Mighty Morphin Starfleet Rangers, Part 2 of 3
Author: happydalek
Summary: The bridge crew of the Enterprise are recruited by Zordon to become Power Rangers and defeat the evil Rita Repulsa.
Rating: PG, for science fiction violence and peril, and mild salty language.
A/N: Okay, so here's where the hokey transformation sequence and fighting-of-rubber-suited-monsters actually starts to happen. As for the specific kinds of Rangers they become, well...I figured one reboot deserved another, and Power Rangers changed its tone every couple of seasons, anyway. Enjoy.
This time, when the five of them materialized in Zordon's lair, they were only a couple centimeters off the floor, so while they still wobbled on their feet, they didn't end up in a heap like before.
"Old, corroded crystals!" the Alpha-5 robot whined anyway. Then it shuffled over to the exposed stalagmites and again approached the Starfleet officers with the tray of Power Coins, except now each coin was set into a hand-sized device of some kind.
"These are your Power Morphers," Zordon intoned. "When the time comes, you must grasp them and call upon the source of your energy. Doing so will instantly imbue you with the power necessary to defeat Rita. You will receive protective body armor and will find yourselves in possession of great strength, stamina, agility and fighting ability. Your reflexes will be quicker, and your resistance to injury, considerable. When the crisis is over, you will de-morph back into your regular selves. Step forward, my children, and claim your Power Coins."
They lined up at attention in front of Alpha. Alpha drew near Sulu first, and a coin began to glow bluishly.
"Hikaru Sulu," Zordon intoned, "You are courageous and loyal. Your inquisitive nature and willingness to serve others, coupled with your skill with the blade and your calm discipline in the face of danger, have earned you the blue Power Coin. Your weapon will be the Sapphire Sword. Take your coin, Blue Ranger."
Sulu shot an uncertain glance at Kirk, then cautiously picked up the morpher and its glowing coin. A blue arc of energy shot up his arm and raced down his body, startling him. He looked at the others, wide-eyed. "I'm okay," he said.
"Pavel Andreievich Chekov," Zordon continued as Alpha sidestepped Sulu to stand before the ensign, "you have a keen and eager mind and an adventuring spirit. Your optimism and creative thinking go hand-in-hand with your youth and vigor. The green Power Coin is now yours, and with it, the Jade Staff. Take your coin, Green Ranger."
Chekov swallowed and picked up his morpher, receiving a jolt of green light. Alpha moved in front of Uhura.
"Nyota Uhura, you have both fire and compassion within you, and combined with your sensibility and perceptive nature, you will be a vital link between your teammates. Your name means 'star of freedom,' so I present you with the Red Power Coin, and the Ruby Throwing Stars. Use them wisely, Red Ranger."
Uhura took her morpher, bracing herself for the charge of energy. Spock was next, and one of the two remaining power coins began to glow with a weirdly dark aura when Alpha approached.
"Spock," Zordon said. "The Black Power Coin has chosen you. Like the volcanic rocks of your home world, you have great strength and your intellect is as sharp and exacting as a jagged blade. But just as they were forged in the chaos and heat of the volcano, your calm exterior masks deep passions that, if controlled, will serve you well. By harnessing the Obsidian Power, your mind and body will become your weapon. Take your coin, Black Ranger."
Spock did so, and didn't so much as flinch at the dark zap of energy that passed over him. Finally, Kirk found himself looking down at Alpha, and the last golden coin on the tray glowed brightly.
"James Kirk: you are that rare person who has been born to be a leader of men, and that is a quality of great value across the universe. It is only right that you should join with the Yellow Power Coin and wield the Golden Gun. As with that rare element, however, you are only at your strongest and best when united with others. Take your coin, Yellow Ranger, and lead the Power Rangers to victory." Kirk took the morpher in hand, and an arc of yellow light raced through his body. It was a mild shock, energizing in a way. "Now, Rangers, you can match Rita, and are the only hope of defeating her. Alpha will transport you to the surface. Good luck."
Kirk nodded. "Thanks, Zordon."
Alpha moved to one of the crystal banks. "Hang on, Rangers. I'll get the hang of this teleporter, yet!"
Kirk exchanged a concerned look with Uhura, and Chekov tensed up. Then, with a wash of bright white light, they all found themselves standing on the windswept, crystal-studded surface of Iota Draconis. A few hundred feet in front of them stood the outpost, but it no longer looked like the economical white dome they'd been expecting.
While Kirk surveyed the place tactically, Chekov and Sulu gaped in astonishment, and Uhura looked disgusted, Spock passed a thoughtful eye over the impressive, towering construct before them and arched an eyebrow. "Might I suggest, Captain, that we have discovered a weakness in our opponent?"
