Orbiting high above the Earth's surface, the crew of the Zephyr rested peacefully as their ship drifted along. From on board, a man wearing a grey jacket with a red stripe going diagonally across the front observed the vastness of space. "And you're sure that he's not on his way?" the man asked.
"Scanners do not indicate Helios' progress anywhere within 10,000 miles of this vessel, Malron," a robotic voice sounded, a hologram of a young woman appearing behind him.
"And if you're wrong?" Malron asked, not taking his eyes away from the window in front of him.
"Margin of error is less then 1.5298743263-" the hologram began before being cut off.
"Just answer me. Is there any way Helios could be cutting off his signal to prevent us from finding him?" Malron asked irritably.
"…The Omega Carrier is capable of overpowering his signal, but there is no sign of omega radiation in the surrounding area. Alternatively, Helios' power signature can only be sensed while he is active. If he were to willing shut himself down, scanners would be unable to detect his presence until too late. However, that would require him to be completely vulnerable," the hologram began before being cut off by an alarm.
"Distress signal," Malron said simply, fingering a watch-like device around his wrist. "We'll need to head out to investigate."
"That would be unwise. The craft is sending out weak life signals at best and there is no danger in sight. The probability of this being a trap is too high for me to allow any course of action," the holographic woman began before Malron raised his hand.
"There's still people on there then. We can't just abandon them. But…I can leave something in case we don't come back," he said with a sigh, removing the watch-like device from his wrist and placing it on a table beside him, along with four others. Each of them was colored differently, red, blue, yellow, black and pink, and each had a small button directly below the watch face.
"I will begin the search immediately. DNA recognition is being reset to allow the use of the Satella Morphers," the hologram said, vanishing as she did. Once she was gone, a dome rose up to cover the Satella Morphers, blocking them from sight. With a sigh, Malron went to gather the rest of the Zephyr's crew and head for the shuttle off the ship. Hopefully, none of this would turn out to be necessary, but something told him he wouldn't be making it back to the Zephyr anytime soon.
Down on Earth, the residents of Southview were preparing to watch a meteor shower, setting up for the viewing later that night. While most people were gathered in more or less the same place, three teens were breaking off from the group to head towards a small hill where they could get a better view. "Come on you guys! Hurry up!" a Hispanic youth called cheerfully, running ahead of his two companions with a wide grin on his face.
"Not everybody has as much energy as you do Ian," one of his friends, an African American boy, shouted back, catching up with Ian with a brisk run. Looking back to make sure Sophie wasn't lagging behind, he caught just a flash of legs going past him before seeing that she was not only keeping up with him, but was managing to do it while walking on her hands. "What are you doing?" he asked as she slowed down to let him keep up.
"Looking for clovers. It's easier this way," Sophie said as though it were the most obvious thing in the world, which to her, it probably was. "You should really try it Matt. We're going to need a little luck today."
"What, is a meteor going to hit us or something?" Matt asked half-jokingly, but still decided to treat it with a bit of caution. Nobody really knew why, but Sophie's intuition was almost always right, though she never had anything really clear, just vague feelings.
"Hurry it up guys! The view is great," Ian called from ahead of them, reaching the top of the hill and waiting for his two friends. Looking behind him, he took notice of the bespectacled Chinese girl and waved to her with a kind smile. "Hey there. You're the new girl, right?"
"Y-Yes," the girl said nervously, moving away slightly from Ian as she did. "I'm Jia. Jia Gun," she added, staring at the ground as she spoke.
"Great to meet you. I'm Ian," Ian said cheerfully, either ignoring or honestly not noticing how nervous Jia was around him as he moved forward to shake her hand. As Matt and Sophie came over the edge of the hill, they both headed over to join Ian, who introduced them to Jia as they arrived.
"So, what are you doing up here?" Matt asked her as Sophie continued her search, letting out a small yelp of surprise before hopping to her feet and running up to Jia, placing the four leaf clover she'd found in the girl's hair.
"There you go. That should keep you safe," she said cheerfully before returning to her search for more of them.
"Um…Thanks?" Jia asked, turning to Matt and Ian, who just shook their heads to show that they didn't understand it any more than she did. "Right. I came up here to watch the stars. I brought this with me," she added, motioning to a telescope behind her.
"Sweet! We can get an even better view with this!" Ian said, going up to the telescope and looking through it, waving aside Jia's brief concerns as he did. Moving it across the sky, he saw that there was definitely something up in the sky. "Hey, I think I found something. Come over here," Ian said, but before anyone could act, four colored lights traveled down and surrounded each of the teens, carrying them up towards the object.
Generating her hologram onto the Zephyr again, the ship's AI ran a quick scan of the ship and the surrounding area. There were no life signals on the ship anymore and the only thing she picked up outside of the ship was a powerful source of power that she immediately recognized as Helios. "He actually did it. Clever," she muttered to herself. If Helios was alive, then that meant the Zephyr need a new crew. "Transporting the five found to the Zephyr now," she said, sending down five colored lights to gather the humans her own scan had found to replace the crew.
