A/N I don't own the Power Rangers, characters or plot but anything that is unrecognizable does belong to me. Copyright goes to Saban©.
I am so sorry this story has not been updated in such a long time but everything has been happening at once lately and I had not had time to adjust until now. Thanks go out to Fallingstar22, Son of Whitebeard and Masterfanfic2013 for the reviews.
Power Ranger: Shift in Time
Chapter 15-Satellite Search
The Rangers were gathered on the bridge, making minor repairs, when Deca announced an incoming message.
"We have an encrypted video transmission."
"Meaning what?" asked Rocky.
"Meaning it is top secret," said Andros.
He pressed a button on the panel in front of him, and the video began on the viewing screen. It was General Norquist—the commander of NASADA who'd given them the shuttle.
"Power Rangers, if you can hear me, NASADA needs your help. An exploration satellite has been attacked and crashed onto the planet Kalderon. These are the last images we received."
A clip began to play on the screen and they watched as two beams hit the satellite. The clip than zoomed out and they saw to Velocifighters leaving the scene. Andros sighed angrily and Maya flicked a glance his way.
General Norquist reappeared on the screen.
"The information it has gathered is invaluable to the space program. If you get this message, please try to retrieve the data disks. It would mean that eight years of scientific study had not been wasted. We currently have no spacecraft to make this journey. You're our only hope."
The screen flickered as the video ended, and the Rangers looked at each other.
"Why would Astronema be after a satellite?" asked Maya.
"Maybe it found something while exploring...something she doesn't want us to see," said Kendrix.
"Zordon?" wondered Adam.
"Deca, set a course for Kalderon," ordered Andros.
The Rangers sat down as the doors slid shut and the ship sped up.
"Maya, can you bring up a visual?"
"Sure thing, Andros."
She pressed a button and began scanning when three blips appeared on the screen.
"Andros, we're being followed, Velocifighters, three of them! They're coming up behind us."
"Shields to full"
"Adam, arm the mega-lasers."
"Mega-lasers are online."
"Tommy, bring us to bear on target."
"You got it."
The Velocifighters began to fire on the Astro Megaship, which shook with each blast, causing the Rangers to grab their control panels for balance.
"Bring us around," Andros ordered. "Fire!"
It was a direct hit, and the small ship exploded. The other Velocifighters slowed and turned around, flying over the Astro Megaship, and turned to come back again
"Fire!"
They watched as the beam hit the ship and it exploded in a small ball of flames.
"We've got one left," said Maya.
"Scanning. Got it, he's behind us," said Adam.
"We can't get a lock—not at this angle," said Kendrix.
"He's coming around again," said Rocky.
"Reverse engines on my command," said Andros.
"Almost within range," said Tommy.
"Now!" ordered Andros.
The Astro Megaship lurched as it slowed and stopped, and everyone heard the Velocifighters pass underneath them.
"Fire!" Andros called as the ship came into view.
Kendrix and the Rangers breathed a sigh of relief as the planet Kalderon came into view.
"Let's just hope we find that satellite before Astronema does," said Andros, and he and the Rangers headed for the loading deck.
~~Shift in Time~~
The Rangers landed on the surface, and were hit with a wave of heat rising from the planet. They demorphed and began searching the planet for any signs of the satellite. As the day wore on, it got hotter.
"Nothing is going to work in this heat," sighed Andros tapping the back of the scanner.
Their morphers beeped, and Alpha's voice came over them. "Rangers...the...w...planet is...bi...active volcano. It could...erupt at an..."
Maya sighed and closed her morpher. "Communications are going down too."
Suddenly, the ground shook, nearly knocking the Rangers off-balance. Once it stopped, Maya ran over to the cliff's edge, and the others followed her. From there they could see a smoking volcano.
"Oh man, Alpha wasn't kidding," said Andros. "We'd better hurry and find the satellite and get off this planet, and fast."
Suddenly, Andros spun around, and the others soon heard the robotic sounds of the Quantrons behind them.
Elgar's unwelcome voice rang out. "Well, look who's here. You guys wouldn't happen to have a satellite memory disk on ya, would ya?"
The Rangers took up fighting stances and looked to Andros, hoping to not have to morph in this heat. Andros watched the Quantrons, which charged. The Rangers followed suit, splitting up to fight the Quantrons while Andros took on Elgar.
