Exodus - The Guardian Saga III

[RedGuardianRanger]

Author's Note: It's been sometime since the Lost Stories concluded, and even longer since we left the streets of San Francisco behind, and saw the last of the Guardian Rangers. Some believed we may never lay eyes on them again, and that our tale was finished when they fell. I'm not one to end things on sad note though, but nor will I ressurect everything on a happy one. The Rangers are back, but not as you knew them before. Gone is the first person point of view of Keith, and instead we have a third person view so that we can go into each of the heads of all the players. Like all of the saga, each of the stories are different, and now, this new one is no different. We will see a different side of all the Rangers as they become hard pressed by the onset of not just war, but total invasion. Before they had the courage to stand up, and fight an enemy no one else wanted to; now they must seek the courage to go on as their world falls around them. That is what this story is really about, and I hope that is what many of you take from this, that is if I do a good job of communicating it to you.

Without further ado, I present the first chapter of the first part, of the next book in the epic. Each new chapter in a part will be posted on a monday, but there will be a good deal of time to elaspe between parts. What comes next is the ultimate question. When the time is right, what will your answer be? Fight, or Flight?

[RedGuardianRanger]

50 years ago….

The sun casts it light into the area surrounding the waterfall, as the overwhelming rush of water over the cliff deafens the sound of anything else. A soft pool of water sits just below it, ripples flowing as the new water lands in it. The jungle that surrounds the pool is fresh, and alien, made up of strange trees, and some that seem all too familiar. Any creatures that may live in the thick jungle are hidden from view from the pool though, as the entire scene seems only to echo serenity as the rock that catches the water sits unmoved against the current. But as is the case with all things serene, its time must come to an end. It isn’t the traditional sound of a stick or a branch cracking that signals the coming movement, it’s the sight and sound that accompanies the blast of an Enea.

A figure, deformed, and mangled comes flying over the falls, and crashes into the sanctuary of the pool. The creature is not human, and far from it. It may be attractive for its species, but for any onlookers from humanity, it can only be described as hideous, and monstrous. Its skin is ruddy, and its back possesses a slight hunch to it. It’s eyes are larger than normal, perhaps twice the size of a humans. Its hands were practically claws, as were its feet. The only indication that separated this from a beast was the fact that it wore a uniform, grey in color, and at its side an empty holster, most likely were a weapon rested before hand. It lies lifeless in the pool, for on it’s deformed chest rests the unmistakable impression of a blast mark.

Over the falls comes another figure, this one clad in all white. The form is graceful, and flips and lands gracefully besides the pool, the legs crossed. As it stands erect, it takes the form of a humanoid, a Ranger. Clad in white, clearly female, she stands confidently, as she raises a Psy Saber in one hand, and an Enea in another. The blaster is pointed carefully at the falls, as she waits for what comes next. Her patience is not needed though, as quickly two of the creatures force their way over the cliff, their landing quite less graceful than the Rangers. The White Ranger tightens her hands on the Enea, as the two creatures leer at her. Moments later there joined by two more as they land behind her in an equal amount of force. She is surrounded by these four creatures, all of them carrying lewd blasters leveled at the Ranger.

Her reactions are timed carefully, and she considers each opponent, not just with her eyes, but her mind as well, for as a Mobium her heightened senses can feel everything around her. Her movements are fast, and before they can even click off a round at her, she’s already dropped one of them to the ground, her weapon set to full power. With the proximity she’s in now to the others, her blaster is of no more use to her, and instead she switches to her saber. Charging the other one in front of her, she slices him across the middle, and splits him in two, before spinning back around to the others. The energy bolts come next, but a mental field erupts in front of them stopping them from striking her. More of the creatures emerge from the jungle behind the others, and soon they number eight to her one. She replaces her blaster to its magnetic holster where it hangs upon her thigh. Her saber she rotates in front of her where it points to the ground, next to her side. Her other hand is free, and off to the side. Her enemies paused to consider the damage she had already wrought amongst their fallen comrades, and this moment was all she needed to go further. Her armor began to glow, and then suddenly it erupted, changing into thicker version. This was her Guardian Armor, and as it at flourished into her life, so to did her saber, which flared with a new found energy.

The creatures roared with anger, and charged forward. Her saber met them head on, as it took off the head of the first one, she ducked another the next, forcing him to crash into her, and be forced up and over. She sliced the next one across the midsection the same as before. Her thrusters on the back of her armor flared, and took her into the sky, quicker than if she could lift her self with her mind. The monsters glared into the sky as she hovered above them, and slowly she leveled her other arm with buckler cannon at them. It charged quickly, but the others would not go without a fight, and fired their blasters at the hovering target. There energy bolts could not make the difference though for they either missed or bounced off her suit. She would not though, as the blast let loose from her cannon, slammed into the ground, and engulfing all the creatures at once. They didn’t even had time to scream.

She landed softly, just as gracefully as the time before, but this time her feet found only the charred ashes of those who stood upon it moments before. If she looked tired or exhausted her form didn’t depict. She took a moment to take in the area around her, and then her armor flashed, leaving her true form in its wake. Terisian stood there, her dark hair flowing amidst the wind of the falling water. Her demeanor was calm, and cautious at the same time, but her gaze was far beyond the wooded area. A movement out of the corner of her eye caught her gaze, and she spun around defensively. A child slowly emerged from the brush. Not a Mobium child, but a humanoid child of a similar look. It was a little girl, and she stood timidly at the edge of the pool. Slowly she wondered up to Terisian, and the mobium princess regarded her cautiously. Slowly the little girl reached her arm, and touched the Ranger’s leg softly, before hugging it, like she would a mother. The mobium slowly placed her hand on the child’s head, and stroked her hair softly. Kneeling down, the two came face to face, and the Mobium princess looked into the eyes of the child. She had fought to save these people from the monsters that she had battled, but now her battle was over.

Reaching down to her wrist, Terisian slowly unfastened her lens, and removed it. She held it in her hand for a moment, before placing it into the hand of the child. The child looked down at the treasure that she fingered softly in her hand, completely unaware of the power that she held. Terisian slowly stroked the young child’s face, and smiled at her. She stood up, and released her grasp of the child. Slowly the child backed up, and as she did, the Mobium lifted herself off the ground. She didn’t even bother to turn around as she shot into the sky, leaving to parts unknown, and returning on her path into history.

<Track Insert – Paul Oakenfold “The Way I Feel feat. Ryan Tedder” (Exodus Theme)>

Blake stood before the television monitors stirring his coffee carefully. He like the rest of his country were in shock, but the full extent of that shock had not yet reached all of them. It was the kind of shock that you get when you watch things like Hurricane Katrina on television, the kind of shock that can disappear if you’re around the right people for long enough. This shock had one different problem though, it wasn’t going to disappear. It was going to turn into panic.

His bullpen, the desk of the agents that worked under him was literally in a frenzy. His department was swamped, and he felt the worst feeling any department head could possibly feel, helplessness. Maybe though, it was worse than that, maybe it was guilt. He knew this was going to happen, first hand. He was there in the meetings, he saw the charts, the figures, and he knew how much further this was going to go. The footfalls of the metallic warriors that marched three thousand miles away were heard in the room he was now in. Not over the speakers of a television, or the recordings of a military analyst being played in the background. They were heard subconsciously by all the people who knew what they meat, knew what they herald. The end of man’s dominion over this planet.

The rangers had fallen. Blake hadn’t heard a word of them since the news copter covering the battle in San Francisco had been blown apart by a barrage of energy bolts from the droids below. It could have ended there though; a tactical air strike by a squadron of Hornets, and the droids would have been a memory. How many civilians dead? How many innocent lives would it have cost? No one knew for sure, but no one was willing to take that chance, especially after Iraq. But who cared about that anymore. That was five days ago, two days before the capital ships arrived in orbit. The hundred or so droids that were left, that were being hunted down by the armed forces were reinforced. They didn’t even see the drop ships before tens of thousands of droids marched on the street. Northern California was no longer American Territory. Droids marched in two other regions across the globe, and they were spreading out from there. Blake wondered if he was walking in the beginning days of World War Three.

He had been apart of the events that had led up to this though. It had started with that dummy corporation and the artifacts from a crashed Mobius ship that led to his discovery of Keith. Those seemed like so much easier days, when all he had to do was figure out what was going to happen next, not worry if there was going to be a next. The Mobium had come out of no where, and things had change, and only a rational man could have seen this coming, but the times hadn’t been rational, and the decisions of the people in power were made on the fly with the best information they had at the time. Would he be in the text books now with the people who made the wrong decisions? Would his name be next to the death toll? Would there be a book?

He slowly moved across the bullpen lost in his thoughts that he almost ran into one of his subordinates that was going to hand him a note. Slowly he took it from the man, and his grazed across the writing on the paper, a small smile played across his lips. Letting his smile fade though he address his aide solemnly, “Please send him up.”

He made it the rest of the way to his office, and sat down into his chair, replacing his coffee mug on the ring that had become its stationary position for the last several months, and breathed out a breath he had been holding in since before he sat down. It was a long and refreshing release for him, and as he ran his hands and fingers through his dark hair, he wondered what the hell had happened.

His answer was being escorted through the bullpen now by two agents that guarded downstairs, and as they pulled Sean through the crowd of stun onlookers, they deposited him through the threshold of the doorway to Blake’s office almost like a common criminal. The lead agent took a hold of the door knob, and pulled the door shut effectively muting the conversation to the rest of the world. Blake stood up slowly, and offered his hand, which Sean took quickly, and shook. His words were typical, and very political, “Glad to see your still alive.”

Sean didn’t look like his usual self, the best look Blake could place upon his ally was disheveled. His hair was a mess, his clothes worn from a harrowing flight of some sort, and his face looked like he hadn’t slept in days, nor shaved for that matter. He took a seat opposite Blake’s desk, and folded his hands in his lap. “I thought I’d come in person, because this was important. My family is waiting downstairs in the car.”

“We all saw the reports out of San Francisco and I feared the worst,” said Blake, not really listening to the tone that his friend’s voice conveyed in its meaning. “But seeing you here like a goddamn ghost is reassuring. How are the others?”

“Dead,” said Sean, rattling it off like he was talking about people he had never met. It was cold, so much more than Blake would have imagined from a man who not only worked very closely with the people he was describing but mentored their leader as well.

“Then the report was true?” asked Blake, his solemn tone that he had used before returning to his voice.

“Keith, and Colleen were taken prisoner before the armed forces arrived on the scene,” said Sean, describing the event like he had seen it in a movie. “I can only assume that they’re beyond our reach, but the others….” He trailed off for a moment, and a sudden flash of pain was revealed in his expression, pain that Blake knew had to be there, but Sean was apparently hiding for some reason. Emotion though began to betray him in his tone though as he continued, “…the others fought until the end. When they went down, the heart monitors read no life on all their suits. I stared at the screen for about an hour, but there was no change. Finally, I recorded their time of death, and closed down shop. How is the rest of the world fairing?”

“The Chinese have mobilized their million man army, and deployed their air force, and are literally throwing everything they have to stop the force of droids that has occupied Shanghai,” announced Blake as if he was giving a report to the President. “The Russians, and the Japanese are sending reinforcements but the Mobium forces are strong, and the technology that the use in their air craft is outdated. They’re all fighting valiantly, but the Mobiums are using mere thousands to push over a million back by the day. Their zone of control is spreading. As for the African foothold, it is almost uncontainable by the forces on that continent, and we fear that by the end of the mouth, they’ll have the whole continent, and part of the middle east in their grasp. We’ve pulled everyone we have out of Iraq, and Afghanistan, and moved them back to the front lines. The Pacific Fleet is sitting off the coast of California now, and the Atlantic is moving to help the African nations.”

Sean took everything in stride, his look of weariness probably clouding most of what Blake was telling him, “It’s as bad as Keith thought, isn’t it?”

Blake looked at him, and nodded softly though he concealed his grave concern for the situation that was at hand. “The Defense Department is too busy to admit what the analysts are saying might be true, that even if we deploy Nuclear Weapons against this enemy, and maintain air superiority, we might ultimately be overrun by their superior technology. The Reign of Mankind may be over my friend.”

“Maybe it’s for the best,” said Sean softly.

Blake looked at him seriously for several moments, feeling the great lost that Sean felt for his friends. Sean felt for more than himself, and more than just his family. His pain was for the entire world, for in his mind, the world had lost their heroes; their saviors. No mankind would have to pull itself up by its bootstraps and win this one on his own. Blake though, broke his chain of thoughts as he asked, “Let me have access to your files, perhaps we can use some of the data to help our men.”

“The computer is gone,” said Sean softly, “along with the rest of the Shelter. I packed my family up, and a few personal belongings, and then burned that place to the ground.”

Blake looked at him critically for a few moments, some in disappointment, some in comprehension. He had been in a similar place in his life too, and knew what it took to push someone that far. He could finally feel all the pieces adding up, even the ones he missed in the beginning. Sean wasn’t here to deliver a report, he was here to give his closing arguments. He was out of this war. Almost on cue, he delivered his conclusion.

“My family is waiting downstairs,” he informed the Federal Agent. “I’m taking them, and going home. I’m done with all this. Good Luck.” He stood up, not waiting for Blake to respond, and slowly collected himself. Taking one last look at Blake, he turned, and headed for the door. Blake for his part let the man go in peace. Sean was beyond emotional restoration. If he was going to heal it would be on his own time, and there was no moral booster the agent could give to a man that had just watched all his teammates die. The federal agent only knew one person who would even try, and he was now probably locked away in some cell in the depths of space on his way to his death.

It was a sunny day in Northern California though, practically cloudless as the frightened city of San Francisco awoke again to its occupation. It was to the sound of air craft overhead, but they were in no way American, or even human for that matter. They raced over head like a gust of wind that blows through the cracks of loose boards or doorways in an old house. It was quick and fast as the gracefully, sleek, and deadly craft powered through the sky on patrol. The sun shone brightly upon the Golden Gate bridge, strangely unoccupied with traffic. In fact the sound of cars were absent from the city altogether. But people were not. They moved silently, their voices barely above a whisper as the conferred in little clicks. It had been this way for the last three weeks as they settled into their occupation which had been fast, and swift. One day a few hundred droids, the next a droid on every street corner; in some cases in the downtown area, almost literally.

Most of the city remained intact, except for the places that the battle had been waged for the last three weeks. Three weeks of invasion. The military was routed in but a single day. Forced back not just beyond the city border, but practically beyond the northern border of the state and into Oregon, and the people began to wonder if their liberation was even a possibility. There had been riots, and uprising, and they had been quelled, quickly, and fiercely. Why shouldn’t they be? The droids had simple orders. Maintain the peace, or terminate those beings who refused to remain calm. These weren’t humans fighting humans, these were an alien race looking down on an inferior race of people, and seeing them like animals.

The people were frightened, for good reason. They had not seen the face of their occupiers, nor would they. Their captors only necessity was to provide for them, and this they did at food vending stations across the city, were people were forced into lines to be served in a sense, protein bars. Field rations is another way of putting it. Enough to survive was the best. There were still markets, but without jobs, which they weren’t allowed to go to, they weren’t making any money, so as soon as those funds, as well as the goods were gone, then there would be nothing else. They began to wonder would happen if the aliens won.

There were whispers, and paranoia as there always is during an occupation. Fear and panic are of course byproducts of this, and worse of all there was beginning to be talk of the worst thing of all, collaborators. People actually working for the enemy, and forming a secret police. But for what reason? And then the answer would be spoken. The one thing that was always whispered the softest, almost as if its very mention meant death. Resistance. The rumor mill was circulation about the possibility of fighting back against these robotic soldiers, and their non present masters. Some even spoke of military members still being present in the city, hiding, striking without warning. There would be rumors of attacks against droids, snipers, and several days ago, a far off explosion in the distance. No one knew the truth though, no one really knew what was happening around them. How could they?

Captain Andrews knew though. So did the few people he still worked with. Those that were left from the very first battle, the first moment of invasion. Those that had fought next to the people that no one spoke of, the Power Rangers. He had been knocked out by some great force that had taken out all his men at once, but when he came too, he had been one of the few lucky ones that survived. He had regrouped with the other survivors, and contacted his superiors. He was to withdraw, and be replaced by a fresh group. He didn’t withdraw though. He had ignored his orders, and instead, he and the others when hunting. Hunting for the being that had been responsible for the death of his friends. The mobium commander they called Lenoa.

They almost had her too. Then the world went to hell, and suddenly the enemy robots were everywhere, and his unit was all but wiped out a second time. It had been almost a month though since it all begun, but if you talked to Andrews he would of told you that it had been an eternity. Everything was different now, and so was he. He had become more than just a solider, he was a freedom fighter now, the very being which he fought against during his tour of Iraq, for what was he in the eyes of the conquering Mobiums but a terrorist. It didn’t upset him though, this title that he had earned from the actions of disrupting the enemies movements in the city, nor did it change the way he looked at the world. He was a trained solider, and because of that he only felt one way about his situation, and that way was no different than any other assignment he had faced before. He felt determination; determination to complete his mission, and return home safely.

He wondered if the battle droids he faced felt the same way inside their vast artificial intelligence. He wondered if they had the same sense of survival that organic beings had embedded into their own form of genetic programming that forced them to stay alive. He wondered this each time he peered through his scope of his M-16, as he sat in the ruin of a downtown apartment building, and looked down a small patrol of droids that number five or six. He wondered it every time before he took the shot.

“Come on,” he whispered silently to no one around him. He felt impatient as he waited for the Hunter Droids to fall into the assigned spot where the trap was to be sprung. These droids were not like the ones he first faced so long ago. They had a different equipment package which allowed them greater movement, and enhanced tracking abilities due to stronger sensors. His intel provided him with that much resource, but it took a good deal of practice, and luck to figure out that when you aim just above their left visual sensor that served as their eyes, you took out one of their core sensory processing units that allowed them to process inputs. Andrews sat with his greenish gray hat backwards so that he could better see through the scope on his rifle, and clad in the same uniform he had been wearing for a month now. He had become used to the smell, and no longer cared. The mission was everything.

“Gotcha,” he said as they stepped foot passed the marker. He clicked off a shot, and soared true, effectively shutting down the droid. It was the others that could predict the point of origin from the shot that you had to worry about though. Andrews took only a second to confirm the kill though, before he started moving, or rather, running for his life. The droids detected his heat signature though, and turned to engage, but it was a fatal mistake on their part.

“Now!” cried a voice, and suddenly three other similarly clad individuals forced their way up out of their clever hiding places behind the droids. Each sporting an assault weapon they opened fire on the droids, and quickly managed to damage the remaining four beyond operation as their thunderous shots rang out throughout the city, bringing a smile to many faces of the oppressed, and a concern to still more who wondered if the Mobiums would take their losses out on the citizens.

“Get moving,” came Andrews’s voice over the radio that one of the men sported on his chest, concealed in a pocket. “They’ll be sending reinforcements in no time.” He didn’t tell his other teammates though, they already knew the deal. They had been doing this almost everyday for the last month, and they were already skilled at becoming ghosts the second their job was over. This was their life now, as well as Andrews. Their mission was to be a thorn in the side of the lion, something to keep him focused sometimes inwards, and dull his senses to the outward inputs.

Andrews tore down the ruined street, away from the rubble of the thing that used to be an apartment building he perched himself in. He wasn’t even concerned with what was behind him, only the thing that was in front of him. He didn’t care who saw him, or what, once he reached it, he knew he would be safe. He skidded to a stop above it, and then summoning all his strength, he reached down, and pulled it off its cover, and slung his rifle over his head. He took a deep breath, and then descended into the sewers that made up his escape route, sewers he was sure that the others had made it too. Sealing the hole cover as he went, he plunged into the darkness, wondering if tomorrow he would make it again.

The eerie rhythm of the heart monitor was the first sound he heard, then there was the sound of gas releasing, almost like one of those machines that helped you breathe in those hospital shows. He felt strained, like he couldn’t move a single muscle in his body, like the world around him was pushing down on him. It was an almost overwhelming weakness. He tried to fight back against it, but it seemed just the greatest effort to move a single muscle. He just wanted to open his eyes, to see where he was, but that seemed hard to. But he had to do something, had to make some kind of movement. He focused all his energy to his, just opening them a bit would be a success in his book.

He tried for several moments, and then light. Piercing, overwhelming light, as if he had never seen before, and light was only something that had been described to him before. There was no focus to his sight, only nerves being overloaded. Slowly he forced his eyes to focus though, and as he looked up, all he could see was the color white. The color took definition, and seemed to be grided out, in a darker grey tone, while the interior of the grid were white panels, occasionally possessing a light fixture. It was a ceiling. He was in a room somewhere. He had done it, he had forced his eyes opened, but he couldn’t hold them open, and slowly they shut again, and he felt himself being pulled back into the darkness.

Dreams came and went again. Dreams he couldn’t remember, and visions of the faces of people he only barely remembered. Some he hadn’t seen in years, some that had been very close to him only a short time ago. But finally the dreams ebbed away of their own accord, and again he could hear the rhythm of the heart monitor. He was back in reality, for what dream would have that sound. He didn’t feel as weak as before, but still there was some weakness. His eyes yielded without a fight, and again he saw the ceiling from the last time he had stirred. He moved his eyes downward, and could see more of the room, including the door to the room, and the window that looked out into a hallway. His fears had been confirmed, he was lying a hospital bed.

“Hello?” he called almost silently towards no one. The audible sound was barely above a whisper, and someone next to him wouldn’t of been able to detect the sound. It was all he could muster though, and he wondered if anyone heard it as he sat, and waited for some form of reply. His feeling in his body began to return, but the only thing he really felt were the tubes that were running into his nose, and the monitors that had been affixed to his chest. There was no sense in panicking though, he was too tired and weak to panic. He tried to think back, past the dreams, and past the forgotten memories. Where had he been before all this? What was the last thing he remembered?

Pain. They had been fighting in California. There had been six of them originally, but two had been taken, and then there were four. There was a great battle, with many people. He remembered the squads of soldiers that had advanced on the droids that had invaded; he remembered Lenoa knocking out all the other humans. They had been forced into a circle; the four of them. They stood with their backs to each other as they looked out over the throngs of droids ready to eliminate them with a single order from their commander, and they became afraid. They were going to die, and they knew it.

There was the feeling of being struck by a hundred baseballs at once, being thrown by the strongest Major League pitcher. They tore into the armor that had protected his body, and then into his body as the armor could take no more of the pounding, and failed. He had fallen to the ground, and the very last thing he remembered was wondering if Lexa was going to be alright. He had resigned himself to death. He had tried to lead the team in Keith’s wake. He had failed, but somehow against all odds, he had survived. Matt had survived.

He was suddenly no longer alone. Standing in the doorway was a woman in a blue uniform, and she carried a clipboard. There was a small smile on her face, as she entered the room. She was older than he was, probably having been at this job awhile. She was somewhat attractive, but the ring on her finger said she was already spoken for. “You’re awake.” It was more of a statement of acknowledgement rather than a status report.

“Where?” was all Matt managed to squeak out as he tried to force his body to move up, but found he didn’t have the strength to even do that, and the nurse was clearly moving to stop him from doing it. Rather than put up a fight though, he ceased of his own accord.

“Wyoming,” she told him softly, pushing him back on to his bed. Her eyes looked away from him, and to some of the machines as well as an IV. “You’ve been here for almost a month now. We’ve taken in a number of survivors from San Francisco, the unlucky ones just like you who were at ground zero. You’re lucky they found you when they did. Any longer and you wouldn’t of made it.”

Matt wondered silently if any of the others had made it as well. Where they here now in this place with him? Was there a chance that Lexa or Peter was just down the hall in another room just like this still unconscious?

“Of course you at least got out when we could still get in there,” continued the nurse unabated by the fact that she was most likely carrying on a conversation with herself. “You were just part of the first wave. When those ships arrived up above, that when the real battle began. Now we can’t even get into Northern California anymore.” She moved over, and slowly pulled the sheets loose that he had knocked down from when he had tried to move, and covered him back up. “They say it won’t be long before they’re going to move into Wyoming, and then I guess we’ll all have to move on. They say this might be the last war humans ever fight.” Slowly the weakness began to take its toll on Matt, and pushed him into sleep again. He hoped next time there would be more strength, and a better chance to learn what else had happened while he had been asleep. Maybe garner more information.

The nurse watched the Blue Ranger drift back into slumber, and could only watch and wonder. She had no idea who he was, or what he had done to try and stop any of this from happening in the first place. The only thing she could see was that this could be the future of many people, and possibly people she cared about. Recovering her clipboard, she jotted down several notes before leaving the room, and heading back to the station. She smiled at the girl behind the counter, and quickly informed of the good news that her star patient had finally regain consciousness.

Not far from there, Andrews was slowly pulling himself out of the sewer, and into what was possibly the sub basement of one of the larger buildings in the downtown area. The walls were sturdy concrete, the normal dark grey color that most of it was, and steel beams ran across the ceiling to support the many floors above, but these were left unfinished, because they didn’t need to be. Pushing the grate aside, he suddenly came face to face with several large assault rifles, but he was accustomed to this, as it was a necessary security measure. He hadn’t just entered a basement. He had just gone into the headquarters of the resistance movement. The only thing still fighting in San Francisco. The two guerillas holding the rifles pulled back though when they recognized Andrews. He pushed himself to his feet, and dusted his hands off. Taking a hold of the strap that held his rifle, he moved forward, and into the makeshift base.

Cubicles had been built, creating different sections, and different areas, and easily a hundred or so people were crammed into this area right now, all working towards a different end, each with a different task. It was none of these people though that concerned him though. He was moving quickly to the largest space that housed the person he was reporting to. However, as it has been known to happen, he became sidetracked as one of the officers below him, hurried towards him down the walkway he was on.

“Captain,” he announced, and quickly closed the gap. “Captain, this just came in from Wyoming, urgent for the Major.”

Andrews took the note from the soldier, and read over it quickly, not really caring if the Major disapproved of it or not. His eyes read no emotion though as he read over the scribbled lines. Instead he only nodded at the soldier, and patted him on the soldier. “Good Work.” Again he moved on, stopping only to drop off his rifle before proceeding directly to the Major’s area. Stopping just before the door, he extended his hand carefully, and knocked.

“Enter,” came the Major’s voice. Carefully he pulled the door open, and stepped inside. The Major’s back was to him as he entered, and he found her staring at a projected screen on the wall in front of her. Her quarters were more like a command post. There were projections and map spread out all across the room. Very few personal things if any, and few if any clothes. Just a cot, and a table with a light over it. Andrews’ eyes found their way to the Major, and he examined her carefully. From the back she looked just like any other girl. Her feathery blonde hair fell to just above her shoulders. While she was quite slender, she was also very fit, and quite attractive. She wore black. A black shirt with a zipper on the front, and black slacks that were a little rougher, and more durable than most women would wear, but she was in the middle of a warzone. Her boots matched the same color as the rest of her attire. “Report.”

“We knocked the target squad offline,” reported Andrews. “That’ll be a few less droids roaming the street tonight.” She turned her head ever so slight, and then turned around completely to address her officer. Her face was quite attractive, and seeing the front side of her one could also appreciate her bust as well which was modest, but noticeable. However it was her eyes that were the giveaway to what she used to be. They were a noticeable orange, something that stuck out all to obviously upon her. On her left wrist she wore a black band, and in the center of it rested a yellow jewel. “I have a message for you too.” Andrews handed her the message, and as he did he summarized it for her, “Major, he’s awake.”

If Lexa heard him, she didn’t give any indication at all. The now rather human looking female showed no emotion at all, and simply crumpled up the message, and tossed it away from her, as she turned back towards the projection. Without look at Andrews she gave him another mission. “When your strength has been replenished, please form a group and deploy to the southern quadrant. A squadron of advanced units is defending a line of supply. If the units can be destroyed, a wing of bombers can be vectored in to eliminate the line.”

Andrews felt a little taken aback by the Major’s lack of response to the note. He knew he would feel quite relieved if he had found out one of his teammates had made it through the initial foothold battle. The Major was a different person though, so all he could do was nod in acknowledgement, and retreat slowly out of the room. Lexa could hear him depart, and still her eyes were locked on the projections in front of her. She had been running this show for the last three weeks, and suddenly out of nowhere she had found out that Matt was now awake. If this affected her in anyway she didn’t show it on the surface, or even just below it. But after all, Lexa was a trained soldier, and even they can hide it sometimes. She was still new to this whole thing. Had it been a full revolution since she had graduated from the Star Academy? She was barely above the level of cadet in her people’s military, and her she was on the front lines of another world, defending it from the very people she swore to fight for. She suddenly felt a lot older than before, as if time had suddenly attacked her from behind when she wasn’t looking.

All of this had been because of one person; one family. It suddenly seemed stupid and crazy that all of this was because of one person, and what that person meant to a world far away from this one. So many people dying for one person seemed so short sighted, but then to the people in power, maybe that was their only sight. Her eyes fell back on the charts that showed the advancing Mobium forces into the rest of the continent. They were an unstoppable force that this world could not hold back. It was no longer a matter of if they took this planet, but when. Keith knew it would come to this, she had sensed that much before they had parted ways, but still she wasn’t prepared to have to live through the initial battle and watch the world fall to her peers. So did Keith she realized, but now he was somewhere far beyond her reckoning…at least so she believed.

It was dark, darker than any night on Earth could ever hope to be. There was no sound, no whisper of wind or air for that matter. No movement either. It was like being in a sensory deprivation chamber, completely devoid of any kind of sense, except for one. There was cold, almost an overwhelming kind of cold. The kind that makes it hard to move muscles or to want to move at all for that matter. It was the worst kind of chill, one that forced you to slowly fall into a slumber, one where eventually the cold would over take you. It was the kind of cold, where the only thing you can think of is the cold.

It was cold and dark. And then there was light. Literally. It was the glare of an electrical light that suddenly flooded everything in the area, giving everything depth, and substance. The light traced the outline of everything that floated before it. Various pieces of metal, some in the form of artificial creations, some in the form of remains of larger pieces. They didn’t move or rotate, they just floated. But it wasn’t these pieces that were floating before the light that was the reason for the light. It was something else. It was the thing that floated right before the light that was of the greatest interest of the light. It was the outline of something specific, something whole, and something small. It was the outline of a being, a bipedal building, almost appear to be lying on its back. Wrapped around it was protective armor, a very unique armor that few had access to; and even fewer understood its true abilities. The light slowly moved, and as it did there was a soft hum, the sound of a thruster, an energy thruster. As the light moved the objects in front of it changed their definition, as did the being wearing the armor, and for an instant, in the cold, dark place where there was nothing before, a glint of color is given off by the floating being’s armor. It is the color red.

Slowly as if some unseen force is pulling it away, the being slowly drifts towards the light, most likely not of its own free will, but as it nears the light, a new light appears, and grows larger, until it appears to be some type of door, and beyond a well lit room. Slowly the being drifts towards the room, until it is safely beyond the door that had opened for it. Slowly this door closes, and the new light in the dark, cold place suddenly goes out, leaving just the first light to cast its ghostly light over the remaining objects that remain in this void. A moment later though that light is extinguished too, and darkness returns to the void; a place where senses had no use.

[RedGuardianRanger]

The road was rough. The pavement had been chewed up by different forms of weapons, both solid ammunition, and the energy kind used by the alien robots. The driver whirred his old muscle car around the war-torn potholes as best he could, but even so he couldn’t go all out with the car, even though the faster they went the better chance they stood of getting out of Northern California. Peaking into the rear view mirror he could see the four people crammed into the backseat; three girls, and a guy practically asleep on top of each other. There faces showed the signs of dust, and smoke as well as dirt as they had gone all out to make it to where they were now. He hadn’t known them very long either, only a few short days. But they had come to him, and he had done all that he could do make sure they made it safety. How much longer would there be safety though he wondered?

He hadn’t done this feat alone. As he raced around down an unbroken piece of pavement, he glanced into the passenger seat to his occupant resting comfortably, and with an air of confidence, and determination as well. He was awake, almost more so than the driver, and sat with his arms crossed in front of his chest. He had almost a pretty boy look to him, like that of a Backstreet Boy or something like that. Maybe it was the fact that he still looked very clean amongst the rest of him. He was no older than the driver though, old enough to have just finished high school, or just beginning college. His dark curly hair though was what gave him his look. That combined with his somewhat built frame made him look intimidating, even when all he did was just sit there. The driver knew though that there was more to the guy than that though. He had seen him do some incredible things back there when those robots came for the five of them to try and return them to the camp. The guy had done something incredible, something the driver thought only happened in the movies.

The car bounced as it struck another bump, but the larger wheels with the big tires kept it on its course as it wound its way the final miles out of California. The road was empty, and the sunny day made visibility even better, so that they could cruise, and turn off the road if it looked like they were about to run across a patrol of droids or something like that. The driver would have enjoyed days like this, the days before the invasion. Those had seem like so long ago though, and he wondered if he was a different person back then as well too. It felt like he couldn’t remember. His life had become the invasion, all their lives had become the invasion. His eyes floated down to the fuel needle, though he knew he had enough gas to get them out of here, it was still a habit when he drove cars. Quickly it returned the road, and far to the horizon where the road continued. But something was sitting on the edge of the horizon, a speck that was slowly getting bigger. Slowly the driver’s eyes widen, as the speck was slowly starting to take shape and definition, he turned to his passenger to alert him to the danger, “Nick!”

Nick’s eyes though were already upon them though. He knew the shape well, for the past month he had done nothing but fight them. “I see them,” he told the driver. “It’s a roadblock.” Slowly he rolled down his window, and the fast moving air tore into the car’s cabin, awaking the passenger in the back seat, and returning them to their cramped confinement. The window fully down, he turned his attention back to the driver, “Whatever happens, keep driving.”

“Alright,” said the driving, nodding as he did so. He watched as Nick’s form began to glow, and suddenly burst into fire, becoming that of a fireball. He could feel the heat coming off the thing Nick had suddenly turned into, but it was only for an instant, as the ball of fire charged through the open window, and shot down the road. It flew faster than the car, and as it neared the squad of droids, the ball of fire exploded, and it revealed a fully morphed Solar Ranger, his arms at his sides as he continued to soar through the air. The droids reacted quickly, taking aim and firing at the Ranger, but their shots would not strike the determined hero.

“Flare Saber,” cried Nick, as a strand of fire erupted from his hand, and then disappeared leaving a metallic blade in its place. “Charge.” The metallic blade of the weapon became covered in flames once again, but this time remained that way, as the Ranger slid into the ground in front of him, his boots leaving trails behind him. Hitting the ground running was something he was all too accustomed too, and as his boots found the soft dirt, he charged the nearest droid, and sliced across its midsection, not even coming to a halt to do so, but racing into the center of a cluster of droids. The droids weren’t fast enough though as the Ranger made his way into the center of the cluster, the sound of the fire on his weapon almost deafening. He slashed his saber forward, cutting diagonally across the chest of the robot, and then dropping to his knee, swings the saber over his head in a circle, removing the head of three more droids. All of the bodies seem to hit the ground at the same instant, as the self destructing acid begins to pore over their bodies. Slowly the Ranger stood, for he could find no remaining active droids, and his sense instead turn to the sound of the car’s engine, as he turns to watch it coming towards him.

Slowly it comes to a halt, and the driver looks at the morphed ranger in both awe, and gratitude. “Get in.”

There’s a bright orange flash, and suddenly were the Ranger once stood, Nick’s form now occupies the spot. The hero shakes his head at the driver. “You’ll be safe the rest of the way.”

“You’re not coming?” replies the driver, a look of shock and awe fills his face.

“No,” replies Nick. “I have to go back. There are more people to try and get out.”

“Are you sure man?” continues the driver. “There are a shit ton of alien robots back that way.”

Nick turns to look down the road, one he has seen many times before, but has gone no further down than this point. His gaze then turns towards the way he has came, and even though it is a bright sunny day, he swears that he can see the gathering of storm clouds off in the horizon. “Yeah, I’m sure.” He watches as one of the girls climbs up front to take his seat, and smiles at him. He wonders if it had been another time, or another place if the girl still would of smiled at him. He’ll never though. “Get out of here.” The driver doesn’t need any more incentive though as he puts the car in gear, and slowly roars back down the highway off towards the safety of the east. Nick buries his hands in his pocket, and slowly begins to walk back the way he came, wondering if he’ll make it next time.

“Target identified,” came the soft feminine thought of a Mobium. The older man shakes himself out of the deep thoughts that he had entertained, and opens his eyes. He looks across the very sleek, and clean room. There are several control panels which make up different stations that control different functions of the ship. Slowly though, he turns towards the woman who reported her findings. She is a younger woman than he, maybe perhaps only forty revolutions, compared to his almost seventy revolutions. She’s attractive by Mobium standards, that much is apparent with her graceful looking form, and her dark purple hair. The male crosses his arms about his chest, and turns his attention to the large screen in front of him.

“Visualize,” he responds telepathically to her. Slowly the image comes into resolution displaying as a light shines over a field of debris with a form hovering within the field, that recognized as a bipedal being. He recognizes the armor as well, for he knows it better than anyone else, including the person wearing it right now. He lets out a soft sigh, but it goes unheard by any of the other Mobiums that occupy their stations on the bridge. “Position the vessel for retrieval.” Even through the dampeners, he can feel the movement of the craft as it positions itself to retrieve the being that floats helplessly in the void. He takes one last look as the form begins to slowly drift towards the craft, and then turns, announcing, “I will meet him in the Bay.”

