Another disclaimer saying that I don't own any Galaxy Rangers characters has been shot into outer space. Here's another warped idea I had that I just had to get out.

The Letter

"Captain Foxx, how nice to see you again," Ambassador Magdella Domani greeted the Galaxy Ranger Captain as he walked in the hallway of the Taurus Five Space Station.

"Ambassador," Zach nodded a polite nod.

"What brings you here?" Domani asked Zach.

"Routine patrol," Zach explained. "We needed some fuel. Plus Commander Cain just called us in. He wants to see us. You?"

"I'm here on League business," She told him. "How's Commander Walsh?"

"He's fine," Zach told her. "I think he misses you."

"That's good to hear," She smiled. "Cain's office is down the hall. You'd better not keep him waiting no matter how tempted you are."

"I will," Zach nodded. They parted company and Zach entered Commander Cain's office. Zach was not happy that he had to accomidate the officer. Normally Commander Walsh was in charge of the Galaxy Rangers but every now and then they were forced to go on missions assigned by the Board of Leaders. While on patrol Zach had gotten a coded message that there was an urgent situation and that he alone had to go to Commander Cain to recieve further instructions.

Commander Cain was notorious for his laid back attitude and almost flaunting disregard for authority despite the fact that he was one of the military's most highest ranking officials as well as a man with great influence and power. Power that was often implied he obtained by less than honorable means.

And when Zach walked into Cain's office nothing he saw implied otherwise.

He couldn't believe how luxurious the office was. Plush chairs, gold lamps and expensive artwork on the walls. "You wanted to see me…" He saw a gold statue of a mermaid in the corner. "Sir?"

"What? I like mermaids," Cain gave him a look. "Hot looking babes with fish tails amuse me. Especially if they have big breasts."

"I'm glad something does," Zach grunted, obviously in distaste at the opulent wealth around him.

"Let's call a spade a spade Captain Foxx," Commander Cain grinned as he sat down at his desk. "You think I'm a money grubbing degenerate who has no right to wear this uniform. Oh it doesn't shock me. Believe me I've heard a lot worse from people higher up and more powerful than you."

"I just don't think an officer should be more concerned with his cash flow than the safety of Earth," Zach narrowed his eyes. "I've heard a lot about you and quite frankly what I see isn't helping."

"Yet you have no problems working for a man like Commander Walsh," Cain shook his head.

"There's a big difference between the two of you," Zach growled. "Commander Walsh is a man of honor and integrity."

"No Captain, the difference is while I play games for money he plays games with human lives," Cain became serious for a moment. But only a moment. "Well there was this one time when I was in Vegas but still…"

"Commander is there a reason you called me here?" Zach interrupted. "I don't find personal wealth and power plays interesting."

"Well I think you might be interested in this one," Cain took out a folder. "You've heard of Senator Magnus Aldeverosa? He died two days ago."

"So?" Zach asked.

"He died of a heart attack while in bed with his secretary," Cain said. "Needless to say his wife didn't take the news that well. She was so angry she decided to prove to the world that her husband wasn't a saint and she gave the press a lot of interesting details. And not all of them about her husband's love life."

"Just what kind of details are we talking about?" Zach asked.

"The illegal, immoral and extremely gray area kind," Cain showed him a folder. "How's this for starters? Aldeverosa was one of the backers behind the original Supertrooper project at Wolf Den Base."

"Now that I didn't know," Zach frowned.

"Neither did the general public until now," Cain said. "And that's not the only thing that's making the Board of Leaders nervous. Seems the good senator was never really crazy about Walsh running the program. In fact we have documents that now prove he was a backer behind another secret Supertrooper base in Australia."

"I've heard of it," Zach frowned. "Commander Walsh shut that place down."

"Before he did Aldeverosa took a few things home from work," Cain said. "As you can see from that inventory list on page seven he picked up items from both Wolf Den and the Australian base."

"My god this proves that…" Zach's jaw dropped when he read the paper.

"He had his own secret supply of Supertrooper Juice," Cain remarked. "In at least eight lovely flavors. Problem is no one know exactly where his stash is. Or what he did with it."

"The possibilities are a bit frightening," Zach grumbled.

"There is one lead which we've managed to hide from the press," Cain showed him some data. "These are some coordinates we've found."

"For what?" Zach asked.

"We don't know," Cain said. "That's where you and your team come in. We need you to check it out. I don't need to tell you that this mission is top secret. So don't bring in your alien ambassador friends."

"We'll leave at once," Zach reluctantly saluted and turned to leave.

"By the way Captain," Cain added. "As you go back to your ship and fly off into the unknown why don't you play a game of twenty questions to pass the time? In fact you can ask Ranger Gooseman what happened to the Supertroopers that got A's on their tests and how they were rewarded. I'm sure he'd love to tell you all about that."

