Mingling on the Moon

Jun and the others landed safely at the Moon Base’s entrance despite the hiccup with Leon. From far away, its white and metallic exterior might’ve blended in with the Moon’s surface, but close up, it looked like a bulky hunk of bits and chunks that didn’t belong. It had been updated many times in the past forty years and even the five that Jun had been enlisted, but few people would be able to tell.

“There you go.” The eldest ranger set Leon down.

“Thanks Jun! Sorry about nearly launching us out of the Moon.”

Jun waved it off. They’ve had worse incidents using the jets. As if to remind them of one, Roxie crashed into their side, but this time, she gave them a hug.

“Waaah, you’re alive!”

“Of course, Rox.” Jun patted the helmet of their adorable little friend.

Roxie extended her affection to Leon as well. 

“You’re alive too!” She abruptly broke away from the hug, pointing one finger upward. “Roxie Safety Tip: When flying partnered, don’t use your jets unless you’re the designated flyer!”

“I’ll know not to do that again, that’s for sure!” promised Leon, smiling sheepishly.

Further away, Jun could see the captain and his brother closer toward the entrance. The captain stared up at a camera, adjusting the communication signal on the side of his helmet. 

Emil spun around toward the others. “He’s talking to whoever’s gonna let us in. You guys should prooobably start skedaddlin’ on over here. You can even use your jets if you want; he’s not looking!” He capped off the last statement with a mischievous wink.

Jun opted for the chillest form of transportation, gliding forward with sparse usage of their ankle jets. Roxie did a super bounce using hers. Mia simply walked forward, probably not wanting to get in trouble in case the captain looked over; Jun could respect that. 

Leon tried to attempt what Roxie did but couldn’t get into a landing position, softly crashing into Emil’s shoulder with his own. The lieutenant was in the middle of steadying him when his brother finally turned around.

The captain gestured at the two of them, confused. He mouthed something that Jun guessed was ‘What are you doing?’

Emil hooked an arm around Leon’s shoulder, pulling the two close as if they were just palling around. Leon caught on and gave the captain two thumbs up. Even if the captain didn’t, the camera workers must have been seeing all of this. Jun had to snicker, just as they probably were.

Before the captain could scrutinize the duo even further, the entrance behind him slowly parted its doors.

Captain Galhardo tuned his signal back to his crew. “As you can see, we’ve been granted permission to enter the Moon Base.” He glanced at his brother. “You are all expected to act accordingly. Follow me.”

The entrance shut behind them once the crew entered, sealing them off from the Moon’s surface and starry sky. They now stood in a dimly lit room, but Jun knew it wouldn’t be this way for long.

Jun turned to Leon, the only one who probably didn’t know. “You might wanna close your--”

Bright lights flooded the room.

“Ah!” Light must’ve assaulted Leon’s eyes.

“Aww darn it.” Jun was mildly disappointed at their temporary blindness.

The captains seemed to be having a hard time too. Jun wondered if they had never been here before.

“Ow… Do they normally do that??” Emil answered their question by asking one of his own. “Why didn’t they just turn the lights on before we entered?”

The captain shielded his visor. “I’m sure there’s a reason.”

“Uhhh. I dunno actually.” Jun shrugged. They had to admit that Emil had a good point.

“Where are we anyway?” asked Leon.

Surprisingly, Mia answered. “We’re in the acclimation chamber. It functions kind of the same way as the loading deck does on our ship.”

“Yeah, basically.” agreed Jun. “It, like, gets all the dust off of us and does gravity stuff.”

As soon as they said that, pressure increased in the chamber. Jun hopped to test out the gravity, and sure enough, they couldn’t jump nearly as high as they could outside. A shower of air blew down on them next, accompanied by a panel on the wall changing from red to green. At the same time, vacuums under the grated flooring sucked down all the moon dust that fell to the ground. A door on the other side of the room slid open once the process finished.

