Dis Lexics vault of Secrets
Ideas, plot bunnys that won't let go, possible future stories. feel free to pick up the stories if you like them.
Welcome back to the vault, where today the entry is not Harry Potter and is instead a crossover of Mass Effect and, I can't believe I'm actually typing this, Power Rangers. As you can probably imagine, this isnt really meant to be taken seriously, I know I won't, but I've recently been watching some old PR series and I couldn't resist. This idea is obviously AU, with the most obvious changes being that Cerberus isnt evil and both Ashley and Alenko survived at Virmire. Enjoy!
Star Force
"You asked to see me sir?" asked a woman as she entered a large, empty room with a huge window overlooking a star dominating the far wall and a chair in the middle surrounded by screens.
"I did, come in Miranda," said the only occupant of the room from the chair, "How goes the search for Shepard?"
"Not well I'm afraid," said Miranda, "We've checked the planet where the Normandy was destroyed, but haven't had any luck. It looks like someones beat us too it."
"I see," said the man, looking thoughtful, "What about the other projects?"
"They're moving along well," said Miranda, "I've already picked out a few potential recruits for the team and R&D are making good time with the construction."
"Excellent," said the boss, "However, I have already chosen the ones who will be the main team."
The shadowy man brought up a screen and flicked it over to Miranda, who began reading through the dossia.
"Understood, I will see to it that they are contacted and recruited," said Miranda, before turning away and beginning to leave the room.
"Miranda," said the boss, making her stop and turn back to him, "You've got something on your mind. What is it?"
"Its nothing sir," said the woman, "Now if you don't, mind, I've got a lot to do."
The shadowed man sighed.
"Miranda, I've known and worked with you for six years, I know when somethings bothering you. So spill it, whats wrong?"
Miranda hesitated for a moment, before all the frustration she'd been holding in boiled over.
"It should be me!" she shouted, "I should be the team leader! We don't need Shepard! Sure hes a hero, but hes also an idealist! He's not willing to make the difficult choices necessary to be a leader!"
By the end of her rant Miranda was panting.
"Feel better?" asked the Boss.
"Not really," said Miranda, "I just want to know why your so insistent in having Shepard as the leader."
"For precisely the reasons you just listed," said the boss, "You think that makes him a bad leader, but if that were true then how did he defeat Saren? Or become the hero everyone looks up to? Don't forget, that the purpose of this team is to help people and Shepard is the best choice for that. Besides, I chose you as the second in command for a reason as well."
"Sir?"
"You're willingness to do anything to get the job done will help to balance out some of Shepards more irritating heroic tendencies and his unwillingness to leave people behind will ensure that the team becomes the force of good it needs to be. You two will make up the backbone of the team and take it from being good to being truly great. Do you understand?"
"No, but thats not important," said Miranda, "What is important is that I do my job, even if I don't like it."
She turned on her heel and vanished, leaving the Boss in the dark with a smile on his face.
"Oh, you'll understand one day," he said, "You can't be a hero and not learn a thing or two along the way."
1 year later
"Shepards body has been recovered," said Miranda as she once again entered her bosses room.
"Excellent I assume that the Lazarus Project is underway?" asked the boss, looking up from the data pad he was reading, revealing a pair of glowing blue eyes.
"Yes sir," said Miranda, "It is beginning as we speak."
"Good, what of the other projects?"
"Nearly complete and they will be by the time we're done with Shepard."
"Excellent. What about the other recruits?"
"Its been difficult, but we've managed to get Alenko to sign on," said Miranda, "Williams is being a little more difficult. I don't think she likes the idea of working with Black Ops."
"Hmm, well keep trying," said the Boss, "I'd rather she come through her own choice, but if she continues to refuse we may need to go to her superior. For now keep at it."
"Yes sir," said Miranda, before leaving the room.
2 years later
Commander Thomas 'Tommy' Shepherd groaned as he slowly began to wake up. He opened his eyes and looked around, finding himself in a hospital room, surrounded by instruments and machines that he had no idea as to their purpose. Hanging from a hook by the door was a black uniform with a red stripe down one side and a yellow and grey logo on the breast pocket. As he took in his surroundings, the door opened and emitted a woman in a lab coat with a clipboard and glasses.
