As promised, here's another chapter. We're back on schedule!
In reply to Agge's review: I'm not just Jewish, but Israeli. When I first set my account, I thought that my name would be a sure giveaway. Surprisingly, it wasn't. Even the ".il" in my previous email address didn't attract attention (and that was a giveaway if there ever was one).
You do realize we're now halfway through "Melissa"? The way time flies…
5. Hunter
"Wants to be a Hunter again,
wants to see the world alone again
To take a chance on life again, so let me go…"
"Hunter", Dido.
The doors glided silently. The three drones entered the room. Even their dim minds registered the heavy air of danger and disdain that hung around the long, jet-black table. The three walked to the head of the table, and the one who walked up front handed the object clasped in its hand to Dark Specter, who was waiting impatiently.
The small object passed quickly from hand to hand, and was hidden in Dark Specter's large palm. The other villains and villainesses around the table craned their necks, curious to see what the drones brought.
"She has gone too far this time" growled Dark Specter finally. "On board my very ship, and none saw!". He dropped the small object on the table, openly disgusted. The others all caught their breath.
The object lying on the table was Phoenix's Mark.
"Where's Zordon?" asked Divatox sharply.
"Where is Astronema, for that matter?" wondered Zedd aloud.
"Zordon's tube is empty. The princess is gone" replied Dark Specter, interpreting the mumble of his drones. "Judging from the energy residues in the confinement chamber, Zordon has spent his energy, and rid us of his presence"
"So Astronema was taken by Phoenix, like many before her" said Divatox calmly. The hostility between the two leading villainesses was open, held back only under the fear of Dark Specter.
"Who will command the Dark Fortress now?" asked Rita.
"Ecliptor shall, for the time being" ruled Dark Specter. "There are now more pressing subjects. Divatox, queen of Evil; almost two years ago you have intercepted a temporal message that was sent to the Rangers. Tell me again, what have you seen?"
"The message was carried by one of the blue Centurions" replied Divatox. "It showed this alliance, and the Earth Rangers' meeting with the Kerovans. It had visual snippets of a great war between Evil and Good, fought on many planets. In the snippets, there were many that I know, and others I didn't recognize at the time"
"But you recognize now?" questioned Dark Specter.
"All but two, both warriors of the light. One of them is perhaps Phoenix, as their colors match; the record didn't show her face. The other I don't know at all"
"Describe him"
"It was a woman, tall and dressed in a blue-and-silver armor. I only caught one glimpse of her: an able fighter"
Master Vile raised an eyebrow. "An unheard-of able fighter?"
"Indeed" replied Divatox frostily.
"Enough of this bickering!" commanded Dark Specter. "Divatox, was this unknown warrior important?"
"I believe she was"
"Than find her! This is your sole mission now. Tell me immediately if you remember anything else of importance". Dark Specter glowered around the seated villains. "The strategical meeting is postponed. Return to your posts. You will be notified of the new date"
With nods, bows and murmurs of "Yes, lord" and "Yes, Dark Specter", the other villains left the room and the Shadow Runner, each of them secretly happy to put as much distance as possible between themselves and the fuming monarch of Evil.
"What's funny?" asked Melissa. She, Karone and Cassie were at the Nest's conference room. Karone was absorbed in some Holomaps, and Cassie had a particularly odd expression on her face, to which Melissa was referring.
"This is" answered Cassie, pointing at the set table. She, Zhane and Andros brought take-out burgers and fries from "Surf Spot", and Cassie made some large salads. It wasn't a feast, but it was still a decent meal.
"I don't understand" said Melissa, confused.
"It's weird to have all-american dished set in an alien room" explained Cassie.
Karone raised her eyes from the maps. "Doesn't "alien" means "of a different species"?"
"Not necessarily; it just means "foreign" "
"The ship's interior design is typically Netheriet" admitted Melissa, "Even exaggeratedly so, as it is a representative vehicle"
Cassie had no time to comment, as the rest of the team teleported in that precise moment.
"Lunch!" declared TJ. "Do we really have to spoil it with strategy?"
"Hungry, are you?" asked Cassie amusedly.
"Gym class" he said shortly.
"Take a seat, guys" said Andros, setting an example.
The seven Rangers, Karone and Melissa set together at one end of the table.
"Who's giving the debrief?" asked Zhane.
Melissa, at the head of the table, exchanged glances with Karone, who was sitting on her left. The blonde nodded.
"Karone will" said Melissa.
Karone got up. She was holding what looked like a small remote in her hand. She twiddled it. The room darkened, opaque force fields shutting out the stars, and the holomap projected itself across the table.
"Milky Way Galaxy", said Karone. "Our battle Zone".
Holographic stained daggers flashed crimson over several planets.
"These are the planets currently under Evil Dominion. Half of them, however…" and four symbols changed their color to deep purple "…are occupied territories"
Andros sent his hand into the hologram and flipped it through one symbol. "Here's home"
"That's Kerova" agreed Karone. "The other occupied planets are Ashtar, Léhroí and Matika" she said, highlighting each planet in turn. "Freeing those planets is one of the goal of our onslaught"
"We're playing aggressor?" asked Cassie.
"We are" confirmed Karone. "That's our only chance of dictating the timing of events. Now, another goal of the onslaught" she continued fluently "is to conquer the other four planets: Cimmerian planet, Dekata, Onyx and Yotoba". She lighted another group of planets, each carrying a different symbol. "These are our main planets: Aquitar, Bookala, Earth, Edenoi, Horath, Inquiris, Liaria and Triforia. The third goal is to defend those eight planets. But, frankly, even if we fail the above three goals, we may still win if we achieve goal number four". A single symbol lighted; the mark of the Êjérnor house. "We must conquer Netherie, and vanquish Dark Specter once and for all"
"Are you saying someone tried to kill him before?" asked Shiera.
