Here goes the reincarnation of Space Patrol Delta: The Series. Of course Disney owns these potential-deprived characters and I just write this for fun, not profit. Feedback is always appreciated.
SPD: Return of the Machines
by eternal
The cockpit she was seated in was far from comfortable, or the ride at least. Frequent turbulence, the blips and other repetitive beeping from the cockpit's computers further edged on the nerves of the 20-something pilot. Sure, the light emitting from the crevices of the dials and monitors was the hot neon pink resembling that of a favorite nighttime hangout, but the dance was different and the pace was faster in this particular outing. The signature golden blonde curls draping past her shoulders were stuffed inside a helmet tonight, as were her stunning blue eyes behind its tinted visor. The model female specimen known as Sydney Drew was to be worshipped this evening by an audience of newer and older fans alike. Instead, her desirable features were tucked away behind S.W.A.T.-armored pink spandex. Needless to say, there would be no concert this evening. The twenty two year old princess of pop found herself strapped inside a S.W.A.T. Flyer maneuvering her way through the chaos of laser fire and exploding enemy vessels.
The data transmitting from the S.W.A.T. scanners confirmed the target's position. The enemy jet was now in perfect trajectory to be vanquished.
"Buh-bye," SPD Pink said pressing both her thumbs down on the controllers.
The laser cannons tucked beneath the nose of the flyer extended its barrels and released a fusion of pink and white energy. The bright lasers zapped forward and connected to the side of the enemy ship, instantaneously destroying the vessel into smoking flames.
"One down, a million more to go," Syd sighed as she guided her flyer back around into the foray of laser fire.
Screaming missiles and jet blasters filled the outer atmosphere above the white, blue, and green orb known as Fernovia. Smoke pillared from damaged enemy planes as they became sucked into the gravitational pull of the planet spinning several hundred miles beneath them. The force of good seemed to have the upper hand in this trade off of colorful fire power, each nose of their flyers baring the universally recognized and respected badge insignia. The dog head silhouette was iconic in its own right, but for those who were not familiar with its prestige, three letters arched above spelled it out plainly: S.P.D. – Space Patrol Delta.
The sea of fighter jets flooded only a small portion of the infinite dark frontier called outer space. Below, more chaos had taken shape. The tranquil planet known as Fernovia, its land lush with running rivers and plant life, was under attack. Its citizens fled for safety thorough the many jungles as jets raced after each other in a fierce game of cat and mouse. The sound of marching cadets broke the cool afternoon air in pursuit of the foot soldiers their scanners desperately worked to pin point. Running past a powerful waterfall, a thin metallic enemy plane seemingly mocked its pursuer as it skillfully wove between the jungles of this quiet paradise.
"You're good, real good, but not good enough!" said the pilot behind the controls of the Blue S.W.A.T. Flyer.
Bridge Carson, SPD Blue Ranger and second-in-command of B-Squad, managed to keep a short distance between his plane and the one ahead. Though his survival depended on his undivided concentration, he couldn't help to admire the sleek, sufficient design of the flyer attempting to evade his line of fire. Its silver luster and curvaceous aeronautic design could only been made a reality by the best in military flight engineering Bridge mused.
Blue Ranger thumbed both triggers with intention to fire. And so he did.
White lightning bolted from the flyer's cannons wrapped in ice blue energy and connected to the tail of the enemy. Instantly, the plane began to dive, but the pilot had no plans on going down with his vessel. Having released his hatch, the pilot flew out and streaked forward like a missile to the mountainside ahead. Bridge's eyes grew stunned at the imminent suicide.
"Whoa! S.W.A.T. vision, zoom times 200!" he ordered.
The helmet computer complied and enhanced Blue's vision to the falling pilot's coordinates. Behind his mouthpiece, Bridge's mouth hung as the pilot landed upright beside the mountainous cliff, free of harm.
"Unreal," he breathed. His eyes focused more clearly, forming an instant inquiry. "But what is it?"
On the opposite side of the jungle, an upbeat blend of salsa and hip hop filled the cockpit of an amber-coated S.W.A.T. Flyer. The pilot inside lightly bobbed her head as the music blaring around her provided the soundtrack to the beautiful destruction she was more than willing to contribute to. Elizabeth "Z" Delgado smiled and locked on.