"Ah, your awake," she said upon seeing Shepard sitting up in bed, "Right on time."
"Where am I?" asked Shepard.
"Cerberus Station, the headquarters of the Cerberus Organization," said the doctor as she put down her clipboard and pulled on a pair of latex gloves, "I just need to make sure that everythings OK and then you can go."
The Doctor began to walk Shepard through a battery of tests ranging from reflex and vision to memory and dexterity.
"Well, you seem to be in perfect health," said the Doctor once she was done, "I have to say I'm impressed. Not many people can claim to come back from the dead without any issues."
"Wait, what?" asked Shepard, pausing as he moved to get out of bed.
"Nothing," said the Doctor quickly, "Once your ready, head to Briefing Room two for debriefing."
She grabbed her things and left in a hurry, leaving a very confused Commander alone.
It took half an hour for Shepard to find Briefing Room Two due to the lack of direction, although he did finally manage to find a map on the wall which pointed him in the right direction. Upon entering the room, Shepard found himself in a fairly normal looking conference room with a large, round table with five chairs spaced evenly around it with consoles in front of them and a large screen on the wall opposite the door. Only one seat was occupied by a young black man with short hair, the bearing of a career soldier and wearing a similar uniform to Shepard, only completely black. Upon seeing Shepard enter the room, the man got to his feet.
"Commander Shepard I presume?" he asked.
"Yes," said Shepard, "And you are?"
"Jacob Taylor sir, a pleasure to meet you at last," said Jacob, snapping a salute.
"At ease," said Shepard, "I'm not your commanding officer so you don't need to salute."
"Actually, that's not true," said a new voice from the door, drawing Shepards attention back to the door.
Stood in the doorway was a gorgeous young woman with long, black hair, blue eyes and a body that many women would happily commit murder to obtain, made even more obvious by the uniform she was wearing that hugged her curves. Not even the slight sneer she wore could detract from her beauty. Her uniform was identical to Shepards, only with a yellow stripe.
"Commander Shepard, its good to see your awake," said the woman in an Australian accented voice which held very little warmth, "My name is Miranda Lawson, your new XO."
"New XO?" asked Shepard, now even more confused, "Whats going on?"
"I'll explain once the others get here," said Miranda, walking over to the table and taking a seat.
"Others?" asked Shepard, not taking his eyes off Miranda.
Before Miranda could answer, Shepard heard a startled gasp from behind him and the sound of footsteps coming towards him. He turned around, only to be met by a fist to the face, knocking him over.
"I know that punch," muttered Shepard, looking up to see the familiar face of his old squad mate and friend, Ashley Williams.
The Gunnery Chief looked the same as he remembered, right down the severe bun she wore her dark hair in and was wearing a similar uniform to Shepard and Jacob with a pink stripe.
"Hey Ash, what was that for?" asked Shepard.
"You bastard, we all thought you were dead!" yelled Ash, "Do you have any idea how that felt?!"
"Woah Ash, calm down!" said another, equally familiar voice as someone grabbed the furious Gunnery Chief to stop her from hitting Shepard again.
"Alenko? Your here to?" asked Shepard as he got to his feet, rubbing his smarting chin.
"Yep, although I still have no idea as to what we're doing here," said the Biotic as he held Ashley back, ignoring her flailing and cursing.
Like everyone else in the room, Kaidan was wearing a black uniform, although his had a green stripe
"If you'll all sit down, I'll explain," said Miranda, a disapproving look on her face.
The three former squadmates did as they were told, although Ashley kept her glare directed at Shepard.
"Now that we are all here, I should explain why you are here," said Miranda, "You have been chosen to be a part of a special team dedicated to the protection of the Galaxy from the Reaper threat. The Council may be refusing to see it, but the Alliance knows better than to ignore a potential issue like this."
"What do you mean?" asked Shepard, "What makes the Alliance believe and not the Council?"
