Somewhere In Space...

"I feel terrible, Joseph..."

"What's wrong, Nate?"

"I can't believe I left my family for this..."

Joseph Luno readjusted in his seat and swiveled away from the ship's command panel to face his longtime colleague and best friend, Nathan Blackwood. The vessel they were in looked like a regular meteor on the outside, but was dimly lit, high-tech spaceship in the interior, with a command deck as the bottom floor and a dormitory above it. Joseph sighed and thought about how to respond.

"Listen, I know this is tough dude, but you gotta keep focused. Besides, you had their approval, and that's because they know this is for the better. To protect our families, Nathan, we need to save the universe." said Joseph.

"I know, but it feels wrong..." replied Nathan, holding a gaze on his black boots.

Joseph leaned it with a smirk on his face:

"But this isn't the first time we did something we knew was wrong- it's basically a concept we face for a living, am I right?"

Nathan chortled, "Yeah, true."

The ship had echoed a soft ping throughout the interior and a green light was blinking on the holographic console. The sound rung a second time right before Joseph clicked on the virtual square on the screen.

"Hey guys, it's Geo. Are you both OK?" greeted a friendly and familiar male voice.

"Fairly." Joseph responded on behalf of Nathan and himself.

"I am really sorry it had to be you two. I tried to negotiate with my superiors on having me go alone or to send one of their own, but their rules had me beat. I almost defied them while doing so, but I realized that would definitely sealed an inevitable fate for Earth."

Since they had departed Earth the day before, a slight rage towards Geo was lingering in the back of Nathan's mind for having to be selected for this mission. After just hearing what Geo had went through prior to yesterday, Nathan now had a sense of understanding for him.

"It's fine, Geo. Say, where are you that you're able to communicate with us from so far?" said Nathan.

"My mind is linked to the ship. This way, I know where it is, what repairs will be needed if necessary, and I can directly speak to you two. Well, at least while you're in that ship, of course. Speaking of which, have you found the small drawer under your seats?"

Nathan and Joseph frowned, checking below them.

"Shit, I didn't even see this here!" Joseph said.

"Ditto!"

They pulled open the drawer and they found a tiny, spherical, silver object rolling to a stop inside of it.

"Wow, Geo, it's a marble. Thanks, you really outdid yourself here!..." Nathan quipped.

"What can I say? That's why they call me 'Generous Geo'!"

"Do they really?" Joseph now.

"Pff, no. Anyway, those are ear speakers. Have those in your ear whenever you get off that ship. Only you guys can make the calls however, that's the only limitation. They can also track down those Chaos Emeralds you need to find."

"Well, at least you can't spam us with calls!"

"Yep, I guess that's pretty nice too, huh? Last thing before I go; I am sending you a file on everything you need to know about the situations and encounters you're likely to face."

"Like what?...Wait, you're not even on a computer, how the hell are you sending this?!" Nathan confused.

"While you Earthlings are too busy figuring out how to make face recognition more efficient for cell phone security, I have already unlocked all the secrets to biotechnology. Again, it's all in the link between my mind and that ship. Now, the file will contain information on things like the Chaos Emeralds, notable life-forms- you know, stuff to better know your enemy. Your estimated time of arrival is one week, two days, one hour, six minutes, and nine seconds- and counting! That should be enough time to do your homework. Take advantage of this resource; I expect this to be a quick mission, but not with the tricky opposition. I gotta go now, good luck you two!"

The green square on the console shut off as Geo disconnected from the session. Nathan and Joseph's head turned to each other and they immediately broke out in laughter.

"Fuck that! I'm not studying! I dropped out of school; do I look like I study? Yeah, right! I'm gonna go take a nap!" stated Joseph, recollecting himself as he rose to his feet.

"I mean, it can't be that bad, lemme see..." said Nathan, hovering his fingers over the console that summoned a keyboard and white screen in response to his gesture.

After a minute of searching, Nathan found the file titled "Mobians." Nathan double-clicked the digital pad and opened dozens of more files that continued when scrolled.

"Yeah, no. I'm going to sleep instead and just wing it like we've always done." scoffed Nathan.

The Loose Cannons bumped fists and climbed the ladder to their dormitory.

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