From College To Cradle - A Toddler’s Want For Intergalactic Exploration

Chapter 3
Adventures & War Against Sentinels

Chapter Description: Well-Rested from a nap, it’s time to see what other adventures Ensign Hapoton has for me. I love this planet so much and having adventures. It’s a lot more fun than Earth for certain.

Date: 13:20 34^th Cycle (13:20 Hours/27:00 Hours, Cycle 34 of 368, Planet Ayodele Standard Time)

Location: Ayodele Prime Imperial Base Alpha, Planet Ayodele Prime, Ayodele Alpha System

My eyes snap open and I scan my shared bedroom. Brian’s on his computer at our computer station to my right and I can see he’s on a Face Time call with our mom. I smile as I sit up in bed, allowing my purple T-shirt to flutter and my ATC Cruisers diaper to crinkle. I jump down from my bed and waddle over to Brian, “Hi, Brian!” I wave at Mom on the screen, “Hi, Mommy!”

Sarah smiles at me, “Hi, Stacey.” and returns her attention to Brian. “So how are you and Stacey doing on his planet so far?”

Brian chuckles and rubs the back of his head, “We’re doing well, I’ve been looking through the base and talking with the Scientist and Overseer when I’m not gathering food from the fruit trees in the forest off our base. It’s really cool out here.”

Sarah nods as she hears how well her two sons are doing, “Well I’m glad you’re both doing well.” She chuckles as she watches me waddle out of the bedroom and down the hallway, “Stacey seems to be really happy here.”

Brian nods, “Yeah, he loves it here. Going on adventures, fighting pirates…”

Sarah raises an eyebrow, “Pirates?”

Brian chuckles, “Yeah, in space. When desires not to fight them, he pays them off. Sometimes he just wants to adventure on the planet below and have the pirates leave him alone.”

Sarah’s eyebrow returns to normal, “I see.”

Brian raises his hands, “Don’t worry, Mom. He’s got an entire fleet of his own to protect him on his adventures in space.”

Sarah inches closer to the screen, “Really, Brian?!

Brian breaks out laughing, “Yeah, my baby brother controls his own fleet. It’s amazing seeing a fleet of aliens under the command of a toddler.”

……

I smile as I waddle into the Maintenance Wing and wave at Overseer Drogra, “Good afternoon, Drogra. Is there anything you need of me? Anything the base needs?”

Drogra shakes his head, “Not at the moment, but I believe Weapons Master Ensign Hapoton had something to ask of you.” Drogra pats my diapered bottom, “I think you need a change too, Stacey.”

I glance down to my ATC Cruisers diaper and notice the yellow wetness indicator, “Hee, I guess I do.” I smile toward Drogra, “I’ll have Ensign Hapoton change me while we chat.”

Drogra bows with his hands in a praying motion, “Please do, Stacey. I don’t want you getting a rash.”

“I won’t!” I waddle into the Secondary Maintenance Wing and stop in front Ensign Hapoton’s workstation, “Good afternoon, Ensign Hapoton!”

Ensign Hapoton smiles at me and walks from behind his workstation to kneel in front of me, “Good afternoon, Toddler-Interloper.”

I stomp my foot and cross my arms at Ensign Hapoton, “You don’t have to call me that all the time. I have a name. It’s Stacey. If you must, call me Toddler-Interloper Stacey then.” I uncross my arms and stomp my foot again, cementing my point.

Ensign Hapoton rests his arms under my armpits and lifts me into the air, “Alright, Toddler-Interloper Stacey. I think you’re cranky because you need a diaper change yeah?”

I narrow my eyes at Ensign Hapoton, “Not cranky! I just like being called by my name that’s all.”

Ensign Hapoton chuckles as he carries me over to the couch and lays me down, “Well we call you Toddler-Interloper because that describes who you are, Toddler-Interloper Stacey. You move from planet-to-planet adventuring and you’re a toddler.” Ensign Hapoton grabs a fresh diaper, wipes, and powder from the drawer and sets it down to my right.

“That makes sense I guess.” I train my eyes on the ceiling and notice the blue flag with the symbol of the Pra'Elia, an eye of Horus-type symbol. I rub my eyes as I hear the tapes of my diaper being ripped and my legs lifted, “Ensign Hapoton? Overseer Drogra said you had something to tell me.”

