The "Galactic Federation" (episode)

WARNING: This page contains spoilers!
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Captain Lotso, Lieutenant Huggy Bear, and Commander Oshawott have flown a shuttle down to the surface of an uninhabited planet to explore. He's sitting in the middle of a small landing craft with Huggy sitting to his right and Oshawott to his left. The craft is speeding through the skies towards their target. The planet's blue and green skies, white clouds, and field of golden yellow grasses pass by the windows on either side. Something flashes in the distance.

"Here we go! Our destination is just up ahead!" Huggy yells. Lotso reaches out and adjust the craft's throttle. The shuttle accelerates forward. They are flying a small shuttle towards a mountain range where a cave is located. Inside the cave, something is happening.

"Prepare to land!" Lotso said.

"Captain, we're being hailed!" Huggy says, looking at him.

"Hail them," Lotso said. Huggy presses a button on the arm of his chair and a speaker next to the button lights up.

"Hello, I am Captain Lotso of the Starship Innerprise. Please introduce yourselves."

"Hello, I am Lieutenant AntVenom of the Galactic Federation's space station K37-211. You are welcome here, please continue forwards towards the cave."

The craft slows down as it approaches a mountain.

"Alright, let's do this."

"Hold on! This ride is about to get a bit bumpy!" Huggy says.

They waited for the craft to drift towards the mountain. A hole appears in the side of the mountain, large enough for the craft to go through. The craft bumps along for a few seconds, before coming to a stop. "Alright, we're here."

"Are you sure those weren't sasquatches?" Oshawott asks. Lotso raised an eyebrow, before nodding.

"I'm sorry, what was that?"

"I asked if you're sure those weren't sasquatches."

"Yes, I'm sure. There's no way sasquatches could've built this."

He raised his hand and knock on the side of the shuttle. Nothing happens.

"Well?"

"It's locked on autopilot. We have to get off."

Lotso walked along the side of the shuttle, and see a small button with a red circle on it. He tapped it, and a red light flashes on, which he guessed means the doors are unlocked. He hit it again, which he guessed meant that the doors are open. The other team members get off first, then Lotso. Lotso looked up at the opening, and it's indeed large enough for a shuttle.

"Well, this is it. We made it."

"Yes, we did," Oshawott says proudly. The other two leads walk up to you.

"So, what's next?" Lotso paused for a second. He looked at his team, and they're staring at Lotso expectantly.

"Let's go meet these people." Lotso turned and walk off towards the door, motioning for the others to follow.

"Um, Okay," Oshawott says. They walked through the door, and a bright light hits your eyes. Lotso blinked a few times, then look around. You're in a massive room. Several people are here, all gathered in the middle of the room. One man stands on a chair, addressing the crowd.

"Hello, everyone," he says. "I'm Chris, and together, we're the Galactic Federation!" There's a rumble of applause as the crowd begins to applaud, and two small girls in the corner start cheering.

"We're a powerful organization, with an alliance of many species," Chris continues. "We seek to explore new frontiers, to fight injustice, and to defend ourselves from those who would do us harm."

The crowd continues to applaud as one of the girls appears with a large folder. She puts it on the ground in front of Chris.

"Thank you," he says, beaming at the crowd.

"Now, we have an important decision to make..." As Chris goes on about his speech, Lotso looked around the room. It's clear the man loves what he's talking about, and he's very charismatic. Lotso could see why he's the leader of the group. In the corner of the room, he saw a picture of a strange creature. It looks like a dog, but much larger, and much more muscular.

Lotso also saw a picture of another creature that resembles an overgrown slug. Its mouth is wide open, revealing rows and rows of sharp teeth. With its multiple eyes, it looks like something out of a nightmare. He shook his head, trying to forget his surroundings.

Lotso and his crew were in the middle of a massive crowd of people who loved Chris and his group. If they tried to escape, they'd kill them on sight.

"I'm confused," Oshawott says, breaking Lotso out of his thoughts. "What is the point of this meeting?"

"The point of this meeting?" Chris repeats, raising an eyebrow. "Now that you've joined our group, the decision is much easier!"

"Much easier?"

"Yes," Chris says. "You three are our newest recruits! We want you to be part of the official ceremony."

Lotso looked at Oshawott, who seemed as confused as he was. "C...," Oshawott begins to ask. "What is the ceremony?"

