It's a bit into the future. Enough into the future that landings on just about any part of the Sol System is possible now and the N.A.S.A. Space Program has people out there on the planets and moons of the solar system. But a mysterious organization arose named simply "The Shadow Force", and space became a little more hostile. So the military developed the Starcom division to escort scientists all around the solar system.

(Read here and get caught up on the theme, but the above basically states it:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S...The_U.S._Space_Force )

Jake is a kid genius in his early teens, eager to join the science end of things.  Today he finds himself at a launch pad, waiting his turn to enter the shuttlecraft.

"This is so awesome!" he thinks out loud, "To think I got picked to go along!"

  At least Joe doesn't have "Crowbar" as a nickname.  He's hoping that maybe Jake's field would include making shoulder mounted laser cannons not weigh so much (though that's less of an issue when floating in space).

  "So, someone fill me in.  Are these unfeeling killbots or the kind that scream in a morbidly comical manner when you take them out?"

A guy with black hair walks up to the two. "You two here to head for orientation?" Upon confirmation, he nods and says, "I'm Lieutenant Tora. I'm here to take you to your suits, the transport ship, and eventually, to your captain." He starts to lead the way.

Jake gives Joe a "whaat?" look and shrugs.

"I wouldn't know."

He salutes the Lieutenant.

"Thanks!"

He's still not used to the whole civilian among military thing.

  "As long as there is no mention of Chrysalids, I look forward to getting the heads up on all this."  Psst, wrong franchise!  Salutes are Go, and Joe follows after.

Tora leads the two to the suit-up room, where the pair are given space suits to wear! They are pretty cool and surprisingly low-bulk, allowing for good maneuverability. Then the pair is taken to the transport; a Starmax Bomber. Once the two are inside the ship, a pretty face with a helmet pops up on a monitor. "Welcome aboard the Sky Limit. This is your Captain speaking, and we will be arriving at our destination at approximately 2 hours. For take-off, please be sure your seat belts are fastened until otherwise indicated. After the ride, we will have more time to get acquainted. Until then, please sit tight."

(Here's the list of ships. The starmax is the first one: http://www.starcomspaceforce.c...wing_vehicles.html#1
The back opens to fit that orange seating unit inside:
http://www.starcomspaceforce.com/starmax_pop.html)

"Aye aye, Captain!" Jake answers with a smile and slight blush.  This trip just keeps getting better and better!  He straps in and tries to calm himself.

  If you keep your tray table up, and seat in full upright position, then you can survive any disastrous crash.  ANY.  So yeah Joe buckles in.

  "Those who sing X on the wall songs will have to float home."

The trip is uneventful and they all make it to the Pluto colony. The ship lands, attaches to the base, and soon they are all in the base. Scientists looking excited to welcome Jake aboard while Liberty goes to both Jake and Joe, taking her helmet off. The scientists lead the way while Liberty begins getting acquainted. "I got briefed on you two, but I'm curious what you would say about yourselves. What are you good at? What are you bad at? What are things you hate, so I know to avoid them when needed?"

"Oh great," Jake groans, "Now that you've said that, I'm going to have that song replaying over and over in my head.  I suppose I could cure that with some other kind of music."

He spent the trip listening to his Ipod and updating his social networking accounts with stuff like, "Blasting off!"

"I'm an inventor," Jake answers Liberty with a proud smile, "With a focus in robotics.  But I'm not very good at just about anything that isn't Science related.  Personal pet peeve are put-downs."

  "I'm a decent enough shot if I got something to aim at, not one of those sorts who can claim to be just as good a shot with their eyes closed.  Known enough to at least fix a laser if not build one" Asking someone to stop and fix tour gun in a fight is kinda stupid.

  "I'm bad at... putting that much thought into my personal failings?  Also never managing to learn people hate honesty if it's not nice sounding honesty."

Liberty says, "People hate mean sounding anything. Honesty or lies. But trust me, I know what you mean." she looks at Jake. "Put-downs? Do you mean like if you are working hard and someone comes along and says, "Boy, you're lazy. I don't know why I hired you", or do you mean something else?"

"That works as an example," Jake answers, "And because it's a topic I dislike, I'll refrain from giving more examples.  How about yourself?  You seem like you have some out-of-the-ordinary or specific strongly held pet peeve that makes you unhappy."

  Liberty's pet peeve is asking the same questions she just asked, obviously. Now you will all pay!... Or maybe not and we're just filling text space.

  "My degree of sarcasm tends not to be that bitter, so you probably wont have to worry about me Jake.  Unless you really are lazy."

Liberty answers Jake, "Let's just say I don't like evil and leave it at that." she then looks at Joe. "Build a gun, eh? I'd like to watch. I could use a brush up on basic gun care anyway."

"Nope," Jake answers Joe like he's some kind of TF2 engineer.  Minus the long neck at least.

He looks over at the enthusiastic scientists and gives them a bright smile.  "So while the soldiers have fun with weapons, shall we get started?  I've been looking forward to seeing what you've accomplished so far here!"

  "Well, more 'I know how to real labels, and lack of them' than advanced technical training.  If a Green light is good and a Red light is bad, no lights also means something probably is not working."

  Also, if someone pencils in an '11' past where an adjustment dial can turn to, don't keep trying until it breaks off... Not that Joe has ever written such false labels on anyone's equipment.  That would be unprofessional.