"Adios!" SPD Yellow said engaging her defense system.
Yellow lasers pelted the body of the jet racing in her direction. Each attack seemed to flicker off the all silver sheet metal like dying embers. The analysis from her helmet's S.W.A.T. scanner confirmed her suspicions.
"Drats … a force field," the Yellow Ranger grumbled.
Without hesitation, the fighter pilot fired back. Halos of flame blue laser traveled into the path in which the Yellow Ranger was flying. Warning beeps and alarms filled the cockpit and quickly drowned out the hypnotic party mix.
"Shut up!" Z growled.
Grunting from the knowledge of the imminent impact, Z slammed shut the miniature monitor atop her console heeding the warnings and pulled back on her controls. The Yellow S.W.A.T. Flyer soared upward to make distance from the blast, but not quickly enough. The laser rings connected with the tail of her flyer, violently shaking the craft. The yellow lights inside the cockpit turned to red as sirens rang to indicate the significant damage.
"Just perfect," Z said reaching for her comm. piece wired beside her mouth plate. "Yellow to Red, my flyer's been struck. Engine 2 is out -- requesting to land on Fernovia ahead to assist field cadets."
In the treacherous mayhem above Fernovia, a bright red and silver vessel swooped down on an enemy jet and opened fire. The jet was vanquished and its pilot along with it. In the red vessel otherwise known as the Red S.W.A.T. Flyer, B-Squad captain Sky Tate already had his next target in range and began to calculate a firing point. Z's transmission just then fizzled over Red Ranger's S.W.A.T. comm.
"Roger that, Yellow," Sky responded swiftly. "Air cadets are holding up fine, but cadets on land are unable to trace any energy signatures from these unidentifiable foot soldiers. They would benefit from your S.W.A.T. technology. Be safe."
"No energy signatures? How strange. I'm on my way now. Yellow out."
The red flyer kept abreast of its potential next target and followed where it was shooting at an air cadet's flyer. Only a handful of S.P.D. cadets had been summoned for this mission, though there are hundreds trained in air combat and are able to fight at a moment's notice. These cadets were not exclusive to S.P.D. Earth Station – many came from the Nebula Academy, some even from the recently established academy on New Neptune. But the bulk of the cadets fighting on land were of S.P.D. Fernovia, where its own planet and base was under fire.
Sky's mind wondered over the briefing Commander Cruger had given B-Squad and with-coming cadets prior to this operation. S.P.D. galaxy analysts had detected fast-moving vessels heading through the N9 galaxy, the galaxy Fernovia resides in. These vessels did not register with any military, police force, or licensed interplanetary shipping firm, but it was clear a convoy was traveling quickly to transport something to an unknown destination. Something beyond that didn't sit right with Sky, something not obvious at first. A lingering question was begging to be answered – why the attack on Fernovia and not another planet or S.P.D. academy? Certainly, this was not the most conspicuous way to go about trafficking illegal cargo. Then it clicked.
"It's a decoy!" the Red Ranger shouted to himself.
Sky dialed with urgency a transmission to all B-Squad officers.
"Team, continue to destroy all attackers. I'm setting course for quadrant eight."
Syd shook her head. "Sky, there's no one there. I have no trackers indicating flight activity."
"You're going to owe me big time later when I prove you wrong, cadet." Sky replied already jetting into his said direction.
Syd shook her head again and continued fighting.
Another S.W.A.T. Flyer came racing beside its red twin as if it were competing in a race. Sky picked up on the vessel's presence immediately and shook his head. His hand reached for his comm. piece to establish a link-up to the pilot of the Green S.W.A.T. Flyer.
"Red to Green, what do you think you're doing?" came Sky's voice into the emerald-lit cockpit.
A wide smile spread across the face behind the helmet previously commandeered by Bridge Carson. The Green Ranger answered back.
"Just following your lead, boss. Let's tag team 'em!.
"How about not and follow my orders?" Sky asked with low tolerance in his voice.
"I'd be more worried about the enemy flyer closing in on your tail there."
Clearly unaware, Sky's eyes darted down to his tracker. He had missed one. The Red Ranger entered a sequence to fire his tail-end lasers, but something had gone wrong. The command to utilize the back-end defense system was not responding.
