AN: Thanks once more for the wonderful reviews.
Warning: This chapter is a bit dark.
Once a Ranger
Chapter 2: Death and Destruction
By Daylight
A variety of planets exist from gas giants to ocean worlds to mere hardened rocks, and the Space Rangers had had the rare opportunity to view and visit a large number. This one was different. From faraway, you could almost believe the tenebrous clouds, the stagnant brown oceans, and the grit gray landmasses were the normal conditions for this planet, but the scanners indicated differently. And as the rangers penetrated the murky haze, it was soon clear as to why this was the case.
The darkened continents turned out to be acres of dead and rotting vegetation lying like a mats of mold across the fields and mountains, interrupted only by mud brown or sickly green waters. A dim and dismal world, the thick clouds overhead left it under perpetual shadow. As the rangers moved closer, the smoking remains of buildings took away their hopes the planet had been uninhabited. Hovering above, they could say no words as they took it all in.
Eventually, Andros' sense of duty took over. "Spread out and look for survivors. I'll track down the source of the distress call." He eyed his still shaken teammates. "Be careful. Whatever did this might still be around."
The other rangers nodded before drifting in different directions.
ooooo
The Blue and Black Astro Rangers set down in a circle of rubble that had once been a town, the vague pattern of roads and buildings only just discernable beneath the wreckage. As they landed some of what they had initially perceived as debris came into view and their spirits sank. Carlos became immensely thankful for the isolated atmosphere of his helmet as it kept away the smell of decaying flesh.
TJ forced himself to kneel down and wave his scanner over one of the shriveled gray forms. "These people look like they've been dead for weeks, but the scanners indicate only a couple of hours."
Unable to respond, Carlos fought against the impulse to wrap his arms around himself. Death to them was exploding monsters or the seldom seen innocent civilian crushed in the crossfire. They didn't usually see it like this, up close and en mass.
"What could have done such a thing?" muttered TJ.
A sudden crash felt more through the earth than their ears caused both rangers to jump and aim their weapons, but the only thing revealed was dust settling around the broken strut of a building, which had finally succumbed to gravity.
Breathing heavily, Carlos fought back against the adrenaline now rushing through his limbs. "This place gives me the creeps."
TJ switched to a wide-beam scan. "I'm not getting any life-signs, not so much as a blade of grass. This place is a ghost town."
The black ranger rolled his eyes. "You had to say it." His forehead creased as he took another look around. "Doesn't this place seem a bit too primitive to you? I don't see any sign of electricity, let alone the type of technology needed to send an intergalactic signal."
"Someone must have sent it."
"Well, hopefully whoever did is still alive so they can tell us what the hell happened here."
ooooo
Death. It suddenly seemed inescapable. Cassie followed the edge of a lake, lifeless marine creatures floating across the surface of the water. Behind her, the bare branches of grey trees drooped to the ground. Her steps were the only sound. Everything was still as if even the wind had died.
A little further along, Ashley was bent over collecting samples of lake water hoping to find what had killed the creatures. Noting the listlessness of the pink ranger, she got back up and walked over to her friend.
"The scanners don't show signs of any viruses or poisons, but hopefully a more detailed analysis will reveal something."
Cassie gave no reply.
"Of course, it's unlikely a virus could cause all this mess." Ashley tried to gaze through her fellow ranger's visor hoping to catch a glimmer of emotion in her hidden eyes. "What do you think, Cassie?"
Her only response was a shrug.
Ashley sighed. "Cass."
"I don't want to talk about it," was Cassie's retort as she finally spoke.
"It's not your fault," Ashley insisted.
"I know. It's just…" Turning away, Cassie paced restlessly wringing her hands as she spoke. "I can't get the last images of her out my mind: her body thrown back by that blast; her glowing, washed out form." She turned to face Ashley. "Why me? Why did I survive and she didn't? What makes my life more important than hers?"
"I can't answer that." Moving beside her friend, Ashley wrapped an arm around her. "But I do know that if the situation had been reversed, you would have done the same."
"Yeah, I guess so." Cassie gave the yellow ranger a quick hug back before breaking away. "Come on. Let's get back to work."
ooooo
Meanwhile, Andros had followed the distress call to an isolated home at the edge of a fragmented area of desolation. The stone building was one of the few to remain standing, but as Andros circled round, he could see one side had actually been flattened leaving the house open to the air. Leaping down, he climbed over the wreckage of the front door and began to search through the part left intact. He was quick to see an odd dichotomy in the furnishings. Half, including a metal stove and wooden washbasin, appeared to be of a type appropriate for Earth's 18th century, but the other half included technology that could be easily found on such advanced planets as Eltar.
