Mission 6: Part 2
Fire continued falling from the skies as Martin Sterling lay dazed and wounded on the ravaged grounds of Washington D.C. Fires burned nearby while the smell of smoke clawed at his ruined visor to choke him. Through the blood that had trickled down from his forehead and impaired his vision, the young Alpha Ranger watched helplessly as the malevolent form of the Xeno general approached slowly to finish off the last surviving member of the Ranger team.
Before the dark warrior could get any closer, a fiery comet fell from the sky and landed near the National Mall. A downed American fighter plane plowed into the earth while part of its wing sheared off and separated the two combatants by a new wall of fire along the ground. Hellspont halted and recoiled from the fires before turning to leave the scene. To him, the battle was already over and the last Ranger was as good as dead there anyway. Hellspont disappeared into the darkness of the night amid smoke and fire which continued to swirl. As Martin lay in a delirious fog drifting in and out of consciousness, he finally saw lights from above and the sounds of a rescue chopper. With the last ounce of strength, he tried raising his hand up toward that saving light.
The Red Ranger awoke to find himself laying on the cold hard forest grounds of Alaska looking up to the hazy noon sun above. His head was still throbbing and he groggily sat up to find himself in a wooded clearing. The place looked to be the campsite of the Xeno-Machina raiders except it was empty, save for his fellow Ranger Erik and the Warmaster himself.
The Blue Ranger had been propped up near what looked to be a small alien drop pod. If Martin had to guess, it was the Warmaster's command vehicle and it still looked functional. Erik struggled against wires that bound his wrists and his feet which severely limited his movement while Hellspont ambled over and tossed the Red Nova Morpher in front of Martin.
"I'll give you credit. Whoever designed that device knew what they were doing… but it's still just a toy… a pathetic imitation of the Adventi's technology."
Martin kept his eyes fixed on his adversary while he recovered his morpher and rose to his feet. "What's going on? What are you doing?"
"I'm letting you have your chance to fight me Ranger. That is what you wanted, wasn't it?"
"Don't do it sir! You shouldn't trust him!" Erik interrupted with a hoarse shout, "Get out of here and save yourself! Let me…"
The Red Ranger cut him off, "This is my fight so don't interfere! That's an order Lieutenant!"
Martin glared at his injured comrade before slowly turning back to his adversary. The Ranger wore a stony face as he slowly raised his wrist morpher, "Energize."
In a flash of light, the Red Nova Ranger emerged and called his Nova Striker to his hand. As he ignited the vibroblade and took a fighting stance, Hellspont laughed before charging forward with his own weapon, a menacing vibrosword of his own. Erik watched as the Red Ranger and Xeno Machina general clashed weapons and began exchanging blows with each other in the wooded clearing.
As both combatants pushed against each other, Martin used his relative speed and agility to parry aside Hellspont's sword and strike a glancing blow across the general's flank. To the Ranger's shock, he saw his energy blade gouged out a shallow smoking divot from his enemy's armored side, exposing circuitry and mechanical pivot points. "You're a full machine?"
Hellspont laughed and advanced again, "No Ranger... a remote controlled battle drone. A proxy vessel for me to command here."
The Warmaster locked weapons again and tripped Martin with a sneaky kick in the ankle. "It may not be as strong as my real body, but it will still be enough for you."
As Hellspont brought down another blow, Martin raised the force shield in his morpher and blocked it. The Warmaster furiously rained down a few more savage hammer blows to no avail before Martin swept Hellspont aside with a shield bash. Both combatants tumbled sideways and regained their footing before the general raised his arm and fired several plasma bursts from a small wrist mounted cannon. The powerful bursts acted like shotgun blasts and overloaded the Red Ranger's force shield making it short out.
The two locked in close quarters battle again using their swords along with various hand-to-hand moves to counter each other. As Hellspont pressed his attack, the Ranger gasped as his vibroblade was batted away. Martin ducked a follow up blow and struck back at his foe's weapon arm by drawing his Nova Blaster pistol and firing several shots. The las bolts damaged the wrist joint of the Hellspont drone causing it to drop its weapon too and stagger back as it took a few more shots to the chest.
