Chapter 17
"When I said we would need to calibrate the communicators, I meant specific messages... between the five of us... over the course of a few weeks. I was not expecting to have to immediately decode an extra-planetary transmission."
His words may have sounded like a complaint, but Nezu's voice was excited and he was grinning manically.
"I've tweaked the resonance program," Melissa reported, "The aluminum slash Grid bronze hybrid antennae are pitched up compared to the gold slash bronze ones Mr. Cranston created. Uploading the patch."
"Excellent," Nezu squeaked, "I have the frequency modulation locked in. Can you try it again, Tommy?"
Izuku and All Might looked on, anxious and out of their depth.
"Receiving transmission... Okay, here's the full message."
"This is the Red Space Ranger onboard the Astro Megaship Mark VI contacting the Echo Ranger. Please respond. If you are able to receive this m Message but cannot send Grid communications, we are also monitoring radio frequency 28 MHz, using Ranger Encryption 93 with a passkey of the five Zeo Rangers birth dates in order from youngest to oldest. We are landed on Saturn's moon Titan, and will remain here until the last day of your year 2238."
This time the voice was clear, yet mechanical.
"That's D.E.C.A." Tommy mused, "The AI of the Megaship... Or at least the first two Megaships, I don't know about three or later..."
"Is it really them?" Izuku asked.
"It's an older code," Tommy said, "But it checks out."
"Code?" All Might asked, "The birthdate passkey?"
"No," Nezu said, "The Rangers have... or maybe had... an algorithm for calculating both the Grid subwave frequency, and the decryption value of the communications. The codes shifted every seventeen months."
"So why would they use an older code?" Izuku asked, now doubting the communication.
"It is very possible the Rangers had to change algorithm in the last two centuries," Nezu countered, "Or they might think we don't have the algorithm, so they used an older code the would be stored in Tommy's databanks."
"There's another reason for this, specific code," Tommy added, "The timeline for this code matches up to when the United Alliance of Evil was attacking Earth. It is a subtle way of confirming this is from the Space Rangers."
"What do we do?" Melissa asked Izuku. The others all looked at him.
"It's Morphin' Time; Echo Ranger 1, Mode White."
After Izuku transformed, he requested, "Can the three of you move off screen? This way if it is a trap they won't see my civilian identity, or any of you."
All Might nodded. He, Melissa, and Nezu moved to the edge of the war room. Tommy focused the cameras on the White Ranger, leaving his tube also out of view.
"Hail them, please, Dr. O," Izuku said with more confidence than he felt.
"I'm so bored," Dhazaavi Herac dropped her head to the console, careful not to hit any buttons, "We've been sitting on this barren hunk of ice and rock for months. Just sifting through radio fragments, hoping for some sort of something, but only getting trash. We can't even talk to anyone else because it might interfere with the signals."
Then she looked over at her fellow cadet, and whined, "How are you not bored out of your skull?"
Naro Zanit raised an eyebrow at her.
"First," he said, "We are working nine hours a day, have four hours of light training, and for the other fourteen we have the run of the ship. The Astro Megaship. Which is cool enough on its own, but it also has five star Cynthitrons and the biggest and best Simulator in the fleet. I've stayed at resorts with worse food and entertainment, and had less time to enjoy them. This practically is a vacation."
"Second, when we are training, it is direct training with the Red Ranger. A living legend."
"Third, when we are working, it is monitoring and decoding radio signals from the Void. Which is fun. And fascinating. For more than 200 years, just an inscrutable black orb where the Terran system used to be. Nothing got out but gravity. Then, eleven years ago, tiny amounts of radio waves start to leak out. And even then, only in the range of 502 MHz and longer. Proving the Earth, and the Terrans, are still there. And now... this! Actual potential contact with a lost civilization. And new Rangers."
His excitement quickly turned to annoyance.
"And fourth, Vi, do not let the captain hear you say that. Unless you want more, and more intense, training."
Dhazaavi shuddered, and nodded.
"Look," Naro changed the subject, "I just found a snippet of a music transmission. It's almost ninety seconds long. But it is in the local language called Japanese. Do you want me to play it?"
