The Gathering (I) - Part 1
The grey, rocky surface of Iccor V was cast in the faint glow of the gas giant it orbited, filling the 'sky' of the light side with a whirling deep blue. Temperature was cold, winds were low and atmosphere was thin. Compared to some inhabited planets, anyway.
Life existed here, despite the desolate appearances.
Within the depths of an impact crater, from a time long since passed, a devastated ship graveyard lay in ruins; twisted metal, warped and shredded engine parts and cockpits strewn all over the place. That, combined with the eerie blue glow washed over the entire moon's surface, it wasn't the place you'd expect to find anyone aside from scavengers poking around.
At least, that was the impression those there wanted to give off.
Within the merged, mangled wreckage of ship upon ship was a hollowed out; enough for most head room, but not by much. Though for the few taller patrons, they were willing to put up with low-hanging ceiling made out of crashed cockpits and wing panels.
Business here was…just that important.
The few patrons sitting in the seedy bar found their attention drawn by the repurposed shuttle door being pushed open; while the movement along caught some of the sharp eyed, the accompanying low creeeeeaaak that came with the who-knows how old door.
A cloaked figure entered, a hood obscuring any attempt to see what face lay beneath. In any other place, a concealed look would have raised some eyebrows and drawn unnecessary attention. But as the figure walked across the bar, the only thing that followed them were the gaze from the more inquisitive aliens.
One such observer, half of its green face taken up by cybernetic enhancements, tried to be discreet about his scanners trying to get a read on the new creature present.
His friend sitting beside him, a dark grey scaled lizard-like alien, leaned partially on the table.
"What are you getting, R'al?" he hissed, forked tongue flicking out between his lipless jaw.
R'al's cybernetic eye zoomed in more, focusing in as the cloaked figure came to a stop just before the scraped together bar.
His presence was noticed by an alien on the other side of the bar, as one of the bartenders approached; a universal translator implanted into the side of his neck, wires sticking out and snaking down to the external power implant attached to his shoulder.
"Can I help?" the rough voice didn't seem to suit the bartender's appearance, as he partially leaned against the bar. His pale eyebrows rose, immediately growing impatient with the new arrival merely seconds after he himself spoke.
The cloaked figure took several seconds longer to respond, hood moving in a manner that showed he was looking behind and over the bartender. It was only when the impatience tapping of the bartender's fingers did the cloaked figure gave him full attention.
"I want to speak with Kraa."
The bartender's fingers stilled momentarily, but he was quick to resume their impatient pace; a detail that would have easily been missed by the already occupied aliens.
"Don't know who you're talking about," he answered gruffly, hand moving up to twist a nod connected to the translator implant. He turned to look to the side, a lumbering, muscular alien towering into view-a bouncer that barely had enough head room but seemed more than capable with dealing with even the rowdiest of drunken customers-but wasn't able to turn the knob even slightly.
The hooded patron slammed something down on the counter, alerting all the aliens sitting on the closer tables.
Some slowly reached below the table for holster pistols, the bartender even slipping one hand out of sight to release his modified blaster from its underside-mounted holster.
But then the figure drew his hand back, and the bartender froze entirely when his eyes landed on the damaged Megaforce morpher that now rested on the bar's surface. It was still smouldering.
"Why don't you go out back and check again?"
The bartender looked up to the figure, trying desperately to look for any eyes that may lie beneath the hood. If there were any eyes beneath.
The figure's head gave the slightest tilt.
"Or do you want me to have a look, personally?"
His eyes darted between the shadow-cast 'face' and the smouldering Morpher remains that rested upon his bar; already, he could see the edges permanently burning themselves into the bar top.
"That…won't be necessary," the bartender quickly assured, swallowing a small lump in his throat. He ground his teeth together behind his securely closed mouth. "I'll…I'll just…check for him."
He gave another nod, seemingly to no-one in particular, and quickly darted from behind the bar towards the door hidden behind the brute bouncer.
The hooded figure looked through the door as the bartender slipped out of sight, otherwise unmoving, like a statue.
"Good choice."
A cloaked hand reached forward, slithering over the smoking Megaforce morpher, removing it from the improvised bar top. The arm slowly returned back to its side, and just like that, the cloaked figure became as still as a statue again…
At least until the hood shifted, as though looking over the shoulder.
"Keep looking my way, and I'll give you something to look at."
