Author's note:
This is something I have been working on for about a month or so. I have most of it planned out, but it may
take me a little while longer to finish it.
Please be patient. : )
Buzz
Lightyear of Star Command belongs to Disney/Pixar.
Spirits of the Past
STAR
CRUISER 42:
Ranger Mira Nova sat in front of the monitor staring
at the data before her. A pile of
papers sat on the edge of the desk to her left and a half drunk cup of coffee
sat to her right. She had been awake
for the past thirty-six hours trying to make sense of the bizarre energy
readings that had been coming from one of the moons that orbited her home
planet.
The princess's head drooped closer and closer to the
desk, her eyes closing as sleep overtook her.
"Ranger Nova!"
The young woman's head snapped up and she
practically jumped out of her seat, scattering papers everywhere. Her hand hit the coffee cup, tipping in over
and sending the brown liquid cascading over the side of the desk and onto her
lap.
"Craters!" She growled, looking down at her stained
uniform. She lifted her head and glared
up at her commanding officer. "Buzz,
don't ever scare me like that again."
"Sorry Mira, but we need to know
what's going on with those energy readings on Tangea's eighth moon. Your father and the Commander are going to
want answers."
Mira leaned back in her chair
and sighed. "I don't know Buzz. I have been going over and over this data
and I just can't figure out why Ruya is having these energy spikes. It doesn't make sense. That moon has had no activity for as long as
I can remember. All I can say is that
the change in energy levels was sudden and drastic. And recent."
"We're going to need more than
that…" Lightyear began.
"Well, unless we actually go to
Ruya ourselves, that's all I'm going to be able to tell you."
Buzz pressed the button that
activated his communicator.
"Booster, set course for Tangea
and notify the Commander that we are heading there to personally have a look at
Tangea's moon."
"Roger, Buzz." Booster's cheerful voice crackled over the
comm channel.
TANGEAN
ROYAL PALACE:
King Nova stood alone on the
palace's launch deck waiting for Cruiser 42's arrival, worry etched on his
face. It was the first time since Mira
had entered Star Command that he was not glad she was coming home. But Mira's message to him saying that she
and the rest of Team Lightyear were en route to Tangea had not surprised
him. He knew his daughter and knew that
she didn't like mysteries to go unsolved.
The Tangean sighed heavily. He had in a way lied to the Alliance and to
Star Command when he had contacted them for help with the Ruya. He had a pretty good idea of what was causing
the strange occurrences and if he proved to be right, Tangea would need Star Command's
assistance. Not to discover the source
of the energy readings, but to save his people from destruction.
Nova watched as the space craft landed on the launch
deck, smoke from the engines billowing out into air surrounding it. Mira was the first one off of the ship and
she rushed over to give her father a hug.
"We're here now, Father." She said, smiling.
"Everything will be fine."
Tangea's ruler hugged his daughter, silently praying
that it wouldn't be for the last time.
RUYA,
TANGEA'S EIGHTH MOON:
"Your father certainly sounded
worried." Lightyear said, his voice
slightly altered because of his space helmet.
The ranger was remembering the meeting the team had with King Nova
before leaving to investigate the moon.
Buzz was holding a small scanner in his hand and staring at the numbers
as they appeared on it. He turned
slightly and frowned. "The energy
readings seem to be getting stronger coming from that direction."
"Got it." Mira stood from her kneeling position and
pointed her scanner in the direction Buzz had motioned towards. Her scanner confirmed his findings and she
looked at her commanding officer in confusion.
"They are getting stronger. This
is just odd."
The two Rangers moved cautiously
in the direction their scanners were indicating, both constantly looking out
for any danger. Mira's mind went back
to what Buzz had said about her father.
"Father did sound worried. He was acting like, oh I don't know, like he
wanted to tell us something. And I got
the feeling he really didn't like the idea of me coming up here to have a look
around." Mira said.