Ensign Hapoton slides the old diaper away and grabs some baby wipes, “I did. It concerns the Sentinels and a weapons factory on this world.” He works on getting me dry whilst tossing the old wipes into the old diaper resting at my feet. “We Pra'Elia when employed under someone’s home world seek to be the only person that manufacturers weapons for them.”

Ensign Hapoton lowers my legs so he can roll my old diaper into a ball and toss it upwards for it to vanish into red carbon molecules for the base storage container, “As your Pra'Elia Weapons Master it is my job to ensure all your weapons are of the finest caliber and do not bring you to harm.” He grabs the fresh diaper and unfolds it so he can slide it under my bottom.

I turn to Ensign Hapoton as he lifts my legs and powders my uplifted bottom, “That makes sense.” I turn back to the ceiling as Ensign Hapoton shuts the baby powder and returns it to the diaper drawer under the couch, “Where is this weapons factory?”

Ensign Hapoton lowers me onto the soft diaper and brings the green circle decorated shell up to my belly, “I’ve uploaded the data to your watch.” Ensign Hapoton secures the left diaper tape, “When you hop in your ship you should be able to find it. It’s just beyond the forest from our base.” Ensign Hapoton secures the right diaper tape and lifts me to my feet with a loving pat to my freshly diapered bottom, “All dry, Toddler-Interloper Stacey. Bring glory for us both.”

I turn to Ensign Hapoton as he returns the changing supplies to the drawer. Once he finishes sanitizing his hands and turns to me, we bow at each other. I rise first and smile at him, “I’ll be back.”

Ensign Hapoton ruffles my hair, “I’m confident in you, Toddler-Interloper.”

……

Date: 13:50 34^th Cycle (13:50 Hours/27:00 Hours, Cycle 34 of 368, Planet Ayodele Standard Time)

Location: Unknown Weapons Facility Location, Planet Ayodele Prime, Ayodele Alpha System

My eyes widen as my ship lands in front of a giant, white rectangular structure. I hop out of my starship and brandish Ayodele’s Balance. “Let’s see…” I dart my eyes around the otherwise empty area and stop when I spot a locked door on the opposite side of the building. “Okay…since I can’t interact with the door interface, I’ll just blast the door open. First though.” I glance to my watch and activate the Utilities submenu.

I smile when I spot Activate Minotaur AI and tap the screen. I glance to the sky and spot a purple humanoid mech with a gigantic X where the face and chest would reside descending in front of me. When the mech lands and marches toward me, I nod, “Protect me.” I turn toward the door and aim Ayodele’s Balance. I switch to Primary: Pulse Splitter, Secondary: Plasma Launcher and take aim at the door.

I smirk within seconds of the first blue plasma ball making contact and denting the door, “Yes!” I snap my fingers and pull a baby bottle of Happy Fruit Tree Juice from the hologram food presentation unit. I hold the bottle in my left hand and drain it while maintaining my weapon’s focus on the door.

“ALERT! Sentinel Forces Inbound!” screams my watch.

I send another blast to the door and wince when a red bolt of a laser strikes me, causing my bottle to fall to the ground. I glance to the upper left where my shield percentage is shown: 98% and turn around to see two red, upside-down, triangular robots floating toward me. “I knew this wouldn’t be easy. MINOTAUR!”

I smile when the Minotaur Mech roars a plasma ball in the face of one of the Sentinels sending its metal parts raining down around me. I turn back to the door and pelt it with more Plasma Launcher fire whilst my Shield percentage drops to 95% from another Sentinel firing at me. “GRRRR!”

Within seconds of my third Plasma Launcher round contacting the door, it bursts open and an alarm flares. Hissing echoes around me as my shields drop to 90% and I kneel to grab my bottle off the ground. I drain the bottle and waddle inside the single, circular facility room with Ayodele’s Balance trained on the empty facility wall.

I drop my empty bottle on the ground and kick it toward the empty wall, “There’s nothing here.” I dart my eyes around the area and find three locked doors. I smirk when I spot a circular terminal jutting from the center of the facility room, “Here we are.” I tap at the terminal and giggle when I find the blueprint insertion menu.

I rest my left hand atop the terminal and nod when a hologram of different innocent items appears: Lightbulbs, Microprocessors, and Metal Plating to name a few. I select Lightbulbs and press PRODUCE. I blink twice when a blueprint with weird markings alongside a Pra'Elia symbol appears in front of me. “Hmm…”

I take the blueprint and it vanishes inside my watch, “There, now to get out of here.” I inch my head out the facility and smile when I see the Sentinels retreating. “Good.”