R'al and his companion, Eetree, both shot up straight in their seats when a sudden voice spoke directly into their ears. But when they turned to see who had managed to sneak up on them, no person was anywhere near them. In fact, the closest bar patron was the hooded figure standing at the bar.
The serpent-esque Eetree turned back to look at the hooded figure, and promptly stood up with a menacing scowl across his scaled features.
"You got a problem caa-tra?" Eetree hissed, shoving aside the chair-a repurposed pilot's seat-he had been using and approached the bar. One of his hands slipped behind his back, reaching for something out of sight of the hooded figure.
R'al spotted the flash of a gunmetal-bladed knife, and a small smirk twitched across his pale flesh.
"I think one of us is going to have a problem in the next few seconds."
The not even faintly veiled threat caused Eetree to pause, coming to a stop barely four steps away from the shadowy cloaked patron. His hand remained behind him, the dagger partially unsheathed. But the lizard-like creature wore no look of concern from the threat; in fact, his lipless mouth was curled into a cocky grin.
"Really?"
"Take three more steps and you'll find out."
Eetree's eyes narrowed, the cocky smirk slowly twisting into a menacing glare, his mouth turning into a threatening
The backdoor opened and the bartender slipped out, turning around.
And he immediately saw something coming his way, and reacted instantaneously; hands coming up, either to catch whatever was coming his way or deflect it if nothing else. The first option happened, though when he saw what he had in hand, he really wished he'd just dodged.
The dark grey skull was void of any sort of flesh; no blood in sight. Though he didn't get much time to try and figure out what was going on, as movement in front of him immediately caught his attention; half-throwing the skull to the nearest table.
R'al had sunk back into his seat-his skin grown a shade paler, if that were even possible-with a look of absolute horror directed at the cloaked figure.
He had barely moved from where the bartender had last seen him standing; he'd only turned on the spot, and the cloak was just coming down to relax over whatever kind of body sat beneath. And when the hooded head turned to face him, the bartender felt a cold ball sink to the bottom of his stomach.
"I did give him fair warning."
The bartender's eyes swept over the other attendees to the bar; and all their eyes, along with some barely concealed blasters, were firmly aimed at the cloaked figure. But the bartender raised a hand and, after gaining a few suspicious looks from some of the regulars, those aiming lowered their guns and reluctantly turned their attention back to their drinks.
Now that eyes were less obviously on them, the bartender turned back to the cloaked figure.
"Kraa is…waiting for you out back."
The hood tilted to one shoulder, visibly nodding.
"Excellent."
The figure glided across the floor, chairs being pushed aside without a second glance as it passed by the bartender. At the last second, however, he came to a stop beside the bartender, and turned to look directly towards the front man.
He dared to return the look towards the hooded figure; right here, up close and personal, he could make out the faintest glow of blue in the shadow-y depths.
"So glad you came around in the end; would have been a shame to have this…" he looked around behind the bartender, before coming back to focus on the one standing before him. "…Fine establishment levelled."
Without a second glance, the cloaked figure continued forward, pushing through the same door the bartender had stepped out of moments earlier. The door silently shut behind him, leaving only the old metal surface for the bartender to look at.
Alarms were blaring, red sirens were lighting up the corridors. Armed soldiers were rushing down the halls, higher ranking officers barking out orders and sending squads down where they were most needed. Scientists were escorted to safer areas.
It was barely organized chaos. And E demanded answers.
He burst through the doors, running against the flow of soldiers and looking around for someone he recognised; but all he saw was rows after rows of nameless grunts following orders. "Clint!" he barked out, shoving past a running soldier to dive down a side hallway that was far quieter than those that went straight.
But it also happened to be the very hallway he found Clint staggering into.
Not wasting any time, E marched up to him, a steely edged glare accompanying him.
"What the hell is happening?"
Clint, previously looking over his shoulder, turned to face E. He didn't even try to hide the aggravation taking over his facial features.
"Those freaks are proving…" the final word lingered on the tip of his tongue, debating if there was a better choice of word. In the end, however, Clint settled on, "…difficult."
E looked down both sides of the corridor, seeing the steady stream of soldiers rushing down either side of them. He then brought his eyes back to focus squarely on Clint.
"'Difficult'?" E repeated, his tone sharper than Clint's. "I'm not in the mood for bullshit understatements, Clint. We are in no position to play down these guys; they are a few steps down from weapons of mass destruction in the wrong hands."
