Just as a reminder, all character names relate to who is IN the body! I've also tried to avoid pronouns and use the character names (believe me, it's as weird writing it as it is reading it I assure you!)
Noah has been switched into Emma's body.
Emma has been switched into Noah's body.
Gia has been switched into Jake's body.
Jake has been switched into Gia's body.
Finally, Marv (Orion's old partner as a pirate) has been switched into Lavira's body! Hope that helps.
Turtlini returned to the ship, carrying Marv, who he thought was Lavira, into the infirmary. He was still smoking from the Rangers' attacks, but thanks to his armoured carapace, he wasn't too badly injured. His main concern was the fact that a member of the Prince's Cabinet had been critically injured on his watch.
"Clear the way!" He called out, barging past medical droids. There was another Commander getting injuries seen to, incidentally one that had been injured in Turtlini's ill-advised gambling games in the drinking den, but Turtlini just kicked him off the bench onto the floor. As he laid her down, the medical droids rushed to his side. As the injured Commander was about to protest, Prince Vekar rushed in, throwing him into the corner. Seeing exactly who was in the room, the Commander opted just to leave. Gangrene was a preferable option to interrupting this. His leg could be replaced, his life really couldn't.
"What happened?" He rushed out. "Who did this?"
"The Silver Ranger did this to her." Turtlini rushed out, stumbling for an explanation. "I...I...I don't know why she was there, she just...she attacked the Silver Ranger! I would have stayed and finished them but..."
"No, you did the right thing." Prince Vekar told him. "You will be honoured. Anything you want, just name it and it'll be yours."
He looked to Lavira and forced a smile, looking on her burned, lifeless body. He saw some movement in her.
"It's alright, it's alright, you're here." He assured her. "You're safe, we can help you here."
Marv took a moment to remind himself what was going on, seeing the look on Prince Vekar's face and realised that so far, he didn't realise what was really going on. He forced a smile.
"I...I am sorry...your highness." Marv forced out, trying to keep up the pretence. Prince Vekar caressed the side of his face softly.
"That is not what you call me." He stated. Marv searched his mind, trying to think of what to say. He knew that the Prince didn't know about the mind swap, and right now that was for the best. He tried to remember everything and anything he could from the few times Lavira had powered up Argus to check on her repairs. Finally, he recalled a call she got from Vekar. He knew it was from him from the way she had a skip in her step and played with some of her tools with a dreamy look on her face as she talked to him. He looked to him.
"I'm sorry sweetums." Marv stated. "I tried..."
"Don't ever scare me like that again." Prince Vekar replied softly, his touch tender and caring. "I will see to it that the Silver Ranger can never harm anyone like that again. You have my word."
As he drew closer, Marv reached around his head, pulling him in and kissing him tenderly. It was a hit he was willing to take right now to keep up the ruse. As they parted, he could see Vekar was happy. Clearly he still had no idea his lover was not the one in the body.
"Rest up." He stated. "I want you back to full health as soon as possible. I planned to have the ceremony after my victory, but this just shows me that anything can happen. I want to love you as much as I can for as long as I can. We will be married as soon as you are healthy enough to leave sick bay!"
"Oh, my darling, nothing would make me happier!" Marv forced himself to say, throwing his arms around Vekar, more to stop him kissing him again than anything else. He lay back. "I will rest and do all I can to get better, I promise."
"You do just that." Vekar responded as Marv laid back. Seeing the door close, he just sighed.
"Well, it wouldn't be the first time I've kissed a bloke for a plan." He grumbled.
In the next room, Prince Vekar looked to Turtlini, who was just getting checked over after the battle. He approached him slowly.
"Your Highness." Turtlini stated, bowing in reverence. "My sincerest..."
"Spare me your apologies; by returning her to me you have done me a great service." Prince Vekar told him. "It almost pains me to ask one more of you."
"What would you have me do?" Turtlini asked him. Prince Vekar tensed up a fist.
"Once you are cleared to return to action, I want you to destroy the Rangers, but bring the Silver Ranger to me alive!" He stated. "I want to finish him personally!"
"As you wish Your Highness." Turtlini responded. As Vekar was about to leave, he stopped and smirked.
"I want him alive." Prince Vekar reminded him. "I didn't say I cared if he was in one piece. If you do this, you will want for nothing for the rest of your days."
"I understand Your Highness." He responded as the medical droids got back to work.
On the Red Galleon, the Rangers arrived back, Noah carrying what was left of his two-key-blaster in his hands. They were bruised, battered, and more than a little frustrated by the way things had turned down.
"We got lucky this time." Jordan stated. "If it wasn't for Lavira...Marv...whatever, we would have had our asses handed to us."
"It kind of feels like we did." Jake grumbled, flopping down on an easy chair, hanging over it like he had been poured into it. "God, everything hurts!"