“Commander Storm,” replies one of his officers. He turns to see his tactical officer turn to face him. His look is that of concern, and sternness. “Is that wise?” The Supreme Commander of the Fleet, the war hero of Mobius, the great Harabec Storm, only returns a look of equal sternness, before he turns around, and continues on the path he was heading on. The doors part before him as he issues the mental command for them to do so, and slowly he marches boldly down the corridor towards the very end of it. The Mobium’s movements combine that of grace, and strength as each footfall is strong enough to be intimating, but soft as to echo the fact that he knows how to move silently. His form is strong, but nothing near the body builders on Earth. His hair is darker than most Mobiums, almost a jet black, but at the very tips of the strands, it has become silver. His eyes though are a soft blue, almost in contrast to the eyes that Lexa first bore when she arrived upon the Earth. If he were on Earth, he could easily be mistaken for a man entering his forties, not his early seventies, but then again, the Mobium year is a little shorter than the Earth one. His attire is akin to that which Polaris wore, except for one exception, which is the device that his adorned to his left wrist. There a band of silver sits with a clear jewel resting upon its surface in the center. It is without a doubt, the very first Power Lens ever created.

He walks the halls of his vessel confidently, as he makes a turn at the end of the hall, and then turns to continue down another hallway. The walls, and the floor are very metallic, with white lights almost piercing at the very top. Reaching the center of the hallway, the Mobium turns towards two very large doors that are shut. Examining the display next to him, he finds that the room has been re-pressurized, and that the atmosphere is again present within. The doors open, and slowly the Commander enters.

There’s a noise, a soft pounding. It’s all he can hear, but it echoes throughout his head. He wonders though when the last time he heard or thought anything was. He suddenly becomes aware that he’s been unconscious for some time, because the last thing he remembers is the sound of the ship tearing its self apart as the singularity erupts within its bowels. His eyes snap open, but too fast as the glare of the bright lights above him. He barely recognizes the soft glow of his Heads Up Display on his visor, but it’s the instinct in the back of his mind that seems to be the most pressing. He is no longer alone in the room. He fights to stand up, but finds that he no longer as the strength to move. Almost on cue, a voice enters his mind, one that he finds familiar, but cannot place. “You are safe.” Almost on cue, Keith’s armor shimmer, and then vanishes leaving a very weak human being wearing the same street clothes he sported when he first morphed.

Slowly Harabec leans down over the Red Ranger, and examines him. He had seen the reports Polaris had sent him, and knew how strong the boy was, but he never expected what he found when his vessel had arrived in orbit of this distant world. His protégé’s ship had been destroyed, but strangely, he knew that there was a survivor, almost sensed the boy’s presence, and had spent the past day looking for him. He was still two days ahead of the rest of the fleet that was coming at the Emperor’s order to take the planet. This boy had done everything he could do to defend the world below them, but Harabec knew that the only thing that could be done was to leave before the rest of the fleet arrived. Standing again, and leaving the fallen Ranger upon the deck’s surface, he marched over to the control panel on the wall, a black surface with only a single crystal on it. Touching his hand to the crystal, he issued the only telepathic order that he could, “Break Orbit, and set course for Mobius. You may initiate the hyper window when ready.” He waited for no reply, as he turned back towards the Ranger. Slowly Keith’s form began to raise off the ground though, but it was by Harabec’s doing, as he carried the boy telepathically from the room.

The sun finally appeared on the horizon of the Earth, and its light casted itself onto the sleek edges of the starship in orbit around the planet. It was a metallic sheen that reflected back, as if the entire ship wasn’t made up of different plates, but the entire hull had been poured at once. Not a rivet was visible, as the ship bared a striking resemblance to some of the vessels still on the drawing board at NASA, but had a slight twinge of Flash Gordon. Suddenly though it shot forward, alive with life, as it came about, the blue glow from the engines as they outlined themselves on the back of the ship. There was no sound in space though as the ship burst away from the planet, until finally a wave of energy swept from tip to end, like the light of a photo copier going over a page, leaving nothing in its wake as the vessel begun the trek that was faster than light, taking away the one person who could lead the fight against the Mobiums.

Regaining consciousness was slightly easier this time for Matt. He didn’t have to even fight to open his eyes. He did notice immediately that the rhythm of the heart monitor was strangely absent, but he supposed that it was most likely because they didn’t consider him in danger anymore. That was a reassuring thought to him. Taking a deep breath he sat up in his bed, and again looked around the room. Standard hospital issue it seemed. The walls were the almost blinding white color, the bed was in the center of the room, and on the plus side there was a window looking over a cityscape. The sun was bright, but then again it had been a month since he had been here, so they were what in July now? Matt continued to stare out the window, as he mulled over the amount of time he had been out for. An entire month, and the world was changing. The nurse had already mentioned something about ground zero, which meant that he had been only in the first part of something that gotten much worse. He could only guess that meant that the other Mobium forces had arrived as expected. What was going to happen now?

“You’re awake,” came a voice from the other side of the room. The voice, both familiar and masculine snapped him out of his deep thought, and caused him to cast his eyes to the doorway. A smile slowly crossed his face as he looked at the person in the doorway. “It’s about time.” Gaji stood with a small smirk on his face as he stared back at his teammate, though Matt noticed right away that his friend was holding onto a crutch at his side just to prop himself up.

“Sorry,” replied Matt. “The bed was just too soft.” Slowly Gaji moved inside the room and shut the door behind him. His movements weren’t as graceful as the last time Matt had seen him. “It’s good to see a friendly face. I didn’t know what happened to anyone else? Are the others here?”

“No,” replied Gaji solemnly. “I’ve been awake for a few weeks now, and I’ve gone up and down the hospital searching for the others, but you’re the only one I could find.” Taking a seat in one of the chairs, he placed his crutch aside, and glanced critically at Matt. “I see your lens is gone too.” With panic Matt looked to his wrist, and was taken aback to realize that his friend was right. He kicked himself mentally for not realizing it earlier in the day. “Mine’s gone too. The hospital doesn’t have them, and considering they kept telling me they brought me in this way, I’m beginning to think we weren’t morphed when they found us. Someone probably took them before they found us.”

“Who would of taken them?” asked Matt. “Lenoa?”

“Or one of the Marines,” replied Gaji. “You know how the government types are.”

“But they know they can’t use the lenses because of the DNA lock,” said Matt.

“But they might try and backwards engineer new ones,” said Gaji. “Besides with the way things are going, that might not be a bad idea for them.”

Matt remained silent for a moment, before he asked, “How is it going out there?”

Gaji paused for a moment, turning his attention to the window, and the nice sunny day outside. He smiled at the irony of the situation, two of the people who started the war were now resting comfortably while everyone else was fighting it. “Not well. It’s all out war. The fleet arrived as promised, and suddenly all hell broke loose. We have air superiority, but the Mobiums put up some kind of force channel field to allow their transports a clear corridor to land.”

“How many droids are on the ground?” asked Matt, interrupting his friend.

“Too many,” replied Gaji. “Northern California, Oregon, and parts of Nevada, and Idaho are under the control of the Mobiums. The eastern coast of China has fallen as well, and almost all of Africa except the very south is under their control.”

Matt took a minute to let the news sink. To say the situation seemed grave would be an understatement. This had gone past the foothold scenario that Keith had postulated once upon a time, these pieces of the world the Mobiums had taken were now enemy territory. The war, if fought was going to be a hard one to try and take back all of the land that now rest under the control of the invading forces from above. “How long do they think it will take for the rest of the world to fall?”

“From what I see on the news,” said Gaji folding his hands in front of him. “Most of the analysts on MSNBC, the only channel my damn television seems to get, it seems like it might only take several months. On the sunnier side of things, death cults are beginning to sprout up, but on the positive side there don’t seem to be any sympathetic groups to the Mobium cause.”

“Any word about Keith?” asked Matt, remembering the last time he saw his friend in the middle of battle with Polaris. If the Red Ranger had survived he would easily make a good deal of news, for he didn’t seem the one to sit idly by.

“There are rumors that after our battle with the droids, there was a large explosion in orbit,” explained Gaji. “Some people think it was Polaris’s vessel, and most people tend to agree due to the fact that there has been no sign of Polaris since then.”

“Hopefully Keith wasn’t onboard if that did happen,” offered Matt. “What about Lenoa?”

“Lenoa seems to have taken up command of the Mobium forces here in America,” continued Gaji. “She’s based out of San Francisco, which is so deep behind the front line, American boots may never tread there again.”

“That bitch,” said Matt shaking his head.

“I know,” replied Gaji. “She’s got a mean left hook to boot. That is, you know, when she’s not telekinetically tossing you across the room.”

“I just wish we could of taken her out when we had the chance,” continued Matt, unabated by Gaji’s comment. “Maybe we could of at least weakened part of what is happening now.”

“Hey man, don’t beat yourself up, because of you that one guy is no longer a problem,” Gaji reminded. Matt quietly relived his encounter with Trius when he and Lexa had crashed, and had to protect not only Lexa, but the town they had come across. In his time paused state, he had almost forgotten that he had taken a life. Gaji for his part felt foolish though that he brought it up as he observed the look on Matt’s face. He decided it was probably best to change the subject. “There hasn’t been any word from Sean either, but I have feeling he’s still around somewhere.”

“I guess our first step should be finding him then,” announced Matt, coming out of his funk.

“Our first step?” asked Gaji cynically. “Listen man, I know you just woke up, so you probably forgot, but our lenses are gone. We can’t do a damn thing. Not to mention my leg is still pretty banged up, so it’ll be a week before I can go anywhere.”

“Yeah,” said Matt, “but c’mon we need to at least run Sean down, and figure out what we can do next. Then we’re going have to figure out who took our powers and get them back.”

“Maybe I don’t want my powers back,” replied Gaji. Matt looked at him quizzically for a moment, and then opened his mouth to say something. Gaji beat him to it though, and added, “Listen we fought the good fight, and we lost. I don’t know about you, but I feel pretty lucky to still be here, and if we go chasing after the bad guys again, whose to say if this time we’ll be so lucky. If this thing is already a lock, and I have a feeling it is based on what everyone is saying, then we’re going to have to go down with the ship. If the world’s ending, I would kind of like to be with my family, you know?”

“But what about our responsibility to everyone?” asked Matt. “We are maybe the only two left who have the abilities to deal with the Mobiums on equal footing. I know we don’t have our powers right now, but that doesn’t mean we won’t get them back.”

“And then what?” asked Gaji. “Lead armies into battle. Take down Lenoa? Find away to take out the ships in orbit, and hope more don’t replace them? You’re holding onto a dream, we all were. Keith meant well when he did what he did, and made us Rangers, but the situation looks a whole lot different when your not in the middle of it. Its game time now, and we’re overwhelmed. Not two of us, or even six of us could handle this even if we tried.”

“We won’t know unless we try,” countered Matt. “We have no idea what the turnout will be.”

“I’m fairly certain what the end result is going to be,” said Gaji. “Just turn on the news and watch it for a day, and see if you still feel the same way. We’re all hoping for the best, but everyone knows it just doesn’t matter. If Keith was right about this whole thing, then they’re going to start killing people pretty soon, and if they do that, then the human race is toast. I respect where you’re coming from, but I think its idealistic at best, and stupid at worst.”

“So you’re just going to sit around and do nothing?” asked Matt critically. “What does that make us then? If we all just give up, and then they’ve already won no matter what. Dying with family members sounds good, but dying trying to stop these things before they happen sounds better. I don’t know how Keith brought you into this, I wasn’t there, but I have feeling he probably appealed to your sense of self sacrifice. You’re acting like a coward, and I saw you ride, head first into a crap load of droids on a bike without doubt. Even if there is a sliver of a chance we can get our powers back, I say we get off our butts, and take it.”

The two guys stared at each other from their positions in the room. Gaji’s look of doubt was met head on with the sheer resolve on Matt’s face. For a moment though, Matt thought he would be heading out on his own, trying to go on without everyone else. He wondered back to the beginning days when Keith had been the only Ranger, the person to make a change, and wondered if he too could do that. Fight on his own. He guessed though that if it came down to it, he probably would.

Gaji considered his teammate for the moment. He hadn’t know Matt that well, having only been acquainted with him for a week prior. His dealings with the rest team had really been with Keith for the most part, and then Peter and Colleen. He realized how distant he felt from his teammate, but still felt like the title friend was something he could give to Matt. After all they had fought, and nearly died together in their last battle. Mostly though, Gaji had heard the words that Matt had used, and for the most part it reminded him of Keith. Keith had been the same way all the time, always seeing a brighter picture, always forcing people on. Keith had mentioned that he had found a replacement for himself in function should things go bad, and lo and behold they had. Gaji understood why Keith had made that choice.

“Look,” started Gaji. “Why don’t we find Sean, and we’ll see how things go from there.”

A sly smile slowly crossed Matt’s face, and he nodded ever so slightly. “Okay.” He didn’t push the subject any further, just pleased that with the results of the outcome. He wouldn’t have to go the first part alone at least, and that was a plus in his book. They’d find Sean, and then they would see what happened next. Turning his gaze away from Gaji, he briefly wondered what would happen next. He’d have plenty of time to wonder what was next on their search, but he idly wondered if Sean would point them on the right path, or if they would just run themselves into a dead end. Of course there were always the others to look for, and he felt it was partially his responsibility to get the team back together. That is if they were still alive. His thoughts then turned to Lexa. He felt guilty that even though he had only been awake for a short time that more of his thoughts hadn’t dwelled on her. He wondered though, if maybe he had dreamt about her.

Matthew’s dreams weren’t the only ones focusing on a woman. Amidst the darkness, another mind dreamt, weeks before Matt would even wake. His though weren’t of the potential future, but of the sorrowful past. Keith’s dreams were of the one he lost. He dreamt of the fall. He could still remember her holding onto his hand. Above him the overwhelming pressure of Polaris’s weapon forced his way downward, threatening with every second to terminate his life. He could see the look of resolution in her eeyes, and knowing what she was going to do next, he let out a cry of sadness in the depths of his mind. He could feel the grasp of fingers even through the armored gloves they both wore, as they slowly slipped from his own, and slowly she begun to slip away. In his dreams every second lasted an hour. Hours upon hours of pain came to him, as he could only watch in slow motion as she slipped away from him, and then slowly fell to her demise towards the sphere of energy at the heart of the mobium ship. In an instant she was gone, completely torn apart by the waves of intense energy, rippling through her form, and shattering every cell. Again, and again he could only watch in his own mind as she fell to the doom, and then in an instant Polaris’s blade came down, and then everything was cold.

But the cold was the first sensation he could remember. It wasn’t the same cold as before, this was different, this wasn’t a natural cold. This was a cold that was generated artificially and filled the room. His skin reacted by tightening, and in the outer reaches of his extremities the chill felt almost like a burn. His eyes opened to a low level of light, almost as if the room had been dimmed, but it was painful in any kind. The room though was like nothing he had ever seen before. It was beyond that of human design, that much was very apparent to him, but still clearly a room. He was on a flat surface, almost like that of a platform, raised at a certain level off the ground. A sheet rested over him, and he noticed that he was no longer wearing the Guardian armor, and wondered if he was wearing anything at all.

He blinked several times, bringing his vision into focus, and instantly noticed that his vision had become clear, It had always been blurry without his glasses, or the help of the HUD in the Ranger suit. Taken aback by this discovery, he slowly sat up, and could feel the sheet in front of him slide forward. He was indeed clothed though, in a strange material he could not identify, that didn’t even leave any kind of feeling to it. It was like he wasn’t wearing anything at all. It was of course red in color, and as he pulled the sheet away, and turned to dismount from the platform he could see he was wearing it in the legs as well. It almost reminded him of a Roman tunic. He hopped off the bed, and landed on his bare feet, and could feel almost a metallic feel to it.

Common sense came to the forefront, and he realized he must be onboard a mobium starship. He could see another control crystal on the panel beside the door akin to that which had been at the door in the brig on Polaris’s ship. Standing fully erect he could feel a lack of strength in his bones. Standing was easy, but he could tell his energy was diminished. His eyes locked on the door, and slowly he strode towards it. Looking around as he moved towards it he tried to find any form of surveillance device that might be watching his movements. Slowly he approached the doors, and as he extended his arm to touch the crystal, the doors parted in front of him. Standing where the doors met stood an older man than Keith, a mobium, with dark black hair, and clad in armor all too familiar to Keith. It was the armor of a Guardian. Keith stood motionless as he watched the Mobium regard him coolly. Slowly he entered the room standing proudly, his eyes completely fixed on the Ranger. The two men maintained their distance from each other, with Keith retreating as the mobium advanced slowly. The older one was the first to speak, his words coming through a mentally.

“You have awakened,” he announced, appraising the situation for himself.

“Who are you?” replied Keith, though verbally. His guard was cautious, for while he had his suspicions to the man’s identity, he wasn’t going to risk his life on them.

Harabec’s head fell slightly, but his eyes remained locked on the Ranger. He studied him carefully for a moment, and then raised his head again. Releasing a mellow sigh, the rush of air hit Keith causing a feeling of intimidation. “You know who I am. You have known since the first time we made contact. You sensed my presence here while you slept, just as I have sensed your presence as well. We are both aware of the identity of each other.”

“The Supreme Commander,” said Keith defiantly, as he slowly started walking to his side. Harabec’s response to the question had shown a great deal of calm in the older man, and the original feeling of intimidation had worn off. Slowly Keith began to move as if in a circle with Harabec,

Harabec too copied these movements, and the two began to move in a circle, always staying directly across from each other. “The Prince…and a slayer of his own people.”

“The Star Kingdom is no more,” replied Keith, slightly enraged by the Mobium’s comment, but not letting him get the verbal hand. “I think you had a hand in doing that.”

“I sense a good deal of your mother in you,” noted Harabec, ignoring the Ranger’s comment, and offering a new topic. “It is more than just your genetics, it is in your demeanor as well. The two of you move the same way, with the same grace, and pride.”

“You do not get to speak of her in my presence,” returned Keith, his blood slowly beginning to warm at the mention of his mother, and the history that this man and her shared.

“Very well,” Harabec returned calmly, “I shall respect that wish.”

His patronizing tone set the Ranger off though, and forced him into a rage, “You’ll respect more than that, Ranger Form, Energize!” He went through his normal morphing motions, but as his fingers struck his lens, nothing happened. His eyes glanced down to his lens, the crystal still glowing a fierce red, but still it did not activate. Confused, but still focused on his opponent, his eyes went back to Harabec, and he slowly lowered his arms. Harabec held his hand out, and immediately a rush of energy struck Keith, and through him across the room and into the wall. Pain shot through the Ranger’s body, especially as his body dropped from the wall, and slowly folded into the deck. Pain gave away to anger though, and as the Ranger stood, he glared daggers at the Mobium commander. Anger subsided into reason though, and Keith realized that he was not going to be able to defeat this guy. Slowly he let his rage subside, and he cooled down back to a calmly state. “You’re blocking my Lens.”

“I am doing nothing of the sort,” responded Harabec, “I have no need, for I could stop you in a fight if I have too.” Keith glared back at the overconfident Mobium, convinced that he must be lying.

“Am I to be a gift to your emperor?” asked Keith cynically. “A latest display of your ability, and cunning. Another trophy on the Supreme Commander’s mantle?”

Harabec eyed Keith critically, not willing to give the brasher man a foothold into the interior of his mind, but nonetheless, he felt the need to respond. His gaze turned away as he searched his mind for the words, that he could usually express with a thought to any other of his people. “You misunderstand my intentions, that is not why I am here at all.”

“Your invasion fleet seems to say otherwise,” observed Keith.

“It is not my fleet,” returned Harabec. “I am not its Commander, nor do I have control over it. I am here for you, and you alone.” He paused carefully, not for effect, but for the sheer embarrassment that it brought to his very confident ego. “Your assistance is required.”

“You would dare ask a member of my family for their help,” said Keith sternly, his voice rising in anger, and perhaps even a tinge of shock. Slowly the Ranger’s fists began to clench as he stood opposed to the Mobium.

“I no longer serve the Emperor,” replied Harabec attempting to cool the situation down. The two stopped circling each other and now stood in the opposite positions that they had before. “Things have changed, the galaxy has changed, and so have our people. The Emperor is not what he seems, and placing him in power was one of the worst mistakes I have ever made.”

“Forgive me if I don’t shed a tear for you,” returned Keith, again with a cynical note to his voice. “I’m so sorry the Emperor and all his glory just didn’t work out for you. Any human could tell you that that kind of thing tends to fizzle out, especially when one of the heroes of the people helps them rise to power. At least you’re not clad in all black…it might be too much of cliché for future human historians.”

Harabec could not quite understand what the younger man was talking about, but it appeared to him that the Ranger believed whatever he was saying. He felt like the boy didn’t comprehend what he was trying to explain, so he decided that the best course of action would just be to be blunt. “The Emperor is a Zor.”

Keith stopped dead. And not just that his expressions fell into shock, or his body turned rigid, but his entire thought process went dead. A Zor. That word had caused this catatonic state to strike the Ranger, and leave him in it, for never in his wildest dreams did he ever think that he would hear those words uttered. He knew what it was, and he also thought that it should have been impossible. If the Mobiums, with their pointed ears resembled elves, than the Zor would be akin to dark elves, minus though the difference in pigmentation. A thousand years ago, while Humans were fighting crusades, and living amidst the dark ages, the Mobiums leap into space, though they weren’t the same as they were now. Their world was not unified either, and several factions, or states if you will were spread across the surface of the planet. The Mobiums were a divided people, and as the expansion into space began, their divisions began to become worse. There powers were just beginning to develop, some quicker then others. Some, more powerful than others.

Those within the ranks of the most powerful began to gather, and slowly they began to consider themselves apart of the race, and in some ways above it. There arrogance began to manifest itself in their powers, and slowly their powers began to distort the beings. The Zor were born when that happened. Attempting to wage war on the rest of the populous, the entire Mobius planet united against them, and forced them from their world, ejecting them into the cold depths of space. The planet revealed in its cohesion, and its ability to remove a threat to the planet. The leader of the movement to expel the Zor, and the being who brought peace to the small fledging Mobium Star Nation almost eight hundred years ago was the king of one of the larger continents of the planet, a direct ancestor to the Ranger that now stood before Harabec.

The Zor though did not take their exile well. Thrown into the void they began to plot their return, and with it their revenge on the people which had ejected them from their own world, a world they considered their domain by right of might. Using their great mental abilities, abilities that today would still dwarf even the Royal Families who were considered to possess the strongest mental attributes of the race, the Zor conquered other races on several systems, and slowly subverting the people to their rule, as well as genetic manipulation, the Zor began to build power, and power meant ships, and troops. Using the inhabitants of several worlds, they merged all of their species together to create one hybrid species that now stands in the place they had before, a race that took part of its name from its creators, they became know as the Zor’atan. For several centuries the Zor continued to amass power, while the Mobiums continued their expansion of space under their star kingdom, until reports began to emerge from deep space of contact with the Zor, and the power which they wielded. War seemed immient, but rather than risk open war with an opponent that was more powerful than they, the Royal Family of Mobius dispatched a fleet to confront the Zor’s new homeworld head on. In a pre-emptive strike, the Mobiums wiped out the world from orbit, decimating the surface so that no thing could ever survive. Assassins were then sent forth on a zealous crusade to find the remaining Zor where ever they may lie, and wipe them out before they could regroup.

It sounds cruel, and something that a race of people like the Mobiums shouldn’t be capable of, but for all of their space-faring history, it was perhaps the darkest moment, an extermination not only of a race of people, but a people that had descended from the Mobiums themselves. The fears that the Mobiums held though were well founded however. For the Zor indeed regrouped several times, and in their last great incursion two hundred years ago, shortly after the Constitution of the United States had been written, several billion Mobiums perished as the remaining Zor lead a death fleet, manned by the Zor’atan straight to Mobius, and nearly wiped out the homeworld itself. They would have succeeded had they not begun to quarrel amongst each other, and finally turn their weapons upon each other. The people had all been lead to believe that the Zor were now dead, that the only remament that remained behind was the Zor’atan, which had now become like pirates preying on ships beyond Mobium space. But it seemed that the Zor had indeed continued to exist. And now, one sat upon the throne of Mobius.

Keith eyed Harabec critically, “Are you sure?”

“I have just placed my person in an implication of treason against my people,” remarked Harabec. “I do not believe I would attempt that if I did not have enough proof. However, perhaps we can work together to change this before it goes any further.”

“Fifty three revolutions seems like enough time if you ask me,” replied Keith skeptically. “You’re responsible for delivering our people into the hands of our enemy, how can I trust anything you say?”

“Because if others see that a member of the royal family has returned to challenge the Emperor’s rule,” stated Harabec, “then maybe they’ll join with us, and force the Emperor out of power. It’s that very reason, that very fear that made the Emperor send Polaris after you to try and bring you in, or terminate your life. As long as you live, you can be a threat to his power. And if you lead a whole planet of warriors, like he believed that Earth may be, then you’re power could only have been challenging.”

Keith listened to him patiently, but he had already made his decision before Harabec had said anything, “I won’t help you.”

“How can you speak that?” asked Harabec. “These are your people, who need your help.”

“This is your mistake,” Keith replied, “and your responsibility to clean up, just like Earth, and the invasion force at its door is mine…y’know what…I’m done with all this, done with this war, and done being a ranger.” He reached to his left wrist, and pulled off his lens, and casted it to the floor. “I’m done fighting,” returned Keith softly. Harabec could feel the emotions lifting off Keith like the heat from a fire. He could feel the sorrow, and doubt enter Keith’s mind, and most of all, he could feel the loss, the overwhelming loss that was still in Keith’s every thought. “I started this to protect people, but now the only thing that happens is people keep asking me to fight for ideas, and ideologies. I fight for life, to protect life, no matter what they believe, or how they believe, and when I take a life, its only if it threatens another life. I have done that to the best of my ability. My battle….my war is over.”

Harabec turned to regard the younger one softly, and his stare was intense piercing into the depth of the Ranger’s soul. His gaze was that of amusement, but at the same time of that of worldly experience. His voice was stern, but soft as the same time as he responded carefully to what Keith said. “For beings of our nature, our conflicts never end.” He neither waited for, nor cared for a response as he exited the room, the door closing behind him. Keith rushed after his captor, but found that the door had been sealed, and not even pressing his hand to the crystal allowed him escape. He was trapped, and in the hands of the man who had destroyed his mother’s entire world.

[RedGuardianRanger]

“I can’t believe I let you drive,” announced Gaji, as he adjusted himself in the passenger seat of the mini-van they had rented shortly after being discharged from the hospital. The dark grey interior of the late nineties American made vehicle was very torn up, and had seen its fair share of use and abuse. The two rangers though were its current occupants though, as they set out on their way from Wyoming in hopes of locating any of their other team mates.

“Let me?” asked Matt, “I did kind of pay for the damn thing.” Matt sat behind the wheel of the vehicle, and currently he had it pointed towards the south, at a speed that was somewhat excessive of the speed limit. “We’re just lucky that they’re still taking credit cards in certain locations.

“Most of the financial sectors of the United States are in New York,” replied Gaji. “They probably haven’t shut down yet. The country seems still to be active even on the threat of imminent invasion. It’s almost eerie, like nobody really gets what’s going on.” His gaze was forward, but playing the role of the backseat driver, he turned and looked at the speedometer read out. “Yeah…you might want to slow down some.”

“Do you really think that someone is going to pull us over at this point?” asked Matt, maintaining his current speed in spite of his teammate’s suggestion. “I’m sure they have more important things to worry about that two idiots speeding in a rented mini-van. I mean we’re just lucky the roads are empty, I would of thought everyone would be evacuating this way or something.”

“Maybe they went to Canada,” replied Gaji as he adjusted his sun visor to block out the sun, and folded his arms across his chest. His eyes closed, and he rested peacefully, absorbing the motion of the car as he did, and the soft sounds of the slightly muted stereo system; in his mind though he was somewhere else. He was in a place he had been many times before, many times since he had become a Ranger that was. It was a place in his mind where he was still himself, a place where he never became a Ranger.

He had always had this mentality in the past, even growing up, a part of him he just couldn’t shake. It was this almost persistent need that he had for conflict, for a fight. It was the gnawing sort of need that was beyond his control, and indeed for most of his life he maintained a good deal of control over it, never letting it get the best of him, even at his weakest. He had often thought about joining the military, but instead choose to focus it into things like martial arts, and academics. Keith’s proposition to him though changed everything. Not only did he allow him a real outlet, but it was one in which he could set the terms and pace. He was like his own boss in a sense, because even though he was on a team, he was still an independent figure. This was unique to him though, not to the others, this much he could tell. He felt like the other Rangers always seemed to pull themselves to the team. He had seen it in Peter, and Matt especially, and even Lexa to a degree. He had barely known Colleen, so he didn’t feel comfortable about commenting on her mentality, but he thought it was the safe assumption that she probably was. Of course that had been Keith’s doing, it had to be. He was the one that had brought them all together, had chosen his team, and how it would operate, but if that’s true, then why did he have that unique characteristic that allowed him to be unique?

The life of the Ranger was almost too much for Gaji though. Rather than fill the need he knew was missing, rather than provide an outlet for it, it saturated him in its lifestyle. His need pigged out, and now he had this desperately painful belly ache that cried that it could take no more, but this feeding tube of an existence wasn’t ready to stop. It continued to fill him, and he wondered how much longer he was going to be able to take it before his body could take no more and vomited. The mental image of that idea through him off balance, and he grimaced slightly, an expression that would have only been noticed by Matt if he had seen it.

The Blue Ranger had missed it though. His eyes were locked on the road. Much like Gaji he was engaged in his own introspection as well. Though pretty much on auto pilot, the van wasn’t in any danger of going off road while he thought. His thoughts were somewhere else though, for they were filled with fear, and anxiety. He was barely holding it together. His confidence in their next task back at the hospital had been a combination of loyalty to a cause he had sworn himself too, and the morphine that was acting as a painkiller. He didn’t know any more than Gaji if what they were doing was the best idea, or even if it would make a difference. But what else could they do he wondered. The team was still his to lead, what was left of it, which at the moment was him, and the Green Ranger. This thought troubled him more than the quest though. His leadership had led them here, he was sure of that. Every time he was thrust into this position the Rangers met consequences like this. It had happened when he first led the Rangers when Keith had been wounded, when Lexa had been hurt on the crash landing, and finally when the Rangers fell fighting back the first wave. The Rangers were capable of getting out of these situations, he knew they had to be for he had seen Keith do these things in the past. Why couldn’t he? Maybe it had started before the Rangers though, maybe it was the thing with Sam the night Keith had recruited him that had set everything in motion. It was that night when everything began. If Blake’s location of Sean proved to be inaccurate, and if they did find Sean, and they couldn’t come up with a way of restoring their powers than he had no idea what they were going to do next. Maybe the Rangers truly were finished, but as long as the hope still existed that maybe they could be revived he had to hold onto it, even if he couldn’t hold on to anything else. It was more than just the least he could do, it was the only thing he could do. It’s what Keith would do if he was still alive.

The two great thinkers continued on in silence though as their rented mini-van continued its trek down the highway, pushing itself further into America’s heartland. The sun was setting on their day, but somewhere else in the world it had to be rising on someone else, and maybe that meant that somewhere on the face of the overrun planet someone was facing a day of good luck instead.

Darkness had descended on California though, and for two rangers that meant two different things. For Lexa it meant a walkabout. It was the only time of the day she could move unhindered up on the streets of the city she now protected, away from the bunker crowded with an atmosphere of defeat. The city was only marginally better though. Sure, there were the buildings that had survived, and the homes and stores. Life still moved on at the same pace as before, but at the same time there was something else as well. There were those who had been displaced by the initial invasion. The buildings that had fallen since by the battles between the resistance, and the Mobiums occupying the city. The fallen, and the lost had created small shanty towns in the parking lots of the buildings that used to be there, and these were the places that Lexa was pulled to, to those who fought on a daily basis for survival, hping for help that could not come as long as the Mobiums were in place, for they would ignore the needs of these people. After all the whole race was doomed for destruction anyway, what did these people matter.

The firelight bounced off of Lexa’s face as she entered one of these makeshift shanty towns. It came out of a trash barrel, or in this case a dumpster. She moved in jeans and a dark hoodie that was pulled up, and over here hair and ears to keep her identity a secret. She didn’t want to be seen as a Mobium, and she really didn’t want to be seen as a member of resistance. She had seen the extent to which many of the starving would go to relieve their suffering, including giving up those who were trying to help them if it meant a better chance to live. Her reason for being amongst these people was simple though. She needed to feel them, to feel their pain. She needed to be immersed in their suffering in order to make it apart of her own being, to justify the battle she waged against her own people, a battle that was waged more than just upon the ruined streets, but at the same time it waged inside her self. Her people were taking the lives of innocents, and she knew this to be wrong at her deepest core, but at the same time, these were not her people, they were the people of the other Rangers, the ones that had survived at least.

She came upon a small child who was wearing what looked like several layers. It was the summer, but it seemed as of late that no matter how warm it should be in this part of the world, it was still cold at night. The child’s face was dirty as was common for those who possessed no shelter, nor access to showers or bathes. When they could they migrated to the bay, and bathed in it, but perhaps this child’s family wasn’t able. Lexa’s gaze fell upon another person though, this one an older woman who looked to be many years older than anyone else. Her face looked worn, and her cheeks though dirty were still tear stained. She had lost someone recently, Lexa could sense this from her base mental patterns, for they read grief, but Lexa did not know who, and imagined she never would either. She never talked to any one in these towns, never heared their stories. They’re overwhelming emotions were enough for her. The stories need not be the same, or different to satisfy here desire to feel their pain, only their emotions, and she could feel that they all shared the same emotion within their mind. Their suffering had united them, but she doubted if any of them knew that at this point.

She felt another presence though, and turned to look to see Andrews standing at the far side of the town, where she had been moments before. He had followed her, but she imagined he was doing exactly as he was always trained to do. Keep his entire squad safe, and as a current member of that squad she was included. Quietly she made her way over to him, as he slowly edged his way back into the shadows, and waited for her to join him. He looked over his shoulder at the way he had come, making sure that no one had decided to follow them, as Lexa slowly drew near, and came within whispering range. Her tone was soft, and undisturbed, though he knew that she had taken in all the emotions round her, and that within she was feeling everything. “What is it?”

“The Mobiums are going after something in the north of the city,” reported Andrews as softly as he could, and in a way which he hoped wouldn’t draw any attention. His goal was to make sure that they just looked like they were conversing with each other. “We think its someone, and we think that they are having a hard time rounding them up, because their droids have already transmitted instructions for reinforcements twice, anda commander has been dispatched to personally guide the search.”

“Has there been any discussion as to the identity of the target?” she asked him softly, wondering if one of the other Rangers had returned, or perhaps the American troops had finally pushed back against the mobium forces, or found a way to fight back.

“Negative,” replied Andrews, “we’re not even sure that it is a person.”

“Assemble a unit of three, and I will join you shortly,” she ordered, and then pushed him away, turning back to the town as she did.

“Major…” said Andrews as he had already begun moving away, but had stopped, and turned and looked back. “Is this something you must always do?”

“Always,” replied Lexa without even turning. “Always.” She didn’t watch Andrews walk away, rather she didn’t watch anything. She stared straight ahead into the nothingness, thinking to herself about what comes next, wondering what the night would provide for her. Was this just another mission or was it perhaps worse, like a trap?

A baby cried over her shoulder to the right. The sound was something she had not heard in her entire stay on the planet. She didn’t know that human children cry when they’re sad, or when they’re hungry, or sometimes for no reason at all it would seem. Mobium children did no such thing. Their parents were connected to their thoughts, and because of that they always had the security that they needed to feel protected, and knew that when they had a need it would be fulfilled. These humans had no such link to their children. Perhaps that made the humans stronger than the Mobiums, perhaps it was mental solitude that strengthen the humans, while the Mobiums relied on a sense of companionship throughout their lives. She hoped this was the case because she was no reliant on that strength, and in the face of the overwhelming power presented by the Mobiums, it would take a good deal of strength to fight back, and perhaps forge the victory that seemed so far away, and falling further everyday.

She turned away from the bawling child, and turned to look back at the direction Andrews had left by. She hesitated for just a moment, and then started moving downt he path, curious to what this disturbance might be, but never excepting to find what she was about.

The disturbance that plagued the mobiums took the form of the young orange ranger. Morphed, and brandishing his Flare Saber, the Solar Ranger was actively engaged in combat. Nick had traveled for the last several days back to the area of San Fransisco, though he had no destination in mind when he had set out. Instead his trials had brought him here in search of more people to move out, and as night fell he had entered the city cautiously, but it seemed not well enough. He had come upon the droid patrol first, and unable to successfully explain his presence, he had only one choice left to enact. Behind the Solar Ranger lay several piles of shattered droids, burn marks indicating where his flame engulfed blade had cut through their advanced frames. His breathing was heavy, and his body rose and fell with each strained motion as his stamina was clearly starting to wane, but with the more droids constantly entering the area he didn’t have much more of a choice. The five droids in front of him were just the latest group to arrive on the scene, but Nick regarded them differently than just droids. They were targets that weren’t even really there. He had gone through the motions for the last month or so, and now it didn’t even feel like a battle any more. It felt like he was engaged in a laborious task that he performed again and again, like driving car, but doing other things at the same time like talking on a cell phone.

The droids would rush him, and he would go through a flurry, or a dervish, and quickly remove his would be opponents from their operational cycles. Their bodies would fall to the ground no longer mechanized as they once had been. He would slice at their weak points, their arms and legs, or their heads, rarely going for across the chest because more than often that yielded no results. Their weapons couldn’t touch him, not because he had some super power, or that he was protected by advanced armor, but merely because he was faster than the computer powered droids could be. They would fire where he was a moment a go, and because his moves were so diverse, and so complex they could never predict where he would be next. He would slide between the droids, and spin around them. He would flip, and roll, and dive, saber in hand, only to reappear with a carefully timed slash to cease their function. He had their movements down to a tee, knowing exactly where they would move next, after all, how many times, and variations of the same program could they put into these droids. To him it was no different than playing the same level in the same game over, and over until you had the level memorized. The enemies always did the same thing, it was just a matter of timing, and pattern recognition. He liked it this way, so when the Mobium commander arrived on the scene, he brought with him a sense of dismay that the Solar Ranger felt inside. Dismay, and a feeling of exhaustion that was beginning to set in.