Liberty says, "Well if you need us for anything, Jake, let us-" and then the alarms go off. A lab tech rushes to the group. "The heating systems are failing! If we don't fix it and fast, this whole base will be frozen over and all our research and equipment will be lost!"

"Then let's get to it!" Jake answers, "Show me the way!"

He follows, spanner wrench at the ready!

  Accursed problems you cant solve via shooting with lasers.... Or can't he?...  No, probably can't.  "I was about to ask what the short term problem was when everyone seems to have their own spacesuit, but yeah boxing up more sensitive equipment that fast would be a problem."

Liberty says, "Helmets on, everyone." as she herself puts her helmet on. She follows the scientists and the heating system is very similar in appearance to a nuclear reactor. Which probably means it IS one. Good thing everyone has space suits on. O.o

Sure enough, there are saboteurs! Two black droids notice the people entering and open fire. Liberty immediately grabs the nearest civilian and yanks them with her into cover.

Jake dives for cover!  What?  Expecting him to throw himself at the droids?  He looks for ways to get at the reactor without being noticed by the droids.  Barring that, ways to help neutralize the droids.

  Helmet Haz.  "Yeah, laser cannons have more in mind opening fire on enemy scenery you don't care about...  A handgun just seems so meh when you use one these days."  Do you have any idea how many shots it takes to down a cyberdisc with one?

  Joe takes some cover away from Jake, maybe he'll attract less attention to the guy that way.  "I'm going to assume this is a light day for Starcom, right?"

Liberty answers Joe with, "Let's make sure it is." the bright side? Hand gun is ideal in this situation. Down side? The heating system is still delicate equipment that the guns could damage if they aren't careful.

Jake does find an alternate hatch that leads to the inside of the core reactor. And more importantly, leads to the source of the main malfunction.

Down the hatch!  Jake gets swallowed by the space station.  He makes his way through the classic sci-fi crammed mess of tech toward the main malfunction and works on diagnosing the problem.

Sure hope they don't shoot anything essential.

  Joe shrugs, "All I know is I really hope I don't get put on security detail here."  Even when the shirts are not red and you're a popular character, that's just a painful mess of a job.  Poor Worf.

  Joe takes as careful a couple shots at robot leg that he can without getting shot in the face.

Liberty is also careful to fire at the enemy without much risk of personal injury or injuring the equipment. Soon, she and Joe take down the enemy droids and Liberty immediately goes in. She checks the area. "Safe!"

Jake is not familiar with nuclear reactors, but he does know your basic "important wires and equally important circuit board fried" when he sees one. At least he found the malfunction's source. Now to find out if it can be repaired or not.

"Found the problem!" Jake calls out having heard Liberty saying the coast is clear, "They fried an important circuit board!  Please tell me you guys have a backup board!  Serial number starts with UY2H6!"

He gets to work replacing wires at least.  Could be one of those will buy him a little more time.

  It would be a very short cartoon series if Jake couldn't keep them all from dying...  Oh crap, they were Original Characters!  Quick! Hide behind the Cannon Cast!

  Joe gets up to run off for the requested part... Then remembers he just got here and has no idea where anything is.

Liberty says, "I'll stay here with Jake. Joe, you go with the scientists to get the part."

With a bit of running and frantic parts-searching, they get the circuit board. Jake is able to help enough that once the board is installed, everything starts working again. Liberty lets out a sigh of relief as the heat of the building begins to rise again.

"Whew!" Jake sighs in relief, "Thanks for taking out those nasty droids, you two.  I wonder if maybe I can take a look into their memory banks for clues on why they wanted to sabotage this place specifically.  My first guess is 'because they're badguys' but you never know."

He gets to work on his suggestion assuming he's permitted to.

  "I'm going to guess because a reactor is always a good target for when you want to take out the competition.  The fact they are robotic jerks goes without saying.  Thanks for helping us not explode Jake."

Liberty says, "Thanks, everyone. We avoided a catastrophe there."

Jake is permitted to examine the bots. Their memories seem to have just the orders to sabotage the reactor. There's a bit of clean up and such, but eventually, the three are able to rest in the rec room. Liberty takes a booth and leans back, putting her feet on the table.

Jake is marveling at the circuits of the droids and taking lots of notes on his mini computer.  He occasionally pauses to take a bite out of his cold cut sub and wash it down with some coke.

"Wasn't expecting to get any info you military folks could use, but this is some very advanced stuff!" he comments, "I half wonder if they're using elements that aren't available to anyone else, because some of these circuits...  Well I just can't explain how it's physically possible that they'd work at all much less work so well."

  "Crazed science can get a lot done when they don't care about safety regulations.  Of course, you also have to account for the large setbacks the spectacular lab accidents that come with it can cause."  The Latin is too dangerous.

Liberty says, "Well I'm certainly all for you guys reverse-engineering these droids, Jake. I wonder what kinds of other technology you'll unlock by doing so..." she then looks at Joe. "Weren't you going to show me a thing or two about guns? Or does that sound too much like work right now?"

Jake rubs behind his head bashfully.

"I doubt I'd find anything out that Starcom hasn't already from the droids they've recovered in the past.  Especially not without their spectacular labs.  I should probably just wrap up and join the scientists doing what I was sent here to do."

  "Later, yeah.  Last place I was at some guy blew out a ceiling light working on his gun in the rec room.  I laughed at them a little to hard to want to risk karma."  He shrugs,  "Besides, you seem to already have a handle on the fine are of shooting the bad guys and not shooting the expensive scenery."