Chapter 1 – Turn The Page
April 3 1998 – Remains of the Power Chamber
Even though the Power Chamber had been gone for over a week, it still hadn't sunk in for the former Turbo Rangers. In a matter of hours, the combined force of Divatox and Maligore had caused the destruction of both Megazords, followed by an unknown force descending from space that had destroyed the Power Chamber. The former rangers had returned everyday, hoping that they would find something of use in the remains. But other than a few spare electronic parts, they had found nothing.
Yesterday their routine had been interrupted by the appearance of a space ship. It had been shot down high above the Earth and crash landed near the Power Chamber's remains. In a bizarre twist of fate, the pilot was another ranger, the red space ranger. The team didn't know what to make of Andros. He was direct and blunt, almost bordering on rude. He was also extremely anti-social, ending their conversation yesterday by walking back into his ship and leaving the team alone in the desert.
The teens didn't know why they had come back today to help the red ranger. Maybe they felt guilty about leaving a fellow ranger alone on a strange planet. Whatever the reasons, the former Turbo Rangers pulled up alongside the wreckage of Andros' ship in Storm Blaster. The red ranger had been busy overnight, fixing most of the damage to the rear of his ship. The front end was still quite badly damaged though so clearly the red ranger wouldn't be leaving anytime soon.
As the teens approached the ship, the rear door was open, "Should we knock?" TJ asked everyone.
"Not sure, he didn't appear to want us around yesterday", Cassie replied.
"Maybe he's a little lonely", Ashley added.
Carlos snorted, "Perhaps you should go and keep him company then", the former yellow ranger blushed in response.
"Well we won't get any answers standing out here", TJ said to the others. Walking slowly through the main door, the teen's jaws dropped as they got their first glimpse at Andros' ship. The corridors were plain grey, interrupted occasionally by a pair of sliding doors. There was no sign of Andros so they moved further into the ship. They paused briefly outside the engine room to marvel at the sheer size of the crafts engines. Periodically the teens felt like they were being watched as they could hear a mechanical buzzing echoing through the corridors.
After getting lost in the identical corridors a few times, they eventually arrived on what they assumed to be the bridge of the ship. There were two standalone consoles in the middle of the room, all covered with various controls that meant nothing to the teens. Around the room were more control panels and viewing screens and directly in front of the teens was a central window, giving them a view outside the ship. As they looked around, Ashley noticed Andros' uniform jacket hanging on the back of what she assumed was the captain's chair, "He's around somewhere", she called out to the others as she gently touched the item of clothing.
The others though weren't that interested, they were too busy admiring the technology on display, "Look at this", Charlotte said to Carlos as the pair looked over the main flight controls, "Justin would freak if he could see this".
"I wonder where this all came from", Carlos replied.
"The main space harbour on KO-35", a voice stated. They turned around and saw Andros walking onto the bridge, "my planet has some of the best ship builders in the galaxy". He brushed past Ashley with barely a glance and retrieved his jacket, "I wasn't expecting visitors today", he added.
"Look man we're sorry for breaking onto your ship", TJ began, "we just want some answers".
"Yeah someone trashed our base of operations and took our powers", Cassie added, "and I think you know something about them".
Andros didn't respond and walked over to one of the consoles on the wall of the bridge. After pushing a few buttons an image began to play. It was the leather suited female and the black and green creature that had attacked, "Her name's Astronema and the monster beside her is Ecliptor. Astronema is Dark Specter's nominated successor in the United Alliance of Evil".
"Who are they?" Charlotte asked.
Andros glared at the former blue ranger, as if to say he was coming to that part, "The United Alliance of Evil is made up of a number of groups, each with their own agenda. Some of them have found their way to Earth, like Rita Repulsa and Lord Zedd. Others like Astronema have focused their efforts on other planets on the edge of the galaxy". Andros paused for a moment as his jaw clenched, like he was trying to suppress a painful memory. He took a deep breath and continued with his slideshow, bring up an image of a black rock monster that looked vaguely familiar.
