Preparation is Golden

Posted on Thu Feb 29th, 2024 @ 5:16pm by Malcolm Hendrix & Stephanie (Stephi) Hill

1,071 words; about a 5 minute read

Mission: The Secret of Corvus
Location: GPF Command Hangar
Timeline: January 5th 2051, 0900 Hours

Malcolm stood by a gold coloured dart shaped craft, a handheld terminal in his hands as he ran pre-flight checks on the craft. He was less than fond of the name his former assistant the Red Ranger had assigned the craft, finding it a very juvenile joke, but the craft themselves were sound, and with the modifications that Malcolm and his team had made, they had a few extra tricks. Now he just had to wait for the test pilot.

The young blonde arrived ready for action. She greeted Malcom warmly, her green eyes twinkling. "Mr. Hendrix, I'm Stephi Hill. Nice to meet you." She held out her hand to shake his.

"It's professor, actually." He corrected as he shook her hand "Stephanie Hill, I presume?"

"Ahh, Professor. Good to know. Yes I'm Stephanie Hill although I usually go by Stephi! I'll answer to either though."

"Noted." Malcolm replied, looking down at his terminal before gesturing to an adjacent stool "Have a seat for me for a minute. You've not had any kind of illnesses or ailments in the past 7 days have you?"

She sat down as the professor requested. "No, nothing at all." Fortunately she rarely got sick. Even as a little girl she had been fairly healthy.

"Good." He nodded "Any allergies I should know about?"

"Nope! No allergies whatsoever!" She replied

"Good." He repeated as he checked his last box "Apologies for all of the questions. However, you opted into the project to attempt to bond someone to a solar crystal and I needed to be sure that the gene therapy and catalysts I need to administer won't cause adverse effects. I'm sure you understand."

"Absolutely! I get it professor! You have to be careful. I apreciate you being cautious and making sure!"

"Let's begin then." He said, moving over to a case and keying in a code, the lid lifting up, myst flowing from it as an injector full of green liquid extended and he grabbed it, removing it and pushing the injector against her neck "I'll deploy the therapy on the count of three. One. Two."

On two, he clicked the button, an audible hiss coming from the injector as the liquid fired out of the end and into her neck before he pulled the now visible needle from her neck, dabbing her neck with a disinfectant soaked cloth.

"owww! That hurts!"

"Statistically, having someone wait until three actually causes it to be worse for the person receiving the inoculation." He noted, grabbing her wrist and moving her hand up to hold the cloth "Keep pressure on that for a moment."

She put her hand on it to apply pressure. "Yeah, yeah! Not sure two was any better but it's done at least!"

"As my former assistant would say, at least it's done now." Malcolm said, reaching into another container and retrieving a spherical golden crystal in a silver bracket, holding it out to her "Take this and see if there's any reaction."

She took the sphere and immediately felt a tingling sensation. "Wow!" she said. it felt weird. Unlike anything she'd ever felt before.

"I'm going to run some tests and confirm the bonding has worked properly." He nodded, withdrawing a red, white and black blaster with an extra handle on the front "There's a strap underneath which will attach to your wrist. The crystal slots into the port in the centre of the star."

Steffi nodded and took the blaster and wrapped the strap around her wrist and placed the crystal n the center of the star. "Go ahead, run all the tests you feel necessary professor I'm pretty sure we are bonded!" she said looking at the crystal.

"I would still prefer to run the tests before you attempt to morph." He replied, not looking up from his terminal "Otherwise, we can't be sure there won't be unforeseen side effects."

"Alright! Run your tests Professor. I appreciate you being careful but don't be overcautious! They may need my help out there! And I admit, I'm getting anxious to get out there and defend the earth!"

"Well, please, feel free to prove my caution wrong and just try it." Malcolm rolled his eyes slightly "The crystal goes in the circular port on top, cock it back and pull the trigger."


"No that I don't appreciate your efforts Professor or your concern!" She smiled and put the crystal in the proper port. "Alright! It's Morphin time! Solar ranger power!" she said after cocking it back. She them pulled the trigger to activate her new powers!

In a flash, she was left stood there transformed. Her suit resembled a golden mechanical armour, somewhat more bulky than some of the team's, with a slightly angular helmet. Her visor was a straight rectangle, with what appeared to be a set of scales atop it, while her mouthpiece lacked the embossed lips of some of the team.

"Very well, I'm proven wrong about the level of caution." He nodded, before observing her suit "I find it interesting, however, that the design of your suit somewhat differs. Don't get me wrong, each of the Rangers seem to have certain distinguishing points, like the bulkier and somewhat more armoured suit the black ranger has, or the claws on the blue ranger's suit, but your suit appears to have more mechanised armoured qualities, at least at first glance. A reaction to the treatment being the cause of your bonding, perhaps?"

"Umm Maybe Professor. Hard to say exactly but I like it. It feels right! Scales huh? Like the scales of justice! That suits me just fine! Gold is my favorite color! OK professor, what next?" Stephi was very excited but tried to keep it under control. This was incredible! A dream come true!

"Now, Miss Hill?" He replied, gesturing to the golden craft they were stood behind "You run pre-flight checks. The Rangers are already en route to the Corvus system on a rescue mission. Your assignment is to go and back them up. Any questions?"

"No sir! I have it down! I know what needs to be done." She boarded the craft. she ran through the checklist. She was thorough. After she was satisfied. "OK Professor. Thanks for everything. Looks like I'm Bound for the corvus system." She activated the launch sequence and was away. "Ok Golden Dart! You and me have a date to keep!" she said to the ship.

 

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