I waddle run toward the launchpad outside the facility and activate the Call Starship Terminal resting to the left of the launchpad. I giggle as I watch my starship descend from the sky and land on the launchpad. “Now to get back home.” I hop into my starship and within seconds its lifting into the air and I’m flying back home.

……

Date: 14:19 34^th Cycle (14:19 Hours/27:00 Hours, Cycle 34 of 368, Planet Ayodele Standard Time)

Location: Ayodele Prime Imperial Base Alpha, Planet Ayodele Prime, Ayodele Alpha System

I smile as I waddle-run toward Ensign Hapoton’s room of the Maintenance Wing, “Ensign!” I stop in front of him when he walks from behind his workstation and kneels before me, “I destroyed the weapons facility…well actually I reprogrammed it to produce lightbulbs. HA! HA! HA!”

Ensign Hapoton ruffles my hair, “Excellent work, Toddler-Interloper! Did you obtain any technology of our own?”

“I did.” I present the blueprint hovering on my watch.”

“Here,” Ensign Hapoton takes the blueprint over to his workstation and plugs it into his terminal, “I will decrypt it for you. Weapons are nothing without usage, without glory of righteous war.”

“Huh?” I waddle over to him as he finishes typing out the blueprint results and forwards the new technology to my watch.

Ensign Hapoton turns to me and walks past his workstation to kneel in front of me, “War against the Sentinels is what I mean by righteous war. You fought some of them, didn’t you?”

I smile and nod, “Uh huh! Upside down triangular things, shot red lasers at me. I had my Minotaur help draw their fire while I took out the facility.”

Ensign Hapoton walks around me with worried eyes, “They didn’t hurt you, did they?”

I shake my head and smile toward Ensign Hapoton when he ruffles my hair, “I’m fine. Hee…I had lotsa fun!”

Ensign Hapoton nods as he kneels in front of me once again, “I’m glad you enjoyed yourself. You have the bloodlust of a warrior for someone so small.” Ensign Hapoton rushes to his terminal and nods at the red dots approaching Planet Ayodele Prime. He walks back over to me and kneels, “Pirates, Toddler-Interloper.”

I giggle and waddle toward the Main Maintenance Wing, “MY FLEET WILL MAKE SHORT WORK OF THEM!”

Ensign Hapoton smiles as he watches me waddle down the hallway and disappear, “He’s a cute kid and has a thrust for justice that I did in my youth.” Ensign Hapoton walks back to his terminal and scans the planetary map, “Those pirates won’t know what hit them.”

……

Date: 14:40 34^th Cycle (14:40 Hours/27:00 Hours, Cycle 34 of 368, Planet Ayodele Standard Time)

Location: High Orbit Above Planet Ayodele Prime, Ayodele Alpha System

I dart my eyes across the stars while also glancing at my starship’s navigational system, “Let’s see…”

ALERT! Enemy Ship Detected! echoes the AI of my starship navigational system as it points out two red squares of pirate ships approaching me.

I smirk as I call in my fleet of three starships and engage my pulse engine’s boost to charge toward the flat triangular pirate ships. “Attention all units, form up on my left and right sides. Engage all units!”

I smile as we all rain down purple Infra-Knife Accelerator plasma on the two pirate ships. I trail one of the pirates as they break away from full ramming toward me and boost after it while continuing to rain fire on him. I growl when my ship jolts and I scan my ship’s shield readout on the left-hand screen: 80%...50%... I activate my watch’s Technology submenu and recharge my ship’s shields right as the first pirate ship explodes, “YES!”

I spin around to the last ship while my fleet breaks off pursuit, “Where are you guys going?!”

My primary ship Capitan’s voice echoes, “Shields down. I can’t recharge, I’m out of uranium.”

When my secondary and tertiary ship Capitans echo the same sentiment, I nod, “Understood. Return to Ayodele’s Rejoice and refuel. I’ll take care of this last pirate myself.”

My primary ship Capitan sighs with relief over the comms, “Thank you Fleet Master Toddler-Interloper. We’ll see you next battle. We were ill prepared.”

