//------------------------------// // Episode 12: Star Light, Satellite // Story: Power Rangers SUPER Starfleet (Starfleet Humans) // by DakariKingMykan //------------------------------// EPISODE TWELVE The Congo, Africa… It was sundown there, and a kindly lady was walking home from with a bag of groceries in her hand, when suddenly a man dashed by and stole her purse! “My purse!” the lady cried “Stop that man!” The man pulled out a gun as he ran warning the people, “Anyone who tries DIES!!” and his threat seemed to work as the people backed off… except for one person-- Lightning Dawn, who came leaping from around a corner and kicked the gun out of the man’s hand. The man, still deterred grabbed another gun out from his coat, but before he could try and use it, Krysta came soaring in and snatched the gun away, leaving the man to face Lightning hand-to-hand, but of course he didn’t have a chance against martial arts that Lightning knew, and he was knocked out cold after one good kick to the chest and hitting his head on the ground. Lightning returned the purse to the woman, and she was ever so grateful. “How can I ever repay you?” she humbly asked, and Lightning replied “I’m looking for someone. Her name is Zecora…” The woman suddenly turned frightened and ran away in fear. “No, wait…!” Lightning called but she had already gone, and so had everyone else when they heard him mention that name. “Ugh! This happens every time!” Lightning groaned. Krysta landed on his shoulder, “It’s getting late, let’s just go back to the hotel room.” Lightning agreed, and off he went. He had just arrived in The Congo two days ago, and he asked people if they knew about Zecora, but every time he asked, the people would run away scared. “Well, I guess we’ll just have to check out the jungle tomorrow.” Lightning said. “I was afraid of that.” murmured Krysta, but she knew it was vital to their mission to find Zecora or any clues that could help them find her. “I wonder what the others are up to.” Krysta wondered. It was only midday on Mystic Island, and Sunset was in the park by herself starring at a single large rock on the ground before her. “Okay… come on, Sunset. You can do this.” she said to herself, and she held her hands out over the rock and stared at it hard. The rock began to glow softly in a white light and it quivered, but then it just stopped, and Sunset groaned, “No, no… come on!” and she tried even harder, only to make the rock explode and throwing her back. Everyone else in the park turned to face her way. Twilight and Spike, out on their usual walk, saw her and dashed over to help their friend. “Are you okay?” Twilight asked. “What were you doing?” added Spike, but he spoke softly so as not for other people to hear him. Sunset got back onto her feet and brushed off her clothes, “I was trying to home in on my natural magic, but it’s just not working. I thought maybe it could help us if The Sirens try to attack again.” Twilight and Spike thought that a great idea and maybe it would give the ranger team another edge in the long battle ahead. “Come on, let’s go to the base.” said Twilight “We can try running some tests.” Sunset leapt at the idea, and off they went… far, far away from the park and away from prying eyes so they could use a jump-tub, and they headed off to the base. (Que Intro) At the prison tower, Bronc showed his latest creation, via the computer screens, to The Sirens, “Behold, Mi-Ladies… this satellite shall be put into the planet’s orbit. Once it is established, you will have the power to transmit your enchanted singing into powerful electronic-waves.” The Sirens took great interest in the images they saw, “And with this,” said Adagio “Anyone who is anywhere will fall under our trance.” “Mmm… I like this, a lot.” hissed Aria. Keto cleared his throat, “Hate to be a wet blanket, but what if the rangers get wise to us?” “We’ve thought of that,” said Sonata “We asked Marla to select a special monster to keep us backed up. What’s taking her so long?” That’s when Marla came in and cleared her throat, “Presenting a monster very dazzling, not as good as me, but just the same… Starlight!” Starlight: A beautiful monster wearing a white and silvery shining outfit and skirt with big stars all over. Her skin was all gold and shimmering and she had long hair, almost as long as Marla’s, with more stars and shimmers. As well as being able to traverse through space, she had the power to shoot laser beams out of her eyes, launch pulse blasts from her hair, and throw her stars like shurikens “Twinkle-Twinkle, I’m ready for a fight.” she hissed. Adagio snickered as she and the other two stroked their pendants, “…It’s blast off time. We’re going to rock the world.” At the base, Twilight ran all the tests that she could and invited the other rangers to watch and help if needed. Sunset was sitting in a chair, and around her head she wore a band of wires that were connected into machines that would help her focus. “Okay, Sunset, try it again.” Twilight said as she placed a simple tennis ball on the table before her. Sunset took a deep breath and relaxed as Twilight activated the machines. Fluttershy twitched nervously, and she squeezed Rhymey’s hand making him groan softly, but he, too, was just as nervous. “Okay, here goes…” Sunset said, and she