Elgar swung his sword at Andros, but he blocked it and punched Elgar in the stomach. The monster stumbled backwards, faked a strike and hit Andros in the chest. He clutched his stomach before kicking out at Elgar. Nearby, Rocky ducked to avoid two Quantrons' blades, and they slashed each other across the chest. Tommy kicked a Quantron off a rock, knocking several Quantrons over at once. A few spinning kicks took down Adam's opponent. Maya was fighting off several, and using a rock, she pushed off and flipped over one, kicking another in the chest.
Suddenly, there was a loud roar somewhere in the distance, and Elgar stopped.
"Whoa, that thing sounds hungry, and I do not want to be around when it gets here," he said, before he and the remaining Quantrons ran off.
The ground shook, and there was another roar which sounded louder than the first. The Rangers looked at Andros before they headed in what they hoped was the opposite direction, up a large cliff face.
Andros flipped open his communicator and called to Alpha. "We're south by two kilometers, give us a heading." All he got back was static. He pressed a button and tried again.
"Alpha! Come in, Megaship."
Adam pressed buttons on the scanner, and it beeped in response, but nothing was coming up.
"This things dead," he said, closing the screen.
"Looks like we're on our own," said Andros.
He and the guys headed down the cliff, but Maya caught a glint of something in the opposite direction. She headed for it and found a piece of metal with several burnt wires coming out of it.
"Hey guys, I think I found something!" The other hurried over, and she handed it to Andros. "I think it is a piece of the satellite."
"We're getting close," said Andros, examining the scrap of metal.
Maya headed off, and when she came around a large boulder, she found the rest of the satellite.
"Guys, over here!" She called.
The guys hurried over, and Adam walked around the side of the satellite, looking for the slot that would hold the disks. As he found it, Maya pressed a button and the slot opened, revealing four disks, one of which was badly damaged and burnt. Carefully, Adam removed the disks and handed them to Andros for safekeeping. The ground shook, and there was another roar, this time sounding very close.
"Come on, let's get out of here," said Andros, heading to the top of the cliff.
He raised his communicator, ready to call for the Galaxy Gliders, when a voice spoke up behind them.
"What's the hurry, Rangers? I'll take those memory disks."
Andros took a fighting stance before tucking the disks in his back pocket for safety.
"Let's get 'em boys," urged Elgar.
"Let's Rocket!"
The Rangers separated and took on a different group of Quantrons, while Adam and Maya took on Astronema. When did she get here?
Tommy punched a Quantron, knocking it back into another, and turned to face the next, while Rocky kicked away the nearest Quantron and turned to block a blow from another. Maya and Adam were matching blows—one would block an attack and the other would land one. Turning, Astronema swung her staff in an arc and struck Maya in the chest. Adam rushed behind Astronema, grabbing her, but Astronema caught his hands and leaned forward. Adam flipped over her head, pulling a necklace off as he fell.
Astronema felt the necklace was gone. Quickly, she located and picked it up, then turned and kicked Maya as she was starting to rise, knocking her back to the ground. Tommy and Rocky rushed to her and Adam, helping them to their feet. Astronema glared at them. Raising her staff she fired purple lightning at them, knocking them to the ground. Before the four Rangers could recover, they were surrounded by Quantrons, who yanked them to their feet and held them tight. The Rangers tried to break free, but there were too many of them.
"Astronema," called Andros, hurrying to the others' aid.
Astronema fired at him, and he fell to the ground, the disks falling out of his pocket. He tried to reach for them, but Astronema picked them up.
"I'll take these," she sneered. She kissed the disks before handing them to Elgar "Guard these with your pathetic life."
"You'll never get away with it," Andros groaned, grabbing her boots Elgar knocked him out.
~~Shift in Time~~
When Andros awoke, Elgar had almost finished chaining him and the other Rangers down. The sun was beating down on them, the air was dry and stifling, and still being morphed did not help much. Andros could barely concentrate on anything, but he knew he needed to get the disks from Elgar somehow. He had seen them roughly tucked into the front of Elgar's uniform; he tried to concentrate on them, willing the disks to come to him.
At first, nothing happened, and Andros growled in frustration as Elgar started to walk away. He strained, and finally he saw the disk shift slightly and fall, burrowing into the soft sand. Andros sighed with relief as Elgar turned and walked away, not noticing the missing disks.
~~Shift in Time~~
Meanwhile, Kendrix pulled out the research she had been collecting on wormholes. She had spent the last few months learning everything she could find. Though she hadn't told Maya yet, she had some ideas on how they worked, and had been waiting for the perfect time to test her theories.
