POWER RANGERS: WRAITH (Formerly The Weapon) - Part 9 of 14
Written by DTM666
Disclaimer: The author of this piece would like to state that 90 of the characters featured here are properties of BVS Entertainment Inc and not that of the author. 10 of the characters featured here are original creations of the author.
Also, the author understands that this piece automatically negates events that occur any and all PR incarnations that occur after Power Rangers Wild Force; hence no Dino Thunder or Ninja Storm is featured here and hence Tommy is not a doctor of anything. This is an AU, so to speak. Just thought we should be clear on that.
Okay, here's part 9. Any reviews and criticisms would be greatly appreciated.
---
An hour of tactical briefing, updates from Andros, and plans to reconvene at a later time within the Oliver household seemed similar to the daily Lightspeed meetings Carter Grayson had to sit through. But this meeting was a little hard for him. While tensions had been lifted from Jason and Thomas' little scuffle, Carter felt a weight supposedly keeping him down. He had begun doubting himself ever since the so-called legend talked him down and several thing quickly came to mind. He knew he did the right thing; he had no choice. But the more he thought about it, the more he wondered if there truly was another alternative.
When the briefing was over, the room emptied quickly, leaving behind Carter and Thomas alone in the room. Carter slowly stood from his chair and almost started to walk towards the door, but Thomas raised a hand and Carter stopped. He loooked into the eyes of this veteran and found a bit of sorrow and regret in his eyes. Likewise, Thomas noticed the look of guilt on Carter's face and dropped his head down.
"Look, I'm sorry I went all out at you," Thomas said apologetically, "I didn't mean to. I'm just frustrated at all this."
"Don't worry about it, man," answered Carter, allowing himself a smile, "this thing's been hot on all of us."
Thomas flashed a smile that quickly faded. "Do you happen to have information on the Nukutal? Anything that could help us deactivate it?"
"I don't know," Carter answered, "Most of the ET-files are classified, but I'll see what I can do."
"Good," Thomas said, "I've sent the Silver Guardians on a survey mission in the Mojave Desert to check if Prodigy is completed. They're supposed to let me know when they found it so I can check it out. I can't say more than that, unfortunately." He paused for a moment. "If you got the necessary stats and I'm not here, give them to Jason. He's going to see if he could round up some extra help."
Carter nodded. "Gotcha."
Thomas smiled. "Better get going, Commander."
With that, Carter gave Thomas a salute and walked out the room. Thomas waited until the door was shut, then gave a salute of his own. He allowed a grin. Even though things seem badly, he has a plan that requires something from the old days. Something that is vital...
Enough of this, he thought, time to get to work.
---
A regular debriefing for former Wild Force Ranger Taylor Earheart concerning her involvement in the recovery of survivors in the Mariner Bay incident was nothing special; the usual debriefing procedure that is common with most military forces. She saluted her officials, packed her bags, and left the base in her yellow Jeep, ready to take advantage of her leave.
Riding by the clean Turtle Cove beaches, she contemplated several things; Chad, the Ranger that was uncovered in the debris, was a close friend to the commander, who himself was one. She thought of the time she met Eric and how they acquainted with each other... hard to believe these two met due to a speeding violation. And then she thought of her other Ranger friends. She had not seen them in a long time and sometimes worry about them, despite her somewhat cold exterior.
After riding around the streets for a while, Taylor headed home for a much-needed rest. She couldn't contribute anything else when she was a Ranger, let alone tired.
---
In a desert backdrop, a sole black hummer can be sighted racing at incredible speeds, causing sand to fly out from under the vehicle. The hummer would soon approach a rock formation and stopped about a mile away. The passenger door opened and out stepped Wes Collins carrying a shotgun. He turned his head to the other side of the vehicle to see his friend and partner Eric Myers, also carrying a shotgun, climbing out of the other side. Both looked at the rock formation ahead of them, knowing the path ahead will not be an easy one.
For the next hour, the two co-leaders of the Silver Guardian defense force traveled across the rigged mountain terrain of the Mojave desert. They found it utterly baffling that they should be sent here to look for something that they would have remotely no clue as to what it looks like, but Thomas Oliver is rarely a man who gives out details... at least, that's what most of his friends would say
"Man," Wes complained, "you'd think he'd warn us about the heat!"