"Will you translate it?" Dhazaavi asked. She preferred to understand the songs that Naro was able to extract, but her partner preferred them in the original language. And he was also a bit of a snob, claiming the translator distorted the audio.
"No," Naro countered, "Not after all that complaining."
"fine," she mumbled her agreement, happy for something new.
"Oh, woah, ohh", the singer repeated three times, before starting the first verse, "Itsuka bokura no ue o suresure ni toorisugiteitta ano hikouki o. Fushigi na kurai ni oboeteru imi mo nai no ni na..."
Dhazaavi tapped her foot, enjoying the music even if she couldn't understand the raw lyrics.
Then both cadets sat up straighter. A different light on a console lit up, and began flashing bright orange. Naro stopped the song and hit a different button.
"Captain to the bridge!" he said anxiously.
Izuku fidgeted, staring at the blank screen.
"I am going to talk to a living, active Ranger. And an alien, too. Well, the people of KO-35 are also Human, but they are extra-terrestrial. Will they..."
His mumble was cut off as the screen lit. Izuku stiffened his pose. And tried to say something assured and professional.
"Hi, this is Echo Ranger wah.. returning your call... Um, how are you?"
He failed.
Izuku hoped they didn't catch that he started to refer to himself as Echo Ranger '1'.
The person on the screen was dressed like Izuku expected. A grey jacket with a patch on each breast, over a red shirt. Izuku had secretly been expecting Andros. But he was even more surprised by what he saw.
A woman, seemingly in her late thirties or early forties. Her blonde hair had a few streaks of silver. There was a crinkle in the corner of each of her blue eyes. She had lovely, refined features, arranges in a kind but amused expression at Izuku's greeting.
She was also greeted by gasps of recognition from both the Echo Ranger and the two other True Believers off screen.
"Hello, Echo Ranger," she responded, "Or can I call you Izuku? I am the Red Space Ranger. But you can call me Karone."
"I'll admit, I was not expecting to see you," Tommy joined the conversation, "I knew the KOans lived longer than Terran Humans, but you look..."
Tommy trailed off, not sure how to politely finish the sentence.
"My people generally usually live about 260 years," Karone sounded sad, "I should be old by now. This is the legacy of Astronema, like it or not. Something Ecliptor or Dark Spector did to me. I aged more slowly than I should have. And about seventy years ago, I just stopped aging entirely. Which does give me the advantage of still being able to serve as a Ranger. Even if it also makes the higher ups distrust me."
"Those old hypocrites don't know what they are are talking about, boss," another, unseen, voice protested, "You are a hero and a legend."
"D.E.N.A., expand the view," Karone said her smile straining a little, "Izuku, Tommy, these are my cadets, Dhazaavi Herac and Naro Zanit."
The transmission from the Megaship expanded to show two more Humans, college age by Earth standard. They had the same outfit as Karone, except their shirts and patches were white for the female cadet and green for the male.
Dhazaavi was a slender young woman with naturally tan skin, freckles, long, curly, orange hair, and dark brown eyes. Naro was a muscular man with skin so pale it was nearly blue, close-cropped hair that matched Dhazaavi's eyes, and grey, nearly white eyes.
"You know my name," Izuku said evasively, "Does that mean your met mister Zachery."
"If you mean Zedd and Rita," Karone smiled honestly again, "then yes. How else would we know to contact the Echo Ranger? They told us what they knew. And we came here, hoping to make contact. We wanted to find out more, and fill you in on what has happened outside the Void."
"The Void?" Tommy asked.
"It's what we call the shell surrounding the rest of the Sol system," Naro supplied excitedly, "A pure black shell just inside the orbit of Saturn. Until a few years ago nothing got in or out, and we weren't sure if anything survived in there. Even now, we still can't get through, but since the Grid has apparently started to return, we thought we could establish communications, at least... Sorry, captain."
Karone just shook her head.
"Dr. O?" Izuku prompted, looking over at the tube.
The AI nodded, but said, "It is up to you."
"Power down." Izuku said. Then he waved the others over.
"To introduce myself formally, I am Echo Ranger 1, Izuku Midoriya. This is my teammate, Echo Ranger 2, Melissa Shield."
