A little after 0800 hours, Taylor and Ren were stood waiting outside Aaronsdale High School. To avoid attracting attention, the two officers were dressed casually with Taylor in yellow shirt and trousers and Ren in an open grey hoodie and red vest combination. Shaking his head and checking his watch, Ren commented, "She's late, I knew this wasn't a good idea."
"Give her a break," Taylor replied, "Jessi's been through a lot in the last few days."
"And I," Ren caught himself before amending his statement, "and we haven't been through a lot."
Taylor sighed, "I've given you a bit of leeway Lieutenant, I know you're hurting and I'm not expecting you to get over it straight away, but I expect you to act like a ranger, am I making myself clear?"
"Yes General," Ren hissed back, "not like you have a choice, I am the only one qualified to be your red ranger."
Stepping forward slowly into Ren's personal space, Taylor said quietly and deliberately, "Listen to me Ren because I will only say this once. I know plenty of red ranger's who would smack you into next week for taking this position lightly. You need to be the example to these civilians and if you can't, I will not hesitate make that call."
"Erm, hi", Jessi greeted, "are we interrupting something?"
"No, I think I've made my point," Taylor turned around but to her surprise, Jessi wasn't alone, "who is this?"
"One of our new team," the Silver ranger replied, "Noire Hart Oliver " Jessi said, Taylor arched an eyebrow at the mention of the last names, the nervous looking Noire offered a small wave.
"Great," Taylor finally replied, judging by the man's attire he was most likely the latest navy ranger, "how much has Jessi explained about the Project?"
"Enough to know that I'm not qualified in the slightest," Noire stated honestly.
The two officers looked at each other with Taylor giving Ren a less than subtle nod, "Welcome to the team," the red ranger offered Noire a handshake. The dark haired woman accepted but flinched slightly under his grip, "So, do you have any martial arts training?"
"Tommy and Kimberly are my parents, does that count?" Noire replied with a sheepish grin. When the officers didn't return the smile, spotting Taylor glare he quickly moved the conversion on, "let's get inside, we're running late as it is."
The quartet entered the school and quickly found their way to the Principle's office. Inside they found Principle Appleby sitting behind her desk with Stevie standing behind him next to the window, "Major Earhardt," the Principle greeted, "welcome to my school, although I must say I'm a little confused by your request."
"Understandable," Taylor replied, "but this is a national security matter, we couldn't say too much over the phone."
"National security," Principle Appleby looked over to Noire who offered her a confused shrug in response, "what's Miss Hart done to attract the attention of the US Military?"
"That's why we're here," Ren interrupted the argument between Principle and student, "we need Noire's help with a project that will count towards her credits."
"Really?" Noire frowned,
"This really is a national security matter that we need to discuss with you," Taylor stated, "alone," she added towards Principle Appleby. The older woman looked a little affronted at being kicked out of her office but begrudgingly stepped out, "Perhaps you should sit down for this Noire," Taylor continued.
"Look," the dark haired girl said defensively, "I don't know what the Military wants me for but trust me, you've got the wrong girl."
"We know you're a power Rangers child," Taylor began, After a few seconds of stunned silence, Ren said, "Trust us, you're the one we're looking for." The awkward silence was broken by the sound of screaming from the campus field. Everyone rushed over to the other window to see what the commotion was about, "An attack," Ren grumbled under his breath after seeing Quantrons attacking.
"Doesn't look like they're alone this time," Jessi added, "the footsoldiers have brought some monster backup this time."
"Then you'll need these," Taylor placed the metal case she had been carrying onto the Principle's desk. Popping it open revealed three pairs of devices, "This one's for your left wrist," she handed the piece to Mark. It was mostly silver with a gold circle at the top with a coloured globe in its centre, one silver, one navy and one red, underneath was a Centurus logo on one zenith logo on another and a strata logo on the last one, "It's a communication device so you can keep in contact with each other and control."
As Ren strapped the communicator to his left wrist, "when you push the centre you'll morph into your Ranger form." Taylor said.
"Ranger form?" Noire asked, "you want us to be Power Rangers?"
