AN: The title of this story is going to be changing. Look for When Everything Goes Wrong...when I add chapter 23. I've already named the next two stories, it's kind of a theme...Anyway, didn't want anyone to get lost when I change it. Yes, this is going to be a trilogy. Hope you're in for the long haul. Things are going to get bigger and badder before they ever get better.
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Dr. Kardan Radkee was a man who was fed up. He was fed up with the poor treatment. He was fed up with having to patch his teammate up because Kalix found his biological differences amusing. Most of all he was fed up with Kalix in general. He had put up with a lot in two years, but no more. He had done nothing because Kalix had two of his teammates locked up and he couldn't leave without them. He had done nothing because he wanted to be a good influence on the Psycho Rangers. But most of all he had done nothing because they would have had no place to go. None of those things were reasons to stay any longer. He had a plan and he was going to execute it.
He took a bolt gun out of the place he had hidden it several weeks ago. It was a gun that was almost completely silent and fired concentrated bolts of energy that could cut right through dedian armor. As ridiculous as it may have seemed he hated using weapons. As a doctor he had to deal with the consequences of violence everyday. But he had learned long ago to put his feelings aside and do what was necessary. He put the gun in the hidden pocket of his jacket and left the room. Immediately he saw two dedians patrolling the hall and passed them like he normally would.
"Where are you going Dr. Radkee?" One of the dedians asked tonelessly.
"To my quarters." Kardan replied.
The two dedians seemed to accept the answer and continued on their way. Kardan watched them turn a corner before he headed to the main tech room. He put in Psycho Red's username and password and entered the tech room. He found it ridiculously easy to find his morpher as well as those of his teammates and the other ranger that was imprisoned with them. He wished he could steal the Gems of Power that had been brought back, but they were better guarded. He strapped the morpher around his wrist, hid the others in the hidden pockets of his jacket, and headed out of the room and toward the hanger.
When Kalix had captured him and his two teammates, the raptor had also taken their cruiser. The ship was two to three times smaller than Kalix's ship, but it had been the Battle Rangers pride and joy. Ekkan had been so proud of it, having helped engineer its design. It had been a connecting point for the Battle Rangers when they needed to discus strategy or just hang out and be close. Otherwise the team was split between the five provinces and didn't see each other. The ship had meant a lot and Kardan was glad that Kalix had captured it rather than destroyed it. He hoped it would be a great help in the long run.
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Dustin was more perceptive than he acted a lot of the time and he could easily tell that their new ally was hiding something. Oh, the Ice Ranger had shared his name readily enough. His name was Sebastien Reece and he was 16 years old. His parents were teachers at the Ice Academy and had gone missing along with everyone else. Sebastien had been hiding in the caves for months, living on stockpiles of food, and waiting for something to happen. The kid didn't explain why he hadn't been taken with everyone else or how food had got stockpiled at the cave, and for the moment none of them felt it important information. Dustin could just tell that the kid was hiding something deeper and darker than that.
Not that he got a bad vibe from Sebastien. Not in the sense of a bad guy playing good. More like Sebastien had a feeling they wouldn't like his reason for not being taken with everyone else. He could read in the kid's body language that he was nervous and a little scared. They had already explained Lothor and then Kalix and his Psycho Rangers to Sebastien. The sixteen-year-old looked like it all might overwhelm him, but was keeping up a brave face as if he had something to prove to his new allies. Dustin wondered just what the kid was hiding, but knew it was too soon to push for knowledge.
"So my Academy was guarding those Gems of Power and now that this Kalix has them things are going to get even worse?" Sebastien asked.
"Probably much worse." Hunter replied, eyes guarded against the new ranger. "We're probably looking at eight more Psycho Rangers."
"At least it's not ten." Dustin offered positively.
"I don't think two Gems are going to make a difference." Hunter replied. He thought he was being realistic, but to Dustin he just sounded negative.
Sebastien seemed to sense the argument brewing and quickly changed the subject. The hanger felt small as it was, they didn't need hostile emotions making it worse. His crystal blue eyes focused in on Niko and Zadan. "You guys used to work for Kalix?"
"I was under a spell and Zadan was being influenced by a Yellow Amulet." Niko explained. "Kale broke the spell over me when he arrived and then I talked Zadan into breaking the Amulet."