Ian, Jia, Matt and Sophie were the first to be brought on board, each of them trying to figure out what had happened. Off to the side stood the last of the ones that had been chosen, a boy wearing army fatigues, notably much more calm then the rest of them as he took in everything around him. "Greetings. This is the Zephyr. I am this ship's Interface AI," the hologram said as the teens began to take in what was going on around them.
"Um…Do you have an actual name we can call you?" Ian asked curiously.
"Negative. I am the Zephyr's Interface AI, there is no need for a name," she said simply.
"Right. I'll just call you Zia for short then," Ian said, smiling happily.
"Maybe you should get around to explaining why we're here?" Matt suggested before 'Zia' could protest the nickname.
"Right. The Zephyr is the pride of the Satella Corporation, a research company dedicated to the study of the galaxy. Three years ago, a rejected automaton developed for exploration turned against the corporation, calling himself Helios," Zia continued, generating a hologram of Helios as a visual. A large hole in his chest contained a glowing white core, the power source for him, while his body was largely constructed out of dark red metal. Three steam pipes emerged from his back, expelling regular bursts of steam as they did. "When he rebelled, he also stole the technology used to create him, and reused it to create loyal machines. The Zephyr was dispatched after him and has hunted for him ever since. The previous crew has been lost on a rescue mission and I have recruited the five of you, per regulation."
"Regulation?" Jia asked.
"Regulation dictates that any lost members are to be replaced with willing natives of the nearest planet to avoid being stalled on our mission. That is why I have chosen the five of you," Zia said as the dome surrounding Malron and the rest of the crew's watches opened. "These are the Satella Morphers. They will allow you to transform into Power Rangers and serve as communication between yourselves and the Zephyr. This mission will be dangerous, so I must ask that if any of you have concerns, you take your leave now. I will return you to your homes immediately," she finished, pausing to allow for any of the teens to decide to leave. After a minute of silence, the new boy off to the side cleared his throat.
"I don't think any of us are giving up," he said confidently.
"Perfect. Then we can begin," Zia said with a brief flicker of a smile.
"Jia Gun. You are scared. Nervous. Afraid of the changes around you. Your bravery in remaining for this dangerous journey has made me choose you as the Pink Satella Ranger," she said as Jia stepped forward to take her morpher.
"Scott Drake. You have talents and skills that will be valuable for this mission and so, you have been chosen as the Black Satella Ranger," Zia continued, the boy in fatigues stepping forward, his hand briefly hovering over the morpher before taking it.
"Sophie Banks. Your eccentricity hides a much deeper knowledge then you show and that is why you are chosen as the Yellow Satella Ranger," she continued, Sophie stepping forward with a happy skip as she grabbed her morpher, flipping back as she stepped away.
"Matt Carter. Athletic and strong, you have always relied on that strength to get you through and it is that strength that made me choose you as the Blue Satella Ranger," Zia said, Matt going forward to take his own, strapping it on as he stepped away.
"Finally, Ian Quesada. You draw people to you like a flame. You bring out the best of people and for that, I have chosen you as the Red Satella Ranger and leader," Zia finished, Ian stepping forward to take his own, Scott's hand gripping tightly into a fist as he did. "When Helios sends an attack down to Earth, the distress beacon will sound," she continued before the beacon began going off.
"Like that?" Matt asked.
"Exactly like that. I'll explain more later. For now, I must send you down. Your morphers are activated by the command 'Satella Force, Online'," Zia said, flickering out as the ranger's were covered in the same colored lights from before and sent down to face Helios.
Down on Earth, Helios led an army of mechanical soldiers, each of them designed with the same rounded, featureless face, scythe like arms and having smaller versions of his own core. "Keltrons! Now is your chance to take this world by force! Go and follow my orders!" Helios' general, Inti, instructed the robots. While Helios was much more humanly designed, Inti was more like an animal then a machine, having four armored claws for arms, two of which crossed over his own core, a centaur-like lower body and bright yellow eyes over a fanged mouth.
"Inti!" Helios boomed at his general, who immediately bowed on his four legs.
"I apologize Great One. I meant no wrong. All shall follow YOUR orders," Inti said, not raising his eyes from the ground.
"Remember general. You are replaceable," Helios said menacingly as he went to join the Keltrons in their destruction of the town.
Arriving in Southview, the rangers looked out on the destruction of the town. "We can't just stand around," Matt said, moving forward to fight before Ian grabbed his shoulder.
"We were given these for a reason. It might be a good idea to use them," he said, motioning towards their Satella Morphers.
"Any idea how to use them though?" Jia asked, making them all go silent. Most of them could remember that they had been told how to activate the morphers, but there had been other concerns at the moment (not the least of which was the fact that there home was under attack by space machines) and couldn't remember at the time. The silence was broken by a small laugh from Sophie, who everybody just stared at.
"What? You guys really don't remember?" she asked, shocked that the others weren't paying attention.
"Stop laughing and remind us already," Scott muttered irritably.
"Alright, alright," she said, trying to stifle her laughter with little success. "Satella Force! Online!" she shouted, pushing the button on her morpher.