"Not a good time for this!" Red said retrying the command.
The repetitive attempts were in vain – the command was locked-up. Sky turned to look at the Green Ranger knowing he needed his assistance and fast. The lesser-ranking cadet was one step ahead and thrust his tail cannon to a precise point. A burst of green-enveloped lasers consumed the metallic jet whole. The explosion rocked both the Green and Red S.W.A.T. Flyer, having been so close. Though saved, Sky was quick to make a mental note to speak to the cadet later about his help.
"What? Where's my thank you?" Green asked.
"Go back, Cadet," Red warned viciously trying not to let his discourse for his officer precede him.
The red flyer disappeared into the deep cosmos leaving the cadets and enemy pilots to continue on with their light show. Below on Fernovia, a free-falling figure flipped its way safely onto the jungle floor. Touching down with grace, the Yellow S.W.A.T. Ranger drew her Delta Enforcer and trekked her way speedily through the maze of forest. In the distance, faint explosions could be heard. Z followed the sound and headed in its direction. Quickly she paced through the terrain of towering trees until she met her destination – outside the forest. What she saw was all too familiar.
"Oh…no," was all Z could mutter at the sight of the attack that resembled the storming of the Earth academy just four years ago.
Foot soldiers and fighter plans swarmed about the campus of SPD Fernovia. Cadets were everywhere on the exterior campus fighting the relentless warriors. Explosions from laser blasts erupted into the air every few seconds. Z couldn't take it anymore. She ran forward to get involved. Opening fire, she pelted the exterior of the soldier that had an S.P.D. cadet up by its neck. Down the soldier went, but it wasn't destroyed. It was a—
"Robot," Yellow Ranger said getting a good look at the attacker.
The robot was nothing like a Krybot, or any other Troobian. It was easily seven feet tall. Its all silver exterior and cooper head piece gave off a bright luster and evidently was solidly built, as the robot did not succumb to Z's Delta Enforcer so easily. Rising up, the bot threw a straight kick out at the Delta Ranger, which she quickly side stepped and swung the butt of her Delta Enforcer at its face. The bot then swiftly grabbed a hold of the S.W.A.T. weapon and brought its knee up beneath it. Instantly, the gun had bent like a thin piece of wire. Z was struck by the robot's strength and speed, having no time to react. The robot then threw a punch at the Delta Ranger and landed its fist at the mouth plate of her helmet. Falling back from the fierce blow, Z hopped up and returned the favor with a right left combo. Each attack was thwarted. The robot took Z by her wrists and flung her over the ailing cadet she previously rescued.
"This isn't good," Yellow Ranger mumbled to herself. "I'm going to need backup."
"I got you, Z!" came Bridge's voice in her S.W.A.T. comm.
Above the Yellow Ranger came the Blue S.W.A.T. Flyer. Its canons released a round of lasers crashing around the towering robotic soldier. The bot flew backward from the impact and crashed onto the grass with sprocket pieces and wires falling out its bustless neck.
"Good timing, B," Yellow Ranger said running over to the fallen cadet.
"Are you alright?" she asked helping the young male up.
"I'll be fine, but our base is being overrun."
"Where's you're A-Squad?"
"They're somewhere here fighting. The bay doors are being blasted and they can't get to their Delta Runners. What are we going to do?" the cadet asked holding his injured shoulder as he spoke.
"We're going to keep fighting. Let's go!"
In the sky, Blue Ranger rounded the Fernovian academy where more air fighters were blasting away at ground troops and S.P.D. Jets who tried to stop them. The odds didn't look good, but it wasn't stopping Bridge from doing his job.
"Syd, get down here. This base can't take much more," Bridge called over the comm.
"I'm on my way now," the Pink Ranger answered immediately.
Fighting at the front doors of the academy were five multi-colored warriors whose suits closely resembled that of Earth station's B-Squad. Together they charged forward with a fierce battle cry. Side by side they brandished blasters reaming out red, blue, green, yellow, and pink energy. The Fernovian A-Squad desperately defended their base and would not let one bot enter its doors. The Red Ranger leapt up and released a fury of red lasers at two robots. Both foot soldiers stumbled backward but clearly were not phased.