"Hey that looks like Maligore", Ashley said to the other former rangers.
"This is Dark Specter, possibly the most powerful force of evil in the galaxy", Andros continued. The next image of Dark Specter showed him towering over a planet. The teens gasped at the sheer size of the monster, "Other than the ability to grow to the size of a planet, he is unbelievably strong. Rumour has it that he once destroyed an entire planet with a single blow".
"I can believe that", Carlos stated, "we fought someone similar to him and only just came out victorious".
Andros arched an eyebrow in surprise that this group had defeated Dark Specter's younger brother. No one knew where the Lord of all evil had imprisoned Maligore, let alone tackled him directly in combat. "Moving on to Ecliptor", he began, "he is Dark Specter's chief enforcer across the galaxy and the reason that he doesn't need to get personally involved in combat. Ecliptor is a master swordsman and incredibly strong, he's crushed many an uprising all by himself".
The red ranger waited for another smart comment from the others but none was forthcoming. Deciding to continue before any of them had a chance, he brought up an image of the woman, "Finally we have Astronema. Lethal in hand to hand combat and in the use of magic", the image moved and showed her blasting an unsuspecting combatant with purple lightning from her staff. "I managed to infiltrate a UAE meeting recently and she was named as Dark Specter's successor and dubbed the Princess of Evil".
"She's kind of cute", TJ muttered to Carlos, drawing a snort of laughter from the former green ranger.
Andros though wasn't in a joking mood, "This isn't a laughing matter and nor is a game", he snapped.
"Calm down Andros", Ashley soothed.
The red ranger took a few deep breathes before continuing, "I'm sorry but she's done more to harm peace in the galaxy in the last few years than Dark Specter managed in centuries. She's conquered hundreds of planets and been responsible for the deaths of millions of people", he paused before continuing, "included many on my home planet". Almost instinctively Ashley was by his side but Andros flinched at her touch like he had been electrocuted.
"So what would you like us to do?" Carlos asked.
"Nothing", Andros replied, much to the surprise of the former rangers, "this is my fight and I fight alone". He shut down the on screen images and began to fiddle idly with some controls.
"Look I know we're not rangers anymore", Cassie began, "but we can still be useful".
"Yeah this is a big ship and it looks like it needs a lot of repairs", TJ added, "can't we at least help you with that".
"I told you I was fine", Andros snapped, "now if you'll excuse me, I need to run a systems diagnostics check". The former rangers were reluctant to leave but after a few moments, TJ led them off the bridge. Once Andros was sure they were gone, he ran his hands through his hair in frustration and lent back in his chair.
"They could have been a great help Andros", the ships computer called out.
Andros sighed, "I know DECA but its best if I do this by myself. I've already lost one team, I don't want to lose another". The computer didn't respond and left Andros to his systems check.
On another part of the ship, the former rangers were trying to find a way out, "This damn place is a maze", Carlos grumbled, "and what's that guys problem, all we did was offer to help him".
"I dunno but he knows more than he's letting on", TJ replied.
"At the risk of sounding like a Star Wars cliché, I sense much anger in him", Charlotte added.
The teens finally found the cargo bay doors and stepped back out into the desert. They took another look around the ship they now knew was called the Astro Megaship, "We're not just going to leave him though are we?" Ashley asked.
"By the sounds of it he doesn't want us around", Cassie replied.
TJ thought about this for a few moments, "He's going to need supplies at some point which means he's going to need to head into the nearest town".
"Which just to happens to be Angel Grove", Carlos added, picking up on his friend's thought.
"Exactly, so for now we head home and continue to find a way to restore our powers", TJ said to his former team, "in a few days time, if we haven't seen Andros around then we'll return back here". The others nodded in agreement before returning back to Storm Blaster. The blue jeep's engine fired into life and sped off across the desert, kicking up a sand cloud behind them. None of them looked back at the Megaship, if they had though, they would've seen a grey and red suited figure standing in the doorway. He looked at the car in disappointment before he headed back inside.
