Chapter 1 -Set The Ball A-Rollin'

September 27 2002, The Moon

The remnants of the Moon Palace were not a pretty sight to behold. Rita Repulsa's old stronghold had been ravaged on two separate occasions, firstly by the Machine Empire and then by the unstable Psycho Red and the Space Rangers in 1998. Rubble and twisted metal lay everywhere and there wasn't one identifiable thing that anyone would call a palace. The GSA had used the area as a training camp but no one had thought to excavate the area, until a few weeks ago.

General Venjix stood at the top of a crater and watched his team slowly going to work. To this day he wasn't sure how he survived the infamous 'Zordon Wave' four years ago. He had been exiled to a far flung corner of the galaxy and it was possibly this very thing that prevented him from suffering the fate of many of his kin. It took him a while but he had slowly reassembled the remains of the Machine Empire.

The Royal House of Gadgetry was long gone, destroyed by the Zeo Rangers during a suicidal final attack five years ago. Most of their Cogs had fallen with them along with the knowledge to create more of the footsoldiers and construct powerful generals. After a year of searching, General Venjix was satisfied that he was the most senior member of the Empire left alive. This time there would be no usurper to take his rightful place at the leader of the Machine Empire.

A leader though is nothing without an army and Venjix found himself struggling for followers. He had found four other general during his search but he thought they were almost worthless. Like him they had been exiled away from the Empire but for poor leadership skills or outright failures. He hadn't even bothered to properly learn some of their names, that's how useless he found them. At least he wouldn't have to worry about any of them stealing his position as leader. With the generals came a small army of Cogs and news of a secret buried deep within the surface of The Moon.

A Cog slowly climbed the side of the crater and buzzed something unintelligible. Venjix nodded and a small explosion echoed throughout the crater. When the smoke cleared, they could see a metallic dragon's head poking out from the ground, "Excellent", Venjix chuckled, "Lord Zedd was a fool to leave this behind".

The truth was that Zedd didn't deliberately leave Serpenterra behind. After suffering a serious injury in the last battle with the Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers, Ecliptor had extracted Lord Zedd and returned him to Dark Specter. The Monarch of Evil had exiled Zedd away from Earth and forcibly buried Serpenterra as punishment. Lord Zedd briefly waged war with Rita for control of Master Vile's home planet before he was finally killed by the Space Rangers.

Ignorant of this, Venjix crouched down and tapped the side of a metal case, "With this new power supply, Serpenterra will be invincible". Just then the General heard the sound of falling rocks tumbling down the side of the crater. He quickly spun his head and saw a cloaked figure running away, "A spy", he roared, "quickly after them", he bellowed down to anyone who could hear him.

With about a dozen Cogs in tow, Venjix sped after the intruder in his specially constructed buggy. Whoever this spy was made have some kind of combat training because they were evading all attempted to slow him down. One round fired by a Cog did catch the stranger on the shoulder and they yelped out in pain. Still the pursuit went on until the spy made a wrong turn and became trapped between a steep cliff face in front of them and two deep craters on either side. Venjix pulled up and stepped towards the intruder, "I don't like being spied on", he began, "before my friends open fire, don you have any last words?"

"Just four", a male voice stated from underneath the cloak, "Galaxy Glider, Hang Ten". The stranger jumped off the side of the cliff and into the crater below.

Venjix was sure that he had plunged to his death but moments later a red streak blasted past them, "The Red Space Ranger", he roared, "well don't just stand there, shoot him down".

Ducking underneath a barrage of laser fire, Andros cursed his momentary slip. Now the Machine Empire were aware they he and the other Space Rangers had been spying on them. The team first got wind that someone was gathering the remnants of the Empire together about a year ago and had been keeping track of what they were doing. When the Empire made a move towards Earth, the team had no hesitation in firing up the Mark Two Megaship and following them.

At first they thought the Empire was preparing for a revenge attack on Earth but to their surprise, they set up camp on The Moon. The Space Rangers knew all too well that there was still a lot of magical power underneath Rita's Palace and observed their excavations. Andros was so shocked that they had unearthed Serpenterra that he had moved out of his hiding spot too quickly, leading to this desperate chase across the surface.

The red ranger tried to pull out this blaster but the injury to his shoulder prevented him from reaching around, "Damn it", he cursed, "Ash is going to kill me".

"You've outnumbered red ranger", Venjix called out from below, "surrender while you've got the chance".

Before Andros could give a response, another round of laser fire lit up the sky but this one was in support of the red ranger, "Looks like I'm going to have to save your ass again big brother".

Andros groaned as Karone, the silver ranger, shot past him on her Galaxy Glider, "Great now my misery is complete", he grumbled, "I won't hear the end of this".

Another ranger, the Black Space Ranger, pulled up alongside, "A thank you would be nice Andros", Carlos chuckled as he opened fire with his Astro Blaster. Moments later the Astro Megaship loomed into view and joined in with the barrage. Seeing that his army faced elimination Venjix immediately called a retreat, "Damn and I was just getting warmed up", the black ranger sighed.