Sophie stands on top of a skyscraper, raising her Satella Morpher to the sky as a yellow laser strikes it, creating her Ranger suit around her.
"Yellow Satella Ranger!"
Sophie's costume was largely yellow, aside from a large white circle in the center that surrounded a yellow satellite insignia and silver arms and legs. Her helmet had a rectangular visor and an unformed mouth area. "See? Easy," she said simply, turning to come face to face with a group of Keltrons.
"Yeah, shouting tends to attract people," Matt said, raising his own morpher as the rest of the team followed suit. "Satella Force! Online!"
Jia stands on top of a snowy mountain, raising her Satella Morpher to the sky as a pink laser strikes it, creating her Ranger suit around her.
"Pink Satella Ranger!"
Scott stands on top of a bridge, raising his Satella Morpher to the sky as a black laser strikes it, creating his Ranger suit around him.
"Black Satella Ranger!"
Matt stands on top of a dam, raising his Satella Morpher to the sky as a blue laser strikes it, creating his Ranger suit around him.
"Blue Satella Ranger!"
Ian stands on top of a radio tower, raising his Satella Morpher to the sky as a red laser strikes it, creating his Ranger suit around him.
"Red Satella Ranger!"
Each of the Rangers struck a fighting pose as they faced off against the Keltrons, who immediately rushed at them.
Matt was the first to reach them and immediately began lashing out against the Keltrons with rapid-fire jabs, knocking each of them aside. As soon as he struck one of them in their core, it shattered and the Keltron fell to the ground. "Well that's good to know," he said to himself, making sure to aim for each of his opponent's weak point as he fought.
Not knowing how to actually fight against them, Sophie and Jia instead ran in between the Keltrons, each only throwing out light punches against their opponents. Just as two Keltrons were about to skewer Jia, she tripped over a rock in the path, causing them both to stab each other through the chest. "Told you it would help," Sophie said, jumping to avoid another strike, leaving Jia to try and figure out how she could have known any of this would happen.
Scott managed to do much better then the two girls, weaving in and out between the Keltrons and throwing a kick at each one he passed, knocking each of them off their feet as Ian followed along after him, finishing off any of the machines that were still functioning. "We make a pretty good team, huh?" Ian asked cheerfully, destroying the core of a fallen Keltron who was trying to slash at their legs.
"Talk later. Fight now," Scott said, knocking two Keltrons onto the ground and stomping on their cores as he did. Both of them were interrupted by the sounding of hooves on the ground, announcing the arrival of Inti and Helios close behind. "Looks like the big fish decided to show up," Scott said.
"Well, well, well. And I thought I destroyed the Power Rangers," Helios said, a smirk on his face as he looked over the fighting rangers against his Keltrons. "Lucky me, getting to do it again," he added.
"Lord Helios. Allow me to deal with these fools," Inti said, but was immediately knocked back by Scott jump kicking him.
"Out of the way. We're busy," Scott said, turning to Helios, but was grabbed from behind by Inti, who pulled him away from the fight, leaving Ian to fight Helios.
"How about this ranger? I give you one free shot at me," the mechanical tyrant said, spreading his arms wide to show that he wouldn't defend himself. A little weary at first, Ian took the chance and threw a punch at Helios' core as hard as he could, only to have his suit nearly burn off from the heat of it. Before he could pull it aside, Helios grabbed it and smiled down at the Red Ranger. "My turn," he said, pulling his free arm back and punching Ian in the chest.
"You see why I cannot be defeated? I am Helios! I am invincible! No human can destroy me and no cell can hold me! I am your ruler!" Helios shouted, punctuating each sentence with another punch, the final one to Ian's jaw. "And you won't survive to see it," he added with a sinister grin, about to force Ian's head towards his core before noticing the slowly setting sun. "You're boring me ranger. I'll be by to kill you some other time!" Helios said, tossing Ian into a wall before calling off the attack. As he did, a large ship passed overhead and the mechanical army was called back. Scott stood off to the side panting, his suit slightly ripped from Inti's claws and hoof marks covering his chest.
"That…could have gone better," Ian said, trying to stay conscious as he got to his feet. His right hand still burned and he was afraid of how he would explain this to his mother.
"Rangers," Zia's voice came from the morphers. "Do not despair. You have beaten Helios' forces back. It was only bad luck that he chose to fight himself. We must take victories when they come," she said as the rangers began to gather again. While they had a few scuffs here and there, none of them looked as bad as Ian or Scott, so there was always that to be happy about.
"Right. We won't let this happen again," Ian said, a smile crossing his face as he took his helmet off.
"I…I'll try to be more help next time," Jia said. With a silent nod of contentment, the rangers agreed to count this as a victory, even if they hadn't come out of it completely unscathed
"Lord Helios. Why did you order the retreat? I have enough power to handle them even without the sun," Inti said as his master sat on his throne.
"And leave myself, powerless, with no one but you? I can't trust you with that, now can I general?" Helios replied. "Keltrons! Prepare the furnace! It's time for a brand new ally!" he ordered the mechanical minions, who immediately set to work preparing.
Trivia: The Keltrons name are a combination of the word "Kelvin" with "Tron".