"This isn't working!" the Green A-Squad Ranger said after sending a side kick to the robot lunging at him. "We need our zords!"
"Commander and Dr. Jaron are working on it I'm sure. Let's keep at it, guys!" the Red A-Squad Ranger said snapping his twin pistols together. "Delta Blaster combo mode!"
A double dose of swirling red fire power shot forth and creamed the chest of the oncoming robotic soldier. Red Ranger swung the weapon over his shoulder and extended a downward thumb.
"You're going down!"
Inside the base, at the heart of operations, sat the Command Center. Inside the sealed-off control room were two beings. A tall green figure in a black tunic stood monitoring the fight via main frame as another male, a humanoid with a clear-coated jewel embedded on his forehead, worked frantically on the keyboard. His busy eyes soon relaxed as he sprung up from his seat. The jewel on his forehead pulsated with a soft blue light.
"Commander Sage, I managed to realign the base defense system. On your word, sir." Dr. Jaron announced.
Remaining mum, Commander Sage nodded as he continued to monitor the fight.
"Firing now," Dr. Jaron said.
On the exterior of the base, a set of barrels extended out from their hidden compartments. Green energy gathered quickly and bursted out each barrel, leaving more sizable explosions in its wake. Around the campus, the robotic soldiers sailed skyward to meet their scorching end. The barrels changed their trajectory above and picked off each enemy jet within range.
"My turn!" Pink Ranger said swooping down in her S.W.A.T. Flyer.
Pink lasers joined the foray of fire power and impacted more enemy planes. The A-Squad below silently gave thanks to the cavalry as they fanned out to put an end to the remaining foot soldiers. Blue, Green, Yellow, and Pink connected their blasters with the device holstered on the opposite side of their belts to create Delta Max Strikers. Red Ranger summoned a blade of sizeable length as a grid of soft red light flushed over his suit to reveal a set of armor resembling that of a battlizer. Though the armor was almost a guarantee of victory in any battle, the leader of the Fernovian A-Squad didn't feel too confident. He didn't express it in his voice and certainly not in his fighting, but inside he feared a grave outcome. Nevertheless, he charged ahead.
"No one gets inside," Red Ranger breathed swooping down with his blade.
In space, the battle escalated between S.P.D. cadets and enemy vessels. Not one Delta Flyer had been destroyed in the vicious battle, but the remaining dozen fighter planes refused to give. At a great distance away, Red Ranger found himself flying solo in a long stretch of space. He had been flying nearly ten minutes without any visual of a cargo vessel. He was certain it was out there as much as he was certain the item being transported was important enough to create an ambush so large for S.P.D. Fernovia to endure.
"Gamma scanners, perform read out," Red Ranger ordered.
Responding immediately to the voice request, scanners began to search the space ahead with its gamma filters. Often, Kat would use these filters to detect any activity cloaked to evade standard tracking devices – a trick Sky picked up years ago as the Blue Ranger. The trick didn't guarantee results, depending on the strength of the cloaking shield, but in this case it proved helpful. No more than 100 yards was the cargo vessel Sky was looking for.
"Gotcha," the Red Ranger said thrusting forward.
The S.P.D. jet came racing beside the enemy trying to get a good look at who was piloting. If Sky didn't know any better, he could have sworn a robot was manning the craft. The robot looked to its right and saw the Red Ranger. The cargo vessel thrust forward to make space between itself and the S.W.A.T. Flyer. Sky remained in close proximity the entire time and prepared to take action. The metallic red vessel revealed its side-mounted canons and opened fire. The cargo vessel rocked but remained mobile without significant damage.
"Curses – its metal must be able to endure my laser fire."
Not noticing, the cargo ship fired back and blasted the side of the S.W.A.T. Flyer. Luckily, the impact was absorbed by uranium-strengthened metal Kat had upgraded the Flyers with. Still, it left a rather nasty burn mark.
A bright flash of blue and purple swirling light caught Red Ranger's attention. Up ahead, a thin strip of radiating energy appeared and the cargo vessel was racing toward it. Undoubtedly, it was a getaway portal.
"Oh no you don't," Sky said accelerating his speed.