I shake my head as I tail the pirate ship while firing my Infra-Knife Accelerator and watching his shields take the punishment for a few seconds before failing, “You’re mine.” I growl when he whips past me and fires lasers at the engine of my ship, causing my shields to plummet to 50%, “Blast!”

I engage my ship’s pulse engine boost and make a straight upward climb before descending on the pirate ship from the top while raining down Infra-Knife Accelerator plasma fire. I smile when the ship explodes in a cloud of fire and metal, “Got him!” I sigh and hissing echoes around me as I begin my descent into Ayodele Prime’s atmosphere, “Now to get back to my home. Blasted pirates.”

……

Date: 15:00 34^th Cycle (15:00 Hours/27:00 Hours, Cycle 34 of 368, Planet Ayodele Standard Time)

Location: Ayodele Prime Imperial Base Alpha, Planet Ayodele Prime, Ayodele Alpha System

I sigh as I enter the Secondary Maintenance Wing and stop in the middle of the room. I turn to Ensign Hapoton with a smile, “The pirates are done, Ensign.”

Ensign Hapoton smiles as he walks over to me with a bottle of Happy Fruit Tree juice, “Excellent work, Toddler-Interloper Stacey. I do have bad news though.”

I collapse on the couch and drain the bottle without saying a word. With the empty bottle sitting next to me, I toss it into the air and rain down Pulse Splitter fire on it reducing it to dust and carbon molecules to be absorbed by my Ayodele’s Balance multi-tool rifle. “What is it?”

Ensign Hapoton sits down to my left and ruffles my hair, “Worry not, you won’t need to return to space. He’s planet side, actually a few units away from our base the scoundrel.”

As I scan Ensign Hapoton, I can tell his hatred for pirates is evident. I smile and poke the middle of his helmet, “I’ll take care of him.” I jump down from the couch and waddle-run out of the Secondary Maintenance Wing. I giggle as I waddle down the hallway and stop in front of my starship, “Time to hunt the last pirate.” I jump into my starship and smile when it jumps into the air.

New Coordinates received. echoes my starship’s navigation system.

I nod when the base location appears on my starship’s navigation system and I push my starship accelerator lever to my destination, 560 units away.

……

Date: 15:09 34^th Cycle (15:09 Hours/27:00 Hours, Cycle 34 of 368, Planet Ayodele Standard Time)

Location: Unknown Base Camp Location, Planet Ayodele Prime, Ayodele Alpha System

“Well, that wasn’t long of a trip.” I turn off my Favorites Playlist echoing around my starship and hop out. I brandish Ayodele’s Balance and walk toward the open door with my watch highlighting the pirate’s name above his head as I scan the circular room. I smirk when I spot the Alvus pirate and walk over to him, “Hey…Pirate!”

“I have valuable technology.” The Alvus Pirate turns to me and his digital face lights up randomly in what I can only assume is laughter. “A toddler-entity? You’re the child. You’ve come to what?”

“You were attacking my home world.” I stomp my foot and train Ayodele’s Balance on him with it set to Primary: Pulse Splitter, Secondary: Paralysis Mortar. I activate the secondary weapon and aim it at his face, “You threaten me, that proves you’re a pirate and one of three that attacked my world. The other two are gone, would you like to join them?”

The Alvus pirate raises his hands, “Here, take the tech. I shouldn’t have laughed at a toddler. It’s clear that though you’re a toddler, you…you can fight.” He sets the blueprint at his feet and kicks it over to me, “Here.”

I scan the Radiation Protection blueprint for my watch’s Armorsuit system, “Thank you.” I turn to exit the base and waddle over to my starship. I climb in and yawn when I see the sun setting, “I wonder what time it is…” Once my ship jumps into the air, I boost toward home.

……

Date: 18:52 34^th Cycle (18:52 Hours/27:00 Hours, Cycle 34 of 368, Planet Ayodele Standard Time)

Location: Ayodele Prime Imperial Base Alpha, Planet Ayodele Prime, Ayodele Alpha System

I yawn as I hop out of my starship and waddle into my bedroom. I smile when I spot Brian, Overseer Drogra, Ensign Hapoton, and Scientist Uzlovsk sitting on the couches in the living room, “I’ve returned.” I press my hand against the machine resting to the right of the doorway and sigh as my new blueprints are converted into new tech for my watch’s Armorsuit system.