Eric looked back at his partner and couldn't help but laugh at Wes' expense. "Relax. As soon as I find a nice sombrero, I'll let you have it."
Wes snorted, embarrassed at himself.
Some time later, the two came across a strange formation of rocks. Looking up, they noticed a structure of unknown origin. The structure seems to be in ruins but from their current position, the Silver Guardian/Time Force Rangers couldn't tell for sure.
"Since we're close," Eric lied, as he really wasn't sure, "maybe we should take five."
Wes nodded in agreement and slumped on the ground while Eric sat down. He then pulled out two pocket-sized silver bags, toss one to Eric, and opened it up. Eric stared at his package for a moment and opened his as well. The package is actually a food ration and contained nothing more than various dried banana slices, cracker crumbs, and other dehydrated crumbs. Wes took a pitch of the contents and dropped them in his mouth while Eric consumed the contents from the bag as he would a drink.
"Nothing like crumbs to fill your batteries, right?" Wes asked jokingly.
Eric didn't answer, but didn't ignore his partner either.
Wes' smile faded and decided to bring up another subject. "So I heard you and the Wild Force chick had a date last week."
Eric looked at his friend as if he was disillusioned. "I don't believe a visit to the Weapons Museum is considered a 'date,' Wes." he groaned in depression. Noticing his friend eyeing on him, he surrendered his confidentiality. "It went okay."
Wes waited for Eric to continue, but nothing. "That's it? 'It went okay?' That's all you have to say."
Eric looked up at Wes' disbelieving face and grinned devilishly. He then announced with triumph, "It's more than you need to know." The response was Wes moaning and Eric felt satisfied with himself.
"Okay, stop crying," Eric told him, "we have work to do."
---
The main viewer showed a cross-shaped vessel practically the same size as Aradon's battlecruiser. The vessel was commonly operated by rogue pirates that served under the banner of the former Alliance.
The bridge of the battlecruiser filled with cogs and infantry-cogs going back and forth, prepping the ship for combat. After reaching weapons range, the cruiser fired its disruptor cannons at the stern of the pirate cruiser. The bright orange energy beams were blocked by a greenish energy field. The pirate ship managed a burst of energy torpedoes directed at the battlecruiser's engine, but the torpedoes missed their mark, allowing the battlecruiser to fire two more disruptor beams at the pirate vessel, blocking the beams with their shield.
In the tactical center of the ship, Aradon was barking orders to cogs while the two Rangers watched from the sidelines. They were willing to help, but since they don't know much about the new Machine tech, they opted to stay out of the way until they were needed. Aradon watched the display screen, showing the pirate cruiser launching small fighter craft. They seemed like the new streamlined Velocifighters, except they were moving at a high speed and were firing pulse weapons.
Noticing this, Aradon turned to the two humans. "I assume you know how to pilot a fighter?"
Both nodded.
"Good," Aradon said, "then get onto Quadrafighters and give us a hand."
---
After a slow and steady climb, Wes Collins and Eric Myers reached the top to survey the strange structure. As it turned out, the structure seems to be recently built. It's strange because just several minutes prior, the structure was in ruin. Wes and Eric stared at each other for a moment before approaching the nearest wall. On the wall were some designs, not necessarily engraved, but as if it was drawn with charcoal. Wes rubbed off a part of the design and inspected his fingers to find them covered with charcoal.
"I guess this is it," Wes concluded, "call Tom. Tell him we found it."
Eric nodded and pulled out his cell phone. He had to walk back several meters away from the structure in order to get a clear signal, but once he did, quickly dialed in Thomas Oliver's home phone number.
"Hello?"
Eric noticed the depression on the other side of the line, "You okay?"
Thomas stated it bluntly, "I got my ass handed. What's up?"
Eric paused for a moment, looking at the structure that had finished forming itself, before answering, "I think we've found your wrecked 'command center...'"
