AUTHOR'S NOTE: The first short story of the Power Rangers Supersonic storyline is here! A former X.A.F. member, a new character muses about his experiences up until this point. What does Fate have in store for him?!
The long-awaited prelude to Supersonic Part II has arrived! I hope you enjoy this short story! From both me and my writing partner Cuddlefish, thank you very much for reading!
DISCLAIMER
This is a fan-made, non-profit piece of fiction. Super Sentai and its related trademarks are the property of Bandai and Toei Company.
The Supersonic Power Rangers are based on characters belonging to the Boom!Comics comic book run, as featured in the story Psychotic, written by Trey Moore.
EMPATHY AND THE COLOR GREEN
I'm a member of the Xybrian Armed Forces– Ground Corps, transmitter department.
The first memory that stayed with me since I enlisted was when the head honcho gave an introductory speech to us recruits. He said the army was reflective of the societal system it was trusted to protect. Funny he should say it like that.
Xybria operates on a caste system decided by Heritage; the five spiritual powers. It's very simple to follow, really. Xybrian governance follows a democratic doctrine, with political figures elected into their constitutionally organized positions, but the legislative power is shared with the House of Seers. They're clairvoyant–and strategically few in number–and therefore influence socio-political developments on a planetary scale. The rest of the powers occupy a lesser, albeit shared percentage of influence, though it stands to reason that certain cases work better under specific management. The majority of businesses, for instance, are run by possessors due to their baseline IQ being higher than average, while telekinetics are derelicted to physical labor.
When I was still young and powerless, I was fascinated by these powers. I often fantasized how amazing it'd be if I were to inherit telekinesis and be capable of moving objects with a thought. I asked my father about it, at the time a military scientist, and he proceeded to detail with crushing realism how Heritage worked. To this day, fundamentalists claim the Heritage is a spiritual binding to the planet and the greater cosmos, like magic that courses through their bodies that they can then direct at objects, animals or other people. That is false. Despite its name, the Heritage is not necessarily hereditary. In fact, it's less tied to genes and more so to experiences during upbringing. According to studies, every Xybrian is born with an almost neutral neurological system, part of which is designed to develop from external stimuli. As such, similar to how signals determine basic bodily functions like movement, chemical reactions from impressionable children subconsciously project similar waves outward. In time these signals allow for five psionic interactions, one of which has the added benefit to tamper with time: Clairvoyance. Knowing the statistical probability–or should I say impossibility–of becoming a seer, I was thus presented with four options.
I ended up an empath. Most superficial interactivity on the spectrum; bottom of the barrel. So I joined the Armed Forces, thinking it a better place to belong. Fate, however, plays strange games. The X.A.F placements prioritize Heritage. Like the constitutional monarchy it serves, the top brass is reserved for General-Seers, the honorary guard by high-end telekinetics. Since the latter make up almost fifty-per-cent of the general populace, they mostly serve in standard trooper squadrons. Even a below-average level telekinetic can at least lighten his load. Proficient candidates, on the other hand, were sent to Spinaria for advanced service, 'were' being the keyword– Spinaria has been classified a 'dread zone' for some time now. Anyway, possessor operatives are assigned to the material war department, where they train and deploy Isqairs predator hounds. The general consensus is that, if a creature's IQ caps at one-hundred-ten, it's eligible for possession. Certain possessors also take up managerial or instructional roles. (My field trainer was a possessor.)
It's interesting to note how telekinetics and possessors have practical abilities. Assertive external control is backed up by physical sturdiness and processing capabilities, but it's still telepaths who handle war engines. Psychological evaluations have shown that telepaths score the highest in reflexive performance simulations. As such, they operate troop transports, aircraft and make up the entirety of the sharpshooter department. Furthermore, the aforementioned cooperates with spec ops in infiltration, capture and interrogation of rogue asteroid bases off of Xybria's lunar border. I want to mention here that possessors and especially telepaths undergo surgery. They receive mandatory dampener implants on the off-chance they consider dereliction or decide to sell military information.
Empaths are unique cases. Few in number as we may be, two empaths are stationed in every squad. We're not necessarily physically capable like our telekinetic squadmates, so our equipment and weaponry is lighter by comparison, but we more than make up for it with agility and scanning ability. We belong in the transmitter department, which specializes in ranged communications. The heavy weapons operators–also two per squad–are strapped with a portable radio and forward reports from the squad captain to the company captain via scout audio-visual feedback, the scouts being us empaths. Telepaths and empaths are very similar in neurological composition. We're the passive counterpart to our cousins, after all, and while telepathic powers are more thorough in practice, they require visual contact to activate, at the very least. If a telepath can see you, chances are they know what's on your mind. Empaths are not restricted in that respect. Chemical fluctuation emissions are spontaneous, meaning we are essentially walking radars. And if you know anything about the army, the one factor that's guaranteed to win wars is information.
I may say that with a certain pride, but being a scout in the greater military machine just means a higher casualty rate. The position is reserved for empaths only, and the general nature under which we operate includes entering treacherous territory first, inability to comply accordingly under attrition combat scenarios, not to mention we're sharpshooter target priority. If you take out the scout, you're essentially removing the enemy's eyes and ears. I bring this up because it ties into what I consider most unfair: the ranking system. If we exclude General-Seers, telekinetics are the most statistically probable to be promoted to the rank of captain through extended service. In the case of honorary guard, the average knight's rank equals a captain's in the X.A.F., with their captains rivaling lieutenant colonels. Telepaths can be promoted up to shipmaster status (for pilots) and chief interrogator. Sharpshooters are squad members, usually second-in-charge after the squad captain, who is more often than not a corporal, while most possessors end up as sergeants and warrant officers. Empaths can't receive a rank. No medals either, drill or otherwise. I don't even want to mention wage allocation.
Here's the ironic part: For all their similarities, the one key difference between state and army is in the color coding. The representative color for the House of Seers is green, while the governmental head's color is red. Pink stands for the first lady, the head prophetess' and prime minister's wife respectively. Black is used for lesser officials, blue for chief executive officers, yellow for the average Xybrian citizen. The symbolism–another fond memory. It was the first thing I memorized upon joining the X.A.F. Anyway, the symbolism is most apparent in the flag's composition: The middle 'V', the one that separates the circle that stands for Xybria, is colored yellow. Stacked below it, from bottom-to-top order, are the colors red, blue, black and pink, pertaining to the planetary foundations that support our societal system. Above the 'V', however, stands another, smaller 'V' in silver: the House of Seers. (As to why it's silver and not green, I cannot say.) The army handles color significance differently. The Seer-General coat of arms is red. Though they belong to the House by default, they're not allowed to wear green on accounts of military service, so they are paradoxically lower in the social hierarchy. Senior officers don black heraldry, ordinary officers blue, soldiers yellow. Pink markings are shared by pilots and sharpshooters. Finally, scouts are assigned with a silver coat of arms. It comes full circle when you consider green and silver stand for the same thing. The implication cracks me up every time.
Imagine if an empath donned the green…