The rest of the fic can be read here

Once a Ranger

Chapter 17: Phantoms and Shadows

By Daylight

The Command Base of the Aquitar Rangers resembled a living structure. The very walls had an organic feel to them with curves instead of corners. Consoles appeared to grow outward from the floor and the main viewscreen had the appearance of a giant eye. Everything seemed to glow in soft blues and purples. Yet despite the alienness of the architecture, something about it seemed very familiar to Tommy. He didn’t know if it was the arrangement of the equipment or the configuration of the consoles, but it left him feeling nostalgic for his old days as a ranger. A plasma tube even stood glaringly empty in a corner.

Delphine turned from where she’d been performing monitor duty. “Good morning, Tommy. I trust all is well.”

“Yes, yes. Everything’s good.” He sat beside her at the sensor console.

“The repairs on your ship are progressing?”

“Billy hopes to test out the new engine later today. Hopefully, we’ll be on our way in the next day or two.”

Delphine tilted her head to the side. “You seemed troubled, red ranger. Do you miss your home?”

“I suppose. We’ve been so caught up in everything, I haven’t really had time to miss it.” Tommy looked around again and for the first time since time since they had left, let himself really marvel at the strangeness of his surroundings, at the fact that he had been travelling through the stars and now sat on a planet so far from his own. Then, he thought of home and sighed. “I don’t really have that much at home to miss though. I haven’t exactly made much of a life for myself.”

“You do not have a life?” The white ranger frowned.

“I don’t know what I’m doing with my life. I thought racing was my thing, but it wasn’t fulfilling. Now I attend college, but I don’t even know what I want to study. I can’t decide what I should do.”

“Is there a reason you have decide now?”

“I guess not. But I feel so empty, without a purpose. I spent so many years with the greatest purpose there is, now I have none.”

“There is little advice I can give you. Here on Aquitar, we are chosen to be rangers for life. It is seen as a great duty and very seldom left.”

“You never retire?”

“Not until we can no longer fight.”

“Don’t you ever want to pursue other interests?”

“We do so in our spare time. I study various flora, Corcus wrestles, Tideus paints, Cestro creates software programs, and Aurico is a fantastic dancer.”

Tommy raised an eyebrow.

“Such has always been our way. Traditions differ between rangers. On Triforia, powers are handed down to the eldest son of the king when he ascends his throne, though that unfortunately has not been possible in Trey’s case. I do not know what Zhane and Andros plan to do as they are the first of their kind.”

Tommy bristled slightly at the mention of Andros. He had so far managed to avoid his fellow red ranger since their last fight.

“You missed being a ranger?”

“Yes, often, but there are so many difficulties if I stayed a ranger. Balancing fighting evil with college or a job and after a while, the stress…”

“In this our worlds differ again. Here we do not need other means to support ourselves. I understand it is different on your more, excuse the expression, primitive planet since you can not reveal your identities.”

Tommy nodded. “There’s no telling how people might react.”

“But I doubt your planet will remain primitive for much longer. It is progressing quickly. You may find the identities of future rangers are well known.”

“You think so.”

“It may be inevitable. And it is likely there will be more ranger teams on Earth considering the number of attacks that constantly seem to occur.”

“Tell me about it.”

“Though it is strange.”

“What is?”

“Well, it was always believed that the enormity of attacks on Earth was because it stood between the forces of evil and Eltar, but it seems much more than that, almost as if they were drawn there.”

Any further comments were prevented by an alarm.

“We have an incoming transmission,” explained Delphine as she called it up.

The viewscreen was suddenly filled with the featureless helmet of the Phantom Ranger. “Rangers. The Earth is in danger,” he warned. “I have information that is vital. Meet me in the Kaldix system as soon as possible.” He signed off in his usual fashion without even a farewell.

The white and red rangers glanced at each other.

“We’d better call the others.”

ooooo

The eleven power rangers plus Billy soon gathered in the Command Base scattering themselves around the large room.

“We should head out immediately,” Tommy exclaimed once the others had been filled in.

Andros nodded, if somewhat reluctant to agree with the Red Zeo Ranger. “It’s strange though,” he commented. “We haven’t heard from the Phantom Ranger in months and now this cryptic message.”

The silver ranger snorted. “Since when is being cryptic and not keeping in touch unusual for Phantom.”

“Doesn’t matter,” insisted Rocky. “The Earth might be in danger. We have to go.”

“We all agree with that,” Adam placated, “but the new engine is still untested.”

Billy stepped forward. “Then I guess, I’ll just have to go with you.”

Tanya put her arm around the former blue ranger. “We’d be glad to have you along. Maybe you can even drop by Earth afterwards.”

“I’d like that.” He smiled. “Cestro, if you wouldn’t mind watching Celeste.”

The Blue Aquitar Ranger bowed his head. “Of course not, Billy.”

“I’m afraid we do not have the equipment or abilities to join your battles in space, but if you ever again need a safe harbour, remember you are always welcome here,” offered Aurico.