"The biggest thing against us is these bodies." Emma stated, gesturing to her...in reality Noah's body. "We were totally unprepared for that battle. It was like trying to drive a car you've never driven...with no instructions...blindfolded!"
"OK, we know this is an issue." Gia said as she reached into the fridge, getting out a sandwich, taking a massive bite. "This is what I wanted to avoid, and now they know we're having problems...what the HELL am I doing?"
"You're...you're hungry." Jake told her. "Uh...I have kind of a crazy metabolism, after a big workout like that, your stomach is on overdrive."
"But...I ate just this morning!" Gia complained. However, she couldn't deny what Jake was telling her. Her stomach...well, his...felt empty. It felt like she would eat one of her team mates if they stood still long enough.
"Well, it's best just to listen to your stomach." Jake told her. "I also have this blood-sugar thing...yeah; I get cranky if I haven't eaten in too long."
"Alright, that's it!" Gia yelled, taking another bite. "I am so sick of these bodies!"
"HEY!"
"You know what I mean!" Gia yelled. "The sooner we get out of these bodies the better! I'll just finish this, and then we'll train until we can use them properly!"
"Well, isn't all of this kind of a moot point if we run up against that turtle guy again?" Emma asked. "Nothing we did made any difference! Even Noah's double-key blaster blew up! What can we do if nothing we throw at him works?"
"We make something that will." Noah told them. He threw what was left of the double-key blaster onto the work bench. He looked across to the half-finished cannon he had been working on.
"Noah..."
"I've learned a lot from the double-key blaster." He assured them. "The recoil dampener worked like a dream. I could easily ramp it up for this."
"Noah, every time you've tried to make that thing it blew up." Gia reminded him. "It's..."
"We need something strong enough to get through that guy's shell!" Noah told her. "It's risky, but risk is a part of invention! I can do this...I hope."
"Well that's reassuring." Jake said as he adjusted himself on the couch.
"Well, do we have much of a choice?" Noah asked him. "Sometimes you need a sledgehammer, not a scalpel. We need something that can punch through that shield, and what we have right now just won't cut it!"
"Then let me do it." Jordan told him. "You train..."
"Jordan, I appreciate you offering, but the fact is you're a better Martial Artist than I am." Noah told him. "You have a better idea of what the others will need to do than I do."
"Noah..."
"Please, I can do this!" Noah told him. "Emma's hands are just as dextrous as mine, and my brain is the one thing that hasn't changed in all this. I can do this."
Jordan wasn't entirely convinced, with preference he would have had Noah train in the use of Emma's body instead, but he knew the Blue Ranger well. Even with his dramatic improvement in his fighting and swordsmanship, when he was faced with something that really challenged him, that frightened him, he defaulted to his nature. He went back to science and his intellect to get him through things that scared him or that he didn't understand. It did have beneficial results at times. Jordan just nodded.
"Do what you need to do." Jordan told him. "The rest of you, come with me. I doubt Vekar will leave it too long before he presses the advantage. I know I wouldn't."
With that, the others left, leaving Noah in the workshop. He tied back his hair to keep it out his face, and put on his safety goggles.
"Alright, forty third time's the charm." He said as he took the cannon and put it down in front of him. "Tensou, can you get my tools?"
Back up on the Armada Command Ship, Transfercer was back in the mess hall, taking in a few drinks as he waited for things to pan out. He had taken care of his task for Damaras, and now he just needed to wait on Prince Vekar getting back to him about when he was to return to DC to have another go at replacing the World Leaders.
As he was about to take another drink, he felt a hand on his shoulder. His chair was tipped backwards, causing him to throw his drink into his own face, and tumble to the floor. He looked up, spluttering.
"Alright asshole, what the..." He looked up, seeing Damaras standing over him. He started to stammer.
"Oh...uh...sir...I didn't see that it was you!" He stammered out hurriedly as he got up, straightening up his chair, and retrieving his tankard. "I...I completed that task for you..."
"Yes, I imagine you did." Damaras stated. "Now...can you explain to me exactly why I just heard Lavira is in the infirmary?"
"Excuse me?" Transfercer asked him. Damaras gripped him by the shoulders, his grip uncomfortably tight.
"She intervened in one of the Rangers' battles. That sounds like pretty unusual behaviour don't you think?" He asked him.
"You asked me to switch her mind!" Transfercer replied. Damaras picked him up off the floor, his legs dangling above the ground.
"Are you saying this is MY fault?" Damaras asked him.
"No sir, no..." Transfercer rushed out, realising the danger he was in. "I just meant...it might be down to her new mind!"
"Wow, you figured that out all by yourself?" Damaras asked him, throwing him into a corner, where he landed in a crumpled heap. "You're a real genius aren't you?"
"I...I didn't tell him to go and interfere in the battle. I instructed him to do...what you asked me to." Transfercer told him. Damaras just looked to him.