"But why? I know your father tends to worry about
every mission, but compared to other ones we've been on, this one doesn't seem
particularly dangerous."
"I know. Something is definitely going on here
and I think Father may have an idea
about what's going on, but for some reason he's not talking."
Buzz shook his head. "I just want this mystery to be solved. And soon.
Now let's contact Booster and XR and see if they have found anything."
"Roger that."
XR rolled over the moon's rocky
terrain, Booster following close behind.
The large red alien was looking around anxiously, as if he expected the
boogey man to pop out at any second.
They had been on the moon for a couple of hours and still had not found
anything to indicate a problem.
"I'm not picking up anything,
XR. Maybe there is nothing on this side
of the moon. Are you getting anything
on your scanners?" Booster asked. But his teammate did not seem to have paid
any attention to what he was saying.
Instead, XR had stopped and was glaring at the ground.
"Auugh! Stupid moon rocks. Stupid moon dirt. I'll be picking these stuff out of my treads for a week." The little robot grumbled.
"This moon is…uh…I don't
know…kind of creepy."
"Yeah, creepy, sure,
whatever. Rocks and dirt are real
creepy."
"No…" Booster looked around
warily. "It's like someone's watching
us."
XR laughed. "Booster, I think you have watching way too
many horror vids."
"XR, I'm serious…"
"So am I." The robot said. "Serious about finding Buzz and Mira and getting off this hunk of
rock."
The Jo-adian sighed and pressed
his comm button. He pressed it a few
more times and then looked at XR.
"It's dead."
"What's dead?"
"My comm link."
The robot shook his metallic
head in annoyance and pressed his communicator. Nothing. He banged on it
angrily. Still nothing. Then an alarming realization set in and XR
looked up at Booster, his eyes wide.
"Mine's dead too."
Mira
looked around, scanning the horizon for any sign of her two teammates. Buzz was standing next to her, trying to
find out what was wrong with his communicator.
"Craters!" He hissed in frustration. "I can't get anything. Maybe the energy is causing the
communicators not to function?"
"Maybe." The princess said softly. She closed her eyes. Buzz looked at her with concern.
"Mira? Are you okay?"
"Yeah. I just…just…feel something."
"What do you mean you feel
something? Are you sick?" He asked.
He had to. Her race and the
powers she possessed were still something of a mystery to him.
"Someone is here, Buzz."
"What?!" Buzz grabbed her by the arms and looked
directly into her eyes. The young
woman's blue eyes were wide and fearful.
"What is going on?"
"There is someone here." She whispered. "I can feel someone's presence here. It's not yours or Booster's or even XR's. It's…it's different. Almost Tangean, but not quite. And it's close."
She looked at her commanding
officer, her face pale and expressing the fear she was feeling.
"We've got to get off of this
moon. Now." She was looking around, her eyes darting everywhere as if she
expected something terrible to emerge from the shadows and get them.
Lightyear had never seen her
this way. Nervous and scared. Frantic almost. Nothing like the calm, collected, and fearless Mira he knew. He decided quickly that it would be best to
do as she said.
"Alright. We'll go back and get 42 and look for
Booster and XR from above, okay.
She nodded and followed Buzz
back to Cruiser 42, staying close to him.
They climbed up into the vessel and took their seats. Buzz cast a sidelong glance over at Mira.
The princess was gripping the
arms of her chair so hard he thought they would break off in her hands. She looked scared. He pressed the ignition button, eager to hear the sound of the
engines.
Nothing.
"What the…" Lightyear didn't
even finish his sentence. Mira watched
as he slumped forward onto the console.
Her heart began to pound and she slowly turned her head to look in the
direction of Buzz's seat.
Her eyes widened and she tried
to scream, but she never got it out.
TANGEAN
ROYAL PALACE:
Tangea's ruler paced his throne
room. Team Lightyear stood out of his
way, each silent.
