Chapter 1 - Impossible Pilot .1

Taylor Hicks was a man who generally enjoyed his job. He loved to fly. He got to fly. When he wasn't tasked with test flying experimental aircraft the company he worked for developed, he was flying hither and yon making passenger and supply runs. Astral Dynamics had research facilities; it seemed, all over the world. The main office was in Los Angeles. He'd been working out of Clear Water Creek, California for the past two years. He'd been to many other places. He didn't always know what was going on at said places. He assumed it was science-y stuff that went over his head.

This particular day, he was making both a cargo and passenger run to a new facility AD was trying to get established. He wasn't told much; just that it was based in the mountains over Starkweather Valley. He was given a set of coordinates that included altitude as well as longitude and latitude.  "We're almost over the city," he said to his passenger, a pretty African-American girl with dark eyes, blondish hair and a green tinge to her face.

Tempest Strong nodded. She hated flying so she hadn't said much. She just nodded at him. She liked to think of herself as a brave person. She'd chosen to be paramedic over studying to become a surgeon because of the fast pace of the life. That and she couldn't afford medical school. It was part of the reason she was taking this job with Astral Dynamics. They were going to pay her very well.

Tay shot her a crooked grin. People who afraid of flying amused him. He frowned as he checked his instruments. He was almost on the base but the mountains were still in the distance. He grabbed his radio to double check his coordinates were right when something slammed into the tail of the plane.

Tempest screamed and gripped her seat for dear life.

Tay couldn't even begin to imagine what had hit him but before he went into a tailspin, he managed to bring the nose back up. "May Day. May Day. Astral Dynamics Base, this is Cargo Plan Delta. We're coming in hot. Where the hell are you guys? There's nothing at the coordinates supplied to me," he said into his radio. He could barely talk. It was taking all his will power to keep the plane in the air. It was shaking so hard he thought Tempest was going to pass out from fear.

"Delta, this is Sky Base. Keep on your trajectory. You're almost on top of us. Whatever you do, do not lose altitude," a male voice said over the radio.

"What the hell are you talking about there's nothing--never mind," he said and almost lost the plane when a city in the sky appeared below him. It had gleaming white spires and pointed domes, and a lake and river and a waterfall that feel off the side of the floating hunk of earth but ended in a cloud of mist that surrounded the entire thing. He could clearly see the make shift landing strip. "Hold on. This is going to be bad," he warned Tempest.

"How can it get worse?" she asked.

Tay didn't have time to explain that the plane was on fire and their landing gear was gone. He went in for the landing. He hit the ground hard. Tempest screamed. Luckily, Tay managed to go in at an angle, but they still jumped and skipped and spun around several times. It was a monstrous effort not to let it flip over.

They finally shuddered to a stop. People came running using water buckets to put out the fire. Tay took off his headset and collapsed backwards in his seat. He was going to pay for exerting so much energy.

When he opened his eyes again he realized he'd passed out. He was now lying on the ground near the plain with Tempest Strong poking and prodding him. "I'm fine. I'm fine," he assured her and sat up.

"Baby, that was amazing," she told him with stars in her eyes.

Tay shrugged it off without a word. He heard a loud whoop. It was an oddly familiar sound. He turned his head. Out of one of the white buildings, a lanky Latino man was running toward them. "I knew there was only one person in the universe that could have made that landing," he cried. "Eagle Eye Hicks. Son of gun," he declared.

Tay grinned and got to his feet. "Ramrod!" he greeted.

The other man hugged him and beat on his back. "Man, you should have seen yourself trying to bring in that plane. Still trying to upstage every other pilot in the world," he said and slapped Tay on the back again.

"I do what I can," Tay demurred.

"The boy is too modest," Tempest said. "He saved my life," she said.

"So he did. What I want to know is what happened to that plane," a new voice said. A short girl with red hair in a haphazard bun was walking toward them flanked by two soldiers with pistols strapped to their legs. Tay wasn't surprised. Astral Dynamics security force was compose of elite ex-military personal.

He looked at the plane. Almost the entire back end was gone. He whistled. "I hope there's some fancy radar in this place. I'd like to know what hit me as well," he said.

