Mission 12: Part 1

"Never fear Miss Renard! The Silver Baron is here to save you!" said the man on the screen. The five Nova Rangers sat in one of the lounge rooms of Atlantis Base watching a cheesy old black and white television serial featuring a German action hero by the name of Welkin Stross. Not only was he a gunslinging adventurer and an ace pilot, he also had a device to give him a silver super suit that looked to be made of tinfoil.

On the screen, Welkin swept the leading lady off her feet and jumped into his biplane. "You'll have to do better than that if you're going to run from justice Monsieur LeBlanc!"

As they took off, a warehouse full of black market weapons for the Soviet Union were destroyed while a smarmy effete Frenchman in a white suit shook his fist at the escaping plane. LeBlanc shouted, "Next time Stross! You won't be so lucky!"

As the Silver Baron tried to lean in and kiss the damsel in distress named Miss Renard, she hauled off and slapped Welkin across the face while the plane flew off and the credits rolled.

Erin Reilly crossed her arms as she leaned back on the couch thoughtfully, "Oh wow… I can't believe those old television shows were so hokey. To think that this fictional Welkin Stross guy might have helped to inspire the very concept of a Power Ranger?"

"Frightening, isn't it?" Ella sighed while munching on some popcorn, "You'd almost think he was some kind of over the top hero parody the way he shot off those bad one liners and blew up half the set. Thank God the love interest still slapped him in the end for being such an egotistical horndog."

"Oh I don't know… I kinda liked it," Bharata chuckled nearby, "I actually thought it was sorta funny. Lots of us guys wish we could go around the world saving beautiful women and blowing up bad guys with a bunch of cool gadgets."

"Says a guy who does that for a living," Ella teased gently as she threw some popcorn in his face, "Fair warning, if you three guys try any of the same sleazy moves to get into the pants of Erin or I, you'll get a lot more than a slap in the face."

Bharata laughed and ate a few pieces of popcorn that had fallen onto his shirt.

Erik chuckled and turned to Martin who was sitting next to him on the couch, "So Martin, what did you think of the show?"

The Red Ranger glanced up from the datapad in his hand and gave a polite smile, "Hmm? Oh, it was great. What's not to like? A gunslinger hero and a daredevil pilot? I can sorta relate."

"We almost thought you weren't paying attention," Erin pointed out, "You've been fiddling with that datapad on and off the whole time."

"So?"

"So you're not supposed to be doing any work," Ella answered as she prepared to throw popcorn at him too, "This is our team recreation time, remember?"

"I wasn't working," Martin said evasively before Erik plucked the datapad from his hand, "Hey! Give that back Dobermann!"

The Blue Ranger laughed and used his greater size and strength to ward off his commanding officer, "Let's see what all this is about. Ah… a text messaging chain?"

"I'm giving you a direct order," Martin sputtered but his threat was useless as Erik continued to read parts of it out loud.

"From C. Lasky. Reply to M. Sterling. I'll be counting down the hours. I miss you and can't wait to see you again on video chat later tonight too. Lots of love. XOXOXO, Pink-heart, Pink-heart, Kissy-face-emogie."

Erik tossed the datapad back to Martin with a devilish smile while the other Rangers laughed loudly, "Wow… I can see why you were distracted."

Martin gave a huff and tried to suppress the flushed look on his face while Ella playfully tossed some popcorn at him, "Sounds like you really made an impression on Christina. You guys are still communicating regularly, huh?"

"Well, the captain did spend two extra days in Rome just for her. I'm sure they did a whole lot of sightseeing together, if you know what I mean," Erik teased while giving his friend a conspiratorial nudge.

"No. I don't," Martin answered flatly with a reproving frown, "Now let's just drop the subject please."

"You know we're still going to keep giving you hell about it sir," Erin laughed.

Martin threw up his hands and sighed in defeat, "Listen, are we going to watch the next show, or what? Erin, would you make yourself useful and get some more popcorn from the mess hall?"

"On it!" she called before hurrying out of the room.