His shoulders had fallen to the side as the silver clad commander landed in front of him, his boots making soft indentations in the dirt that had been a street before the battles had begun. The mobium made no movement or gesture of any kind except to run his eyes over the orange ranger in front of him. His face read calm, but Nic’s face did not mirror it, for beneath the helmet, and as the exhaustion was slowly beginning to set in, there was also a good deal of anger and hate that was slowly beginning to produce a second wind in the man. His gloved hand tightened its grip on the weapon it held, and slowly as to echo the effect, the flames upon the weapon began to flare up. The Mobium’s arrogant attitude that Nick excepted though began to seep through, and it came through loudest when the commander addressed the ranger in a general thought speak. “So you’re the one that’s been causing so much trouble for us in this region.”

The commander slowly moved forward, but not in an aggressive manner so as not to set the Ranger off. Nick kept his cool waiting for the commander to make his real move, and start the attack for he knew that no matter what was said, that was to be the end result. Nick also became aware of something else, or rather the lack of something else.
He had never faced a mobium in combat, and he felt that at this moment there should be at least a tinge of fear. Instead though there was nothing. Maybe it had been the experience, all of the combat he had been involved in up until now, or his confidence in the fact that he was very good with his saber. Whatever the reason, he knew that this being did not scare him, did not frighten him, nor compel him to retreat, if anything he felt like this being’s equal.

“Your weapons are crude,” began the commander, “but your technology is unlike that which we are accustomed. Your energy source is unique, not the same as the one that powers most of the mobium fleet, for I would sense it. The energy seems to comes from within. How interesting.” Behind Nick more droids had begun to gather, and slowly they seemed intent on sneaking up behind him cautiously. Nick could hear the metallic feet striking the dirt, and knew this not to be a traditional tactic of the droids. The rumor that the Ranger had heard had been confirmed then. The commanders could control the droids themselves if they so desired. That meant that this fight for him would be the departure from the norm. He was getting tired of facing the mindless automatons. The commander stood silently, and straight upon his ground, and slowly raised his saber into the area, the psychic aura causing it to flare and flash. The droids behind him charged forward, as if emboldened by their master’s presence.

Nick tightened his grip around his Flare Saber and the life energy that created his armor flared into it, causing flames to pour across the blade. He wouldn’t wait for the droids to come, no, he would go to them. He charged forward, but cautiously, his eyes always on the opponents in front of him. His first slashed came in over, and across his head and to his leg, and then the next across the center, followed by upwards towards where his first slash had started. With the three simple, and perfected movements the droids in front of him met their demise, with three more already moving to replace their fallen ranks. Spinning around Nick waited for them to return, and this time, he stabbed behind him into the chest plate of the droids, and then letting go of his saber, he dropped to the ground, as the next droid tried to go beyond his fallen comrade and reach for the Ranger. Rolling out of the way, he ducked under another swing of a droid, as he retrieved his saber from the chest plate of the droid. His blade was thrust forward into the droid that had swung at him, and from its killing blow, he swung it to his left, into the last droid that was ready to slash at the human. Under his helmet, Nick’s brow dripped sweat, the climate control not able to keep up with the Ranger’s rapid movement.

Turning to face the Mobium commander again with his saber of his head, and his closer arm outstretched to his enemy, Nick waited for whatever the commander could throw at him next. The Mobium dropped his saber slowly, letting it rest by his leg. The defeat of the droids that he had sent against this insurgent were of no great loss, nor did he expect them to prevail. These specific type of rebel was famous for felling legions of droids, as they had when the first foothold onto this very city had begun. The point of the attack had been simple, run the Ranger’s energy supply down.

However the commander’s focus on his enemy’s energy level left him vulnerable to the approach of a second group of rebels. Lexa, Andrews, and another member of their team set perched nearby in the rubble of a decimated building watching the ensuing combat from the safety of cover. Adding to that security was a very large rifle that Andrews held in his hands, his long barrel, and the scope resting atop it indicative of its true function. Andrews had watched the exchange of combat from his scope, not quite sure to make of it. “One of yours?”

Lexa peered through a set of night vision binoculars from next to the Captain. Her focus was on the Ranger clad completely in a different type of armor from her own. It was similar of that she was certain, but she knew not what to make of it. “No.”

“Well he’s in quite a tussle,” replied Andrews. “And there is no reason not to take out the commander why we have the chance.”

“I am aware of your eagerness to remove members of my species,” returned Lexa, “you do not need to remind me at every opportunity.”

“The other Ranger could be a trap,” commented Andrews, changing the subject. “Try to get us to ally ourselves with him, then expose us for who we are. Could be a mobium under that helmet.”

Lexa had thought the same as well. As long as the commander was focused on the Ranger in front of him, he wouldn’t sense their presence, but if Lexa reached out with her own mind to try and scan either of the combatants, she risked exposing their position. “Perhaps we should see if the Ranger defeats the Mobium himself.”

“Couldn’t that be part of the plan?” asked the other member of the party that remained silent until then.

“Mobiums don’t kill each other,” said Andrews without even turning to address the solider. “Not even for sabotage.” Turning softly away from his scope he looked towards Lexa. “What’s it going to be?”

Staring through them for only a moment longer, Lexa removed the viewers from her eyes, and stared straight ahead, “Keep your weapon trained on the commander, but let them finish this battle.”

“Yes ma’am,” replied Andrews tightening his grip on the weapon he held, and positioning his eye back into the scope of the weapon. He knew the risks though that Lexa was putting them in here by leaving the commander alive, but at the same time he had come to trust her judgement. He didn’t doubt that she had already considered the possibilities, and decided that the risk would be justified if everything went the way she believed.

Below them though, Nick had already begun the charge towards the commander. The Mobium was ready though, and slowly levitated himself off the ground, and then hanging in the air he shot forward like Superman, his saber raised at the Ranger. Fear might not have been within the Ranger at the onset, but he did find himself facing concern as the Mobium rapidly approached him in this manner. Increasing the flow of energy to the balde of his saber, he stopped in his tracks, and pointed it straight at the mobium. Flames erupted from the blade, and raced towards the oncoming warrior much in a similar manner as to a flamethrower. Seeing it only as a minor obstacle, the Mobium rotated his body to the right, and vectored away from the Ranger, leaving him that much more safe than before. The same feeling of equality that the Solar Ranger had felt moments before were beginning to evaporate quickly it would seem.

A burst of mental energy erupted towards the Solar Ranger, and he found himself being thrown backwards, and then right before he hit the ground, the vector of the blast changed, and he raised from the ground, only to have it cut off when he was high enough up. His body dropped like a rock, and slammed into a small piece of remaining cement. Nick only had mere moments to bring his Flare Saber up to block a strike that had been coming in from the Mobium as the mental blasts tossed him around. Kipping up, as the mobium backed off, he charged his weapon again, and fired another blast of flames towards the Mobium. Being closer than before the Mobium had very little room to react, and instead opted to force himself into the air. Watching him rise, the Solar Ranger summoned all the energy in his armor into forcing himself into the air, and charging his weapon as he raised. He shot forward into the sky, holding his saber out in an almost kind of jousting effect, but the Mobium was faster, so Nick was forced to flip forward, and slowly brake his fall to the ground. His attack unsuccessful, he spun himself around so as not to let his guard down. The Mobium was already on the ground, waiting for the human warrior to land, and as the Solar Ranger turned towards the Mobium, the alien let loose several bursts of mental energy from his hands. They slammed into Nick with the effect of blaster bolts, and sent him cascading towards the ground. Weakened as he was, he fought to stand, but he sensed that his enemy was near, and his gaze shot upwards to see the Mobium standing over him, ready to land the final killing stroke. Nick’s fear was great at this prospect, but it wasn’t as equal to his anger, anger at himself for failing to win this battle.

The bullet wasn’t even in heard as it pierced the Mobium’s skull, causing blood to spill from both sides of the wounds as it traveled through the head, and out the other end. His body became lifeless in an instant, and collapsed in no pattern or form, just crumpling to the ground as the muscle control to the legs gave out. It layed sprawled out on the ground next to Nick as he slowly picked himself up. Looking over the body carefully, he tried to piece together exactly what had just come to pass, but found himself unable to figure out what it all meant. It was the voice behind him though that snapped him from his thoughts, and back to the dangerous situation at hand.

“Nice shot,” said Lexa who now stood before Nick with Andrews, the one who had fired the shot that had killed the Mobium Commander. Her comment had of course been directed to Andrews, who was already looking over the kill.

“Thanks,” returned Andrews as he lowered his weapon to the rubble, and slowly looked over the alien. “I guess that makes three for me.”

“Who are you?” asked the Solar Ranger, confusion apparent throughout his voice. He couldn’t even contemplate what they had done, or why at the moment as he stood in shock taking in their reaction to the events.

“We’re with the military,” offered Andrews, not even bothering to look back up at the Ranger.

“You fought decently,” added Lexa, as Nick turned to look back at her.

“Do you have names?” asked Nick, a little annoyed by their tone, especially Andrews’.

“Yes,” replied Lexa, though it seemed quite clear she wasn’t about to offer them to Nick. “I’m not familiar with your armor, how did you come about it?”

Nick suddenly felt a little out of place, as well as suspicious of these two. They had come out of no where, and true they had saved his life, but this could all be a trap to lure him into revealing information about Keith or something else. “A friend.”

Andrews stood up, and now regarded Nick carefully. He knew that this conversation wasn’t making any great mileage, and someone was going to have to trust someone else before anyone made any progress. He decided, it should probably be them. “You should show him Major.”

Lexa turned to listen to Andrews, but then offered an expression of no emotion. She sensed what Andrews was getting out, and decided that he was most likely right. Without even voicing the activation sequence, she merely activated the lens beneath her uniform, and was surrounded by the yellow energy of her powers. It faded away and left behind the form of the Yellow Ranger, one she hadn’t donned in some time.

Nick’s eyes went a little wide as the light show went on before him. His doubts about these two had disappeared the second the yellow ranger had revealed herself to him. He had seen the news, and the videos, and he knew that there had been four rangers to stand and fight that day in San Francisco when this whole mess begun. As quickly as she had morphed, she demorphed, letting herself return to her normal form. Her sight was still on the boy in front of her who stood in a very different style of Ranger armor. Nick decided it was best to do the same. “Release.”

His armor faded away leaving the atheletic looking eighteen year old boy with dark hair who had continued to smuggle people out of the warzone. He regarded the fair headed Lexa silently for a few moments, and then said, “My name is Nick.”

“I’m Captain Andrews, and this is Major Lexa,” offered Andrews as he moved to rejoin his commanding officer’s side.

“I didn’t know the other Rangers were still around,” said Nick, “or working for the military.”

“I’m the only one left,” suggested Lexa. “Or so I thought. Your powers are different than mine.”

“They are created through what I guess you could call Life Energy,” offered Nick. “Or at least I think that’s the way he put it.”

“He?” asked Lexa. Nick merely nodded, and looked Lexa straight in the eye. She could feel the answer in him, and a certain part of her already knew his response as well, something she had suspected the second she had seen him in battle. “Keith.”

Nick nodded, “Yeah, there was this incident four years ago at a school I was at upstate from here, and he had to make two of us so that he could stop them from hurting anyone.”

“Are you talking about the hostage thing with General Henney?” asked Andrews. Nick’s face went down trodden as he simply nodded, reliving the events in his own mind, the pain at his friend’s death, and the way that Keith had held him back from killing the general.

“You said there was another one like you?” asked Lexa, keying into the other part of the explanation.

“Yeah,” said Nick, coming back to reality, “but I don’t know where she is.”

“We need to move,” said Andrews as he turned back to see their other party member at the edge of the perimeter signaling. “Why don’t you come back with us to camp, and we can exchange info there.” Nick looked from the Captain to the Major who was still staring right at him, and decided he really had no choice. His butt had been kicked real well, and he decided that he was in no shape right now to put up a fight. Slowly Andrews led the way out, and Nick followed. Lexa remained behind for only a moment as she finally regarded the dead Mobium that lay in front of her. She was tired, much like Keith was, tired of all the blood being spilled. This had not been their way before, not when she was a child, but now it seemed it was the only way for the Mobium people.

Sweat rolled down his face. His eyes were moving every which direction as he stood perfectly still, all his muscle tensed. His breathing was heavy, as if he was under some great strain, and his hand clenched a crystal that rested in a console in the center of the room. Keith was near exhaustion. It had been three days of nothing but being locked in this med bay, and with nothing better to do, Keith put his time an effort into the only thing he could do. He had linked his mine with the ship’s library, and had just learned. It was different than how they did things on Earth. He was absorbing so much information so fast, information most Mobiums received in the first few years of their life. He was trying to take in much more than just the initial primer though, he was going for everything, and it was slowly killing him. History, Science, Math, everything was slowly being pumped into his school in the realm of one hundred pages a second. He observed more than just documents though, for the library was more than that. It stored thoughts too, ideas, beliefs, and experiences. A book on fighting was one thing, but to be able to relive the experiences and movements of a fighting master was something completely different. In a matter of hours he had become a master of a fighting style. In two days he was more than that. He had the knowledge of how to work machines he had never seen, objects that he would never touch, and pilot craft through the expanse of space. It didn’t open his mind, his level of consciousness never increased, instead he just knew more. It was costing him though, and he could feel it inside. His nerves were burning, and the human mind, not as…advanced…as the mobium one, was beginning to suffer. It was in a hybrid state, it allowed him to hold more than the mobiums could, for he imagined know Mobium mind could possibly hold the vast collection of the library, but it was going to cost him.

He writhed in pain, as another nerve fired in his pain, and fell away from the console, his hand still locked in the extended position it had been in. His breathing became erratic, and paranoia began to set in. He could sense all the movement around him, but it was overwhelming. The self discipline that he had cultivated throughout high school had been temporarily knocked out of sync, and now his powers, senses and emotions were breaking through the mental barrier. He fell to the ground, landing on his bottom, and looked around anxiously, as if someone, or something was going to attack him at any moment. It was the sensing of another being coming near that gave him the thing he needed to focus on, that brought temporary relief to his mind to restore part of the barrier.

It was the Supreme Commander who had come to check on his “guest” that had been that presence. He looked at the closed door in front of him, and stood silently for a moment. It wasn’t fear that gripped him, it was a form of embarrassment. He had continued to mill over the conversation he had with the Ranger days before, and realized that the boy had struck too close to home for his liking. He knew that when he embarked on this endeavor that it would be difficult, but now he found himself ill prepared to continue to deal with this. It had taken him three days to return, but he knew he had to if he was going to get any form of cooperation out of him. He sensed the heart of the warrior inside Keith, not that unlike from himself. He knew that the Ranger had a strong morale compass guiding him, and it was to this device that he was trying to appeal, but at the same time, he knew that he might be the worst person to do that. He had no other choice.

He placed his hand on the crystal beside the door, and slowly touched it, the doors sliding open in front of him to reveal an empty room. There was no sign of the Ranger, as he expected there to be, but at the same time he sensed the Ranger was near. He felt it coming, but moved away as Keith landed feet extended first where the mobium had been moments before. Crouching as he landed, his eyes glared anger at the Mobium who he had just attempted to attack. Harabec had been taken aback by this move, and at the same time at the speed and precision he had done this with. He was no fool, and knew that Keith had gotten into the library, but he also knew that there was only so much the Ranger could absorb, only so much a memory could teach, the rest was still experience. The mobium still remained cautious, but the two men didn’t move at all, each pausing to see what the other would do. Keith was first to act again, and tried to launch a kick at Harabec’s head. The older man blocked it, and then another as Keith spun around and tried the other side, and then as Keith recovered, he released a mental energy blast forwards, sending Keith flying towards the bed behind him. His back slammed into it, and he collapsed to the ground. His energy had been zapped by the educational process, and normally he would of easy regained his stance, or moved out of the way, but he was too weak at the moment.

Harabec stalked into the room slowly cautiously observing his fallen enemy. This wasn’t how he was planning on this meeting to go, but it did. He could tell Keith was down for the count based on the emotions that were slowly coming off the Ranger. He looked at him carefully trying to find some piece he could adapt himself too, something he had in common with the guy.

“Well that worked,” groaned Keith softly.

“The fighting style you choose is antiquated, and easily countered,” replied Harabec solemnly, observing the faults in the movements of the boy.

“So I see,” returned Keith, slowly putting his arm over his forehead as he let the pain subside.

“Your attack was unnecessary,” offered Harabec, “I came to talk.”

“Well you are keeping me prisoner, so I thought I might try escape,” replied Keith. “You know, just a thought.”

“We are already several thousand light years away from your planet,” replied Harabec, “and in several rotations we will reach Altea Station.”

“Altea?” asked Keith, removing his arm from his head, and slowly sitting up, “why are we heading towards Altea?”

“We must speak before the council,” said Harabec, still remaining where he stood.

“Just my luck,” said Keith lying back down, “I get to take a joyride through the galaxy, and we head for Babylon 5.”

“Babylon 5?” asked Harabec, unsure of the reference the hybrid was making.

“Never mind,” said Keith, annoyed that the man was still in his presence.

“If you wish,” said Harabec still standing confidently. He quickly inspected the lab, making sure that nothing else was disturbed, but it appeared to him that nothing was too seriously out of place. “However, you are not going to attempt to attack me on my ship again, or next time, I will restrain you for the rest of the trip.”

Keith’s mental discipline had returned at this point, and he had returned to a state of reason, at least for the most part. Looking up at the Mobium he realized that he probably could have killed him if he had too, and even with the advanced knowledge of fighting, Harabec was still stronger. “Very well, you have my word.”

“Favorable,” returned Harabec, as he turned to leave the room, “perhaps we can have a civilized conversation later, once you have healed.” Keith merely groaned, as the mobium commander approached the door. Harabec turned slightly when he reached the threshold to glance back one more time at the very subdued Ranger. “And perhaps I can help you increase your precision in the technique you poorly choose to use.” His only response was another groan, as he turned, and sealed the door behind him.

“He is really starting to annoy me,” stated Keith, as he slowly tried to force himself back to his feet. He stared at the closed door, knowing it was already locked, and feeling to drained to dive back into the library. Something else hit him though, it was the feeling you get sometimes when you realize how far you’ve gone in a short time. It’s where you look back, and try and figure out where it all began, watching the progression of events that brought you to where you are now, and he realized it had been so vast and so expansive. But if something happened no one else would remember it. He felt obligated to not let that happen. Returning to the main console, he again placed his hand on the crystal in the center, but this time his intent was different. He went through the main system with mental commands, until he found what he was looking for. It was part journal, and part recorder, capable of catching his memories, and creating a file to be played back. If he had a few days to sit here and remember everything, then he was going to save it somewhere important. He struggled with how to start, for he knew that for the most part only Mobiums would ever see it, but at the same time, maybe some human someday would run across it. He searched, and racked his mine, as the equivalent to a cursor blanked in front of his mind. Smirking, one line jumped out of it, and slowly the other details began to pour out… “You know who I am…”

[DaiDekaRanger]

Wow very long, read a bit of the first part its good

[RedGuardianRanger]

It was mid day when they pulled into the driveway. The van slowly let the rubber of its tires roll into the soft gravel that composed the driveway, and slipped silently between the sparse trees that lined it. For Matt it was almost like coming home, for it seem to remind him of his own home, a place he hadn’t been for some time. It was a familiar feeling to him, something that he had been missing for some time. It brought back memories of his family, his sister, and his parents that he had long since parted with, and had not spoken to, nor seen in some time. For Gaji it was different though, the feelings were different. His home wasn’t like this at all, and his family was much more removed from him, than Matt’s family had been. This had been the place that Blake had given them as the residence of Sean, and this was their last hope of finding what they needed to restore their abilities. For Matt it was a familiar bastion of hope, for Gaji it was the precipe that might be the end of everything.

The van rolled to a stop, and the two men slowly exited it, closing their doors behind them, and moving to the front of it. The house was a small rancher, but a porch ran most of the way around it, and it was the door of the porch that the two men watched, waiting for what should come next. The two of them exchanged an uneasy glance.

“I don’t know why I feel uneasy about this,” announced Gaji. “Something is throwing me off though. It’s like I can’t shake the feeling that something wrong happened between us.”

“Nothing did though,” returned Matt. “It’s just like seeing an old friend.”

“You don’t go see old friends when the world is crumbling down around you,” countered Gaji. “I think I’m just nervous about what comes next.”

“One way or the other, it all comes down to what happens next,” agreed Matt. “This could either be good news, or bad news. But we have to know.”

They watched silently as the door began to open, and slowly a figure emerged from the house. They expected him to be wearing a look of disbelief, but instead they found him with a no emotion on his face. His shirt was covered in tie die, and his jean shorts were well worn as he moved over the porch with his leather sandals. His long hair was tied in a pony tail as he slowly marched down the steps towards them, his hands buried in his pockets.

“Sean,” offered Gaji, breaking the silence as the two Rangers watched their former teammate approach them. “It’s good to see you.”

“How have you been?” piped in Matt as Sean closed to within arms length.

“Worried out of my god damn mind,” said Sean solemnly, “do you have any idea the hell the four of you put me through? Where have you been?”

“Unconscience,” said Matt, raising his hand, “or so I’m told. Comatose like even.”

“Hospital in Idaho,” said Gaji. “They took the two of us there after the battle in San Francisco, apparently they thought we were just wounded civilians.”

“The others?” asked Sean, eagerly hanging onto every detail the two related to him.

“We don’t know,” responded Matt. “Colleen and Keith were taken by Polaris, and as far as we know Lexa and Peter…”

Sean nodded softly, his face covered with a look of determination. Moments before he had thought all four of them had been killed, but now two of them lived. “Colleen, and Keith are dead.”

“How?” asked Gaji.

“NORAD tracked an explosion in orbit shortly after the battle in San Francisco,” reported Sean softly, “on the same course as the Mobium ship, then lost tracking thereafter. We know from some communications between the Mobium ships now that their ship was indeed destroyed, and they blame humanity for the death of Polaris. But all hands were lost in the explosion. Anyone on board was vaporized. At least that’s what the feds tell me.”

“Blake?” asked Gaji.

“He’s still around, and busier than ever,” said Sean, crossing his arms in front of him.

“We’ve been watching the news,” confirmed Matt. “We know what the situation is starting to mount too. That’s part of the reason we’re here.”

Sean’s facial expression changed from solemnly to disappointed, he shook his head negatively, “I’m not sure I can help you in that regard.” The two rangers shifted uncomfortably where they stood, not sure what to make of their colleagues response. It was the moment they had anticipated as they waited for his arrival, and now that it was here, they were even more unsure of what to make of it. “I moved the family out here to keep them safe from the war, even though it looks like it might not be far enough. I’m out of the hero business though. Now that I’m not a wanted person, my family is going to be left alone, and I can’t force them back into what happened before. The world should come first, but I put it first, and now I have to put my family next.”

“We don’t need to bring you back into this conflict if you don’t want us too,” suggested Matt. “We know how much you sacrificed before, but we still need your help right now. Our lenses were taken from us, by whom we don’t know, but with the DNA lock they’re not going to be activated, but we’re hoping that their might be some way to get our powers back some other way?”

“They were just gone?” asked Sean.

“Weren’t on us when we went into the hospital,” said Gaji. “The hospital hasn’t seen any sign of them, so we figure they might have been removed during transit or maybe before we were taken off the field.”

“You think one of the soldiers took it off you?” Sean asked.

“Maybe,” said Matt, “but as I recall they’re weren’t that many left standing by the time we went down.”

“Whatever the case,” replied Sean, “they’re aren’t any blank lenses left. Keith didn’t make any backups before you guys went out, but that wasn’t really surprising, considering he really didn’t have that much time.”

“No powers,” said Gaji softly, “great.”

Matt shook his head in response to Gaji’s comment, and turned to face Sean, “Can we build are own?”

“Not unless you have a Mobium who can build them,” he responded. “Keith was one of the few in the galaxy who could build them, if not the only, and he built some of the parts with stuff that he had to make himself with telekinetic powers. No human hands can ever create those. But….”

“But?” asked Matt.

Sean’s eyes read differently than his earlier attitude, and it was that little ounce of hope that popped into his eyes that even inspired Gaji. “C’mon inside.” The invitation was echoed by the twinkle of mischief in his eyes. The two rangers marched forward into the house with Sean behind them, as they entered the rancher, and then quickly were pointed through the kitchen, and towards a door which led down into a basement. The basement was sparse, and unfinished, much in contrast to the first basement that they had used when Keith had first become a ranger. They’re they found boxes piled from a move, but whether they came from the Shelter, or Sean’s prior house was unknown. Here they were, and here they stood as Sean plunged into one of the boxes. “Keith did leave something behind.”

“What?” asked Matt.

“A box,” said Sean as he practically dumped the whole contents of one box onto the floor. A wooden box. Ah, here.” He produced from the box a small wooden case, almost like the prop a movie would use to keep something valuable in it. It was small, but Sean needed two hands to hold onto it. “He left it for Gaji.”

“What’s inside?” asked Matt.

Gaji looked at the box for a moment, but it was a only an instant when he remembered the conversation he had with Keith in the Capitol building, a conversation that seemed like it took place a life time ago. It was a memory he had put aside for the time he was in the hospital, but at the same time it always sat in the back of his mind, just poking away. It was more than just an object, it was a trust in him that he couldn’t back down from, and now it was the moment of truth where he couldn’t back down from it. “It’s a legacy.”

“What?” asked Matt. Gaji took the box from Sean, placed it down on top of a larger cardboard one, and slowly opened the lid. Inside he found what he expected, but still it caused him to pause for just a moment. The clear gem of the blank lens gleamed for the first time since it was created as the light struck it. The band was new, dark black, and soft. Beside it sat a CD, probably containing important information.

“A blank lens,” stated Matt.

“A Red Ranger blank lens,” corrected Sean. Both Gaji and Matt turned to look at Sean. “I forgot about it earlier, but I just remembered. I watched the CD…” He trailed off slowly for a moment as he seem to fall into almost a deep thought. Matt watched him closely, and wondered if his thoughts drifted to their fallen leader. Snapping back though Sean continued, “…I watched the CD, and I think you guys should make the time too as well. Keith left a few important things behind, just in case, stuff I guess he thought we didn’t need to know before, or just wasn’t important enough. You know Keith though right?”

“Did he leave me anything?” asked Matt. “A weapon perhaps?”

“The CD is for any Ranger that survived if he didn’t,” said Sean softly. “Just in case I guess.” Gaji slowly removed the lens from the case, and held in his hand. His thumb passed over the jewel, and as it did, the thing shimmer, and a flash ran across its surface. There was a blink of light, and then slowly the hue of the jewel changed to royal crimson. Both Matt and Sean turned to watch the mini light show occurring next to them, before Sean finally piped in, “The lens was self tuning, meaning no syncing process required. Good for me, because I don’t have to bring the computer out, and good for you, because it would probably would of taken us a couple of hours to get the whole thing setup. When you fasten it around your wrist, it should do an automatic self test, which will include a morph, just to make sure.”

Gaji looked up at Sean, and then back down at the jewel. His hesitation was natural the others decided, he was about to take on an important role, something that many people now recognized as the figurehead of a rebellion. Matt looked over at him, and urged him on, “Go ahead.” Made determined by the comment, Gaji slowly fastened the lens where it should rest on his arm, and closed his eyes. There was no epic moment like there would be in the movies. It was swift, like the snap of a finger, as the red energy from the lens rushed over the Ranger’s form, and covered it completely. As the energy slowly covered Gaji’s body for the first time since the battle in San Francisco, he wondered whether the armor of the Red Ranger will feel different than the armor he wore before.

The other two watched Gaji become the Red Ranger with awe, and for a second Matt even thought he felt a pang of jealously. Most people probably just considered the colors of the rangers a non entity, but most people knew that the Red Ranger was more than just a ranger. More often than not it meant a position of leadership, and also some extra benefits as well, like the Guardian Armor. Matt knew that he was the second in command, and that he was now the one running the outfit, or rather, the two of them, but still he felt a sense of entitlement to the power, especially since he couldn’t morph. Slowly Gaji looked at the armor covering his hands, and the rest of his body, almost as if he hadn’t ever worn the Ranger armor before. He snapped out of the awe, though he did wish he had more time to figure it out, but reached up, and unclasped his helmet revealing his true face. “It feels the same.”

“What?” asked Sean.

“I thought it was going to feel different,” said Gaji, not looking at Sean, but answering him anyway. “But it feels the same.”

“There is one more thing,” announced Sean, but he turned to Matt leaving Gaji to figure out his mindset. Sean stepped away from the two back towards the pile of boxes, and Matt followed until they were near a stack of boxes as tall as Sean. Slowly he pulled away the top box and opened it, as he set it on the floor before them. Reaching in, he pulled out something that wasn’t visible to Matt until he produced his hand to Matt revealing something Matt wasn’t expecting.

“Another lens?” asked Matt as he observed the object in Sean’s hand. It was different, then what he was used to. First the band was a coffee color, almost a leathery brown. There were more Capaciator tiles, which weren’t on the standard Ranger lens, or Gaji’s new one, just Keith’s. The jewel though was what caught his eye the most. It was a navy blue.

“You don’t recognize it?” asked Sean with a smirk on his face.

“Should I?” he replied.

“Its one of the original lens,” stated Sean. “One of the first ones ever created. It was Shen’s though he never used it on Earth…at least as far as we know. Peter took it off him when he fell to the droids in Europe, and brought it with him. It wasn’t going to do him any good since it was already locked into Shen’s DNA, but he thought maybe Keith could use it to update his design. Keith pretty much threw it into storage the second he got it, but I remember it at the last second.”

“But we can’t use it,” stated Matt. “If the DNA is locked in to Shen, I’m never going to get it to accept me.”

“It’s not going to do any good sitting here with me,” countered Sean. “You might as well take it. And this too.” Sean tossed an Enea into the air that he had retrieved from the box while Matt had focused on the lens. Matt caught it with his free hand, and smiled as he looked at it. He placed his hand on the grip, and could feel the weapon charge under his touch.

“This will do nicely,” said Matt.

“Release,” came Gaji’s command from the other side of the room as his armor vanished about him returning him to his street clothes.

“Looks like we’re ready to go,” said Matt turning back to Sean.

< Track Insert – Enya “Exile”>
The terminal for the medical bay sits silent as does the entirety of the room around the former Red Ranger. The room has gone dark, and not even the small portcullis to the stars bring in light. This is how he wants though, this is how he needs it. He needs the darkness to find himself, to bring him back to where he was. The terminal has been silently for nearly a day and half though. He finished telling it his story, and then he sat down, and began the slow process of committing everything he learned to memory. An intricate process at best, it involved a good deal of meditation involved to try and calm his mind, and return the discipline that it nearly destroyed. But this process too came at a cost to Keith. It was the first time his mind was left idle to think, to remember, and it was the first time he thought of her. Everything had come so fast, and so furious that he barely had the chance to try and plan an escape let alone thing about her, and the fact that she was now gone.

It had hit him like a semi, or a blast of mental energy from Polaris. He had sat peacefully on the deck with his legs folded Indian style, and his back against one of the hull plates, his hands on his knees. He had been thinking about several of the techniques he could have used before in the battle; and then he had tried to apply them with his battle with Polaris wondering how much it would have aided him; and then he remembered her. His eyes snapped open in an instant, the red glow from his mind behind them filling them completely, but going dimmer almost to make them like glowing rubies in the darkness. They brought an eerie light to the room, so that anyone looking on would not have even noticed the tear that slowly ran down his right cheek.

He remembered her face, the way the sun hit when they were in school together. He remembered the way she moved, glided over any surface she trod upon as if it wasn’t even there. He remembered her grace in every movement she made, and the way he would watch her make those moves, and the pain came on. He remembered having to lie to her at every twist and turn, and wondering if she knew he was lying to her. He remembered the pain of worrying that she would become the next casualty in his war with Evan, and then he remembered the pain of betrayal as he learned that she had known all along. His body became wracked with sobs, and tears streamed down his cheeks. The glow from his eyes subsided, and no amount of mental discipline could stop what had just been unleashed from these flood gates now.

He remembered the way he had to fight her on that empty field, as the rain fell around them, the way he had to fight not just for his very life, but hers as well. He remembered going into her mind and looking for the part that had been taken over, so that he could free it, but he never found it, for it had not been there. He remembered how he had to do the unthinkable, the unforgivable, and repress it, so that the rest of her had a chance at a normal life. He remembered the look on her face when he saved the entire school from Evan, and then the look on her face when she realized she was the only one that would ever remember it, before he took that too from her. The tears continued to come.

There was the fear when he thought her life was in danger from something he could not stop. There was the pain when he watched her below on the streets with another man, someone that was not, nor could ever be him. He remembered the pain of knowing it could never be him, and knowing it so fiercely, like knowing so certainly one’s name. He remembered the loss of control when he thought she was gone forever, taken by those who had come for him. There was the brief surge of happiness as he remembered learning the truth, the truth that she had always been the way she was, and that she was under his nose the entire time, and that she was here not only to redeem herself, but to prove herself to him. Then there was the kiss that was almost eight years in the making, the one perfect moment of his life that was given to him at possibly the very worst situation of his life. It could never last, as the happiness turned to fear, and finally to loss. He remembered the look on her face as she hung helplessly, and knew that if she did not release his hand, then everyone would die. He remembered as his last memory of her life was her falling below to her death. His memory stopped there as he fully excepted the loss of the person he would possibly love the most for the rest of his life, and he knew that she would never return, just like he knew he could not stop the tears.

His eyes looked towards the ceiling but he found only the darkness he had surrounded himself with as his cheeks palled, and his eye sockets became heavy. He could barely sit up as the sadness consumed him, and slowly he fell to the deck plate next to him, not even bothering to right himself. His hands kept him level, as he tried to curl up, and just hold himself. Part of him was angry, and he wanted to destroy something, but knew that doing that was completely pointless, and the only thing he could hurt was himself.

The pain was overwhelming, and he could not even form a thought, for it was only emotion that controlled him now. All his body felt was the loss of not only her, but the part of him that she took with him when she went. The body was merely reacting to a physical pain it had no way of knowing was a mental scar. The crying would go on for several hours unabated, until Keith could finally pull himself together to at least form a sentence in his own mind. He did not think he had stopped though because of control, he merely felt numb, and unable to feel any more.

Keith’s thoughts rippled through the ship, unaware to the young prince tucked away in the med bay. To each Mobium, the sheer pain of the loss rippled through them, and each of them felt the same as he did if just for an instant until they could put up their mental block against it. Some shuddered at their console as they paused for a moment to look up, or glance back towards the part of the ship it came from, while others just batted an eyelash for a moment. Harabec though felt the pain that the Ranger did, not even attempting to raise a block against it. For him, this was an experience that the Ranger had felt, and feeling it himself allowed him to understand the Ranger just a bit more. He knew that loss himself, though not to the severity that the young prince felt it. It was the same pain he felt as he watched the ship ascend into the sky on the Royal platform at the conclusion of the revolution so long ago, the ship that took Terisian from him.

The other Mobiums never noticed the way their commander sat staring straight ahead in front of him at the empty display, nor did they even notice that he failed to raise a block to push it away. They all had better things to do though, except for one. His engineer noticed, as she stood by her station to his side. Her name was Khara. She had served with Harabec for a long time, not as long as the tactical officer opposite her, but long enough to know when her commander was being effected by something. Khara was the only female onboard, her appearance not unlike Lexa’s when she first arrived on Earth. There were minor differences like the way her eyes were slightly less slanted, and the way her very silver hair was tied back so that she could work more efficiently in her position. Her eyes were not on her console though that usually monitored the ship, but the older male of her species in front of her. Her mind open to his though as she formed the question she needed to ask him. “Was that prince?”

Harabec neither turned to regard her, nor acknowledged that he had her at first. She seemed to feel like he was ignoring her, and began to turn back to her console as his very weak, and almost distant answer replied, “Yes.”

She had never heard him so vulnerable before, and his response seemed to cause her to pause a moment and consider her next words carefully. “A great loss has befallen him.”

Harabec’s response again seem to come after a great length, again making Khara wonder if she was going to be ignored, “It is that of the loss of a mate. It has no equal for our kind in all of existence.”

Khara was taken aback by the response she had received, perhaps even more than what the commander had said previously. She had never been mated, spending her life in the service that had called her since she was a youth, a task she took on with a great deal of pride. She knew though that the link between mates was something greater than any other relationship that could be formed. The two minds spent so much time co-mingled together that it was assumed that they were both eventually locked together to become one, and when a being lost that link it was like losing a body part, or worse. It was here though that she realized that her commander had not put up a mental block like the rest of them, that he was absorbing the full force of the mental shockwave that rippled through their ship as it transverse through the artificial wormhole. She didn’t even pause to consider her next words as they escaped her mind, and flew into his, “You are not blocking the torrent, are you?”

“No,” was his almost immediate response, though it sounded like an edge of frustration was creeping into his thoughts to her. “Knowing his pain helps me better know him.”

Her eyes folded to her console as she watched the readings from the various systems inform her that everything was alright. She was not interested in their outputs though as she watched them rise and fall. There was still a question she needed an answer for. “Did he mate with another Mobium on Earth?”

“I do not know,” was Harabec’s response, “but I suspect not. This feeling has a quality about it that is slightly more raw than most Mobium’s, and I suspect that it is a combination of his two genetic heritages at work at once. If he truly lost what his mental psyche interpreted as a mate, then he, like other Mobiums may not be able to ever mate again.”

Khara’s gaze locked right on her commander as he finished, and it was a look of wonderment as the intelligent engineer put the final piece of the puzzle together, “You have lost a mate as well have you not?”

Harabec’s gaze turned away from the empty screen in front of him, and he folded his hands over his face, closing his eyes, “Perhaps it would be best if you returned to your duties.”

Khara took the hint that the conversation had come to an end, and turned her gaze back to her console, her mind no longer in communication with her commander. She could only watch though as he rose from his seat, and left the command deck to head into the rest of the ship. She watched him go, realizing that she knew him only to a certain point, that the past they had while serving together was only part of the story. She knew the great legend of Harabec Storm, the Hero of the War, and the Hero of the Revolution, but she also knew that there had to be more to him as well. She had one of those pieces now, and wondered if the stories about mating with the Star Kingdom’s princess had been true. But she knew that after his last statement, all she could do was to be left to wonder.