"Sir, I'm sorry. I don't know what happened. I was trying to start 42 and the next thing
I knew, I woke up and she was gone."
Lightyear said, finally breaking the silence. "We looked all over for her, but we found no trace of her. She kept talking about feeling someone. She said it felt Tangean, but it wasn't
Tangean. Do you know what she was
talking about?"
Nova didn't respond.
"Sir, if you know anything. Please…"
"The Spirits." The Tangean whispered.
"What?"
Lightyear was confused. "What are
the Spirits?"
"Not what, but who." Nova corrected.
"Okaayyyy…"
XR said. "That makes things clearer."
"The Spirits used inhabit Tangea
a long time ago." The king shook his
head. "I thought they were gone. We all thought they were gone."
"Why in the galaxy would these Spirits want to take Mira?" Buzz asked, folding his arms across his
chest. He was getting a little
annoyed. He had a missing crewmember
and all he was doing now was standing around and listening to the cryptic
ramblings of her father.
"I guess I should have told you
the truth." King Nova said, sinking
down into his throne.
"That would've been helpful,
especially before we went to the stupid moon!"
XR said angrily, folding his arms across his metallic chest.
"XR, hush!" Booster hissed,
grabbing the little robot and pulling him back.
"A long time ago there were
three races on Tangea: us, the grounders, and the Spirits. The Spirits looked something like Royals,
only their blue coloring was so pale that they looked very similar to actual
ghosts. Whereas we can ghost and the
grounders can shoot focused beams of energy, the Spirits had a combination of
the two abilities. However, as our
three races evolved, the Spirits' powers mutated and they're abilites became
far stronger than ours. In fear of the
Spirits, an army of Royals and grounders attacked them and many were
killed. But before all of them could be
destroyed, they had disappeared. We
thought they had died off or maybe gone into hiding because nothing had been heard
from them in several generations. A few
weeks ago, Ruya started giving off those odd energy signals and our scientists
detected some kind of activity under the moon's surface. At first we didn't think much of it, but
then the energy signals became stronger and more powerful. At first, very few of our scientists could
believe that it was the Spirits who were causing the moon's disturbances. But as time went on and the activity on Ruya
increased, everyone became more and more convinced that it was them."
The man sighed and looked at Team Lightyear, a hint
of fear in his eyes.
"If they
have plans to attack us, which is a very real possibility, than I am afraid
Tangea will not survive without the assistance of Star Command. I hate to admit it, but they are too
powerful for us to handle alone."
Nova buried his face in his
hands.
"And now they have my
daughter. Who knows what they've done
to her."
UNDERNEATH
RUYA'S SURFACE:
The young woman's eyes fluttered
open and she tried to focus on her surroundings. It was difficult, since she was still dizzy from being
unconscious. After a few moments the
annoying blurriness faded and her vision was once again clear. She looked around and saw the man who had
kidnapped her. He had very pale blue
skin and dark hair that was graying and he was wearing an odd little smile on
his face.
"Are you comfortable,
Princess?" Sarcasm dripped from the
man's voice. Mira shifted her body,
finding herself anchored to the cave's wall.
Heavy metal clamps held her wrists to the wall and she struggled against
her bindings. Mira tried to focus her
mental powers in order to ghost herself out of the clamps, but she found it was
futile.
"Let me go!" She demanded.
He laughed. "Can't ghost out, can you? Sorry Your Highness, but my powers are just
too strong for yours to have any effect."
"What do you want from me? I don't even know who you are."
"Oh but you do, Princess. No doubt you were told stories about the
evil Spirits as a child and I'm sure you believed that they were nothing but
stories. Seeing as how you are heir to
the throne however, I'm sure Daddy would have finally told you the truth about
us and how your people sent us into exile to die in some wretched corner of the
planet. But we escaped that fate and
came here and we have thrived." He
glared at her. "But you, Princess, will
never rule Tangea. It's payback time
and my people have been planning for years to overthrow your family and assume
control of the planet. That day is
coming soon, Your Highness, very soon as a matter of fact."