Martin turned to the Pink Ranger, "Ella? Would you mind getting the next DVD please?"

"Sure," she said while stepping out of the lounge room, "I'll go get it in my room."

Once the girls were gone, Martin gave a satisfied nod and sat back down continuing to watch the credits of the last show. As Erik and Bharata joined him, Martin kicked up his feet and popped a stray kernel in his mouth, "Now that the girls are gone for a few minutes, if you guys are still curious about how the sightseeing in Rome was... let me just put it this way."

Without saying a word, he made a mind-blown gesture.

The Blue and Green Rangers watched as a faint smile curled at their commander's lips before the three men shared a laugh between each other and settled in to enjoy the rest of their recreation time that evening.

The next day, the young Australian engineer Julian West was busy at work in the R&D lab. He was carefully going over a piece of equipment when the doors swished open and Bharata entered the lab. The Green Ranger gave a cheerful wave as he ambled over toward the lab table, "Hey Julian! What's going on?"

The younger man glanced up a moment before setting down his probing instruments, "Oh... Bara, hello. Sorry, I was a little distracted just now."

"So it seems," Bharata said as he glanced down curiously at the device in front of him. It looked to be a large circular disc with the size and weight of a standard laptop computer. It curved up into a dome-like design and had some panels and display consoles which blinked intermittently, "Working on something interesting?"

Julian nodded, "Xeno tech. This is a component of those towers which emitted those Parallax fields that you guys encountered. One of the UNAF squads from Africa recovered this from the Serengeti Plains and donated this to us for study. It was mostly intact and looks to be one of the primary phase emitters that generate the distortion fields."

"Interesting," Bharata said as he paced around the table and continued to eye the device, "But wouldn't Dr. Beckett be taking the lead on pulling that thing apart?"

Julian shook his head, "Actually, she's letting me take this project on. She said she wanted to challenge me and give me a chance to take charge on a project, so I don't want to let her down."

"Good for you," Bharata said giving him an encouraging clap on the shoulder, "Hey, since I was passing through, I figured I'd ask if you wanted to grab some lunch now. Can't work on an empty stomach right?"

"Thanks Bara but I'll have to pass on this one," Julian shrugged, "I was actually going to do lunch with someone else and I was waiting for her to swing by."

Bharata grinned and elbowed the tech with a wink, "Ah! You lucky guy. You've got a little date? Who's it with?"

Julian picked up his instruments and began toying with the Xeno device a little more to ward off the Ranger's teasing, "Nobody you know mate... just drop it okay? It's no big deal."

"Oh come on, can't I stick around to meet the mystery woman?" Bharata laughed as he circled back around the table continuing to tease his friend.

In his distracted and flustered state, Julian poked at the circuit board of the device causing it to start beeping and blinking. "Oh... oh no."

"What's going on?" Bharata stopped as he glanced in growing dread at Julian and then the device, "Why is the device doing that?"

"Geez Bara! Look what you made me do!" Julian said in a panic as he scrambled to deactivate the device.

The Green Ranger backed off and got ready to dive for cover while giving a defensive huff, "Me? This is not my fault!"

Before the two men could argue any more, a bright flash of light was emitted and the air around them rippled for a moment before settling again. Both of them stopped and opened their eyes to examine their surroundings. Everything looked to be in order. The device was still intact and there was no explosion, damage, or bodily harm done.

"Julian... what just happened here?" Bharata asked slowly.

Before Julian could answer, the door opened up again and Erin walked in. As she approached, Julian scrambled over, "Erin! Oh my gosh! You'd better clear out for a few minutes! We had a little accident here and need to scan the place for safety!"

Erin didn't seem to hear him and walked right by. The Yellow Ranger stopped and frowned in confusion before calling out, "Julian? Are you here?"

"Erin! I'm right here!" the engineer responded as he walked up right in front of her, "Please, you have to leave the room for a few minutes."

