Mission 15: Part 2

The next morning, Bharata Timothy sat in a quieter tent which had been designated as a recovery ward for those injured in the tsunami. He had spent a restless night at the bedside of his mentor Basuki Surya, the man who had raised him and trained him in martial arts. As the late morning sun shone through the tent slits, the sounds of chirping birds could be heard over the busy chatter of volunteers and other medical workers passing through. The Green Nova Ranger sat reading short nature poems from a little booklet before he saw the patient beside him stir.

"Still reading poetry I see... nice to see some things haven't changed," the elderly man smiled gently from his pillow.

Bharata put down the book and smiled in relief taking the man's hands, "Mentor... you're awake! I'm so glad you're okay!"

Basuki squeezed back weakly, "It's going to take more than a tsunami to stop me my boy. You remember what I always taught you. Endurance in mind is stronger than endurance in body."

"I remember... otherwise I wouldn't be a Ranger," Bharata said.

"I'm happy to see you Bara. It's been too long," Basuki said, "It seems you've grown so much since you went into the service. I'm very proud of you."

"Thank you Mentor, but I wouldn't be here if it weren't for you," Bharata replied, "When I heard what happened... I couldn't stand the thought of losing you too."

Basuki fell silent and nodded. Bharata had been referring to his former girlfriend Diana who had passed away from illness a few years ago. She had been part of the reason he had left to join the war effort against the aliens in the first place. Even though Bharata had always believed in the military's cause, perhaps he had also needed a chance to get away from Jakarta to clear his head and focus again. He generally didn't like bringing that up with others and tended to fall back on the things Basuki had taught him like mental discipline and self control through his martial arts and meditation.

"The important thing is, you're home and we are together again my son," Basuki said, "We have a lot to talk about and I'd like to hear your stories."

"Very soon Mentor," Bharata said, "You've got to work on getting better right now. I'm here with my Ranger team and I'd like to try and help some of our countrymen too."

Basuki nodded again with a smile and laid back to rest some more. As the Green Ranger headed for the exit of the tent, he came across a young Indonesian woman who he immediately recognized. She was a petite slender girl with long dark hair partially obscured by an Arabic style head scarf. Her dark eyes went wide and her pretty face froze in a look of complete shock.

"Anisa? Is that you?" Bharata exclaimed in equal surprise.

The girl immediately threw her arms around his neck, pulling him into a fierce hug before she stopped and pushed him away, "Bara... what are you doing here? It's been so long! I didn't expect I'd see you ever again!"

"You really think I'd leave Basuki or my country if they needed me?" Bharata asked.

Anisa had been a pupil of Basuki and another one of Bharata's longtime friends while growing up. He knew she had been upset with him when he abruptly left to join the military and he hadn't known the best way toward approaching her again if and when he returned. He opted for diplomacy today. "I'm glad to see you again Anisa. You look well."

She paused in surprise before blushing a little, "Well... I was a little upset just now, but I'm glad to see you too. You look um... better than I remember. The military uniform is very sharp on you."

"With any luck, I won't have to wear it much longer," Bharata said wistfully, "Whenever this war with the aliens ends, I do want to come back home again."

"You mean that?" Anisa asked hopefully, "I know Basuki would be glad to hear it... and so would I."

Bharata nodded, "I do, but for now my squad needs me. I have a job to do."

Anisa gave faint smile and nodded before letting him pass and she made her way into the tent to visit with their recovering teacher. As Bharata shook off that encounter and turned the corner, he came across the Pink Ranger who was returning to the recovery ward tents carrying some packages of dry food for the people. Upon seeing him, Ella reached in a package and tossed him an energy bar, "Hey Bara, have one. You haven't eaten much, have you?"

He shook his head, "Thanks Ella. I'm afraid not. I've been a little distracted worrying about Basuki since we've gotten here. The good news is, he should be okay."