Sebastien nodded as if taking all the information in. "Kale's the one you told me was guarding the other Gems of Power, right?"
"Right, he's the Knight Ranger. Kalix captured him earlier today." Zadan replied.
Sebastien could feel it was a sensitive subject and easily moved the conversation away from the topic of the captured Knight Ranger. Hunter watched him like a hawk. He sensed the same deception from the boy as Dustin did and that didn't make him want to trust the Ice Ranger. Sure, when he concentrated on Sebastien he could sense nothing but goodness in him, white power as Kale would probably call it, but that didn't take away from the fact that the Ice Ranger was keeping something from them. Hunter narrowed his eyes slightly. For his own sake it better not be anything important.
Blake knew that Sebastien was hiding something. The kid wasn't doing a very good job of it, but he didn't feel the need to know what was being hidden. If anything he was sure it was why he hadn't been captured and more likely than not Sebastien was embarrassed by it or maybe even a little ashamed. If that was the case then Blake felt sorry for him. He knew from experience that him being there when Lothor attacked didn't make any difference at all. He had been captured along with everyone else. Sebastien probably thought he could have made a difference, but the truth was he just would have been captured too. Blake made a note to himself to talk to the Ice Ranger about it when they got better acquainted.
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Kardan smirked at how easy it was to move freely around the ship. Kalix had next to no security cameras in the halls and the patrols were pretty sparse. It was a sign of the raptor's arrogance, but it was well founded arrogance. Still, he had to wonder what it would take for Kalix to get more cameras installed and keep a better vigilance over the inside of the ship. He was mildly insulted that Kalix didn't see him as enough of a threat to keep an eye on, but at the same time he was grateful. It was giving him the chance he needed to get himself and his teammates out of there.
"Well now, where do you think you're going?"
Kardan spun and Psycho Red's voice. They hated each other. Ever since Red had first landed himself in Dr. Radkee's infirmary they had clashed. Red would love the chance to bust him, maybe even inflict a little punishment of his own on the doctor. Kardan tensed, ready to fight if he needed to and Red laughed. Red knew the doctor had been a ranger at one time, but he didn't see a physician being a good fighter. He quickly learned the error of that thinking.
Radkee didn't waste a moment with banter or threats. He lunged forward and slammed Psycho Red to the side, using all his weight to muscle the surprised warrior against the wall. Then with the same lightning fast movement he slammed Red's head against the wall with unforgiving force as many times as he could before Red shoved him away. The Psycho Ranger was stunned though and didn't even get a chance to defend himself before a kick landed right in his helmeted face, snapping his head back against the wall. Red managed a grunt of surprise before he fell into darkness.
Kardan watched the Psycho Ranger slump to the ground and smirked. That's what he gets for underestimating a ranger. He let his amusement fade as he took off down the hall to the big hanger doors at the very end. He put it Psycho Red's username and password and the doors slid open with a soft hiss. Inside dedians were performing maintenance on the Wingers and four were standing guard around the very cruiser he wanted on. It was time for him to do something he hadn't done in a long time.
"Here goes nothing."
There was no time for fancy morphing calls. Instead he just pushed the morphing button and gasped at the feeling of his ranger power surging into his body once more. It was an amazing feeling to be connected with his power once more, to feel it rushing through every part of his body. For just a moment he felt completely invincible, but the feeling passed as he came down from the slight high and realized that his morphing had given off a light that had alerted the dedians to his presence.
He pulled the sophisticated blaster from his side and began blasting the dedians away as they surged toward him. They had to go up a flight of stairs before they reached him and none of them were armed with blasters. Stupid really, but they were hand to hand fighters and usually had no need for guns of any sort. It was another testament to how lax the security was on board the ship. Kalix was going to learn that lesson the hard way.
The dedians were dealt with swiftly and efficiently and the hanger was his. He made a move toward the ship, but when he got within three feet he hit a wall and was expelled backwards with a sharp crackle of energy. Alright, that meant Kalix had a force field around it, not a shield. Ouch. He picked himself up with a grimace and looked for the control panel and found it easily not far away. Again he was required to input Red's username and password and then shut down the force field. He was just turning to go back toward the ship when a new batch of dedians stormed in, these ones armed with blasters. Apparently he hadn't dealt with the others quickly enough.