Dark Fortress
High above the planet, the Earth had acquired a new orbiting satellite. It was a circular disk with communication towers and docking ports sticking out into space. The craft was grey in colour unless its cloaking system was engaged. It would then disappear into space, briefly leaving behind a green line pattern in the darkness.
Inside the Dark Fortress, Astronema sat on her throne and looked down at the planet. After the red space ranger had crashed her initiation ceremony, she had tracked him to this corner of the galaxy. Her fighters had damaged his ship and caused it to crash onto the surface below. The warlord wondered what the chances were of the ranger crashing on a planet that she had attacked just a few days before. He must've gone to check on Zordon to see if he had really been captured, how foolish of him she thought.
Dark Specter had ordered the ranger's execution at the earliest available opportunity and she knew that she could just descend to the surface below and kill him at any time. He didn't have his ship, or any backup, it would be easy. Perhaps a little too easy. Since a young age Ecliptor had instilled a sense of honour in her. A number of Dark Specter's other generals found this slightly strange, as a rule evil didn't usually go hand in hand with honour. Ecliptor's argument was that defeating a fully armed and prepared enemy would crush their spirit even more when they were inevitably defeated. Plus destroying a weakened enemy, where was the fun in that?
For now she decided to gather as much information on this planet as possible. Clearly Zordon valued it enough to base himself here for several millennia. He had also gone to great lengths to hide its presence from the wider multiverse. Astronema wondered if Zordon knew that by leaving the planet, he revealed its presence to the dimensional pirate Divatox.
Ah Divatox, Astronema sighed. Dark Specter had been surprised when she contacted him directly and asked permission to marry his younger brother Maligore. In return she revealed the location of Zordon's Command Center and said that if she didn't conquer the Earth on the day of her marriage to Maligore to wipe the building off the face of the Earth. Dark Specter didn't think these rangers could defeat his brother so he was appalled when they returned largely unscathed. The attack had gone exactly as planned and the building was destroyed. She even got a souvenir, the helmet of the red Turbo ranger, to prove her success to Dark Specter.
"Is something troubling you Princess?" Ecliptor asked as he carefully approached her throne.
"Just thinking Ecliptor", she replied, "why would the red ranger remain on this planet? He has no allies on this planet. In the past when we've fought, he normally leaves the surface within a matter of hours".
"Perhaps his ship is extensively damaged", Ecliptor offered as a suggestion.
"Come on Ecliptor, you know as well as I do how strong they build ships on KO-35", she began. "I'm still picking up his life signs so unfortunately he isn't dead", She stood up and walked a little closer to the viewing screen, "Perhaps we were too hasty to declare those Turbo Rangers dead".
"We haven't picked up their morphing signatures though", Ecliptor replied, "I'll have the Quantrons keep an eye on the situation but for now I suggest you get some rest".
"Yes it has been a long day hasn't it", Astronema responded with a stretch, "call me if anything changes". Leaving Ecliptor behind she covered the short distance to her chambers in a matter of seconds. Once the door was secure, Astronema looked in her mirror and allowed her hair to return to its natural state, shoulder length blonde. No one had seen her with her natural look in over a decade.
She inspected her eyes and they were more bloodshot than usual. When Dark Specter had named her his successor, he had infused her with some of his own power. Astronema did feel more powerful but strange at the same time. She was getting tired quicker and also having some weird dreams. Shaking this off as a side effect of Dark Specter's power, she sat on the edge of her bed and unzipped her boots before removing her leather gloves. As she drifted off to sleep, her final thoughts were about the red ranger and now satisfying it would be to end his life, once and for all.
A/N – Welcome to The Final Frontier, the closing instalment of the Chronicles of Power series. There's a lot of loose ends to tie up in the next 35 chapters or so. Hope you all enjoy.