The Red S.W.A.T. Flyer thrust forward after the cargo vessel. Closer they came to the rip in space with speeds reaching near maximum. Sky's craft lost the race as the cargo vessel entered the portal first and disappeared. The portal closed and the S.W.A.T. Flyer slowed to a hault having failed to apprehend the perp. Sky slammed a fist down on the dash and turned his craft around. There was nothing he could do now.
On Fernovia, SPD cadets continued to struggle with the foot soldiers. A-Squad Pink glided through the air and slashed her blade across the chest of the bot flying at her. She went into a reverse side kick as three of the robots surrounded her. Instinctively, Pink spun her sword about like a lasso to keep the bots at bay, but the weapon did not intimidate them. In fact, nothing could. The triad shot forth bolts of energy from their hallow eye sockets and hit Pink with enough force to send her flying across the field. Over head was the Pink S.W.A.T. Flyer with its pilot flipping down in her direction.
"Are you okay?" Syd asked coming to the aid of her pink counterpart.
"I'll be fine," A-Squad Pink said rising up with Syd's help.
The Green and Blue S.W.A.T. Flyers raced around the academy and opened fire on another group of robots. The soldiers went airborne and met their end.
"They're down to approximately twenty fighters," Blue Ranger said unfastening his harness. "Let's get down there."
"I'm with you," Green Ranger said opening his hatch.
Together the two Rangers flipped out of their flyers and made their landing with their Delta Enforcers already in hand. Blue Ranger spun-kicked a robot and followed up with a blast of laser power. The robot fell back as the Green Ranger flipped over his partner and laid down a second round of green-shaded energy on the same bot. The mechanical soldier shook as he overloaded and broke apart in several pieces.
B-Squad Yellow came to the aid of A-Squad Yellow and slammed a forward flip kick into the bot she was tangling with.
"Good timing," the Fernovian Yellow Ranger said clasping hands with her yellow counterpart.
The two Yellows cross-somersaulted past the oncoming robot and spun back around with a high-cross kick. Both girls aimed their respective blasters and released a double dose of yellow fire power, leaving a gaping hole in its chest. The bot fell back as its inner-clock work erupted out the cavity.
A-Squad Blue and Green joined their respective counterparts ready to fire.
"Four times the power. This will be sweet!" B-Squad Green hooted.
"Alright, gentlemen! Fire!" B-Squad Blue ordered.
A combined orb of green and blue energy shot forth at five bots, creating yet another mushroom cloud of fire and smoke. Robot pieces fell every which way as the four Ranger men gathered with their teammates.
"That was great teamwork, everyone!" A-Squad Blue said clasping hands with his B-Squad equal. "Wait, where's Mika?"
"Who?" asked Syd.
"There he is!" A-Squad Pink pointed.
The A-Squad Red Ranger flipped through the sky in a twisting motion as his twin pistols rained down laser power on the foot soldiers below. Landing on one knee, he spun around with both blasters extended out and fired. Each robot jumped up, just missing the blast. Landing in crouched positions, the gang of bots released their fire power from their soulless eye sockets. The Red Ranger flew up from the great force emitting from the blast that barely missed him. Landing roughly back on the ground, he looked up to see the bots rapidly approaching. Unexpectedly, red fire power rained from the sky, knocking all bots onto their backs. The B-Squad Red Ranger landed gracefully on one knee with his Delta Enforcer in hand. He then turned to face his red counterpart.
"That was close," Sky said offering a hand.
"Thank you," A-Squad Red said rising up.
Mika's eyes surveyed the battle field. There were fires everywhere, mostly from the destroyed robot parts, some from the patches of forest encompassing the academy. Fernovian cadets walked and limped their way to their lead fighter. Everyone was worn, some bloody, some unable to walk without assistance from their peers. Sky was almost afraid to look these people in the eye, personally feeling guilty for not making it back to the planet any sooner. Mika was just as afraid to turn to see the condition the base laid in, but he did.
"It's – it's…" he couldn't finish his sentence.
"It going to be alright," Sky said offering a hand to Mika's shoulder.
A-Squad and B-Squad gathered around their respective leaders and observed the disastrous condition of the Fernovian academy. A sad silence was shared by all, but Sky's words were true though the Fernovians did not feel so at the time. Bridge turned away from the wreckage as his eyes landed on a robot part. It was the bust piece disconnected from the rest of its body. Kneeling down, the Blue Ranger scooped the head in both hands and carefully examined it.