"It's amazing you both survived," said the taller solder with dark brown hair, green-gray eyes and a slightly sardonic air.

"How did you keep that bird in the air?" asked the other soldier. He was shorter and stockier than the other and slightly more serious and professional as evidenced by his short dirty-blond hair.

Tay shrugged.

"He's Eagle Eye Hicks," Enrique "Ramrod" Ramon announced.

"Eagle Eye Hicks?" Dr. Lark Walker asked, confused.

"It was my call sign in the Air Force," Taylor explained. "Names Taylor, ma'am. Taylor Hicks," he said politely.

She narrowed light gray eyes at him then checked something on the tablet she was holding. She frowned at him. "Ah," she said.

Taylor raised an eyebrow at her. "Ah?" he asked.

"That means she's less than impressed with you and you are no longer worth her attention," Sinclair Monning said with a faint grin.

"I get that reaction all the time," Taylor admitted.

"With good reason it seems. You barely passed high school, your grades declining drastically in your senior year. Your disciplinary record from the Air Force is plentiful, it's a wonder you weren't kicked out. After your honorable discharge you worked as an instructor in a martial arts establishment before finally being hired by the company. It seems, your only saving grace is your ability to fly aircraft," she declared.

"Yeah," Taylor said. He didn't really fancy his life being broken down like that. It made him sound as if he hadn't accomplished anything. True, most of his work in the Air Force was classified and before that, so top secret he couldn't even allude to it.

Ramrod slapped him on the back again. "Don't mind the Doc. She's always got her head in facts and figures," he said.

"I've met people like that," Tay said.

"Well, regardless of your skill at flying, you appear to be grounded here for awhile," Dr. Walker said. "Come, we'll escort you both to where you'll be staying," she said.

"What is this place?" Tempest asked. She was holding judgment on these people. She didn't care what that girl's computer said. Taylor Hicks had saved her life. In her books, that made him a hero.

"Maybe you shouldn't have asked," Ramrod said in a muttered whisper.

"It's an abandoned colony established by a race of aliens almost ten thousand years ago. A group of spelunkers found some items they assumed were Native American several years ago. It was determined they were actually extra-terrestrial. Further exploration of Stark Peak revealed a teleport pad. That's how we initially discover the city. We've spent months trying to decipher the writings so we can hopefully gain a better understanding of the technology.

"We didn't have any luck for the longest time until we hired a couple of experts in linguistics. Best in the world we were told," Dr. Walker explained, warming to her subject.

"Fox Oliver and Daiki Singuji?" Tay asked curiously, listening with half an ear. He was looking at everything with some awe.

Dr. Walker stopped and looked at him surprise. "Yes. How did you know?" she asked him.

"I guess your little computer didn't mention that I worked with Daiki in Angel Grove and Fox Oliver is a friend of the man I worked for," Tay couldn't help pointing out childishly. For a moment there he could sworn he saw the shorter soldier smile.

Dr. Walker sniffed. "After that, with an understanding of the language we began to figure out how to operate the city. We call it Sky Base. We're still in the process of bringing in supplies and personal for further research and exploration," she said. "We'll be staying in the Central Cathedral. It appears to be the nerve center of the island," she said.

"Lieutenant Houston, please see to Ms. Strong and her things," she said to the quiet soldier. "Lieutenant Ramon, I assume you can show Mr. Hicks to where he'll be staying?" she asked.

Ramrod nodded. "This way Hawk Eye," he said. Tay followed along. "How did you end up here, anyway? I thought you had your eye on all four stars," he said.

"I did, and then my Abuela got sick. Astral Dynamics paid a lot more than the Air Force," Ramrod answered.

"That they do," Tay agreed with a grin.

"You don't even know what the best part of this job is going to be," Ramrod said with a grin. He dropped Tay off at a sparse room and disappeared.

Tay didn't even bother to look around. He went straight for the bed and crashed face first.

--/-\--

Gregory Houston, better known as Gore, had been an Army Ranger for all of six months. He had a dishonorable discharge on his record for disobeying a superior officer but he had reasons for what he'd done. The job offer from Astral Dynamics had been a God send.