I smile as I waddle into the living room and dart my eyes between my family, “Brian, Overseer Drogra, Ensign Hapoton, Scientist Uzlovsk, I’m happy to see you all. I’m happy to report that the pirate has been dealt with. He won’t be seen in this system again.”

Brian raises an eyebrow, “What happened?”

I giggle and waddle over to Brian and Ensign Hapoton sitting on the left-hand couch. I crawl into Brian’s lap and swing my legs whilst my ATC Cruisers diaper crinkles. I boop Brian’s nose and smile toward him, oblivious to the hissing carrying the bottles I had during my adventures today out of my body. “He paid with technology and was promptly banished from this world by my own ship officers.”

Overseer Drogra nods as he rises from the couch and heads toward the Secondary Maintenance Wing, “That’s a good job, Toddler-Interloper Stacey. Not everything needs to be solved with violence.” Overseer Drogra returns with a plate filled with Happy Fruit Tree slices in his left hand and bottles of Happy Fruit Tree juice in the other. “Let’s have some dinner.”

I smile as I bite into the Happy Tree Fruit and scan my family, “This is really good. I already fill full of energy. The fruit has a different taste in its solid form than in the liquid form. In the solid it takes like Earth chicken, but as the liquid it has the flavors of vanilla, strawberry, and banana.”

Scientist Uzlovsk nods, “That’s because it’s one of the best things on this planet, Toddler-Entity Stacey. Best foods without need of killing.”

Brian smiles as he finishes off his plate, “I agree. And it’s always available.” He drains more of his juice, “Absolutely delicious.”

……

Date: 19:00 34^th Cycle (19:00 Hours/27:00 Hours, Cycle 34 of 368, Planet Ayodele Standard Time)

Location: Ayodele Prime Imperial Base Alpha, Planet Ayodele Prime, Ayodele Alpha System

I yawn and rub my eyes as Overseer Drogra and Scientist Uzlovsk rise from their respective couches and head toward the Primary Maintenance Wing. When the lights of the Primary Maintenance Wing fade, I know that they’ve gone to sleep. “I’ve gotta build a Maintenance Wing Bedroom for you guys.”

Ensign Hapoton nods as he rises from the couch, “I agree, Stacey. That would be a good next project to do for the base.” He ruffles my hair and yawns as he turns to Brian, “Would you like me to change him or shall you, Interloper Brian?”

Brian rises from the couch and scoops me into his arms, “It’s alright Ensign, I can handle my baby brother. Thanks again for caring for him while I’m out picking fruits and chatting with the Overseer.”

Ensign Hapoton bows with his hands in a praying motion and heads to the Secondary Maintenance Wing to sleep.

I yawn as Brian carries me over to my bed, “Today was lots of fun. Did you learn anything else, Brian?”

Brian lays me down on my bed and grabs a fresh diaper, wipes, and powder to set down to my right, “Nothing really, other than the fact that these watches we have are miracles of technological engineering.”

I giggle and smile toward Brian as he unfastens my wet diaper and lifts my legs to slide it away, “Yeah, they are awesome huh?” I giggle as Brian works on getting me dry whilst tossing the old wipes into my old diaper resting at my feet. “I love it here.”

Brian smiles as he lowers my legs so he can ball my old diaper up and toss it into the air for it to be converted into carbon, “I love it here too.” Brian lifts my legs and slides the new diaper under my bottom, “It’s a lot livelier here than on Earth. It’s peaceful too.” He grabs the baby powder and powders my uplifted bottom, “Glad we came.”

I smile toward Brian as he brings the green circle decorated shell up to my belly and secures the new diaper snug around my waist, “I’m glad too.” I crawl toward the head of my bed and giggle when Brian pats my freshly diapered bottom, “Thankies, Brian.”

Brian smiles as he watches me lie on my back and pull the covers toward my neck, “You’re welcome, Stacey.” Brian sanitizes his hands and returns the supplies to my diaper drawer at the foot of my bed, “Have a good night.” Brian yawns as he walks over to his bed and falls asleep seconds after his head hits the pillow.

I yawn and turn toward Brian with a smile as I watch him sleep, “I’m so happy. I’m glad we came to Ayodele Prime. I can’t wait to have more adventures in this system and this galaxy.” Another yawn leaves my lips and my eyes droop. Within seconds I’m following my older brother into a peaceful sleep and my base falls silence save for the light hum of the batteries giving us nighttime power.