"You've gotten strong," the Xeno general snorted in amusement as Martin stood trying to catch his breath and keep his pistol aimed, "But what lengths will you go to achieve victory against me?"
"What the hell are you talking about?"
"Would you be willing to give up the lives of your troops to have your revenge, just as I am sending my squad to their deaths right now? As we speak, my company of Eidolon warriors are attacking Alaska Base and carrying the starship fuel rods that we stole. Even if my men die, they'll still be sure to detonate those explosives and accomplish the mission. Your precious fleet will be without its fuel cells and countless Terran soldiers at the base will be killed by their own handiwork."
Martin gasped in shock and hesitated for a moment, wondering if he should radio a warning right there. That moment's delay gave Hellspont his chance to strike and the general fired his wrist cannon which shot Martin's pistol out of his hand and threw him down to the dirt. As the Red Ranger tried to rise, Hellspont was already upon him, delivering a savage downward punch that dazed Martin and cracked a corner of his Ranger helmet. The same kind of desperation and fear coursed through him again as he saw the general loom over him and stamp down on his chest with his boot to pin him to the ground.
"Like I said Captain... your compassion and humanity... it's a fatal weakness. You fought well, but it's time to end our little duel. There's no one left to help you now."
"That's where you're wrong Xeno!" came the defiant voice of Erik as he gave a shout and awkwardly gripped Martin's fallen Nova Striker in his bound hands.
Despite his restraints, the Blue Ranger had crawled over in the dirt and quietly recovered the weapon. He reared back as best he could and hurled it across the clearing to Martin. "Captain! Catch!"
The blade handle skidded in the dirt right to Martin's outstretched hand. The Red Ranger shook off his pain and weariness just long enough to reignite the blade and hack off the battle drone's foot which pinned him. Hellspont roared and staggered back drunkenly while raising his wrist blaster just as Martin brought the blade up and around for a finishing slash. The two hit each other with point blank attacks and were thrown in different directions from a resulting explosion.
When the fires subsided and the smoke began to clear, Erik saw Martin slowly pick himself up from the dirt. The injured Ranger had demorphed and his face was bruised and bloodied from a small cut on his head. The grime covered Ranger coughed and groaned in pain before rising to his feet and picking up his fallen blaster pistol. As the fires parted, Martin staggered over to where he saw the remains of Hellspont's ruined battle drone laying on the ground. Only its upper torso remained intact with a partially missing arm and a half mangled head. Its one remaining red eye focused on Martin as he walked over and eyed his enemy.
"You will not win this war. You don't have what it takes Sterling," the Hellspont drone said mockingly.
"It was enough to beat you today Hellspont... and I'll do it again when we meet in person the next time."
Hellspont laughed again, "Whether you kill me or not makes little difference. Your world will fall and humanity will cease to exist. I am made for war and if I die, then I welcome it."
Martin aimed at the drone's face and fired a single las bolt which obliterated the battle droid's head. He stood in silence for a long moment examining the ruins of the drone before tossing aside the gun and limping over toward Erik.
"Captain... are you okay?" Erik said as the Red Ranger knelt down beside him and cut his bonds with a utility knife.
"Not until we warn the others back at Alaska Base. We've got a potential nuke ready to go off at any time and the Xenos will be all too happy to trigger it."
Erik grunted in pain from his own injury and reached for his morpher, "I'll have Dr. Beckett relay a warning right now. You've done enough today sir."
"No," Martin said as he helped Erik rise to his feet, "We need to get back to the base and help the others. Hellspont left his own personal transport here so that's what we'll take. With some luck, we may be able to figure out how to fly it."
"Well, what are we waiting for?" Erik asked, "Let's get a move on."
"Not before I say one more thing," Martin replied quietly, "You saved my life back there and helped me in that fight. I... thank you for disobeying me this one time Erik. "
"You're welcome boss. I'll try not to make a habit of it," Erik smiled as the two exchanged a firm handshake. "All right, what say we take that Xeno transport and go barnstorming?"