"Glad to hear it," Ella sighed as she handed the box of food off to another worker, "In the mean time, I could use a break myself. We've been doing supply runs all morning and this tropic heat isn't helping one bit. I know Italy can get hot sometimes but how do you stand this?"

Bharata gave a faint smile and shrugged. Among his friends, he was the only one still wearing long sleeves and he didn't seem the least bit sweaty or flushed. "I dunno. I never really gave it much thought. How are you holding up?"

Ella chuckled and sat down, taking a moment to shake out her hair from her patrol cap, "Well, aside from all the sweating and the heat doing a number on my hair, it hasn't been all that bad."

She smirked and pointed as Martin and Erik approached carrying a large heavy crate full of medical equipment. Like many of the other men who were doing manual labor tasks in the camp, both male Rangers had stripped down and worked shirtless to try and stay cool in the heat.

"Oh geez. Don't tell me Ella is perving out and ogling us again," Martin grunted as he set down the load and tried to catch his breath.

"That's okay," Erik laughed good naturedly as he struck an exaggerated pose and flexed his biceps, "Might as well play along and give her a show."

"Glad to see she's at least getting something out of this trip," The Red Ranger sighed while Ella gave a playful wolf whistle towards Erik's antics. "I can only wonder how Lucy and company are doing right now."

Meanwhile, back in the research labs of Atlantis Base, Dr. Lucy Beckett pulled up blocks of encrypted data and ran them by Erin and Taldyr on a separate monitor to process. While she and her loyal assistant Julian worked their end, Jake fiddled with a few pieces of junked Xeno tech on a nearby table. He had volunteered to stay behind and keep an eye on Taldyr along with the other armed guards who stood at their posts protecting the doors of the lab. Although he didn't mind the security detail, it was a bit boring especially considering he didn't have any engineering or technical skills to contribute to the project. For now, he'd just try to stay out of the way and let the "Geek Squad" do their thing.

"Corporal, please don't touch any of that. We're still sorting through it," Lucy said without turning around.

Jake sighed and reached to light up a cigarette instead. Again he was stopped by the scientist with eyes in the back of her head, "And please don't smoke in here either. We have a lot of sensitive equipment in the lab."

"Yes Mum," the Silver Ranger mumbled sourly as he put away his lighter and ambled over to the others, "Any luck so far?"

"We're making progress... but it's slow going," Erin sighed impatiently.

As he studied the figures on the screen, Taldyr frowned and concentrated, "This writing and code is familiar to me, but not quite ordered in the way that we are used to using it."

Lucy crossed her arms and sat back thoughtfully, "You know, Erin had mentioned her theories about some common culture. I wonder why you Xenos would have some familiarity with Adventi writing and language."

"Perhaps because the Xeno Machina are their relatives," Taldyr said bluntly, "Well... not my kind in particular, but the original Xenos."

Everyone stopped and stared at him in shocked silence before Erin blinked, "What did you say? The Xenos and the Adventi both have a common origin? This is incredible! How? Why? Why didn't you say that before?"

Taldyr shrugged, "I thought that was common knowledge... even for your race. Why do you think The Xeno Machina are so determined to conquer your world?"

"Oh I don't know..." Julian muttered in mild sarcasm, "Maybe to strip our planet of its resources? Enslave the population? Take our women?"

"All of those are true," Taldyr said with a perplexed look, "Except for the last part. I fail to see the significance of such an act."

"Err... figure of speech mate," Jake cut in to cover for Julian, "You were saying about the conquest?"

Taldyr nodded, "The Adventi and Xeno Machina were once a unified race from a distant world... perhaps from another quadrant of this galaxy. We were taught that a terrible plague had spread across the planet killing countless people and putting the world in jeopardy."

"So what did they do?" Erin asked.

Taldyr frowned, "There was a great split between the people. Some decided to leave the planet in hopes of searching the stars for other worlds. Those people came to be known as the Adventi. Those who stayed decided to take a different approach toward survival."