Zach was puzzled but didn't let it show. "If you don't mind, I'd like to get my team together, Sir."

"Go ahead," Cain smiled as Zach left the room. "I think it's time I made a phone call or two…"

Not long after Zach was briefing his team about their latest mission on Ranger One. "Senator Alderverosa…I remember him," Shane growled. "The only reason he didn't want me frozen was that he wanted to have me dissected like a biology specimen. Good riddance. That's one less bastard I have to worry about."

"Yes and now we have more problems to worry about since it's likely that sometime during the past ten years the not so good senator used that Supertrooper Juice for something," Doc remarked. "Or sold it to someone who did."

"So there could be more Supertroopers out there than anyone figured," Zach agreed. "And we have to find out if that's true or not."

"Oh no…" Shane groaned. "It figures. I should have known something like this would have happened."

"Goose?" Niko raised an eyebrow.

"Remember that incident with the General a month ago?" Shane asked. "I had a talk with Cheyenne…She thought she sensed more Supertroopers out there. But she didn't know where they were or what they were like."

"And you decided to wait until now to tell us?" Zach glared at him.

"There wasn't exactly that much to tell," Shane gave him a look. "Besides you know how testy some of the senators get about the Supertrooper Program's failure."

"Yeah Captain what was he supposed to do?" Doc asked. "Go up to Commander Walsh and say, 'Hey Commander, my supposedly dead genetic donor Cheyenne is alive and has become an evolved super powered being living under the sea. She thinks there may be more Supertroopers running around, isn't that great?'"

"I mean he should have told us," Zach said.

"Captain even Cheyenne didn't know anything for sure," Shane told him. "And until there was proof I wasn't about to say anything to get you guys in an even deeper mess!"

"I see your point," Zach sighed. "But while we are on the subject is there anything else she mentioned that you haven't told us?"

"Well…" Shane reluctantly let out a breath. "She did say that I may be the only one to fulfill a prophecy that would unite the Supertroopers and break a cycle of madness and insanity."

"Okay we were better off not knowing," Doc threw up his hands. "That lady has given you a lot of things to work on in your spare time, hasn't she Gooseman?"

"You have no idea how much pressure I'm under," Shane groaned. "On the one hand Commander Walsh and the Board of Leaders wants me to hunt down the Supertroopers. On the other Cheyenne wants me to unite them…"

"And on a third hand you have the surviving Supertroopers all wanting your head," Doc added.

"Whatever Cheyenne wants or not we have to investigate," Zach told Shane. "Commander Cain made that perfectly clear."

"Why did he assign the mission and not Walsh?" Doc asked.

"Who knows?" Shane shrugged. "Cain's always trying to butt in where he's not wanted. He's always trying to get close to Senator Garson."

"The vice president of the League of Planets?" Doc asked.

"Yes and Garson was also the one who ordered me to hunt down the other Supertroopers if I became a Galaxy Ranger," Shane sighed. "Anything else Cain mentioned to you Captain?"

"He did make one odd remark," Zach frowned. "Something about Supertroopers getting A's on their tests. Goose what did he mean by that?"

A look went on Shane's face that Zach had never seen before. It was a look of horror and pure shock. He composed himself quickly. "It's nothing. Probably one of his stupid jokes."

"All right," Zach decided to let the matter drop. "Let's check the coordinates Cain gave us."

"Gotcha…" Shane nodded as they prepared to go into hyperspace.

"Help them Shane…Help them…"

A strong flash thundered into Shane's mind. It knocked his brain around in his skull. "Agghh…"

Help them Shane…Please, there's not much time…

"Goose are you all right?" Niko noticed, concerned.

"Yeah it's nothing…" Shane growled. It was over before he knew it.

"Shane are you…?" Niko asked softly.

"I'm fine Niko," Shane growled. "Preparing to jump into hyperspace."

Zach also noticed it but said nothing. "Commencing jump." He pressed the button activating the engines.

And that was when things went to hell.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

"I told you to never call me here!" Senator Eric Wheiner snapped at the phone in his office. The vid screen was purposely scrambled and all that could be heard was a voice garbled by some kind of technology.

"Don't worry, I have the tracer on," the voice said. "No one will know it's me. I thought you would have realized by now that I am a lot more careful in covering my tracks than you Senator."

"Are you always going to harp on me about that?" Wheiner hissed. "It was over five years ago! Get over it!"

"Get over it?" The voice went higher. "I specifically told you to infect Gooseman with Batch 22 and you couldn't even get that right!"

"How the hell was I supposed to know Gooseman wasn't in the barracks?" Wheiner snapped.

"I don't know Wheiner, how about a little invention called a security camera?" The voice hissed. "Just a few minutes looking around and you would have known exactly where Gooseman was!"