Kendrix pressed a few buttons on the control panel in front of her and waited. A few seconds later, a small, dark hole opened up in front of the ship, Kendrix watched it and pressed another series of button and the hole grew in size. As Kendrix continued to watch, lightning crackled inside the wormhole, which began to shake. Alarms on the ship blared as the wormhole became unstable. Her readings shot off the chart, and as she watched, the wormhole broke apart and disappeared.
She sighed, crumpling the paper in frustration, and was about to throw it across the room when the doors opened to let Alpha in.
"Kendrix, have you heard anything from the Rangers lately? I lost contact with them fifteen minutes ago and now I can't reach them."
"No, Alpha, I haven't heard anything." Her voice tinted with concern.
Kendrix knew that it was common protocol for teams to keep in touch with each other was the fact they were out of contact mostly likely meant they were in trouble.
"Ai-yi-yi!"
"Alpha calm down, have you tried a visual search?"
"Good idea, Kendrix. Starting visual search now."
"Changing visual to latitude 3-0," said Deca.
Kendrix and Alpha watched the screen, looking for any signs of the Rangers. Suddenly, Alpha spotted them. The Rangers appeared to be tied down, struggling against whatever was holding them, than they caught sight of a huge monster heading right for them.
"Oh no, Rangers!" Alpha cried out.
"Alpha, is there anything we can do to help them?" asked Kendrix trying to keep her panic at bay.
"Not from up here...Wait. We could if we go down there..."
"What are you suggesting, Alpha?"
"You'll see...Initiate Astro-Megazord transformation."
The ship shook slightly as the Megazord formed, with Alpha manning the controls.
The Megazord landed on the surface of the planet and the monster turned to face it firing a disk of electricity at them.
"Whoa! Defenses online," ordered Alpha.
The Megazord raised its sword and caught the disk, throwing it back at the monster.
"Nice shot, Alpha!"
"Now it's time to go on the offensive. Attack!"
The Megazord approached the monster and swung its sword, hitting the monster twice, but on the third attack it grabbed the sword.
"Alpha, you need to get the saber loose," cried Kendrix.
"I'm trying, I'm trying!"
Alpha managed to get the saber free, but the monster grabbed the Megazord's sword arm and continued to hit the Megazord. The Megazord shook violently with each attack, and Kendrix had to grab a panel to prevent herself from falling over.
"Ai-yi-yi!" cried Alpha as the monster knocked them back, and the Megazord fell over a cliff.
They managed to catch the edge just in time; the volcano had erupted and the ground far beneath them had become a pit of lava. The monster continued to hit the Zord, trying to make it let go and fall. The ship rocked, knocking Kendrix's grip loose so she fell on the floor. Kendrix was worried as Alpha was struggling to maintain control of the Zord and it shifted slightly underneath her.
"We can't hold on much longer!" cried Alpha.
At that point, Kendrix heard the other Rangers' voices. She felt the Megazord steady, and realized that they were now in control. Once the ship stopped shaking, Kendrix stood up and Alpha checked the damage that had been done. Luckily, it wasn't too bad.
Soon Kendrix heard the sounds of the Rangers coming, and she grabbed the papers, tucking them away just in time. The Rangers walked out of the lift.
"Thanks, guys. We would have been monster bait if it wasn't for you two," said Andros.
"Ah, it was nothing," replied Alpha. "Just doin' my job."
Kendrix forced a smile as Maya came over to her. Hugging her, Maya started to explain what had happened on the planet. Kendrix tried to be interested, but the failure of the wormhole was foremost in her mind, along with an internal debate as to whether she should tell Maya what she had learned.
~~Shift in Time~~
The Rangers morphed before making contact with NASADA, and scanned the information off the three good disks before General Norquist spoke to them.
"Thank you, Rangers; you've saved eight years of scientific research. I am sorry our disks were of no help to you," he told them.
"Me too, Commander, but we will find what we are looking for someday," said Andros.
"Good luck, Rangers," said General Norquist, before the screen went blank.
~~Shift in Time~~
After dinner, Kendrix excused herself to her and Maya's shared room. Maya followed shortly after, and soon fell asleep. Kendrix lay awake, listening to the soft sounds of Maya's slow breathing, wishing sleep would come, but she couldn't stop thinking about what could have gone wrong. She thought she had worked everything out thoroughly. All that work gone to waste. She and Maya had been in this time too long, and she feared the small changes she had already seen were only the beginning.