“The acclimation process is complete. You are now permitted to remove your helmets and spacewear.” A voice clicked in over their helmets as soon as the panel fully turned bright green. The crew obeyed its command, stripping down to the formal outfits they wore underneath their jumpsuits. 

It was always fun to see Roxie and Emil’s hair burst out from their helmets, though it must’ve also been entertaining to see Jun’s bangs flop in front of their eyes. They almost managed to catch a glimpse of the captain without his hat, which reminded Jun of a question they’d been meaning to ask him.

Carrying his spacewear and helmet, he began walking forward with purpose. “Let’s get going. We have a meeting to attend to, and if we want to make it on time, we’ll need to move quickly, especially with respect to finding Ranger Kelly.”

Along with the others, Jun followed behind him. With purpose, of course. “Hey Captain, about that meeting?”

“Yes, Ranger Kim?” 

“What is it for, other than meeting with the other crews?”

“Good question.” He secured the brim of his hat, not bothering to look back. “We are to meet with our ship commanders, who will give us special instructions for how to prepare for the duration of the trip.”

Another quick air shower rained down on them as they entered a tunnel lined with cameras.

“I feel as though many eyes are upon us!” Roxie’s head swiveled back and forth to get a good view of the cameras.

“The Moon Base has an exceptional security system.” explained the captain.To be honest, Jun thought this amount of cameras was excessive, but they figured they might as well give one of the bored camera workers something to look at. 

They threw a double shaka sign at one of the cameras. Emil happened to see them at the time and decided to finger-gun at another camera, presumably winking. Roxie gave one a peace sign, and Leon waved excitedly to as many as he could. At the front of the group, Captain Galhardo was blissfully unaware of their shenanigans. Jun almost felt bad for goofing off behind his back.

Finally, they entered the general hall, a place Jun was more familiar with. 

“Are you guys with the Celestion-5?” Jun even recognized one of the voices from the check-in counter, but couldn’t quite place it.

“Yeah!” Emil answered.

The guy at the counter stared at them, confused. “Aren’t y’all supposed to have one more?”

“One of our crew members… defected.” The captain explained, clearly ashamed.

“Oh, no, no! I already got him accounted for.” The oddly familiar check-in guy pointed towards some boxes in a section marked C-5. “See? His stuff’s over there. You guys can start puttin’ your stuff there too, by the way.”

“Thanks! I’m tired of lugging this around!” Emil took up the offer, along with most of the others. Jun was still trying to figure out if they knew this guy or not.

Suddenly it hit them.

“...Luis?”

“Woaaaaaaah! You remember me?” A shocked smile spread on his face. “The Jun Kim knows who I am?”

“Sure, bud!” They smiled. “I still owe you one.” 

Emil’s curiosity was piqued. “You two know each other?” 

“Yeah, I was her observation panelist when the accident happened! Right before she got found out.”

Being called ‘her’ and 'she' took Jun off guard, but of course he wouldn’t know. They’d only come out to their crew just a week ago, but that was enough time for them to get comfy. 

Luis turned to Jun. “Had no idea it’d set off that chain of events. Sorry ‘bout that!”

“Nah, it’s all good. There was no time to react. Plus, I wasn’t even able to fulfill that promise I made to you.” Jun adjusted their bangs. “When did you get stationed here?”

“‘Bout a month ago. Wish I were on the observation panels, but no one can really put on a show like Aiden, so I guess it’s for the best.” He shrugged.

“He’s just too cool!” Emil added.

“You understand!”

“I wish you could’ve seen him earlier, he was doing flips and stuff outside!”

“Aww man! Really?”

“Excuse me.” Captain Galhardo broke up the Aiden Fan Club. “You saw Ranger Kelly pass through, correct?” 

“Yeah. I even got to talk to ‘im!” It made Jun happy that he finally got to talk to Aiden, even if they weren’t the one to make it happen. In a way, their promise did get fulfilled!

“Do you know where he went?”