"Huh, Spock?" The place looked like a nasty, spine-covered fortress that reminded Kirk a little too strongly of a half-buried Narada.
"Rita seems prone to indulging in displays of extreme material excess. It is possible that these displays are intended to make us believe that her power is greater than it actually is."
"How do you figure that?" Sulu asked.
"Thusly, Mr. Sulu: Rita was apparently able to take over our outpost in a matter of minutes and completely transform eight humans into vicious, servile creatures of her own design." Spock ticked off one finger. "Then, she was able to exert a powerful gravitational force of sufficient power to endanger the Enterprise, and remake both herself, the interior and the exterior of the outpost to what we see before us, all in a similarly short period of time." He ticked off two more fingers. " Also, consider that all this required her to literally reorder matter on the subatomic level in order to produce the materials she desired. All of this would seem to indicate that she has nearly unlimited energy resources. But if this were so, then why did she not bring the Enterprise under her complete control instantly as well?"
"You heard her, Mr. Spock," Chekov said, scowling, "she's evil. She wants to watch us suffer."
"Illogical, Ensign. Rita wants to use the Enterprise to facilitate her conquest of the Federation," Spock countered. "While she does have a penchant for gloating, it, like the rest of her actions so far, have all been extremely efficient and calculated for expedience. There is no logic in her sudden choice to toy with the Enterprise other than as a front to hide the fact that she is nearing the functional limits of her power."
Uhura crossed her arms. "You mean that Rita's weakness is multitasking?"
"Potentially, yes."
Kirk started to wonder how he'd managed to accomplish anything before he met the Vulcan. "That sounds like a hypothesis worth testing, Spock."
"If we split our attacks up, and distract her enough, then she might be forced to let the Enterprise go," Sulu suggested with a devilish upturn to his mouth.
"More than that, she might leave herself vulnerable to attack. Okay, that's what we're going to do. I'm going to confront Rita directly, while you four go in and do as much damage as you can to her facilities. It's possible she may have technology that's responsible for the attack on the ship, so make it a priority to find and disable it, as well as any power sources you find."
"Yes, sir," Uhura said.
"Aye," Chekov nodded eagerly.
Sulu and Spock agreed, as well.
"Okay, it's morphing time." They all lifted their power morphers. Kirk drew a deep breath. "Golden Power!"
"Sapphire Power!"
"Ruby Power!"
"Jade Power!"
"Obsidian Power."
The transformation happened in a matter of seconds. Their bodies were engulfed in colored bolts of energy. Their cloth uniforms became thin, flexible, armored body suits, each one brightly colored in accordance with the wearer's Power Coin. They sprouted white gloves for their hands and white, knee-high boots, and helmets with seemingly opaque visors that completely protected their faces. The morphers disappeared from their hands and became the center piece of their breast plates.
"Whoa, look at us!" Sulu exclaimed, revealing the helmets' built-in comm.
"I feel wery powerful in this," Chekov said. He bent down and picked up a broken piece of crystal, and crushed it to powder in his gloved fist. "Amazing! I wonder what else these suits can make us do?"
Kirk felt his senses instantly sharpen, and even though he could see the dark visors of his friends' helmets, he could see through his own as if it weren't even there. He focused on Uhura, and suddenly found himself visualizing her pulse rate, body temperature and other data, as if his eyes had become tricorders.
"Nice heart rate, Uhura. I can tell you work out," Kirk quipped. It was true; Uhura looked fantastic in her Red Ranger suit. She put a hand on her hip.
Spock stepped between them. "And I can detect an acceleration in your glandular activity, Captain," he said pointedly. "It seems we are equipped with a telepathic sensory array akin to a 'Heads-Up Display.'" He turned to regard the monstrous edifice in front of them, and Kirk did the same. "Yes, I am receiving detailed information on the molecular and structural integrity of this building, and I can now see several points that are radiating enough energy to be openings of some kind." He turned to face Kirk. "Captain, I believe our best strategy is to infiltrate Rita's base from multiple points, catching her unaware. Mr. Sulu and I can enter from a gap I am detecting near the ground on the far side. Lieutenant Uhura and - "
"Aye! Aye! Aye!"
Spock, Kirk, Uhura and Sulu all turned to see that Chekov had started to perform a series of handsprings, launching himself higher and faster with each one until he vaulted half as high as Rita's fortress.
"Ensign, will you please try to contain yourself?" Spock asked loudly.
Chekov tumbled to a stop. "Sorry, sir, I was performing a field test," he said breathlessly, brushing dirt from his green suit.
Kirk had an idea. "Spock, any openings higher up?"
"Yes, there is a sizable gap at the geometric midpoint."