After breakfast the following day, he came down to the wreckage of the plane. There was no way it should have stayed in the air. He couldn't even begin to imagine how that squirrelly guy did it.

It was true, he hadn't been impressed with Taylor Hicks either. He was a not-tall not-short guy. Young, still in his early twenties. Sandy hair and hazel eyes and crooked smile that just screamed he was trouble. After hearing Dr. Walker's recitation of his life history, he was even less impressed.

So how the hell did someone like that not only keep half a plane in the air and land it safely as well?

The bigger question was what collided with the plane. It had to have been something going very fast and not overly large.

His headset beeped. He tapped a button on his wrist. "Houston," he said.

"Meet me in the lab," Dr. Walker ordered.

With one last glance at the mystery that was the cargo plane, Gore went back to the Center Citadel.

--/-\--

Tay woke starving. He grunted when he realized he was still fully dressed and in the same position in which he collapsed the day before. He had to been asleep for over twelve hours. It'd been longer than since his last meal.

He got to his feet, found a bathroom, cleaned himself up and came back to his room, stripping down to his pants. He knew there was only one cure for the stiff ache in his body the overexertion of energy caused him. Exercise. He began his morning/waking routine of stretching, push ups, sit ups and chin ups. He ran into a slight problem with the chin-up. There was nothing to do them on.

He looked up. The ceiling was high and as he hoped, there were crossbeams that would easily support him. He bounced on his toes for a moment and jumped, bouncing off the bed, turning a half back flip to the opposite wall, landing feet against it to help him spring off again, bouncing off the other wall, and once more until he was able to grasp the beam. He steadied himself on his hands, holding his body upside down. He lowered himself gingerly and completed the set number of chin-ups.

Once he was finished, he simply let go. He fell feet first but his didn't crash. He generated a cushion of air beneath his feet and landed easily.

His stomach growled. He really needed food now. Throwing his boots and a shirt back on, he left the room in search of an eatery of some sort.

--/-\--

Taylor had a good since of direction, a good nose and the uncanny ability to not make a sound when he walked. He was pretty sure he was on the right track. He could smell food. He saw Ramrod and the tall soldier from the day before. He was about to go around the corner when he heard them talking. He paused, old habits from his youth coming to fore. He always had a knack for knowing when things were afoot.

"He's not going to be a problem is he, Ram?" the soldier asked.

"Who? Eagle Eye? No. He'll out of here when the next cargo planes in tomorrow," Ram said.

"Good. Something tells me Doc wouldn't like him finding out about the Lab."

Ram snorted. "Doc sure didn't seem to like him, did she, Sin? She doesn't get it though. After flight school, Eagle Eye got absorbed into some Special Forces stuff. It's all so top secret records don't even exist. I'm inclined to think he'd be a good candidate for the test," he said.

"I think there's more to it than doing some black ops and being able to fly well," Sinclair Monning commented.

"Like being able to shoot out the eye out of a bird at a thousand yards?" Ram asked, raising a brow.

"That helps I'm sure," he said.

Tay followed them until they entered an elevator of some sort. Frowning at his complaining stomach, he jumped down from the cross beams of the passage. Not for the first time he wondered at the design of the place. The ceilings were high, and the cross beams seemed to be designed for uses similar to his.

"What were you doing up there?" Tempest asked. She was getting acquainted with what will be the infirmary when Tay dropped from the ceiling in front of her door. She looked up at the crossbeams. "How did you even get up there?" she asked, jaw dropping.

Tay scratched his cheek as he looked up. "Uh...I jumped," he answered honestly.

Tempest gave him a look of disbelief. "If you don't want to tell me, that's fine. Don't make things up," she said and closed the door in his face.

Tay sighed. It was time for food. Maybe if he could get a signal up here, he'd call his friend Kane Watanabe. A friendly voice right now would be helpful. Speaking with someone who knew he wasn't a loser would just be a bonus.

He never realized before how his life might look to outsiders since he couldn't reveal half of it. Shrugging off those thoughts he headed toward the dining room where a make-shift mess had been set up.