"The new recruit's ceremony," Chris explains. "It's a very important event. It shows that you're now apart of the Galactic Federation, and will begin your mission in defending our alliance's interests."

"Mission?" Oshawott asks again.

"Yes," Chris nods. Lotso whispered to Oshawott and Huggy Bear. "Let's just follow along with them for now, if they think we aren't agreeing to join them they will probably get angry and keep us hostage. I don't want to jump to conclusions, but I don't think this 'Galactic Federation' is up to any good."

"Let's play it cautious for now," Oshawott says. "But if this turns out to be a trap, we'll escape." Lotso nodded in agreement, and the three of them continued to listen intently as Chris continues to speak.

"Welcome, comrades!" he says into the microphone. "As you know, three new members have joined us tonight. I'm sure you all will make them feel welcome." The crowd of people in front of them begins to chant.

"Chris! Chris! Chris!"

"Alright," Chris says, smiling as he waves. "And for our new recruits, welcome to the family!" A man with wild facial hair, a chewed-up tooth, and a painted on grin walks onto the stage. He shakes Chris and the woman's hands, and then looks at you, smiling.

"Hello, comrade," he says, giving a small smile. "I'm sure you have many questions, and we have prepared a small presentation to get you up to speed."

"Perfect," Chris says. "The new recruit is always welcome here." The man turns, looking at three other people who walk onto the stage.

"Here are Dasha, Olive, and Ophelia," he says. "They will be giving the presentation."

"We'll continue this later," Oshawott whispers, turning to follow the group's lead and clapping. Lotso clapped as well, sitting down in the middle of the circle. The presentation begins. --- "So," he began, as he leaned against the wall. "What's this about?"

"The Galactic Federation's mission is to explore new frontiers, fight injustice, and defend ourselves from harm," Olive says. "That's the long answer, at least to the short version we want to give you."

"I assume there's a back up that we can go on," Lotso said.

"Of course," Olive nods. "It's just going to take a little time to set up. We need to set some blinds, block off some light..."

"Could you get to the point?"

"The point," Olive says, "is that we need to set up some cameras before you go any further with this."

"And why do we need cameras?"

"So much is at stake, that we need to make sure you're who you say you are."

"And who do you need to make sure we are?" Lotso asked, raising an eyebrow. Olive looks around, seemingly nervous.

"Well..." she says, "we need to make sure that you're not working for the Kishak Syndicate."

"The Kishak Syndicate?" Lotso asked. "But we've only just arrived in this city." He saw Olive placing her hands on the table, as she leans forward.

"Look," she says, "we need to know who you are, and why you're here. There's a lot of money on the line, not to mention the life of an agent."

Lotso paused, as she makes a point.

"If you're willing to testify against them," Olive says, "we'll make sure you're taken care of. Not only that, but we could use someone like you... in the right circumstances."

Lotso chuckled. "You're joking," Lotso said. "I take it then that you're not willing to make that offer."

"Not my job," Olive says. "I just do the background."

"Well then, I guess I have two choices. I can either leave now, while you still let me in, or I can stay and risk..." Lotso paused, looking around the room. "Risk what, exactly?" he asked. "Risk being executed," Olive says, bluntly.

"You seem pretty certain of that," Lotso said. "This is a high stakes mission."

"I'll take my chances with the mission."

"Then you're crazy," Olive says. "Crazy like a fox, perhaps, but still crazy nonetheless."

"Well, I'm agreeable. Let's get back to the matter at hand. What information do you need from me?" Olive nods, before leaning her head forward and looking at Lotso expectantly.

"Well?" she asks.

"Well, what?" Lotso asked in return. "You said you needed information from me. What is it?"

"It's a long story."

"We have all the time in the world," Olive says.

"It's about the Kishak Syndicate," Dasha says. "We need to know more about them, their operations, their structure, everything."

"I guarantee we'll know more than you want us to," Lotso said, "but it's not going to stop there. We're the ones who want to destroy the Syndicate, not join them."

"I have a bad feeling about this," Huggy says. "We should get out of here."

"Just hear them out," Lotso said. "They're trying to get us in a position where we have to make a decision, so we're not going to make a decision yet."

"Fine." Lotso continued to listen as Olive tells Lotso about the Syndicate. "So, the Syndicate is run by a leader," Olive says. "...And three lieutenants."

"Just those three ranks?" Lotso asked. "No four?"

