Planet Protectors: Red Alert/ Chapter One

Hidden deep within the greatest galaxies; is the Planet Protectors' starboard ship. A galactic force of space animals with the desire to take out any evil forces that loom around distant planets in potential danger. The leaders of the force are Scott and Cindy, siblings who head into battle alongside helping sort their large crew out.

Our adventure starts today in Dorm 42, where the heroic and strong Scott lies in slumber.

"His snoring's kept me up all night. Heck; it keeps me up every night." This was the familiar voice of Cindy; Scott's energetic younger sister, complaining to Rufus, the ship's tiny and cowardly head engineer.

"Wait, you actually went to sleep?" He said, typing away at his tablet. "Hold on, I have just the thing."

Suddenly in what felt like an instant thousands of alarms sirened off simultaneously throughout the entire ship.

The entire crew was up and active now. Except for Scott.

"HOW ON XGYLOUS does he sleep through all this??" Cindy exclaimed, prodding his nose.

"I really thought that'd work... We really need him right now..." Rufus began to pull his ears whilst pacing on the spot.

"You gave it your best. Besides, we still have some tim-"

Cindy was interrupted by a loud and strenuous yawn, followed by a tedious stretch.

"Oh... hey guys. What're you doing in my dorm?"

"There's sorta... Kinda a red level threat... I was thinking maybe you could he-"

"Scott. Get changed now and meet us at the ship's centre pronto. We need to hurry."

"Hopefully we can sort this out if Scott hurries up." Cindy looked down at Rufus, who was pointing towards a sudden large crowd of crew members who didn't look too happy about the early awakening.

A short and pudgy bird flew into out of the crowd and next to Cindy and Rufus (who was cowering behind Cindy; being used to working solo he isn't one to be social)

The bird was no other than Polly, Cindy's sharp and skilful friend on the field.

"Yo C; what's going down? What was with the loud siren?" She asked. "Why's the dog cowering behind you? I won't bite. Don't the dogs usually bite?"

"He's a little shy." She said, looking down at him. "Besides, not all dogs bite... Come to the centre of the ship with the rest of the crew."

Within seconds the entire crew was gone.

"Rufus, I know they can be quite a scary bunch; y'know, being galactic fighters and all..."

Rufus' face dropped with concern slightly.

"I know that they could potentially kill you at any time; heck I could too."

"You're not really helping..." He just about got out of his mouth.

"Oh! Right. That's not going to happen. However, considering you have all the information and I'm not the best at words... as you just witnessed." She put her hand behind her hair. "But I think it'd be best if you explained to the crew what's up." She said, smiling at him.

"WHAT? I can’t. do that..." He started pulling at his ears again.

"I'll be right behind you! If you start to get nervous I will try and fill in for you. We need you Rufus. You can do it. We can do it." She said, reassuring him.
Rufus just about perked out a smile.

"I trust you... What about Scott though? He definitely needs to hear this." He said.

Just as Cindy was about to speak the dorm room opened and Scott came out; with his uniform barely held together and a sock on his ear.

"Well, whatever happens, you won't look as much as a fool as this guy." Cindy chuckled.

"I had to hurry, okay?" Scott laughed.

The three used the shoot down the hall to get to the centre and deliver the red alert.

Meanwhile, at the centre of the ship, lies the entire crew, minus Scott, Cindy and Rufus. "What's taking them so long?" Polly squawked. A large Husky named Sonar emerged through the crowd. "I don't know; but it can't be that important if they're taking this long." she said. (Sonar is easily the most powerful member of the group. All fear her in some form; including Scott. She focuses exclusively on battle and weaponry.)

Two Corgi siblings slipped through the crowd. One was Jack and the other Melissa. Melissa was the older sibling; Jack the younger. They both work in engineering, under Rufus' authority (they usually end up guiding him though). However, this doesn't mean they aren't experienced in battle.
Melissa was about to voice herself when suddenly a sock fell on her head. Followed by Rufus.

"Oh uh... Sorry..." He said, lazily rolling onto the floor and helping her up.

"That's alright. I should've noticed the tube." She rubbed her arm where Rufus had fell onto. "What's the sock about though?"

Rufus gulped. He quickly pushed Melissa aside and Scott fell onto him along with Cindy.

“...We should get a better transportation system." Sonar said, prodding Jack and Melissa, who were both occupied with the trio lying on the floor.

Cindy dashed up and helped the other two. "Yeah; but not now." Cindy said, walking onto the main platform, used for announcements. Scott marched behind her whilst Rufus hid behind him.

A lot of mumbling was heard from the crowd.