"So cut the crap, and tell me what the hell is going on."
Clint's entire demeanour shifted from E's tone alone; his shoulders rolled back, and he stood a tad straighter. He gave a short, sharp sigh and jerked his head back down the way he had staggered in from. "C'mon, follow me; the guy probably wouldn't have bleed out by that point."
E barely held back a venom-laced response, biting his tongue as he stiffly nodded. He followed after Clint, once again throwing themselves into the sea of rushing soldiers; the pair of them fighting against the strong current. Eventually the oncoming soldiers started to pick up on two of their superiors were going against the flow, and formed path for them to travel down unimpeded.
Eventually they broke loose when they side-stepped into another corridor, approaching a reinforced door, guarded by the only stationary guards E had seen in the past five minutes. A quick flash of his ID granted both him and Clint access, as both guards unclasped the locks and pulled the great steel doors with a mighty heave.
But even before the doors were opened, E could hear a muffled, blood-curdling scream on the other side.
The door was barely cracked open before E abruptly rushed forward, slipping in through the narrow opening and into the secured area. And immediately came to a stop; a deeply copper-scented punch smacked him right in the face. Then he saw, and heard, the sight before him that much clearer.
"Jesus Christ…"
One guard had collapsed to the ground, thrashing about and screaming out in agony as two other guards wrestled to keep him steady. Though E had a feeling it was more to keep the blood from splattering everywhere. Two medics stood to one side, the woman of the pair already wiping off a few splatters from her face.
Though all this lead to him asking one question.
"Do I even need to ask where the rest of his arm is?"
All it took was a look to towards the five glass containers from Clint to give E his answer.
E walked towards them, gesturing to the medics as he passed, asking, "You gonna sedate him yet, or you gonna wait until he bleeds out?"
"We're waiting on more propofol."
"I thought you had enough to put a ten man squad under, ten times over."
"We wasted all we had to try and put them under," the man half of the medic team jerked his thumb towards the cells. "And even then we only managed to put down three of 'em."
E looked between the two medics, and the special glass cells this room was built to hold; three of which had walls like frosted ice, leaving only the central and middle-left cubes completely see-through.
Well, the central cell was completely see-through.
The middle-left one had its walls partially obscured with…well, E had a pretty good idea.
Grinding his teeth, E threw a look back to Clint, and uttered, "Make sure word doesn't get out about this; last thing we need is Mallory finding out about this."
"How do you expect me to explain why we're down a guy and why we got the hazmat guys down here?" Clint asked in disbelief. Frankly, he saw it as a miracle he hadn't seen Director Mallory on his way down here, what with all of the commotion going on.
"You're smart, you'll think of something."
E didn't give Clint the chance to respond, as he abruptly marched towards the blood-soaked cuboid cell. The sound of his steps were overshadowed by the continuing screams of the three-limbed soldier.
"And shut him up already!"
E turned back around and came to a stop just before the bloodied cell, finding a spot where he could actually peer in.
Tanya had propped herself against opposite wall of her cell, right next to the anchor point that chained her Howler arm and locked said Howler up. And while that would have been his main focus, E was more occupied with the bloodied mess that covered the rest of the girl's clothes.
He raised a hand and gave a pair of short, sharp knocks to the glass.
The girl's reaction was slow, but as she eventually brought her head up, E realized the blood wasn't just spread across her clothes. Nearly her entire face, up to the bottom of the eyes, was drowned in the crimson liquid. And the look in her eye…
E wasn't fazed by much, but there was a certain…wild look to this Ranger that didn't sit right with him.
He rolled his shoulders back, and cleared his throat, "I don't think I even need to ask what happened here."
Tanya looked directly at E, though it was like she wasn't focusing on him.
"But I'm going to need that arm back."
E gestured to the small pool of blood sitting beside Tanya; in the middle of which, the rest of the soldiers' arm sat, soaked in its own blood.
Tanya looked down to the severed limb, then back to E.
In the blink of an eye, the arm was thrown against the glass, directly where E's face was looking in; splattering the glass with even more blood, leaving the palm's imprint on the glass wall. E was unfazed by the sudden throw, though he did see a few soldiers behind the cell involuntarily try to bring their weapons up.