Harabec trudged through the decks softly, his mind completely empty except for the final destination that was locked inside his head. He had no idea what he was going to say, or if he would say anything. He didn’t no whether to expect anger, or just sadness, whether he would try to fight the commander again, or if he would be so overcome with grief, he wouldn’t even respond at all. His answer would come quickly though as the Med Bay doors opened in front of him, and he could see the Ranger sitting upon the deck, his back up against the bulkhead. The tearstained face of the prince seemed unusual to see on a face that had held so much confidence, and so much anger the two times he came across him before. It was like stepping into the room of a person who had just been given the worst news of their life, and not really knowing what to say. That was exactly though what Harabec was doing though as he approached Keith.

The Ranger was aware of Harabec’s presence before the commander even came through the door, but made no move to try and stop him. The numbness had nearly overcome him, and all he could do was stare in front of him, and hope that if the commander came to gloat, his numbness would prevent him from even hear it. For Harabec’s part though there was no gloating, only general concern as he crouched down in front of Keith, his eyes locked on the Ranger’s searching for something his mind, that his eyes knew they couldn’t find on his face. It was the search though that made Keith realize their first connection as two independent beings. He could feel that his emotions were being felt by the Mobium commander, but at the same time, he could feel the echo of pain, the pangs of loss within the Mobium commander too as the Ranger’s emotions acted like a ping underwater, seeking out the Mobiun’s as well. Harabec made no statement, he merely looked forward at the Ranger, sensing that the Ranger felt the connection that he had felt since the Command deck, and for an instant there was a look between the two that seemed to say, that they understood each other, that this was something that the two of them had both felt.

“I cannot take the pain away,” began Harabec. “I cannot show you how to get rid of it, or ignore it. Nor can I tell you it will fade in time, or that the wound in you will heal. I cannot show you how to use it as a strength, or tell you that it will help you become a better person. I feel the pain you feel, I have felt it most of my life. The only thing I know is that it can either bury you in its wake, or you can use it to define yourself, to remember the pain is a part of you, and how you choose to use it is something you must decide for yourself. My pain has become a strength, and it was that strength that brought me to this moment now.”

Keith watched him carefully the Ranger’s eyes glassy as the remaining water stayed within his eyes, and not falling down his cheek. He heard the words, but much to his chargrin, the numbness didn’t help him to block it out. Instead it seem to echo inside his head, the way the Commander’s pain had when their minds linked on the single issue moments before. It was the response that he wanted, and knew that only a Mobium could give him. There was no mention of sorry, no out reach of emotion, or well being, just the straight hard truth, followed by the fact that this was just another part of life, and that life could either be lead, or just be stopped forever. It was the same way his mother used to postulate responses in his youth, and he found it comforting, and relaxing. In a way he found himself suddenly not in captivity, but surrounded by the familiarity that had been missing from his life since the passing of his mother. This called his numbness to fade slowly, giving away to a calmer demeanor in general.

“What was her name?” asked Harabec softly, using his verbal ability to communicate this time, and not his mind.

Keith met him halfway though, and responded with a mental communication. “Madeleine. Mady. She died when we fought Polaris.” His tears seemed to flare up again for a moment as a breath rushed into him, and quickly escaped. “She fell over the platform of the singularity, and I got to her, and grabbed her arm, and hand. But she…she saw Polaris above me, and let go so I could stop him.”

“She sacrificed herself to save you,” he responded mentally, “something that any of those with our path would do. So that we could protect the beings we care for, so that we could protect life.”

“Saying it, and living through it are two different things,” snapped Keith back quickly. “We seem so quick, and eager to throw away our existence, but what about the people we leave behind. How can we claim its for the greater good when their lives get worse.”

“You seem eager to throw away your life to protect Earth,” responded Harabec.

Keith looked up at Harabec, and then slowly pushed himself off the ground, so that he could stand fully erect. Harabec rose simultaneously as well, and the two stood opposite each other once again. “That’s because there is no one for me to leave behind anymore.”

“You would leave behind all the beings of Mobius who now need you to free them,” said Harabec, reminding Keith of the mission he had now been forced on.

Keith paused for a moment, but still continued to stare at the Mobium, perhaps waiting for something more, or looking for that connection they had formed before. “I don’t think I care about them.”

“They need you,” he replied, “they need both of us to rectify the mistake I made that put them here where they are now.”

“It seems for the moment I have no choice,” said Keith, partly ignoring what Harabec had just told him, but just wanting the older Mobium to leave now.

Harabec was not thick though, and he realized with the brashness that Keith had quickly responded, that he was no longer welcomed in his presence again. Still though, as he turned to return to the command deck, he offered yet another olive branch of peace to the exiled prince. “We shall arrive at Altea in two revolutions. Perhaps in that time that shall remains in our voyage I could instruct you in the proper use in what you have already learned.”

“Perhaps,” said Keith softly. Harabec did not turn to see the look on the Ranger’s face, but his gaze did fall slightly in front of him, as he paused at the entrance to the Med Bay. It was only for a moment as again his legs began to take him beyond the confines of the make shift jail cell. The doors sealed behind him, and again he found himself with only the silence of the ship around him.

End of Part 1

[RedGuardianRanger]

Part One has come to an end, and with it the beginning of a new kind of storm, as the surviving Rangers find themselves scattered across the known galaxy. Part Two will answer the questions, and reveal the remaining survivors as the story begins to push to where the overall arc will bring us at the end of Exodus.

Look for Part Two to begin later this fall.

[RedGuardianRanger]

“So let me get this straight,” announced Nick, “the Mobiums came looking for Keith, because he was tapping into their power network, and he recruited you, and four others to stand up, and fight them.” Nick had returned with Lexa to the make shift underground camp that the resistance had formed in San Francisco. He had spent the first several nights under armed guard while he was in the camp just in case he had really been a spy, and was trying to expose them, but it seemed after he made no attempt to try to escape, nor had he managed to contact anyone that he might not be against them. It was the fifth night when Lexa and Andrews had finally sat down with Nick, and tried to explain everything that had transpired since he had last parted ways with Keith.

“That’s a very simplistic analysis,” returned Lexa, as she sat across them from a table that was really just a large box with smaller boxes around it to make seats. They were in a more isolated part of the base, where Lexa went sometimes to take refuge from the humans who often let their thoughts drift into openness. The level of minds in the shelter was overwhelming at times, and almost forced her to tears. Here she could concentrate though; here she could focus.

“Maybe, but it seems to me like all Keith had to do was give himself up,” replied Nick rather smugly. “But as usual he’s not a guy who’s prepared to do what needs to be done.”

“That’s bull,” returned Andrews. “If he had given himself up, then we’d be worse off then we are now. The Mobiums still would have invaded, but we wouldn’t have Lexa, and we would be less prepared then we are now. It was Keith that got the troops riled up, and convinced the government that the Mobiums were a threat. If he hadn’t, we’d be done.”

“What about the other Rangers?” asked Nick. “What happened to them?”

Lexa stood up, and slowly moved away from the table slowly retreating away from the two males. Andrews looked at Nick carefully, trying to consider his words before speaking. “There were four that ended up in the final battle in San Francisco. Of those two were severely wounded, and one, Peter, the Black Ranger, was killed. Lexa watched in a practically paralyzed state as Lenoa, the commander of the Mobium forces struck him through the heart with her Psy Saber after his morph failed.”

Nick’s smugness and confidence faded as he turned to watch the direction Lexa had left. He had seen Mike die in front of him, and understood the pain of losing a friend. He suddenly felt very guilty about being himself, and coming off as he usually did. “I didn’t know that.”

“Not many do,” replied Andrews, “but if you want to survive in this world, and I’m talking more than just against the Mobiums I’d pay real careful attention to what bull comes out of your mouth.” Slowly Andrews rose from the table, and moved away to return to his troops that were sheltered nearby.

Nick sat by himself for sometime, contemplating the situation he found himself. For weeks now he had been leading small parties to freedom on the other side of the quickly growing battle line, and each time he had returned for more. He didn’t know why he didn’t just keep going, and maybe try and find a place without battle, without war. He only knew he couldn’t stop coming back. There was something in the battle that he needed, something he had first felt four years ago, the first time he morphed. He tried to remember what it was, but he wasn’t quite sure.

Maybe it was the morph itself. He hadn’t had to morph again until the mobiums. There had been no fights, no conflicts, and no great action that required the use of his powers. Nor had he willed it to be so. The second he demorphed after Keith had departed he felt sick to his stomach. These powers had come at a great cost, the cost of a good friend, and they had been bestowed on him by someone he no longer trusted, or respected. He hated the powers he had. Then the Mobiums came, and he had to use his powers. He snuck his family out first, as the Mobiums advanced through their home town without even firing a shot. Their droids came next, and so Nick and his kin left. There were the battles on the road, as the droids did their best to prevent them from escaping, but his rage, and his lust for battle, and the hatred that had been boiling over against Keith honed him into a precise weapon, and with the battle, and with the fighting came the adrenaline. That’s what he needed now, something to take the place of his hatred, and it was adrenaline. That’s why he had been drawn back to San Francisco, to feed his addiction. This band of rebels promised him that fix, and maybe that’s why he agreed to go along, and agreed to join up. He was a junkie.

But he wondered if it had always been like this? Had he always had this burning rage to fight, to fill this need to have this fix. Wasn’t it different before, wasn’t there a time when there wasn’t the hate, or the addiction? It was with Brianna wasn’t it? His memories slowly drifted back to the calm, back when everything didn’t matter as much. They found themselves almost two years into the past, when he had last seen her.

It was the early spring, and their classes had finally finished. They had just ended their sophomore year together, and though they were as close as ever, a building rift had been coming. It had started in the winter, when she had learned that her family was moving East this summer so her father could take a new job. Nick and Brianna had been united not only by the tragedy of their friend’s death, but also by their shared secret. They had become better friends than when they were younger, and the way things went freshman year it seemed clear to everyone that they would end up together. It was the news of her leaving though that took the wind out of Nick’s sails. He had went through a phase of not even talking to her for a week when she first told him, and then after that, when she asked why he had been so distant, he lied, and slowly began to push her away.

It was their last day of school when she finally came up to him. His body was just beginning it transition into the firm muscular build he had now, but she had already blossomed into womanhood. He had watched her approach with such an interest, that nothing else around him made a difference. The world could have been on fire, and he never would have noticed it. Her dark hair fell down to the slight of her back, and her skin was tanned giving her an almost Middle Eastern appearance. She looked exotic to him, and as her voice landed on his hears, he could swear it was the sound of angels gently stroking the strings of their harps. “Hi.”

“Hey,” was Nick’s reply, as she sat down next to him atop the picnic table that rested underneath the tallest tree in the courtyard of their school. She didn’t look at him, merely out at some of the other students that walked past them, hurrying to tie up loose ends before they left for the summer.

“So thank goodness school’s over,” she offered, making small talk as usual.

“Yeah,” replied Nick, “summer is here at last. No school, no homework. Just the beach, and the waves.”

“Yeah,” replied Brianna. “It’ll be great.”

Nick frowned for a moment, and then leaned back, “Not without you it won’t.”

Brianna turned and looked back at him, a look of concern on her face. It was the way that he had said that to her that caused her such concern. He had never displayed any emotion like that before, and she sensed there was something he was hiding. “Yeah, well, I’m sure you’ll still have fun.”

Nick shook his head, frustrated at the way her answer came out, almost like she was blowing him off. “What about our little deal? What happens if we ever have use our special talents again, and you’re not around? We haven’t even talked about that yet.”

“If something bad like that happens, then I’m sure Keith will find us,” she replied.

“Oh right,” said Nick. “Because he sure stuck around last time. He just dropped this whole thing in our laps, and took off. Some great leader he was supposed to be.” Nick had always been at odds with Brianna about Keith. It always seemed like she was quick to defend him, and Nick always thought that she never understood the bigger picture. He thought that she was being too naïve about him, and that she was setting herself up for a big fall if he ever did return.

Brianna for her part was quite angry at Nick’s reaction though. She thought he hadn’t even taken her feelings into consideration. “Look, do you think I wanted this Nick? Here I am, packing up and headed to another time zone, leaving behind my school, and my friends to go to another place in the middle of high school. Do you have any idea how much that sucks? And on top of that you’re whining about the little things.”

“Hold on,” said Nick, hopping off the table, and standing in front of her. She crossed her arms in front of her to display her disdain at his lack of concern for her. “What we do with our powers isn’t a little thing, it’s a big thing. Besides Mr. Fixit, there’s no one else who can do what we can, so excuse me if I’m little cautious.”

“I don’t need this right now,” she said, and slowly began to stand up. She started to leave, but Nick grabbed her by her arm, and spun her around. She turned to look at him square in the eye, and declared defiantly, “Let go of me.”

“Don’t leave like this,” pleaded Nick.

“Well if you weren’t be such a prick, maybe it would be easier,” she said, trying to shake his grasp loose.

“Brianna,” he said softly, and then let go of her arm. “This might be the last time we…”

“Thanks for messing it up,” she said, still mad at him for being the immature jerk she thought him to be. She turned and began to walk away.

“I love you,” he said, so she could hear it, and indeed she did. She stopped dead in her tracks as it assaulted her ears. It was definitely a pleasant sound, and not a ploy to get her to stop walking away. It was sincere in tone, but at the same time, she didn’t want to hear it. She felt overcome with a great deal of emotion that seemed to come upon her like a great wave, and slowly as if everything caught her at once, it overpowered her senses, and slowly she let a stray tear fall from her eyes. She might have felt the same way, but right now, it was all wrong. Maybe if it had been before, and maybe if he hadn’t pushed her away, there would have been a place, but not now.

She turned back towards him, but did it so, he would not see the stray tear as it slowly glided down her cheek. “It’s too late for that Nick.” The words slammed into him like a freight train, and caused him to freeze in his place, as she quickly snapped her head back around, and retreated inside. He couldn’t react fast enough to go after her, and even when he did regain control of his body, he realized that there was nothing he could respond with to a statement like that. He had been effectively put in his place. That was the last time he had seen her though, as she walked away from him. They didn’t keep in contact either, so he hadn’t talked to her, or emailed her or anything. He had destroyed their relationship with three simple words, words that he now understood carried too much power with them, more power then he would ever wield. But it was that break in everything that brought about the urges he felt now, and that break that took the thing with it, that left a hole that needed to be filled by the battles he now engaged in. Maybe that hole was nothing more than a need for a sense of purpose.

Nick stood up from where he had been contemplating his thoughts, and moved slowly down the tunnel in the direction that Lexa had moved when she left the table. He found her nearby, in what had become her makeshift command area. It was only her, for many of the soldiers under her command tended to leave her alone. Nick didn’t observe the same tradition as he brushed the cloth aside that served as the main entrance to the room. He found her hunched over a table, her arms supporting her body as she read the documents before. He made no sound, but was sure that she knew he had entered. Not waiting to be recognized, he began first. “I’m sorry for what I said about the other Rangers.”

“It does not matter,” was her reply to the statement. Her statement was a lie, and both of them knew it. She had tried to tell herself that from the onset of her current solitude, but each time it repeated itself in her mind, she found it more false than before. It was just the answer she always used whenever some raised the subject. To her it did matter, it mattered because they were the people that she cared about, the people who knew her, who had befriend her. She owed Peter, and Keith more than a simple brushing off.

“I’ve lost friends before as well,” he offered, trying to prove to her that he two was on the same page as she. “I know what it feels like when they’re suddenly ripped from you, and even more when you find yourself alone after words.”

“I’m hardly alone,” countered Lexa. “In addition I have the fate of your entire world in my hands to be my companion.”

Nick chuckled, “That’s a pretty shitty deal if you ask me.”

“Well,” returned Lexa, “I have grown accustomed to it, it would seem.”

“Carrying that responsibility yourself seems like a big task,” suggested Nick.

“I hardly carry it myself,” she replied, her mind briefly drifting to both Gaji, and Matt whom she knew where somewhere out there trying to find their own paths to what ever came next for them. She knew that somehow, even though they were without powers, that might not be enough for them to give up. She knew they would try to become more, and she was worried that in that process they may harm themselves.

“So what’s the plan then?” he asked her, breaking her from her thoughts of the people she cared for. “How are we going to stop the alien invasion?” She turned away from the documents, and towards him with a slightly annoyed look on her face, and Nick realized that he had somehow or another managed to clump her into that statement without intending too. “Sorry.”

“We do whatever we can to try and make them spend resources here,” she informed him. “The more resources they spend on trying to contain the threat we are creating, the less they have to take the rest of the planet.”

“Won’t they receive reinforcements at some point?” Nick asked her.

“The Empire has spread its forces thinly in its recent campaign of conquest,” she replied. “If we can make them think that Earth is too pricey of a conflict by the losses we inflict upon them here…then there will be no reinforcements.”

“So what they have now, is all they get,” said Nick, beginning to understand the rest of the plan.

“And if it is disposed of now,” continued Lexa, “then in the future it will be less of a problem.”

“I guess that’s good news then,” commented Nick. “At least there’s a chance.”

“There is always hope,” said Lexa turning back to her documents. “Keith was the one to educate me on that topic.”

Nick rolled his eyes at the mention of Keith, but nodded, realizing that there was building excitement within him at the possibility that there was at least a chance they could drive the invaders back. There was a possibility for a chance at a normal life, something he now realized was more important to him than ever before. Snapping out of it, he nodded, and looked back to Lexa who had turned away from him. “So what can I do to help?”

For some though a normal life wasn’t so far out of reach. Brianna had found it, or at least thought she had. She was still a teenager, doing teenage things, and trying to do what most humans have tried to do since the dawn of time. She tried to make life simple. She had put the past behind her, the nonsense as she called it. No more running around like a super hero, trying to save the lives of others, and protect them form a world they didn’t know. Now she could just be normal, and if she was really lucky, maybe fate wouldn’t catch up with her. Fate wasn’t acting just then, but her shift manager was.

“Bri, wake up,” called Tina, a shorter, older girl than Brianna. “Table three is still waiting for their food.” Brianna’s eyes opened, and reality was once again present. Simple was easy, but actual work that comes about because of job, is not. Sometimes it seemed even simple was complicated.

She looked down at herself, and smoothed out the apron of her maroon uniform. Working at the local diner after school was a good way to earn money, and even with the world falling around all the humans, life still went on in places untouched by the invasion; untouched for now. Brianna took a deep breath, and turned towards the small mirror at the waitress station that they kept to check their appearances. The image that reflected back showed her how much older she had become. She had grown in the last four years, filling out to become the beautiful woman she now was. Her hair was still quite long, and dark, and her face was the same as before, but her eyes had taken on a more alluring quality to them. Her frame had filled at like all girls do, and had taken on the curves that they tend to have, and hers were graceful, smooth, and attractive. That’s what she had become, was attractive, and several of her regular male customers tended to remind her at every opportune.

Her moment of zen had come to its end, and slowly she moved off towards the kitchen, and picked up her order. Two men sitting in the far end of the diner had come in and made an order, and she had been the one to take it. Taking the warm plates from under the heat lamp she quickly moved back out towards the dinning area, and to the table that had ordered it. Thankfully the skill of carrying plates had come quickly to her, and she had managed to drop only a handful of plates in her three months so far. She knew her way to the table well, for it had been her regular section for some time, and as she approached the two guys sitting at the table, she began to get the feeling that they seemed familiar somehow, though she didn’t know why they seemed familiar.

Gaji watched slowly as the waitress returned to their table with the food, that he and Matt had ordered. His part of the booth had its back to the window, so he could see the layout of the diner, and Matt had taken the other side so he could see out, even though the fading light of the day made it harder to see. They had left Sean a day prior, and were now speeding towards the east coast, and today had brought them to St. Louis, or at least the outskirts of it, as they trekked down the interstate. His hand he held poised out in front of it, as he clutched a cup of coffee, and took a quick sip of it, before returning it to the table. Matt remained silent for the most of the drive, and Gaji could tell that he exhibited a nervousness about him that was somewhat strange for the guy. Gaji had seen Matt mostly as confident, and often as a leader, but now it seemed like that he felt uncertain, and unsure. The only theory he could manage though was that Matt was not quite the same without his lens. Maybe he had been the same way before, but now things were different he reminded himself. He had the only remaining lens, and he could feel it clasped about his wrist. His long jacket kept it hidden from others, so that the only people who knew it was there, were he and Matt. He doubted it mattered though, for no one would recognize it if they saw it, but at least it kept inquisitive eyes from bothering them.

The waitress had now arrived, and slowly set the food upon the table. Gaji managed a calm smile, and Matt merely glanced at it without even regarding the waitress. Brianna for her part didn’t even really pay much attention to them at all, except for the fact she was still having a strange feeling that she knew them, or at least that they seemed familiar, and she couldn’t place where though. She placed each of their orders in front of them, and then slowly stood back at her full height. “Anything else for you guys today?”

“Uh no,” said Gaji, turning his attention back to her, “nothing thanks.”

“Alright then,” said Brianna, going through the motions she usually used, “I’ll check back with you in a little bit then.” Brianna smiled, and then walked away from the table, leaving the two in their collective solitude once more. Gaji watched her go, or at least her backside, and managed a half smile as he took in her beauty.

“At least the scenery is a little better than the last few hours,” he remarked, as he picked up his fork.

Matt for his part hardly noticed, and had placed his napkin upon his lap, like he had been taught to do. His mind was in a different place. His resolve had been so firm before, they had a mission to complete, and had to stop them at some cost, but now he felt uncertain. Part of it though he chalked up to the feeling of being not included. Gaji had taken the last remaining lens, and though he knew Keith had created it for him, just so Gaji’s could use the same powers as others, he felt some sort of feeling that maybe he, Matt, should have been the one to take the lens. He had been the one to lead the team, and the only one so far to take down one of the Mobiums, a thought he tried often to blot from his head. Still, Keith had never intended for the other Rangers to have lost their powers, assuming that if he was gone, then perhaps maybe several of the others were as well, and certainly that any remaining would still have their powers.

“You seem a little out of it,” remarked Gaji, trying to draw Matt out into conversation.

“Just thinking,” he replied, “same as always. There’s a lot to take in, and I just want to make sure that I look at it from every angle, and make sure we get it right. We uh….can’t afford to get it wrong.”

“Well if we do find Blake in Washington,” said Gaji, “then technically we’ll be working for him, and the government, and won’t they call the shots?” Gaji’s tone changed mid sentence as he recalled his disdain for the government. They hadn’t been so kind to him in the past, especially before he had lost his abilities that he used to possess. Now in some way, destiny seemed to have a sense of irony. The very people he had lost his trust before, were now the very people he had to locate, and trust. He hadn’t told Matt about his past, and knew that he didn’t really need to. He just hoped that maybe this time, with the fate of demise breathing down their neck, the government would be a little more willing to cooperate with him, especially since he once again had a bargaining chip of sorts.

“Maybe,” replied Matt briskly. “Only if we let them I suppose. We should probably consider ourselves more like mercenaries though.” He looked at his food in front of him, and slowly began to consume it. He didn’t like the thought of turning the team over to the government, but at the same time, he and Gaji weren’t much of a team. They were more of a duo.

Brianna had returned to her station, and ready to take another order to one of her tables. She continued to be haunted by the notion that the two people she had just delivered food to were known to her, but her mind was unable to reckon where. As she picked up her food, and took it to one of the other tables she became resolved to stop and ask them. Placing the food on the table, she took a deep breath to cement her ambition, and moved cautiously over towards Gaji and Matt. They were both in silence when she arrived at the table, so at the very least she wasn’t interrupting them. “Sorry to bother you guys again. But I was wondering if I had met you somewhere before?”

Matt did not respond to her statement, which left the burden on Gaji who titled his head up, and looked at her more carefully. He was certain he had never seen her before, but wondered if this was her way of showing interest in one of them. “I don’t think so.” He reached out for his cup of coffee again, and as he did, he heard her gasp. With the cup in hand, he looked up at her to see her covering her mouth with one of her hands. Her eyes were fixated on something on the table as she slowly backed into other patrons and disrupted their dining, before she turned and almost bolted from the diner. Gaji watched her go before he turned back to the table to try and identify what she had seen. Matt had taken an interest when she had gasped, and had quickly followed her gaze to the table. His eyes had already locked onto her reason for excitement, and Gaji traced his comrades vision to its focus point. When he had reached for his cup, the lens on his wrist had become visible.

The two Rangers lifted their eyes to meet each others gaze, attempting to understand what had caused their waitress to react in such away. Did she know what it was she was looking at? In an instance they knew that they had to find out, and if it had caused her that much distress than they knew that she must know its true purpose. They rushed from their table after her leaving all the food behind. Tearing out of the diner they rushed through the front doors without hearing the shouts of the employees behind them. Matt had seen her go right from the doors, so they both rushed off in that direction hoping to close the distance between them. Matt’s eyes were the first to lock on her, crouched behind her car. He silently waved Gaji on to follow him as they slowly moved into the parking lot.

Brianna could sense their presence behind her. She was not scared, but in her mind she had seen a ghost of the past. When her eyes had locked on to the Red Lens, and Keith was not the one wearing it, she had freaked. Taking a deep breath, relieving her mind of these feelings, she stood up, and turned to face the other two. “Who are you?”

Gaji, and Matt stopped dead in their tracks, and this time Matt took the lead. “We were about to ask you if anything was wrong?” Gaji could sense the Matt he knew in the words the Blue Ranger spoke. The confidence in his movements had returned as well. “You rushed out so quickly.”

“Don’t give me that bull,” she returned, her voice shakey. “Who are you, and what happened to Keith?” She was slightly afraid that these two could cause her harm, but that fear abated as she remembered her Ranger powers.

Matt, and Gaji were both taken aback at the mention of Keith’s name, so Matt still in the lead decided to level the playing field. “I’m Matt, and this is Gaji. We know that you saw his lens, and that’s why you bolted like you did. We want to know why.”

“Where’s Keith?” she asked again, this time in a more demanding way.

Matt tried to find the words in his mind to inform Brianna of his friends demise, but for the first time he realized he couldn’t even tell himself. Keith’s death suddenly hit him like a rock, and he became paralyzed. Everything had happened so fast that he had no time to process it the way a friend should. Gaji though was a little quicker on the response. “He’s gone.”

“Gone?” she echoed, tears starting to form behind her eyes.

“He was on the ship that exploded in orbit during the first day of the invasion,” he informed her.

“Oh my god,” she said, folding her hands into her face to try to hold back the tears. “I didn’t even think that he was…I mean I guess I thought he might have been fighting them, but I just assumed…how did you get his lens?”

“It’s a new one that he left behind,” Gaji replied. Brianna looked lost to them as she tried to bring herself to believe what they had told her, that her mentor and friend was now gone from this life. At this point though Matt came back into his senses, putting aside his own grief to try and gain information.

“We’re two of the other Rangers,” Matt informed her. “I’m the Blue Ranger, and he was the Green Ranger.”

Brianna looked up at them, a small sense of hope returned to her eyes, “I saw you guys fight…” She paused for a moment, gaining her mental bearings. “I’m Brianna. I’m the Lunar Ranger.”

[RedGuardianRanger]

Harabec could feel the subtle lurch of the ship as it returned to normal space, and for a second he thought back to the first time he had been on a ship that came out of a wormhole. He had grown so accustomed to the feeling now that he often took it for granted, or ignored it completely. He watched as the screen in front of him, where he stood on the bridge of his ship came alive with a picture of the area in front of him. He could see the stars again, and the bright pinkish, orangish nebula that stood just in visual range of the Altea Station. The station was a tiny spec in the distance, but it was vast, when up close. He had been there many times before the formation of the Empire, but had not been back since. He wondered if it had changed like so many other things, or if the caretakers kept it the same.

To his side he could sense one of the bridge officers establishing contact with the administrators of the station, and receive instructions for docking procedures, and used that as a cue to exit the bridge himself. His pace was not hurried but he his mind was as he began to contemplate what questions Keith may have about what came next. His footfalls were soft through the empty hallways of his ship. Since so much was controlled by mental abilities on their ships, the Mobiums always operated with much smaller crews than the other races of the galaxy. This was a benefit to many of them, because it meant less minds in one area, which made it easier to focus on one’s own thoughts.

The Supreme Commander arrived at the doors to the Medical Room where he had kept Keith for some time, and could sense the other man on the other side of the door. He paused for only a moment, for he feared if he delayed longer, Keith would sense his uncertainty. With a thought command, the door slid open, revealing Keith leaning against one of the portholes towards space.

“I see we’ve arrived,” said Keith in a disenchanted voice, without turning to regard Harabec’s entrance.

“I’m here to tell you about Altea Station,” said Harabec calmly.

“I already know it’s a place where the major space faring races of the galaxy meet to discuss agendas,” replied Keith.

“Altea is also a place of legend,” continued Harabec where Keith left off. “It is the place where the Argonars first intervened in what they consider the younger races. This council has kept the majority of the galaxy from war for over a thousand revolutions.”

“The history of the place is in your database, I can download it whenever I want,” stated Keith.

Harabec paused before he continued, and carefully choose his next words. He was not fabricating a lie, rather he was prepared to explain to Keith the full reality of the situation. “If we are going to be successful at all, then we are going to need the assistance of the other races.”

“But you already know that they are not going to help us in something they’ll most likely label as an internal conflict,” responded Keith, as he slowly began to sense Harabec’s hesitation in his own mind.

Aware that he would not be able to the hide everything from Keith, Harabec’s tone changed to more factual now, “But we may be able to convince them not to interrupt the internal conflict. With the Emperor’s forces spread thin maintaining his new acquisitions, it maybe possible for us to make it to Mobius without conflict. The only aid he may be able to call on is one of the other races should he feel threatened. The other races have no love for the Empire since its formation. The leaders of the other races were close to your family, especially the Catherians. Our intervention into their civil war is what sparked the revolution in the first place. But they may still wish to contend with the Empire, a creature they are familiar with, over any new government that maybe created.”

“The devil they know, instead of the devil they don’t” surmised Keith. Asking permission was not something Keith was used to anymore. He had been living by his own rules for sometime, and now as a captive his natural instinct was to rebel against everything, including the council. “I’m going with you aren’t I?”

“Seeing a member of the royal family may make them more open to the idea,” Harabec said softly. “It is one thing to accuse the Emperor of being a Zor, but without any hard evidence, the council will suspect it of only being conjecture.” Keith’s gaze was still out the porthole, and he could see Altea much larger now in his view. It filled his entire area of visible space, and soon the ship would be along side the station. Harabec was still uneasy about taking the young prince along with him, and how he might act inside the council room, but it was his only option at the moment. “I need you to be dressed quickly. We will be departing by flyer shortly to the station. Your door is now unlocked.”

“Aye, Aye,” returned Keith. Harabec turned and left the Ranger to his thought as he went forward to prepare the flyer for launch. The Supreme Commander trusted the Ranger enough to not run off once they were on the station, and knew that he had combat prowess, but even so, he assigned two others to join them as escorts just in case someone would attempt to harm him, or the Ranger while they were over there. He touched one of the nearby consoles, and issued the mental order, and then countined on his way to the launch bay.

Preparing a flyer once he arrived involved merely entering the craft from the hatch in the rear, and sitting down at one of the consoles to activate it. Slowly the controls on the craft began to activate, and come alive. The door to the bay opened, and Harabec rose and exited the flyer. Two people he requested, one being Khara, entered, both of them were clad in the necessary battle armor, appropriate defensive measures. They both immediately rushed past Harabec and entered the craft to assume their stations. Several moments later Keith entered as well, and he was wearing similar armor. He felt a little at ease, considering he was wearing the armor of those he had been fighting only a week before. Harabec could tell the way he moved that he was uncomfortable as well, but without a word he entered the craft, and Keith followed. They both took their seats, and the rear of the craft closed. This was immediately followed by the exterior door of the ship opening, as they pulled away to reveal the star field just beyond. The engines on the craft came to alive, and it lurched forward, and raced out of the way bay towards the station beyond. Harabec reached behind him and retrieved something, quickly handing it to Keith. Keith took it from him slowly and looked at the Enea he was now holding.

“Its for your protection,” announced Harabec. “The three of us are proficient at combat, and the station is peaceful, but nothing is certain for sure. There may be a moment where we cannot protect you. The weapon is set to the lowest setting, and cannot be changed.”

“Great,” said Keith, attaching it to the magnet holster on his leg. He looked forward and could see Altea Station rushing closer to them. Built into a stray asteroid, the structure appeared almost to be futuristic castle in space. The structures that came out of the rock were dark colored, and lit brightly in the night of space. Portholes could be seen of all shapes and sizes with light protruding from them, and at its highest tower there looked to be what resembled a flight control tower from an airport. At the bottom, built right into the rock was what seemed to Keith to be the receiving bay for craft like the one he was in.

There were several other large ships in the area that were moored nearby, many of different sizes, and in different constructs, some like anything the Ranger could have ever imagined. He suspected they were the ships that brought the representatives of other races here, or ships that frequently traded with the station. However one ship stood out above all else. It was perhaps the largest, and was the color of brass, gleaming from the light from the orange nebula. It was sleek, not bulky like some of the other craft, and looked like it slid through space, not flew. Keith recognized it from his mother’s memories as an Argonar ship. No race ever went into conflict with them, but few ever had reason too. They were the oldest race, at least the oldest race anyone knew of.

The ship entered the landing bay, and the stars gave away to the metallic structures of the bay, and Keith could see all the individual bays for each structure. He could not hear the communication of clearance, but the communication was most likely done mentally, so he didn’t expect to hear it. He could only guess at the different races that lay in wait on the station. He could feel the weight of the weapon on his leg, and silently wondered if he would have to use it. He could sense the other three Mobiums in the craft with him, and wondered how strange it had become that he had become so used to their presence in the past week. It had been the same with Lexa he remembered, but there were other humans present too. This is the first time it had only been Mobiums. He thought back to the story he told of the first few years of being a ranger, and the lack of companionship he felt, the lack of the bond that he could form with his own people. These people were his jailors, but even so he still felt the beginning of what that bond might be.

The ship landed, and the bay became pressurized to the standard atmosphere. The occupants of the craft rose from the craft, as the hatch in the rear opened, and they exited quickly. The other two went first from the bay, followed by Harabec, and Keith. Keith noticed a change in the mannerisms of the older Mobium. He began to look more like the commander he had heard so much about. His stride was more confident, and more disciplined, in contrast to Keith’s younger, and more defiant posture. After a quick elevator ride, the doors open to allow them access to main gathering area. It reminded Keith of a bazaar, or marketplace. Above them though the area was open to the stars above, most likely being protected from the vacuum by some sort of field, or transparent material. There were so many different kinds of beings that it overwhelmed Keith as he crossed through the area. His mind could barely register some of them, while others he could sense overwhelmingly. They came in shapes and sizes, some looking just like Mobiums, and Humans, others made out of rocks, and one or two made completely out of energy. He found himself walking backwards at one point, as some of the stranger beings caught his attention for longer than necessary.

Unbeknowest to him and the others though, he was being observed just as he observed others/ Two pairs of eyes, hiding them under the cover shadows of one of the shops watched as the four Mobiums crossed through the area, tracking their every step. They were both looked human like beings, but their features could not be made out in the shadows they crept in. One nodded to the other, and the other quickly vanished into the back of the shop, as the other remained behind until the four were out of sight.

When they reached the end of the bazaar, two large doors opened into what looked more like a narrow corridor. Following the other two, they led them past several room that looked like rooms of office cubicles. This caused Keith to chuckle to himself when he realized that some things do not change. At the end of the hall though, there was a doorway with two doors, and standing on the side of either was a guard that looked similar to the battle droids that Mobiums used for combat.

Harabec was the voice to announce their presence, as he broadcasted his thoughts so that all could hear, “Please summon the Coordinator, I wish to be granted an audience before the council.”

One of the guards turned towards Harabec as he spoke, and then resumed his position. If he acknowledged the order was unclear to Keith, but Harabec seemed content for the moment. Several moments the doors opened, and a tall being stepped out quickly from behind the open door, closing it behind them. He was tall, and very thin, with an elongated head. Very human like except for the fact that his skin was a shade of grey, and his hair was the color of onyx. “I am Licean of the Argonars, the present Coordinator of the council.” This was not what he actually said, but it was what Keith heard in his mind, as one of the other Mobiums was acting as a mental interpreter for him.

“I am Supreme Commander Harabec of the Mobium Empire, and I have come to address the council,” announced Harabec to the Coordinator.

“I can place you upon the docket, and you may enter and wait your turn, but your envoy must remain the cooridor,” replied Licean.

“I ask that the one to my left may be allowed to enter with me, he is important to my message,” countered Licean.

Licean narrowed his eyes upon Keith, and the Ranger felt a presence in his mind searching for something. Licean’s gaze returned to Harabec and his answer came with the gaze, “This will be allowed, Please follow me onto the floor.” The others parted to clear the way for Keith and Harabec to enter the chamber as they followed him into the council chamber. It reminded Keith of walking into a movie theater with stadium seating. High seating areas rose on either side, as they crossed into the center of the chamber, and above them they could again see the stars of space. Everything was well lit, and he could see that instead of hundreds of races as he expected, there were only a handful of them situated in the circular chamber. In the center of the room, the seating areas dropped to an area of desks that formed a circle, and inside them sat several other Agonars, each one facing one of the four seating areas. There was conversation in progress as they entered the room, and Keith found that again he could understand it, but he sensed that it was now the Coordinator providing the translation.

There were many different races, but strangely Keith found them all somewhat familiar. One race that caught his attention were a race of small human looking beings that were somewhat stout. Another were very small creatures, with wings that emitted a bright light as they fluttered. Another was a much larger race of beings with four legs, and torsos with two arms. Perhaps the most disturbing were the race of sinister looking beings with dark green skin, long snouts, long ears, and claw like hands. Their eyes were narrow, and the way the looked at Keith gave him a sense of dread.