"The leader isn't called the leader for nothing," Olive says. "Those are all the important roles. The leader is the brains of the operation, the lieutenants handle the day-to-day operations and such, and then there are the grunts."

"What about other ranks? How do the grunts respond to the three lieutenants?"

"They're laboring under them," Olive sniffs. "They are the lowest form of life, the walking dead. They have no minds of their own. They are nothing but fleshy sacks that do as they are told." Lotso paused, wondering how to ask his next question.

"How... how do you know all this stuff?" he asked.

"We have our ways," Olive says.

"What I don't understand," Dasha says, "is how the Syndicate first came about. I mean, I get it was some sort of rebellion, but how did it become what it is now? What are its origins?"

Huggy starts snoring, while the other two look at you, wondering what you'll say.

"I'm not getting into that," said Lotso.

"Please," Dasha says. "We're on the verge of finding a weakness. It would be foolish not to know what we're up against." Olive glances at you, before sighing and explaining why the Syndicate is the way it is. She goes on to explain that the Syndicate is at its weakest when there are multiple independents in the same area. That way, the Syndicate can't use it's numbers to crush the independents.

"So, we're making things easier for the Syndicate?"

"What I'm getting at is that there's a flaw in their system," Olive says. "It's a system that relies on endless insane ambition. But yes, basically. We're making things way too easy for them."

"Did you want us to cause more chaos?" Lotso asked, "as a means of weakening them?"

"It's a symbol of weakness," Olive says. "If we cause enough chaos, it'll drain them of what little resources they have. It won't destroy them, but it will set them back."

"This does not sound good," Oshawott whispers to you. "We came here to explore, how did we get dragged into this cult bent on destroying some Syndicate? Like, yeah those guys are evil, but that's not why we are here!"

"We came here to explore, how did we get dragged into this cult bent on destroying some Syndicate?" Lotso repeated.

"For the love..." Huggy mutters, before falling back asleep. This is a little troubling. This isn't the deal Lotso made with Olive, and the others aren't going to be happy.

"I need to think about this," Lotso said.

"Of course." Olive says. "Take your time. But, um... before you go, how much do you want?"

"What?"

"How much do you want?" Olive asks. "What are you suggesting?"

"I'm suggesting you pay us more," Olive says. "If you're serious about looking for the weak spot, then we need to be rewarded. It's simple economics."

Olive has a point. This is a rare moment where the morality isn't clear cut. Olive is willing to betray the Syndicate for money, while the others are looking for a way to destroy an organization that's done them no wrong. Lotso looked around to see if there is a quick and easy way of escaping the situation that he dragged his crew into. He could probably get out of here without any conflict. But... he's a captain. He can't run from a fight, or rather, he can't run from a fight that isn't avoidable. You... have to think about this for a bit.

"I need to think about this." Lotso said.

"Of course," Olive says. "Take all the time you need. But know that we don't intend to wait around." Lotso didn't, and he sat in silence with his crew as Olive stands up to take her leave. Olive leaves the room, closing the door behind her.

"Well, that was interesting," Huggy remarks.

"Yeah, it was," Lotso said.

"So, what's next, captain?"

"Ill go contact the Innerprise and have them get some information on this 'Galactic Federation' and the 'Kishak Syndicate' that they want to take down," Lotso said. "We'll wait for the information, and we'll deal with it after that."

"I understand," Huggy says. The next few hours are spent doing just that. Lotso spent some time with his second in command, but most of his time is spent by himself. A voice comes over your communicator.

"Captain," it says. "We've found some information regarding the Kishak Syndicate. Like Olive said, they did use mindless slaves as a work force, but pose no threat to anybody but a rebel cult-like group that had recently split off from it." Lotso assumed that this group is the "Galactic Federation" that he had pretended to join.

"Okay, thank you," Lotso say to the person on the other end before cutting off communications.

"So?" Huggy asks. "What did you find out?"

"This group is just another splintered off faction of the Kishak Syndicate," Lotso explained. "I guess they're just rebels without a planet."

"Hm... well that was pretty quick," Olive comments as she enters the room.

"We've come up with a plan, but I want your input on it. It involves..." Olive is stopped by Huggy who stands up.

"What?" Olive asks in confusion. "Why? What's going on?" Huggy grabs Olive by the throat, lifting her off the ground as she begins to claw and kick at him.

"You stay away from him," Huggy growls.