"Perfect! Chekov, if you can jump that high again, I want you to try and slip in through the top. Uhura, go with him. With Spock and Sulu coming up from the bottom, Rita won't know where the next attack is coming from. I'll go in the main entrance." Kirk's hand drifted down to his belt, where he felt his Golden Gun resting in its holder. He saw that Uhura had several shiny red throwing stars affixed to her belt, and Sulu and Chekov each had a weapon strapped across their backs. Spock, however, had no visible weaponry at all. But Kirk wasn't worried. "We have just under an hour to wreck this place enough to free the Enterprise. Good luck, team. Now let's make some mayhem!"
~*~*~
Rita Repulsa stared intently into her viewing globe at an image of the U.S.S. Enterprise, its underside beginning to glow orange from atmospheric friction. She was sprawled across her makeshift throne, but one foot tapped the arm of her chair impatiently. One of her deformed monster-men limped over to her, carrying a tray loaded with fruits, which it offered nervously. She selected a berry and put it in her mouth.
Suddenly, she scowled, spat, and kicked the creature viciously. "They're bitter, you incompetent blunderer!" she screamed. "Can't you idiots get a stupid plant right?" She picked up the tray and hurled it against the wall, growling in frustration. She grabbed her staff and aimed it at the viewing globe. The tip of her staff glowed dimly. "C'mon, you worthless hunk of metal! FALL!"
Before Rita could indulge her tantrum further, she felt a small tremor, and a chain of bells dangling along one wall started sounding off. "What's that?" She aimed her want at the viewing globe again. What she saw made her forget all about the Enterprise. "POWER RANGERS! THERE ARE POWER RANGERS IN MY FORTRESS!" she shrieked as two diminutive figures, one red and one green, were seen to drop onto a crystal support strut halfway up the exterior of her building. Rita backed away from the globe, looking around in paranoid terror. "Zordon!" she gasped. Regaining her composure slightly, she shouted angrily at the ceiling, "Zordon, you follow me like a curse! The universe is mine, I tell you! MINE!"
Whimpering incoherently, she grabbed the groveling creature she'd kicked a moment ago and forced it to its feet. "Don't just lie there! Get them!" She pointed at the globe. "Tear them APART! No, wait!" She picked up her staff again, fumbling it with trembling fingers, and touched the tip to the creature.
The creature howled and convulsed as it suddenly sprouted spines all over its body, gaining almost a meter in height. The lights in the throne room flickered. "NOW get them!" Rita ordered frantically. The beast howled again and appeared to curl up on itself until it was a massive, spiky ball. It began to glow, and then shot from the room like a meteor.
~*~*~
Uhura knelt by the gap in the crystals and watched as Ensign Chekov dropped down into a corridor, landing in a cat-like crouch. His green suit reflected dully off the crystal walls. After a moment's pause, he gestured up at Uhura, then ducked and rolled towards a jutting crystal.
Uhura dropped in silently behind him, sensed around, too, then calmly walked over to join him. She glanced back and shook her head in awe. "With jumps like that, who needs a transporter?"
"I sense an updraft coming from that way," Chekov said, pointing ahead. "Probably access to the lower lewels." He peeked out from behind the crystal, then ducked and rolled across the corridor to hide behind another outcropping. He waved Uhura over.
She sighed and walked towards him again. "Who taught you stealth, Chekov? A twentieth century cowboy?"
"No! I'm just testing to see how strong and flexible these suits are," the ensign insisted, his teenage voice cracking earnestly.
"Riiight," Uhura said, smirking inside her helmet.
Before Chekov could argue his point, a large portion of the ceiling caved in. Uhura reacted automatically and back flipped clear. When she landed, she saw that Chekov had rolled out of the way of a large piece of debris.
"RRAAAAAAWWWRRGGHH!" As dust clouds roiled upward, a massive creature unfolded itself from the wreckage. Its eyes glowed red, and it was completely covered with a wicked array of pointy spines. "RRRRRAAAAANGGERRRRS!" it bellowed. It picked up a huge piece of broken crystal and hurled it at Chekov, who was still righting himself.
"Chekov!" Uhura cried. He saw it come, but too late to do anything except brace for the impact.
Uhura saw the pair of glowing red throwing stars leave her glove and streak towards the rock before she even realized she'd thrown them. The piece of crystal exploded short of Chekov. Uhura leapt over to shield him, catching her throwing stars as effortlessly as she'd thrown them. "Hey!" she snapped at the creature, "Didn't your mother ever tell you not to throw things indoors?
"Yeah," Chekov added, standing at her side, "you might break something."
The creature roared again and pointed at Uhura. A half-dozen spikes shot off its arm towards her. She leapt clear. But Chekov stood his ground. He reached back, grabbed the short staff that had been strapped across his back and twirled it in front of him in an arc that deflected every one of the projectiles.