Karone's eyes widened.
"This is the Earth's Number One Hero, our friend and ally, All Might." Since Toshinori had switched into Hero form, Izuku did not give his civilian name.
"And lastly, the principal of our school, and one the smartest people in the world, Nezu."
"So cute," Dhazaavi cooed. Karone gave her a sharp look.
"I'm sorry," the cadet said, "that was impolite."
"Oh, I am used to it," the unidentified animal waved it off, "Rather it is refreshing not to be asked what I am or have my sapience doubted."
"Since I suspect you have more to tell us, should we go first?" Izuku asked.
"Please do," the Red Ranger confirmed.
Tommy answered Karone's questions about the Shadow War. He, Izuku, and All Might filled the Space Rangers in one other events on Earth since. The Dulleses had barely touched on Quirks and other topics not related to the Rangers. And they had only briefly known Izuku and All Might, leaving Karone with questions.
Then Izuku and Melissa told the Space Ranger and cadets about what had happened after the former Evil Space Aliens left. The creation of Melissa's Coin, though they did not reveal anything about the magic users out of respect for the Dai clan's secrecy. They also told Karone of the two Shadows they had faced. The villain turned Ranger seemed surprised and angry when they initially mentioned Psycho Pink. But she also seemed touched and saddened by the evil Ranger's last words.
"That is a lot to process," Karone told them, "And on a similar note, I'm not sure where to start. I have a lot to tell you."
"Let's start with what happened to your brother, and the other Space Rangers," Melissa prompted, "Or you know, the ones who fought on Earth against Dark Specter and..."
"And me?" Karone said kindly.
"Astronema," Tommy said, "You weren't yourself."
"Thank you," she responded, "But... you should know more than I do, Tommy. At least about Cassie, TJ, and Carlos"
Karone's confusion spread to the Echo Team. Except Tommy.
"I haven't just been volunteering information at random," the AI said, "Especially about the Ranger's personal lives."
"What are you talking about?" Izuku asked.
"After the Ranger War," Karone said, "TJ, Carlos, and Cassie all chose to remain on Earth. Ash and Andros were married at that point, so she returned to KO-35 with us. But the others returned the Astro Morphers. TJ... actually I don't know why TJ stayed. He didn't tell me, and if he told the others, they didn't share. Do you know, Tommy?"
"No," Dr. O agreed, "Neither he nor Carlos mentioned it."
"Ah," a look of anger and sadness eclipsed Karone's face for a moment, "Carlos went through a bad breakup before the Ranger War. After we were called to Earth to fight Mavro, he didn't want to return. And Cassie stayed on Earth to take care of her parents. Then the Void appeared, and even if they wanted to return, they couldn't."
"They fought in the Shadow War as the Turbo Rangers," Tommy added, "Alongside the original Blue Turbo Ranger, but without a Yellow Ranger."
"That's good to know," Karone said, "They were friends."
Then her expression clouded.
"Zhane... Zhane died fifty-eight years after the Ranger War. Even though his powers were fully restored and he seemed healthy after Dark Specter fell, the truth was there were lingering side effects of his previous injuries, and he may have made them worse by overusing his powers in that state."
"I already said the Ashley and my brother were married. But she was a Terran, and even with our medical technology and the occasional trip to Aquitar... If she had moved to Aquitar, she could still be alive. But she wanted to be here. When she was 131, she retired. And Andros stepped down as Red Ranger, instead accepting a desk job as fleet admiral. He named me his replacement. I had been serving as Cassie's successor as Pink Ranger. Ashley was 173 years old when she died. Not long after, Andros retired. He's still around, an old man having fun with with his children, grandchildren and even his first great grandchild."
"And where did these two cadets come from?" Nezu asked, "Have there always been Ranger cadet in the Space Rangers, and it just never came up? Or is this new since Earth was cut off?"
"It's new," Karone answered, "since Zhane's passing. Even though Zhane stopped randomly powering down, the Silver Ranger powers were still unstable. And after... The next Silver Ranger had worse problems with the power."