"Well, Earth has come under attack more times than we care to count from external forces," said Miranda, pressing a few buttons on her console and bringing up various images of bizarre creatures on the screen, "While we don't tend to make it entirely common knowledge, the Turans weren't actually the first Aliens we met. As such, the Alliance fully intends to do something about the Reaper Threat, hence the founding of this team."
She pressed another button and the creatures were replaced with five different coloured suits. They looked like they were made of spandex and matched the colours of the stripes on the gathered soldiers uniforms, with a black arrow on the chest, a white belt with a buckle shaped like the Systems Alliance logo and a pistol holstered on the left side of the belt. The helmets had black visors that had a similar design to the N7 helmets and a silver mouth part.
""Wait, are you serious?" asked Ashley, "You mean to tell us that we're going to be a Power Ranger team?"
"Exactly," said Miranda, "You were chosen because you are the best in your fields, no matter what others may think. We need people like you to protect this galaxy from everything that may mean it harm. This is entirely voluntary and we cannot force you to help us, but we do need you."
Their was silence for a moment, before Shepard spoke up.
"This is the only way we can effectively fight the Reapers?" he asked.
"It is," said Miranda.
"Then I'll do it," said Shepard, getting to his feet.
"Are you sure Shepard?" asked Kaeden.
"I joined the Alliance because I wanted to help people," said Shepard, "This is the best way to achieve that."
"If Shepards in then so am I," said Alenko.
Ashley sighed.
"I don't particularly like the idea of working with Black Ops, but I trust Shepard," she said, before smirking, "Besides, if you lot are putting together a Ranger team, you can't be that bad."
"You already know I'm in," said Jacob.
Miranda nodded.
"Good, in that case, we will begin," she said, pushing a button on the table.
A hatch in front of each person opened, revealing an Omnitool strap. However, these weren't the standard plain black, instead they were the same colour as the stripes on their uniforms.
"These are your Morphers," said Miranda, "I don't think I need to tell you to make sure nothing happens to these."
"No Ma'am," said Shepard, picking up the band and slipping it on.
The band glowed briefly and activated, projecting a red Omnitool over his arm.
"DNA locked," said a mechanical voice, "Welcome Commander Shepard."
The other recruits followed the Commanders example, revealing their coloured Omnitools and receiving the same message.
"Now thats over with, we have a mission," said Miranda, pushing a few keys on the holographic console in front of her, bringing up a projection of a planet, "This is Freedom's Progress, a fairly ordinary Human colony that has recently gone Dark, just like a number of others recently. While the Council is willing to brush it off as the work of Slavers, we are not so willing. In every case so far, the entire Colony has been completely deserted with no sign of a struggle of any sort. This is not the work of Slavers. The Colony has only recently gone Dark in the last few hours, so we are hoping that we can find some sort of clue as to what has been abducting the colonists."
"So its a basic scouting mission?" asked Ashley, "In that case, why are we being sent and not a standard team?"
"Because we can get there quicker," said Miranda, "Time is of the essence so any more questions will have to wait until we're underway. Understood?"
"Yes Ma'am!" said the four other Rangers.
"Good," said Miranda, "Shepard, you have command."
Shepard blinked as everyone started leaving, following Jacob to the Hanger to grab their ride.
"Why me?" he asked, "You would make a better choice since you know whats going on."
"True, but my boss believes that you will make a better leader in the field," she said.
"You don't sound like you agree," said Shepard.
"Because I don't," said Miranda, "Nothing against you Shepard, I think your a great Soldier and a hero. However, you are too idealistic and soft hearted to make tough decisions when necessary and its nearly got you killed on numerous occasions. Hell, it did get you killed."
"True, but everyone got out alive, right?" asked Shepard, "I was able to get everyone through Akuze, Virmire and I saved most people when the Normandy was attacked."
"And every time you ended up in the hospital," said Miranda, "Look, we can talk about this later. Just worry you'll get yourself and the rest of us killed trying to save someone."
"Well, we'll just have to see, right?" said Shepard with a grin, before making his way after his team.
"That we will," muttered Miranda.