"Very mature," he dryly remarked, lifting his eyes from where the severed limb came to rest and focused back on Tanya.
She had a smirk on her now; the blood already made it far more disturbing, but something other than that caught E's attention far more.
"What the hell…?"
Those teeth looked far sharper than any humans' he had seen…
"What in the seven circles of Hell is going on with those teens Fairweather?"
"Nine."
E looked back to Fairweather, seeing her over the top of her laptop working away; something he or Mallory had requested, he hoped.
"Nine circles of Hell," Fairweather corrected, looking up over her glasses as E started walking back to her; she sat up straight, lowering her laptop lid down as E came to a stop just on the opposite side of her desk. "Ever heard of Dante's Inferno?"
"I'm not here to discuss just how screwed we are when we leave this life," E argued sharply, hand coming out of his pocket to emphasis cutting the conversation short. "I'm here to figure out why those teens suddenly got mouthfuls of fangs."
Fairweather was quiet for a moment, internally processing all the info suddenly thrusted upon her; at least now, E had calmed down from slamming her door open and storming in earlier.
"It sounds like they're going through an extreme case of CE."
E gave her a look, getting a sigh out of the former Lightspeed Rescue head scientist.
"Civilian Enhancements; you might know them better as Civilian Powers. Some Ranger teams exhibit enhanced traits of their power source, even when not suited up. It appears less in manufactured Morphers, and more in…organic power sources. An example like the Reefside Dino Rangers under Dr Oliver's mentorship."
"Enhanced speed and strength, I could understand," E remarked, throwing a thumb gesture over his shoulder. "How the hell do you explain a canine set of teeth?"
"Like I said, this sounds like an extreme case," Fairweather reasoned, getting up from her seat as E stepped, hand stroking his chin in contemplation as she took his previous spot against his desk.
She threw a look to E as he paced, remarking, "I really hope this isn't going to bring any sort of repercussions on them."
"It absolutely will," E responded without missing a beat.
A sour glare was shot his way. "You cannot be serious."
"Why wouldn't I be?"
"Because you're the reason why they're in this situation in the first place; they're misunderstood teenagers, not terrorists."
"Misunderstood is a strange way of saying 'the cause of hundreds of deaths, thousands injured and over two dozen laws, national and international, violated'," E replied sharply, gesturing out of the office; while not accurately pointing to where the Rangers were held, the intent was the same.
"They should be lucky they're even alive; if it were entirely up to me, they would've died where they stood. But now we have them in our custody, and while we do, we might as well…take a closer look at their Morphers' power source," E continued, completely glossing over his first sentence as he walked back towards the door. "So we can see what they can do for us."
Fairweather followed behind E as he moved to the exit, arms folded across her chest. "And what do you think they can do for us?" she asked, internally dreading what his answer might be.
E was half-way through the door when her question came, ready to close the door behind him. He turned to look at Fairweather, giving her a once over before giving a smirk; though it didn't come close to reaching his eyes.
"Peace in our time."
E closed the door shortly afterwards, leaving Fairweather standing there for a few seconds staring at the varnished wood. She stood with a prominently featured glare, jaw visibly tightened and gave a slow, deep exhale through her nose.
"'Peace in our time'…" she echoed back E's words to herself, slowly walking herself back around her desk. She sat down, her eyes landing on the closed laptop; the standby light flashing on the front of the base. Her hand came to rest on the laptop, and after a moments' hesitation, pushed the screen back up.
The screen immediately lit up again, displaying the rotating logo of the Lightspeed organization. It spun on the spot a few times, before fading out and was replaced by what resembled a helmet.
A Power Ranger helmet. With a diamond shaped visor.
The screen reflection caught in Fairweather's glasses, as she gave a small nod.
"We just need time."
Space Patrol Delta - Delta Base, Earth, 2034
"-We don't have time to wait much longer! Get me B-Squad on the bridge, a-s-a-p."
A door within the SPD Delta Base snapped open, allowing Commander Schuyler 'Sky' Tate to march through with a bridge officer. The corridors were bathed in a deep red glow, and other officers were rushing back and forth, a state of barely contained panic gripping the entire base.
"Right away sir," the officer replied, rushing ahead of the Commander and turned a corner, vanishing from sight.
This left Sky to walk the rest of his way to the bridge alone, silently mulling over his thoughts and why he was marching to the bridge.
