Chapter 27: Squadron

7760 BC - Frontier Lab - Planet 0117 - Galaxy A4 - Land Without Magic

"I feel like an allosaurus stepped on me" Telosi said

"You look like it too" Xev said "now stop wiggling or I won't be able to close this up. You'll be fine… he will be fine, right?"

"His bio scans seem fine…" Orisonth said

"But…" Phiro said

"There's alway a but" Aleia said

"We might be in some trouble" Orisonth said

"If it's bad news, just spit it out" Rhian said

"I think these Powers are killing us" Orisonth said "the Morphers other Ranger teams used aren't just for allowing the use to control the Power… it's to regulate it and to protect the user. Even with my Proto Morphers, every time we activate our Powers, it tears us apart on a molecular level…"

"But what if we can't get the Proto Arch working in time and those things find us?" Xev asked

"How do we fight back without our Powers?" Telosi asked

"How many Morphs do we have left, Ori?" Rhian asked

"One, two at best" Orisonth said "unless I can perfect the Morphers"

"And how long do you need to get the Proto Arch up and running?" Rhian asked

"I was close to a breakthrough before the invasion started, but…" Orisonth said "I don't know now if it's even possible to fully fix"

"It is not impossible" the Morphinaut said "merely difficult. Fortunately, great minds enjoy a challenge, do they not?"

Dark Specter's Command Ship above Planet 0117

A Spectoid reports to the General

"Good" the General said "prepare the troops. They have nowhere else to run" and the Spectoid says something else "What you mean Guardian?" and it says something else "a suit? What kind of suit?… I need to see this myself"

Unknown Planet

"The personal nature of your request is noted" the Head Councilman said "and though the reason is understandable, it is still denied Kartor"

"They are our family" Kartor said "we just need to open a portal long enough…"

'No, Kartor" the Head Councilman said "you are asking us to risk everyone, everything. They know the coordinates. If they survived and are able to find a way to us they can return. But we cannot risk Dark Specter's forces following us here"

Frontier Lab - Planet 0117 - Galaxy A4

"I still don't know how you managed this on your own" Orisonth said as the Morphinaut and him try and reconfigure the Proto Arch

"No great achievement is done alone" the Morphinaut said

"I do all of my best work alone, like you" Orisonth said

"Right" the Morphinaut said, looking at a picture of him and Chendril "alone"

"Guardians of this plane… listen well" a voice said

"How did they get this frequency?" Rhian asked walking in with the others

"We want nothing more than the Arch" Dark Specter's General said over the communications system "surrender yourselves and you will live. Resist, and your destruction is ensured. Your existence is inconsequential to us. You have five minutes to decide how important it is to you" and the transmission ended

"Anyone else thinking what I'm thinking?" Phiro asked

"That someone wants a butt kicking?" Telosi said

"Ori, Arch update?" Rhian asked

"I still need to run some tests" Orisonth said "if we turn it on and it blows then we're really out of luck"

"How much time do you need?" Aleia asked

"I don't know" Orisonth said

"Run the sequence again" the Morphinaut said "you were close before and with our modifications, you'll get it" and he walks out of the lab "you deserve to be with your families. This is my mess to clean up" and he seals the door behind him. Telosi pulls out his Power Crystal

"Stand back" Telosi said "I'm gonna bust us outta here and save his stupid…"

"Telosi" Xev said "we can't chance morphing. It's too dangerous"

"You said the new Morphers were almost ready" Telosi said to Orisonth "if we can buy you some time, could you finish the modifications you were working on?"

"Maybe?" Orisonth said "I don't know for sure"

"But what if it's still not enough and they get to the Arch?" Phiro asked "Then the entire universe is at risk"

"And the universe has a better chance with just the Morphinaut alone?" Aleia asked

"But can we save him without morphing?" Xev asked

"We don't need to save the Morphinaut" Aleia said "we just need to buy Ori more time. And if there's one thing I'm good at, it's killing time"

Outside the lab, the Morphinaut is fighting the Spectoids and is about to be hit by one when Aleia knocks it out of the way

"You know" Aleia said "we've just got to stop meeting like this"

"What are you doing?!" the Morphinaut exclaimed "you're not morphed"

"Ori's working on that" Rhian said, knocking over a Spectoid

"While we've got the lovely job of saving your butt from a beating" Telosi said

"But the Arch…" the Morphinaut said

"Ori's working on that too" Rhian said "he's always been good at multitasking"

"Anyone else hear that noise?" Telosi asked as Dark Specter's General rides up on a speeder bike

"So it is you" the General said "or some Phantom of you. How are you here?"

"Do I know you?" the Morphinaut asked

"And with a team no less, you've changed!" the General said "when I knew you, you could barely handle a partner"

"You… you know me?" the Morphinaut asked "how do you know me?"

"It doesn't matter" the General said "my only concern is finding the Arch and getting him back"

"N… n… no…" the Morphinaut said.

The teens fight off the Spectoids, but are getting overwhelmed, Aleia getting knocked on her back as a Spectoid attacks

"Help!" Aleia screamed and Orisonth kicks over the Spectoid and helps her up.

"It's okay" Orisonth said "I've got you. Sorry it took so long, but I finally figured it out" and he pulls out a box and opens it, showing six pair of devices

"Where's the Power Crystals?" Aleia asked

"The Morphers absorbed them" Orisonth said "that's how I know they should work. I call them Squadron Morphers" and he hands out the Morphers.

"I knew you could do it" Aleia said

"Strap them to your wrist and fold out the key from one and insert it into the other to Morph" Orisonth said and they get ready to activate their Morphers

"For my sister" Rhian said

"For our families" Phiro said

"For the Grid" Orisonth said

"For us" Telosi said

"For the future" Aleia said

"For the universe" Xev said

"IT'S MORPHIN TIME!"