"Yo C! Tell us the gossip!" Polly voiced, tapping her feet, slowly gaining impatience.

"Well, you see... I kind of know nothing about it." She said. "We've been that busy worrying around I haven't had the info yet. That's why I'm handing over to chief engineer Rufus to fill us in."

The crowd suddenly went silent. Not many really knew Rufus. He was just known as the "lil' pup" by Sonar and that name spread throughout the crew.
Rufus froze up. He looked down at the large crew. So many faces. He glanced at Polly, who was clearly unimpressed and very impatient. He looked over at Sonar too. She gave the impression of extreme confusion. Finally, he noticed Jack and Melissa in the crowd, who both smiled at him. It relieved him a little.

Cindy put her hand on his shoulder. "You can do it. We're all friends here." She said.

Rufus cleared his throat.

“...So... I was checking the log and noticed that something wasn't right..." He said.

"SO, what was it?!?" Sonar groaned, arms folded.

"Yeah!! We wanna know!!" Polly started moving around in circles.

"Let him speak." Cindy said. "And Scott, the problem's over here. Not out of the window."

"Uh... I dunno about that..." His voice went to a whisper.

There was a red light flashing from the distance of the ship. It was noticeable, but regardless quite far away.

"Yes... That's the problem! It's Team Velocity again." Rufus said in annoyance, then regretting it afterwards.

Team Velocity were a group of opposing animals.

"They're planning to take over two planets at once..." Rufus added.

"How are they gonna do that?" Scott raised concern. "What, are they just gonna split their ship into two and do it that way??" He laughed.

"Uh... Yeah. New technology." Rufus noticed Scott's laugh depleted.

"Not to worry though! I spent the last night replicating this technology so that we can do the same." Rufus said, gaining a little confidence.

"This is going to mean that we're going to have to separate our crew. But we need to make these decisions fast."

Scott stepped forward. "Okay, we have three engineers, so we can't really split them equally. I'll have Jack, and you can have Melissa, Cindy."

The two siblings weren't too happy about being split, but the galaxy was at stake. After all, if they failed this mission, Team Velocity may be able to take them down, and then any planet is their game.

"Yo C! I'm comin' with ya!" Polly ran next to Cindy and Melissa.

"Move aside, you two. Sonar smiled, patted Jack on the head and stood next to them. Jack chuckled and fixed his hair whilst looking out of the window. "Y'know, I can't help but feel nervous about this."

"We've done this stuff before. We'll be fine." Sonar said, reassuring him.

"Finally, I'll have... Oh. Casey..." Scott said. Casey was a slim and sleek Coyote who was a little too laid-back for her job. She doesn't exactly get along well with Scott.

"Last choice, ey." She said. "Let's just get this over with." Scott sighed.

"The two planets you two have to go to are Tropoi and Xylox." Rufus said assuringly.

"Oh yeah!" Casey said. "Tropoi is too cold. Let's go to Xylox!!"

"Xylox! Xylox! Xylox!" Casey began to chant. Jack joined her and even Sonar joined in.

Scott sighed. He would've preferred to go to Tropoi, but with his group not wanting to...

"Fine. Xylox it is."

"We're off to Tropoi then." Cindy said, Rolling her eyes at Scott's attitude.

The two groups split themselves into two sections so that the ship could split accordingly and set off for the respective locations. The other remaining crew members did the same too.

"Everyone else should go down to the hull of the ships in case anything dangerous happens." Rufus said. "Good luck you guys!" He said, relieved not to be a part of it.

Cindy glanced at Rufus.

"What, so where are you going to go? In the middle of space, floating aimlessly?" Cindy questioned.

"Oh yeah... I hadn't thought about that." He said sheepishly.

Cindy gently grabbed him by the arm. "You can travel with us."

"WHAT? I can't go out there!!" He started to pull his ears again.

Cindy pulled him aside. "Hey... Listen. Melissa isn't exactly the sharpest tool in the shed. I'm gonna need your help working the ship." She said.

"You think that?"

“...Yeah! You can teach her some new skills..." She said nervously.

The truth was, Melissa wasn't bad at her job at all. In-fact, she was pretty much an ace. Cindy simply said this to get Rufus on their side. She didn't want to leave him with Scott's crew or alone as he wouldn't be able to cope.

"I guess I can help. I don't know if I can fight though..." He said, holding tears back.

Cindy picked him up and gave him a big hug. "We'll worry about that later. Go get some rest."

He shuffled off.

Scott pressed the button on Rufus' tablet. The ship began to separate and rebuild itself into two. A certain someone wasn't paying attention to this though...