"They became the Xeno Machina?" Lucy concluded as she adjusted her glasses.

"Yes," Taldyr nodded, "They overcame the weaknesses of their organic bodies and sought to find salvation by becoming one with machines. Eventually, it became a mission for them to spread their way and assimilate other races, to free them of weakness too."

Julian shook his head, "But that doesn't explain what your Overlord is doing here. If we're just some other roadblock in their way, why do they care?"

Taldyr looked up and gestured to the computer screen, "Don't you all see? It's because of this... the Adventi technology. The Xenos viewed the original Adventi as cowardly traitors and rebels who fled their planet. They want to punish and eradicate any traces of their Adventi cousins because they are viewed as a threat. Their technology was equally as great and if a younger race like yours harnessed it, you might be able to resist them... as you have demonstrated now."

Everyone in the lab exchanged quiet looks, taking in the history of their alien foes. It was a different feeling having it come from one of them and it seemed plausible based on what they already knew.

The silence was finally broken as Julian reached for his keyboard and began to type away, "Come on everyone. The Rangers and General Caldwell are counting on us to make progress here. Let's give them something to work with when they come back, huh?"

Taldyr quirked a curious eyebrow and went back to work alongside the Yellow Ranger, "Erin, this Julian fellow seems extremely serious about his work and determined to make a breakthrough. Is he always this way?"

Erin chewed her lip and frowned in mild thought, "It's a bit odd. Maybe he's wanting to impress his supervisor Dr. Beckett, or angling for a promotion."

Taldyr mulled it over and nodded, "I see. Is that why your fellow Rangers volunteered for that other assignment as well? To impress General Caldwell?"

Erin shook her head, "No Tal, they went to the country of Indonesia to help the people there and to support my teammate Bharata. That is his homeland."

The alien trooper continued his work decoding the script on the screen, "That is one thing I am still trying to understand about you humans... why it is you feel the need for such altruism or service to one another? You are soldiers. You accept that you or your comrades may die in battle, just as natural disasters happen here. It is all beyond your control, yet you still try to help care for the suffering and weak among you."

"That's just our way," Erin shrugged, "We humans all feel a need to protect and care for those close to us... like our friends, teammates, families, or even the people of our native countries who are like part of our extended tribe. You don't have any friends or family do you Tal?"

Taldyr wrinkled his features while he worked, "Unless you count my fellow soldiers in the group I was birthed with... then no. Our way was not to give sentimental ideas like that any thought. It would only get in the way of our mission and our judgment."

"That sounds so sad," Erin mused sympathetically, "But let me tell you what... if you are serious about helping us and trying to live a life of peace, then you're among friends here."

"Thank you," Taldyr said as he put a grateful hand on her shoulder, "I appreciate the words and I will give them more thought."

As the alien got back to work, Julian glanced over and saw Erin beam with a self satisfied smile of her own. He simply rolled his eyes in silence, grateful that Dr. Beckett was currently too engrossed in her own work to even notice.

That evening, after showering and eating a meal, Bharata sat with his fellow Rangers in a nearby building which was being used as a cafeteria for the soldiers and aid workers to rest and eat. He was joined by Anisa and introduced her to his friends while they finished their food.

"I don't know about you guys, but I can't wait to lie down in a cot and grab some shuteye," Martin sighed tiredly as he put down his utensils, "It's been a long day."

"Tell me about it," Eric agreed beside him, "The only problem is, I'm afraid to lie down after getting my whole upper body sunburned earlier."

Ella giggled, "If you got any more burned, you might have to be reassigned as the new Red Ranger."

"I feel your pain too Erik," Martin said pointing to his own sunburned nose and cheeks, "It's not easy being a white guy here in the tropics either."

Bharata laughed again and finished drinking some water before looking to his comrades, "You know... despite everything that's been going on here, I just want to thank all of you guys again for coming to help. I really appreciate it and it means a lot."