To his horror, Erin disregarded him and continued forward seemingly passing right through him like a ghost. Erin continued to look around the lab and went to ask a few other techs in the other rooms where Julian might have gone. "What... what is going on here?"

Bharata took a few deep breaths but felt his heart begin to race as he reached out and touched the Xeno device as well as a hand scanner on the table. Both times his hands passed through the objects as if he was incorporeal. "Oh shit... this is not good at all. Julian!"

The panicked engineer hurried over and watched as Bharata demonstrated his ghost-like abilities. The Green Ranger looked around fearfully and began to pace, "I don't know what happened, but it seems everyone else can't sense us. Is it something that Xeno tech did to us?"

"It has to be," Julian speculated as he looked over the device, "If I had to guess... I must have accidentally created some kind of power flux in the emitter. If that thing hit us with a burst of the Parallax effect, it must have been altered and threw us out of phase."

"Well how are we going to stop it? How long is this going to last?" Bharata insisted.

Julian shook his head, "I... I have no idea. We're going to need the help of one of our friends here, but how are we going to do it if we're phased out?"

Bharata took several deep breaths and focused his mind. His martial arts mentor had taught him to mediate and always stay calm, even in a crisis. Besides, he was a UNAF officer and a Ranger. He had to act like one now. "Okay. Right now, we'll just have to stay calm and wait for Dr. Beckett or the rest of my team to notice we're gone. I'm sure they'll come back here to look for us and then figure it out."

Julian took minor encouragement from the Ranger before wringing his hands and giving a defeated sigh, "I guess so... it's not like we can do much else at the moment."

"All right," Bharata nodded, "Let's follow Erin for now. Hopefully she leads us to the others and we can get this sorted out."

As they began to follow her out the door of the lab, Bharata stopped and looked toward Julian, "Wait a second... you were going to go have lunch with Erin? She's the mystery girl?"

The engineer grimaced and pulled his comrade along out the door, "I just had to run my mouth around the intelligence officer. That was my first mistake. Now she's going to think I blew her off."

"Relax my friend," Bharata said while trying to stay positive, "We'll be back to solid form in no time and you can explain the whole thing to her then. Sound good?"

Julian mumbled something but didn't sound too certain. Honestly, Bharata couldn't blame him. He wasn't too certain how they were going to handle this situation just yet either.

A few hours passed and they followed Erin to the messhall. After sitting through lunch which they were not able to eat, Bharata pondered the situation as he and Julian sat in the hallway of the base's women's wing where the female personnel had their quarters. As they were gentlemen, they both stayed outside as Erin entered the womens communal bathroom in the hall. Bharata sat with his eyes closed meditating, trying to come up with a way to communicate with his friends or get a handle on the situation. In a strange way, it was fun being invisible to everyone around him. It was an intelligence officer's dream come true really. He could spy on others or listen in on their conversations, but to do so around his fellow friends and allies here seemed dishonest and wrong. He couldn't help but wonder if the tech could somehow be adapted for use on the battlefield. It would be useful to sneak by enemies, to learn their strength and positions, and maybe even exploit their weaknesses.

His thoughts were interrupted as Julian spoke, "Hey Bara, I know this seems kinda wrong of me to even suggest, but aren't you the least bit curious about trying to listen in to what the girls around here at the base talk about? I mean... who knows, maybe they say stuff about us."

"Maybe," Bharata shrugged, "Or maybe they say bad stuff too. It's really none of our business and as curious as I am, it's best we don't snoop. Wouldn't you feel the same way if your privacy was violated?"

"Yeah, I know... I'm just saying," Julian said, "You know Bara, in a way this doesn't feel all that different."

"What are you talking about?"

"Being invisible," Julian sighed to himself, "Or feeling invisible at times... to Erin, to Dr. Beckett, and as crazy as that sounds, even to you guys."

Bharata shook his head, "That's not true Julian. You shouldn't feel that way. You might not be a Ranger or the Chief Engineer on the base, but you're still a valuable part of our team. I'm sure Dr. Beckett relies on you more than you think, and when she's tied up, you've always been there to help us too. I'm sure even Erin would agree."