"Listen," Wheiner hissed into the phone. "I've taken a lot of crap over the years because of you. You're the one who told me to use the formula! You knew what it would really do! You lied to me about the effects! I was just a patsy! I don't know why I haven't told everyone the truth and thrown you to the wolves!"

"Oh I can think of a few million reasons why you haven't," The voice sneered. "I'm just calling to inform you that your blackmailing days are over. I've decided to take care of Gooseman myself."

"What do you mean?" Wheiner asked.

"Just what you think I mean," The voice said. "By the end of the week…We will worry about one less Supertrooper. The most dangerous one of them all. And his nosy friends. So keep your mouth shut Wheiner and maybe, just maybe you'll be able to put this mess you've made behind you once and for all!"

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

"It was sabotage all right," Shane grunted. "Ship's totaled. We're lucky we made it this far."

The Rangers were staring at their ruined ship. Somehow they had landed on a rocky, nearly barren yet cool planet. "I can't believe someone deliberately sabotaged the hyper drive while we were on Taurus Five," Zach swore. "Who'd do such a thing?"

"Besides all our enemies?" Doc joked. "I'm gonna take a wild guess as to someone who didn't want us poking our Galaxy Ranger noses into someone's private business."

"Well at least we're at the right place," Zach grunted as he looked around. "According to the coordinates this rock is where the action is but I don't see any."

"Scanners indicate pockets of high seismic activity as well as radioactivity," Niko told him as she used her scanner. "But that's not the worst of it."

"It gets worse?" Doc quipped. "You mean being shaken and fried isn't the worst thing that can happen to us on this planet?"

"I'm afraid not," Niko said. "GV download the information…"

Doc had managed to download GV, Zach's personal AI assistant as well as the AI guiding Ranger One into the scanner. "As we entered the system my sensors indicated severe solar rifts at the red sun in the heart of this galaxy's solar system. Upon further analysis I have deducted that the sun is in its final stages of decomposition and will self destruct within the week."

"Say what?" Doc raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean self destruct? Self destruct as in die?"

"Self destruct as in explode…" GV explained. "Or there is a ten percent chance that it will implode. Either way this entire solar system will be destroyed."

"Oh…Goody…" Doc moaned putting his hand on his face. "Captain please tell me that you sent out a distress call."

"I would but as you know a lot of the systems were fried and…" Zach sighed.

"Wonderful," Doc grumbled. "And to top it off we didn't bring the horses this trip."

"No, but we do have that experimental land rover as long as it's not damaged," Niko said.

"Captain!" Shane called out. He had wandered over to a large ridge. "Over here!"

"What is it?" Zach asked as the Rangers walked over. He saw the remains of a large building. "Oh boy…"

"According to my scanners this is where a lot of the radiation originated," Doc pointed. "Fortunately most of it is being contained by a large force field of some kind."

"Most of it?" Shane asked.

"There's some kind of degeneration in the field," Doc said. "A small crack if you will where some is leaking through."

"I can see the generators from here," Zach turned on some binoculars and witnessed the generators surrounding the base. "And that's not all I see…"

There were a few skeletons littering the inside of the force field. And one large skeleton nearby with some kind of torn coverall. "Some kind of secret unit it looks like," Doc said.

"Not just any unit…" Shane recognized the coveralls. "Niko…"

"All right…" She touched her implant and focused on her powers. "There was an accident…A reaction in the main chamber. No one was prepared for it. It happened during an experiment when one of the…When someone tried to absorb too much power but couldn't…"

"Absorb power? You mean…?" Doc began.

"They were making Supertroopers…" Zach realized. "It was an illegal Supertrooper breeding camp."

"It's gets worse Captain…" Niko frowned. "I'm sensing something…Some of them…Are still alive."

"Let me see if I get this straight," Doc rubbed his nose. "We're trapped on a planet with a lot of radioactivity that may explode into a billion tiny pieces in under a week with a group of wild Supertroopers running around that will tear us into bits? And worse, there's a great chance that we've been set up and no one knows where we are. Am I right? This is so not good."

Niko looked walked over to Shane. He looked pensive. "Goose…?"

"Cheyenne…She called to me," Shane said softly. "She begged me to help them. That means at least a few of them have some of her blood in them which means…"

Niko put her hand on his shoulder. "I have to try," Shane told his friends. "We have to find them and save them."

Zach let out a breath. "Goose, you don't know anything about them. There is a chance that they may be too far gone to…"

"No," Shane narrowed. "If they couldn't be saved…I don't think Cheyenne wouldn't have called out to me like that. We have to help them Niko."

"Yeah but who's going to help us?" Doc groaned.

Things aren't looking good are they? Wait and see what happens next!