"Ashley mentioned that on one of her trips to Aquitar, and Billy offered to help. He was able to split the Silver Coin and powers in half, creating White and Green Space Ranger Coins. The White and Green powers were stable, but only about sixty two percent of the strength of the other five Space Rangers. So it was decided the White and Green Rangers would be cadets. They could help on less dangerous missions, or emergencies where extra help was needed. But mostly they train to take over when one of the five primary Rangers retires."
Then she paused and considered something.
"I could tell you about the other four Rangers, but I'm not sure how much that would mean to you," Karone added, "They aren't here, and they aren't anyone you would know."
"Have there been any major events in the galaxy?" All Might asked.
"Well, the Earth was suddenly and mysterious cut off from the rest of the universe about two centuries ago," she quipped, "But other than that... There have been a few minor occurrences, but no major attacks. Triforia and Aquitar haven't changed much."
Then she paused and joked, "Well, Zack and Rita should be on Aquitar by now. Maybe we should make sure they are okay."
"They 'Zack and Rita', or they 'the Aquitians'?" Tommy shot back in amusement.
"Yes," Karone smirked. Then she continued, "Mirinoi has tripled in population and grown their industry, but thanks to the experience of the Terra Venture crew, they have also been protective of their environment. We are in regular contact with them. I take my previous statement back, they were attacked by a former general of Master Vile. It wasn't a major attack in the end, apparently General Majeks missed the memo that Mirinoi had Ranger Powers on standby. But it was more than just a minor occurrence, taking most of the Mirinoi team to defeat him."
"KO-35 and Eltar have recovered and rebuilt from Dark Specter's attacks. I think those were the main planets Earth was in contact with before Demonus attacked. Are there any others? No, there is that..."
"What?" Izuku asked.
"Rutabaga 6," she said, "After the Void appeared, we went there to see if Ninjor knew anything or could help. But he wasn't there. The entire Temple of Power was gone. We've been searching for him off and on ever since."
"And you haven't found him," Izuku concluded.
"No," the Red Space Ranger agreed, "As a result, King Trey suggested that perhaps Ninjor moved the Temple to Earth, or at least somewhere in the Sol System. It seemed reasonable considering how often the Earth was attacked over such a short period of time. But we can't prove the theory. Now that we have contact..."
"You want us to see if Ninjor is here," Melissa finished.
"It's not urgent," Karone assured her, "I know you have other priorities, and your powers are somewhat limited. But if you have a chance..."
"We will see what we can do," Izuku said.
"Do you still plan to stay through the end of our year?" Nezu prompted.
"Probably not," Karone admitted, "We still can't get through the Void. And with Grid communications, we don't need to be close in case of radio signals..."
"Did you receive the radio transmissions we sent out after we lost the Grid?" Tommy suddenly remembered and asked.
"No," Karone shook her head, "Rita asked the same thing, but neither we nor the Aquitar Rangers got your message."
"That said," Nezu said, "Before you leave entirely, we should run a few tests. Make sure you can still get our messages. For example, fly to Proxima Centauri for a start. See if there is any data loss, and if everything is still instantaneous."
"That is a good idea," she agreed, "Naro?"
"Setting up test scenarios, Captian," the cadet answered.
"Is there anything else?" Izuku queried.
"Probably lots of things on both sides," Melissa answered him before anyone else could, "But we've been talking for a while. So why don't we take a break, think of anything we might have missed, and plan on having another call tomorrow? Does that sound like a plan?"
"That sounds good to me," Karone agreed.
"Then we will talk to you tomorrow," Izuku said, "And Karone, thank you."
"You are all welcome."
"Wow," Naro said as soon as the call ended, "That was really Thomas Oliver... Or at least an AI reproduction. And those Rangers, they seem so young."
"Captain," Dhazaavi looked at her boss cautiously, "I noticed you specifically steered them away from asking about the other, current Space Rangers. Is that because of the Pink Ranger?"
"Yes," Karone said softly, "This thing with the Shadow of Psycho Pink... I want to talk to Nokrea. Find out if she sensed anything, before I tell the Echo Rangers about her. If I tell them about her."
Nezu turned to look at his teammates.
"I suppose that means we should get back to getting the new SIM cards cloned, installed, and tested," he noted.