"Whoever made you, I'm sure we'll be hearing from them again real soon."
"Incredible," was the single-word response from S.P.D. doctor and head analyst Kat Manx.
The glass panel slid open allowing her to enter the test range in which five robots stood side by side about two feet apart. Another person entered the all-white room, a male wearing an identical lab coat that read SPD:GC on its breast pocket. Kat's awe-struck expression left a satisfying grin on the man's lips.
"They hit every target with such fluid and calculated motion. This is incredible," Dr. Manx said referring to the holographic images projected moments ago for shooting purposes.
"Don't be so surprised. If it wasn't for your programming genius, these things would be mere prototypes only good for some science fiction movie."
"Hardly, Dr. Knalk. Anything I contributed to the project was only enhanced by your ability to take what I did and translate it into a mathematical language I sorely am not familiar with," Kat said trying to hide her embarrassment.
The feline humanoid walked about the five robots and examined their innovative design. Slim, contoured bodies allowed quicker movement than their bulkier predecessors. Their shoulder plates that once pointed out now hugged the shoulder blade itself for better protection. The traditional blue torso and police color alarms were now a simple brush of cobalt blue and metallic silver. More notably, on their backs were large black letters reading S.P.D. with the words Centurion Officer beneath it in smaller text and the badge insignia resting top and center on the helmet.
"Once the council approves, these things will be mass produced and shipped out across the universe. Just think, all colonies with insufficient militaries will soon be able to have the protection of S.P.D. on their side," Dr. Knalk said running a hand down the arm of one of the Centurions.
Kat's smile faded at the reminder. She had unresolved feelings concerning the matter of Space Patrol Delta offering protection at a price. Dr. Knalk picked up on her mood change and gave a reassuring smile.
"I know what you're thinking and I implore you to wait until all the facts are in concerning the Blue Centurion Reform Program," Dr. Knalk said offering a hand to her shoulder.
Kat put on a small grin, having believed his words. It was easy to believe and trust Dr. Knalk, or Jameson as he insisted on her addressing him as. Kat's stay for the past six weeks at Galaxy Command was grueling, having worked long shifts with a team of geniuses much like herself. More closely she had worked with Jameson Knalk, one of the two military technology directors who lived on base. Though she missed home, Kat found herself enjoying the challenge that new technology presented her. She learned a lot by spending long hours by Dr. Knalk's side, enough time where he felt comfortable to speak on a first name basis. Kat secretly wished she wasn't so hung up on protocol. Many-a-time she had slipped and kept addressing him as Dr. Knalk rather than his first name. If Kat didn't find Jameson's subtle charisma appealing as she did, she would be more inclined to stick with the level of professionalism that she prides her reputation on.
"So should we contact Supreme Commander Birdie now and give him the good news?" Kat asked fighting back a yawn.
"At this time of night?"
"He did instruct us to inform him immediately of any milestones."
"Undoubtedbly, he meant during the hours he's awake," Jameson grinned.
"Oh. Right," Kat feeling slightly embarrassed once more.
"The rest of the team clocked out hours ago. We deserve a good night's rest before informing Supreme Commander in the morning, wouldn't you say?"
"Or what's left of night," Kat said checking her watch.
Jameson checked his, too. "Wow. It's nearly dawn."
"I suppose I could grab a quick cat nap before breakfast. Have a good morning, Doctor … I am mean Jameson."
Jameson softly chuckled and nodded. "I don't know about you, but I could go for something right now, as tired as I am."
"As I."
"The cafeteria should be serving right about now. Would you like to join me?"
"Oh," Kat said clearly caught-off guard by the unexpected offer. "Well – sure?"
"You don't sound so sure," Jameson said.
"Sure I'm sure. I'm sure," Kat insisted, then realizing how ridiculous she had sounded. "Sorry. … It's been a long night."
"No sweat. I'll hit the lights and shut down in here. Meet you there in five?"
"Okay then. I'll see you there."
With that, Kat turned and left the testing range. Jameson watched her leave as another satisfied smile spread across his face.