Reports of an armada coming out of hyperspace around Earth started coming in less than a thirty minutes ago. But before they even had a chance to start investigating the reports, they got a massive influx of reports of explosions filling the sky. Chillingly, almost in sync with the reports of explosions, reports of ships going missing; ranged from shipments coming to Earth, exports from Earth about to head out, even some just passing by the atmosphere.
And Sky knew it didn't take a genius to guess if these two report types were related…
The door to the frantic Delta Base Bridge snapped open as he neared, letting loose the barely contained chaos and rising panic. Officers were rushing back and forth, talking over one another as they each tried to get a handle on the situation. Though silence suddenly fell over the room as Sky entered the room, all eyes turning to him.
"Commander on the Bridge!"
A number of officers previously sitting started to stand to give a salute, but Sky briskly walked towards the central control station. He gestured for them to remain seated.
"What's the status on those ships in the atmosphere?" he asked, taking note of the active projection of Earth on full display; a circle of flashing yellow blips surrounding the miniature model of the planet.
"You want the good news first or the bad news?"
Sky perked up at the familiar voice, stepping around the central command post to find Kat, the feline-like human, working on the opposite side of the control post. He gave a slight nod of greeting, breaking his stoic features to give the head of the SPD R&D a friendly smile-to which Kat returned, equally as subtly-before both turned their attention back to the prominent threat.
"Some good news would be welcome today," Sky answered, pacing around the control post, arms folded neatly behind his back.
"Well, they seem to be holding their position; though can't say if they'll stay like that for long," Kat replied, looking up to the projection and standing up straight.
Sky continued to pace around the projection, coming to a stop directly opposite where Kat stood. "We got any kind of ID on the origin of these ships? Some hidden remnant of The Armada finally decided they were done skulking in the depths of space?"
"That's the bad news…" Kat replied stiffly, tapping a button displayed on screen. Immediately, the focus of the projection shifted from the Earth to zooming into the centre of the yellow ring. "They're Troobian."
Sky's eyes hardened, and immediately shifted attention to the enhanced image of the ships surrounding the planet. Now, the ring was broken down and ships were taking shape in the hologram; a number of which resembled miniature version of the flagship that once belonged to their former Emperor.
"I thought the Troobian Empire collapsed with Gruumm and Omni."
"Seems they didn't get the message," Kat remarked, just as the door to the Bridge snapped open again and B-Squad quickly entered. Led by Bridge, the five-man squad of Power Rangers quickly lined up and stood at ease.
"B-Squad," Sky greeted, stepping away from the control point to address the Rangers, and his friends, directly. "Glad you could come as quickly as you could."
"Eh, just think of it as good timing," Lina Song, SPD Blue Ranger, commented with a slight shrug of her shoulder. "We just got back from the emergency aid mission on Gwinnet."
"Still got sand in my boots," Bridge, SPD Red, piped up, shifting from one foot to another to emphasis his point. "But…uh," his eyes swivelled from one side of the room to the other, "gonna say there's something…else we've missed."
"It is a good thing you came back when you did," Sky began, pacing back to the control point. "From what we've been able to make out, it seems to be a blockade…formed of remnants of the Troobian Empire."
The look of surprise and shock washed over the B-Squad; though whereas Bridge, Syd and Z shared a similar look of disbelief, the newer members of the squad, Lina and JJ, SPD Green, wore looks that resembled shock.
"But…I thought it fell when Commander Cruger arrested Gruumm," Syd remarked, looking around to the barely organized chaotic buzz going around the bridge.
"Think we all thought that," Sky commented, walking back around the projection of the Troobian ships. "But apparently, they didn't seem to get the memo."
"They've positioned themselves directly at hyperspace jump points; anything that comes in or out, they'll get ripped apart," Kat informed, tapping a button to highlight the hyperspace lanes in orange; all of them had some kind of Troobian blockade formed in front of them.
"So we need to get this sorted before anyone else perishes," JJ, the Green Ranger, remarked, earning a nod of confirmation from Sky.
Sky began, "I'm sending-" but was cut off when the hologram started to flicker, drawing the attention of the entire B-Squad, Sky and Kat.
"Kat?"
"Something's trying to get through; but it's not a frequency that has clearance," Kat clarified, working at the small tablet now in her hand. "Trying to decipher where it's coming from."
