The Lightning Raid

Posted on Wed Jan 10th, 2024 @ 12:33am by Spencer Gustaffson & Damien McGinnis

1,526 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: The Secret of Corvus
Location: Astro Megaship, Mark 3
Timeline: Between Prisoners of War and Briefing

Spencer awoke with a start, nearly springing out of his bed. He'd had a dream again - the same one he'd been having. It felt like Kyarah was out there somewhere; but it wasn't Kyarah. It was someone different; but with that same Silver power. Someone out there, was trying to morph - he didn't know how he knew, but he was certain of it. He stood up, and ran cold water over his face, looking at himself in the mirror. He'd felt this kind of thing before, in a fight, knowing what his opponent was about to do. There was something electric running up and down his spine, a fire behind his eyes. Something was different about him, some power had taken him.

Spencer walked out of his quarters with his morpher on his arm and the blue solar crystal glowing in his hand. He was dressed in just his pajamas, but with this strange feeling that kept driving him forward. He approached Damien's door, and knocked on it, hard. "Red! I don't know how, but I know where Silver is. We need to go. Right now. Silver needs to be saved."

"I'm up..." Damien said as the door slid open, revealing him stood there in a very fluffy dressing gown "What was that about saving someone?"

Spencer looked Damien in the eyes - there was a faint blue glow behind them, or at least it almost was. He usually sounded confident, but this was more than usual. "I know where Silver is. I don't know if it's Kyarah or not, but it's someone with her Crystal. They morphed. I can't explain it, but I know. But I can't do this alone. Much as I hate to say it, I need your help. That Ranger needs your help. We need to go, now."

"Where are they?" Damien asked "I don't want to be running in at 4AM without knowing what we're getting into."

Spencer focused his thoughts, not knowing exactly how to explain the feeling he had. It was alien to most things he'd experienced up to that moment, but if he focused, if he just took a moment, he could figure it out. "There's a prison. Or a prison camp, I think. it's not far from here. We can go there in the shuttle. Silver might not be alone, but I can't tell more than that. I think the Kaldore are trying to control it."

"If its a prison, then the shuttle will be too big, it'll be detected." Damien said, pausing "I may have another idea though. The megaship had various new, updated versions of previous ranger equipment installed before its mothballing. What if there's something there?"

Spencer thought about Damien's suggestion, and nodded. "You're right. You know where that stuff is. Lead the way. We need to save Silver." He stepped back, waiting for Damien to find his way to the Ranger equipment.

"Actually, we're going somewhere else. You see, the Megaship Mark 3 was a prototype, designed to serve as a test bed and launch platform for various new technologies for Ranger teams to use." Damien said as he began leading the way to the elevator, speaking as they stepped inside the elevator "Hangar bay."

There was a whirring sound as the elevator began taking them down to the bottom most level of the Megaship.

"I've been reading the tech manual, and I know, shocking. I'm a closet bookworm." Damien continued "Anyway, the Galaxy Rangers had these things called Jet Jammers. Single person space craft that could allow short range excursions on missions. Near as I can tell, they were the next stage in the design evolution of the Space Rangers Galaxy Gliders."

The elevator stopped and they stepped out onto the cobweb covered hangar deck. It was barely lit by emergency lighting; It clearly hadn't been in use for a long time.

"I accidentally stumbled in here when going through the maintenance tubes and I took a wrong turn which is where I found these bad boys." Damien said as they approached a large grey tarp covering a long, thin object around four and a half metres long "Feast your eyes on this!"

He pulled back the tarp. Underneath, was what looked like some form of flattened red rocket with diamond shaped flares extending from the nose, tapering back before another protrusion started. There was a silver oblong on the front of the nose, and silver trimming along the sides. Embedded in the nose was a pair of blasters, while the engine pods nestled at the back appeared to house some form of missile launcher. On top, there was a large cockpit with two seats inside, a tail fin starting from above the rear seat and tapering off behind the three main thrusters at the back.

"There were six developed. Red, blue, black, yellow, pink and silver. I figure we could have the Alliance make the rest if they work as well as I'm hoping." Damien continued "Officially, they have some long winded technical name which I don't fancy going into. So I thought we'd call them the Solar Streakers."

Spencer followed Damien's lead, trying to keep down the feeling that they were wasting time. Somewhere deep down, he had the feeling that the silver ranger they were rescuing was not Kyarah, but he still held out hope. If there was any chance, even of giving her a decent burial, they had to try. And they had to hurry. The duo went down into the bowels of the ship, down to areas of the Megaship that had been all but forgotten, where half-built and ignored equipment was stored.

He looked over the vehicles, nodding. "They'll serve, I think." He reached out without much thought to the blue one, pulling his Solar Crystal out of a pocket, and bringing it in toward the ignition; he didn't know why he knew how to activate it, but he did. They weren't built for the Solar powers, but they would adapt. Grid tech always adapted if it wasn't already bound (where that errant thought came from, he did not know). But the name Damien had just suggested for their vehicles snapped him briefly back to awareness with a smirk. "Oh, I can just imagine you telling Kilena that we went streaking through a Kaldor prison camp to save Silver. Then again, you'd do it, too."

"No comment." Damien replied, climbing inside his own craft and inserting his own crystal, pressing a control in front of him "Please keep your arms and legs inside the ride at all times."

A pair or mechanical arms came down from the rafters as the cockpits slid shut, both men being morphed in a flash as the arms gripped their craft. The arms lifted them into the ceiling of the bay before placing them in what looked like a long tube. The HUD came up on the cockpit in front, with a countdown from five, both craft rocketing through the tubes at high velocity when the countdown hit zero, before hitting open space.

"I'm giving you control of my nav computer." Damien said "Plot a course and we'll go in shooting."

"Sounds like a plan to me. Fly, then shoot." Spencer nodded as he flash morphed, deftly punching in the course. He'd never once handled a space navigation system before, but something outside him seemed to be the one doing the driving, Soon, the two vehicles were speeding off through space, headed toward the Kaldor prison camp where somehow he knew the Silver ranger was being held.

"Attention squadron, this is red leader speaking." Damien quipped as he pressed a few controls on his console "We are about to begin our attack run on enemy base. Start by focusing on anti-air defences and then we'll pick off ground forces."

Spencer smirked under his helmet at Damien's joke, but nodded in agreement. "Sounds like a plan, Red." As the Solar Streakers zipped into range of the enemy base, anti-air guns started firing. Whether it was Damien's luck carrying them, or just good maneuvering, at least the opening volley wasn't exactly aimed well at them, and the two vehicles got out unscathed. Spencer looked down, and pressing one of the buttons on his console, fired a laser beam at the AA gun that was trying to harass them. As a first shot, he missed, but it was close enough that the drones working the gun had to back off and give Damien an opening to finish the weapon off. "Hit 'em, Red!"

"Bombs away." Damien said as he pressed a control, a pair of large red orbs firing from the front of his craft and impacting the gun "And for my next trick..."

He pressed the control again, another pair of orbs firing at the hangar bay doors, blowing a hole in them large enough for him to fly through. He pressed another control, engaging the sensors.

"i've got one Human life sign. Teleporting them aboard." He said, a white beam depositing an unconscious young man behind him "Red leader to blue two. Package acquired. Let's go home."

 

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