Okay everyone, I had some people asking so I decided to release the first part of this new series. Fair warning, it's going to be a little more dark and serious than my typical work, but I've wanted to play with the theme for a long time. A few other quick notes… depending on the way things progress, this may be upped to an M rating later and I'll be slower to update this as I already have a current series going on.
Lots of thanks also go to ChibiDawn23, fantasticrhapsody, SA June, and Mistycharming for their great help and creativity in providing OC's for the team. With that said, I do not own Power Rangers, but I hope you still enjoy this series.
In the year 2108, a small spacecraft belonging to an extraterrestrial race we now know as the Adventi was discovered in the Mojave Desert of North America. The ship was believed to have crash landed hundreds of years ago and any signs of its original crew were long gone. While the Adventi appeared to have been a peaceful starfaring race, the existence of their ship sent a clear message to humanity that we were no longer alone in the cosmos.
The scientists of Earth immediately began reverse engineering the alien technology hoping that it would bring benefits to mankind and in many ways, it did. The advances that came from the Adventi knowledge brought about unprecedented prosperity and many believed that humanity would soon reach up to take its place among the stars.
Dr. Andrew Beckett was a brilliant engineer and a visionary who dreamed of seeing that very goal achieved, but he also realized that if benevolent aliens existed, then hostile ones were certain to be out there as well. He began work on defensive weapons derived from the Adventi technology culminating in his greatest experimental project, man made power morphers for a new breed of hero. He created the Alpha Rangers.
For all of Dr. Beckett's brilliance, nothing could have prepared us for the coming of the Xeno Machina, another alien race of bio-mechanical monstrosities from beyond the stars. We had feared that day for a long time. We thought that we were ready... but we couldn't have been more wrong.
A deafening explosion rocked the grounds of the National Mall as another alien fighter craft crash landed in the near distance, not too far from the Washington Monument. From behind the visor of his helmet, the Silver Alpha Ranger Martin Sterling could see a fierce dogfight still raging above the skies of Washington D.C. American fighter planes and alien aircraft continued to skirmish, lighting the dark skies up with flares and fiery missiles.
All along the grounds of the capital's main plaza, the lights of small fires flickered over the waters of the reflecting pool while small plumes of smoke rose from the ruined concrete and trees that had been scorched by laser bolts. All along the grounds were the broken forms of a platoon of Xeno foot soldiers that Martin and his team had just routed.
The downed cyborg troops lay sprawled out and the sight of them made Martin's skin crawl. On one hand, they looked almost half-human, but the mess of ugly cybernetic enhancements gave them a truly horrific alien quality about them too. As they lay, several of the drone soldiers twitched and convulsed as their "weaker" human sides gave way.
"Look alive Alpha Squad! We've got one more ready to throw down here," came the voice of Michael Avery, Martin's team leader. The veteran Red Alpha Ranger took a confident step forward and activated a folding metal combat blade while the other Alpha Rangers regrouped behind him.
In the distance, they saw an alien warrior in ornate heavy power armor plod through the smoke and level a large glowing energy sword. He stood a good head taller than the Rangers and the light of the fires reflected off his sleek dark armor. From the sinister conical helmet of the alien glowed two red eyes.
The voice of Amir Hassan, the Blue Alpha Ranger and second-in-command of the squad came in over the comm, "Looks like one of the Force Commanders if I had to guess."
Michael gave a grim laugh, "Even better. Maybe if we drop this guy, we can end the whole thing right here."
Another voice suddenly cut in on the comms of the entire squad. It was Dr. Andrew Beckett, the scientist responsible for the experimental tech behind the new Alpha Rangers in this, their first battle. Not surprisingly, the doctor was monitoring every reading and movement of the fight, "Be careful Rangers. We can't be sure your current weapons will be able to penetrate that armor. I'm going to boost the power output of your morphers as high as I can, but I can't be sure if your suits will hold."
Michael nodded and readied himself against the enemy commander with his trademark cockiness and bravado, "I guess there's only one way to find out, right Doc? Come on Alphas, let's go!"
As the five Alpha Rangers charged forward, the alien commander snorted when he met the attack, "Do not stand in my way humans. You cannot resist the Machina… not even with your bastard form of Adventi weaponry."