No answer on the other line. Eric probably assumed he lost the signal, but checked that the timer was still going. Finally, Thomas spoke, albeit with a hint of uncertainty, "Are you sure?"
Eric looked around once more before responding awkwardly, "I guess."
"Okay," Thomas said, still uncertain, "I'm on my way."
---
The pirate Velocifighters came in swarms, shooting down Quadrafighters with their missiles and using pulse weapons to weaken the Machine battlecruiser's shields. In the cockpit of one of the Quadrafighters, Andros checked for a weak point in the pirate cruiser's defenses. Noticing a nearby Velocifighter, Andros veered his fighter for a collision course. At a decent range, he fired the Quadrafighter's plasma rings at the incoming target, promptly destroying it and proceeding for the pirate cruiser.
TJ had his own problems trying to destroy torpedoes that were further weakening the cruiser's shields. He fired one of the specially-equipped polaron torpedoes at one of the Velocifighters and watched as the light-blue bolt smashed through one Velocifighter after another until it impacted the pirate cruiser's stern shield. TJ targeted the cruiser itself and noticed that the pirate ship had one force shield surrounding the ship as opposed to a shield for each side of the ship. Because of this, TJ grinned and pressed on an intercom system.
"Andros," he yelled loudly enough to make him audible amid the firefights, "the pirate ship only has one shield surrounding the whole ship. Another torpedo should drop the shield."
Andros didn't answer his friend. Instead, the Kerovan headed straight for the pirate cruiser. TJ realized his friend's course of action and decided to provide cover fire for all incoming enemy fighters. One Velocifighter managed to slip by the two R at high speeds. TJ could do nothing but watch as that one suicidal fighter managed to punch right through the battlecruiser's shields and crash right into one of the ship's wings.
Within the battlecruiser, computer consoles blew apart and bulkheads flew, resulting in the destruction of several cogs in the room. The tactical center of the ship also suffered, with debris flying and several cables hanging loose from the ceiling. Aradon managed to avoid damage, although his infantry was not lucky enough.
Within weapon range, Andros guided his Quadrafighter above the pirate cruiser. The cruiser fired its own laser weapons, but the Red Space Ranger managed to expertly dodge the incoming fire and retaliated with a couple of polaron torpedoes at one of the ship's engine. One torpedo was met with an energy shield, but the second torpedo managed to impact the engine, causing a cascade of explosions to occur.
Over the comm, Andros informed the squadron, "The pirate ship is vulnerable! Let's take it out NOW!"
Ten Quadrafighters began launching their torpedoes at the pirate ship while the others finished off the remaining Velocifighters. The pirate ship attempted to turn for escape, but could not evade or withstand the barrage of torpedoes. In a matter of seconds, the flaming hulk of the vessel blew apart, debris scattered throughout space. The enemy has been vanquished.
"We did it!" TJ declared over the comm system, "we won!"
There were slight cheers over the comm system of the battlecruiser. Despite the damage and losses suffered, they have survived. Suddenly, the celebration halted as quickly as it begun when a warning signal sounded. One of the Cogs still standing in the tactical center checked the scanner.
"My liege," the Cog said in its mechanical voice, "there is a massive vessel approaching."
Andros heard the Cog's warning over the comm. As he looked on, he noticed an spiked, egg-shaped vessel approaching. He recognized the spikes, the red weapon ports, the steam. It was the threat they were chasing after. The Wraith.
TJ observed the ominous ship approach the battered fleet. In his mind, he knows that they do not stand a chance.
Aradon observed the Wraith from what's left of his throne room. He sat on his battered throne and clutched both hands together, contemplating his next move. He could strike the enemy, but they're significantly damaged from the battle with the pirate ship.
"What's our status?" Aradon demanded.
One Cog answered, a slight hint of pity in the mechanical voice, "My liege, the ship is a wreck. Our shield system is malfunctioning, our weapons are at 30 efficiency, and we have almost no maneuvering power. We have lost twenty-two Quadrafighters out of the thirty-three."
Aradon stared blankly at the approaching Wraith. "Recall all Quadrafighters back to the ship," he ordered with reluctance, "we have to retreat."
To be continued...