem to mind it
in the slightest. She was a real Starship Ranger now, and he
had no doubt that she was about to prove it to them all.
Tripp was watching him with a funny smirk on his face.
“I hope your rookie's as good as you say she is, Up.”
Up looked at his friend. They'd served together for much
of their careers, and the past three years on the Eagle had
only solidified the trust between them. So Up chose to
ignore the implications of that little smile.
“She is,” he said, loading the scanner into his utility belt.
Tripp saluted, still smiling. Up returned the salute with a
roll of his eyes, and turned to join his Rangers.
After reluctantly being lauded as a hero by the entire
solar system for the triumphant return of the Eagle and
skyrocketing his way into becoming one of the best-known
Rangers in the entire G.L.E.E., Up had been given
command of the fleet’s latest and most advanced starship,
the newly christened Cazadora. Soon after the ship was
launched, headquarters had intercepted intelligence that
indicated the robots were planning to launch a stealth attack
on Farm Planet, the most important agricultural centre of
human existence. Its loss would undoubtedly cause the
starvation of half of the human race – and was absolutely
out of the question. The Cazadora was equipped with the
most sophisticated cloaking technology humans were