Meanwhile, a fierce fire fight had erupted around the perimeter of Alaska Base as Eidolon troopers landed their transports nearby and began attacking the area. At the forefront of the defenses, the three remaining Nova Rangers morphed and took command of several hastily assembled squads of UNAF troopers that rallied to defend the base.
Amid the heavy exchange of blaster fire, Ella directed a squad of allies to fan out and hold the line while Bharata and his troops laid down some covering fire with their energy weapons. He gave a grim smile as he stayed low and ducked some enemy bolts, "Well girls... the good news is, this is a munitions depot. At least we won't run out of ammo."
"Oh sure, one stray shot lands in the wrong place and we all go boom," Ella retorted as she hurled a grenade at some advancing Eidolons.
"Will you two keep it down with the doom and gloom?" Erin grumbled in annoyance while diving for cover and trying to adjust the communications settings in her Ranger helmet, "I think I'm getting a call."
Amid the din of battle, Lucy's voice came through, "Nova Rangers! Martin and Erik had been shot down by the Xeno strike force, but they're on their way back to base. They wanted to warn you that the enemy you're fighting has stolen the fuel rod canisters meant for the fleet. Do not let them reach the base limits and set off the explosives. Exercise extreme caution!"
"Damn! Like our day couldn't get any worse?" Erin mused to herself as the laser fire died away and the enemy troops regrouped into a denser formation.
"Dr. Beckett, can you and Bharata use your scanners to pick out which trooper is carrying the fuel rods?" Ella asked before frowning at the enemy formation, "What are they doing?"
"Looks like they may just try to make a suicide charge to reach the base," Bharata said grimly while coordinating his helmet sensors with Lucy's scanners. "If their atomic blast can get at the munitions stockpiles under the grounds of Alaska Base, it may wipe out more than just Anchorage."
"Then we make every shot count and we do it accurately, "Erin replied while readying her own gun. "Our teammates are counting on us."
As the Xeno strike group charged together in a massed suicide rush, they were picked off one by one from careful measured fire from the UNAF defenders. As they neared, Bharata scanned their ranks and picked out the last enemy trooper in the column who was radiating residual energy from the power cores in his large field pack. "There he is! I see him!"
As he fed the data to his fellow Rangers, Ella raised her pistol and aimed a careful shot while the other Eidolons continued to absorb fire and get mowed down. As the last of the enemy neared the base perimeter, Ella took the shot and scored a perfect bulls eye right in the face of the Xeno trooper's helmet. As the bomb carrying Eidolon went down harmlessly, the last of his comrades were shredded by the stubborn concentrated fire of the UNAF troops.
Once the firing ceased, the three Rangers got up and hurried over toward the downed Eidolon carrying the fuel rods.
They pulled the vital canisters and looked up just in time to see Hellspont's command pod descend from the sky and land clumsily near the grounds of Alaska Base. To their shock and relief, out came the forms of Martin and Erik, both looking a bit worse for wear. Bharata immediately rushed over to help steady the injured Blue Ranger as he got out of the pod while Ella greeted her commander with a relieved hug, "Sir, you're okay! We thought the worst when you and Erik went down earlier!"
She stopped and looked at the cuts and bruises on his face as he let her go, "I… Captain, you look terrible!"
"You should've seen the other guy," Erik said grimly as he exchanged a subtle look with the Red Ranger, "We'll explain it all later."
"That's a good idea because I think we might have a new problem here," Erin worriedly called over.
The Yellow Ranger held the two large canisters containing the high powered materials for the starship engine cores and cleared her throat, "If my helmet's scanners are reading this right, these look like they may be growing unstable. Considering how they've been getting thrown around and shot at all day, I'm afraid there's been damage to these containers and the mechanisms that keep these rods from going nuclear."
The Rangers fell silent and waited as Erin patched Lucy through to scan the fuel rods and size up the situation. After running a few sensor readings, Dr. Beckett's voice became much more grave, "Rangers... it looks like Lt. Reilly is right. I'm picking up microfractures in the canisters which are destabilizing the energy containment fields."