With all eyes now on Kat and the flickering hologram, it was much easier for one of the members of B-Squad to slip out.
JJ only noticed when a hint of movement caught the corner of his eye, and he caught Bridge's red-accented uniform vanishing out of frame of the open door frame. He gave a quick look over the rest of the squad, but found everyone else was drawn into trying to figure out who was trying to get through to them.
With everyone else distracted, JJ stepped back and quick-walked out of the door; Bridge couldn't have gone far, especially as he had just seen him walk out of sight.
He was right; the Red SPD Ranger was standing just beyond sight of the Bridge, directly in the middle of the hallway. All while others rushed to and fro around him, having to side step to avoid colliding with the Power Ranger.
"Bridge?" JJ asked.
But the Green Ranger was ignored, as Bridge pried one of his gloves off, finger by finger, until his hand was free. He waved his hand in front of him, a red aura following his forearm. As it came back down to his side again, JJ came up beside Bridge; taking note of his Squad leader's expression. The look on his face had shifted to some kind of mixed of confusion and…uncertainty.
JJ had grown used to Bridge's quirky behaviour quickly, but this…wasn't like him.
"Bridge, what is it?" JJ repeated.
"I don't know…" Bridge replied, half-distracted as he looked from side to side of the corridor stretching out in front of him. "There's something, but…I don't know, it's not…it doesn't feel right."
\/\/\/\/
"-Goddamnit E, don't you think you're being just a little unreasonable?"
"What are you talking about?"
Mallory came to a stop in the middle of the corridor and turned back around to face E, firmly planting his cane into the floor. Thankfully, they were lucky enough to be granted a bit of unexpected privacy, with a lot of the guards stationed elsewhere and scientists being kept busy.
Probably for the best, less they be on the receiving end of Mallory's glare.
"You really think I'm going to increase your budget just like that? It's not that simple E; I taught you that much."
E stuffed his hands into his coat pockets, a growing look of irritation visible across his face.
"I was also taught how to work the system, getting all you want while keeping your cards close to the chest; and I did learn from the best," E commented.
Mallory glared at E for what seemed like the longest time, his expression hardened into a deep scowl. But even that couldn't stop a small smirk from cracking his wrinkled features.
"Compliments are meant to be given to a woman you're chasing after; not your boss to try and get an increase budget."
The Director looked over his shoulder, then side to side to double check that the two of them did in fact had full privacy. Even then, his next few words were considerably lower in volume.
"Look, E, I can't dig much more into the black budget without drawing some unwanted attention. I've already got some unwanted notice from Washington. The entire future of Division 13 is up in the air, and unless we get some concrete progress being made with those Rangers, we aren't gonna be here to see what happens to it."
E's hands came out of his pockets, held out in front of him as he spoke, "Look, we're trying, but progress is slow. The Rangers are proving to be a pain to work with."
"So I've heard," Mallory commented, earning a sudden glance from E. "Don't give me that look; you really think you can hide the fact we've essential got a revolving door of men coming through here?"
"I would have hoped it took a bit longer than this…"
"This isn't helping your situation in the slightest, Elijah," Mallory pressed, taking control of the conversation as he took a step forward, forcing E to take an equal step backwards. "Right now, you are treading on the thinnest of ice right now. I'm covering for you as best I can right now, but you've got to come up with results. And soon."
Mallory tapped E on the chest. "But be careful how you do, because all eyes will be on you if it goes wrong."
With those final words, the Director left E in the corridor with his own thoughts, disappearing through the doors. He gave one final look through the glass panel of the door, seeing E still had his back to him, before limping down another corridor.
E remained stationary, seemingly staring blankly at the wall in front of him. His hands wound up into tight fists, and the next thing he knew, a fist-sized hole appeared in the otherwise bland wall.
His breath came out in short, sharp bursts, feeling the start his hand throbbing from the punch; a quick glance at the grazed knuckles gave him the impression something was going to be, at the very least, bruised. A sigh of frustration escaped him, as E turned to walk down the corridor, slamming open the door in the process.
E wiped his nose as he rounded a corner, paying no attention to the smear of red across his sleeve.
\/\/\/\/
"Bridge! JJ!"
The Red and Green SPD Rangers turned at the sound of their names, finding Z sliding to a stop just up the corridor. "Kat's deciphered that transmission; it's from the Troobians."