Conversation was somewhat ordered as they entered, but as they came into view of all the races, the conversation quickly slowed, and then turned to silence as all the delegates took notice of the two Mobiums standing in the center of the room by the Argonar delegation. Keith felt put on the spot, but Harabec seemed still quite calm, and unwavering. The coordinator approached one of the members their delegation, who seemed to be of slighter build, and possessed a light red skin color to them. Licean spoke softly to them, as the other races looked on, and waited.

The red skinned one spoke softly in a feminie tone, yet strong, and seasoned, but not older, “Supreme Commander Harabec of the Mobium Empire as come forward, and wishes to address the council. He has been placed on the docket, however since it has been some time since a member of the Mobium Empire has been present, I ask the council’s permission for him to be heard immediately.”

There was a loud rustle as the members of the different races spoke amongst themselves, and then quickly each party grew silent again. The female Argonar spoke again and this time addressed Harabec, “The floor is yours Commander.”

“Thank you Mediator,” stated Harabec. He turned and faced the closest seating area, and in turn faced each of the other ones too before continuing. “I see many familiar faces from the last time I stood before this council, and some new ones I have not met. I come before you today, not as the Supreme Commander of my people, but just as a member of my species. We have been out of contact for some time, and I understand that many of you may find yourselves at disease at my presence consider some of our recent skirmishes.”

Interrupting before he continued, the Mediator broke in by announcing, “The council recognizes Ha’wen, of the Derians.” Harabec quickly turned to see who had taken the floor from him, and Keith followed his gaze to one of the delegates of the race of the short stout humanoids he had seen upon entering. “Skirmish is a word used for misunderstandings, not when one races conducts military operations in the territory of another without authorization.”

“That is one of the very reasons I am before you now,” countered Harabec immediately as the Derian returned to his seat. I have just come from the planet in question.” Keith’s gaze turned quickly to Harabec, and then back to the Derian. He never for one second realized that Earth was a part of anyone else’s territory. With a history of no contact with another race until the Mobiums came, he found it strange that being part of a territory of other beings would be possible if they never even had met them. Or had they.

“The floor recognizes Keltar of the Cenir,” announced the Mediator.

A voice came from behind Keith, and turned to see the four legged being, “Then you intend to neglect the raids on the ships of my race.”

“Or perhaps the illegal harvest of resources from our territory,” announced a delegate to Keith’s side. The being had a body of fury, with eyes, and what looked like horns on top of his head.

“I am here to address all your concerns,” announced Harabec. “The answer to all of them is the same. The Empire which I have served has gone beyond the own rules it created for itself. It now seeks to expand at the cost not only the relationships it has with its neighbors, but the lives of its very own beings, the very ones it was created to protect. And this is due in fact to its leader, the Emperor.”

“The floor recognizes Illyiana, of the Kyrocians.”

One of the tiny creatures with glowing wings spoke, but it was mentally much like the Mobiums, “Was this not the very leader you installed into power yourself.” Her tone was cold, and unemotional, and Keith suspected it was merely just a statement of fact.

“His rise to power was accomplished with subversion, one that have since become aware of,” replied Harabec. “I have very little proof my suspicions, but all indications seem to point to the fact that he is in fact a Zor.” The level of conversation rose to a dull roar as Harabec finished, until the Mediator rose her hand and the other races slowly began to quiet.

“You said that you have very little proof,” announced Keltar, “could you not be in error.”

“To not deny the possibility would be foolish,” countered Harabec, “but perhaps with all the recent skirmishes you have all taken note of, it may seem to fall more into place. With so much time of peace, these would not be the acts of a Mobium. They would be a demonstration by a much more aggressive race, that of a Zor for instance. I have come before you at this time to ask for your cooperation.”

“The treaty of this very council prevents the interference in internal matters of the member races by other members,” stated the Mediator. “Only one race has gone against that policy, and that race no longer sits here. That race is yours.”

“Non interference is precisely what I am asking for Mediator,” said Harabec. “Non interference while I personally resolve the matter myself.”

“Is that a wise course?” asked the Kyrocian, Illyiana. “The last time you attempted such it brought you to this place. Are you confident enough now to make sure you will not place another Zor in power.”

“Yes,” was Harabec’s immediate response, “because the Mobium standing next to me will replace the Emperor. May I present to the council, Sonicus Maximus Arcturs Legali, heir to the former Mobium Star Kingdom. Future leader of a new Kingdom. In my past I made a grave error. I now seek to rectify it.” Keith was taken aback by his outing in the council chamber, but not entirely surprised. He had suspected since they had the ship that this may have come to pass at some point. He was also keenly aware of all the sets of eyes now upon his person.

“We did not think that the Legali line was still in existence,” announced the Mediator, “our belief was that it had perished in exile.”

“In fact the line did survive, on the planet in Derian space that is now under siege,” said Harabec. “A planet its inhabitants call Earth.”

The Derian representitative again rose and announce, “Which is a protected planet as we all its species to evolve naturally.”

“Many of the races present have all visited at one point though,” stated the Mediator softly. Keith’s eyes narrowed at the Mediator, and then things started to click. His eyes went to the Derians first, and realize that what he was actually looking was a Dwarf. His eyes went to the Cenir, and realized that perhaps they were the basis of the myth of Centaurs. The Kyrocians could have easily been faeries, and the tall furry creatures with horns, Minotaurs. The sinister looking creatures he had taken notice of, Goblins. Then the most obvious was himself, and Harabec. Elves. These were the creatures of myth, who were not actually mythical, but members of space faring races that had visited his Earth in the past.

“The floor recognizes Gilth, of the Cartherians may address the council,” stated the Mediator. Keith’s gaze locked onto the member of the goblinesque race as it rose to speak, and then found himself taken aback. The Cartherians were noted as being the most peaceful race in the entire galaxy, and had always been loyal allies of the Mobiums. The Mobiums defied this very council to assist them when dishonest factions in their own Kingdom sought to replace the leaders with their own. Keith wasn’t prepared by such a notion that an evil looking race would be so peaceful, but he realized that was the way he was educated on his planet.

Gilth rose and announced in a very scratchy voice, “We will fully support any action by a member of the Legali family, and we are glad to learn that it is still in existence. This is news that my people will celebrate upon learning. We ask of news of the rest of the family? What has become of them?”

“Perhaps the Prince would be better suited to answer that question than I,” stated Harabec. “With the Mediator’s permission.”

The Mediator nodded to Keith, and Keith’s gaze turned towards back to Gilth. Unlike Harabec he spoke them with words, not with thoughts, “I am the son of Princess Teriasian, whose family made it has far as Earth. The rest of them have since passed, but she and my father, who is from that planet produced me.”

“He is infact a hybrid of the two species,” said Harabec.

“We are sad to learn of the passing of the King, and Queen, as well as Princess Teriasian, but we have found light in the fact that you are still with us. We hope to hear news of your ascension shortly.” Gilth slowly sat down, and returned to his seat.

“As I stated before, we only look for you to maintain your own guidelines, and remain out of the conflict,” repeated Harabec.

“And you have it,” said the Mediator.

A look of appeasement passed over Harabec’s face, and the younger Mobium noticed it quickly. The elder knew when to quit when he had what he wanted. Without another look, he began his departure from the chamber, leaving the same direction that they had emerged with Keith close behind him. He didn’t see the eyes of the council members follow Keith out, knowing full well that they may be looking at the next leader of the Mobium people, and some even considered going against the council to aid the young Mobium in his quest, though none of them projected this thought openly for fear of detection by others.

Harabec and Keith emerged back into the coordior to rendevous with the Khara and her counterpart. Keith could sense something different about Harabec, and for a second he suspected it was pride, before it quickly turned to deteremnation as he openly addressed the others. “Khara, please alert the ship that we will be resuming our journey upon our return.”

“I take it your content,” stated Keith.

“We have what we came for,” said Harabec. “That is always something to be content with.”

“It kinda feels like they were going to give it to us regardless,” returned Keith. “That’s their policy.”

“We tend to ignore policy when it suits our interests,” said Harabec quietly, stopping briefly and turning to look at Keith, “in case our current situation has loss your focus momentarily. Hearing them pledge it though is what we were really looking for.”

“It’s still the entire Empire against us,” corrected Keith, “that is still not favorable odds.” They had left the cooridor and returned into the Bazaar Area.

“There are others in waiting,” said Harabec. “Warriors I have served for some time. They are called Sentries, and I believe you have already met one of them.”

“Lexa,” Keith realized instantly.

“Correct,” Harabec confirmed. “She had always been the strongest amongst her peers, and when she was in training, I made sure one of my Sentries took her on as a protégé.”

“How many of them are there?” asked Keith.

“Many,” said Harabec, “not enough for a rebellion, but we may not need a rebellion.”

“Just one good day,” added Keith, as he started to put together Harabec’s plan, the pieces of the puzzle starting to make sense. His attention though was beginning to become distracted though as he begun to sense a high pitched buzzing, almost like when a television is left on in a room. “Do you hear that?”

Harabec stopped suddenly, and luckily it was quick enough as a high powered blaster bolt struck the mobium in front of him, crashing into his armor, and sending him backwards. In an instant, Khara had taken ahold of Keith, and forced him to dive down to the side. The Bazaar erupted into panic as Harabec knelt down to get out of the way of another blaster bolt. It took Keith longer than he expected to recover as he sat up next to Khara, the two of them breathing deeply to replenish the air that had been knocked out of their lungs as they fell. Keith’s gaze immediately fell on Harabec, as he continued to kneel as the bolts flew past him, weaving only so slightly, until there was a pause, followed by an ultimatium, in a commanding feminine tone. “Surrender Commander Harabec for his treasonous offenses, and the rest of you may go free.”

A look of surprise spread across Keith’s face, for he had assumed that his attackers were after him, and thus the ambush was for him, and also for they spoke perfect English, there had been no time for a translation. He looked at Khara and exclaimed, “They’re human!”

“I have no intention of surrendering,” said Harabec to his attackers, right before the volley of blaster bolts resumed. With experienced speed he rose quickly, and suddenly there was a bright silver flash that quickly subsided leaving him standing in his Guardian Armor. One of the dark robed attackers rushed forward holding a long blade in its hand, and a blaster in another. T raised it over its head before trying to bring it down on top of the Silver Ranger. Harabec’s Psy Saber was faster as it became ignited, and not only blocked the blade, but was brought around to slash straight across the center of the creature’s armor, sending it spinning towards the ground. Recovering, the Silver Ranger raised his buckler on his left arm to block the blaster bolts that fired, his own mental barrier extending just a little further around it to prevent of the blaster bolts from harming any of his vitals. Waiting for just the right moment in the volley, he fired the jets on the back of his armor, and shot up into the air the few feet that he had to maneuver, but high enough to quickly avoid the blaster bolts. Rushing forward, he dropped back down to the deck, his saber outstretched, and managed to catch the lower legs of one of the other attackers.

Keith could see the way the attackers reacted when they were struck that the Psy Saber had been sent to only stun those it came into contact with. His gaze fell to its own lens slowly, but still all he saw was the dullness of the focusing crystal that did not shine. Of all things his mind wandered back to the past to when he had encountered Zordon, and the piece of the great being he had taken with him. Without access to the grid, he wondered if he would be able to be the person he needed to be to do what Harabec had planned.

Arching backwards, Harabec managed to make his fully armored body flip in mid air, and this allowed his form to land on the deck, a place that had but only a moment ago been occupied by someone whom Harabec had casted across the bazaar with a thought from his mind. Spinning around, brought Harabec’s mental blade diagonally across the chest of another attacker, and the energy cannon on his other arm, pointing straight at the last one. “Stand down.”

“They’re human!” repeated Keith as he stood up, emerging from where he and Khara had taken cover. “Aren’t you?”

“What of it?” asked the robed figure, the voice clearly feminine.

“So am I,” Keith told her.

“An elf trick,” said the one who was now recovering from the slash across the chest. “Get into our heads and learn the language. I’ve seen it before.”

“Its no trick,” Keith replied. “I grew up on Earth.”

“Of course you did,” said the woman sarcastically. “I didn’t know they let your kind on the planet.”

“I’m half human,” countered Keith. “I was born in New Jersey.”

“What does it matter,” said the man, “why don’t you just kill us, and get it over with?”

“Why are you here?” asked Harabec. “Who sent you?”

“Sent us?” laughed the woman. “The bounty on your head is so high, everyone with half a brain is going to be after you.”

“The Emperor is aware of our plans,” commented Khara joining the group. “Not unexpected.”

“And what exactly were you thinking going up against the Supreme Commander of the Mobium Fleet?” asked Keith.

“Are you just going to bore us with talk, or are you gonna kill us and get it over with?” asked the man.

“Rushing to death is folly,” said Harabec. “Perhaps you should reconsider your current situation.”

“So your bounty hunters?” asked Keith. “Taking a bounty from an Empire that is as we speak invading your own home.”

“The Emperor is invading Earth?” asked the woman, disbelief had crept into her voice, but only momentarily, but still Keith sensed this had been the beginning of something he could at least work with.

“What does it matter, Earth isn’t our home,” said the man.

“It’s still Earth,” she countered back. The hooded face lowered softly, as her gaze fell to the floor, before she lifted her hands up to pull back the hood covering it, and unlatching the cloak she let it fall off her. She was clad in a dark blue jump suit, with boots in a lighter shade of blue. A long belt hung off her hips with a holster for her blaster at its side. Her face and form were attractive, as waves of curly reddish blonde hair fell down around her tanned neckline. “If what your saying is true than my brother and I have bigger problems.” Her counterpart had risen back to his feet, and only removed his head to reveal a very similar face, but with jet black hair. The look on his face was not one of content though. Keith could see the familial resemblance, and suspected that the two of them were twins.

“We have a job to do,” said the man.

“In case you haven’t noticed we’re at their mercy at the moment Sebastian,” she replied. “What are you going to do with us?”

“We have every right to terminate you for the wounds you inflicted on my people,” said Harabec.

“But we won’t,” said Keith sharply. “Since we are all still here, maybe we can just drop all the hard feelings for a moment. Lower your weapon Harabec.”

“I have no guarantees they won’t attack us again if I do that,” the elder Mobium stated.

“We’ll stand down,” announced the woman.

“And I’m supposed to trust that you will?” Harabec asked her.

“Trust me,” said Keith. “Lower your weapon.” Harabec’s helmeted head turned towards the other Ranger slowly as if to question why he was given orders from the younger of the two. “If what you just told the council was true than at some point soon I’m going to be the next leader of our people. If that’s who I am going to be, then your going to have to start taking orders from me.” His head turned back towards the female, and slowly the cannon was lowered, followed quickly by a flash of light as his armor was released back into the grid. Keith looked at him softly, thanking him mentally, and then turned back to the woman. “My name is Keith.”

She thoughtfully looked back at the Ranger, deciding to herself internally if it was going to be a good idea to get on a first name basis with the person deciding her fate at the moment. She started to say something, but then hesitated before saying, “I’m Rae. He’s my brother Sebastian.” She indcated the other one she had previously referred to as Sebastian. “We’re from Vesta Colony.”

“Vesta Colony?” asked Keith. “I don’t understand we haven’t gone beyond the moon yet with our technology.”

“Some of our ancestors hitched rides off the planet from some of the passing visitors,” said Rae.

“Or they were taken as slaves,” said Sebastian coolly.

“Vesta Colony is the oldest, dating back twenty generations,” said Rae.

“Wow, that’s far back,” said Keith, trying to calculate the amount of time that may have passed for that to transpire.

“Are we free to go?” interrupted Sebastian.

Keith looked at the two, taking his current situation and theirs into account. “What are you going to do if we do that?”

“We’ll have to go back and alert the colony about the attack on Earth,” said Rae.

“They won’t do anything,” said Sebastian. “They don’t care about Earth, and even if they did, they couldn’t stop a Mobium Battle Fleet. We couldn’t even take four of them.”

“They still need to know about Earth,” she told him.

“It won’t matter…” continued Sebastian. “It won’t make a difference.”

Keith’s and Harabec’s gaze met quickly as they could their minds drifting to the same topic, and the sides in the same argument they had taken previously. Keith was the first to burst into the sibling’s disagreement though. “Come with us.”

“Is that an order?” questioned Sebastian quickly.

“I don’t think that’s wise,” suggested Harabec.

“It’s not an order,” said Keith addressing both parties, “it’s a request. If you want to do the most good for Earth, then you’ll help us.”

“And exactly what are you going to do?” asked Rae. “Are you going to single handedly save the entire planet?”

Keith locked eyes with her, and slowly a small grin began to form in the corner of his mouth. “Some would say it wouldn’t be the first time.”

[RedGuardianRanger]

<Insert Track – Paul Oakenfold “Faster Kill Pussycat”>

The sun was just about at noon’s height on the west coast, as a patrol consisting of a Mobium Commander, ten battle droids, and four of the heavier armed, and much large war droids passed through one of the urban communities of San Francisco. The Mobium Commander wore no look of expression or emotion on his face as he continued what was securely to him a routine patrol through part of the city. His mind had reached out to give the droids all separate orders on how to follow the patrol route and their rolls should a battle ensue, part of any basic training Mobium soldiers were given before being deployed. The droid commander however was not reaching out with his mind to try and determine if there were any other life forms in the area, for had he did that, he would have noticed the team of elite soldiers positioned on the roof above him. Two teams, one on either side of the street, sat positioned with their automatic weapons filled with armor piercing rounds, trained on the battalion of droids below. All except for two, that is.

Lexa, and Nick stood side by side, no words passing between them, nor mental communication, just Nick replaying the briefing in his head, Lexa’s voice doing the replay. “Once they’re in range, they’ll open fire, and their armor piercing rounds will penetrate the armor of the battle droids, causing enough damage to force them to shut down. If they have any of the larger droids, than you and I will have to handle them.”

Nick looked back towards Lexa who’s gaze was fixed on the column of droids below her. She hoped beyond hope that the droid commander wouldn’t attempt to scan for other beings in the area, and just complete his routine patrol, and so far she had been lucky. The trap was about to be sprung, and she was going to succeed. As they neared the final stage, she lifted her eyes to look at Andrews who sat across the street on an opposing rooftop, and mentally gave the order to open fire. It was about to get very loud in this confined space above the streets. Once the battle droids went down though, she and Nick would have to handle the larger War Droids. They were outnumbered two to one though on that count. She knew the odds, but also knew if she couldn’t trust this new Ranger, than there would be no one else she could trust to do this job with her. Maybe then they could still have a shot at Lenoa.

Andrews raised his arm, catching the attention of all the gunners, and then quickly lowered it, giving the order to open fire at the droids below. For an instance it was merely one gun that was being fired, but then the chorus of all the weapons began to kick in, and as Lexa expected it was deafening as all the weapons went off at once. The droid commander was not quick to react, so the battle droids were no match for the Resistance team that continued to hammer away at their now unmoving shells. The war droids though were made of sturdier steels, and quickly spun around, two on each side, and begun opening fire, using their own form of ammunition that was a cross between the theoretical rail shells, and bullets themselves. Andrews quick dove back as a hail of fire rushed up, and past where he was standing a moment before. The ledge had collapsed onto the street below. Seeing little success the War droid went back to his blaster cannon that he used to fire at the ledges, this time receiving an equal bolt of energy that rushed at the ledge, and caused it to explode, sending several of the soldiers backwards to the roof surface below.

Lexa looked at Nick, and closed her eyes, silently saying something to herself, before she stood fully erect with Nick next to her side. “I believe the Earth term is….ready to dance?”

Nick smiled and looked below at the carnage as the other War droids joined in to firing at the ledges where the soldiers had been positioned. His smile quickly faded as he heard the screams of the soldiers around him, but maintained his determination, nodding in response to her question.

Together they stood up, and Lexa called out, “Ranger Form, Energize!” Their bodies were both covered by the light of their power creating their armor around their forms. Immediately they brandish their weapons, and Lexa was the first to motion, as she shot off the ledge, then dropped, her knucklers both charged with energy as she dropped towards the first War Droids she saw, aiming for its back, and the shiny armor that encompassed it. Digging in as she reached it, her knuckles found a spot, and begun to slice down, as she fell with the cut she was making into the droid’s shell, until she reached the ground. The robot was un-phased by the slice in its armor since no vital parts had been damaged. Turning to face its attacker though was its next course, and as it did, it left itself exposed for Nick’s attack.

“Flare Saber,” cried the Solar Ranger, once again receiving the weapon in his hand. He was next off the edge of the building, this time falling due to the pull of gravity, and not the ability to defy it, like that of the Yellow Ranger below him. He knew in the armor that the fall was easily accomplished, so there was no fear in his mind as the wind rushed past him. Aiming carefully he let loose his sword into the exposed internals of the droid that Lexa had created, and then landed softly behind the droid. “Charge!” The blade of the saber erupted into flames, which engulfed the circuitry that it had been lodged into. The droids optics flashed before becoming dim, and its footing became uneasy as it slid to the ground, no longer able to support itself. Nick retrieved his saber from the back, as gunfire continued to erupt from the sides of the buildings. The two rangers then turned their attention to the other War Droids.

“An excellent strategy,” noted the Mobium Commander who had slowly strode up to join the two Rangers. The voice of his mind sounded snooty to the Nick, and full of contempt. “But folly, for there are still three more, and it cannot be reproduced.” Behind the Mobium though at the exact instant was a large explosion as one of the War Droids had been struck by an RPG. The construct now on fire, fell to the ground, crushing several of the remaining Battle droids as it did.

“Think you better recount there,” quipped Nick quickly.

“Handle the other two War Droids,” ordered Lexa, “I will deal with him.”

“We’re stronger together,” argued Nick.

“But the resistance fighters cannot handle the War Droids by themselves,” she countered. “Go.”

Nick wanted to argue further, but he realized that she was right. His armor erupted into fire, and morphing into a fireball, he rushed passed the commander towards the next droid.

Lexa’s stance became more hardened as her helmeted head stared right at the Mobium Commander standing in front of her. Producing his saber the Mobium ignited it mentally, and raised it defiance. “Lenoa will be pleased that I bring her the traitor in shackles.”

“Now the folly is yours,” stated Lexa. “Predicting the outcome before it has come to pass.” She charged forward, and as she did the Mobium swung at her, but she blocked it with the psionic blade of her knucklers, ducking under it, and coming up behind him. She spun around, launching a kick at his head, but he ducked under it, and then sliced at her, but she spun out of the way in time, attempting to backhand the Mobium in the head in the process. Raising an arm to block, he offered her a mental blast to push her away, but it only managed to push her back several feet, opening a little room between the two. She used the space to try and land an uppercut to his chin, but he leaned backwards. Stepping in towards him, she brought her other knuckler down into his stomach, connecting with his armor, and landing the first hit. He was forced backwards, but doubled over. Launching himself ina more determined fashion, he begun a barrage of slices, that forced Lexa into a series of dodges, that kept her on her toes, however the last one was successful in catching part of her leg armor, and sent her spinning towards the ground. Rushing at her with a raised saber, Lexa rolled on to her back, and raised her knucklers in defense, firing a blast of mental energy that shot out like two beams, striking the Mobium in the chest.

Nick’s body reformed as the fireball landed in front of the War Droid. Raising his flare Saber, and once again igniting it, he rushed in, as the Droid fired a barrage of energy bolts down at its smaller attacker. His slices ran the length of the feet of the droids, but only caused gashes in its armor. Above him the shells of the munitions of the soldiers rang against the armor of the droid. Turning to face the annoyances of the soldiers, the droid raised its arm, and fired several of the solid rounds, blowing out several windows, and putting holes in the side of the building that they struck. Turning its attention back to the Solar Ranger he turned back to where it had last seen it, and then quickly tried to locate him as he failed to aqcquire its target. Nick was once again underneath the construct, but this time, he was attempting more of a stealth approach as he was quickly trying to place several of the charges that Andrews had given him before their attack. Sticking it to the foot of the droid. He once again rushed forward, to distract the creature from what had transpired. Andrews receiving from one of the soldiers he assigned to monitor the Rangers, reached into his pocket, and pulled out the detonator switch he stored there. Flipping the safety switch up, he clenched the trigger tightly and was rewarded as one of the War Droids foot, and leg exploded into flames, sending the creature to the ground. This left them with only one remaining.

Knuckler and Blade met in a clash of mental energy as Lexa struck again at the droid commander. Spinning around to her left, she tried to slip past the other Mobium, but he blocked her again with his blade. Retreating slightly, she lifted herself off the ground, so that she had enough distance to fire at the Mobium again. Pushing off the ground himself, he shot into the air, and then dropped towards her blade raised above his head to bring it down upon hers. Catching it with one of her knucklers, she raised the other, and fired another blast directly into his abdomen, causing him to loose his concentration and as well as his ability of flight. Dropping his saber, he fell back to the ground.

Racing forward, Nick slashed through a rank of droids, severing the upper half from the lower of their bodies as he raced towards the final war droid. Sensing that it was now without its comrades, and that several of its smaller brethren were falling around it, the War Droid attempted to locate, and determine its greatest threat. The Solar Ranger was at the top of the list, as it turned to find Nick, and then offered him a taste of his laser cannon, as he let loose a blaster bolt which screeched towards the Solar Ranger. His armor erupting into fire, he shot forward in his fireball form, intent on striking the construct in the chest. It anticipated his trajectory though, and switched to its solid round ammunition, letting loose with a full volley. The rounds impacted on the fireball, and slowly the flames gave way, as Nick hit the ground, and rolled forward, regaining his balance and composure as he did. Attempting to assist the Ranger, Andrews rose from his hiding spot, and ordered another round of assault on the droid they could do no damage too. The droid’s logic circuits had learned from its other brethren, and left the human alone as it continued its focus on Nick. Brandishing his saber yet again, the Ranger rose slowly, his mind racing to figure out a plan of attack, as the much larger droid lowered his cannon towards him. No plan came, and the droid let loose a volley, as Nick raced underneath his body to get out of the way before he was turned into ash. He was out the other side, as the Droid turned to face its fleeing attacker. With its back exposed, Andrews, and several soldiers reached for the grenades in their pockets. Pulling the pins on them, they hefted them over the edge of the building. One landed behind the robot, but the other two impacted on the back, the concussion of which forced the robot to the ground. It quickly tried to force itself back up, but Nick was there first to sever its head from the rest of its body, thus cutting off its optics.

Lexa caught the commander’s saber in mid air, and reignited it as she landed on the ground, at the same moment the war droid behind her had. The commander stood defenseless, but rather than surrender, he let loose a mental blast, that Lexa deflected with her own mind. “It’s over,” she warned. But still the Mobium would not yield. Slowly Nick came up behind her, Flare Saber in hand, as he stood at her flank, ready to assist. “You are outnumbered.”

“We control this city,” he countered, “it is you who are outnumbered.”

“At the moment, you do not control this street,” she warned. She was cut off though as the sound of Star Fighters could be heard over head as the echo of the sonic speeds rippled through the air. Moments later they could be spotted as they began a straffing run over the city street, letting their ordinance fall upon the Resistance fighters. Each bomb was powerful as it created small energy blasts as it hit the ground, and surrounding buildings. Andrews found himself blown backwards on the rooftop, as several of his men around him perished. The Mobium Commander stood with his back to the attack though as a line of explosions raced past him, sending Lexa, and Nick diving to the floor as the blasts came close. Each of them rolled to opposite sides as the Star Fighters raced past. Bombs were not the only thing the Star Fighters released though as they past, for opposite the commander landed another Mobium. Keenly aware of a new presence, Lexa turned to face the new Mobium, and beneath her helmet, a menacing snarl appeared on her face. “Lenoa.”

“It was only a matter of time before we met like this,” she said, as she walked towards them, in full silver battle gear. “My colleague and I will make quick work of the two of you, then bring you before our superiors for trial.”

“Bite me,” was Nick’s only reply.

“He’s a bit crude isn’t he?” asked Lenoa. “Not like the others you fought with prior. “Not to mention a change in color scheme as well.”

“His valor is great,” stated Lexa. “And he is respectable ally. I wonder if you can say the same for yours.”

“They would still be your allies if you had not betrayed us for them!” stated Lenoa darkly. “I was hoping with the death of the prince you would come to see things our way. Unfortunately, it appears I was mistaken.”

“You’ve been mistaken from the beginning,” Lexa told her. “Luckily I didn’t make the same mistakes you did.” The soldiers around them that survived the blast, few that they were began to take refuge in the blown out buildings, hoping to stay out of sight in case another wave happen to come. Sensing the building tension though, the Mobiums both knew they had to act fast.

It was the commander who was first to act, reaching for his Enea, he pulled it out quickly. Nick had been watching, and warned Lexa as the blaster bolt raced for her, “Watch it!” Lexa was quick, and Nick was strangely faster, as his saber ignited, and he charged for the commander, leaving Lenoa to Lexa. “Your kind will pay for the lives that you spilled here.” Nick brought his saber down in front of the Mobium, but he had stepped out of the way. Unable to counter any of the blows for lack of weapon, the Mobium attempt to gain some altitude with his flight ability, but wasn’t quick enough to not get out of the way at a slash across his legs. His concentration broken he dropped to the ground, landing on his back. Bringing the saber of his head, Nick thrusted towards the ground hoping to the end his opponent, but the Mobium created a shield, forcing the Saber to try and penetrate the mental barrier.

Lexa ignited her the saber which she had taken off the commander, and stood some distance away from her counterpart. A smile spread across Lenoa’s face at the sight of Lexa in the Yellow Ranger armor holding the Psy Saber in her gloved hand. “You make quite the sight, but I have a demonstration for you.” Reaching behind her, she produced what looked like the hilt of a weapon. It looked old, and it was covered in ancient runes that Lexa recognized as old Mobium script. Forcing mental energy into it, Lenoa ignited the weapon, mental blades emerging from both ends. “May I present to you the fabled Lance of Kyron. Lost for centuries, found only recently of all places, here on this planet.” Lexa had heard stories of this weapon, but she had never believed them. The Lance of Kyron was part of a set of three weapons that were created over a thousand years ago by the people who had originally created the original Psionic Saber technology. They were said to be the three most powerful of the weapons, one was a sword, the other a hammer, and the third, the lance that Lenoa now claimed to posses. They had been deemed a myth because they had never been located, though there had been rumors that one had been in possession of the Royal Family, and now the Emperor. “The people of this planet had held onto it as an ancient artifact of their own past for sometime, it was passed down as its own myth, though they claimed to believe it was a spear.” She twirled it around several times with the grace of someone who had been doing it for many years. “This is going to be a painful lesson for you I am afraid to say.”

Rushing towards her, Lexa decided to close the distance and in a burst of energy, she swung, and the two blades clashed. The fabled weapon was stronger than the Saber, and forced Lexa backwards, stunning her for a moment from the recoil. Bracing her self for it this time, Lexa swung again, and again, but was blocked each time as the two female Mobiums began to match each other move for move. Lexa knew inside that she was faster than Lenoa, but at the same time Lenoa was better in combat than she was. They had trained together since they were younger, always in close competition with each other.

Again they exchange blow for blow as they continued to aggressively attack each other, both completely aware of the battle that raged around them, but so focused on each other that would not matter. However the battle was not going well for the other members of the Ranger’s team. The strafing runs had continued to force the Resistance team into hiding, and when the third run ended, more droids poured in from unknown source. Andrews had remained where he was stationed, having been unaffected by the strafing runs, but he was now forced to move as his men began to fall around him. Issuing the order to retreat, he rushed for Lexa and Nick hoping to pull them out before they were trapped behind the now expanding enemy lines. Jumping onto one of the fallen walls, he slid down the brick exterior until he had reached the street level, an automatic weapon tucked in his arms protectively. The Mobium commander had risen, and was using his mind against his human opponent to block his attacks. Andrews decided to lend assistance and fired several rounds towards the Mobium, forcing him to shift his focus towards the Resistance leader. Nick used this opportunity to come in from the side, and stun the Mobium with his blade as it slashed against his armor. He watched his enemy collapse to the ground, and then turned his attention to Lexa and Lenoa.

“We gotta go,” shouted Andrews, as he turned and fired at the approaching droid reinforcements.

“Go,” cried Nick, “we’ll be right behind you.” The flames of the saber racing, Nick charged towards Lenoa, hoping to double team her before she recognized the oncoming threat. She was not to have her attention divided though, and after quickly blocking a strike, she spun around and forced both Nick and Lexa back.

“We need to go,” Nick told Lexa.

“I’m right behind you,” Lexa told him, though her defensive stance told him otherwise. Andrews had returned to escape point, and was marshalling the last of the surviving team through the grate and into the storm drains as a wave of blaster bolts rained down upon his position. Offering one last volley of rounds to his enemies, he too retreated down the tunnel hoping that Lexa and Nick were not far behind.

“You have no where to hide,” taunted Lenoa. “The droids have secured the area.”

“Then we’ll just have to go through you,” stated Nick as he charged her. He was no match for her though as in a matter of seconds she deflected his attack, and then slashed him full speed across his chest plate breaching it in several places. Nick’s body spun out of control as he crashed to the chewed up pavement below him, the remnants of his body armor protecting him from the fall. Overloaded, and no longer able to hold itself together, his armor dispersed from his body as he demorphed, completely knocked out.

“I would have thought that you would train your warriors better than that,” spoke Lenoa softly. “He practically threw his life away in that futile attempt.”

“I will not,” said Lexa offering her own strike, and forcing Lenoa to retreat slowly. The ranger was keenly aware of the fact that she was slowly being surrounded by the droids under Lenoa’s control, until they formed a circle around the two female Mobiums locked in combat. The blows were finally halted as Lexa was forced backwards, and a distance between the two opened. The Yellow Ranger attempted to strike again until the tone of the droids wrist mounted blasters powering up forced her to halt. “You cannot defeat me on your own?”

“I have been given a mandate to bring you in,” Lenoa informed her. “To stand trial for your crimes against the Empire.”

“Pretending at justice still?” the ranger inquired. She lowered her weapon, and in an act of surrendering she demorphed returning her to hybrid Human-Mobium form. Her gaze was fierce as she stared sharply at Lenoa. Behind her eyes though wasn’t the hate that she might have shown Trius or Polaris, but this was a different kind of emotion, almost anger, the anger of betrayal.

Lenoa’s mouth slid into a sly smile as she lowered the fabled lance, and stared at her counterpart. The two of them had been odds for so long, but being this close to Lexa again caused her to revert back to her old ways that she used in their youth, same mannerisms, and same regard. Her tone became matter of fact, one that was often reserved for….“I do not decide justice, I merely carry out the orders I was given, unlike others….sister.”

[RedGuardianRanger]

The door slid open, and Briana stepped into the dull light that was the shade provided by the overhang above her. It was cool out, and after the sweltering heat of the mid west the last few weeks it was a welcome change. Behind her she heard a car door close, and to her left another one opened as Gaji stepped out to join her, and Matt came up from around his left side to complete the party. She still regarded them cautiously, but from the story she had been told, she trusted them more than when she first encountered them at her diner. She had a bond with them, they were kindred spirits, and if worse came to worse, she could still morph and defend herself.

Ahead of them was a line of federal agents, some sent out to greet them, while others appeared to just be enjoying a smoke break. Even in time of war they still wore their suits, and long jackets, but their faces were more exhausted than she thought they would be, the only sign that the stress of the pending invasion was really getting to them. Without saying a word, Matt led them forward, as the lead agent approached them to welcome them. Gaji could hardly believe he was hearing doing this. Again. After his relationship with them in the past, he swore that he would never aid them again. A memory Keith took once upon a time, a memory he had back after becoming a Ranger. A memory he wished had stayed buried.

They were lead into the building, and it was clear from the entrance that they were coming in the backdoor. They moved through small hallways, and laid eyes upon no one but the agents escorting them. Briana began to appear apprehensive the deeper they went into the complex, Gaji more annoyed, and Matt still as calm as when he stepped out of the car. They were here on a mission, a mission to bring aid in whatever way they could. Finally they reached an elevator, and the agents led them, and closed the doors. Putting a key into a socket, they turned it and pressed a button. They weren’t going up, they were going down, as in underground.

The doors opened not reveal a secret bunker like you see in the movies, but instead a floor of office cubicles that lacked the benefit of windows as they were now below the ground. Gaji and Matt exchanged looks with each other both indicating their surprise as they were lead forward through the office area to a conference room at the end of the hall. The doors opened as they reached the end of the hallway, and the three Rangers entered to find the room empty.

“Wait here,” said the lead agent. Turning, he left the trio behind, sealing the doors behind them.

“There’s been a lot of cloak,” stated Gaji observing the room slowly. There was nice wooden conference table in the center, with many chairs around it. On one wall was large flatscreen television monitor with the Department of Justice’s logo rotating on it. “But I’m still expecting the dagger to drop any minute.”

“I thought we were here to help them,” said Brianna, the nervousness clear as a bell in her voice. “Isn’t that what you said.”

“We are,” stated Matt.

“They tend to help themselves though,” commented Gaji.

Ignoring his comment, Matt looked at Briana and said, “Keith and Sean worked with them before the invasion to try and stop them.”

“Only after he convinced them not to hand his ass over to them,” countered Gaji.

“You need to chill,” Matt told him. “You’re not helping anything with that attitude.”

“You don’t know these guys like I do,” Gaji replied quickly.

“What are you talking about?” asked Matt, but before he could receive an answer he was interrupted as the doors opened again, and in stepped Harry Blake, and a high ranking military officer with many decorations on his chest.

“Good afternoon,” said Blake, “it’s good to see you moving again.” His eyes scanned the three of them slowly, first Matt, and then Briana without so much as a look of surprise. For Gaji though he saved his reserved look as he recalled his past history with the Ranger. “Will you take a seat please?” Putting his hand forward for his comrade, he said, “General?”