“Good luck, rangers,” bade Delphine. “May the Power protect you.”

ooooo

The hours necessary to reach the Kaldix system were mainly spent adjusting the new engine and doing a few last minute repairs. But once those had been dealt with the Red and Silver Astro Rangers found themselves down in the hull working off some restless energy as they sparred.

“Is something wrong?” Andros asked aiming a fist at Zhane’s head.

The silver ranger ducked underneath swinging his leg around in an attempt to knock his best friend off his feet, but Andros flipped backwards out of the way. “You mean besides that antsy feeling we both seem to have that made me suggest this sparring match?” Zhane questioned charging after the red ranger.

“Yes. It’s just lately you seem a bit…” Andros sidestepped and used his fellow ranger’s momentum to flip him over. “…tetchy.”

Doing a quick somersault, Zhane pushed himself back on to his feet. He turned back around to face Andros. “Tetchy?”

The red ranger shrugged as he ducked under the roundhouse kicked aimed at his chest. “Yeah.” As he landed, Zhane struck backwards with his other leg almost catching Andros in the stomach, but the red ranger swung his arm down, blocking just in time.

“What I have to be Mr. Mellow all the time?” Zhane swung a right hook, but Andros dodged out of the way. “Maybe I’m just worried about our friends.” Blocking the knee aimed at his stomach with his own, he swung a left hook this time.

Andros dodged once more striking out with a side kick. “Don’t tell me you’re blaming yourself for the others being taken.” He watched as Zhane performed an aerial cartwheel to get out of the way. “It’s not your fault you weren’t there.”

As soon as he landed, the silver ranger ducked down sweeping his leg out forcing Andros to flip backwards once more. “Of course, I’m not blaming myself.” He stepped forward with a tornado kick as Andros back flipped again. “Only idiotic red rangers do that.” Andros gave him a look as he aimed a jab at the silver ranger’s chest. Zhane caught the arm and flipped his friend over his shoulder. “But that doesn’t mean I’m not annoyed at not having been there. It seems I’m never around when you need me.”

Slamming his hand against the mat to absorb the impact, Andros quickly spun his body around catching Zhane’s legs so he was soon sprawled on the ground beside him. “That’s not true.” The pair sprang to their feet once more facing each other.

“Oh, really?” The silver ranger sent out a flurry of punches forcing Andros to block each one. “What about when you were chosen to be a ranger and I wasn’t? What about when I was in cryosleep and KO-35 had to be abandoned? What about when you found out Astronema was your sister? What about when…?”

Ducking, Andros somersaulted under Zhane’s arm coming up behind him and aimed a kick at his back forcing the silver ranger to quickly flip forward out of the way. “Alright. Alright. I get it. So you’ve been a bit unlucky.” He dodged the backward kick shot in his direction as Zhane landed. “We both have. We already agreed on that.”

Spinning around to face Andros, Zhane caught the punch aimed in his direction twisting Andros arm behind his back. “Yeah, well I don’t intend to let it happen again. I am going to be sticking to you like glue.”

The red ranger rolled his eyes. “Zhane, you can’t…”

Suddenly, both rangers paused. They separated, their spar and their disagreement forgotten. A heaviness could be felt in the air as the little tickle of anxiety in the back of their minds became a roar. A feeling of cold dread caused the hairs to rise on the back of their necks and the adrenaline to slam the blood forcedly through their bodies. Something was coming.

“Andros, do you feel that”

“I think we need to get to the bridge.”

ooooo

Billy glanced up as the Red and Silver Astro Rangers entered. “Perfect timing, guys. We just arrived.”

“Any sign of the Phantom?’ Andros asked as he took his seat at the helm.

“Nothing,” answered Tanya. “But didn’t you say this guy had some sort of cloaking device?”

Rocky sighed. “Just what we need more invisible ships.”

“Something’s wrong.” Andros looked behind him at Zhane seeing a matching look of worry on his best friend’s face. “Check all visuals for enemy ships. Compare them to the Winger’s records to find if any of the stars are missing.”

Tommy frowned. “You think it’s a trap?”

“I’m not getting anything,” insisted Rocky as he, Tanya, Adam and Billy poured over the visuals.

“Keep looking,” Andros insisted. “I know they’re out there somewhere.”

“Still nothing,” Tanya pointed out.

“How can you be sure?” accused Tommy. “Maybe the Phantom Ranger is just late.”

It was Zhane who replied. “We’re sure.”

“Wait a minute,” Adam broke in. “What if the ships positioned themselves ahead of time so they weren’t blocking any stars? We’d never know if they were there.”

“Actually, I have an idea.” Billy’s hand played over the console. “We can’t detect these ships because they absorb all electromagnetic radiation, right?”

“Right.”

“But there is one thing they don’t absorb, gravity. It’s the same way astronomers are able to find black holes. The ships’ gravity wouldn’t be big enough to detect from a long distance, but I should be able to configure the sensors to detect any anomalous gravity readings on a local scale.” He paused gazing at his screen the configurations complete. “Oh, no.”

“The ships?”

“Not only are they out there. We’re completely surrounded.”

Next:

Chapter 18: Enlightenment

Some things are suddenly brought to light.