"Wow!" Uhura had to admit.
The creature uttered another loud, frustrated noise and drew itself into a ball, beginning to glow.
"Lieutenant, what's it doing?" Chekov wondered.
As if in answer, the creature began to zip around the corridor, slamming into one wall, then another like a deranged pinball. Chekov and Uhura barely evaded it as it pursued them. Uhura ducked as the creature slammed into the wall above her. She felt sharp and heavy bits of debris fall onto her back, and was grateful for the strong body armor clothing her. The creature rumbled and flew across the corridor, towards Chekov. She unleashed another salvo of throwing stars at it, but it didn't seem to do very much good. Chekov again rolled out of the way, and came up swinging his staff. He successfully shattered several of the creature's spines, but that only seemed to anger it more. Unexpectedly, it uncurled itself and grabbed Chekov around the throat and lifted him off the floor. Chekov gasped and struggled, but the creature's grip didn't waver.
Uhura threw every single throwing star she had at it, but it brushed them aside with its free hand and continued to throttle Chekov determinedly. "Chekov, hang on!" Uhura cried, trying to think of something else.
Prying at the creature's rock-like fingers, Chekov barely managed to get enough breath to gasp, "Aye, hanging!"
~*~*~
Spock and Sulu had slipped through a gap at the base of Rita's fortress with ease, and found themselves in a rather familiar room. "The outpost's main laboratory, I believe," Spock remarked, eyeing the overturned tables, shelves of broken equipment and supplies. The place looked like it had been first thoroughly ransacked, then subjected to a series of small, localized explosions.
"She sure didn't leave us much to do," Sulu remarked, kicking around the burnt-out husk of a computer console.
Spock extended his awareness beyond the laboratory. His naturally acute senses were magnified intensely by his helmet, and he perceived a collection of heat signatures at the end of the corridor beyond the laboratory. "There are life signs approximately one hundred and fifty meters in that direction."
"All I can sense is a single blob. Is it Rita?"
Spock intensified his focus, trying to pick up differences in the signatures. Instead, he found himself detecting faint whispers of awareness, fragmented wisps of thought. It was such a surprising discovery that it rendered him speechless. The only time he'd ever achieved telepathic contact with anyone without touching them had been the day that Vulcan died, when a single, unified scream had flashed through his mind, a distillation of billions of Vulcans facing their end. This time, there were fewer minds to read, but their fear and agony was almost as vivid.
Quelling the unease he felt, Spock probed further, sensing several broken, twisted consciousnesses. Their minds were in complete disarray, flashing from past to present, swinging from one emotion to another with an unexpectedness that made Spock feel slightly nauseous. No control from within, their logic and reason was shattered. But here and there, amid the psychological rubble, he detected pieces of clear thought: "have to stop her." "Where am I?" "No." "I'm a Starfleet officer!"
"Commander?" Sulu asked.
Spock was startled out of his near-trance, and was grateful for the helmet hiding his face as he tried to get himself back to center. "I...detect at least four separate individuals. Rita is near, but not directly among them."
"Okay." Sulu picked up an intact glass beaker and whipped it at one of the shelves. It collided with the other breakable objects there, and they all clattered to the floor with a racket that made Spock's sensitive ears ring.
"Mr. Sulu - !"
"If we could lure them back here, it might give the Captain a better chance. Mayhem, remember?" Sulu grabbed the burnt out computer console and hefted it over his head - a feat he never would have managed without his power suit - and aimed it towards the double doors that led to the corridor.
"Wait, I have another tactic in mind," Spock said before Sulu could let loose. He moved closer to the door, reducing the distance between himself and the outpost personnel he sensed up ahead. Calming himself, he focused on them again, attempting to draw out the surviving remnants of who they had been. If could somehow get their minds to organize again, to remember their duty....
All of the sudden, Spock's consciousness was filled with a presence so chaotic and volatile that it blasted through the tenuous link and nearly knocked him off his feet: "WHO ARE YOU?" His recent memories of his two run-ins with Zordon sprang unbidden to the front of his mind. "MORE RANGERS!"
Spock felt as though he'd been dunked in ice water as Rita's alien thoughts and memories poured into his mind. They were of a battle between two immensely powerful creatures vying for the same prize...a battle charged with feelings of hurt, fury, BETRAYAL. Rita standing over her fallen foe, filled with blood lust, a desire to hurt, to torment. And then, there was unending darkness, a void so cold and empty nothing could fill it, not impotent rage, not boredom, which turned to crushing loneliness and fear...and then to distorted, warped, uncontrolled evil madness.
"DIE, RANGER! KILL YOU ALL!" Rita's voice screeched through Spock's mind, crippling his control entirely.
~*~*~