Luis scratched his forehead. “Uhh… Well, he went down that hall--” he pointed ahead of the crew, “--an’ made a… right? Left? I’m really sorry Captain, I’m not that good with directions.”

“Thank you for doing what you could.”  The captain looked ahead. “We should start looking for him now.”

“Ah, sorry to keep ya!”

“Dooon’t worry about it!” Emil waved off his apology. “It was nice meetin’ you!” 

“Wait, before we go--” Jun interrupted, “--Luis, what were you saying about there not being enough of us?”

This caught the captain’s interest. “Yes. I would like to know, too.”

“Oh, I was just sayin… there should be eight people in each Celestion crew.”

“Eight…?” Captain Galhardo’s eyes went wide. If he were any more expressive, his face would’ve read as terrified. He slowly turned to his brother. “You… you didn’t forget anyone at the spaceport, did you?”

“No? I made sure not to!” Emil defended. “There were only seven on my list. Leon was the last one!”

Luis rose a piece of paper. “I still have the list if you want me to check.” He began skimming it. Suddenly, he squinted. “That’s weird… Are you guys missing a ‘Ranger Pending?’ Didn’t even include their first name, geez…”

“Ranger pending…?” The captain repeated. “Did they not assign the eighth member yet?”

“Ohhh!” Luis slapped his head. “That makes way more sense. You gotta excuse my brain. It’s not always working at 100%.”

“If it makes you feel any better, would’ve made the same mistake!” Leon spoke up. Jun almost forgot he, Mia, and Roxie were there, but they were having their own conversation. 

“No worries!” Emil tapped two fingers against his forehead. “Happens to the best of us~” 

The captain stood deep in thought until his eyes briefly met Jun’s. “Ranger Kim?”

“Yes sir?”

“You’re the best acquainted with Ranger Kelly. Do you have any idea where he may be?”

Jun had to keep from chuckling. It was just like the old days, with frazzled authority figures asking them to track down Aiden as if they had some sort of innate Aiden-sensing ability. At least the captain was nice about it. The only other thing that changed was that they had to pretend to be a woman in public, not a man.

They thought for a moment. “If I had to guess, either the dining area or the gym. You might also catch him at a vending machine, but I don’t know the location of every single one on this base.”

“Thank you for your insight.” The captain nodded. He began to address them as well as the others.  “The meeting should begin at” he looked at a nearby clock, “--0115 hours. Ranger Wattson, Ranger Summers--”

Mia and Leon waited for instruction.

“You are to check the cafeteria in search of Ranger Kelly.”

Mia nodded. “Yes, sir.”

Leon saluted. “Can do, sir!”

“Ranger Allen, Ranger Kim,” the captain continued, “you two are to search in the gym.”

“We will search to the best of our ability, sir!” Roxie saluted, sending a bunch of curls flying forward with a nod.

“Yeah, sir, what she said.” agreed Jun.

“Myself and the lieutenant will find the conference room in order to inquire about our other missing star ranger.” explained the captain. “If none of you are able to find Ranger Kelly within the next hour, report to the conference room. We can find him later if we need to, but I’d rather just him being late than all of you, understand?”

The others agreed.

“Well then, best of luck to you all.” With that, he began walking away. 

“We’ll let’cha know if we find him on the way!” Emil added, before catching up with his brother.

“Good luck! We’ll see you later!” Leon began walking in the wrong direction.

“The cafeteria’s that way.” Mia corrected.

Leon turned around. “Ah.” He laughed. “You’re the expert!”

“Hope you find him.” was Mia's parting.

“May your travels fare well!” Roxie called as the others left. She hooked Jun’s arm into hers. “Come on, Junzie, we’re on the hunt!”

“That we are.” Jun turned around for one last goodbye. “Catch ya later, Jun!”

“Good seein’ ya again!” He waved.

Jun and Roxie started their journey to the gym, determined to answer one question: where in the heck was Aiden Kelly? Wherever he was, Jun hoped he wasn’t causing much trouble. 

Knowing him, though, that might be too much to ask.