Written by DTM666
Disclaimer: The author of this piece would
like to state that 90 percent of the characters featured here are properties of BVS
Entertainment Inc and not that of the author. 10 percent 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.
Just thought we should be clear on that.
Here's Part 12. If all goes well, I'll have the next one up tomorrow.
---
"The Nukutal is ready to go."
The rogue Varox bounty hunter sat in a chamber with a console connected to several red canisters. On the visual, he sees an armored battle van storming through a deserted wasteland and smiles. They will come, he thought, and I will destroy them with one blast of this weapon.
The Varox looked on the viewer and saw that the target was within the blast range of the bomb. Grabbing his pulse rifle, he walked out the cavern and stood still, awaiting his visitors.
---
Several hours have past since KO-35 mechanics have cleared the Megaship for departure. With new modifications and the installation of a new weapon, the Space Rangers were more than ready to take on the Wraith in a second confrontation. The GSA military, thanks to Fleet Admiral Mike Corbett, with whom Andros had gained contact with, managed to spare several ships; five Gladius ships and two Corsair ships. The Gladius-class vessel is similar in shape to the Megaship, except slightly smaller and more compact. The Corsair-class vessel can essentially be considered to be a flying battleship, complete with aircraft carrier.
Andros oversaw final testing of the Megaship's new systems to ensure compatibility. When everything was set to go, he opened a comm link to the seven GSA cruisers and two Machine battlecruisers commanded by the Machine king Aradon.
"This is it," Andros announced with a hint of nervousness, "we're going to pursue a seemingly invincible enemy and do whatever we can to make sure it does not become a threat to civilization. This is quite possibly the biggest threat since Serpenterra and this time, we're on our own. The other Power Rangers have trouble back home on Earth and can't help us out.
"This is our only shot at taking this thing out," he continued, "if we don't win this fight, we won't be getting another shot. Chances are we may not survive the encounter, but if we don't, let's hope we take this thing with us. Good luck to all of us."
On that final note, the small assault team proceeded to leave KO-35's orbit and seek out the Wraith planet-killer...
---
As Wes Collins drove the armored battle-van through the wastelands, the other Rangers for this mission (Jason Lee Scott - original Red Ranger, Carter Grayson and Chad Lee - Red and Blue Lightspeed Rangers using the new morphers developed by Lightspeed, Eric Myers - Quantum Ranger, and Cole Evans, the only Ranger without a morpher) were looking tense. Not one of them broke the silence that was considered to be intensity. No word from Thomas Oliver or any of the others in the past hour.
"Do you think Tom will get back in time?" the rookie asked.
"He'll show up," Jason answered calmly, "he'll be a little late, but he'll show." He turned his head to see Carter in deep thought. "Something on your mind, Carter?"
Carter shook his head. "I just have this bad feeling."
As if on cue, a hard impact shook the Rangers up. Wes tilted his head to the front view of the van to see a figure firing energy projectiles... it was the Varox hunter. The hunter continued his barrage of fire as the battle-van avoided any nearby explosions. Wes pushed a button which uncovered a control lever with a trigger. Eric took control of the lever and pulled the trigger, resulting in a barrage of missiles to launch from the top launcher of the battle-van. All the missiles managed to successfully take down the Varox, but not necessarily destroy him. Eric, somewhat shocked that the hunter was able to survive that attack, fired more missiles. This time, the Varox dodged the flurry of warheads and fired a concentrated beam at the launcher, blowing it up instantly.
In the battle-van, the other Rangers held on to the side bar. "Stop the van!" Jason called out to Wes. "I'm going out there!"
Eric got up from his seat and clutched his helmet. Knowing what he had to do, Cole pulled out the wrist communicator Jason handed him and pushed the button. He soon flashed red and disappeared.
The Varox started at the approaching vehicle and smugly grinned behind his mask. He crossed both his arms and started to emanate a slight red glow around him. When the battle-van reached range, the Varox thrust his arms forward and let out a blue fireball at the vehicle. The fireball managed to impact the hood of the van, smoke coming out of it and eventually the vehicle exploded. The Varox stared into the flaming wreckage for a moment before walking into Wes' flying kick.
