Galaxy Gunners: The Mission to Rescue Stan

"Owen, don't let the door hit you where the good lord split you." My father's final words when I left to join the fleet. "You'll be back begging for money in a month. You're never going to amount to anything."

I swore that I would show him. I got a job as soon as I could and saved up every last dime of my wages. And now, here it was, my time to shine! The day I would finally be able to go into space. Sure, it was just the assistant role of a glorified janitor but it was still so much more than he ever dreamed of doing.

It took me years, with no one to support me, but I did it. I made it off world and signed on with an independent salvage crew. I knew that this job was dangerous and the money was bad but it was the only way that I could get through school and afford passage off planet. The three months we were away from home were brutal but we managed to scrape by and make a profit at the end of each run. Even though my boss was sometimes rough around the edges, he seemed like a decent enough guy and we all got along pretty well for being on such tight quarters with each other for so long.

That is until Stan disappeared. Stan was our navigator and someone who was always there for us, always had your back when you needed him most. He was also one of the nicest guys that you could ever meet and even though he wasn't really my friend (we were simply too different) he would always make conversation with me whenever he saw me working on repairs or cleaning up after them. When he went missing along with some of our financial records from our last run it threw our whole team into chaos. There were accusations flying around left and right and no one knew what to do or who they could trust anymore.

"Didn't your mother ever teach you not to answer the door?" Rasmus grumbled as he slid down a hallway towards my quarters on his hands and knees trying his best not to get spotted by whoever had just barged in through my door unannounced while I was out at work like any normal person would have been doing instead of creeping around in some random hallway outside people's doors like some sort of weirdo super villain or something crazy like that. "Damn it Owen, why can't you just keep your door locked?" He whispered to himself as he crept closer towards my door, "Or better yet," Rasmus thought to himself as he pulled out his phone from his pocket, "Why can't you just lock your door remotely from your phone like most normal people do? Why do you have to be so special?" Rasmus mumbled under his breath as he flipped open his phone and searched through his apps before selecting 'Remote Locks'. Rasmus waited for the app to connect then pressed 'Lock' next to my door then shut his phone off before placing it back into his pocket again before crawling back down the hallway towards where he came from. Before long Rasmus returned back towards my room whereupon he opened my door slowly, sneaked inside then closed it quietly behind him again before flipping on a light switch which illuminated the room while causing me jump in fright followed by a string of cusses directed at whomever dared wake me up while they broke into my room without permission first thing in the morning like this was some sort of 24 hour convenience store or something crazy like that instead of a real house where normal people are supposed to be sleeping right now instead of sneaking around sneaking around sneaking around sneaking around sneaking... Anyways, where was I? Oh yeah! So anyway Rasmus sneaked into my room uninvited then flicked on my lights then woke me up out of bed when its dark outside which isn't even 5 am yet because that's how polite criminals act these days apparently because how else would they expect anyone else in their vicinity within 100 meters or less (or at least 6 feet if they've ever played any sports whatsoever) from their intended target to wake up before their intended target does otherwise? It makes no sense! But enough about rude criminals who sneak into people's rooms without permission at 5 am in the morning because if there's one thing that we can all agree on right now today right now right now right now right now right now right now right now right now right now right now is that none of us have any respect at all whatsoever for anyone else in this room whatsoever unless they agree with everything else that we say and think exactly how we want them too! Because heaven forbid anyone has a differing opinion otherwise heaven forbid we won't give them due respect because after all disagreement is harassment isn't it? Heaven forbid these idiots can't see past things like facts or logic or evidence or proof but instead have chosen instead to simply believe whatever everyone else thinks regardless whether or not its true or false which is just downright strange doesn't it? Well if you disagree then maybe you should take some time off from reading this boring ass story as opposed to interrupting it constantly with your stupid comments about how wrong we are! Because after all this story is about us not about someone else even though we haven't introduced ourselves properly yet so how could you possibly know what we look like or anything about us other than our names?

But getting back onto topic here, funny thing is our names aren't actually Owen nor Rasmus either! They're actually Stefanos Papadopoulos (me) and Efthimios Natsikoulis (Rasmus) but since everyone already knows us as those nicknames instead all these years later we've decided that Stefanos Papadopoulos sounds too Greek so therefore Stefanos Papadopoulos shall henceforth be known by everyone everywhere as simply Owen instead starting today forevermore amen because why not? Besides its not like Stefanos Papadopoulos sounds any better does it? No, obviously not because its name is Stefanos Papadopoulos for crying out loud! Not exactly something super cool sounding is it? Obviously not! So therefore Stefanos Papadopoulos shall henceforth be known by everyone everywhere as simply Owen instead starting today forevermore amen because why not? And besides its not like Stefanos Papadopoulos sounds any better does it? No, obviously not because its name is Stefanos Papadopoulos for crying out loud! Not exactly something super cool sounding is it? Obviously not! "For crying out loud". Wowowoowowowowowowwowowowowowowow wowowoowowowowwo... Where did I leave off again? Oh yeah! So anyway Rasmus sneaked into my room uninvited then flicked on my lights then woke me up out of bed when its dark outside which isn't even 5 am yet because that's how polite criminals act these days apparently because how else would they expect anyone else in their vicinity within 100 meters or less (or at least 6 feet if they've ever played any sports whatsoever) from their intended target to wake up before their intended target does otherwise? It makes no sense! But enough about rude criminals who sneak into people's rooms without permission at 5 am in the morning because if there's one thing that we can all agree on right now today right now right now right now right now right now right now right now right now right now is that none of us have any respect at all whatsoever for anyone else in this room whatsoever unless they agree with everything else that we say and think exactly how we want them too! Because heaven forbid anyone has a differing opinion otherwise heaven forbid we won't give them due respect because after all disagreement is harassment isn't it? Heaven forbid these idiots can't see past things like facts or logic or evidence or proof but instead have chosen instead to simply believe whatever everyone else thinks regardless whether or not its true or false which is just downright strange doesn't it? Well if you disagree then maybe you should take some time off from reading this boring ass story as opposed to interrupting it constantly with your stupid comments about how wrong we are! Because after all this story is about us not about someone else even though we haven't introduced ourselves properly yet so how could you possibly know what we look like or anything about us other than our names?

"Hello boys!" A voice called out as suddenly four figures wearing black ski masks appeared dressed head-to-toe in black ninja outfits complete with black ninja stars strapped across their chests while carrying sub machine guns pointed directly at Rasmus who looked startled by what had happened caught completely off guard by who-knows-who barging into my room uninvited dressed all sorts of weirdly completely unannounced with their lights flicked on early in the morning when its dark outside doesn't seem super polite does it really? But enough about rude criminals who sneak into people's rooms without permission at 5 am in the morning because if there's one thing that we can all agree on today today today today today today today today today today today today today today today is that none of us have any respect at all whatsoever for anyone else ever anywhere unless they agree with everything else that we say and think exactly how we want them too! Because heaven forbid anyone has a differing opinion otherwise heaven forbid we won't give them due respect because after all disagreement is harassment isn't it? Heaven forbid these idiots can't see past things like facts or