After a quiet trip in a top of the line shuttle that resembled the Normandy and was apparently part of the Alliances new line of Shuttles, the new Ranger team touched down on Freedoms Progress.
"Its quite," said Alenko as they disembarked from the shuttle, "Way to quite."
"How long have you been waiting to say that?" asked Ashley.
"Since I was a kid," said Alenko with a grin.
Ashley rolled her eyes and swatted Alenkos arm.
"Enough messing around you two," said Shepard, "We need to stay alert."
"Yessir."
"Commander, I'm detecting gunfire further in the Colony," said Jacob who was fiddling with his Omnitool.
"Right, lets go," said Shepard, drawing the pistol that was strapped to his thigh.
His teammates followed suit and the new Rangers moved out in the direction of the gunfire.
It didn't take long to reach the courtyard where the firefight was taking place and the five Humans quickly took cover before they could be spotted to take stock. On one side of the open area was a group of Quarians hunkered down behind stacks of crates while on the other was a group of odd creatures that looked almost like the Husks the Reapers used, only less Zombie-like and armed with thin rifles with bayonets on the ends. The Husks seemed to be deferring to a rather strange looking creature that looked like a human-sized bipedal insect with a chitinous exoskeleton, two anterior pairs of what appear to be vestigial limbs, four eyes, and a distinct, large, tapering head, along with fully developed wings.
"What are those things?" asked Alenko.
"Probably the bad guys cannon fodder," said Ashley, "And I'm betting that big one is our first foe."
"OK, how do you know this stuff?" asked Alenko.
"Oh, I'm descended from the original Pink Ranger," said Ashley.
There was a moment's silence as four pairs of surprised eyes turned on her.
"What?"
Miranda let out a frustrated huff.
"So thats why the Boss was so insistent on getting you," she grumbled.
Ashley just shrugged. Suddenly, a high pitched, nasally voice echoed over the cover the Rangers were hiding behind.
"You over there, come on out!"
The Rangers glanced at each other, before doing as they were told. No point in drawing this out after all.
"Well, what do we have here?" said the Monster, looking down his non existent nose at the four Humans, "Some Humans we missed?"
He glared at his minions.
"Useless things. Can't do anything right."
"Actually, we just arrived," said Shepard, "We're here to stop you."
The Monster stared at the five Humans for a moment, before he burst out laughing, accompanied by a strange choking sound from his minions. While they were distracted laughing there asses off, Shepard turned his head to check on the Quarians, one of which was wearing a very familiar looking purple cowl.
"Tali?" asked Shepard in surprise, "Is that you?"
"S-Shepard?" gasped Tali, "B-but how? Joker said you got spaced!"
"Yeah, I'm not entirely sure of the specifics myself," said Shepard, "We'll have to catch up later though. Right now, we got a Monster to beat."
He turned back to the Monsters as they finally recovered enough to stop laughing.
"Ah, your funny Human, I'll give you that," he said, "But if you think you can stop us, you've got another think coming. You pathetic apes are so weak, even these Husks will be able to beat you."
Shepard smirked.
"I wouldn't be so sure of that," he said, "You aren't exactly the first megalomaniac evil monster we Humans have fought and we've come out victorious every time."
The Monster scowled.
"DESTROY THEM!" he shouted.
Immediately, the Husks charged the five Rangers, completely forgoing their weapons in favor of hand to hand combat.
"Why do these things always charge?" asked Ashley, "Eh, what the hell. Lets have some fun!"
The new Rangers slipped into Martial Arts stances and met the charge, sending the Minions flying with well placed blows that sent them into walls, crates and each other, causing those that were hit hard enough to exploded into bluish grey dust. Within five minutes, the last of the Husks were dust and the Rangers regrouped in front of the Monster, who looked close to suffering an aneurysm from anger.
"Now its your turn" said Shepard.
"LIKE HELL!" screamed the Monster, "I AM THE COLLECTOR, LOYAL SERVANT OF THE REAPERS AND I WILL NOT BE DEFEATED BY MERE APES!"
His eyes started glowing and he thrust out his hands, sending a wave of force out that knocked the Rangers off their feet and into the crates the Quarians were still hiding behind.