"Huggy, let me go!" Olive orders.

"Huggy, please stand down," Lotso said. It is already very uncharacteristic of Huggy to do things like this, and Lotso couldn't help but worry a bit.

"I will take care of this, let her go," Lotso said as he pulled out his weapon. Huggy releases Olive, who falls to the ground, groaning from the lack of oxygen in Huggy's grip.

"I think I'm okay," Olive says as she gets up.

"What is going on, Huggy?" Lotso asks. Huggy turns to him.

"You remember how we were looking for a way out?" he asks.

"Yeah?"

"I've got a way out."

"What is it?"

"We'll use Olive to try and convince Chris to let us go. There's nothing we can really do to for these people without making a new enemy," Huggy says quietly to Lotso.

"Okay, but how are we going to get Olive to do that?" Lotso asked. "We just need to convince her somehow. Maybe pay her or something. Any other way and she'll tell the rest of the Galactic Federation about us and they will kill us, or worse."

Huggy thinks for a moment, scratching his head. "I can try to convince her," he says. "I'll need some time to prepare though."

"Time is something we don't have," Lotso said, thinking. "We need to make a choice soon."

"I say that we should just get back to our shuttle as quickly and quietly as possible. This might sound like a bad idea, but we either have to take Olive with us to where we landed or lock her in here. What do you think we should do?" Lotso asked.

"Let's just lock her in here," Huggy says. There won't be any chance for anybody else to try and stop us until it's too late, and she won't be able to alert the others until then."

"I agree," Oshawott says.

"But what if she tries to escape? How can we be sure that she won't just run and try to alert the rest of the Syndicate?"

"Just barricade the door from the outside," Oshawott says. "She won't be getting out by herself even if she did manage to get past the lock."

"Good idea," Huggy says. "Let's do that."

Lotso began to drag the table from the room, putting it against the door with Huggy and Oshawott as the barricade. Soon, the door is barricaded into a small hallway, after which Oshawott directs them to the makeshift hangar where they landed. Lotso, Huggy, and Oshawott didn't bother trying to be sneaky about it, instead walking quickly and directly to the shuttle.

"We're here!" Lotso announced as he opened the door, finding Chris sitting in the pilot's seat. He looks up at them, frowning.

"I certainly hope you realize that the shuttle is locked down until we get back," he says. "You can't just walk in and start using it."

"You can't either, it wasn't yours to begin with."

"Feh, I can bend any rule if I want to," Chris says.

"Come on, get off your fat butt and let's get back to work." Oshawott then pulls out his weapon, setting it to stun before shooting at Chris. Chris falls off the chair he was sitting on with a grunt, and Lotso quickly moved over to the button to raise the door.

"Hurry up! Get him out of here!" Oshawott says. Lotso pushed the button, and the door begins to raise as he went over to Chris as he groggily gets to his feet. "We really should have thought of this," Chris mumbles. Huggy and Oshawott drag him over to the shuttle doors and toss him out as they close.

"Let's get out of here," Oshawott says. Lotso does just that, as the shuttle quickly rises into the sky, away from the cult's base. Well, that took longer than it should have. He guesses they're still a little disorganized, despite everything they've been doing.

"Well, was it worth it, Captain?" Huggy asks.

"Yeah, I guess so," Lotso answers. "I mean, we got the shuttle back. It's not going to be easy dealing with the repercussions of what we did, but we'll worry about that later."

He, Huggy, and Oshawott fly back to the Innerprise. The shuttle lands in the hangar, and they all get out. Oshawott goes off on his own to grab a drink, leaving Lotso and Huggy alone. Lotso contacts the bridge command.

"Let's get us out of here," Lotso says. "Our work here is done."

He takes the turbolift back up to the bridge, where he sits in the Captain's chair as the Innerprise exits the system.

"Well, that was an eventful encounter," Lotso says. "Anything else that needed taking care of?"

"No, sir," Huggy says. Lotso nods. He thinks back to how he had to lock Olive in a room and stun the leader of the "Federation" in order to escape. Looking back at how they met, though, Lotso realized that he probably shouldn't have pretended to join the group in the first place.

Lotso wondered what would happen if they ever do run into the "Galactic Federation" again, if they ever do cross paths once more. Though, due to their size, it's most likely that they won't meet see them again anytime soon.

Lotso didn't have to worry about it for the moment, so he just watched as the Innerprise travels to its next destination.