Ella smiled, "Of course, but I'm sure it's good being around some familiar faces again too, right? For one thing, we didn't know you were hiding a girlfriend here."

Both Bharata and Anisa turned red from the teasing before Anisa cleared her throat sheepishly, "I could see where you'd think that, but I'm afraid Bara and I never got that close. We had been taking martial arts classes under Basuki's instruction since we were little kids, but then Bara started going out seriously with a half British girl named Diana."

Erik and Martin exchanged a curious look before the Blue Ranger chuckled, "Count on our intelligence officer being full of secrets tonight. Where is this Diana girl Bara?"

"She passed away," Bharata said flatly while glancing away, "She died of a terminal illness a few years back."

The Rangers immediately fell silent before Martin cleared his throat and tried to break the awkward silence, "I'm sorry Bara..."

He shrugged and put on his normally calm and serene smile again, "Thank you Captain, but don't worry about it. It's all in the past. What's important was that we all moved on. I joined the military and became a Ranger, and Anisa here went into nursing school. What a coincidence we'd all meet here again, right?"

"Right. Let's just be glad this is more of a humanitarian mission than one with vicious aliens and lots of shooting going on," Ella added cheerfully.

Before everyone could get up, the Rangers' Nova Morphers sounded and Martin answered the call, "Sterling here."

"Martin, there's a potential situation going on in the Pacific," Lucy said from the other end of the comm, "You and the other Rangers might have to respond."

Martin gave a worried look his friends before nodding, "All right Luce. Talk to me. What's going on?"

From her workstation back in Atlantis Base Ops, Lucy pulled up digital maps and seismic data charts on her desktop, "Nova Squad, Garuda Base has been relaying new information indicating there have been chains of aftershocks from the initial seaquake. They believe all the seismic activity has stirred up some of the volcanoes on the nearby island of Sumatra. The primary one they're worried about is Mount Sinabung. There are civilian populations located nearby the volcano and they may need to be evacuated."

"We're going to need a lot of Marauder gunships," Erik said in dismay, "I don't think the UNAF will be able to gather enough on such short notice.

Ella sat quietly for a moment thinking before looking up and chiming in, "What if we drafted some of our zords into the operation? Those should be big enough and strong enough to clear lots of people out quickly."

"Ella, that's brilliant!" Martin smiled giving her a warm pat on the shoulder, "Lucy? Is there any way to get the zords here in time?"

Lucy blinked in surprise and did some mental calculations at her desk, "I... suppose it's possible. They've now been outfitted for use with the transporter so we should be able to send them, but it will take a little lead time."

"Good. Keep us posted," Martin replied, "We'll make ready for Sumatra right now."

As the other Rangers got up and quickly began moving for the door, Bara stopped as he felt Anisa grab him by the sleeve. She gave a pleading look that was mixed with fear and worry, "Bara... don't tell me you actually have to go. You know as well as I do how dangerous some of those volcanoes can be. If Sinabung blows, who knows what might happen?"

"And if Sinabung blows, do you know how many people might die if I don't do anything?" Bara answered, "I am a Ranger. This is my job."

She pulled at his sleeve again and protested, "Bara! Please! Basuki is already in the hospital and he barely made it? Are you in such a hurry to join him? I don't want to worry about losing you again too!"

Bara gently pried her hand off his sleeve and turned to leave with his teammates, "I'm sorry Anisa. I have to go now. There's a job to do and my team needs me. I'll be back again soon... I promise."

The Green Ranger turned and hurried out the door to join his fellow Rangers and gear up for their next rescue mission. As much as he hated having to leave his friend Anisa in such a worried state, he had made a promise and didn't intend on breaking it either.

A/N:
Fear not everyone. I promise we've got real action coming up in the next chapter. I'm setting up for a bigger story plotline after this so we needed to get some of the other exposition out of the way first. Thanks for hanging in there readers!