Michael charged first but was swept aside as he was forced to block a powerful sword blow from the alien. The Middle Eastern Blue Ranger Amir moved in next but was shocked when the alien swept his blade around in a devastating counter blow which split the Ranger's weapon and dropped him with a terrible burning gash in the torso. "I am Hellspont, Champion of the Machina!"
"Amir! No!" Li Kim, the Green Alpha Ranger shouted as everyone saw their comrade's vital signals instantly flat-line on their HUD's. The South Korean Ranger burst forward to avenge his fallen friend and tried to skewer the general with his own folding blade but the weapon only penetrated halfway, then shattered.
He gasped in surprise as Hellspont swiftly grabbed the front of his helmet and clamped down. Martin could only stare in horror as Li's visor shattered from the crushing grip and the Ranger fell before Hellspont.
"Martin! Martin! Come on! Snap out of it! We've gotta help!" came the voice of Marie LaPointe, the Gold Alpha Ranger.
Martin nodded dumbly before producing a blaster pistol and taking aim with his French comrade. They both fired a volley of searing blaster shots which only did minimal damage to Hellspont before being deflected away by the heavy armor.
"Even your weapons are pathetically weak," the alien scoffed as he ran his blade along the ground sending a powerful shockwave of energy and concrete shards at the two Rangers. Neither had time to avoid the attack and Martin cried out as the shockwave swept over him. It felt like getting hit by a speeding truck and he was thrown violently to the turf.
The Ranger's head spun and his vision went momentarily white before he fought back to consciousness. Everything was chaos and confusion and his head swam while the noise outside felt like he had cotton in his ears. Martin was barely strong enough to roll over on the ground and look through his cracked visor toward the limp form of Marie nearby. The Silver Alpha Ranger gasped to try and breathe as he struggled again to move.
He could feel a light trickle of blood from his brow turning his vision red as the vital signs of all his teammates on the HUD faded one by one. In his comm, he could hear the frantic voice of Dr. Beckett shouting something unintelligible from somewhere far far away. As the badly injured Ranger groaned, he caught sight of the alien commander Hellspont advancing on him with his glowing red eyes and his terrible sword. That was when Martin finally woke up.
The young man shot up from his bunk and found himself covered in a cold sweat. As he took a moment to steady his breathing, he looked about his sparsely decorated bedroom and sighed in relief. He was back in the safety of Atlantis base. It had only been a nightmare… memories of five years ago… memories he still tried desperately to forget.
The digital clock on the nightstand read 0700 hours and small slits of morning light peeked in through the blinds. He gave another sigh and ran a hand through his short black hair, wiping the sweat away.
That was when he heard a sudden knock at the door, "Martin? It's me, Lucy. Can I come in?"
"Yeah," he called out as he sat in bed and rubbed his eyes.
The door opened and a professional looking young woman walked in. She was dressed in a white blouse with a dark skirt and blazer combo. She was of average height, with straight dirty blonde hair tied back into a neat ponytail and she looked to be in her late twenties like Martin. Although she had very pretty features, she hid them behind a pair of glasses and a relatively serious expression.
"God Martin… you look like hell," she said as she studied him with her sharp eyes, "Rough night?"
"Yeah… something like that," he muttered as he rolled out of bed and walked to his closet where a freshly pressed military uniform hung. It was a royal blue uniform of Earth's new UNAF, the combined United Nations Armed Forces. "You here to give me a wakeup call?"
Lucy snorted in mild amusement to her old friend as she placed a file on his desk. "Actually, I came by to give you this. It's General Caldwell's final roster of candidates. He asked that you make the final decisions and then come by to address the new team of recruits."
Martin stopped and gave the young woman a serious look, "So Caldwell is really going to go through with this, huh? Are you going to be ready?"
Dr. Lucy Beckett tightened her features and took a deep breath before nodding, "I didn't spend all that time getting my doctorate in engineering for nothing. I'm going to make up for the failures of my father… and that starts with the new Nova Morphers. The people of Earth were barely able to fight off the first Xeno invasion, so I owe it to them… and to the rest of your former team."
Martin gave a long solemn nod before turning to the file sitting on his desk, "Thanks Lucy. I'm going to change and then look over that file. You can tell the General I'll be along shortly."
Lucy gave her friend another look, almost showing a hint of concern before giving a small nod and resuming her cool professional demeanor, "We'll see you then Captain Sterling."