"Ow," deadpanned Jacob.
"Sir, can I suggest that we don't humor him?" said Alenko, "I really don't want to get my ass kicked on our first mission."
"I second that," said Ashley.
"Good plan," said Shepard, activating his Omnitool, "Come on guys, lets see what these things can do."
"This isnt a game," muttered Miranda, but didn't protest to the plan.
"Oh, whats this?" sneered Collector, "Some last ditch attempt at resistance?"
"You could say that," said Shepard, holding up his arm and placing his other hand on his forearm, a pose his teammates mimicked, "Now lets go."
"Mass Power, Full Power!" called the five Humans in unison, before swiping their hands up the Omnitools, releasing a huge flash of light and energy.
Shepard appeared in front of a Mass Relay that activated, flinging him forwards in a beam of light. As he traveled, red light gathered around his form, taking on the form of a skintight red uniform that looked like it was made of spandex with a black arrow on the chest, a white belt with a buckle shaped like the Systems Alliance logo and a pistol holstered on the left side of the belt. His flight came to an end and he landed on a planet that looked a lot like Therum in a gout of fire that gathered around his head and formed into a red helmet with a black visor and silver mouthpiece.
Miranda appeared in front of a Mass Relay that activated, flinging her forwards in a beam of light. As she traveled, yellow light gathered around her form, taking on the form of a skintight yellow uniform that looked like it was made of spandex with a black arrow on the chest, a white belt with a buckle shaped like the Systems Alliance logo and a pistol holstered on the left side of the belt. Her flight came to an end and she landed on a planet with a sky full of thunderclouds that released a bolt of lightning that gathered around her head and formed into a yellow helmet with a black visor and silver mouthpiece.
Alenko appeared in front of a Mass Relay that activated, flinging him forwards in a beam of light. As he traveled, blue light gathered around his form, taking on the form of a skintight blue uniform that looked like it was made of spandex with a black arrow on the chest, a white belt with a buckle shaped like the Systems Alliance logo and a pistol holstered on the left side of the belt. His flight came to an end and he landed on an ocean planet with a huge splash that gathered around his head and formed into a blue helmet with a black visor and silver mouthpiece.
Jacob appeared in front of a Mass Relay that activated, flinging him forwards in a beam of light. As he traveled, black light gathered around his form, taking on the form of a skintight black uniform that looked like it was made of spandex with a black arrow outlined on the chest, a white belt with a buckle shaped like the Systems Alliance logo and a pistol holstered on the left side of the belt. His flight came to an end and he landed on a rocky planet, throwing up a large boulder formed into a black helmet around his head with a black visor and silver mouthpiece.
Ashley appeared in front of a Mass Relay that activated, flinging her forwards in a beam of light. As she traveled, pink light gathered around her form, taking on the form of a skintight pink uniform that looked like it was made of spandex with a black arrow on the chest, a white belt with a buckle shaped like the Systems Alliance logo and a pistol holstered on the left side of the belt. Her flight came to an end and she landed on a desert planet amid a swirling windstorm that gathered around his head and formed into a pink helmet with a black visor and silver mouthpiece.
Of course, the above is only meant for the reader, so to everyone else, the light simply seemed to shatter to reveal the five Humans in their Uniforms, ready for battle. Collector couldn't pale due to his physiology, but he made an excellent attempt.
"Oh, poopies," he said.
And I think I'm gonna leave it there, mostly because I just wanna post this. Its not really meant to be taken seriously (obviously) and I doubt I'll ever continue it, no matter how much I'd love too.
For this world, assume that most of the Power Ranger seasons that take place on Earth and not in the future happened. So no Time Force (Although I suppose that it could have done and time just followed a different path) or SPD. I'm not sure about the ones set in space, but I suppose they couldn't have happened either.
The inevitable Evil Ranger here would probably be Javik, who would probably be given a Human form upon being turned by some weird ass space magic.
I hope you liked this dive into the world of cheesy TV, my regular brand of insanity will be back in no time. Until then, please leave a review!