---
The strike force lead by Andros and Aradon have managed to find their target. On the bridge of the Megaship, Andros sat in the command chair and observed the massive object. Conveniently enough, the Wraith had just destroyed another lifeless rogue world. Its next target was another rogue world nearby, only this one has life forms. Despite major refit, the ship is still no match for the Wraith. This time, however, they would not go at it alone. When Aradon's signal was received by all vessels, Andros ordered the Megaship into attack mode.
"It's time to end this," the Kerovan declared, "Let's do it!"
The strike force broke off into small groups, with the Megaship and battlecruisers firing laser weapons at a distance. Three Gladius ships provided cover fire while the other two attacked the surface. The Corsairs, the more heavily armed ships, dropped several nukes onto the surface of the Wraith. While the nukes did explode upon impact, they did not do much damage. The lead Corsair broke formation and proceeded to fire flak at a nearby spike, but soon fell into a storm of pulse weapons. Fortunately, a Gladius attacked the tower with its own weapons and attracted the spike's fire, allowing the Corsair to launch several missiles at the base. After a while, the base was destroyed and the spike soon floated away.
The Megaship managed to avoid the onslaught of projectile fire, casually firing torpedoes at the spikes to attract fire. On the bridge of the lead cruiser, Aradon observed the Megaship under fire. Now was his ships' chance to strike.
"Contact the other cruiser," Aradon commanded to a nearby Cog, "tell them to switch to polaron weapons and destroy whatever towers you can."
The second battlecruiser approached a nearby tower and fired its weapons; brilliant white beams and torpedoes flew and impacted the spike's base, eventually obliterating it. Aradon's ship aimed their weapons on the surface, but did not dent them.
"It seems we are making some progress," Aradon declared over the comm, but soon observed on his viewer that from the flaming pit, another spike emerged from under the second battlecruiser, impaling the ship with little effort. "I spoke too soon. The Wraith's regenerative properties are much stronger than anticipated."
Andros nodded as he heard Aradon's comments. "Then it's time we did something about it." He turned to TJ, who was manning the weapons station. "Is the laser ready?"
"Ready and locked on target," TJ replied confidently, "Just say the word."
As the Megaship flew into position, the two Corsairs managed to wipe out four more spikes. The lead Corsair would continue to launch nukes onto the surface of the ship. The first several nukes did not dent the surface. The last two nukes, however, managed to rupture the surface to the point where flames began to spit out, taking out the unfortunate Corsair that had caused its destruction.
Zhane checked the scanners for progress. "We've lost two ships," he exclaimed, "but we've managed some damage."
Andros didn't pay much attention, not when he had to evade more projectiles. Even with a faster engine, the Megaship was still getting nailed by various weapons, but fortunately, unlike the first encounter, they won't spell a quick demise. Meanwhile, the two Corsair pair dropped more nukes onto the crack and fired several missiles at more spikes, causing a huge eruption of flames that decimated one Corsair and impacted the other, spiraling out of control and to colliding with a nearby Gladius, destroying both ships.
Andros flew the Megaship past the spikes to the Wraith's main laser port, skillfully avoiding the majority of the pulse shots. He had to admit that the new thrusters work rather nicely for a quick job. He set aside his impressed thoughts and concentrated on getting the laser, which seemed like it was starting to build up energy. A nearby Gladius swung under the Megaship with blazing speed, drawing the fire of the pulse weapons and allowing the Megaship to continue towards the laser port, which was practically the size of a small starbase. Brushing the sweat off his brow, Andros positioned the Megaship in front of the Wraith's massive laser and pointed to TJ, who promptly pressed several buttons and inputted various commands to the tactical computer.
The housing that normally held the Megashuttle opened up to reveal a huge cannon with several mini-spikes sticking out of the top and bottom. On the bridge, TJ turned to Andros and gave him the thumbs up.
"Okay," TJ stated, "the cannon will use up power from the batteries that were designed for it. We can hold a beam for 20 seconds before it shuts down."
"Twenty seconds?" Zhane asked with concern, "what if the Wraith lasts longer than that?"
Andros shrugged the notion and answered quaintly, "We'll just have to hope it doesn't."