"You won't say anything to her... will you?" Julian asked hesitantly.

Bharata smiled kindly and shook his head, "Unless you want me to, then no."

"Thanks Bara," Julian sighed, "I'll bet if we were in hostile territory, you wouldn't be so down on being invisible."

Bharata chuckled before turning to look down the hallway, "True... unfortunately we're in very friendly territory right now."

Both men stopped and stared as Ella came down the hall with a small pink bath towel wrapped around her as she headed off to take a shower. She passed right by humming a tune to herself, completely oblivious to their presence. When she entered the bathroom, Bharata cleared his throat and tried to look dignified again, "You know Julian, a lot of intelligence guys don't have scruples when it comes to the surveillance of others. It's times like this I hate not being one of those guys."

As Erin exited the bathroom, she was completely unaware as Julian's laughter began to fill the hallway.

Sometime later in the day, Lucy Beckett walked into the base's mess hall as it began to clear out from the afternoon rush. As the young doctor got her lunch and passed a few base technicians and security troopers, she looked over toward the window seats and found the person she was looking for. Martin sat idly drinking a cup of iced tea while doing some work on a datapad, completely oblivious of her presence. She took a few deep breaths and stepped forward setting her lunch tray down on the table. "Martin? Do you mind if I join you?"

He looked up in surprise and gave an apologetic smile before nodding, "Oh hey Luce. Of course. Take a seat."

She sat down across from him and began to pick at her food. Today's menu looked to be fettuccine alfredo with green beans and orange jello on the side. She watched her friend for a minute as he absently took a sip of his drink and continued to work on a report.

"So..." she began, "It's been a few weeks since we've really been able to sit down like this, huh? Just you and me... catching up."

"Oh I know what you mean," he said as he continued to type, "A lot's been going on recently and I'm making sure the squad gets in some extra training drills after our little vacation, just so we stay sharp."

"Of course..." Lucy said twirling the noodle around with her fork, "You know, you never really told me much about how everything went on your trip. I mean, getting to tour Rome and watch the Olympics and all. Must have been exciting, right?"

"It was nice," Martin answered simply. "The city was scenic, the food was good, and I had fun watching some of the events."

Lucy nodded, "I see. How about the people? Meet anyone interesting there?"

He took a thoughtful sip of tea and shrugged, "Well... I got to meet Ella's family. They seemed really friendly."

"Hmm. I heard you might have made friends with some other people too. Someone by the name of Christina maybe?"

Martin stopped and put down his glass, "What are you implying Lucy?"

"Oh nothing," she said primly while forking her jello, "I just read some trashy tabloids that might have suggested some unbecoming things about you and her."

The Red Ranger scowled and narrowed her eyes, "And what do you think Lucy?"

"It's none of my business Martin," she said petulantly while continuing to stab her food with her fork.

"You're damn right it isn't," he said, "I don't see why you're so concerned all of a sudden."

Lucy huffed defensively and took a bite of her meal, "I'm just looking out for you as your friend here. It's my job to help keep you Rangers alive and make sure you're always focused on the mission. If we're going to beat the Xenos, we can't afford to get distracted."

"Funny, I was just thinking the same thing," Martin retorted sarcastically, "Now where have I heard that before?"

The two glared at each other across the table in silence before they were interrupted by the chime of the Nova morpher.

"Captain? It's Erin. I think we might have a little problem here."

Martin rose from the table, "I'm on my way Lieutenant. Where are you?"

"In the R&D lab with the rest of the squad, sir."

Martin and Lucy exchanged a surprised look and forgot about their quarrel. "Sit tight Erin. Dr. Beckett and I will be right there."

A short while later, Nova Squad assembled in the R&D lab while Lucy ran some scans of the surrounding rooms. Unknown to them, Bharata and Julian also stood by, relieved that things were finally coming to a head. The Rangers sat and listened while Erin paced about scratching her head, "I mean... I know it sounds kinda weird, but I can't help but feel something is off. First Julian was supposed to be here to meet me for lunch and then Bara went missing too."