The communication equipment wasn't hard to find. Lights flashed as the system continued its automatic broadcast. Andros' hand hesitated a moment over the control console before shutting it down. No more help was coming and he doubted it would do any good if it did.
A faint clatter of tumbling rocks made the red ranger swiftly swing round. Seeing nothing, he quickly reset his scanner to detect what he had neglected to look for before entering, life signs. The genetic signature of a sentient lifeform combined with the necessary vitals caused the small piece of equipment to beep as Andros realized the person was not hiding behind the mountain of debris but trapped beneath it. He was soon on his knees, gloved hands digging, pulling off wooden beams and stone bricks. The scraped and battered figure he revealed was shockingly familiar. Even more shocking was the fact that less than a year ago he would have been tempted to bury her himself.
"I never thought I'd actually be glad to see a power ranger."
"Rita Repulsa?"
Many people had been left bewildered when they found out three of the evilest villains in the universe had survived Zordon's wave of light. Whether it had been Zordon's whim or if there truly had been some good deep inside of them, no one would ever know. Andros like many of the rangers had been leery of these new converts to the side of good, but upon meeting them, had been amazed by the change and affected by the deep remorse projected from them. Last he heard, Rita and Zedd had been trying to repair some of the damage they had done.
The former Empress of Evil coughed as he swept the scanner over her.
"So, how do I look?"
Andros opened his mouth to reply but closed it again as he realized there was nothing he could say.
"That's what I thought."
Raising a hand to his helmet, Andros contacted the other rangers telling them to converge on his position; then, detaching the clips removed his helmet and set it down beside him, his long hair falling over his shoulders. He found his hand clenching as his mind continued to refuse to come up with any words or any way of helping her.
Somehow, Rita managed to raise a bloody hand and placed it on his arm. "Don't worry about me. You have much more important things to worry about."
"What happened?"
"We were attacked…The ships came so thick they blocked out the sun, so black all you could see were their jagged silhouettes against the sky. We had sensors designed just for this type of situation…. but there was nothing, not even a flicker of warning." Her breathing harsh and ragged, Rita forced herself to continue, the pain obvious in her bloodless lips.
"And then the shadows came… beings of pure darkness. Even when I was evil, I only heard rumors…stories of shapeless, pitch-black creatures living in the outer regions that could suck the very living energy from a person. They didn't make a sound as they moved through the village, but the villagers' screams made up for that. They flowed over everything… and everything they touched died. They seemed to take joy in destroying anything they couldn't kill."
"I managed to send the distress call before they reached us." She let out a bitter, chocked laugh. "You can learn a lot fighting power rangers as long as I had. Certain communications frequencies is one of them." Her face once more became somber. "I was sure they were going to kill us too, but instead they surrounded us and for a moment just stood there, before reaching forward and grabbing Zedd. They dragged him away… I tried to stop them. They just threw me against a wall before bringing half the house down. I guess they figured I was going to die anyway." Having finished her story, she broke into a harsh coughing fit.
Reaching forward, Andros put a comforting hand on her shoulder. "Is there anything I can do?"
"I know I don't have to ask you to stop them. You'll do that anyway. It's in your nature. But if you could please try to save Zedd… I did love him, you know, even after everything that happened."
"I promise."
"And one more thing." With a shaky arm, she pulled a crinkled letter from a pocket of her dress. "Could you deliver this?"
The Red Astro Ranger took the letter, his mouth involuntarily dropping open as he recognized the name written across the front.
"I never had the courage to do it myself…. Maybe it can help make up… for some of the evil I've done, since… all I seem to have done here…. is bring more destruction." She struggled, her breath growing more rough and thin. "Good luck, Ranger."
Andros was still trying to process the odd request when Rita's breaths finally stopped. Reaching out, he gently closed her eyes and remained kneeling, head bowed, until he heard the hum of his fellow rangers' galaxy gliders arriving.
Greeted by another gloomy scene, the rangers were left in despondent silence. Ashley approached her boyfriend placing an arm across his bent back. "Is there anything we can do?"
Nodding, Andros slowly got up and turning towards them held up the letter.
"Do any of you happen to know the current location of Tommy Oliver?"
Next:
Chapter 3: All Consuming Darkness
The rangers come face to face with the encroaching darkness.