"Surrender!" A dedian with red trim ordered.
Kardan answered by putting a hole in that particular dedian's head. The others opened fire and he threw himself behind the control panel for protection. This was exactly what he didn't need. The longer a battle with dedians took the longer it took him to get into the ship where he could be safe. If he didn't deal with the foot soldiers quickly he would have bigger things to deal with. He mentally concentrated on a particular piece of weaponry every Battle Ranger had and a moment later a shoulder mounted rocket launcher blinked into existence. Crosshairs appeared in his vision and he took quick aim before firing. The resulting explosion took care of the dedians and melted the door together, leaving twisted steel keeping any unwanted guests out.
With his problems taken care of for the moment Kardan headed into the ship. There were a lot of things he had to do before he could get the ship ready to go and if he wasn't quick about them he wouldn't be going anyplace.
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"It is good to see someone of the Ice Academy escaped capture." Sensei said.
For a moment Sebastien simply stared at the talking guinea pig as if unsure to believe his own eyes, but quickly remembered his manners and bowed. "Thank you Sensei Watanabe." He looked like he wanted to say more, a shadow of doubt falling over his young face before he carefully schooled his features again. "I'm equally glad to see I'm not the only one. How did you all escape capture?"
"We were late to class." Dustin answered immediately. "By the time we arrived Lothor had come and gone already."
"We found Cam buried under some rocks and he brought us down to Ninja Ops." Tori continued. At the mention of the Samurai the mood in Ninja Ops took a quick turn for the worst.
Sebastien felt the change and decided not to ask who Cam was yet. They'd explain when they were ready. Instead he looked at the two Thunder Rangers. "I never expected to see Thunders working with Winds. I thought there was some kind of rivalry between your schools."
"Not rivalry necessarily." Blake said. "Just a sort of mutual separation."
Sebastien nodded, though it was less of an explanation than he had hoped for. "The Ice Academy is like that with all of the other schools. I don't really know why and I've never asked."
"It is an old argument best left in the past." Sensei replied. "I would be very pleased to see the forces of Wind, Thunder, and Ice working together as one."
"Seeing as how I have no where else to go and no one else to fight Lothor with I don't think I have a choice."
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Zadan looked at Niko worriedly. He found his younger friend with the same expression. Things were just getting worse instead of better. They had both thought that by joining the rangers they would make a difference against their ex-teammates and maybe even Kalix. Nothing was going like it should have. Cam was on death's doorstep and they were soon going to be faced with eight new Psycho Rangers. How were they supposed to make a difference now? Things had just gotten worse since their arrival, not better.
"What are we going to do Zadan?" Niko asked. "We can't let this planet fall into Kalix's control."
Zadan frowned. "Whatever happens we can't let him find anything the Anasai might have left. Especially if the Morphing Grid generator is here."
"I think we already agreed on that." Niko said, not quite following his companion's thought process.
"If it appears Kalix is going to win we might have to do something drastic Niko."
"Like what?" Niko asked, still not understanding what Zadan was trying to get at.
"Destroy Earth."
Niko was sure he had heard wrong. There was no way Zadan had just suggested something so drastic, something no ranger could do. "I must have heard you wrong. Did you just say destroy Earth?"
"You didn't hear me wrong."
"You've got to be kidding." Niko said, eyes going wide. "How could you even think that?"
Zadan had the good grace to look ashamed, but still held firm. "Niko, if Earth falls to Kalix and he finds Anasai technology no one will be able to stop him. He can go back and conquer the places he couldn't before. If he conquers Earth we have to destroy the planet."
"Not that I'm agreeing, but how would we even go about doing such a thing? I mean...is that even possible?" Niko asked, blue-green eyes still wide. "Why not try and find the generators ourselves?"
"And give Kalix even half the idea that something THAT important is here? He'd have the full force of his armada here wiping out life completely just so nothing would stand in his way of finding it." Zadan said with determination.
Niko frowned and wiped a hand over his forehead. He had never thought that at the age of 16 he would be deciding a whole planet's fate. He expected to be protecting and serving, not planning how to destroy. It wasn't in his nature, not that kind of malicious, cold thought process. He sighed deeply. He was too young for this kind of pressure and certainly too young to make that kind of decision.