"Who did you switch her with?" He asked. Transfercer smiled, thinking that this was where Damaras would appreciate his genius.
"I switched her with Argus." He replied. Damaras just tensed up. "He's off-line, so she's trapped with no way to warn anyone, and he's the Prince's loyal..."
"You did WHAT?" Damaras screamed, causing everyone in the room to look at him. He realised that if he carried on like this, he was only going to attract unhealthy attention to himself. Thinking about it, Transfercer had no reason to know the truth about Argus. No one did. Only he and Lavira knew that he had been created from a dangerous pirate because he had useful knowledge and skills.
"I...I thought..."
"Do us both a favour." Damaras said, grabbing him and hauling him to his feet. "Go back to your chambers, do and say NOTHING until anyone tells you!" With that, he started to storm out. Transfercer was completely confused.
"My Lord, is there anything I can do?" He asked.
"You've done enough!" Damaras called back.
He made his way to the infirmary, opening the door. When he got there though, he found no sign of Marv. The bed was empty. He could also see the wreckage of some medical droids littering the floor. The camera was also trashed. He didn't need to check to know that the footage would have been deleted from the hard drive.
He pulled out a blaster, looking around. He realised the danger in the situation.
"You're not Argus are you?" He asked. "No, Argus would have done as he was told. He'd have waited here until someone told him what to do!"
He didn't understand how Transfercer's power worked. Hell, he was convinced he didn't either. Argus had his own mind...well...if it could be CALLED a mind, he had so much circuitry in there, he wasn't entirely sure what anyone would call it. All he knew was that Argus was a loyal bodyguard, one that would not make a single move unless his programming or one of the Officers commanded it. The other side of his mind though, the biological component, the one that they took all the useful skills from...that was a different matter.
Marv had been a pirate, one of the Most Wanted in the sector. He had ranked only just behind Lafitte for his crimes. He was not only a dangerous opponent in combat, but he was also a strategist, and a master of stealth and misdirection. He had caused untold destruction to The Armada in his career before Lafitte sold him out. What was worse, in Lavira's body, the biometric scanners that operated the security systems would recognise him as someone with access to the entire ship! He could quite literally be hiding anywhere!
"Reverting to your old tricks are you Marv?" He asked. He didn't get an answer, but that didn't mean anything. He doubted Marv would be stupid enough to announce himself, to try and take him on in an injured body, even one with Lavira's power. He could still be in the infirmary, waiting for a moment to strike. He quickly realised that he was onto a losing game. He had the advantage when he took Marv before; Lafitte had set up the ambush. He just backed slowly out the door.
"Don't worry; I'll deal with you another way." He replied. "We'll find you eventually."
As he closed the door, he headed towards Lavira's lab. When he got there, he closed the door for privacy. He looked to Argus' inert body, seeing the scanners and machines tracking all the vitals.
"Well, we find ourselves in an interesting situation now don't we?" He declared, pacing the room. "Hello, Lavira? Oh, that's right; you aren't feeling very talkative right now are you?"
He made his way towards Argus, and stared straight into its lifeless face.
"You see...we have a problem with that brain in there. But there's a way to fix that." Damaras told her. "It just requires a little accident in the lab...and for Transfercer to have a little accident of his own."
He reached up, grabbing a power cable connecting to Argus' head. When he pulled it, power would stop running through his memory centres. The brain would quickly die afterwards. He quite literally just had to pull the plug, and all his problems with Lavira would be over.
"If I let your mind die first, then when Transfercer dies, he'll go back into a dead body." He stated. "Don't worry, I'm sure we'll find your body in due time...once the smell makes it easy to find."
He gripped the power cable.
"I hope you know, this is nothing personal Lavira." He told her. "At one time, I was hoping you'd join us."
Before he could pull the plug though, the door opened. He pulled away hurriedly as Prince Vekar came in.
"Damaras, where have you been, I've been looking all over for you!" He declared.
"I just uh..." Damaras stammered. "I was checking on Argus. With Lavira in the infirmary..."
"Oh, don't worry about that, he'll be back on his feet in no time!" Vekar declared. "I have a more important task for you."
"Your Highness?" He asked.
"I want you to be my Best Man!" Prince Vekar told him. "I'm marrying Lavira as soon as she's able to leave the infirmary!"
"Your Highness...I..." He searched for a way to get out of this, to finish what he had started, but he knew that he really couldn't without a suitable explanation. "I am honoured, but perhaps one of your friends..."
"Pish posh, you are my Chief Tactical Officer, and I have no friends!" He responded. "So, from now on, your only responsibility is to give me a Bachelor Party a night I will never forget!"
As the Prince led Damaras out of the room, he glanced back at Argus' lifeless body. He would have to hope Marv didn't pull anything soon, and try again later.