--/-\--

Lark Walker paged Tempest to the Lab after an accident left his right arm and the side of his face severely burned. She hated that it had to have happened that way. What she termed the Lab was filled with half finished, or almost finished, gadgets and gizmos and weapons. The computers were full of specs the original inhabitants of the city had been working on.

From what she and her experts had gathered, the alien races were called Caervinians. They'd been winged humanoid creatures. They'd had to flee their home world thousands of years before and then settled on Earth. Enemies followed. The ones who'd destroyed their world had come to do the same to Earth. They were still piecing together the history, but Lark's boss cared less about that than the technology of this lab. He wanted it operational as soon as possible.

Found in progress where what appeared to be six very advanced card readers that went on the wrist. Codes for the cards were stored in the computers and new codes could be written if necessary. Lark had more technicians to help her, but the emphasis was on getting the tech working. Period. Even if it meant one of the card readers erupting in the face of one of her tests subjects.

"The Green on appears to be broken," Sin pointed out.

"So I see," she said sharply. Tempest gave him a dark look as she treated his wounds.

"It's not as bad as it looks," Ram assured them. He hissed when Tempest applied some antiseptic to the burns. "Aiee, mamasita," he cried out.

"Baby," Tempest responded.

Lark made a note of the malfunction. "The card for the red one still hasn't been located," she said with a frown. She meant the code in the computer. They'd found no cards already made, but she has been able to manufacture cards for the rest with the supplies found in the lab. Unfortunately, hardware was not her specialty. She had to wait for more staff to arrive before they could even attempt to repair it.

An alarm sounded.

"What's that?" Gore asked her.

She went to a terminal that accessed the entire computer core for the base. "The alarm is coming from a device at the top of the Citadel," she said. She saw a symbol blinking on her screen. She touched it. A blank white area on the wall of the Lab came to life, showing them a live video of Starkweather Valley.

Green slime ooze from the ground and them assembled into several green humanoid things with wicked curved bladed weapons that also seemed to shoot laser beams.

"It's an alien alarm system. Aliens are attacking the city," she said. She turned and eyed the card reader devices. "I was hoping to actually test their Morph capabilities before they were ever needed. My other three test subjects haven't even arrived yet. There's no one else qualified o hand," she said.

Sin went over and picked up one of the readers. In actuality it was a Morpher, which tapped into an energy field known as the Morphing Grid in some circles. They allowed a person to become a Power Ranger. "Then you and Tempest will just have to fill in. You're both well trained. You're as good at karate as you are at science stuff and Tempest is a champion boxer. You'll have to do. We can't just have this technology and do nothing when the city below us is under attack," he said.

He strapped the reader to his left wrist. It was basically the shape of a face, a motif abundant in the City. This particular face had blue eyes. There was a thin slot on the left of the face for sliding the Power Cards through. He grabbed the card that went to it.

"Are you sure about this?" Tempest asked as he picked up a Morpher and handed it to her.

"Isn't this why you became a paramedic?" Ram asked. "Go to it," he urged her.

Though trepidations she took the yellow eyed Morpher.

Sin handed the pink-eyed Morpher to Lark. She took it grimly.

He noticed the face Gore made. "There's no choice," he said.

Gore nodded and picked up the black-eyed Morpher.

"Now, how do we activate these things?" Sin asked, seeing the one big flaw in his attempt to be the pep-talk guy.

Lark gave a grim smile. "DynaMorpher!" She held her arm up next to her face. The eyes glowed. "Pink Ranger Power!" She slid her card along the reader slot. A whirlwind of pink energy enveloped her.

"DynaMorpher! Blue Ranger Power!"

"DynaMorpher! Yellow Ranger Power!"

"DynaMorpher! Black Ranger Power!"

Multicolored energy enveloped each of them. The energy formed power suits, blasters and helmets.

Ranger Pink's morph suit had white bottom and pink top. A gold emblem emblazoned her chest. Like sun ray wings it was a symbol they'd come to realize the ancient Caervinians used to represent Air. Her helmet had a phoenix motif and was crested by the Caervinian sacred face.

Ranger Blue's morph suit had white bottom and blue top, a gold emblem emblazoned his chest. Fluid swirling wings were the symbol the ancient Caervinians used to represent Water. His helmet had a shark motif and crested by the sacred face.