"Listen, I think we should focus on how to beat Kalix, not what to do when we fail." Niko finally said. "And if it comes to something so drastic...Let's just wait and talk with Kale, okay? He'd know what to do."
"You're depending on him for answers now?"
"No!" Niko barked, giving his teammate a glare. "But we're a team now and it wouldn't be right for us to not include him."
Zadan didn't argue. They both fell silent as they thought about their captured comrade. He wasn't sure what they would do if Kale didn't escape some how. They needed him more than Zadan cared to admit.
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"Ah Ha!"
He may have just been a physician, but Kardan was a quick learner and observant enough that he had learned some things from Sizvu. Hacking wasn't easy, but his techno-whiz of a teammate had left behind a hacking program that had made things much easier. All he had to do was follow a few cues and the battle station hacked into Kalix's flagship computer with relative ease. He knew Kalix's systems well enough that it was easy to drop a few shields, shut down a few weapons systems, and open bay doors. The easiest part was locking onto his teammates, plus two, and transporting them onto the ship.
The easiest part was done. The hard part came with trying to pilot the massive battle station. Learning some technology was easy, but a pilot he would never be. That would have been Baja or Ekkan, but they certainly weren't there to help. All he could do was set the auto-pilot and hope that it could fly them out of the hangar without tearing them to pieces.
The doors into the bridge slid open and Sizvu entered, taking up his position at the weapons controls without a word. A moment later Harper entered, still not fully recovered from his beating, and stood looking for something he could help with. None of them were ready when the battle station went from no movement to near full speed so quickly that even the inertial dampeners almost didn't help. When they all recovered they watched the main screen as the flagships twenty cannons took aim on them and then remained oddly silent.
"Ah good, it worked. Had to say I wasn't sure I'd done everything right." Kardan said, smiling proudly.
Sizvu shot him a look of approval. "Good job Kar. There's hope for ya yet."
"Oh bugger off you."
"Guys, not to interrupt your oh so cute flirting, but I think they've undone whatever you did Kardan."
Kardan and Sizvu both snapped their attention the main screen. Harper was right. The flagship's cannons were beginning to glow green, energy collecting and crackling around the barrels. They wouldn't stand a chance. Those cannons could destroy whole moons.
"Aye, that would be a problem." Sizvu said, a small smirk forming. "But they can't shoot what they can't see."
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Kalix roared with fury as the battle station shimmered out of view before his cannons could fire. This was a development he hadn't expected. He never would have guessed that Kardan Radkee, mild mannered and weak doctor, would have the guts to pull off an escape. More than that, he knew that as soon as Lothor figured out what had just happened that his little game would be over.
"Deder, prepare a few surprises for Lothor. I want to take his ship out as quickly as possible when the time comes." Kalix growled.
"Yes Master Kalix."
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"I don't trust him. He's hiding something." Hunter said as he and Dustin relaxed outside.
"Of course you don't. You don't trust anyone at first." Dustin replied with a knowing smile. "And I'm sure he is hiding something dude, he doesn't even know us."
"We've been truthful with him so far." Hunter said, his voice clearly announcing his disapproval of that.
"And when he gets to know us maybe he'll tell us what he's hiding." Dustin reasoned. He sighed slightly. "I'm not asking you to trust him Hunter. I'm just asking you to give him a chance. Like I gave you."
Hunter groaned. "How did I know you were going to play that card against me? That's no fair."
"All's fair in love and war." Dustin said with a mega-watt grin. "C'mon Hunter, where would you and Blake be if Tori and I hadn't been willing to give you guys a chance?"
"Well--."
"That's what I thought."
"Hey, who said I was agreeing with you?"
"Were you going to argue?"
"Maybe."
Dustin smacked his friend's shoulder. "You're a pain dude. How does Blake talk you into things?"
"Not the same way you will." Hunter replied, eyes suddenly mischievous. Dustin's face turned a comical shade of red and Hunter laughed. "You're cute when you blush."
"Just when I blush?" Dustin asked, a little of the red going away.
"And when you smile."
Sebastien watched them silently, secure in the knowledge that they had no clue he was around. Unlike a lot of the people he knew back home he didn't have a problem with homosexuality, though he wasn't overly enthused by it either. But just watching them he could sense the deeper feelings they hadn't quite admitted to each other. It made his heart jerk painfully. I'll get you back Heather, I promise.