"In English Dr. Beckett," Eric prompted.
"If you don't get rid of those canisters soon, there's a good chance you'll have a massive nuclear explosion on your hands. I'd give it no more than twenty minutes."
"What? Where the hell are we going to detonate a nuclear bomb like that in time?" Bharata exclaimed in growing panic.
Martin scanned the grounds of the base before his eyes settled on one of the Pegasus fighter jets sitting on the runway. "The only place we have available at the moment. First, I'm going to need a flight crew and someone to jury rig a missile."
"You're going to carry the nuke into space and blow it up there? This is insane sir. You know that, right?" Erin said in concern as Martin climbed into the fighter jet and strapped on the safety harnesses. In no time flat, the crews of Alaska Base were scrambling to fuel the jet and secure a single missile packed with the fuel rods.
"Unless you've got a better idea, this is the plan Lieutenant," Martin replied as he strapped on a pilot's helmet and zipped up a hastily donned flight suit.
"You're taking a big risk Captain. Are you sure this is going to work?" Bharata called as the ground crews hurriedly finished the last of the flight checks.
"No. But we have to try. I'm not going to sacrifice Alaska Base, Anchorage, and the rest of this team if I can help it."
The other Rangers stepped back wearing worried looks as the fighter's canopy closed and the Red Ranger taxied out to the center of the runway.
"Tower, this is Captain Sterling designating call sign Nova 1. The parcel is secure. All systems are go."
"Acknowledged Nova 1, you are cleared for emergency takeoff," replied the base's air traffic controller, "Godspeed Captain."
"Roger that tower," Martin answered while easing his grip on the joystick and quickly taxied the fighter jet forward. He checked the chronometer as it continued to tick down the time he had left and he pushed the throttle causing the plane's engines to roar to life. The Rangers watched from the fields as the Pegasus fighter sped down the runway and quickly took off into skies above.
"Nova 1 is away. Quick climb to four thousand feet," Martin reported while rapidly ascending and flipping a few more switches. As it picked up even more speed and altitude, the fighter soared high over the Alaskan wilderness and the sight of the mountains began to trail away, "Initiating secondary thruster jets in four, three, two, one… mark!"
At that, the fighter's secondary boosters flared and Martin held the stick tight to make an abrupt vertical climb. The Pegasus fighter rocketed skyward like a blazing missile while the pilot gritted his teeth from the tremendous G-forces being exerted on his body. It was exhilarating, terrifying, and spectacular all at the same time as the fighter soared ever higher pushing at the limits of the stratosphere. This was where the advanced Pegasus fighter earned its name. Like the mythical creature who flew its riders to the heavens, this model of aircraft had the unique ability to quickly ascend into space and operate as a short range starfighter in low orbit.
The comforting blues and whites of the skies began giving way to the dark starry expanse of space as the secondary booster engines burned the last of their rocket fuel and gave out. For a brief moment, the Red Ranger wanted to just stare at the beauty of an endless sea of stars above him, but he had a task to complete. At that moment Lucy's voice came in over the radio, "We've got you on sensors Martin. Are you okay?"
"I'm fine Luce," he said while arming the single missile loaded on the plane, "The missile is armed. Standby to fire in 10 seconds."
"This is insane! Detonating a nuke in space is going to cause a gigantic electromagnetic pulse," she warned with a worried edge in her voice, "There's a danger it might short out your own plane's life support!"
"A chance I have to take. Rerouting all auxiliary power to deflector shields. Say a prayer for me Luce."
"Martin!"
As the chronometer ran down to the final minute, the Red Ranger pressed the trigger on the joystick to fire the missile upwards from the planet while banking his fighter away to put some extra distance between them. The missile packed with fuel rods streaked a few thousand meters higher before it erupted into a spectacular starburst of light and heat. The atomic explosion sent massive shockwaves into space which caught the fighter in its wake and tossed it violently end over end. When the light and EM field began to subside, the battered Pegasus righted itself and peacefully drifted into low orbit over the planet.