The “General” moved first, and took a chair in front of him, as Matt and Briana moved to the other side of the table. Blake sat down next to the man he had brought with him, and Gaji took a seat at the furthest end of the table, from everyone else, the look of distaste on his face more than apparent. The General and older man in his late fifties with dirty blonde hair, and a look of weariness on his face after many years of service, folded his hands in front of him. “So these are they.”

“Yes sir,” said Blake confirming the general’s question.

“I guess I expected something else,” the General said.

“That they are,” said Blake, echoing the General’s statement in a different tone. “This is General Collins, and why he is here will become apparent momentarily. We’re here today though to be brought up to speed, and in turn bring you up to speed. But first, I need to know exactly what kind of….abilities….you currently possess.”

“Well first,” began Matt. “We were hoping you could enlighten us as to where our Power Lenses are? We both woke up without them it seems. We’d like them back if you have them.”

“They were destroyed,” stated Blake softly.

“Destroyed?” asked Matt blantantly. “By what?”

Blake looked at General Collins, who nodded softly, and then turned his gaze back to Matt. “By Lexa.”

“What?!?” asked Matt, and even Gaji perked up some.

“I thought she was dead,” said Briana, repeating what she had been told.

“She was the only one of you to survive the assault in San Francisco,” reported General Collins. “When we evacuated the two of you out, she destroyed the Lenses before any others could take possession of them, all except for hers.”

“Where is she?” asked Matt flatly, though inside his heart was beating much faster than when he had come in. He had been ready to accept her as gone the last week, but the news that she was still alive triggered the deep feelings had started with her before the battle in San Francisco.

“The last contact with her was in San Francisco, but that was some time ago,” reported Blake. “She was leading the remaining Resistance forces there against the Mobium Forces. They had established a temporary base there, but have since moved.”

“But before we go any further, I think we need first to assess your abilities, and what functions you might be able to assist us with,” stated the General. “Without Lenses, you only have combat knowledge.”

“Who said we were without Lenses?” offered Gaji, as the two older men turned to look at him.

“Yours were destroyed,” stated the General, “we just covered that.”

In an act of defiance, Gaji lowered his left hand on to table so that they could view his wrist, and the Red Power Lens that adorned it. “Not all of them.”

“And some of us have other abilities,” stated Briana softly, though there was an air of confidence in her tone.

“Yes,” stated Blake slowly. “I thought you and your counterpart may reveal yourselves in time.”

“You didn’t look surprised when you saw me,” she stated, her voice become louder.

“I’ve been briefed on your existence for some time,” said Blake. “But not your identity.”

“By whom?” she asked him.

“Keith,” he said matter of factly. “I have to say though that there are members of my division that are frightened of your presence here.”

“Why is that?” she said, a smile crossing her face at the thought that she could inspire fear of any kind.

“Because of where your abilities come from,” Blake told her, “some consider them to be unnatural.”

“That’s not how I see them,” she told him.

“And you?” the General asked Matt, breaking into the conversation.

Looking across the table, Matt revealed his left wrist which had Shen’s Power Lens wrapped around it, hoping that they left it at that, and nothing else.

“That makes three then I guess,” Blake told the General.

“Four with Lexa,” corrected Matt.

“A reunion might not be possible,” the General told him, “we have no way to extract her at this time.”

“The war does not go well,” began Blake, “for any of the human forces on this planet. Africa is a lost cause, so is the southern portion of this hemisphere. West of Kansas is under Mobium Control, and that spans all the way up into Canada too. Europe is holding out some, but they have a foot hold in Spain, and Germany. Russia, and the Middle East are done, and as of this morning, the last of the Chinese Air Force was brought down, and the droid armies are expanding out from Shanghai.”

“Oh my god,” exclaimed Briana softly.

“Within a month, the human race will no longer be the dominant species on Earth,” finished Blake. “And the Mobiums will be free to do with it as they please.”

“So they’re going to make slaves out of us?” Briana asked.

“I don’t think so,” said Gaji pessimistically.

“Keith seemed a bit more worried about the end game then he ever let on,” stated Matt, “ and Lexa seemed to indicate that they were far outside their empire when I she spoke about what may happen.”

“From early signs on the southern continents,” stated the General, “we think their intent is to purge all human life. Genocide of our species.”

“Why would they do that?” asked Matt. “That violates so many different codes they have in their system, their very core beliefs as a society. The Mobiums are supposed to be the oppitemy of Lawful Good. This is a little outside their field.”

“One of the conversations I had with Lexa before we broke off communication she indicated that she suspected that something else was now driving them,” said Blake. “As if something darker was now at the helm of their power.”

The general went next, retrieving a device from his pocket, and then aiming it at the screen, and pressing a button to bring up an image of aerial photos. “The temporary base that was moved that we had mentioned earlier was relocated to a facility they have created in Antarctica, that seems to be a full landing, and deployment site. A military settlement if you will. Its from here that they are conducting their operations now, no longer from space.”

“That might be helpful,” said Matt. “Maybe if we can take out some of their leaders we can slow them down.”

“They have slowed down,” said Blake. “For some reason they have backed down their attacks. Our original projections had them in full control by now, but until recently they were backing off for some unknown reason.”

“But now you know it,” piped in Gaji.

“They were searching for something,” said General Collins. “We don’t know what, but its what prevented them from razing Europe the first chance they got. We know they located something, but were not sure what. But now they seem to be looking for something else.”

“What?” asked Briana.

“We have no idea,” replied Blake. “We only know where. Greenland.”

“What could they possibly want in Greenland?” asked Matt.

“That’s what we want you to find out,” said the General. “You won’t do us any good on the front lines. Your attempt to stop them in San Francisco was fool hardy, and dangerous, and as a result got some of you killed. You’re a precision unit, made to adapt to certain situations, not a blunt object for us to throw at the enemy to slow them down.”

“If you find what they are looking for,” said Blake, “before they do, it may help us stop them. At least that’s what we are hoping.”

“And if it doesn’t?” asked Gaji.

“Then we’re all out of options,” Blake replied, eyeing him critically.

“A plane is being fueled at Andrews, and will be ready by the time you get there,” the General told them. He stood up, pressing down any creases that formed in his uniform as he sat, giving the Rangers one last look. “Thank you for all that you have done. Some would say that you were more of a burden than a help, but you’ve fought for us all. And that means something.” Turning he left the room, as the Rangers, and Blake stood up. Turning slowly, the federal agent looked at Gaji and said, “I didn’t think you’d ever offer your help to us again.”

“Neither did I,” replied Gaji coldly.

Taking it as his cue to offer, he gave a fake smile of jest, and nodded to the other two. “A car is waiting to take you to Andrews downstairs when your ready.” Turning he left the trio to themselves, the doors closing behind him.

“So we’re really getting on a plane and going to Greenland?” asked Briana.

“Correct me if I’m wrong, but did you just tell the Federal Government there are three active Rangers in this room, instead of only two?” asked Gaji.

“Woah, woah,” said Matt. “First things first. A, I didn’t tell anyone anything, I just let them assume, and B, what’s with all the side topics about powers, and past experiences that I seemed to miss out on. Is there something either one of you isn’t telling me?” The other two both had things to say, but at the moment found themselves strangely silent, as they attempted to avoid conversations that neither of them were interested in having. “Look we’re all here to do a job, and we have to be able to trust each other. Anything major needs to be out on the table before we have to rely on each other to watch our backs, so if there are any secerts they need to come out now.”

“There aren’t any secrets,” said Gaji softly, and slowly, his gaze starting his table and working its way up to meet Matt’s. “At least no more than the ones Keith kept from us.”
Matt broke his eye contact and looked down, and Briana bristled a bit at the mention of their former friend, and mentor. Gaji shook his head, and announced, “I’ll be in the car.” Crossing the room, he exited, leaving the other two behind.

“I don’t get it,” said Briana. “I just left my normal life behind for a second time to do what I knew I had too, because of the powers I have. He’s been doing this longer, and suddenly he doesn’t even want to fight anymore when everyone needs him the most. Why?”

“I don’t know,” said Matt. “He just feels hollow lately, like after San Francisco, he just stopped caring.” Exchanging uneasy glances at the prospect that some day they too may share in their teammates mood, they lingered only moments longer before they too left the room and headed for the car that waited downstairs to would take them on their mission to the frozen north.

-=-


“Again,” commanded Harabec, as he stood apart from Keith. The two stood in jumpsuits that were form fitting, and covered all the essential parts of their bodies. In their main hands rested ignited Psy Sabers, and both had them raised in a defensive posture as they stood opposed. The room they were in was lit by soft lights above them, and by the rushing energy of the artificial wormhole the ship was quickly moving through. In one corner of the room Rae stood, her back to the wall, arms folded across her chest as the two male Mobiums continued their training.

Taking a moment to compose himself, Keith readied his first attack, and then launched it, swinging for the older male’s head. Knowing it would be blocked, and so would the next, he had planned his attack out several moves in advance. The Supreme Commander was ready for all of them though, and countered them all, until Keith was unable to block an opening he had left, and Harabec slashed him across the leg, the Saber temporarily stunning the Ranger, and causing him to lose his posture, and kneel to the ground. “Not Satisfactory.” Wincing from the temporary pain, it quickly subsided, and Keith was able to once again stand and face his trainer.

Continuing, Harabec offered the following suggestions, “You are too audible with your thinking, and any Mobium opponent can hear your next move before you make it, or some cases the next several moves. Your planning, if you are facing an enemy with telepathic abilities needs to be more spontaneous, less tactical. They cannot know what you are going to do before you do it.”

“That goes against everything I have been taught,” said Keith.

“Not to mention it doesn’t make any sense,” offered Rae.

Staring into his eyes, Harabec began to form a mental link with Keith, and slowly pictures and images were appearing in Keith’s head. It took Keith only moments to realize that he wasn’t seeing memories, his mind was being instructed on how to counter the move that the Commander had used on him. As brief as it was, it still felt like a head rush to the Red Ranger, and he had to place his hand to his head, to stop it from hurting. The last time he had felt that was when his Mother had revealed her origins to him. “Ow. What was that?”

“That is how Mobiums share knowledge with each other,” Harabec offered. “Mentally. It is how all of our students are educated, and our warriors trained.”

“What happened?” asked Rae, who was unable to feel the transference that had just taken place.

“He basically just told my mind how to stop him next time he did that,” Keith told her, without turning around to face her.

“Again,” announced Harabec, readying his Saber above his head. The two steadied themselves, and then Keith preformed the same series of blows again, until this time when Harabec went to swing, Keith pushed back with his mind, and opened the distance between the two, and then offered a mental blast at the Commander, who blocked it easily, and lowered his weapon. “Satisfactory. For now though, I must attend to my duties. I will be in control if you require anything.” Lowering his Psy Saber, Harabec nodded at the girl standing across the room and left.

“I’ll never get used to the elves,” said Rae softly.

“It might help if you didn’t think of them that way,” Keith told her. “We are Mobiums after all.”

“At least you talk to me,” she replied. “The rest of them are all in my head and stuff. I don’t trust anyone that can get into your thoughts.” Keith turned away from her for a moment recalling how he had changed many peoples memories over the years, including the people closest to him.

Changing the subject, he asked, “Tell me more about your world.”

“Vesta?” she replied non-chalantly. “It’s alright.”

“Is it big?” he asked her.

“No, its not that big, its mostly water, just one small continent along the equator,” she replied.

“Must be warm,” he said, placing the Saber hilt on the rack, along with the one Harabec had used.

“Its warm enough,” she replied. “The planet isn’t as close to the sun as New America, but its still nice enough.”

“New America?” asked Keith skeptically.

“Set up by people who were taken from America over the centuries,” she told him, as he moved closer to her.

“And where did your family come from?” he asked her.

“I’m told it was called Italy,” she replied.

“Italy,” Keith reiterated, “I would not have guessed that with the color of your hair. It’s usually darker in tone.”

“Is it a nice place?” she asked him, as the two of them moved to the door.

“Lots of mountains in the north, and down the center,” he told her. “Beaches in the south, surrounded by water on three sides. Lots of history too, one the site of the greatest human empire.”

“Sounds interesting,” she replied as they crossed the threshold, and turned down the door, “I’d like to see it.”

“Hopefully that will still be an option after all this,” said Keith, his tone turning darker in nature.

“Harabec seems to think you’re the person to stop the Emperor,” she told him.

“He’s twice the warrior I am,” he replied. “He’s the one to do it, not me.”

“Then why does he believe in you so much?” she asked him.

“I don’t know,” he told her. “I couldn’t even protect Earth.”

She looked at him critically for a few moments as they both came to a stop in the corridor, and leaned up against one of the bulkheads. “It wasn’t like you had much of a chance, it was you against an entire advanced race.”

“And instead of staying behind and fighting, I was taken away,” he told her.

“But you may be able to do more this way,” she told him. She looked uneasily down both of the corridors. This was never really her field of expertise. She was much better at shooting things then giving pep talks to the deposed royalty of another species. “Look, I’m gonna go find Sebastian and make sure he’s staying out of trouble.”

Keith nodded as he watched her walk off down the corridor, her long red hair tied up in a ponytail swinging behind her. He felt strange, having both humans and mobiums on the ship. He had just started getting used to the idea of being on a ship with his own people, and then he had taken Rae and Sebastian with him, and now humans were around again. He thought he would feel more at human with their presence, but instead he found it a bit distracting. He turned and continued down the corridor. They had finally let him out of the Medical Bay and given him a cabin to himself, small that it was, but somewhat more comfortable. The door had been keyed to his mind, and as he approached it, the doors open, and he stepped inside. He felt another presence immediately, and turned to see Khara standing by the large window looking out towards the stars. Her eyes focused on him, and her voice came to him mentally in his head, “Hello.”

“Hi,” he replied nervously, but in the mental form of communication. “Do you need me for something?”

“No,” she replied calmly, “I am here to speak with you.”

“Regarding?” he asked her.

“You,” she replied. “I know you haven’t been around anyone else of our race besides Lexa for long period of times, so I assumed that you may want to know or experience different things about our culture. One of the ways for instance we become more acquainted with each other is by sharing memories of our life with each other using our mental abilities.”

“So you are here to get to know me better?” he asked her.

“Before,” she told him, “before Altea Station, you shared your pain with everyone on the ship. You broadcasted it so vividly, that we could all feel the deep blow that it caused you as if it was our own.”

Keith lowered his eyes as he recalled the prior experience. The wound was still fresh, and it took control, and focus on this quest they were all on in order to not reduce himself back to that state. “I’d prefer not talk about that.”

“You don’t have too,” she said offering him her hand slowly. “Just take my hand.” He stared at her cautiously for a few moments. Her silver hair that she usually kept up was about her, flowing freely about her, and the stars caused her body to be illuminated gracefully. She wasn’t human, and it was more than the ears that told him that, but she was also something different, something graceful at the same time. Still, he hesitated to take her hand, he wasn’t sure he wanted her in his head. The calmness that she radiated though made him start to reach out. The feelings he had felt for so long on Earth, the longing for something he knew not what came again, something that was only satisfied when he had linked with his mother before her death, and when he was in the company of Mady. It was the closeness to another being that she was offering at this moment, in a way that no human could ever connect with him. Trust was still an issue though, he wasn’t sure he could trust these people anymore than the others. Again she echoed her previous statement, “Just take my hand, and I will show you.”

Reacting to the moment, he reached out and took her hand, and stepped towards her so they were closer. They locked hands, and closed their eyes, as the link between their minds began to form. He could feel her presence more deeply than before, and slowly his own thoughts began to take on a life of their own as he began to recall things he never wanted to feel again. He was back on the catwalk with Polaris, and he was looking down at his outreached hand as he held Mady’s hand. He could feel her slipping softly, but his eyes were focused on her, and the look of calm, and strength that was on her face. He knew what she was going to do, but he couldn’t do anything to prevent it. Above him Polaris was forcing his blade down upon his him with all his might. He didn’t want to feel this again, he didn’t want to be here, but he could feel Khara pushing him towards it. He remembered the words as they came out of his mouth, “I can’t let you go. I won’t.” He could see the look of fear began to build in her eyes as she slowly accepted the choice she made, and knew that there was no turning back. “Then I will.” He could feel her let go, and slip away, and he remembered screaming after her as she fell. And slowly the image felt away, and he found himself watching another seen play out before him. He was watching Khara in front of him, and she was talking to another male, who it seemed Keith instantly knew was her brother, and they were in their home, or dwelling back on Mobius.

“The Emperor is wrong,” she told him. “His commands are not in the spirit of the Mobium people, they do not honor our core beliefs.”

“He is our leader,” her brother replied, “and that should be enough for you. By defying his word you risk committing treason.” The words he spoke had stunned Khara deeply, and Keith could feel it as if he had felt it himself.

“I cannot follow his commands, if they mean violating what are very species holds above else,” she told him, trying to express to him her core beliefs. It was only up to this moment that Keith realized he was hearing them speak mentally to each other and not verbally. This argument was going on their minds.

“Then you bring dishonor onto our family Khara,” he told her darkly. “If this is the path that you wish to walk, then you are no longer welcome here.”

“Dayderin,” she exclaimed, unable to comprehend what she had just been told. Keith could feel her very core being ripped away from her as her brother was throwing her out of the family which she cared so deeply for.

“Leave,” he commanded, “and do not come back!”

Tears formed at the corner of her eyes, but her years of being trained, and instructed in the combat discipline would not allow her to shed them freely like a human would. Slowly she turned away from him, as she felt every breath harder to take than the last, and slowly the images faded from both their minds.

The two Mobiums opened their eyes, and each of them gazed slowly into each of their eyes. They had each shared memories of intense loss with the other, and they could sense that they were now more attuned to each other’s presence than before. Their eyes slowly found each other, as they continued to hold each others hand. Khara felt weak and vunerable having shared this memory with the person who may one day be the ruler of her people, while Keith was overwhelmed with a feeling that rivaled completeness at being able to be so close to another person. She could sense this him, and slowly it improved her mood that she could offer a feeling to such a person. In her mind she had set out to do what she accomplished which was to help illustrate to him how their people functioned.

“I….” he started, but she cut him off, without words, but just a shake of her head. They said nothing as they continued to stand there, both of them just slowly feeling what the other was feeling, their minds slowly beginning to arrive at the calm peace at the end of every storm.

[RedGuardianRanger]

Hard boot falls echo off the walls of what seems like dark cavernous main chamber. Only a single beam of light penetrates from the ceiling above, casting itself like a spotlight straight down on a ring of four chairs, all facing inwards towards each other. Two are occupied by beings who’s faces are hidden by the shadows of their own heads, as they gaze downwards. They are clad in thick grey jump suits that resemble police body armor, but is not as thick as those that the Rangers wear. They have high collars that reach the lower portion of their jaw, yet the sleeves are short and only go halfway down the biceps. And much like a human female she is slighter build than her male counterpart, but only slightly. Both wear high boots that seem durable for all forms of combat, and action, and belts that separate the suit into two pieces. There skin is somewhat pale, and their hair is jet black color. A third is walking towards them and is the owner of the pair of boots that causes the sound of the chamber. The chamber is virtually silent save for the howl of a fierce wind beyond its wall.

These, along with the Emperor are the final members of a race known as the Zor. History of their evolution has long since been lost to its members, but they are suspected to be the progenitors of the Mobium race, for they have identical appearance, and abilities, save for the fact that the Zor themselves are much longer lived, paler in appearance, and possess much more powerful version of the mental abilities wielded by their Mobium counterparts. Speculation from every age even suggested that the royal family was descended from the Zor itself, being the most powerful of all the Mobiums. If the course of history had been left to their abilities versus their mobium cousins, they surely would have dominated the weaker species long ago, but technology as it always does, leveled the playing field. While the Zor’s lust for power fueled internal fighting, it gave the Mobiums time enough to unite and produce a fleet capable of stopping them in space, and an army of droids that could not be slowed down by mental tricks. Many wars had been fought between the two species, and the Mobiums had always bested their more powerful cousins, until the point where the Zor had almost annihilated themselves, save but four of the survivors. Not enough to regenerate the species, they had two options, fade into nothingness and let time claim them, or integrate into the Mobium species. They choose the latter, but on their own terms as they seceretly devised a way to remove the rulers of the Mobium Star Kingdom, and place one of their own in control of its powers and riches. The Emperor ruled in name, but the council they created ruled in fact, and the decisions the four of them made were now Mobium law, and Fleet order.

Only as the sounds of the boot falls were upon them, did the male turn his gaze up towards his approaching comrade, long since sensing his presence mentally. The male’s face was older, in human terms he would have looked fifty, and had the lines and wear on his face to back up. In reality he was much, much older. A young man when Columbus first sailed for America, a child when the crusades were fought. Standing he showed his true stature, taller than his other two companions in the room, with long legs and arms that knew centuries of use. He did not speak, for it was beneath the Zor to do so, instead his mental voice was deep, and drawn out as he greeted his comrade, “Vendir.”

“Aratis,” said the younger look male, Vendir, in his mid thirties by human appearance, as he addressed the older male. Turning to the female, who appeared slightly older than he did, he spoke her name in greeting as well. “Talonah.” She offered no response besides a simple nod, and kept a calm, yet serious expression on his face. Aratis stepped aside, and Vendir entered the ring to take his seat across the way from Aratis, and next to Talonah. Once seated he reported the information he now had, “The prince and his protector draw closer to Mobius. Harabec’s ship left Altea a short time ago.”

“Unfortunate,” said Talonah, her voice deep as well, yet powerfully feminine. “However it is of little concern.”

“Have no one pursue them,” offered Aratis, “we know their destination; we shall let them come to our forces.”

“Has any consideration been given to the possibility that he may somehow bypass the fleet in orbit of Mobius, and make his way to the Emperor’s chamber?” asked Vendir.

“He will not,” said Talonah, “but if he does, the Emperor is more than capable of defending his self if he has too. Besides even the worst shall come to pass, and we lose control of the Empire, we still control this world, and several others. And there are those who wish to serve us as well. We shall prosper either way.”

“Perhaps,” said Vendir, “but I would prefer we do so while retaining possession of the Empire.”

“You have little to fear Vendir,” Aratis told him calmly. “Even if the Emperor does fail we are still safe here on this planet, Earth.”

“I too agree with you Vendir,” said Talonah, “and to that extent I have sent several of our forces on this planet to retrieve a former asset that still resides on this planet, but first, I believe your pet has returned with a substantial prize.”

Sensing the presence of another coming close to their chamber, the three of them rose, and moved forward into another spotlight that became illuminated as they approached. The Zor had captured the throne of Mobius using the Mobiums core philosophy against them, and they had done it without corrupting any of the players who participated. Years later though, their corruption would ultimately began to be felt by the next generation of Mobiums. Beyond them in the darkness came a line of light as two large doors opened, revealing the light from outside, as a cloudy day poured in from the window revealing a barren artic wasteland outside. In the doorway stood the form of Lenoa, standing in triumph as she led in Lexa, the Yellow Ranger, her sister, bound by futuristic looking handcuffs, and with a droid escort on either side.

“Report,” ordered Aratis as he stood on one side of Vendir, and Talonah on the other.

“I have captured the traitor Lexa who had been leading the human resistance movement in the Western City of the second continent,” she announced. There was a look of superiority on Lenoa’s face as she turned to face Lexa who only responded with her own look of annoyance and irritation.

“Satisfactory work,” announced Vendir, who’s mental voice caused Lenoa to turn and look at him dead in the eyes. There was a bound unspoken between the two, one Lexa could sense only the edge of since both of them masked it very well, but she suspected that two of them were quite close, and that they had mated, linking them together as a single pair for the rest of their existence. Vendir turned to face Lexa and addressed her, “You are accused of treason against the Empire, and shall be held accountable for your crimes. You will face trial, until then you will be placed into custody.”

“I am to accept your legal system as justice?” Lexa asked defiantly. “Wouldn’t it be easier to execute me now?”

“She’s spent too much time among them,” announced Talonah to her comrades. “She even speaks as they do.” Turning to face Lexa, she told her, “You have no choice.” With a mental command, the droids turned and forced her back through the doorway they had come from, leaving Lenoa standing before the three Zor.

This was not the first time that this had transpired. Polaris had been a protégé of Vendir’s in the day, even though Vendir did not exist as far as the Mobium people knew. Rising with the young Commander first brought Lenoa face to face with the Zor now before in the past when she was the aide to Polaris. It had brought her to Vendir, whom she had become quite close. She had hidden this fact from her entire family, including her sister Lexa, and the two of them began a courtship that ended in a mating before she even came to Earth. As all things Zor, Vendir had managed to seduce her to his way, and brought out the latent lust for power she had buried so long ago when she was taught mental discipline by her elders. She craved power now, and the only ones who could give her that were those before.

Vendir advanced forward, and addressed his mate softly, “Your work on this planet is almost complete. Our forces are overcoming the last of the planet’s resistance and are positioning for complete control.”

“Yes my lord,” she replied softly with a the smallest bit of affection. “All due to the council’s tactics and strategies.”

“And the cooperation of our loyal warriors,” added Vendir.

“Does the Lance of Kyron serve you well?” asked Talonah.

“Very well,” said Lenoa, bowing her head slightly.

“And your search for the Hammer of Jurian?” inquired Aratis.

“Progressing well,” reported Lenoa, “my forces are begun to focus in on its position in the northern polar region of the planet.”

“Satisfactory,” announced Aratis. “Please report when you have acquired. Dismissed.”

Half-nodding Lenoa lowered her eyes only to raise them slightly to meet Vendir’s gaze, who beamed at his mate softly, as she retreated back the way she had come through the open doors. Talonah’s voice was heard behind him as she announced, “A fine mate Vendir. She is quite competent at her exploits. Now let us see if my agents have acquired our former asset.” As she spoke she issued orders for two droids to bring in another prisoner. Moments later she was reward as two battle droids came forward from the hallway beyond carrying a human male who looked as if he had been roughed up and was beyond exhausted. Releasing their grasp they threw him to the floor as Vendir returned to join his other comrades in a line, his arms folded behind him.

Coughing, the man’s face was still hidden as it faced the ground. Slowly Talonah approached the man gracefully, “They have taken so much from you, and without your power you are now so weak.” Slowly the man put his arms out, and pulled his head up so that he could see the three beings in front of him. There was some blood on his face from his captors had been less then gentle in his acquisition, but even with the added years from their last encounter, the other two Zor still recognized him.

“What do you want from me?” he asked again, his voice was not deep, but it was not light, and his dark hair had become longer in the recent years as well. He looked stronger than he did before, but that was more due to age than anything else. “What am I doing here?”

“You’re here to regain what you have lost,” announced Aratis who still had yet to move from where he stood. “To regain what was taken from you.”

“What are you talking about?” he asked them as he found his footing, and slowly rose.

Reaching out with a soft hand Talonah tried to reach for his bloodied cheek, but he pulled away. Meeting with resistance Talonah pulled him closer with his mind, not allowing him to fight back, and slowly her hand spread across his cheek. In an instant she was in his mind, undoing what had been done several years ago, clearing the block that prevented him from reach out, and allowing him access to the power that he had been granted long ago, a power that made him the most powerful human being on earth, a power that could be used to aid the Zor in their objective. “Let me you show, let me help you, Evan.”

His memories came back in an instant. The power, the control, the fights, and most importantly his adversary, the one who had done this to him the first place, the one that had made him weak in the first place. He could feel himself grow stronger than before, a strength that had always been there, but one that his mind had been cutoff from for so long. His eyes began to glow a soft white, and slowly energy began to spill from his finger tips to the floor below.

“No,” he said softly, now in full control of his memories, full control of powers, but with a building anger, screaming, he raised his hands to the heavens, and let loose a full burst of electricity to the sky, “NOOOO!!!”

“You have been restored to your former self,” Talonah told him.

“Where is he?” he screamed, “that bastard turned me into a weakling.”

“You will have your chance in due time,” announced Aratis.

“Who are you?!” Evan demanded, “and how dare you trespass on MY planet.” Without warning Evan offered another blast of energy, this time directed at Talonah, but she merely brushed it aside with her mind, and then forced him back and into the air, holding his body up with her mind, and at the same time pulling it in every direction so that he could not move.

“WE are your creators,” announced Talonah firmly. “And you will show us your respect, or we shall take your gifts from your forever.”

“You didn’t create me,” he told them. “I was a fluke, an accident of nature.”

“Bolts of Lighting do no cause mutation in cells,” retorted Aratis, “unless they are not actually bolts of lighting.”

“You were engineered by us,” Vendir told him, “to counter the threat that was the young Prince, and hopefully prevent him from reaching adulthood.”

“And you failed,” added Aratis.

“But we are willing to provide you with another chance,” Talonah told him.

“But you are ours,” stated Aratis darkly. “You will do as we command, or you will perish by our own hands.”

Evan’s face read anger, but it was a calm and controlled anger than before. His mind that had been dormant for so long began to consider all the possibilities as it did in the past and produce for itself the best possible outcome for survival and power as it had before. He was no where near happy at the prospect of taking orders or being under someone’s thumb. But he had been restored to what he was, and that meant something. It meant that he could very well find a weakness in his new masters powers and exploit it, then he would gain the power he sought. The Zor could sense all his thoughts though, and knew that their former pawn could not be trusted, but they also knew their power was far beyond his; they did not fear him. Going with what was best for him Evan nodded slightly, and Talonah released him for mental grasp, letting him drop to the ground. Summoning his power from within, he wrapped his body in his former armor, sans the helmet that he wore, admiring it once again and gripping his fist tightly as a show of power. Turning his gaze back to his new masters he looked Talonah directly in the eyes, and asked the question as sweetly as possible, “What are your orders?”

“You will wait for now,” she told him. “Until you are summoned for. Have I made myself clear?” Evan stared daggers at her, but nodded anyway, showing his compliance with the orders he had been issued. Talonah could feel the rage inside him still burning strongly, and inside she smiled darkly. However she also tired of this tirade, and decided the end it. “You may go.”

Evan turned and left the room, and Aratis slowly returned to his seat as the light in the room that illuminated the guests faded back into darkness. Talonah, and Vendir were quick to follow as they sat down quickly after the elder Zor. Aratis was slow to ask the question that was on all of the Zor’s minds. “Can he perform what we require of him?”

“There are no guarantees,” advised Talonah, “but it is still an option that we may pursue, should we need too.”

“Then I suppose we must wait to see what transpires,” announced Vendir slowly.

-=-

The plane shook once, and then again as it struck bouts of turbulence. They were now further north than any of them had traveled before. Outside the air temperature was still cold regardless, but below them on the surface it was even colder. The three Rangers sat calmly, wrapped in Parkas, and thick clothing the military had supplied them when they had boarded the small prop plane that was taking them to Thule Air Force Base in Greenland. Matt, and Briana sat huddled together on one side of the plane, while Gaji occupied the bench on the other side of the plane by himself.

For the last twenty minutes though Matt had been continuously staring at the former Green Ranger as he tried to process the conversation between Blake and the Ranger in the briefing they had had several hours prior. Matt knew ultimately that what the two had been talking about was none of his business, but the curiosity due to the lack of things to do during the flight was getting to him. Standing up quickly, he crossed the width of the plane and sat down next to his comrade. “So, are you ready to tell me what that was all about.”

“Still no,” replied Gaji calmly.

“Did you work with them as an operative back when you were in school with Keith?” he asked Gaji.

“Still no,” replied Gaji again, as calmly as the first time.

“Were you spying on Keith?” Matt continued. “Because it seems like that would be the only reason for someone like you to be mixed up with Blake.”

“Look,” said Gaji confronting him. “I wasn’t spying on Keith. I didn’t even know about him until he saved us all at Graduation. At least that’s what I thought?”

“What do you mean?” asked Matt, thrilled that he was actually getting somewhere.

“I used to work with the FBI as a contractor,” he told the Blue Ranger. “I used to have a special ability that they used for special cases, and in one instance, I ended up working with Keith.”

“What kind of ability did you have?” asked Matt.

“I could take an object that belonged to someone, and see the most recent events in their life,” Gaji told him. “Most of the men my family can do that.”

“What happened to your ability?” asked Matt.

“Its gone,” Gaji told him. “I’m not sure how, but it some how dissipated on its own. Thankfully the government did as well, and stopped bugging me to help them. But most of this was taken from me when Keith took all our memories at the end of the fight to stop Evan. Which was fine by me, because the feds never really treated us well.”

“And you knew Blake then?” asked Matt.

“He was my handler when they needed me,” he replied.

“Just like he was for Keith,” said Matt putting the pieces together slowly.

“Probably why he does what he does now with our kind of situation,” said Gaji. “The Mulder of the real FBI, only he hasn’t been laughed out of the bureau.”

“But why didn’t you tell anyone about your abilities?” asked Matt. “Maybe Keith could have restored them or something.”

“Honestly they were a bit of a burden on me,” he told Matt.

“What do you mean?” asked the Blue Ranger.

“He didn’t want to be different,” added Briana, as the two males turned to look at her. “He was afraid people would look at him differently, and all they really did was bring him trouble, like the agent guys.”

“She’s right,” Gaji told Matt.

“I suppose you’re a telepath,” joked Matt.

“Hello,” she told him sarcastically, “I’m waiting tables in a diner making six bucks an hour plus tips, when I have the same Powers as you do, and your out there fighting.” Both the two male Rangers looked critically at her as she spoke to them. “I think I know a little about wanting to be normal. The rest of you are all there fighting, and me, who could be there doing that, is hiding in St. Louis, hoping no one notices her.”

Matt looked at the other two Rangers silently for several moments while he processed what Brianna had told him. “I guess I can understand that. I wasn’t too excited to become a Ranger when I first found out either.”

“I get where your coming from Matt,” Gaji told him. “You had this huge responsibility dumped on your shoulders when we lost Keith. You were second in command, and now you’re the leader of what’s left. And the world is falling around us. You want us to fight this battle, because it’s the right thing to do.” He paused a moment to look at Briana, and then turn his attention back to the Blue Ranger. “But I’m sick of the fight. We’re not going to win, we will lose, and part of me wants to be with my family when that goes down. I don’t want to be in the middle of the battle field, taking all I can before my armor fails and I demorph.” The stress that he had been feeling for some time I had crept into his voice, and now punctuated every word, adding a nervousness to him. The two male Ranger’s eyes were locked on each other. “But I know that’s the way it has to be. I know that maybe there’s a chance we can make a difference, and maybe save some lives, maybe even the lives of our families. That’s why I’m still here; that’s why she is here. But we’re not going to be happy about it, and we’re not going to be gung-ho about it. But we will do it.”

Matt said nothing in reply, but nodded softly, putting his hand on the other Ranger’s shoulder as a sign of respect and understanding. The two of them had been plagued with disagreement from the beginning, but now they were finally on the same page. Matt took comfort in this fact, and knew that at the very least it might make some of things a little easier to deal with. One of the members of the flight crew came up, shortly thereafter, and told them they were in their final descent and be landing shortly. The three of them reclined back, and tightened their safety belts, wondering what lay waiting for them at the top of the world they were now nearly upon.

[RedGuardianRanger]

The aperture of the artificial wormhole brought light to an otherwise stark darkness as the craft that had created it returned to normal space. Traveling at speeds faster than anything human beings could produce, the ship raced towards a nearby planet, slowing only as it entered a nearby orbiting path so that it could keep pace with the blue green planet that was racing around a distant star, far from Earth. As soon as the craft itself entered into orbit of the planet, a smaller flyer left the main bay of the craft and shot towards the surface below. Inside the Cabin sat five beings, an uneasy truce between them as they now found themselves locked into the same conflict, one that centered around two of them in the craft. As the atmosphere churned around them heating the hull of the flyer, inside the air was just as hot and stuffy.

Harabec, and Khara sat in the front of the cabin as they effortlessly guided the craft using the crystal inputs to their minds which allowed for seamless operation between mobium and machine. Behind them sat Keith, his gaze fixated on the planet below. He had just left Earth for the first time, and now he was about to set foot on a completely different planet altogether. He had expected this in part when they arrived at Mobius, but this was not Mobius. This was someplace different, someplace wild, and distant. Between him sat the two humans that had been acquired during the trip. The twins, Rae, and Sebastian sat quietly. Rae was silently watching Keith, and the reactions he was having to what was transpiring around him. She was not telepathic or empathic as the mobiums around her were, so she could only guess to the emotions and feelings inside him. The fate of two civilizations was bearing down on his shoulders, which she knew he was aware of, but there were moments we could forget all of it, and just go along for the ride.

Sebastian was not as content. He had spent so long hating the other races of the galaxy that he was not as comfortable as his sister in the cabin of the flyer. Surrounded by “elves” caused a certain excitement with him, and he found himself loathing the company, Keith included since he was a hybrid. However, the worst of them all was Rae in his mind. He had trusted her for so long, and now suddenly, she was willing to side with the aliens over him. The betrayal he felt inside was a very deep cut at his psyche. It would be rough for any brother, but especially for a twin, when one is so linked to the other.

Khara felt a slight distraction as well, as she thought about the moments and memories that she and Keith had shared. She managed to keep them below the surface though so that neither of the two male mobiums with her could sense them. She didn’t want Keith to dwell on such things when there was so much work ahead of them, and she didn’t want Harabec to believe she was anything but committed to her job, and her role in the mission at hand. Deep inside though she felt a connection to the young prince, something she began to wonder, if it could one day be more than that. As the crystal input device began to give output to her mind, which translated into a signal coming from the planet below, she alerted the others. “The Sentries are signaling.”

“I have the coordinates,” announced Harabec as the message was linked to his mind as well, and quickly the flyer changed its direction so that its path would lead it to its allies.

“What exactly are the Sentries here for?” asked Sebastian from the back of the craft, hoping to shed some light on the mystery of the entire trip. “No one was exactly clear on that before we left the ship.”

“They were monitoring an outpost that had been created in secret by the Emperor’s more trusted associates,” announced Harabec, without turning to face the human.

“But we are not even within the Empire’s territory yet,” said Sebastian.

“That’s correct,” replied Khara, still engaged in her duties at her station.

“Hence the need for surveillance,” added Harabec. “They have collected enough data for a report, and we shall collect them, and their findings, and transport them to the meeting spot on Recean.”