focussed her sight on the ball, concentrating hard. The machines began to hum and vibrate, getting louder and stronger as Sunset continued to focus. The ball began to quiver. It seemed to be working, but suddenly the whole table began to vibrate, and the warning buzzer sounded. “System overload!” cried Twilight. “Quick! Shut it all down!” shouted Celesto. Sunset gasped and stopped herself, and quickly threw the headband off just as just as sparks began to fly from some of the consoles! The rangers all ducked down and everything powered down before too much damage was done. The rangers helped Sunset up. “Are you alright?” asked Buddy. “What happened?” added Rainbow. “I don’t know…” groaned Sunset, but Twilight inspected the damage, “The circuitry overloaded and shorted out. It was too much for it to handle.” Celesto shook his head, “It’s too dangerous to continue like this. We can’t keep risking our equipment or Sunset. I think we should forget this for now.” The team reluctantly agreed. “I don’t understand it. It’s worked several times before.” Sunset recounted during the final battle with Vulcan, and how her natural magic activated, even though she didn’t have her energizer, her magic saved them all and put Vulcan out of commission for good. Then the magic was present again when the rangers were almost broiled alive in Fryer’s pot. If the magic hadn’t kicked in, they all would have been cooked! “Never mind, Sunset.” said Celesto, and he addressed the team “Anyway, I have a new mission for you all.” Everyone followed him to the main chamber where he showed them his latest idea on the monitors; a satellite in orbit around the Earth. “This is part of my company. It helps to monitor our accounts and phone signals, but now we’re going to make a little adjustment.” He typed into the console and showed a simulation of a big dish being attached to the satellite, “This adjustment with launch a powerful but harmless field of high-frequency waves that can block out The Sirens hypnotic powers.” The rangers were highly impressed with all this. “And that means The Sirens won’t be able to brainwash people and use them to their advantage.” said Buddy. “Exactly.” added Celesto “We head out at once.” “Wait… “We?” asked Fluttershy. “Yes. I’m coming with you this time” replied Celesto, and the team looked at him with concern, “Well, do you any of you know how to tinker with satellites? Do any of you even know how to spacewalk?” The rangers stammered, but it was obvious they didn’t, and would need Celesto’s experience as an astronaut. “Right, that’s settled. Prepare the star-jets.” Soon, the star jets were prepared with the dish mounted atop Sunset’s jet. Celesto got out one of his old spacesuits and extra oxygen and he hugged Celestia warmly. “I’m really worried about you doing this.” she whispered to him. Her husband understood; the past several times he went into space he ended up in grave danger, “Well, third time lucky.” he joked nervously, “I have to do this, or The Sirens will have a free hand. You understand, right?” Celestia nodded, and she kissed him deeply, which brought tears to some of the rangers’ eyes. Celesto then pecked the babies heads, “You two behave now.” he said sweetly them, and the babies only cooed while reaching up at their father. “Good luck, Celesto.” said Luna. Her brother-in-law nodded, and then he fit his helmet on. “Okay, let’s begin.” The rangers, already morphed, put on their own helmets and beamed into their respective jets. Celesto road in the extra seat behind Sunset, and the jets were tilted upright on a launching ramp. “Radio check, Rangers…” Sunset called, and her other teammates called to her. “Green Ranger: read to fly.” “Blue Ranger: Let’s kick it.” “Yellow Ranger: Ready and Steady.” “Pink Ranger: Um… Okay.” Celesto nodded, “… Three, Two, One… launch!” POW!! The thrusters fired and the jets rocketed into the sky. “WHAA-HOO!! I Love this part!” cried Rainbow. The other rangers sat back and enjoyed the ride too, but Fluttershy still felt frightened out of her wits every time, but she tried her best not to scream. Meanwhile, the villains had observed everything and were well aware what the rangers were up to. “Get up there, quickly!” Adagio shouted, “Whatever it takes, don’t let them get their satellite in orbit.” “Right…! Time for this star to shine!” said Starlight, and she glowed with a mystical light and rocketed up into the sky, and at the same time, Bronc sent up the satellite on a small rocket he had built, which was coated in the same metals as the tower, meaning that no earth force could detect it. Even the rangers couldn’t detect it. Ket even aimed his staff up high at Starlight, “FORTISSIMO!” and made her grow in midair. “There, that should give her a boost. Let’s see the rangers get out of this one.” The rangers had made it into orbit, and were approaching the satellite target. Sunset parked her jet on free float several feet away. “Okay, we’re in position. She’s all yours, sir.” “Here I go.” said Celesto, and with the canopy slowly opening, Celesto slowly began to rise out of his seat, using hit suit thrusters to keep steady. “Twilight, have you got a lock on us?” From the base, Twilight viewed everything on the monitors and the radar. “Everything’s A-Okay. You’re clear to proceed. We got your family