Chapter 5 – Thinking Is Derailed
October 1 2002
The walls felt claustrophobic as eight bodies moved down the narrow metal corridor as quickly as they could. Overhead a few lights flickered ominously, making their journey feel even more perilous than it already was. Steam suddenly poured out of a nearby vent causing all of the men to jump. One of them drew a weapon and took aim at the offending grate, "Cole, don't", Tommy hissed, "you'll give away our position". The Red Wild Force Ranger nodded and sheepishly reholstered his weapon as he and the others continued their journey.
"This should be the place", Jason held up his hand, signalling the others to stop. In front of the red rangers was a steel door that spanned the entire corridor, "The reactor should be behind this door".
"Now all we need to do is open it", Carter added. He inspected a nearby control panel but he came up empty handed, "No good, it's the temperature controls for the corridor".
"The door must open from the inside", Tommy sighed, "looks like we're going to need a little bit of brute force".
"Leave that to me", Jason summoned his Power Sword and wedged between the two halves of the door. Using all his strength he slowly began to prise the doors apart, "Quickly grab hold of the sides", he grunted. The other red rangers did as they were instructed and slowly pushed the doors apart.
"Everyone get through", TJ groaned, "otherwise the doors are going to close on us". The rangers scrambled through and they slammed shut behind the group, "Nice, real stealthy", the Red Turbo Ranger added. His comment earned a shake of the head from half the group.
Now they were through the door, the rangers could see the size of the task in front of them. At the far end of the room was a cylinder that stretched all the way to the ceiling. Sitting at their level was a circular chamber with a glowing object inside. All around them were banks of computers and several rod poking out into the room, "It's the reactors core alright", Eric nodded his head.
"Thanks for your input", Tommy said sarcastically before turning to Andros, "ever seen anything like this?" he asked.
"Not exactly", the Red Space Ranger replied, "but the layout looks fairly similar to the Megaship".
"Just a hell of a lot bigger", TJ added.
Andros moved over to one of the consoles and began to tap away, "A Neo Plutonium reactor is pretty small and this one should fit inside a suitcase", he said without taking his eyes off the screen. "The trouble is we need to make it stable enough to remove it from its housing".
"How do we do that?" Cole ased.
"By manipulating the control rods at the right time", Andros replied, "hopefully if I can get through the security protocols, we can start shutting the reactor down". He typed away for another couple of minutes but his concentration was broken by the sound of an alarm, "Shit, they've found us", he swore.
"I thought you said you could break their security", Jason said through gritted teeth.
"I can but we did count on a silent sensor on the door", Andros spat back.
"Doesn't matter", Eric pulled out his Quantum Defender and placed it into blade mode, "looks like we get to have some fun".
Behind his helmet, Tommy rolled his eyes, "You are a walking stereo type of a marine aren't you". Eric turned his head sharply towards the Red Zeo Ranger but he didn't get a chance to response. The doors burst open and several Cogs flooded through.
With his Spiral Sabre in hand, Andros quickly went to work against the Cogs. Using the rotating tip of his weapon, he drilled a hole through their chest compartment, sending their internal circuits flying. Standing by his shoulder was TJ with his Lightning Sword, "Been a while since I used this", he muttered to himself. His lack of practice with a blade showed as he missed with his first couple of swings. It was third time lucky for the Red Turbo Ranger when he cut through a Cog, splitting it down the middle.
"These things are no tougher than Cyclobots", Wes called over to his partner. Using his Chrono Blaster, Wes picked off the Cogs as they breached the door. One of them fell victim to an accurate head shot and its decapitated body crumpled to ground with sparks shooting out of the damaged cavity.
Eric snorted, "Yeah well watch this", he converted his Defender back into blaster mode and quickly took down two Cogs in quick succession. He then noticed another trying to sneak up behind Jason and quickly turned and fired. The laser round skimmed the original red ranger's shoulder before slamming into the Cog. Jason's head whipped around and saw the Quantum Ranger waving in his direction, "You're welcome", he called out before turning back to his own battle.
"I swear to God that man is testing my patience", Jason hissed. He took out his frustration by cut down a trio of Cogs in quickly succession.
"We're nearly done", Tommy reminded him, "just keep it together".
The rangers had automatically split themselves into four pairs which worked initially but it soon became clear that the pairs were operating independently of each other. No one was watching the others backs or looking at the overall situation. Soon sheer number began to overwhelm the rangers and they were getting attacked from all sides, "There's too many of them", Carter called out.
"Damn it", Andros hissed, "DECA stop simulation". The Cogs stopped fighting and slowly disappeared along with the reactor room, "That's the fourth simulation we've failed today", he added as he unclipped his helmet.
"What did I say about communication", Jason added, "if some Cogs get passed you them shout it out to the others".
TJ shook his head and placed his helmet under his arm, "Didn't hear you shouting", he grumbled.
"Maybe nothing got through us", the original red ranger added with a shrug.
"So this is our fault", TJ spat, "again".
"That's not what Jason's saying", Carter tried to calm the situation, "we just need to analyse what went wrong".
"The silent alarm on the door's new", Wes began, "how do we even know that Serpenterra has that?"
"We don't", Tommy began, "but it's best to be prepared for any situation".
"So what you're saying is that this was a complete waste of time", Eric rolled his eyes, "we could be doing all this training and the layout be totally different".
"The point is Eric", Jason spat out the Quantum Ranger's name, "is to prepare ourselves to work as a team".