Meanwhile Aradon's vessel launched the remaining few Quadrafighters it has to attack the damaged towers and take them down. Because of their relative size and mass, the fighters were able to easily dodge and avoid the pulse weapons, causing them to damage the Wraith itself. Progress was being made, but not by much...
The laser port of the Wraith - the one weapon that is used to destroy a weakened planet - makes the Megaship seem pea-sized, but that would not deter Andros from his plan. In the bridge, tension mounted as the Space Rangers waited for their friend to give the order to fire a weapon salvaged from a previous joint mission. He checked on the other ships; drawing the other weapons' fire while desperately trying to damage the Wraith by any means possible. An estimated count of a hundred super-nukes were deployed and impacted, but not much significant damage had been done. But even if the Wraith is not destroyed, its laser must be taken out before it destroys another world.
"Fire the weapon."
The Wraith fired its own laser that is relatively half the size of the blast port just as the Megaship fired the Serpenterra Laser. The two lasers clashed with each other, neither one giving ground to the other. However, the Megaship has a limited power source for its laser, Andros surmised, while the Wraith can apparently keep up with its own, so it's a game who can outlast the other...
Meanwhile, Aradon's flagship witnessed the destruction of another Gladius vessel caused by enemy projectile fire. The king sat helpless as the little invasion fleet was suddenly taken down by the awesome power of the Weapon. He noticed on one of the viewers that the Megaship was struggling to keep the Wraith's laser from destroying another world by firing its own laser, but Aradon knew that the Rangers could not keep up for long.
"Report on the battle!" Aradon ordered. He was not expecting any gratifying news.
"All seven GSA vessels have been destroyed," the Cog lieutenant reported with a grim, robotic tone, "our sister ship is also on the verge of destruction. We have managed to cause twenty-five percent of damage to the enemy, but not enough to stop it entirely."
The other Machine vessel was clearly catching flames. It managed to fire several of its polaron torpedoes which managed to take out a small chunk of the Wraith's surface, but the small chunk managed to collide with one of the ship's wings, causing it to spiral out of control until crashing onto a spike, blowing that up. Aradon watched the destruction of his second vessel with depression and hopelessness. He didn't know what to do. His battlecruiser was now the sole remaining bit of Machine Empire left in the universe. In his mind, he was contemplating on the next move; should he stay and assist the Rangers in the fight against the Wraith, risking his empire for a cause? Or should he retreat and rebuild his empire? When Aradon stood, he realized that there was only one answer to his dilemma.
"Navigator," he said in a somewhat sad tone, "approach the Megaship."
---
Wes managed to dodge projectiles from the Varox bounty hunter's pulse rifle. He fired a couple of shots with his Chrono Blaster at his enemy but the Varox simply shrugged off the attacks and unleashed a barrage of missiles that knocked Wes down. Eric jumped in and delivered several quick roundhouse kicks and uppercuts, all of which the Varox either blocked or dodged. A mistake by Eric allowed the Varox to connect with a fierce clothesline, sending the Quantum flying.
The Varox laughed at his two adversaries. "Is this all you have?" he taunted, "That's pathetic!"
This brought in Jason, who managed to surprise the Varox with a slash to the shoulder-plate from his power sword. The Varox turned to the veteran and threw a jab, which Jason dodges with quickness and counters with a hard right to the stomach that pushes the Varox back a step. Jason unleashed a quick sidekick to the Varox's stomach to knock down the bounty hunter. The Varox slowly got back to his feet, but would be stomped on by Carter. The Varox fired a charged bolt at the Lightspeed commander, but Carter dodged the attack and fired a bolt from his V-Lance. The bolt stunned the Varox momentarily.
The four Rangers grouped together and faced their stunned adversary, who pulled out a remote device. Carter recognized it as the launch control for the suicide bomb. The Rangers stopped and watched in shock as the Varox positioned his thumb on the red button of the device.
"I see you know what I hold in my hand," the hunter said in a sinister tone, with a smug look behind his mask. "You acknowledge the destructive power that I possess." The Rangers did not move a muscle. The Varox pushed the button and...
To be continued...