The Rangers exchanged a quick look at this news. "C'mon," Bridge finally said, leading the others back to the Command Bridge.
Sky looked towards the door as the three Rangers of B-Squad returned to the Command Deck, but his attention quickly returned to the hologram standing in the middle of the command point; Kat worked away at the keyboard beside him, delicately working on fine tuning the details.
"We got any audio through yet?" JJ asked.
"We're about to," Kat informed, finishing with a final tap of the keyboard and stepping back.
The finer edges of the hologram smoothed out, the details starting come through more refined and distinctive features were appearing.
Sky rolled his shoulders back and stepped up in front of the hologram; visibly movement from the light came with him clearing his throat.
"This is Earth Delta Commander Tate, of Space Patrol Delta," Sky stated, though he found it hard to conceal the edge of venom to his words. "Identify yourself, immediately."
The silence that followed seemed to drag far longer than anyone wanted. All eyes were on the hologram, waiting for some kind of response to Sky's demand. The atmosphere was tense.
So when a gruff chuckle broke the tension, several lower ranked officers were startled but were equally as quick to hide this as the figure's hoarse voice came through.
"I find it quite funny that you think you're in a position make demands…Tate."
The figure raised the staff-like weapon in its hand and slammed it into the ground, as it lowered the leather hood, revealing the crimson scaly skin hidden beneath. One eye was covered by an eyepatch, while the other was a pale green slit.
"But I shall amuse you, this one time. I am General Kraa, of the New Troobian Empire. You destroyed our Emperor, but the Empire was no so easily extinguished."
Kraa turned on the spot, his projection looking towards all the eyes on him. "Year after year, the shadows of deep space gave us sanctuary from the tyranny of the SPD. Now, we have your precious Earth surrounded; any ship that dares try to reinforce will be torn apart before they even enter the atmosphere."
Sky's jaw tightened considerably as Kraa spoke, his hands clenching into fists behind his back. With Kraa's back to him, he spared a glance across to Kat. The two shared a brief non-verbal exchange, which ended with Sky giving her a faint nod.
As she set to work on the nearest keyboard and monitor, Sky turned back to the hologram just as Kraa completed his circle viewing.
"I have demands, and should you comply…I will reconsider this blockade."
Sky let out a sharp breath, teeth grinding behind his tightly pressed lips.
"SPD does not negotiate, especially not with warlords who attack with such a brazenly aggressive blockage."
The hologram flickered a bit as Sky spoke, briefly distorting Kraa's projection. But the scowl remained visible across his scales even after the hologram smoothed out again. A faint hiss pass through, sounding significantly different compared to the comms static.
"Perhaps…you didn't clearly hear who I am."
Sky opened his mouth to respond-he had some snide, unprofessional remark that he was sure Jack would've come up with half lined up-but another voice answered before he had the chance.
"General Kraa, of the 9th Troobian Fleet."
All eyes, including Kraa's, turned to the open doors to the Command Bridge.
In the doorframe, decked out in the uniform for Supreme Commander complete with a gold SPD badge pinned to his chest, stood…
"Commander!"
"Cruger…"
A few steps out of the doorway revealed Supreme Commander Anubis Cruger, arms folded neatly behind his back. His jackal-like head caught the light, highlighting his erect ears and the deepened scowl firmly sketched onto his muzzle.
Sky gave a sudden shake of his head, clearing the shock, and barked out, "Supreme Commander on deck!"
Some petty officers started to get out of their seats to salute, but Cruger marched up to the command point. "Formalities come second to defending the planet. Back to your stations."
Even with the level tone, no-one had a second thought to question Cruger's word; many that served under him were still working at this very SPD branch, so they knew better than to question his word.
"Commander Tate," Curger addressed as he stepped up to the command point.
Sky looked up to Cruger and quickly fell back into a salute, "Sir."
But as he brought his hand back down again, he noticed Cruger was looking at the hologram of Kraa; without a word, Sky quickly pressed a few buttons and briefly closed the comms with the Troobian fleet. When comms were successfully muted, Cruger looked back up to Sky.
"Sir, how did you get here? The planet's jump points have all been covered by the Troobians."
"My ship managed to arrive at its jump point before the blockade was in position," Cruger replied, taking up a position directly opposite from where Sky stood at the central command point. "What's the current situation, Sky?"
