A Heroes' Welcome
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A Heroes' Welcome
by Rob Ketcherside
Rated: Unrated
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In 2086, two peaceful aliens journeyed to Earth, seeking our help. In exchange, they gave us the plans for our first hyperdrive, allowing mankind to open the door to the stars. We have assembled a team of unique individuals to protect the Earth and its allies: Courageous pioneers committed to the highest ideals of justice, and dedicated to preserving law and order acrossed the new frontier. These are the adventures of the GalaxyRangers.
Into these worlds of unknown danger they ride. They're the Galaxy Rangers; live in the sky. No guts no glory... oh taking a stand.. Ready to prove it again
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A Heroes' Welcome
"I wonder what Commander Walsh has in store for us this time?" Niko said, as she and Goose walked down a corridor in Beta Mountain towards Walsh's assigned meeting place.
"I don't know, but whatever it is, he seemed pretty anxious earlier." Goose responded, running his hand through his blond hair.
"Yeah, I guess we will find out soon enough." she supplied. After a moment of awkward silence (for her, at any rate), she asked, "Shane, I need to put in some time at the Zero-G training center.. do you think you'll be free after the this to come with me?"
Goose, noticing a waver in her voice, replied "Sure, Niko. I'd be happy to."
"Good" Niko smiled sidelong at Goose as they rounded the last corner.
Opening the door to Q-Ball's main facility, Ranger Niko suddenly remembered the first time she entered this door.. the strange bits of half memory on the operating table.. and waking up some time later, with the Series 5 implant, its wonderful enhancing abilities, and the friends she had gained since then.. including the handsome, apparantly blind man who stood next to her.. perhaps today she would say something..
Commander Walsh greeted them as they entered the door, "Niko, Gooseman, I'm sure you're wondering why I asked you to stop by this afternoon." As he said this, three people entered the room from a now seldom used door, causing Niko and Goose's eyes to open wide. "I'm sure the both of you remember your own trips beyond that door, and the implications of thesethree leaving it. I'd like the two of you to meet Eris Collier, Cedric Kohl, and Shannon McNall... our three newest carriers of the Series 5implants. Eris, Kohl, McNall, you must already be familiar with RangersNiko and Gooseman, half of our already existing team."
Niko, still in shock, looked over the three new Series 5s, noting thatthey seemed a bit out of sorts.. Ranger Kohl was fairly tall, andalthough not overwhelmingly so, was in obviously good physical condition,like all Rangers. His long black hair was a bit out of place, with theoverwhelming majority of male Rangers having short hair, not only becauseit had come back into style in the 80s, but because long hair was lookeddown upon by the military in general. Looking at Eris, Niko almost feltsick. This woman was beautiful! A quick eye to Goose confirmed that he wasappreciating this fact a bit too much. Eris had slightly curled, shoulderlength brown hair, a warm smile, and a body that caused Niko, normallyvery sure of herself, to become a bit self-conscious. Eris' full eyelasheswere batting quite often as she obviously tried to take in her feeling ofpower. Shannon was noticibly less attractive. Not necessarillyunattractive, she simply seemed to not care about appearance as much asNiko or Eris, or at least not have a natural ability to make herself lookbetter. She stood a little shorter than Eris, and had short brown hair.Having never heard of these three as having special abilities of any sort,Niko wondered what abilities they had that warranted the implants.
Seeming to read her mind, Q-Ball began explaining the situation.
"As you know, when we gave you guys your implants, it was to augmentabnormal abilities that you already have. Well, I've always thought 'Whatwould have happened if we gave the implant to a "regular" person?'.. andthe Federation just gave us the go ahead to continue the Sereies 5program. We've installed the implants in the three rangers standingbefore you, and we have more on the table as we speak. After sometesting, we'll be able to determine what Eris, Shannon, and Cedric'spowers are, but as yet, we haven't a clue. We suspect that it will feedoff of their major attributes, and Cedric, being a mathemetician, may beable to calculate at extreme rates of speed, possibly faster than anyknown computer. Shannon, with her background as a physicist, may be ableto manipulate matter, or bend the laws of physics. As for Eris, acommunications specialist, we hope she will be able to either talk withany manner of creature, or possibly be telepathic.. but we really have noidea. [to the three] We've set up a special lab for you to test your newimplants.. so, if you'll indulge us?"
They had all moved to a room that, for one wall, had a large, thickwindow. It overlooked a training center, and various objects had been setup around the room. As Q-ball talked, he had been powering up a stasisfield around the room.
"Cedric, why don't you go in first?" suggested Commander Walsh.