He smiled at her smugly, causing
the young woman's eyes to narrow.
"My people would rather blow up
Tangea than have some idiot like you rule it."
She hissed.
"Why you little…" The Spirit
clenched his fists and small bolts of energy crackled from them. "You'll pay with your life for that remark."
He raised
both hands, preparing to hit Mira with a burst of energy. The princess turned her head, squeezed her
eyes shut, and prepared for the blow.
It never came. Another male had
grabbed the man's arm, stopping him.
Realizing her death wasn't going to happen at that moment, she opened
her eyes and turned her head to look at the one who had saved her from the
Spirit's wrath.
He had the extremely pale blue skin that seemed to
be a common trait among the Spirits and dark brown hair. He also looked to be quite a bit younger
than then her tormentor.
"Don't do it, Arlac." The young man warned, looking over at the
princess. She stared back at him, a
slight hint of fear showing in her eyes.
The man frowned. "We agreed that
it was necessary to take Princess Mira captive, but we did not agree to let you
kill her."
"Terrin, you're a fool. We need to make an example of her. Maybe finding the dead body of their princess
will make those morons on the planet realize that we are not a people to be
trifled with."
A young female joined the two
men. She was tall, slender, and her
mass of reddish colored hair contrasted with her pale skin. She looked angry.
"Terrin's right. Killing her will not solve anything. It will just make things worse." She said.
"Your opinion was not asked for,
nor is it wanted, Yanari. This doesn't
concern you." Arlac said, glaring at
the girl.
"It concerns all of us,
Arlac. Everything that happens here
directly affects us all and I personally have no desire to be executed for
murdering the Tangean princess."
"Whatever." Arlac said, his voice dripping with
contempt. "But I cannot believe that
you two are putting the life of one spoiled princess above the lives of your
own people."
He turned and walked off,
mumbling angrily as he left.
"Arlac is unstable, Terrin. He could be trouble if we can't get him
under control." Yanari said.
"Don't worry. I've got my eye on him."
Arlac moved quickly through the
hallways of the cavern. He wouldn't
have much time once he reached the device.
Finding the exact spot in the hallway, the Spirit ghosted through one of
the walls and into a large room. He
allowed his eyes to adjust to the room's dim light before staring up at the
device.
He was proud of the device, not
only because he was a major participant in designing it, but also in that it
would bring about his people's rule on Tangea.
It was almost ridiculously simple, an orb that floated delicately in the
middle of four energy conductors. All
one had to do was power up the system using a burst of their own energy and the
device would strengthen that energy and turn it into a concentrated beam that
would be emitted from the orb.
The Spirit climbed up to the top
of the platform, which rose about thirty feet from the floor. The orb glowed softly, emitting a pale blue
light. He pressed a button on the side
of the energy conductor and the soft blue glow of the orb changed into a harsh
white. He smiled wickedly.
"Now to give those fools down on
the planet a taste of what's in store for them."
Arlac ran down the platform
stairs and stood in front of the activation system, which looked like nothing
more than a computer console. He picked
his co-ordinates where the beam was to go and entered them into the
system. The Spirit attached tiny
electrodes to the end of each finger in order to collect his energy burst.
Wires from the electrodes connected him to the console. Clenching his fists, he let his energy build
up and fired a burst of energy. The
system sparked and crackled as it processed the energy. It finally made a beeping noise and a green
button began flashing, informing him that the system was online and ready to
fire.
Arlac narrowed his eyes, raised
his hand and brought it down onto the button.
The ground beneath Yanari's feet
shook and she and Terrin looked at each other, eyes wide.
"The device!" They both shouted in unison and raced off in
the direction of the room.
Mira stood, still clamped to the
wall, her eyes wide with fear as the ground shook under her.
"What is going on? Someone please tell me!" She yelled.