Sky paused briefly to glance up at Cruger, making sure to keep his jaw drawn tight to keep a faint smile back as it tried to break through at his former Commander mentioning him by his first name. He maintained his expression, however, and tapped on the pair of screens before him.
"Kraa's Troobian fleet has the jump points surrounding Earth entirely mapped out and blocked; we've put the warning out to all connecting points that Earth isn't safe to travel to as of now."
A low 'hmm' came from Cruger.
"We're still trying to figure out how they knew the exact coordinates for the jump points though," Kat added, as she took the seat from one of the officers at his workstation. Bridge had followed, positioning himself to look over her shoulder. "This would've had to have taken months of planning and organizing to get it this accurate."
"Well…Grumm's forces seem to be as persistent as he himself…" Cruger commented dryly, and Sky caught the faintest twitch of Crugers' hand fall to his side. The handle to his Shadow Saber stuck out, loyally remaining at the Supreme Commander's side.
"Just doesn't many sense," Bridge commented, stepping back from Kat and towards the other Rangers. "A lot of the jump points they've covered were classified SPD-authorised use only. Our firewalls and security would've stopped them getting close."
"Even if they were to get through, I doubt they could've got their hands on all that data without someone catching on," Z added, pacing between the control console and where JJ had propped himself against.
"Or maybe you are all blinded by our arrogance."
The sudden, sharp voice rang out throughout the Command Room, and all those present froze.
"Please tell me I wasn't the only one to hear that?" Lina questioned, glancing towards her fellow B-Squad teammates.
"You weren't," Sky answered stiffly, quickly moving to another panel on the control point and pressed a button. "Lock down Delta Base, and run a Level 7 scan through the base and its systems."
The lights throughout the base immediately switched to bath the facility entirely in red and security doors came down in the Command Room. "Running a Level 7 scan," a technician called out, putting in several commands before finishing with a final tap on the keyboard.
"Everyone stand perfectly still; need to give the scan the best chance it can t-"
"Oh please. All of this?"
The voice that interrupted Sky wasn't all around them like before, as one by one, all eyes turned to the Command Chair at the head of the Bridge. Sky turned to look towards the chair, suddenly realizing that the back of the chair was facing them. And only now did he notice the white sleeve resting on the arm rest…
Sky drew his Deltamax Striker and pointed it to the chair. "You in the chair! Turn around, hands in the air!"
This prompted the other B-Squad Rangers to draw their own Deltamax Strikers, Bridge duel-wielding his Delta Blasters and coming up to Sky's side to act as backup.
"Identify yourself!" Bridge ordered, he and Sky sparing a brief look. With the other B-Squad Rangers, and the other SPD officers in the room, covering them with blasters trained on the chair, the Deka and Red Rangers slowly approached the Command Chair.
"That'd be a waste of time on all our parts, Bridge Carson."
Bridge stopped momentarily, but quickly got back into step with Sky. They must've found his name when going through their SPD records.
The unidentified person stood up from the chair, causing the number of officers in the room to close in, further supporting Sky and Bridge. JJ and Lina remained in place, moving to act as security for Cruger. But the Supreme Commander gestured for them to step aside; JJ and Lina followed his orders, parting ways to allow Cruger to walk through the gap they made for him.
"How did you get inside SPD Headquarters?" Sky demanded, his patience growing thinner with every passing second.
"I have my ways of getting where I need to," came the figure's vague reply.
A low growl to his side caught Sky's attention, finally realizing that Cruger was standing alongside him and Bridge. He lowered his blaster as the former Earth Commander stepped forward, subconsciously taking the lead.
"Why don't we skip all the vague answers and get straight to the point," Cruger interrupted.
The mystery figure was quiet, back still to the multiple blasters pointed directly at him; though he seemed very aware of it.
"Why are you here?"
A short silence followed these words from Cruger, the mystery person still standing partially behind the chair. Eventually, the figure slowly walked around the chair, hand coming up to rest on the headrest as he turned around to look to the many faces bathed in the red lights above them.
"Because of you…Anubis Cruger."
Cruger was momentarily struck with a look of confusion, but that was almost immediately overcome with a glare and a low growl.
"And who exactly are you?"
A smile stretched across Zeta's face.
To be Continued...
So this has taken a much longer time to add to this story than normal, but I've got other stuff in the works and trying to balance them all out. Hopefully I'll be able to make more progress than I have been.
-Nf991