"He didn't show up for his designated practice time at the pistol range," Erik confirmed. "Erin mentioned this to me and when we asked the base computers to locate the two, it said both were not here at all."

"They didn't use the transporters, did they?" Martin asked.

"No. That was our next guess," Erin replied, "The officer manning the transporter didn't see either of them all day. All I know from asking around was that Bharata was last seen heading toward the R&D lab around lunchtime."

"I think I can confirm that," Ella said as she worked a small laptop nearby, "Check it out everyone. I've accessed the security cameras of the hallway and this room, and you might want to see this."

Everyone gathered around Ella and watched the recording on screen. They saw Bharata enter the lab and talk to Julian for a few minutes before Julian tinkered with the Xeno device on the table. There was a flash of light and the two disappeared. The four Rangers stopped and glanced warily at the device sitting on the table. Erik's eyes went wide, "Whoah... what the hell just happened? What is that thing? Did it just vaporize those two?"

"Unlikely," Lucy answered with a serious frown as she reentered the room while frowning at her hand scanner. "This device was taken from those Parallax Towers. The configuration and power requirement to do such a thing is impossible."

"What are you getting at Doc?" Erin asked.

Lucy chewed her lip, "According this scan, there's a high concentration of residual Quadrium particles. Those particles are consistent with the Xeno tech and the effects which bend space time."

"So you're saying that they got hit by a Parallax blast and were thrown out of phase?" Ella asked, "Shouldn't we still be able to see them or something?"

Lucy looked over the device, "Normally yes, but I'm guessing whatever happened, the normal particle field that was emitted was altered causing a different effect. For all we know they could be in a whole new dimension."

Everyone watched as Lucy took off her glasses and rubbed her face with her hands in distress, "This is all my fault... I never should have had Julian work on such a tough project by himself. If something happened to him, it's because of me. And now Bharata might be in danger too."

"Now's not the time to blame anyone Doc," Erik said gently, "Right now, we have to focus on trying to get Bara and Julian back if they're still here."

"Erik is right Luce," Martin nodded as he gestured to the device, "We all care about those two and if anyone can help them right now, it's going to be you."

She stopped and looked at him for a moment before regaining her composure. She put her glasses back on and nodded, "Right. Okay... I guess we can start by tinkering with the operating system more. Lt. Reilly, do you think you can stick around to help me decipher their writing, just in case?"

"Of course," Erin nodded.

As she said that, the base alarm went off warning of another Xeno attack somewhere across the globe. Erik threw up his hands in frustration, "Great! Now what?"

Martin grimaced and put a reassuring hand on the Blue Ranger's shoulder, "We'll take care of this. Erin, you stay here with Dr. Beckett and get our friends back. Erik and Ella, you two are with me. Let's suit up."

As Erin and Lucy got to work and the other Rangers hurried off, Bharata and Julian exchanged a worried look. Bharata moved to join his departing friends but Julian caught his arm for a moment, "Bara! What do you think you're doing?"

"I've got to go help my friends," the Green Ranger insisted, "I know I might not be able to do much right now, but my place is still with them. Maybe I can try to study the enemy up close and find a weakness."

Julian frowned in uncertainty before Bharata shrugged, "Besides, it's not like the aliens can see me or hurt me with their weapons, right?"

Julian finally relented and shook hands with his friend, "All right. Good luck Lieutenant. See you soon."

Bharata gave a nod and phased through the door, hurrying off to join his friends on the battlefield. As Julian paced over and walked over to the two women at the table, he could only hope they would find a way to reverse the effects of the distortion, before anything truly bad could happen.

A/N:
Sorry for the wait everyone. Just thought I'd work on getting a side story out to tide over the readers of this series. I won't be updating regularly again for a while yet, but this is a little reward for all the patience in the mean time. Also, I'll be holding off on a 6th Ranger for now and setting up for a new story arc instead. I imagine giant war machines are on the horizon soon. ;)