The exhausted and equally battered Red Ranger sat back and gasped in relief at having survived what almost became a suicide mission. On the ship's console, Martin could see several secondary systems had shorted out and despite the depleted shields and moderate hull damage, the life support systems were still working. Minutes later, the radio crackled and the Ranger was greeted by a garbled message. It sounded like General Caldwell, "Nova 1… Nova 1… respond…"
"Atlantis Base, this is Sterling. I'm here. Mission accomplished."
"Acknowledged… good… stand by… bring you home," came the static filled reply.
As the Red Ranger sat back in the cockpit, he relaxed and let the plane drift peacefully in the heavens. As he admired the view of the blue earth below and the tapestry of stars above, he saw the electromagnetic radiation of the blast play with the planet's magnetic field and give rise to a stunning display of colorful auroras. Amid the light show, he thought about how glad he'd be to just see his team again… but in that moment of perfect beauty and tranquility in space, he hoped that they would just take their time. The threat of Hellspont and the Xeno Machina fleet seemed so far away but for now he'd be content to simply count his blessings and admire the view.
Upon coming home to a hero's welcome, a few days passed following the Ranger's narrow victory in Alaska. After an exhausting few days of debriefings, writing mission reports, and getting medical clearance from the base's hospital staff, Martin found himself finally free to relax and decompress. On that particular evening, he headed back up to the rooftops of the barracks to set up his telescope alone. He was looking forward to the opportunity to chart some new movements of the stars, but he was really hoping to catch some more colorful auroras in the sky as a result of the residual effects from the recent fuel rod explosion. Just as he finished setting up, he was surprised when he heard several other people climb the stairs and join him on the rooftops.
"Evening Captain… got your head in the clouds again?" the Blue Ranger said as he hobbled over while using a crutch. His injured leg had a cast, and while it was a little awkward, it didn't seem to bother the big burly German medic.
"Erik? Everyone? What are you doing here?" Martin asked in surprise.
"Erik told us you might need some company tonight," Bharata explained, "We were originally planning to go bowling in the West End, but we decided this is more important."
Erin nodded in agreement, "That's right. If we're going to be a real team, then we should start acting like one by doing more things together. What better way to start than by doing this… something that's important to you and something you can share with us."
Martin's expression softened and he placed a pensive hand on the telescope, "Listen guys… I appreciate the gesture but you really don't have to do this."
"We know sir, but you're stuck with us… whether you want to admit it or not" Ella laughed.
The Red Ranger sighed and shifted slightly, "Look everyone, I'll be honest… I'm not really good when it comes to things like expressing… oh…"
"Feelings?" Bharata supplied helpfully.
"Yeah… and I'm sure you guys know when it comes to casual time, I don't always have the best… err.."
"Social skills?" Erin teased gently with another smile.
"Sure… fine. Let's go with that," Martin replied while rolling his eyes, "The point I'm trying to make is that I'm just not used to having…"
"Friends?" Ella interjected.
"What? No! I have friends," Martin huffed defensively before giving a sheepish look and mumbling, "There's Lucy… Erik, Bharata, Erin, and you. It's the closest thing I have to…"
"A family?" Erik smiled.
"I'd do anything to protect any one of you," Martin said quietly, "If that meant sacrificing myself to do it … then I would."
"For what it's worth… I'm glad it didn't come to that sir," Erin said gently.
The Red Ranger looked to Erik first and then to the others, "How about calling me Martin… just when it's between the five of us, okay?"
Ella clasped her hands with a bright smile, "Aww! That's great! Now, what do you think about Marty?"
"I think you shouldn't push your luck," Martin replied as the rest of the team broke out into a chorus of merry laughter under the starry night skies.
A/N:
Credit for this chapter's end goes to an adapted scene from Stargate Atlantis which has been an influence in this series.
Hope you enjoyed these Ranger focus stories everyone. Coming up next is one more focus story for an important supporting character followed by a shift to the longer arc based plots. Thanks again for reading!