At the mention of the planet, both of the humans in the back of the cabin erupted into panic. Rae was the first to speak though, “Recean? Seriously?”

“You cannot be serious,” added Sebastian. “No one touches down on Recean and launches again.”

“That is not correct,” explained Khara, “it is possible.”

“But not likely,” countered Sebastian.

“Could someone explain to the newbie in space what the big deal about Recean is?” asked Keith, turning his gaze back to the humans.

“All humans that travel in space know the one major space rule about flying is that you never go to Recean,” said Rae. “It doesn’t happen.”

“They are being superstitious,” announced Harabec.

“Recean is haunted Keith,” said Sebastian. “Anyone who gets even anywhere near it claim that they receive strange static on their bandwidths, that they see apparitions appear on their decks. Ghosts of what no one knows, but strange things take place in that space. No vessel that has landed has ever been heard from again. Which is why I’m less than OK with us going there.”

“All in good time,” replied Harabec, as the tree line was now within view, and coming up faster. “For now we have comrades to retrieve.” Quickly the flyer descended to a meadow, only applying its air brakes within several hundred feet of the ground, as the landing struts began to deploy. Finding ground below them the struts recoiled from the impact and allowed the shock to distribute through the frame peacefully. Behind them I the cabin, the small door slid open, and a ramp extended to all the occupants an exit. Harabec, and Keith were first out of the craft, as they set foot on the planet. Keith stepped off to the side to allow others to pass as he took in the new world around him. He inhaled the air, and found that it felt similar to Earth, and looked up at the sky to see a rich navy blue reflecting back, deeper in hue than the Earth’s. He could see several moons that had faded to white much as the Earth’s did during the day, and though he placed his hand up, he could see a bright sun off in the distance. In front of him were trees with a different style bark, and leaf patterns he’d never even dreamed of, but the real surprise came from the ground below when he took in the grass that was a deeper and richer shade of green than he’d ever seen. Chuckling as he thought of the old proverb containing grass, his moment of peace was taken as he was brought back to reality by Harabec.

“Keith,” called the older mobium. Quickly Keith joined the rest of the party as they met up with the two Sentries that had emerged from the tree line as they set down. As he joined them, Harabec mentally bidded that the two continue.

“The facility they constructed is small, but it seems to be a processing facility,” announced the first Sentry, shorter than the two male mobiums that had been on the craft. His build was the same, but his hair was a dark orange, and his skin a pale white. “They’ve taken several specimens in for study, but we are unsure of the reason.”

“Personnel wise they are short staffed,” continued the second where the first had left off. He was taller, and similar hair tone, and skin tone as Harabec, though Keith doubted any relation. “Several scientist, then a few more to manage security.”

“The problem is going to be the droids,” said the first. “There is a battalion of them present, and more than we are capable of handling, even with your reinforcements.”

“However, we have the advantage that they are currently without a supply ship in orbit,” added the second. “Which means they have no means of producing reinforcements. This is to our benefit which means if their numbers begin to dwindle, we will be able to keep them there.”

“A full frontal attack is not possible at this point,” concluded Harabec. “Perhaps we may be wise to seek a more precise blow then.”

“I can show you the way to the facility,” offered the first Sentry. “It is only a short distance away.”

“Are we really considering this?” asked Sebastian. “I thought we were on a more important mission. Weren’t we meeting with the rest of the Sentries.”

Harabec turned to face Keith, and eyed him critically. Keith could sense the emotions rising off of Harabec, and his eyes opened wider as the elder mobium spoke to him. “What should our course of action should be? Shall we attempt to free the interned, or shall we proceed on schedule to our rendezvous?”

Keith’s gaze fell away from the others, as he turned around to face the alien forest in front of him. Reaching behind m, his left hand rubbed the back of his head. Dropping it back to his side he let out a rushed sigh as he thought about the path they should follow. He found himself once again considering retreat, and following through on his path that had been laid out by the fates. He didn’t have his powers, he had only his skill to rely on for any kind of defense. But his heart was pulled in another direction. He knew that if he had the power to stop it, his powers, his armor, then he would take the time out to do the right thing and free them. In his heart he knew this was the right course, the course he would always choose, and it took that knowledge to push all the rest of the fear aside. Turning back to the group, he nodded solemnly, “Let’s go for a walk.”

Harabec returned his nod in conformation, and without a word being heard by the others, the second Sentry, and Khara disappeared back into the flyer. Khara was the only one to emerge, but she was carrying several weapons. She quickly handed Harabec a Psy Saber hilt, and an Enea, and then offered to furnish Keith with the same. The Red Ranger took both, magnetizing them to his leg armor where they would be holstered. Harabec turned to their two human companions, and stared intently at them. “Considering our opponents, it would be best if you two returned with Khara to the ship.”

“Fine by me,” responded Sebastian.

“I’m staying,” announced Rae in direct opposition to her brother.

“Are you nuts?” he asked her. “This isn’t our fight. I’m starting to buy into the whole save the human race thing your pitching, but this doesn’t have anything to do with it. It could very well end up being a suicide mission.”

“They’re risking their lives for other beings they know nothing of,” Rae told her twin brother softly. “Do you really want to be a member of a species who would not do the same?”

Sebastian’s eyes were locked on his sister’s for several moments as they shared a connection of the moment with each other. Keith looked on, and wondered if they were sharing the communication that he heard twins were often capable of doing with each other. He wondered if it was anything like what he experienced as a mobium, or what he had experienced with Khara. Nevertheless, Sebastian’s resolve quickly gave away, which was apparent upon his face. Shaking his head in defeat, he reached down, and quickly un-holstered his blaster. Keith knew it most likely came from another species besides human, indicated so by the different glyphs on it, but the holster itself was pure human as it was reminiscent of one found on a cowboy from the Wild West. Keith had first noticed it on Altea, and smirked every time he saw it on the man. Sebastian quickly powered on the weapon as several indicator lights began to glow, and Rae followed suit with hers, though her holster was much more basic, and hung lower.

“Are you sure we can trust them on this?” asked Harabec privately of Keith. Keith’s gaze turned to see Harabec staring at him critically again, and Keith’s reply was simple, as he nodded his head quickly before the other humans could see.

Turning to face the remaining Sentry as Khara boarded the flyer and the engines roared to life, he said, “Lead the way please.” Offering an outstretched hand as incentive.

Their trek through the alien forest was a strange one for Keith. In many ways it was no different from hiking in the woods back on Earth, but there were so many different styles and colors of plants as they went they found himself being distracted by the different sights when he knew he should be keeping his guard up. At any moment they could wander into a droid patrol, at which point he knew they would have to fight their way out. How large the facility was, or what kind of beings were having tests conducted on them, the Sentry would not say, but Keith suspected that Harabec was well aware of these details as he had been the one to send them here in the first place. The journey lasted what seemed to be several hours, and Keith realized that his definition of short distance, and the mobiums maybe somewhat different. It was only when they reached another clearing, smaller than the one the flyer had landed in did they stop for a moment to catch their breathes.

Keith’s gaze fell on Rae as they came to rest in the clearing. She and Sebastian had been silent during the entire trip, and as they stopped, she let down her hair to adjust it from the way it had come loose during the hike. It was a natural reaction for a male to watch a female do this among humans, and once again Keith found himself suddenly torn between his two heritages as he noticed that the male mobiums paid no attention to such a thing. He respected the reasons why Rae had come along with them, and knew that if things had been different, if this had been Earth and the mobiums had never taken him he would have been more attracted to her. She was the adventurous kind of girl he liked, and certainly she would have qualified as a Ranger in her own right. But these were different circumstances, ones that he had no control over.

<Insert Track – Paul Oakenfold feat Grandmaster Flash “Set It Off”>

However as he watched he began to sense something else coming from around him, and as it began to build he turned towards Harabec could also sense the disturbance as well. With deft reflexes, Keith watched as Harabec grabbed his Enea and fired to his side into the forest. Immediately the others dropped to a crouching position, and Keith tried to follow the line of sight of the weapon to its target. He didn’t have too trace it though as he small the swell of smoke from the frame of a battle droids battle, as the hole the blaster bolt had created cooled. Slowly the droid dropped to its knees, and then collapsed to the ground.

“Quickly,” hissed Harabec to the others in the ground. “There will be more.” Instantly the others were on their feet, as they rushed forward into the dense forest, the Sentry still in the lead of the group. They were no longer discreet in their movements as they felt certain the droid had announced their position to his handler; however they did know that this meant they were somewhat close to their destination.

“Through here,” called out the lead Sentry as they exited the brush and came to the edge of another clearing. “Here is the entrance.” In the center of the clearing was a large stone, with no markings of any kind.

“Are you sure?” asked Sebastian critically.

“Yes,” came the answer, only it came from Keith. “I can sense the presence of other beings besides us, only they are coming from below.”

“Mobiums build most of their structures either on floating platforms or below the surface of the ground,” explained Harabec. “We try hard to not disturb the surface of the planets we occupy.”

“In the stone is a lift that takes you below,” said the Sentry, although he was virtually cut off by the sound of many forms of movement coming from the brush. Harabec without looking again fired, and knowingly hit his target, as the sounds of movement seem to decrease by one. The knowledge of this was only short lived as several battle droids raced through into the clearing from all sides.

Both Rae, and Sebastian as well as the Sentry removed their blasters from their sides and began firing at the droids. Harabec and Keith choose different approaches though as they ignited their Psy Sabers and charged forward into the oncoming droids. For Keith it was a bit different, not having his armor with him, but he noticed that Harabec had not resorted to his either, which meant he felt confident enough in his own abilities. Racing forward at full run, Keith slashed straight forward at the first droid he encountered, severing it at the waist before it even had the opportunity to fire off a shot. Lifting it, he threw it straight ahead like a spear, causing it to crash into the shoulder of one of the other droids. Leaping into the air shortly after the throw, he gained a few extra feet by pushing even harder off the ground with his mind. Quickly taking a hold of his Enea, he fired off two shots, each aimed at a different droid, which found both their marks well. Landing he pulled the hilt of his thrown Psy Saber back to his hand, and reignited it with his mental energy pouring into the weapon.

Harabec’s mental shield was up as the blaster bolts flew towards him, all of them slamming into the physical representation of his mental might. As they made the mistake of drawing closer to the Supreme Commander, they quickly found their internal parts severed as the elder mobium began to slash, and run them through as gracefully as a ballet dancer. His moves were quick and thrift.

Slashing behind him, the Ranger caught another droid across the chest, but took a blow from behind as a droid buried his metallic fist into Keith’s back. Dropping his Saber, he spun around, and dodged another attack from the same droid. As the droid threw another blow towards Keith’s head, he took the outstretched arm, and pulled the droid away to the side, while reaching for his side arm. Firing his blaster at the droids exposed back sent the droid tumbling to the ground, a smoldering wound in its back. Blaster bolts erupted behind him again, and he had to once again resume his mental barrier.

Leaping into the air, Harabec brought his saber down through two droids at once as they stacked too close together. Severing their arms on their bordering sides, he forced them back with his mind into a third droid, and knocked it over. Just as blaster bolts began to fire from behind him, he spun around, and raised a mental barrier to shield him from the impacts of the energy. Reaching down, he pulled out his Enea, and fired back at the droids, using a single bolt per droid.

For their parts, the Sentry erected a mental barrier in front of himself and the two humans as the blaster bolts began to fly. With their backs to the rock, and the barrier in front of them, it was ultimately up to Harabec, and Keith to hold back the oncoming ranks. However the numbers were ultimately more than the two could handle, as they were forced back to the rock. But their retreat was ultimately rewarded as two of the mobium droid handlers produced themselves from the brush. Out of the line of fire, they exchanged knowing looks with each other as well as mental communications of a plan of attack as they marched forward, their droids in front of them. Without even turning to face him, Keith suggested, “Why don’t you even the odds some,” as a droid raced towards him. Spinning past him, Keith thrusted his blade back at the passing droid, running it through as it ran pass, then removing it to thrust upwards at the next one severing its head.

Without even a hint of objection, a bright silver flash filled the clearing as the silver colored Guardian Armor appeared upon Harabec. Dropping his mental barrier, and igniting the thrusters on the rear of his pack, the Silver Ranger charged forward, Psy Saber ignited to full, cutting a path out in front of him. Keith followed behind, forcing the slightly stunned droids back, and finishing off the ones he could. Landing within range of one of the handlers, Harabec offered a shot from the beam cannon on his left arm towards the handler, who pushed himself off the ground and into the air in order to avoid it. Seeing the younger Ranger charged forward towards the other Mobium, Harabec changed targets and fired a warning shot at the other handler, causing him to refocus his, and his droids attention. “Get into the structure. I will deal with these forces.”

Slightly off put at being pushed off the battle field, the Red Ranger stopped in his tracks, before backing up and racing back to the stone. As bolts raced passed him, he had only moments to turn and erect a mental barrier as a bolt impacted on it that was meant for his back. Looking back at the stone, he mentally ordered the Sentry up to take his place, who did so without a second thought, as Keith took his with the two humans. “Come with me.” The blaster bolts began to intensify as Keith lead the way to the stone in the center of the clearing, and opened the door with a mental command. “Go, Go, Go.”

Just as Sebastian cleared the threshold Keith followed right behind, and found himself in a dark room, and falling through the air. His whole body was in freefall, until very suddenly and abruptly it stopped moving, and felt his feet on the ground. Standing next to him on either side were Rae, and Sebastian. In front of them, a door slid open, pouring light in from inside. Stepping through, they found themselves in a corridor with similar design to the one that was on the ship that they had been traveling on. Keith stepped out first, already his mental barrier was raised in defense as the two humans followed behind him, each with their blasters raised, each aiming in a different direction to make sure they were protected from all sides. Turning to his left, Keith proceeded down the corridor slowly.

“Do you know which way your going?” asked Sebastian.

“None at all,” replied Keith verbally. Almost on cue, two battle droids on patrol in the facility came around the corner further down the hall, both maching in unison. It took only seconds for the to lock onto the intruders and engage. The blaster bolts came flyin from their wrist mounted weapons, and straight towards the barier that Keith held up in front of him. Impacting on that, forced Keith to channel all his mental energy to keep it up. Sebastian though was already firing shots off at the droids with his own weapon, one finding its target immediately, but the others not having as much success.

“Uh guys!” announced Rae as two more droids were turning the corner behind them. Keith’s barrier could not be in two places at once, but nonetheless he tried, creating a smaller, and weaker barrier in Rae’s direction.

“It won’t last for long,” reported Keith. “Focus on Sebastian’s target.” Rae needed no further prompting, and got down on one knee to steady her firing. Unleashing the blaster bolts simultaneously as the two droids behind the group fired as well. With weapons fire coming in from each side, Keith’s mental resolve began to weaken slowly.

Rae was more successful at finding he target than her brother though, and removed the second droid in front of them. As it fell to the ground, the two humans rushed forward, as Keith was now able to transfer all his power to the barrier behind them as he slowly backed up as the humans advanced. Rae was the first to ask the question, “Now what?”

Sebastian turned around and fired at the advancing droids, but continued to back up as Rae became the eyes for the group going forward. “Keep shooting.”

“I need to access a terminal,” Keith told them. “Then I can locate the place they are holding their victims. But you’re going to have drop these guys first before I can do that.” None of Sebastian’s opening salvo struck either of the attacking droids, but persistently he continued. Watching Keith offered his comment, “You really need to hit something.”

From Keith’s other side, Rae’s blaster roared to life, and she fired off two rounds, each finding their marks and taking out the two droids attacking them. “Better?”

“At least someone can shoot,” said Keith, as he turned around and quickly located an interface panel along the wall. Placing his hand on the crystal, his mind accessed the database, attempting to locate what they had come in here for.

“I can shoot fine,” said Sebastian attempting to defend his poor abilities to his sister.

“You can at least hit the broadside of a barn,” she told him.

“If he’s having a good day,” added Keith, though he said it to himself. After several moments he had retrieved the data, and removed his hand from the crystal. “Alright, this way.” He led the way further down the corridor they had already begun to travel down.

“So you were right from the beginning?” asked Rae softly.

“No I just got pretty lucky,” he told her. “Fifty percent chance right?”

“Do you make a lot of decisions like that?” she countered. “On the spur of a whim?”

“Only the good ones,” he said, a smirk on his face as he descended a small flight of stairs.

The others followed right behind him, as the stairs landing began another corridor. Their destination was the door ahead of them on the left, but before they could make it to the door, two more droids in front of them had to be dealt with. With his barrier in place, the others raised their blasters and fired, both brother and sister finding their targets this time, the droids functionless bodies collapsing to the floor in the wake of the blaster bolts that struck them. When they reached the door, Keith gave the mental command for it to open, and lowered his mental barrier while taking a hold of his Enea in the process. The silence, and the sterilness of the lab was broken as the high pitched whine of the weapon charging up filed the air. The room was quite large, with tables with equipment resting along the walls, and the center filled with what look like metal crates. On closer inspection though, they appeared to be small cages.

“You are not permitted to be here,” announced one of the lab technicians as they entered. Keith’s response was a blaster bolt on stun from his Enea as he moved to the cages in the center.

“We came all the way for these?” asked Sebastian cynically. Ignoring the remark, Keith approached the cages as Sebastian and Rae kept a close eye on the door behind them. Waving his hand, the door to the cage opened, and slowly the contents were revealed. Inside came the bright glow of something, and slowly the being inside flew freely into the open space of the lab, its wings fluttering softly creating a low hum. Sebastian eyed slowly and said, “A Kyrocian?

“Yes,” Keith comfirmed, as he began to open the other cages, and the room began to fill with them. “We are on the edge of their space, and this planet is actually one of their colonies.”

“But why would the Mobiums do this?” asked Sebastian, noticing that many of them began to surround Rae. “What purpose does studying them in a lab do?” Slowly they began to hover around Rae as if they were forming some kind of sphere about her. “What are they doing?”

“They wanted us for our special ability,” announced Rae softly. Slowly her body began to glow, and then there was an explosion of light that blinded the room until it subsided, and Rae was gone. In her place hovered a Kyrocian fluttering softly amongst the rest of her people. This time when she spoke her voice changed, and Sebastian heard it in his head. “Our ability to take different forms.”

“What just happened?” asked Sebastian becoming very confused, as he slowly began to raise his blaster.

Keith saw the confusion in his ally, and put up his hand to give the other human pause. “Woah,” he told Sebastian. “It’s cool, I think I know what’s going on.”

“Explain quickly,” Sebastian warned, lowering his blaster only part way, as the Kyrocians began to back up slowly in a defensive response.

Turning to the one that had been Rae, Keith addressed her respectfully, “Your voice is familiar, I think we have met each other before.”

“That is correct, in the council chambers on Altea, I am Illyania,” she announced, identifying herself. “I apologize for the deception that I have used against you. Your sister Sebastian is fine, and is enroute to this place as we speak. No harm has befallen her.” Receiving that information allowed Sebastian to relax a bit, and lower his weapon all the way. “When we learned of your intentions, we decided to observe your actions, to see if you could aid us in this situation.”

“You could have asked for help,” Keith told her. “We would have given it.”

“We didn’t know your true intentions, and did not want to share our information until we were sure,” she replied. “But we are grateful for the service you have provided us. And again, we must apologize for the confusion we have caused.”

“In good time,” Keith said cautiously, “however, now we gotta get back upstairs to help Harabec, and get your people outside.” Holstering his blaster, and raising his mental barrier again, he proceeded back the way they had come, with Sebastian, and the Kyrocians behind him. The halls were empty this time, and their trip back to the lift that had brought them down took a much shorter time. Letting the others in first, Keith waited to be the last so that his barrier would protect them from any stray droids. Stepping in there was a sensation of racing upwards until the door above opened, and they stepped out cautiously into a war zone. Bodies of the fallen battle droids lay in disarray across the clearing, as the Sentry that had brought them continued firing from his entrenched position, and Harabec was facing off against the two droid commanders across the clearing, holding both at bay with his Psy Saber blazing brightly against the background of the forest.

“Now would be good for help,” Keith announced to Illyania, as another rank of droids began to close in.

“Say no more,” announced Illyania in response as the freed Kyrocians rushed past her to engage the forthcoming droids. Taking a hold of his Psy Saber, Keith rushed forward towards Harabec as the Sentry moved closer to Sebastian so that they could fight back to back against the closing droids.

Throwing himself at the ground, Keith’s powers caught him, and he took flight, rushing right towards the Mobium closest to him, pulling him off of Harabec. Slashing as he darted past the mobium, he caught his target’s attention. Keith’s leg found the ground, and he slid to a stop, as he and his saber spun around to face the now oncoming mobium. The droid commander was fast offering a slash to Keith’s head which he blocked, and then a thrust, which forced Keith to back up as he blocked. He used the momentum to spin around and come off of defensive as he slashed at the mobium’s side, but was blocked quickly, and once again put back on the defensive. The two mobiums blows came even quicker now as their pace hasten, their tactics changing as they began to learn each other moves. Constantly Keith was forced backwards by thrusts, and slices, never able to quite force his opponent forward. As the droid commander brought a slice down, Keith was able to sidestep it, and using his powers, he flipped over his opponent, blocking the slice upwards in the process, and landing gracefully on the other side, allowing him more freedom of movement instead of the ever closer tree line he had before. The blows came again, but this time Keith was ready, and each of them blocked, as he begun to hold his ground. In a moment of opportunity, his enemy became too overwhelmed by the furry which Keith proceeded, and Keith was allowed an opening to slice across the midsection of the mobium. With the blade’s energy only at minimal, this caused the mobium a moment of paralysis. Seeing his opponent freeze in front of him, sliced upwards from his lower section, and delivered the final slash which would put the droid commander out of commission, but not out of the realm of the living. Slowly the droid commander’s body collapsed to the ground, and as Keith looked onwards he could see that Harabec had finished as well.

“Well done,” came Harabec’s praise. Approaching the older mobium’s location, he could see the others moving to join them as well.

“You could have told me about them,” said Keith motioning to the Kyrocians, “a little head’s up would have gone a long way.”

“The object does not necessarily matter, only the objective,” countered Harabec. “You lent aid to a distressed being, much like your family did before the revolution. It is in your blood to do so.”

“So what your saying is that it doesn’t matter who was being imprisoned, the right thing to do was the same either way?” asked Keith.

“Precisely,” agreed Harabec. “You knew that before we ever encountered each other, but you needed to be reminded of it.”

Keith rolled his eyes, not exactly thrilled that Harabec was right on the subject. The past several months had been fought fighting the Mobiums to protect the Earth, and now he was doing what he had started off doing in the beginning. Helping others in distress. There was the beginning of a smirk that slowly appeared on Harabec’s face as he sensed the thought patterns going through Keith’s head, and not willing to give him the satisfaction as the Supreme Commander demorphed, Keith quickly changed the subject. “I suppose you knew about Illyania as well?”

“That was a surprise in fact,” Harabec countered. “However their race is quite adept at their shape shifting abilities.” Illyania, and Sebastian had now joined them as well, and had listened intently to join the conversation.

“It is why the Mobiums were studying my people in the cages,” Illyania offered, fluttering over to where Keith and Harabec were talking. “An ability like that could be quite useful to another species.”

“And the empire was not about to engage an Agnonar to attempt to learn it,” suggested Harabec.

“So they picked on the weaker of the two,” confirmed Keith. “What a bunch of losers.”

“We knew the Empire was considering such a move for some time,” announced Illyania, “but we hoped that time would ultimately dissuade them. We were incorrect, and my people suffered because of our lack of action.”

“Perhaps now you may be willing to assist us in our efforts against the Empire,” suggested Harabec. “Your assistance would be greatly valued.”

“Unfortunatley we are still bound to our treaties with the council on Altea,” said Illyania. “We are very greatful of the aid you have lended, but we cannot commit our forces to such a cause.”

Harabec nodded solemnly in understanding. “I understand your prior commitments.”

“However,” said Illyania, as the light she emitted began to become brighter, until slowly the light became too bright to look directly at. A flash filled the clearing forcing all those present to look away, until it subsided slowly revealing Illyania in a much different form. This time it was the form of someone very familiar to both Keith, and Harabec, and someone whom both of them thought they would never lie eyes on again. It was the form of Terisian, as she appeared nearly fifty years ago, when Harabec last saw her, and when Keith saw her so long ago in his mind back when she had faded from this world. Both mobiums knew this was not the person they had knew so well, but a guise that Illyania had formed. “When I was a younger form, she came from the stars. A lover to one of you, and a mother to the other. She brought with her, beings that had pursued her, of great fury, and carnage. Using her abilities, and her grace, she dispatched them quickly and effortlessly.”

As she talked, Keith and Harabec began to notice that her hand was balled up, and something within it was contained. Unsure of whether it was a natural reaction, or Illyania’s mental abilities were influencing the direction of their stare, they could only continue to gaze at it, as she spoke. “Fleeing to the stars in the wake of her victory, what she left behind…you may find of great value.” Opening her hand she revealed something both of them had long suspected was lost to the ages. It was one of the original Power Lenses, the one that had belonged to Terisian. Still intact was the band that clasped around her wrist so long ago, and in the center, the focusing crystal which still gave off a whitish shine, like a perfectly cut diamond.

“Her Power Lens,” Keith said softly, and slowly he reached out and took it from Illyania, holding it softly in his hand, as if the feeling would stir some long lost memory he had of her.

“We cannot aid you in your battle,” said Illyania, “but perhaps we can offer you a tool to help you fight it.”

“We are quite grateful,” thanked Harabec.

“The DNA Sequencers that bonded it to Terisian have been reset,” said Illyania, “which is the main reason I have taken her form. Whoever chooses to use it, may use it to its full power.” Once again the clearing filled with a bright flash, and Illyania returned to her normal form, that resembling an Earthen Fairy. “Our gift to you, our thanks.”

“It is rightfully yours,” announced Harabec. “She would want you to take it.”

Keith laughed, “It’s not my color,” he replied, placing the lens in one of the pockets in his armor. “Besides, I’m still hopeful my own powers will be restored. I’ve come to far to give up on them now.”

“The time may come when you need to use it though,” countered Harabec. “Just do not be foolish when it does.”

“Of course,” said Keith. “Perhaps you should signal the ship.” As if on cue, the flyer shot over head as it began to search for a landing site in which to pick up the Mobiums, and Sebastian. Keith watched it in awe, still amazed at his people’s technology, even after going up against it several times in combat.

“And my sister?” asked Sebastian. “Speaking up for the first time.”

“She has already been transferred to the Supreme Commander’s ship,” announced Illyania. Sebastian nodded respectfully as the flyer slowly landed, the force of air from its engines displacing all the grass in the center of the clearing.

“I guess we head for Recean than,” Keith told Harabec.

“I still do not feel comfortable about that idea,” offered Sebastian. “Nothing good ever happens at that place. I’m sure Rae, the real Rae will agree with me.”

“Yeah…but you felt comfortable about your shooting,” joked Keith. “And that nearly got us killed.”

“If that is the state of things,” said Harabec, “then we may very well be going to our dooms.”

Keith blinked in confusion which lasted only a moment, “Was….that a joke?” The smirk from before once again returned to Harabec’s face, but Keith caught for only an instant as the Silver Ranger turned and slowly walked towards the now open flyer door. Keith stood in bewilderment for a moment as he looked at Sebastian, who shrugged in response, and slowly followed Harabec. Keith shook his head, and laughed, “I must be getting to him.”

[RedGuardianRanger]

Authour's Note: This will be the Summer Finale as I have to return to school for my final semester. Expect the final part to begin this winter, and concluding the Saga thereafter.

The landing on the frozen, and snow covered runway went a lot smoother than any of the passengers inside thought it would, but considering the conditions, and the people who were flying, they assumed that this must have been a regular thing for the flight crew. As soon as the plane came to a complete stop, the door to the outside opened, and brought with it the snow covered landscape of Greenland. The sky was overcast to say the least, the clouds making the cold that already assaulted their bodies through the thick parkas seem even colder. Matt couldn’t tell if it was snowing or if the wind was throwing the fallen snow around, as the snow vehicle pulled up to take them inside the base. In the past they had to move fast to avoid blasts, and other things being hurled in their direction by their enemies, but their move from the plane to the vehicle was most likely the fastest any of them ever moved to get out of the paralyzing winds.

The vehicle was quick enough to move along the icy landscape, and back into the confines of the hangar that served as the unloading area. It connected to the rest of the base via a series of underground tunnels that the Rangers were quickly rushed through by the personnel manning the base. Eventually the tunnels lead back into the main facility, and again they ascended to the main base area which appeared more like a regular office building than one would normally expect from the military.

They were then escorted into what appeared to be a conference room of sorts, and left alone as their attendants stepped outside for a moment. Each of them exchanged nervous glances as they stood there in their parkas, a few trace amounts of snow lurking on the higher points of their coats. Slowly they pulled down the zippers securing their outerwear and discarded them on a nearby chair. Their isolation was only temporary as a member of the staff, followed by what looked like the base commander joined them. Closing the door behind them, there was a moment of awkward silence as no one moved, nor took a seat.

His hands folded into his pockets, the base commander looked over the three younger people cautiously, and realizing he was about to say something cliché offered, “I expected you guys to be….older.” Matt, and Gaji exchanged brief looks before turning to look at the commander, and shrugging simultaneously. The commander brushed it aside, and continued, “No Matter. I’m Colonel Greggs. I was instructed to receive you, and brief you on enemy movements here in the frozen parts of the world.”

“Matt,” offered Matt to the commander, “and this is Gaji, and Brianna.”

“Pleased to meet you,” he said nodding at each in turn, “this is Sergeant Miller, he’s in charge of intelligence for the base.” The sergeant was silent, but nodded to each of the Rangers in turn as the entire group took their seats at the conference table.

“What can you tell us?” asked Matt as he and the others sat down on one side of the table.

“They appear to be searching something,” replied Greggs, “that much we know for sure. They’ve been moving further north with each stop they make, but for some reason they’ve left the population centers alone which is unusual because that tends to be the first things they take out.”

“It just means that they’re being expedient about what they’re doing,” announced Miller, coming into the conversation with a harsh, and raspy voice than the other would have expected from a man of his stature, and middle age. “And whatever it is they are looking for, it isn’t of human design that’s for sure. They’ve had plenty of time to take any of our technology that could have interested them. This feels different. This feels like they’re searching for something…something they lost.”

“Sergeant Miller has some theories he’d like to run past you,” said Greggs, “even though I feel they might be a bit outlandish. But considering the circumstances….”

“…and considering your sitting across the table from three Power Rangers,” Gaji said, finishing the Colonel’s statement for him. “The circumstances may allow for even the crazy to be possible at this point.”

“Exactly,” said Greggs. “Sergeant.”

“At first we were all pretty stumped as to what they may be looking for that was any value to someone as advanced as they are,” stated Miller. “And when they avoided the towns and villages like they did, we had to start thinking outside the box. Considering this was all kinda sci-fi for us to begin with, what with a patrol of alien robots looking around the frozen north, we figured we should start to look in that direction. We got nowhere, and everywhere pretty fast as we realized it could be a thousand different things, until I realized that if it was some sort of advanced technology it would have been located by now. Considering now a lot of people have lived here over the millennia, there was really only one backstory we could go on to lend us any kind of help. So we had to look back to the time of the Vikings to see if they knew anything.”

“Norse mythology?” asked Gaji.

“Exactly,” confirmed Miller. “This whole area was originally settled by Vikings, and other Norsemen of that era, and with it they brought their legends, and myths. When you run down what beings like these might be looking for in a time of war, most likely we figured it would either be a weapon, a power source, or some form of advanced, lost technology. It doesn’t seem as if they were looking for a weapon since they already have us outgunned, so we figure its either a relic of the past or lost technology that lay buried somewhere. The tales claim that all of the higher elders in the Norse Pantheon have burial sites around this part of the north, but as you can imagine few have ever tried to investigate such claims.”

“So you think somewhere under the ice, is a buried relic, that the Mobiums are rushing to find?” asked Matt, attempting to understand if he had heard the briefing correctly.

“It’s the best I can come up with, especially considering they diverted their forces to attempt to locate whatever it is they’re searching for,” he replied.

“What we do know though,” added Greggs, “is that at present they’ve stopped not to far from here, and they’ve been holding still for over a day, which is longer than any of their other stops. The weather hasn’t been poor either, so we suspect they may have found something.”

“How far is close?” asked Briana, her eyes straying over to the window, and gray and white landscape far beyond.

“The snow crawler can have us there in about three hours,” reported Miller.

“If the weather turns poor though we may increase that amount, or force you to turn back,” added Greggs. “But the forecast for the day doesn’t indicate such.”

“But how often are weathermen right?” quipped Gaji. “I say we check it out though. We did come all this way.”

“Yeah,” agreed Matt reluctantly. “We might as well.” He turned to look at Briana who in return gave him a nervous look. “You with us on this?”

She shrugged, and put on her best brace face. “Why not. Freezing to death was on my list of things to do today. I can check that off now.”

“We’ll have the crawler ready to go in thirty,” said Greggs, “we can also supply several of our best men for the job.”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” said Gaji. “You’ll just be putting them in danger. We can handle things.”

“Gaji’s right,” added Matt, though he said it before he realized he was still without powers. “Just give us the people necessary to operate your crawler thing, and we’ll check it out. Besides you might need them here in case they decide to start attacking targets.”

Greggs eyed Matt and Gaji for several moments critcally, however he seemed to pay no mind or regard to Briana as he did. He searched for something in their eyes, something he couldn’t place but felt the moment they had come into the room. He had known about them when everyone else had found about them, and like many there was a very cool reaction. It was unique to have such a thing become reality as Power Rangers, but at the same time, they were just soldiers that wore different uniforms. He suspected they were making a foolish decision, but he had his orders, and they said follow theirs. “Very Well as you wish.”

“I still plan to accompany you,” reported Miller.

“Sure,” said Matt nodding, “just keep your head down. And hopefully this will all go well.”

Prep time took shorter than expected as the crews rushed to prepare the crawler for its journey across the ice fields. The vehicle was very basic but served its purpose well. The cabin of the vehicle was like a troop transport, and not that different from the inside of the plain they had flown here in, with bench seats lining either side. The craft itself was powered by two long treads like on a tank which propped it through the snow. It took several people to operate, more than just the two Matt had suspected it was going to take, and with Miller, there was a grand total of five personnel onboard the craft, not counting the Rangers.

Three hours in cold temperatures can feel like an eternity. The heat of the engine manage to warm the cabin, and battery powered heat lamps added an additional help, but still the internal temperature never made it above 50. Warm enough not to freeze to death. The scenery as they rode was not much better and at teams even though there was no snow, was practically white out conditions. The only thing that kept them on course was the GPS navigation system that they followed to the location on the map.

Boredom set in, and fortunately no one tried to start a game of 99 bottles of beer on the wall, or 20 questions. For the most part they rode in an uneasy silence. Briana’s was clear as she looked on. She knew what was coming, and though she had never faced any of the battle droids in combat, she knew the others had, and they were still here. She trusted in her powers, because she remembered their origin, and what Mike, and Keith had done to bestow them on her. She continued to stare steadily head, confident that this was only just the beginning of what was going to come her way.

Gaji found peace where he thought he would find apprehension. It had only been weeks since he had last morphed, but it felt like years. And now, he was wearing a different color, and for him he felt like that should bring with it some difficulty. But in the end, the visor, the HUD he looked through would be no different. He found calm in the fact that he would soon be in battle, not because he felt some sort of bloodlust, but because he would at least be able to contribute to anything. There had been so much lack of purpose in what he had been doing the last few weeks, that now he had the chance at it again, and that in a sense was refreshing.

Matt was scared. He had no Lens, no powers, and he was in charge. The only upside was the Enea in his pack. He had a gun, and droids to shoot. He wasn’t out of this yet. Two Rangers with powers, and a guy with a gun could still do a lot of damage. And if they were going after a relic, perhaps he would be able to sneak in and take it before they could. And then he could get shot. It wasn’t the best plan, but he had no idea what they were getting into, so it was going to have be the rough plan for now. Minus the getting shot part of course. He hoped.

Miller interrupted their thought train as he emerged from the cockpit to alert them that they were approaching their destination. “We’re five miles out!”

“Get us close, about a half mile,” replied Matt. “We’ll go on foot from there.” Gaji and Briana both looked at him critically, as if to ask by non-verbal means if he was crazy. He had no choice to respond to their stares, “They’re gonna get shot up if we don’t. I don’t know what your complaining about, you guys can morph on the way in, and be fine.”

“Watch them detect our power signatures if we do that,” replied Gaji. “No, I know your right, this kinda just sucks is all.”

“Tell me about it,” said Briana, pulling her jacket tighter around her frame, “at least you don’t weigh next to nothing. If I ever have to do this again, I’m gaining like fifty pounds.”

The boys laughed at her as the crawler finally closed in on what was going to be their staging point. The feeling of it no longer moving was a bit disconcerting before they finally got their bearings, the guys moving over to the hatch, pulling their hoods up, and lowering their goggles over their face. With the engine at idle, they could hear each other better in the cabin so no one asked the question that Miller asked. “We’ll keep an ear out on the radios for your call.”

Matt stopped Gaji before he could open the hatch, and turned to face Miller. “First sign of trouble, get out.”

“Alright,” replied Miller hesitantly.

Matt nodded slowly, and Gaji slowly lifted open the hatch exposing them to the bitter cold beyond. It was slow moving outside of the craft, and they all knew that half a mile may take longer than it should, but fortunately there weren’t strong winds to force them back, it was just the cold, the very very cold. All of them found the idea of what they were doing to be somewhat comical, as they looked at each other all clothed in the warmest clothes on Earth, traveling across the arctic landscape. But they comedy quickly dried up as they reached a ledge, and peered over it into the landscape.

Rock, and jagged ice had been exposed below as the Mobiums had somehow managed to do a cross between drilling, and melting to expose what looked like the mouth of a cave. A landing craft, much like the Star Wing was on the ground by the mouth of the cave, and at the entrance stood two droids guarding it. Matt was first to voice what they were all thinking inside, “I was kinda expecting it to be more than this.”