Karone hovered over towards the other two with her Silverizer blade ready for action, "What's the plan, are we going to strike now?"

"No, not yet", Andros shook his head, "they'll be waiting for us, plus I've got some bad news". The black and silver rangers looked nervously between themselves before following their leader back to the Megaship.

Astro Megaship

"Serpenterra?" TJ asked in horror, "are you sure?"

"Unfortunately yes", Andros replied sadly, "somehow the Machine Empire have discovered the most destructive zord in the galaxy". He winced slightly as Ashley wrapped a bandage around his wounded shoulder, "Careful that stings".

"It's your own fault for being reckless", the yellow ranger groaned as she finished tying the strapping, "now put your shirt on, no one wants to see your chest anymore".

Carlos snorted, "Someone's in the dog house", he whispered to Cassie.

"Guys this isn't helping", Karone scolded them, "I've seen Serpenterra in action, it can level a city with one blast from its weapons system".

"Yeah we've seen it on Earth as well", Cassie added, "fortunately it kept running out of power before it could fire on us".

"Then you should count yourselves lucky", Andros stood up and put his jacket back on. He gestured to his team that he was moving the briefing to somewhere other than the medical bay. Once they were back on the bridge, they settled into their command positions to continue their discussion, "Alright so we know that Venjix has unearthed Serpenterra and we also know that the Empire stole a Neo Plutonium reactor". He brought up an image onscreen of Venjix and a metal case, "DECA analyse that case to see if it matches the dimensions of the stolen reactor".

After a few moments the ship's computer replied, "Confirmed with a probability of 97 percent".

"Great with a Neo Plutonium reactor, Venjix could power Serpenterra for months between recharges", Cassie wrapped her hands behind her neck and grasped them tightly, "the question is how are we going to handle this?"

Carlos snapped his fingers, "Why can't we use the Megaship's Cannon's and blast the thing apart".

"They're not strong enough", Karone shook her head, "the outer shell of Serpenterra is practically indestructible".

"Alright how about that turtle zord thing that the Mighty Morphin' Rangers used? If I recall Serpenterra couldn't even mark that thing" Ashley asked.

TJ though shook his head, "You mean Tor? Nah I thought of that but it's long gone. Billy told me that he recycled some of its parts to make the Zeo Zords".

Cassie let out a deep sigh, "So that's it then, we just pack up and go home", she ran her hand through her hair in frustration, "there must be something we can do?"

Everyone glanced in the direction of their leader but for once, Andros was out of ideas. Their zords would be useless against Serpenterra, although pretty much every zord would be. His eyes then flicked to a viewing screen which was currently showing the Earth down below. He bit his lip for a few moments, hesitating to give voice to the idea he just had. Unfortunately he still broadcast the thought, "Andros, no", Ashley scolded, "we resolved never to turn to them for help".

"Don't you remember what they said about us", Karone added. She used the term 'us' but really she was referring to the comments directed towards her after the final battle with Dark Specter.

"Look I don't like it either", the red ranger began, "but they could have something stored away that could eliminate Serpenterra once and for all". He paused and sighed, "At the very least they deserve to know what's coming their way. If they choose to help us then we'll fight alongside them to save the planet".

"And if they don't help us?" Carlos stated.

The red ranger paused for a moment, "We're still rangers and we'll what we have to", he replied simply.

"Great another suicide mission", Cassie groaned, "been a while since we had one of those".

Ignoring the pink ranger's sarcastic comment, Andros rose out of his seat, "TJ and I will go down and meet them", he stated, "we're the most likely to keep control of our tempers".

Ashley snorted, "Clearly you remember that argument differently to the rest of us".

"Yeah if I recall you were the first ones to jump into that brawl", Carlos added.

"That was a long time ago", Andros replied, "we've matured a lot since then". The others glared at the red and blue rangers, none of them were convinced, "We'll head down to Angel Grove, you four can do whatever you want in the mean time".

"Keep in constant contact with DECA though", TJ added as he disappeared around the corner, "let us know if something changes".

"Yes boss", Cassie called out, "I don't know about you three but I'm going to drop in on my favourite Aunt and Uncle-in-Law, fancy tagging along?"

"That's a kind offer but we're going to visit Washington state", Ashley replied, "see what's happening with the latest teams". Cassie nodded and the four left the bridge for the jump tubes. Until Andros and TJ came back with news from Hexagon, all they could do is wait. All the time though, they were aware that the Machine Empire were getting closer to activating Serpenterra. They hoped their team mates came back with an answer quickly.

A/N - Welcome to the next story in the "Project Hexagon" series and in case you can't tell, it's time for the red rangers to suit up again. As this follows on from all my other stories it would help if you've read them but I'll try and explain any canon differences as I go along. Next up, an awkward meeting.