"Then we're doomed", the Quantum Ranger snorted. Before someone could argue with him, he turned towards Cole, "What do you think new guy, what would you change?"
Cole nervously tapped the helmet in his hand and thought of a response. Truth be told he was a little bit intimidated by some of the other ranger's. He was sensitive to emotions and there were a lot of negative feelings rolling off some of his fellow ranger's. When Carter approached him about this mission, he was excited to meet his precessors, now he wasn't sure what to think. "Maybe we do need someone in overall charge", he finally said, "someone who can fight and keep an eye on the overall battlefield".
"Like a team quarterback", Jason added, "not a bad idea rookie". He clapped his hands together and moved into the middle to the others, "Alright we're going to try this again but this time I'll lead the way".
"Hang on a second", TJ protested, "who elected you as team leader?"
Jason shrugged, "I just thought it would be the best course of action".
"Because you're better than the rest of us", TJ replied, "change the damn record Jason. We've all led our teams at some point so all of us could be suitable choices".
"Apart from Wes and Eric", Tommy added, "they weren't team leader".
"Gee thanks for reminding me", Wes shook his head, "perhaps having a fresh pair of eyes like one of us", he pointed to Eric, "would do the team some good".
"I'm not following Eric", Jason snorted, "not in a million years".
Eric calmly placed his helmet on the ground and walked slowly over to Jason, "Got something to say to me", he began, "I did two tours in the Balkans and led a team of Marines. I think I can manage a couple of frat boys like you", he pointed to Jason and Tommy.
"Maybe if you weren't a thief I could believe that", there was a collective gasp from the others as Eric looked towards the floor. Suddenly the Quantum Ranger pushed Jason in the chest, knocking him into the wall, "Sucker punches aren't very becoming of Marines", Jason snorted.
"Consider that a warning", Eric slowly backed away, "next time I won't go so easy on you".
"Guys can we just take a minute to cool off", Cole pleaded with everyone, "lets remember why we're here".
Tommy pointed at the Red Wild Force Ranger, "Stay out of this Cole".
"See some things never change", TJ began, "the mighty originals lording over everyone else. At least we can keep our team together unlike some".
Having recovered from Eric's shove, Jason stepped in front of the Red Turbo Ranger, "And what's that suppose to mean?"
"I think you know", TJ smirked, "I heard that Trini and Billy have gone AWOL from your little project, that should tell us everything about your leadership skills".
Tommy moved forward until he was practically nose to nose with TJ, "You don't know what you're talking about". The Red Turbo Ranger's lips rose slightly, knowing that he had hit a nerve.
"So you don't like thieves Jason", Andros directed at the original red ranger, "I suppose Karone falls into that category".
"You said that Andros not me", Jason glared at the Space Ranger, "maybe even you think it's true, you're the one who brought it up". There was a stand off in the middle of the room between the quartet with Eric close behind waiting to pounce. Andros's fists were clenched tightly and he bit down hard on his lip, "What are you going to do space man, hit me?" he snarled, "you don't have the stones".
Suddenly the room echoed to a loud crack as Jason was knocked onto his backside. He touched the side of his face gingerly and spat some blood out onto the floor. "That was a mistake TJ", he growled as the Red Turbo Ranger stood over him, shaking his hand in pain. Jason crouched down and drove his shoulder into TJ's midsection, sending him tumbling to the ground. He followed up with a solid punch to the gut of the African-American man.
Infuriated, Eric grabbed Jason by the back of the neck and hauled him to his feet, "Now who's sucker punching". Quick as a viper the Quantum Ranger's fist crashed into Jason's ribs, drawing a gasp of pain from the original red ranger. The pair immediately began to brawl and were soon joined by TJ, eager to get some revenge on Jason.
It didn't take long for Andros, Tommy and Wes to get drawn into their friend's fight soon all six of them were scrapping away on the floor of the Simudeck. The brawl had mutated into a pushing contest but that still didn't stop Cole and Carter from looking on in despair, "What the hell is going on here", a loud voice called out.
The six brawling rangers stopped and immediately turned to the entrance where a horrified Leo and Aurico were standing, "I can't believe what I'm seeing", Aurico shook his head sadly.
Leo though was fuming, "We've come a very long way to help you guys", he began, "but instead of fighting the Machine Empire, you're trading blows with each other". Jason was bleeding from the mouth and severely from the nose. Andros, Tommy and Wes all had several bruises emerging on their faces and Eric had an impressive black eye forming. TJ hunched over and held onto his ribs, "I'm disgusted with all of you and if Zordon was here I'm sure he would be as well".
The mention of Zordon's name caused the others to bow their heads in shame, "I suggest you go and clean up", Aurico suggested, "preferably in separate rooms". The six trudged out slowly, all of them with their gaze fixed on the floor, "I'll go with them, just to ensure we don't get a repeat of that vulgar display", the Red Aquitian Ranger added.
"At least you two are sensible", Leo sighed, "good to see you again Carter and you must be Cole", the newest red ranger nodded slowly, "perhaps you can tell me what happened". The pair slowly began to recall how a small argument had descended into a mass brawl and with each sentence, Leo began to despair. Given the history between some of the group, he knew that it could be a volatile mixture but he wasn't excepting a fight to break out. As Carter and Cole finished their tail the Red Galaxy Ranger had only one question on his mind, where did they go from here?
A/N – The big brawl, it's been coming and it was TJ who threw the first punch. Maybe wasn't too much of a surprise that Eric was stirring the pot. Next time, the fall out and it's not just the other red's that are angry about the fight...