Disclaimer: Disney owns the Power Rangers now. I'm not trying to make any money, just playing around.

Future Red

Chapter 4: The Raid

The cruiser's command pod exploded in a spectacular fireball as it slammed into the surface of the un-named planet that served as the base for Omni and its Troobian slaves. At the same time, several miles away, six red teleportation pulses deposited the assembled Red Rangers safely on the surface.

Alanya Tian, Karovian Red Astro Ranger, stumbled a little and grabbed onto a rock for support, "Did we just . . . ?"

"Teleport? Yeah," responded Tyler Forge, Red Geo-Force Ranger and the one responsible for the teleportation. "Before we left, my mentor gave me an emergency teleport matrix."

"I was hoping to save it to use in infiltrating Omni's stronghold," added Jack Landors, former SPD B Squad Red Ranger, and temporary SPD Lieutenant Commander. "But, I'll trade that for keeping us all alive."

"So, it was only a one shot device?" asked Dramlin Zell, SPD Alpha Squad Red-1.

Tyler held up the now blackened crystalline device, "Yep."

"We should get out of the open," observed Falon Shan, Triforian Zeo Ranger 5, Red.

The six Red Rangers moved quickly and found shelter in a nearby cave. They set up a makeshift camp using the equipment from the emergency packs they had been able to take with them when they evacuated the ship. Jack and Haylun, the Aquitarian Doron-Sena Red, began pouring over the senor readings he was able to download from the ship sensors on the way through the atmosphere.

It was decided that, so far, luck had been with them. They were less than 2 miles from what was the most likely location for Omni's base of operations. After some debate, because day or night was irrelevant to Krybots, it was still decided that the team would rest and set out after sunset. The journey would be difficult, since they could not risk morphing until they had to, because there was a chance that the Troobian sensors could detect their morphing energy.


As the sun set, the Rangers began their trek towards the fortress. Even though it was a relatively short distance, the group moved slowly, watching for Troobian patrols, and keeping to what cover they found. After almost two hours, they arrived in the edge of what had once been a flood plain. In the center of an expanse of open ground sat a large Troobian fortress. They immediately spotted numerous ground patrols of Krybots.

The team spent the next thirty minutes analyzing the situation, and concluded that there really was no other option besides a direct charge across the plain to the fortress. That is, until dozens of Krybots, mostly basic models with a few Blue and Orange types thrown in, exploded out of concealed portals. The six red Rangers immediately engaged the Krybots in combat. Unfortunately, for each Krybot the Rangers took out, two more seemed to take its place.

"This isn't working!" Tyler yelled, flipping a Krybot that had grabbed him from behind.

Dramlin kicked a Blue in the head and added, "Kid's got a point!"

"Then, let's take it up a notch," Jack responded, grabbing his patrol morpher. "SPD Emergency!" Jack hit the button in the top of the device, causing the face to open to reveal his badge. In a flash of red, Jack transformed into his B Squad Ranger armor.

Haylun pulled his Doron Device from his belt and held it across his chest. "Doron-Sena Ataxis!" The Aquitarian yelled the activation command and hit the switch on the side of his morphing device. A panel in the face opened, revealing a glowing red, circular crystal, transforming him into Doron-Sena Red.

Falon brought his two wrist-mounted Zeonizers together and commanded, "Zeo Ranger 5, Red!" and morphed into the Red Zeo Ranger.

Alanya flipped open the cover on her Astro Morpher as she yelled, "Let's Rocket!" She hit three buttons as a mechanical voice announced three, three, five. She hit the commit button and transformed into the Red Astro Ranger.

Dramlin mimicked Jack's movements, pulling out his own Patrol Morpher and yelling, "SPD Emergency!" Dramlin's SPD Alpha Squad armor looked like a more streamlined, less bulky version of the old B Squad SWAT armor.

Tyler was last, whipping forward his Geo Morpher bracelet, and yelled "Power of Fire!" Flames danced across his body, leaving his Red Geo-Force armor in its wake.

In their morphed forms, the six Red Rangers began turning the tide and were moving steadily towards the fortress when suddenly a voice lacking the mechanical buzz of the Blue and Orange Kyrbots' voices yelled "Stop Rangers!"

The Krybots backed off as the Rangers all turned to see a half dozen Troobians, three male, three female. How Grumm had been altered became immediately apparent, as the males looked almost human, with the exception of the various styles of horns growing from their heads. The females, since they lacked horns, looked completely human, however each sported some sort of facial tattoo. The male who spoke stood forward of the other five holding a blaster vaguely aimed at the Rangers. The others were holding blasters as well, with the business ends shoved up under their jaws.

The speaker's eyes glowed strangely as he continued, "I don't think I need to remind you that I have complete control over the Troobians, and can easily force them to kill themselves."

Jack's voice was a growl, "Omni."

"Yes. These Troobians do make useful vessels," Omni spoke through his puppet, the Troobian's face forming an evil grin. "So, you're the lap dog that helped Cruger destroy my progenitor. I must say, I am unimpressed." He looked over the other Rangers, and stopped at Tyler, "And a child? I am uncertain whether to be amused or insulted." The puppet's expression hardened, "Power down and surrender or I will command these Troobians to kill themselves."

The Rangers hesitated, looking at one another. "Hmmm, very well," Omni said. One of the female Troobians pulled the trigger on her blaster, falling to the ground dead.

The other Rangers made to jump forward, but Jack held them back with a gesture.

"I have thousands of Troobians on this world Rangers. And I am quite certain I can afford to kill far more than you can stomach to watch die. Now, power down."

Jack's shoulders slumped, "Do it. Power down."