The next hour passed in almost complete silence until Corian suddenly rose and headed towards the back of the small passenger compartment where the food synthesizer was built into the back bulkhead.
He never so much as looked back at his pilot on his way through the shuttle; he obviously believed Sky to be sufficiently cowed into passivity by his recent experience with senseless-ness.
Sky ignored him as well, silently grateful for the momentary respite; the alien's constant close proximity had been grating on him ever since take-off, but even more so since he had revealed his powers. The solitude turned out to be short-lived, however.
"How do you work this stupid replicator?" came Corian's frustrated voice a few minutes later.
"Figure it out yourself," Sky told him without turning around. "I might be your chauffeur, but I'm not your butler."
His vision went dark with the same abruptness as before and Sky flinched violently. Panic surged up immediately in his chest, but he clamped down on it. He could still hear, could still feel the seat beneath him and the control stick in his hand. Could hopefully still talk.
"Cut. It. Out." Sky ground out between clenched teeth and heard Corian snicker behind him.
"Show me how to work the replicator."
Sky took a deep breath and willed his racing heart to slow down. "All right."
His sight returned; He hit the autopilot, then made his way to the back of the shuttle in resignation. Corian was watching him approach with a smug and superior smile that Sky wanted nothing more than to punch off his face. As succinctly as possible he showed him which buttons to push to synthesize particular foods and beverages, but they didn't make it to the first dish before a series of beeps resounded from the pilot console.
Corian was immediately on guard. "What's that?"
"Proximity alert."
Sky strode back to the cockpit with Corian right behind him to find a large planet looming off the port bow of the shuttle, about one hundred kilometers below them. Its bright surface seemed to shimmer and undulate.
Sky slid into his seat and was just about to resume manual control when something, an ineffable instinct, kept him from disengaging the autopilot. He loosely gripped the control stick mainly for show, even though Corian hadn't noticed anything.
"Why are we passing so close by this planet?" Corian wanted to know as he peered around him.
"You wanted the most direct route to your meeting point," Sky told him. "And cutting across the atmosphere of this planet is it."
The planet below them was Zeelos II. An uninhabitable world due to its toxic atmosphere, its surface was pockmarked with hundreds of crater-like indentations, each sporting a large hole in its center.
Sky was familiar with this celestial body, since B-Squad had patrolled this sector only last year. He was also familiar with its recurring spectacle of nature, which seemed be happening again at any moment judging by the steam coming out of several dozens of those center-holes.
Corian noticed it, too. "Whoa, what is happening?"
"Gas geyser eruptions," Sky explained. "Happens all the time down there."
"Is it safe?" Corian looked concerned.
"Yeah, we are too high up to be caught in any gas turbulences," Sky said.
Mollified, Corian leaned forward, craning his neck across the pilot console to get a better view of what was happening far below. Only a moment later, gas plumes were shooting several hundred feet into the air in such volume and with such force that they were clearly visible with the naked eye, even from as far away as the shuttle's cockpit. But the real phenomenon happened when the plumes reached the gases trapped in the planet's lower atmosphere.
The commingling of several different gases and fumes set off a fireworks-like reaction of sparks and bolts that ran like multi-colored lightning across the sky. The result was such an impressive spectacle of light and color that, if Sky hadn't seen it all before during last year's patrol, he probably would have been as mesmerized by it as Corian was now. From the captivated look on the Kraylean's face, it was obvious that he had never seen anything like it before.
And with a start, Sky realized that this was his chance.
Corian's posture was relaxed, his gun held loose and pointing to the floor while he was watching the color-and-light display below him with wide eyes. But most importantly, he was within range and he was distracted.
Sky kept his right hand on the control stick, keeping up the pretense of flying while his left hand surreptitiously balled into a fist.
I can switch off all of your senses, cut you off from every sensation. How long do you think you can stay sane inside the big black nothing?
Sky grit his teeth in an attempt to subdue a shudder at the memory of that threat. He squeezed his fist so hard he felt the nails cut into his palms.
He could not let fear immobilize him. Morpher or no, he was still a Ranger first and foremost, and as a Ranger he had an obligation to protect Earth from criminals like Corian. He couldn't let him get away; he had to try again.
Corian's no-more-seatbelts rule now worked to his advantage as he slowly and incrementally shifted in his seat, re-positioning his body for the best leverage for what he was about to do.
Corian was still staring out at the colorful spectacle with an expression of almost childlike wonder that was very much out of place on the face of such a hardened criminal.
Now or never.
Adrenaline surging through him, Sky put everything he had into the punch. With a wordless exclamation of rage, he shot out of his seat, slammed his left fist into the alien criminal's jaw and watched with immense satisfaction as Corian's head snapped back violently and he emitted a cry of surprise and pain. Sky immediately followed up on the uppercut with a right hook to the alien's temple. He couldn't give the Kraylean even a moment to get his wits together and get back into his head. Corian's hand shot up, but Sky caught his wrist at the same time as he kneed him in the gut, then kneed him again, this time right in the nose when the alien doubled over. Purple blood spurted onto the shuttle floor and the gargled sound coming from Corian made Sky pause, but only for half a second. He had to finish this.
He pulled his fist back and threw his entire body weight behind the punch to the side of Corian's head. The alien's eyes rolled back in his head and he crashed to the shuttle floor like a sack of flour. The whole fight had taken less than ten seconds.
Sky took the Kraylean's own gun and the SPD blaster off him, then rushed to the cockpit, reached into the same compartment that had held the blaster and pulled out a pair of handcuffs. Only when Corian lay securely shackled – and still unconscious – by his feet in the passenger compartment did Sky allow himself to relax. He leaned against the bulkhead, breathing heavily. His hand hurt and there were smudges of purple across his knuckles, but it was nothing compared with the elation that was coursing through him.
It had worked; he had pulled off his surprise attack.
He set his blaster to stun. There was no way Corian was getting back into his head once he regained consciousness, and if Sky had to repeatedly stun him all the way back home for that, then he was more than willing to do that.
He paused as another thought hit him. With Corian unconscious, he had no more control now…
Sky held out his hand – and smiled with relief when the familiar blue energy materialized in front of him right away. He was back to himself again!
He headed to the pilot console and reprogrammed the navigational computer with the coordinates for the Delta Base, which he knew by heart, before he opened the comm channel.
"Sky Tate to Delta Base."
"Sky! We hear you." Commander Cruger's voice came across the line almost immediately. "What's your situation?"
"Subject is secured and I am heading back to Earth, sir."
"Well done, Cadet," Cruger said, and Sky grinned when he heard faint cheering in the background.
"I am transmitting Corian's destination coordinates. I'm pretty sure that's where you'll find the rest of his gang, Commander."
"Copy that. I am sending out B-Squad for arrest and containment immediately," came the reply. "What's your ETA?"
"I should be back at base in about two hours, sir. And I'm going to need a solitary maximum security cell for Corian."
"Consider it done. I will meet you on the landing platform with a security detail."
"Thank you, sir. I'll see you in two hours, then. Tate out."
Sky put the SPD blaster in his lap and increased the shuttle's velocity to maximum speed. He had an evening with Bridge to look forward to. Time to head home and make it happen.
TBC…