“They tend to do more with less I’ve noticed,” added Gaji. “One craft on the ground, probably means a Mobium commanding the droids.”

“Maybe a dozen droids than,” thought Matt aloud.

“Sounds about right,” confirmed Gaji, as pulled his goggles up, regretting it immediately. “Want to rush the front?”

“That sounds like a really bad idea,” said Briana.

“You have a better idea?” asked Matt turning to look at her. “They’re there, we’re here. What kind of distraction could we create?”

“How bout that?” she asked him, as the droids suddenly left their position and headed inside.

“I guess today is going to be one of those days,” said Gaji aloud.

“What do you mean?” asked Briana.

“Too good to be true,” he replied quickly, as he stood up, moving towards the edge of the hill that would take them down towards the cave mouth. The three of them moved discreetly as they could until they were at the edge of the aperture leading into the ground. In front of them they could make out what looked like a frozen stone structure that was buried just in the edge of the ice. Descending into the cave was a set of stone stairs, the way lit by Mobium lighting devices. “They did all the hard work for us,” added Gaji as he pulled his back around, and removed the Enea from it. Matt removed his as well, and together the loud high pitched whine filled the air as they charged them up. Turning to look at Matt, the new Red Ranger asked, “Shall we?”

“Lets,” agreed Matt. The three of them descended into the ice cave, Matt, and Gaji with their blasters raised high in anticipation of something coming around the corner. As they descended they realized it was getting warmer, and realized that the Mobiums most likely brought a device down to melt the ice in order to get at whatever they were trying to take. Discarding their jackets on the staircase, they freed up their mobility as they reached the bottom. Stunned at the sight, they realized right away, that what they were looking at was not just a cavern but a tomb, with stone blocks supporting everything, not uncommon to the pictures they had seen of the tombs in Egypt. However, they were not alone. The two droids at the bottom of the staircase, turned quickly, and immediately recognized the human signatures they were seeing.

Without seeing, Gaji and Matt leveled their blasters and immediately began firing off shots, striking the droids in their optics, and blinding them. The droids unable to target were quickly taken out with the rest of the blaster bolts as they impacted on their armor. No doubt their commander would be alerted though, and that meant company rather soon. Matt turned to the others, and told them, “You guys better Ranger Up, this is going to get nasty quick.”

Gaji tossed the Enea he held to Matt who in his Ranger form wielded two anyway, and pulled up his sleeve to reveal his glowing red lens. Turning to Briana, he nodded, and she returned the nod, indicating to him that she was ready. “Let’s see what you got girl, Ranger Form! Energize!”

Raising his right hand and pointing upwards, he brought it across, and touched the jewel on the lens activating the powers inside. Quickly he felt the familiar surge of energy rush into him as the morph began, the armor quickly covering his body, and the familiar HUD of the Ranger interface appearing in front of his eyes. Brianna’s energy erupted from within, as the crystal nestled just above her bust glowed deeply, and then a flashed forcing its energy out and causing it to surround her body. It had been sometime since she had morphed last, and the feeling was different than the last time. As she opened her eyes though, she could the helmeted visor in front of her, and knew the sequence was complete. Turning to see Gaji she could see him in the Red Ranger armor that was all too familiar to her. Gaji and Matt both took a moment to admire the difference in the Purple Ranger’s armor, as it was a stark contrast than what they were used to. For Matt, seeing them both with armor he felt a pang of jealously, but hid behind the Eneas he now carried. However they had but only more moments to experience this as a flood of droids began to pour into from the cavern beyond the main hallway.

Summoning her staff, Briana cried out, “Crescent Staff!” her tone more confident and alert than what the others had come to expect from her. Materializing in front of her, she brandished it threateningly towards the droids. Producing his familiar batons, Gaji pulled them close to his form, as they charged into blaster mode. Pointing them forward, he began to fire off several rounds as Briana let loose a blast from the Crescent Staff. Close Quarters, and explosions never mixed though as the droids in front of them disintegrated, and so too did Matt’s hearing he suspected, as he tried desperately to cover his ears. Pushing forward, Gaji and Briana charged towards the entrance to the cavern beyond, with Matt closed behind them. As they reached the threshold though they peered into the large room. It was the shape of circle, a ring in a sense, quite large, bigger than a football field in diameter, with a large pedestal in the center, with a glowing ring surrounding it. Matt could only wonder where the power source came from. He didn’t have long to wonder as he took notice of the Mobium Commander standing next to the pedestal, staring at the Rangers intently. Around him was more than a dozen droids, that much was for sure. It looked as if he had maybe three times as many, but who knew how big an operation this was to get this far.

The two parties eyed each other cautiously from their respective places across the room, but it was the Mobium who spoke first, “Surrender now, and I can guarantee you will be taken alive as prisoners. Resist, and I cannot.”

“That’s funny,” said Gaji turning to face Matt. “I was about to tell him the same thing.”

“Somehow he doesn’t strike me as the surrendering type,” announced Briana.

Matt slowly raised the blasters he held in his hands, ready for the oncoming disaster this was surely going to be in his mind. Instantly he flashed back to the crawler, and the plan he had in his head. Now with the object surely on the pedestal, behind the energy field, that the Mobium Commander was standing next too, he really had to be the one to try and take it. He was so screwed. “Keep them busy, I’m going to see if I can take it from them.”

“I’m afraid the field won’t let anyone in,” said the Commander. “I was about to bring the cavern down around it to prevent anyone else from obtaining it.”

“He can read minds can’t he?” remembered Gaji.

“Then at least he knows we’re going to win,” quipped Matt.

With a wave a finger the Mobium Commander orders his droids forward. Wasting no time the Rangers answered back with their weapons. Spinning his around, the batons went into stun mode which worked to disrupt the droids electronics, as Gaji began his melee assault. Briana’s Lunar Ranger powers became more effective though as she stood her ground, and fired blast after blast towards the charging droids, with Matt by her side. Releasing all her power in one blast, she created a hole that Matt forced his way through, and beyond enemy lines so that the only one he would now face, was the commander himself.

Bringing its arm up, a droid attempted to clothesline the new Red Ranger, but Gaji was quicker and ducked under it, slamming his baton into its chest, and then rising up again to kick the next one back. Spinning around quickly he slammed his batons into two more causing them to shudder and fall backwards. Spinning the batons back into blaster mode, he fired two rounds quickly, the impact forcing the droids offline permanently.

Briana brought her staff up with two hands and blocked a blow from one of the droids who was in too close to use its blasters. Forcing it back, she then slammed the length of the shaft into the droid’s chest armor. Sliding her hands down, she was able to slash forward with the blades at the end, sparks erupting from the droids chest, as it slid to its knees, its systems overloaded.

Matt kept the blasters leveled at the Mobium cautiously, but the commander made no move to attempt to stop him, or fight him. Instead he watched him with a hint of curiosity as he neared him and the pedestal. “Fascinating. You continue to fight even when out numbered. And you have not the equipment of your allies. How do you expect to combat me?”

“I’m making it up as I go,” replied Matt, as he was now opposite the mobium up on the platform for the pedestal.

Gaji spun around, his batons connecting with two more droids forcing them to the ground. His moves were quicker now that he was back in the armor, and his strikes where harder too. Turning to Briana, he could she that she had beaten them back into what almost looked like a line. Raising her staff, and then lowering it she pointed it in front of her, and fired another blast, decimating all but one of the droids. Stunned that it was, Gaji rushed forward and leapt towards it, his two booted feet connecting with the armor and forcing it to the bounce across the ground. Recovering he was quick enough to strike the next droid with his batons, and send it sprawling towards the ground.

Turning back to face the Mobium, Matt asked the commander a question time, “How do you plan to beat us when your droids are all spent?” In response, the commander’s faced maintained the same look of curiosity he had before, but this time his Psy Saber next to him erupted. Matt cursed himself for pissing off the guy with the mind sword, and quickly tried to come up with some sort of a plan. Taking a look at the field, he tried to dash into it, but felt only a wall where it was, and painfully regretted his choice. He had only seconds to consider the pain as the Psy Saber the commander had went straight for his head. Ducking under it he rolled off the platform and onto the cavern floor. Firing a blaster bolt, the commander flicked it away with a thought of his mind, having long sensed its approach. Matt remained undaunted and fired again, yet again the bolt deflected. Rushing forward the commander tried to end the human quickly as he slashed downwards, and this time Matt rolled forward back to the pedestal, but over did it, and landed on his butt, his arms bracing his body upright. Groaning, he was once again alert, but and just in time as the commander rushed forward with his saber again, yet he paused when he got to Matt. His eyes were not fixed on Matt though, and the former Blue Ranger was quick to follow his gaze to his own hand. His left hand, was resting just inside the portal, Shen’s lens clearly visible in the glow of the field as it rested on Matt’s wrist. The two males put two and two together quickly, and as the commander swung for Matt’s arm to sever him from his wrist, Matt pushed off the ground with his legs, and threw himself into the field, his whole body making it in before the blade could come down. Standing inside the field, he could only smile as he looked out at the mobium still on the other side, and unable to get in. Turning his attention to the pedestal, he could not fathom what he was really staring at.

Resting in the center of the stone pillar was what appeared to be a futuristic blacksmith’s hammer. The head looked to be made out of the same metal as the Mobium starcrafts, for it was sleek and still shiny after the ages it had resided here. The grip was ergonomical, and seemed crafted for someone with a humanoid hand. Realizing that this was the relic that the mobiums had tried so hard for, Matt knew he had no choice but to take it.

Unsure of what would happen if he did, he decided he wasn’t going to delay the inevitable, and quickly grabbed the hammer from its resting place. There was a burning sensation in his hand as he brought it closer to him, and suddenly this raw charge of power. The field around the pedestal began to glow brightly, and then it exploded outwards in a flash of lighting, causing all living beings to look away, yet at the same time Matt could only feel the rush of power through his body, coupled with an all too familiar feeling.

The commander was forced back some as the field exploded, and as the sight of sense slowly returned, he could tell something was different. As the flash subsided, he realized that things were not as they were before, and as Gaji and Briana turned around to take in what had changed, only smiles were present underneath their visors.

Armor covered his body once again, and though he was sure somewhere underneath it was the same as before, it was still so different. Many of the black panels had been replaced with blue, and on his back he could feel a pack of some sort. His left arm sported a familiar buckler, with a shield on top, and underneath a heavy blaster that he had seen used only once. The hammer he had taken rested comfortably on his right hip in its magnetic holster, ready to be retrieved when necessary. He had felt the lens he wore on his wrist suddenly become charged as he took a hold of the hammer. And from out of nowhere, the power that had been Shen’s had been recoded for him once he took the Legendary Weapon from its place, its power overwhelming the newer technology, and forcing the creation of the Blue Guardian Ranger, battlized and all. Matt, however would only let himself enjoy the pleasure for a moment, as he turned to face the Mobium Commander to his side. Wasting no time, he leveled his heavy blaster, and fired, the beam erupting from the cannon and heading straight towards the mobium. Leaping out of the way, the Mobium was able to clear the beam as it went on to strike the wall. Rolling to the side, he recovered quickly, but Matt was on him quickly, as his pack allowed him flight with the wings it sported. Hammer in hand, Matt brought down, only to have it blocked by the Psy Saber the Mobium brandished. Striking again, and again there was a crackle of power as the two mobium weapons came into continuous contact with each other. Finally the Blue Ranger forced the Mobium away, and back, and allow him to observe another function of the hammer. Leveling it at him, the head began to glow until it fired its own style bolt at the Mobium striking him dead in the chest, and forcing him to fall forward, and collapse.

The droids without their commander fell quickly to the combined powers of the Rangers, and as Matt landed softly next to Gaji, there was only yells of joy, and victory. “Looks like someone got some bitchin new threads.”

“And a jet pack,” added Matt. “Just like Bond. All courtesy of my new toy.” Lifting it from his holster, he spun it in his hand real fast before replacing it once again. “I’d say we got what we came for.” Matt had turned, and still morphed, had begun his trek towards the staircase that had brought them down.

“Absolutely,” said Gaji, following after him. “Let’s get the hell out of here.”

“Yeah,” said Briana, standing still, and maintaining her position. “but guys……now what?” The two male Rangers stopped, and turned to look at her carefully. Each of them exchanged a worried glance, their emotions masked by their helmets, but they could sense it in each of themselves. They had won a small victory, but in the end, they were still right where they had started off. Outnumbered, at World’s End.

[RedGuardianRanger]

At the moment I'm currently enrolled in classes that finish in December. I plan to write the final part of the story shortly thereafter, and hopefully begin posting in early spring.

After reading the "What about fanfics do you like?" thread, I'm curious to wonder what those of you out there who are still reading, and I know by my views that there are at least a few of you out there, what you like and dislike the series. Soliloquy started four years ago and has evolved into this. The story has gone from the stuff you don't see at a boarding school, to Keith fighitng aliens half way across the galaxy.

We've lost characters, and gained others, and the team has gone through change. The Rangers have changed.

I know I'm not the best writer in the world, and I've never been able to find someone to read my work before posting, so I know some of the scenes in the past have been slow, boring, and unexcited, and some have captured your attention, and run with your imagination.

What do you guys, as readers want this series to be? What have you disliked? What have you hated? What have you loved? We've come down to the last part, how do you want it to end, or at the very least, how do you hope it will end? I'm very interested to know at this stage, and hopefully some of you will toss me some feedback.

[Duke Org: Zen-Aku]

Dude i have just read through everything except lost stories. FREAKIN AWSOME.....i like where this is headed, but please don't make the ending be something like keith having a political discussion with some council in Mobia (??? have you ever mentioned the planets name? or just called it Mobium) and gather some of the royal guard to get rid of him. I'm hoping for a battle on two fronts,somehow connecting in ways i couldn't have predicted.


As for what i have liked, all the deceptions, mystery and dialog, ohhh and the weaves, when keith learned to use those, i was like wow. I haven't liked the added character who have been there from the beginning but are just popping up now.

[RedGuardianRanger]

That's awesome to hear. No I promise, I've been writing this series for four years plus, and I'm going out with a bang with it. I was a big fan of the weaves too. It was an idea that I incorporated into the story from a game called "Escape Velocity Nova" and they disappear every so often only to reappear in the story. This will happen more and more as the story concludes.

I thought bringing Evan back would make the story more interesting, because I think between Polaris, Trius, and him, he was the best. He was the opposite of Keith, and yet at the same time the same and thats what put them at such odds. Plus, they could sling the banter at each other, and I thought some of that was good to read. I may have rushed it with bringing him back though, but I wanted to explain how his powers came to be, and tie everything together with the introduction of three of the four Zor.

[RedGuardianRanger]

They had been on the surface of Recean for a time, days was the best guess Keith could come up with since Mobium time was never the same as Earth time. Recean for Keith though had a been a landing pad, and as small building that reminded him of a single story office building in a commercial park back on Earth. Harabec had brought him here because it was an outpost of the Sentries, the group of Mobiums that were loyal to him. Historically they had been the eyes and ears of the Star Kingdom, operating just beyond its borders to understand and study the conflicts and the entities that existed beyond their own territories. They acted as both peacekeepers and intelligence gathers, and much like Special Forces were the first on the ground should the Mobiums have to engage their enemies in combat.

At the present, the Sentries had begun to gather, and with them they had brought information; information on the movements of the Mobium Fleet, the paths of the cruisers that were to be avoided, and the defense and fortification of Mobius itself. In the transition that had taken place in the last fifty years, this great force of scouts, and loners had change from those who looked beyond their own people, to the keepers of the darkest secrets as they watched and documented the atrocities committed by this new Empire. Keith had watched them as they poured in from all corners of the Empire. He noticed how many of them appeared to be simple soldiers, while others seem to have been tradesmen, and merchants. Some seemed social, while others seemed to avoid contact at all costs. What had started out as a dozen had turned into a few hundred, and ships were still arriving every hour.

Khara, Sebastian, and Rae had elected to stay behind on the ship, which was parked in high orbit. Khara had been chosen to coordinate the landing effort of the planet bound craft, while the two humans continued to cling to the concept of the planet of being haunted. Rae had not been happy when she was revived and learned that a Kyrociean had been masquerading as her for a short time. However, she and Sebastian, still so far from home, choose to continue on with the Mobiums, perhaps partly out of curiosity, or perhaps Sebastian had slowly come around to the cause, and convinced Rae to stay with him.

As for the planet being haunted, Keith had yet to see any sign of that. The atmosphere was breathable, but it seemed the sun only came out for several hours in the very long day. However it still managed to keep the planet at livable levels. There was no vegetation though, only the bare rocks that occasionally collected pools of water as precipitation swept through the climate. To say the environment was bleak was an understatement, but haunted was a bit of a stretch. There was a feeling though that Keith had sensed when he had first emerged from the flyer onto the surface. He could sense the faintest trace of something, almost like there was energy all about him. He had asked Harabec, but the elder Mobium had only alluded to the fact that the energy masked their life signs on the planet’s surface which made the base an excellent hide out.

Keith’s thoughts had turned towards his Mother’s lens which had been presented to him by Illyania. He was not wearing it, for he still wore his own Red Power Lens all the time. The lens itself was not damaged, Harabec’s own crew had confirmed that, rather his link to the Grid for whatever reason had been severed since his battle with Polaris. He had left the White Lens aboard Harabec’s ship for now, leaving it inactive, and unpaired to anyone. It’s time would come again, but he would not be the one to use it. He had to find a way to reconnect to the grid first before he could even use it, and if he did that, then he would still most likely be able to use his own lens.

His focus turned towards Harabec who sat behind a makeshift desk, not in a position of authority, but of one of camaraderie, and teamwork. Sentries would come forth with their own data, and add it to the display Harabec was looking at. Keith had seen it several times, and he knew that it was indeed a layout of Mobius’s orbit, and the ships that sat in orbit to protect it. If they were going to be crazy enough to try and take on Mobius, it would be from the side farthest away from the two battle stations that sat in high orbit.

None of the Sentries had approached Keith, perhaps under order from Harabec, or perhaps they sensed that Keith did not wish any visitors, but for whatever reason they kept to themselves and never offered conversation, mental or vocal. They had begun to from small parties in different parts of the building, and as Keith wondered throughout he could tell that many of them had been working together for some time. He wondered what drove them to do what they did, and what they hoped the future would bring them. He wondered how many of them were counting on him to be some sort of savior, and how many cynics believed that the status quo would simply continue.

A lull appeared in the Sentries that had collected around Harabec, and Keith spyed him alone at the moment as he focused on the display below him. Taking the opportunity, the Red Ranger moved over to the display, placing his arms at each end of the table, his focus down at the display, attempting to understand the context of what he was seeing. “How bad is it?” he asked Harabec mentally.

“The Emperor has the harder part then we,” commented Harabec. “He must appear both strong, but at the same time unafraid. His ships must be a simple show of display, if he over compensates, the people will know he fears us, and that lends to our credibility as a force. He has wisdom though, and has deployed just enough to combat us if he has too. The side of the planet with the main star platforms is only guarded by just them, but they are formidable enough to prevent us from making our approach from that direction. He has thus deployed the fleet,” continued Harabec as he spun the image on the display below him around so that it faced Keith, “in the third section to compensate for the planet’s defense. It is not a very large fleet, but the flagship is among them, and it is the largest vessel that roams the stars.”

“Were smaller, that gives us the advantage no?” asked Keith, turning his gaze up to Harabec.

“It doesn’t have to move to blockade a planet,” said Harabec. “However this is still our best vantage point, for you are correct we have speed over the large vessels. Plus we will be getting a boost as we enter the system.”

“How exactly did you plan to accomplish that?” asked Keith. Touching the screen like one would an iPhone, Harabec spread his fingers out, and the image expanded outwards to include not just the planet, but the system as well. He put his finger down on a certain point of the star chart, and Keith followed his gesture.

“Teton?” asked Keith, familiar with the name of the star that orbited Mobius. “I don’t understand.”

“That’s going to be our entry point into the system,” announced Harabec, though Keith could tell he was the only one the mental communication was directed towards. “We can loop about the star, and the gravity will project us towards the planet at faster speeds.”

“With the cruisers that close, will the ship be able to slow enough to enter orbit?” asked Keith.

“It’s not going too,” he replied gravely.

“Your talking about a suicide mission Harabec,” said Keith understanding what the older Mobium had in mind. “Fling the ship at the planet like a missile, and jettison all the crew after it runs the line. The ship burns up in the atmosphere, and so do any of the crafts not quick enough to slow down. I can’t let this happen.”

“We really do not have a choice,” he countered. “If you think this is the only measure that was considered you are wrong. Look around you, none of these beings wish to just throw any of their lives away, not if there is another way. I regret to inform you, there is not. This is the only path. We have already committed ourselves to it thus far, we cannot stray from it now.”

Without warning the room shook, and then there was a loud echo from off in the distance heard, followed immediately by the rush of flyer engines overhead. The two Rangers turned to look towards the windows of the building to attempt to comprehend the source, however one of the Sentries rushed in and reported before they had to reason much. “Battle Droids! A drop ship just deployed a regiment.”

Without saying, or thinking a word, the two Rangers regarded each other quickly, both wondering why no word came from Khara about the arrival of another ship. They wasted no time to rush outside along with the throngs of other Sentries in the building. Overhead in the star filled sky, they could see an object burning as it entered the atmosphere high above them, a ship no doubt, and several thousand yards out, the lights of Battle Droids filling the darkness. Keith was first to locate the drop ship as it begun to make another pass, most likely to deposit another wave, but the bigger problem was the new pair of lights that came on behind the Droids already on the ground. Keith had yet to see them in person, but Harabec had known well enough what those lights meant, and without some serious help, they were going to be a problem.

“There’s a pair of Assault Droids already on the ground,” reported a Sentry as he rushed towards his ship.

There were too many questions that needed to be answered, but at the moment they needed to make sure that they and all the rest of the Sentries around them would survive to ask those questions. Harabec was the first to act. “Take any that you can find and engage the Battle Droids.” There was a quick, bright silver flash as his Guardian Armor appeared all about him. Bright Silver Tendril-like wings came into existence as his mind synced with his armor, and behind his buckler, his beam cannon charged. “I will engage the Assaults.” His thrusters on full, he lifted off the ground, and shot forward. Immediately the sky lit up with blaster bolt fire as the Droid contingent attempted and failed to strike the Silver Ranger, and bring him down, out of the sky.

Keith turned quickly to face the rest of the Sentries, a plan already forming in his mind. He let out a loud mental burst, and issued his first orders to an army he had never known. “I need some of you to remain behind, and prep the ships for immediate take off. The rest shall follow me and engage the Droids.” Removing the Enea he had on his side, he held it in his right hand and gripped it firmly. A Hundred or so Sentries in front of him never hesitated in mimicking his action, while several dozen set to work in their tasks of readying the ships already on the ground. Taking a deep breath, and pushing himself off the ground with his mind so that he began to hover, he turned to face the oncoming onslaught. “Go!”

<Track Insert – Flyleaf “Again”>

Racing forward, only a foot or so off the craggy ground, he could feel the presence of several of the other Mobiums behind him as they closed the distance between the Sentry Base, and the Battle Droids sent to wipe them out. He felt the Enea charge in his hand, as he leveled it and begun to click off several shots forward. A barrage of blaster bolts flashed in the distance and then raced towards the Sentries led by Keith. Spinning on his side Keith zigged to his right, and then placed his feet out in front of him, sliding to a stop on the rocks, his blaster pointed forward, shots already ringing out at their targets in front of him. Several dozen Sentries were forced to follow suit, while others shot higher up to avoid the shots, and began to rain fire upon their enemies from above. The droids were not idle though and were just as quick as their Mobium counterparts.

More rained from the sky though, as the drop ship made another pass, and this time, another Assault Droid came with the pass, landing smack in the middle of the Sentries, somewhere behind Keith. Examining the large stature of the machine, Keith knew his chances with it were slim to none. At the moment though, the droids in front of him were the main threat. Igniting his Psy Saber, the Ranger raced forward and slashed off the arm of one of the droids, the crackle of electricity present for just a moment as its connection failed. Spinning around, and he sliced another droid across the mid section, and put that one out of the battle as well.

Out of the corner of his eye he caught a glimpse of what looked like a bolt of lighting, only it seemed to come up from the ground instead.

His focus shifted back to the droids as he had to duck under the swing of another droid. The same droid was not fast enough to recover as another Sentry behind the Ranger separated its head from its body, forcing its robotic form to collapse to the ground. Keith thrusted forward and his Saber’s blade ran straight through the center abdomen of the form. Lifting upwards the blade cut it in half, and the two splitting pieces fell to the ground.

In front him, Keith saw the eerie bolt of lightning again. The sound of repeating blaster fire of the assault droid turned his attention elsewhere. Turning he saw a dozen Sentries bodies fall to the ground, the dust still coming from the ground where the stray bolts missed their mark. Several more Sentries continued to engage the epic droid, and Keith could only wonder where Harabec was at the moment. His head was telling him this wasn’t working, and that something was going to need to happen to turn the tide of this episode. Pushing himself off the ground again, he shot forward, this time mere inches off the rocky surface. Like a bullet he shot straight towards the Assault Droid, Psy Saber in hand. Slashing as he passed it, the massive droid took notice of this attack, and pivoted to allow Keith his strike, which caused minimal damage. Having positioned itself correctly, the droid let loose a round of blaster fire at Keith, forcing the Ranger back to the ground to avoid being struck. The Droid had been distracted, and this was what Keith had been going for all along. Crying out to the others he ordered, “Focus Fire on the Assault Droid, Bring it DOWN!”

In an instant the Sentries all turned their concentration to the assault droid as blaster fire erupted all around it. Striking it in several pieces, several Sentries leapt into the air, their Sabers flaring in intensity, and punctured the armor of the droid. Using their own body weight, and gravity, they slid down the chassis to the ground leaving gaping holes in the automaton. Slowly it fell to the ground as sparks shot from it, and the Sentries turned their attention back to the battle droids.

Harabec powered through a rank of droids, not even letting one of their weapons strike him as his speed was faster than their reaction times. His saber brandished, and to the side, he slashed as he went past, taking an entire line of Battle Droids down in mere seconds. Rolling on his X-Axis, he shot under the open legs of an Assault Droid, and then spun around so that his Beam Cannon would be level with the great machine. Firing a short burst, the energy rushed into the knee cap of the machine, turning the sturdy armor into melted scraps, and forcing the droid to the ground, its structure no longer able to support its weight. Into the air the Silver Ranger soared, and down he came for another pass.

Leaping into the air Keith decided to get a better vantage point, and he could see the chaos abounded all about him. The Sentries had crashed into the droids like a wave, but the Droids had held them back, and were pushing forward. Many had already fallen, and others continued to fight onwards. From his higher vantage point he could see the strange bolts of energy erupt from time to time around the battle, but he had no time to wonder about them. Turning his attention back to the base, Keith could see the engine lights of several vessels as they began to power up, ready to take off into the night sky, but in doing so he had lowered his guard, and took a blaster bolt to the back.

His concentration waned, and he fell to the ground, only to catch himself before he hit the rock surface of the planet. Landing rather crudely, he stood to face the droids, but found himself surrounded. Sensing impending doom, he dropped to his knees and surrounded himself with a telekinetic shield as blaster bolts poured in around him. The shield blocked them for the moment, but he knew he couldn’t hold out against so many bolts for so long.

Help came in the form of Harabec, as he rushed above the lone Ranger on the ground, the beam cannon under his buckler erupting and clearing one side of the droids. Forcing the other droids back as he threw off his shield in a telekinetic wave towards the droids, Keith rushed forward slicing at the droids, but the attack became futile as one of the droids got off a blaster bolt to his midsection, forcing the Ranger to his knees. The next landed a kick to his back, and forced him to the ground face first. Before he could be finished off, the Droids took an onslaught of blaster bolts from a group of Sentries just behind them.

Pain was the only thing Keith felt as he turned his face towards the battle that was still going on around him. It felt so hard to move at that moment, and part of him would have been very content to have never moved again. They couldn’t keep this up, and he knew it. They were never going to make it to Mobius to try Harabec’s plan, not at this rate, and here he was, face down in the rocky, blood coming out of his nose, and he couldn’t even morph.

He shut his eyes for only a second trying to find the strength to keep moving when he heard a voice in front of him. “Get up.”

Opening his eyes he thought he had already died. Standing a short distance off, clad in her usual white form, and dark hair was his mother. Her arms were crossed in front of her, and her gaze was stead-fast upon her son. Crouching in front of him, not more than several feet away was the voice that had spoken, and one he never thought he would hear again. She was clad in black, and her long dark blonde hair shone in the faint light of the stars. There was so much pain that he couldn’t even manage a smile at the sight of her, but he sensed that Mady knew the feelings he held in his heart at that moment. She echoed her command again, “Get up.”

“We’re not going to win this,” he said softly back to them. “We don’t have the numbers against them. I can’t do this. I’m just a guy pretending to be a super hero, and now I can’t even morph.”

“You are the leader of your people,” replied his mother, “a man who has gone to great lengths to get this far.”

“I’m just another guy,” countered Keith. “No different than any of the Sentries who have already fallen.

“Another guy wouldn’t have saved all those Kyrocieans on a spur of the moment decision,” replied Mady.

“He wouldn’t have stood before the Altean Council to try and persuade the other races in this galaxy,” added his Mother.

“He wouldn’t have provided his planet with the tools to save themselves,” said Mady.

“And he wouldn’t be my son either,” concluded Terisian.

Keith stared blankly at them. “It doesn’t matter, it still led me here. Alone, powerless, and talking to myself.” He felt ridiculous in the state he was in, knowing full well he had to be hallucinating now.

“I wouldn’t have sacrificed my life if it hadn’t mattered,” argued Mady sharply. “I wouldn’t have given up if it meant that you were just going to fail. I believed in you, believed you could stop Polaris, and save the world. So did the others, I still believe.”

“And so do the Sentries around you, and Harabec,” added his Mother. “All this time, throughout all your battles, the only person who didn’t believe in you was the one person that mattered. You. That is why your powers were severed from the grid. You no longer believed in yourself enough to wield them.” Beyond the forms of their spirits, Keith could see the strange crackle of energy, though it seemed to be more frequent. He wasn’t sure if he was hallucinating, but he began to sense a growing presence all around him.

“That which you see is the Recean people,” revealed his Mother. “They are an energy based life form that few actually seem to be aware of. They are gathering to repay a debt they owed to me many years ago. They shall fight beside you while on this planet, and aid you in this battle.” Part of him wondered if he had gone completely off the deep end. Inside he could still tell that there was only a faint desire to actually rise and continue. Maybe they were both right about him, maybe he just couldn’t bring the whole picture of who he was into focus. But at the same time, who he was, had let both of them perish.

“You stupid boy,” shouted Mady, sensing his indecision. “I love you so much, but if you don’t get your ass off the ground, I’m never going to haunt you again.” A smile broke upon her face, as her ghostly hand caresses the edge of his face. Keith could feel a familiar tinge of power emanating from his wrist, and he turned his head slightly to see the red jewel on his wrist glowing brightly. Once upon a time it would have only taken her belief in him to get the job done. Now it took so much more. Now there was so much more to push against inside him. So much rode on his continuing though, and he knew that inside it was the only path he could take, death was simply not an option.

“Rise my son,” ordered Terisian softly. “And claim your destiny.” He turned his gaze from his mother to Mady one last time, and saw her smile beaming in the darkness. IT was the only thing he truly ever wanted in his all life, and now it rained down on him. He knew at that instant though he would never see it again, and he let the pang of sadness hit him for but an instant before his mind finally reached the conclusion they had pushed him towards.

Mady eyed him critically for a few moments, and then forced one last smile for his benefit. “You’re the Red Ranger. Now go show them who they’re messing with!”

Pushing both his hands into the rock, Keith forced his pained body up, a surge of energy shooting through his body. Like a runner taking off in position in a race, he shot forward as a wave of Red Energy swept across his body in but a second, creating a flash in the night sky, and an instant later, the jets from his Guardian Armor allowed him flight into the sky. Around him the energy erupted from the planet surface, and raced forward, an equal amount on each side, as the Red Ranger, and the Receans raced forward at the nearest column of droids.

Detaching, and igniting his Psy Saber from his side, the Ranger and his allies struck head on into the first line of droids. The energy based Receans surged through the droids frames creating holes where they entered and exited, the overwhelming power forcing the droids to cease function, their forms collapsing almost immediately. Whether by saber blade or energy surge, they continued to fall as the allies swept through the droids ranks.
Banking, Keith could feel the g-force pulling his armor, and body two different ways. He gained altitude as he banked, and could see the blaster bolts of the Sentries, and the Droids flash below him. Leveling his beam cannon in his left arm, he let loose a blast that shot through the remaining ranks terminating several droids on the outer edge of the next group he was to attack. The battle was quick, and fierce, but Keith was about to make it even faster.

As they came to the end of the droids, they circle back around and proceeded through the next round of droids, their numbers now dwindling by the second. As they neared the end of the column, an Assault Droid loomed over them, and the Receans swept inwards, and in front of Keith, formed an electrical arrowhead that pierced straight through the large droid, allowing Keith to pass through the newly created hole in its frame, his saber slashing at the opened interior components. Behind him, as he exited it, the two story tall machine dropped to its artificial knees, and then fell forward. Spinning around in mid flight, Keith turned, and leveled his beam cannon again. He aimed for the center of the droids still standing, and let loose a blast. The Receans had gather around him, and rushed forward along the pattern of the beam circling it , and the spreading out like a wave once it reached the center of the droids, taking pieces of the beam with it to amplify their own power.

Eyeing the Red Ranger, Harabec flew forward to join him as the Sentries finished off the remainder of the droids who were now vastly outnumbered. Before he could reach Keith though, the Red Ranger waved him off. “Harabec, the Drop Ship!” Pulling a one-eighty, Harabec turned to see the Drop Ship beginning to make another pass. Leveling his beam cannon on his left arm, the Silver Ranger fired in front of the ship, and the traced backwards until the beam struck the craft, cutting it in two, and causing an ensuing explosion.

The two halves afire, fell from the sky, and crashed onto the rocky surface below. The Sentries below began to make their way back to the base which had taken heavy damage during the fight, but its structure had provided cover for all their ships behind it, which were now ready for flight. As Harabec landed, and joined the other Sentries, he could see the field of energy that had surrounded Keith slowly dissipate, as the Red Ranger came closer, and finally touched down next to the elder Mobium.

A smile formed, though the Red Ranger wasn’t able to see it behind Harabec’s Visor. The elder Mobium was both surprised, and amused at the same time. Victory had been hard to come of as of late, but fighting with Keith had reminded him of the days when he and the others with Guardian Armor had fought and won battles so…effortlessly it seemed. “I didn’t know you could project that type of energy,” commented Harabec softly.

“I can’t,” replied Keith, as he slowly pulled of his helmet, his hair now dripping with sweat, his face still dirty from the fire fight before he had morphed. “Those were the Receans. Apparently they owed a debt to my mother, and decided to repay it in full.”

“First the Kyroceians, and now the Receans. It seems your mother was busy in her flight from the home world. So they do exist. It does not surprise me though that your mother was the first to make contact with them. She was quite the skilled diplomat even at her young age,” realized Harabec. “Ghosts indeed.”

“I guess Sebastian was right,” joked Keith. Harabec nodded softly, and then turned to face Keith. The man next to him had proved himself, and had been of great assistance during the battle. He had known that Keith had defeated Polaris, which had been one of his better students in the day, but he had yet to witness any of the control the Ranger had over his armor.

“I have never seen the armor in Red,” admired Harabec as he looked over the Guardian Armor worn by Keith. He had seen it briefly when they had rescued Keith from the void of space, but now he saw it live, and in action. It was all but identical to the armor he wore, save for the color. “And here I thought you would have chosen White.”

Keith laughed, loudly, for the first time since Harabec had met him, “Red is more my color.”

“So it is,” said Harabec nodding slowly, “so it is.”

“Are the others still in orbit?” inquired Keith, fearful to hear the worst.

“They are,” Harabec informed him. “It seems that ball of fire we witnessed was a cruiser that made a suicide run on the planet, and deployed a drop ship before it burned up. Two destroyers entered the system as well as to jam communications, but Khara and the rest of the ships still remaining in orbit neutralized them. Communication was re-established during the battle.”

“It seems someone else figured out your plan before you did,” Keith stated sharply. “It didn’t work for them.”

Harabec nodded critically for a few moments before adding, “It almost did. There is one major difference between their plan, and mine though.”

“And that is?” Keith asked.

“A prince equipped with Red Guardian Armor,” said Harabec. Quickly he turned, and left Keith to rejoin the other Sentries and issue forth orders. While the Rangers would be making the main assault on the planet, Harabec would need the other Sentries to do equally vital missions in order for the plan to work, and work it must.

Keith watched Harabec depart, and then turned to face the bleak landscape that now contained small contrails of smoke as they faded up into the night sky, the remains of the droids still a lit with electrical energy, and those whose frames had exploded still a lit with flame. He was looking for the two women; or rather the spirits of the two women he had left behind on the battlefield, even if he knew inside it was in vain to do so. They were gone. He had heard what he had needed to get through the battle, to regain his powers, and that appeared to be all that mattered. Sadly, deep down he sensed that he may never see the two of them again; not in his mind, and not in the life hereafter. Sadness overcame him for a second, and his breathing was ruptured. A whimper almost escaped his lips, but being the man he was, he chalked it off to a shiver in the cold air of the night, and the end of the adrenaline that had pushed him. Exhaustion was being to overcome as he slowly began to make a list in his head, about what was coming next.

He had everything he needed to enter the final battle which he knew was now coming. It could no longer be avoided, and fate had served to shape the assets around him, providing him with the path, and the means to walk it. He had his training; his power had returned; he had the support of the Sentries and those who commanded them; and in the form of Harabec, no matter how reckless he believed his plan to be, he had wisdom.