The cries of panic grew louder as the footsoldiers drew closer to the school building, "You've been chosen for a reason," Taylor began but quickly waved off further questions, "there will be time to explain later but right now, you need to protect the students."
Stevie looked out the window, watching her classmates running for cover. With a sigh she grabbed a communicator and morpher which glowed blue in her grasp, "Being a Power Ranger better pay well, I need some serious danger money for this."
Taylor shook her head in exasperation "when the time comes, you'll know what to do."
"So make it up as we go along, got it", Noire replied sarcastically, "come on big guy, let's get this over with," she added whilst pulling Ren towards the door.
Outside the school, the three new Rangers pushed past the crowd rushing in the opposite direction. Reaching the sports field the trio spotted a giant bug monster, it red and yellow pincers snapping as it ran towards the athletics team trying to find cover. The beast shot out its tongue towards the nearest student, latching onto their neck. A faint glow pulsed along the tongue, through the monster's body and into it's large thorax, "That's the most distressing thing I've seen," Noire choked out between a dry heave.
Jessi knelt beside the fallen student, he was ghostly pale with the exception of an ugly red bruise on his neck, "He's still breathing," she commented.
"Then he's lucky," Ren replied dryly.
"Lucky?" Noire snapped, "he's been drained of his energy and knocked out, not sure I'd call that lucky."
"He's still alive," Ren continued to the navy ranger, "that's more than can be said for others."
With a snap of his fingers a sword appeared in Elgar's hand, "I sense great power in you three, let us see what you can do."
"Oh we'll show you," Noire brandished her new morpher. There was a long pause as the navy ranger looked at the device, "How does this thing work?" she whispered to Ren
The red ranger took a step forward, "Watch and learn rookies," he raised his right arm vertically against his chest, then his left arm to show the morpher and communicator, "Go Galactic," he called before touching the red diamond in the middle of the morpher with his left hand,
With a flash of red light and waves followed by the roar of a rhino, Ren morphed into his Ranger form. His suit was predominantly red on top, with white gloves and a white chest with a black zig zag cross his chest. The boots were white and his helmet had a rhino motif, "Trans dagger" the crimson ranger called and charged towards the monster.
"Alright, our turn," Noire said to Jessi, "Go Galactic," they called in unison.
Their suits were similar to Ren's, except it was navy blue, had a skirt and her helmet looked like the Strat force megazord's head, while Jessi's was silver, her helmet had a shark motif to it, the only difference was she had a gold chest, "No way," Noire inspected her gloved hands, "Less talking, more hitting," Jessi jumped at the nearest pair of Quantrons, using her enhanced strength to send them flying across the field, "Yeah, take that," she cried. Almost immediately though, a Quantron struck her across her back, sending her tumbling to the ground.
"Hey," Noire called, she swung for one, accidentally knocking the soldier away. She was soon engulfed by Quantrons who picked her up and threw her onto the ground next to Jessi.
Ren had his hands full with Elgar, their swords clashed repeatedly as the red ranger struggled to repel his attacks, "Not bad, for a human," Elgar said, "too bad the same can't be said for your friends." Ren could see the silver and navy ranger's struggling with the Quantrons, all whilst the Vampire Bug was heading towards the school, "This conquest will be easier than I thought," Elgar chuckled.
He swung his blade toward Ren who barely managed to block the attach with the Trans dagger. The two warriors were locked together, fighting for leverage on the other, "I'm not letting you win," Ren hissed towards the alien.
Something which sounded like a chuckle came from Elgar, "You do not have a choice," he said whilst pushing Ren away with his foot. The red ranger rolled away, kneeling on the ground with his sword levelled at Elgar, "The Vampire Bug will soon have all the energy it needs and when it does, your world will be doomed," Elgar added. Ren wanted to disagree but we the Bug suddenly cried out as it exploded. Noire and Jessi had done away with the Quantrons and then destroyed the bug, leaving e three rangers against Elgar.
Elgar took this chance to retreat, the Rangers headed back to the carrier Zord. Taylor wasn't far behind them.