Cedric nodded and went down the stairs into the chamber. As he reachedthe middle, Q-ball put the protective statis field at maximum. Glancingover to Goose he said, "We really don't know what will happen. Be readywith your implant to go in there."
"Alright, let's do it," said Walsh.
--Ranger Cedric Kohl set his feet apart, and leaned his head back. Takingin a deep breath and firmly shutting his eyes, he slowly brought his righthand up to his badge on the left side of his chest. He could sense awarmth over his entire body as the charge took control, and there was aglowing light over his eyes. And then it was over, and nothing hadhappened.. he looked around, but nothing had changed at all. Looking upto the window, he said "Commander Walsh, it appears that nothing hashappened." But there was no response. "Sir?" With a quizzical look heheaded back up the stairs. At the top he waited for Q-Ball to take downthe shield, but nothing happend. As he used the emergency control to turnoff the statis field form the inside, he noticed la ow roar that wasgathering in volume form the viewing room. He punched in the code, andpulled the lever, but the door didn't open, although he could see thefield retreating. And then he thought 'Wait.. I can >see< the field?This thing is moving at light speed, and there is no way I should be ableto see it.' And then he noticed the door had opened a crack. 'What inthe name of Killian? Something seems unnatural.' He went back down tothe floor of the training room, and looked back up at Commander Walsh andthe others in the window. They were all there, but they were juststanding still. The dull roar had ended form the viewing room, but now,from somewhere in the walls, another roar was beginning, and he could seethat the red emergency lights were lit. Cedric went back up to the door,and found that it had opened far enough for him to squeeze through. Heentered the viewing room, and just after he had gotten through the door hesaw the statis field going up again. He looked around, and just asbefore, everyone was standing motionless. .. Or almost. He saw that Erishad a look of terror on her face, and Q-Ball and Commander Fox wereobviously shocked. Shannon had her brow furrowed, in possibleconcentration. It seemed that Niko was in the process of grabbing Goose'sright arm, and Goose had his left arm half raised. But, after looking atGoose for a few seconds, he could almost see Goose moving. And lookingback at Eris he saw her eyes closed, where he could have sworn she hadthem open before.
And then he realized his stupidity and hit his badge again. As before,he was surrounded by a warm feeling, but unlike before when the warmthseemed to almost eminate from him, this time it seemed to be drawing back.As the warmth went away completely, suddenly everyone else was movingnormally again.
"Kohl!! What happened to you!" yelled Commander Walsh.
Standing dumbly, Cedric almost didn't notice Eris run over and hug him."Co-commander, I don't know if I can answer that."
"How did you get in the viewing room?" demanded Gooseman.
"Wonderful! He must be able to teleport, with a slight delay! He wasdown in the training room, and then a few seconds later he appears uphere! Strange that it drained off the statis field, though." exclaimedQ-Ball, his mind already hard at work solving the problems of physicsinvolved.
"No, Q, I don't think so. After I hit the badge, I still felt normal,but everything else seemed to be moving slowly. I had to wait for thedoor to open, and when I entered the room, you were all standing almoststill, but just moving."
Just then five security men burst into the room from the corridor,"Commander, what is the emergency??"
Commander Walsh looked up at the lights, "Sorry, I forgot I hit thealarm just after Cedric disappeared." Hitting the button again, he said"Don't worry, there's no emergency."
On cue, Cedric collapsed into Eris' arms, and she supplied "But maybe weshould get him checked?"
--Cedric had been taken off to the medical lab, and Eris stood in thetraining room, wondering if he was alright, and contemplating what she wasabout to do.. she really had no idea what would happen when she pressedthe badge at her waist.. or even if it would be significant enough towarrant her being part of the team wtih Zachary, Niko, and the others..and obviously Cedric, with his time-powers. Ah well.. only one way tofind out. And if it caused her death, well, at least then all of thequestions that had plagued her about the afterlife would be answered..And so, she, too, prepared to test her abilities. The shield had beenraised, locking her in, should anything go wrong. Her legs, unlikeCedric, were together, and as she held her left arm out she bent her kneesaway to the left, and turned her head to the side.. and she touched herbadge with her right hand...