Ranger Yellow's morph suit had white bottoms and yellow top. Dynamic Black's morph suit had white bottom and black top. Both of them had the same symbol emblazoned on their chests. More angular wings were the symbol the ancient Caervinians used to represent Earth. Yellow's helmet had a tiger motif while Black's had a snake motif. The sacred face crested both.

Pink led them to a platform that she activated. It was a teleportation platform. The four of them disappeared in multicolored flashes of light.

"So that was the big secret, huh? Power Ranger research."

Ram, still in awe over what he'd seen, jumped when he saw Taylor in the door of the lab. "Uh...er...um..." he had no idea what to say.

Tay grinned. "Don't worry about it. See ya," he said.

"Where are you going?" Ram demanded.

"To help!" Tay said with a big grin on his face.

Ram watched helplessly as Taylor ran from the lab. "What did he mean by that?" he wondered. He turned to the view screen to see what was happening.

~*~

The green foot soldiers were terrorizing people near a parking garage in the center of Starkweather Valley. People were running for their lives in fear. Starkweather had never been the subject of an alien invasion. They were usually so squared and away and peaceful that they were quite boring. The appearance of the little green men with the hideous weapons was terrifying for even the most stout hearted among them.

The aliens themselves were having a grand time destroying cars and tipping them over.

The Power Rangers appeared in the middle of them.

Black reached down into his belt and pulled out a card. "Land Axe!" He called and slid it along the DynaMorpher's reader. The card turned into a physical axe.

"Do I have one of those?" Yellow asked.

"Check the belt!" he called out as he engaged the green men.

Yellow reached into her belt and pulled out a card. Thankfully, Lark had been able to encode the cards in English. "Land Claw!" she called and slid it along her card reader. The card turned into an odd looking weapon with pincer claws on it that fit onto her hand. She used it to slash and hit the aliens.

A group of the alien warrior lined up and pointed the gun ends of their weapons at them and fired. They protected each other, Black using the flat of his axe to block while Yellow used he Claw like a shield.

"Follow my lead. These powers seem to be element based. Land Combination!" he said and lifted his axe. She raised her claw. They hit the ground at the same time. A fissure opened up in the concrete and sucked the aliens into it.

"We did that?" Yellow asked in shock.

"It appears so," Black agreed.

They didn't have to celebrate much as more of the creatures came at them.

"Sea Sniper!" Blue summoned a weapon that greatly resembled a cross bow. He pulled the trigger and a bolt of blue energy took out several aliens. He engaged several in close quarters fighting. And fire the Sniper several more times.

"Having fun yet?" he asked as he joined Black and Yellow.

"Getting there," Yellow answered. Black just grunted noncommittally.

Several creatures fire on them and tried to over run them.

"Sky Shooter!" Pink summoned an odd weapon that looked somewhat like a boogey board shaped like a rocket. She jumped and it spun around with her, shooting as she flew across the sky. She took out the aliens surround the others and landed with a wobbled. "Whoa," she gasped.

"A. Maze. Ing," Yellow declared.

"Pretty sweet," Blue agreed.

"You almost hit us," Black pointed out.

They just beginning to relax when more of the aliens oozed up from the ground. "Just when we thought it was over," Blue complained and raised his Sniper. The aliens rushed at them.

A whirlwind of red energy swept through them, blades of air send them splattering into nothingness. The whirlwind stopped before them. "Ah, this brings back memories," Taylor Hicks declared.

"You! What are you doing down here?" Pink demanded.

"How did you even get down here?" Blue asked.

"I jumped," Tay answered.

"You what? Don't make things up!" Pink shouted.

"That...sounds awfully familiar," Yellow said thoughtfully.

"What? I came to help," Tay snapped at them.

Blue shook his head. He pulled out another card from his belt. "Water Pressure!" He slid the card through the reader. Geysers of water erupted around them, taking out the remaining aliens.

Black wrapped his arm around Tay's neck. He activated a return teleport by pressing the eyes of his Morpher. The other three did the same.


-/End 01 - To Be Continued\-           

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