"Yes", answered Melissa.
"He was the one who put the dagger in Kaylan's hand, wasn't he" said Andros, his tone making his words a statement rather than a question. "That's why his symbol is a stained dagger"
"Correct" said Melissa.
"Spectre, American Specter" quoted Zhane. "A ghost; a haunting fear". He shrugged in response to his teammates' questioning looks. "It's the third timemark"
"What's a timemarks?" demanded Ashley.
"Oshra gave Zordon timemarks, so he may know when the time of her prophecy comes" said Karone. "The first was that Earth would be threatened again"
"That would be when those poor astronauts opened Rita's dumpster" said TJ immidiatly.
"The second timemark is when the Line of Shadows will be crossed" continued Zhane. "The Shadow Line is the imaginary line separating Good from Evil, but I have no idea when that happened"
"I do", said Carlos. "That's when the spell over Tommy was broken"
"The third was that the Hunter will rise again," said Zhane. "Naturally, the "Specter" in "Dark Specter" attracted my attention"
"The fourth timemark was that the Path of the Rainbow shall be opened," said Melissa. "That's when Shiera chose to return to Karone"
"What's the Path of the Rainbow?" asked Shiera.
"Another time" said Karone firmly.
"At six o'clock after the war" said Cassie.
"What?" asked Andros.
"Later" repeated Karone. "Like I said before the briefing was sidetracked, most of the onslaught is mere diversion. Our main goal in this war is getting Dark Specter and Netherie – each differently, naturally. The purpose of the general onslaught is to distract Dark Specter's troops and draw them away"
"That'll work only if Dark Specter doesn't know we're headed for Netherie"
"So far, he doesn't know", answered Karone. "Therefore, we have to move quickly. If we start today, the fighting will begin on the day after tomorrow. Melissa and I did lots of planning today. We'll improvise the rest on the go". With that, Karone set down.
Melissa stood. "I've already committed myself to this war", she said, drawing her sword. "Will you?"
Karone stood again, drawing her staff out of nowhere. She laid it over Melissa's blade. "I'm every bit as obliged as you are"
"As am I", said Andros, putting his morpher hand over his sister's and his cousin's. "That which is not done together, is not accomplished at all"
"I'm the Bearer of Loyalty, aren't I?" said Zhane with a wry, lopsided smile, adding his hand.
Shiera was next. "I'm true to my word", she said quietly.
Carlos and Ashley acted at the same time. They said nothing, but smiled at each other warmly.
"It reminds me of the day we became Rangers", said Cassie. She and TJ rose simultaneously.
"I see your point", said TJ, and they too joined in.
"It's war, than" said Melissa.
"Enough!" cried Ashley, covering her ears with her hands. "I've had enough! We covered what, two dozen armies?"
"Three fleets, three aerial groups, two ground troops, three navies and several commando forces," specified Karone. "I won't cover the Blue Centurions and the enemy troops as you are already familiar with those"
"Only Aquitar, Bookala, Horath and Triforia have capable military units," said TJ. "I don't see how that's enough troops"
"You're forgetting the Inquirian Magi Division", added Karone. "Each member of the division is worse them a whole wing"
"Plus the other Power Rangers" put in Andros. "The Aquitian and Edenoite teams will help, as will Trey of Triforia and the Phantom Ranger"
"If we find Phantom", remarked Cassie.
"Still not enough" said Ashley, and her eyes narrowed. "What's up your sleeve, Melissa?"
"I'm unfamiliar with the expression", informed her the redhead.
"I wouldn't want to play Poker against you" snorted Shiera. "Come on. You wouldn't rush in without enough troops"
A spark of inspiration hit Andros. "The Gray Guard survived"
"Who are the Gray Guard?" demanded TJ.
"A robotic military force. They are the soldiers where the Centurions are the cops. They Gray Guards were stationed in Netherie, and it was commonly thought that they perished. Apparently, they didn't" said Zhane.
"There are more Gray Guards than Centurions, as a matter of fact", said Melissa. "They spent the last twelve years replicating themselves"
"It's still ten of them for every one of us" said Cassie, adding quickly.
"Dark Specter's and his commanders will prepare for an even smaller force", pointed Karone.
"Plus there's another commando" said Melissa, almost carelessly. "They're not many, but they'll cause no small havoc". She smiled at Shiera. "Quite many of them survived"
Shiera stared at her several seconds before the meaning sank in, and she stifled a giggle. "You've got an army of monsters!"
"Say what?" asked Carlos.
"Her sword harms only the evil," explained Shiera. "And if there's enough non-evil in the creature, it'll convert the creature to the side of good"
Karone giggled. "Oh, I'd love to see Dark Specter's face when he learns that!"
"So how many monsters do we have exactly?" asked Cassie.
"Some 5,000" answered Melissa.
"Any other troops?" asked Zhane.
"We're done", said Melissa.
"As is the deployment program", added Karone. "All we need to do is get the troops going. We can't send subspace messages, as they'd be detected to easily. We'll have to bring the messages ourselves"
"The gliders are quick, but not that quick", objected TJ.
"I have enough courier speeders", said Melissa. "Their controls are similar enough to those of the Astro Mega Ship"
"So we're leaving now?" asked Ashley.
Karone smiled a smile worthy of her former title. "We are"
I had a hard time picking the teaser line for this chapter. I put up the line I thought most appropriate, but I was sorely tempted by "That which is not done together, is not accomplished at all": do you remember the pole Mulan had to climb, in the Disney movie? My first lesson in service –and one of the most amazing lessons of my life - was that it's true, whether you're in a field or rear unit: trust and cooperation are the core values of Military ethics, not discipline and order – those are just the external scaffolds.
Next time: "We certainly got the worst of assignments"