A warm sensation passed over her, starting in her head and working downto her feet. A glow seemed to be infront of her eyes, and then she wasfloating. She was in the same position as before, but she was somehowfloating, and everything seemed different. And then she had a secondperception, much dimmer than her first, of fallling. And yet she remainedstanding. And then she noticed what was different.. There was no noise,no smell, no feeling.. only sight. She tried to walk around, but noticedthat as she thought of moving forward, she simply floated forward. Atthis pont, the red emergency lights had begun flashing, and Goose wasruning down the stairs, the stasis field reenergizing behind him. He ranup and >through< her, crouching down behind her. She looked back at him,and he was crouched >over< her body, while she looked on from above.Suddenly, it hit her: she must be doing something like astral projecting!Goose looked back at the window and yelled something in obvious anxiety.She tried to comfort him, but she couldnt' say anything. About to returnto her body, she had a notion: 'Why don't I check in on Cedric?', andwilled herself from the training room to the Med Center. As she gotfurther away, she noticed a definite resistance, a pull back towards herbody. She made it rather quickly to the Med Center, and saw Cedric on acomfortable table being looked over by a too-comfortable nurse. A bitmiffed, Eris made the will as of punching the Nurse, and as her handpassed through the nurse's head, her eyes rolled up and she fell over. Abit worried about what she had done, Eris moved over closer to Cedric,nonetheless. She made as if to gently carress his cheek, but her handpassed barely into his skin, and suddenly she could feel a warmth passingthrough her hand to and from him, causing his eyelids to flittere a bit.Glancing at the nurse, Eris had second thoughts, and returned quickly toher body.. which was now being carried quickly to the Med Center itself.Not knowing quite what to do, she touched her spiritual badge and willed areturn.
Suddenly sound and smell and taste and touch all returned in a rush. Abit disoriented, she was still able to say "Wait, I'm fine!"
Goose, who had been carrying her to the Med Center, stopped and set heron her feet, holding her shoulder to support her as she got used to reality.
The rest of the group, who had been following the faster Gooseman,caught up quickly.
"If I may quote myself, 'What hapened to you'?" Commander Walsh demanded.
"Yes, you were dead!" exclaimed Q-ball.
"I astral projected" said Eris, with a smug look on her face.
"You what?!" Niko said, obviously a bit jealous.
"I astral projected" repeated Eris.
"What in the name of Laura does that have to do with Communications?"inquired Q-Ball, obviously unsure what was going on.
"I dont know, Q-Ball, but I've always been extremely interested in deathand what happens after it, and many aspects of the occult, astralprojecting included."
"Well, let's get back to the training room, and see what suprisesShannon has for us, eh?" suggested Walsh."
--Ranger Shannon McNall lightly went down the steps to the traning room,the statis shield powering up to full strength behind her. Q and theCommander had questioned her about any hobbies they should know about, butshe had replied that to get where she was, she had had to devote her timeto physics, but she hadn't just studied hard because she had to... sheloved physics, and all its aspects (especially the now-disregardedpotentials of Nuclear Physics). Having watched the other two be overdramatic and draw out there tests, she simply walked to the center of theroom and pressed her badge on her waist.
A warmth passed over her body, and a glow formed in front of her eyesfor a moment. As the charge took over, she felt control over all aroundher. She could almost feel power riplling forth from her. Adn she couldalmost sense every molecule around her. She narrowed her focus on a spaceof air, and began to survey it more closely, as her eyes suddenly couldsee on the atomic level.
"Shannon, what's going on down there?" she heard Commander Walsh sayover the intercom.
"Commander, I feel as if I have complete control of all around me. Ithought I could sense the molecules, and can now actually see on an atomiclevel"
Q-ball's jaw dropped, and everyone in the room's eyes increaseddramatically in size.
"I wonder..." said Ranger Shannon McNall, thinking back to the days ofnuclear reactors. "All that energy, stored in one tiny atom.."
--BETA Mountain shook.
In the training room, the stasis field was flickering, every bit of matterwithin its boundaries now gone. The window had shattered, and CommanderWalsh and Q-Ball had somehow gotten down under the control panel. Goosehad metamorphed and was covering Niko. Eris had luckily left earlier to bewith Cedric. The Commander was the first one to rise.
"My god!! What happened to Shannon?" he demanded of someone.
Q-ball, too, had arisen. "Everything in the room is gone! Her withit.. maybe she teleported?" he suggested, although he had already triedthis thought.
Goose changed back to normal. "Commander Walsh, I think she split an atom."
"My god..." repeated Commander Walsh
--The birds returned to their nests on BETA mountain, the rivers flowed downits side. On a far coast, the ocean lapped on the pebbly beach.Somewhere on Earth children were born.. and on Kirwin.. and on Tortuna..but in the darks of BETA mountain, a Ranger fell. A human overstepped analready wavering line. And the others tried to move on.
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Somewhere in the future, far away from here.
Trouble is waiting, on the last frontier.
Into these worlds of unknown dangers they ride.
They're the Galaxy Rangers, live in the sky!
No guts no glory... oh, taking a stand!
Ready to do it again
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Written by Robert Ketcherside
https://groups.google.com/" rel="nofollow" data-email-masked="">[email protected]
Finished 5/16/93