here too.” The two sisters sat in chairs right next to her, and each holding one of the babies in their laps. “Wave high to Daddy…” Celestia cooed waving Castor’s little arm and Luna wave Lelani’s Celesto chuckled over the radio, and then he set to work while the rangers maintained a constant vigil. They wanted to make sure nothing bad would happen to Celesto this time. “If anything happens to you this time, We’ll be here to help you on a dime.” said Rhymey. “Thanks, Rhymey. It makes this job feel all the more easy.” said Celesto, and he set to work reconfiguring the satellite systems so the dish could be attached. “How’s the view looking?” The rangers looked around in astonishment at the wonders of space all around them, and their beautiful planet below. “It’s so beautiful. So silent.” said Fluttershy. Spike felt a little envious of the others as he viewed everything on the screens, “I wish I could be up there. It looks so cool.” Twilight stroked him softly, “Maybe someday, Spike.” Buddy looked all around, and suddenly he thought he saw something! “Buddy, what’s wrong?” asked Sunset. “It’s nothing; I just saw a small shooting star in the atmosphere. I guess I’m just a little edgy. I keep thinking something’s going to happen any second.” “Ah, don’t let it get to you.” said Rainbow “There’s nothing out here that’ll get at us.” …Right at that split second, “Rangers, alert!” cried Twilight. “I think you spoke too soon.” said Fluttershy. “What’s up, Twilight?” asked Sunset. “I’ve detected a strong sign of alien activity heading straight your way. It only just came up on the screen. I don’t know where it came from through.” The rangers checked their radars and could see a little blip a-ways ahead of them and heading their way. “We’ve got to check it out.” said Buddy. Fluttershy looked over at Celesto, “We can’t just leave you.” “I’ll be fine; you rangers go and stop whatever that is. I’ll call you when I’ve finished here. Now go!” Heeding this, the rangers rocketed off in their jets. “Look sharp guys, it’s coming up fast.” said Sunset. Suddenly, almost without warning, there was a bight twinkle in the distance and something zoomed past the five jets spinning them round in circles. The rangers quickly leveled themselves off, “What the heck was that?” snapped Buddy. “That, Rangers…” snarled a deep voice, “…was the beginning of your defeat.” The Rangers could all see the monster clear as the stars themselves. “Get her!” shouted Sunset, and she and the rangers pointed their jets straight at Starlight, but before they could even pull their weapon triggers, Starlight zoomed past them all again spinning them out like crazy. “I can’t stand this whirl! I think I may hurl!” shouted Rhymey. The rangers leveled off, but Starlight zoomed past them again spinning them in the other direction. Then she stopped, “Now have a taste of the stars!” and she fluffed out her long hair, firing a barrage of pulse blasts pulse-blasts at the spinning jets. The poor rangers were rocked about harder than ever. “I’m gonna blow chunks everywhere!” Rainbow cried. Starlight laughed hysterically and mockingly sang, “Twinkle-Twinkle, Power Geeks, You’re going go down in star-streaks!” From afar, Celesto looked up and he couldn’t bear to watch this too much longer as it distracted him from his work. “Rangers, form the megazord. Then you won’t spin out as much.” Sunset, just barely hanging on, complied. “He’s right!” she groaned “Let’s bring it together guys.” The rangers all sickly called, “RIGHT!” and they activated the transformation-sequence. “Zords Combine!” “Jet-Star Megazord, Ready!” The rangers all felt a little better as they sat in the cockpit. “All right, let’s try this again.” said Sunset. “Ha!” scoffed Starlight “You think I’m impressed? Take this!” and she zoomed past them again. “Firing jet thrusters!” shouted Rainbow, and powerful rockets fired from beneath the megazords feet, which stopped them from spinning out. “Good thing we had those installed.” said Fluttershy. “Sure makes it easier to fight in space.” added Buddy “Oh, yeah?” sneered the monster, and she grabbed three of the stars off her dress and toss them like shurikens, hitting the megazord hard and rocking the rangers inside. “That’s it! Now I’m mad!” snarled Rainbow, and she rammed on the controls making the megazord thrust forth, “Bye-Bye!” Starlight said as she zipped out of the way. “Where’d she go?” asked Fluttershy. “Can’t say so.” rhymed Rhymey. Suddenly, lasers began to shoot all around them. “She’s bombarding us!” cried Sunset. “Really…? I didn’t notice!” snapped Buddy. Suddenly, there she was just ahead of them, waving and taunting, “You-hoo! Here I am!” The rangers zoomed at her, only for her zip off instantly. “Hey! Over here!” “She’s toying with us!” growled Rainbow. “We’ve got to try and stop her!” What the rangers didn’t realize was the monster was only distracting them to allow Bronc’s satellite to assemble itself in orbit, a little ways away from the battle zone. Bronc snickered wickedly, “The satellite is in perfect orbit. Power levels at full and ready to go. When you’re ready, Mistresses…” Adagio smirked, “Well done, Bronc. This is going to be sweet.” Marl and Keto felt insulted. “What about us?” whined Marla “I chose the monster.” “Yeah, and I made her grow.” wailed Keto. “Yeah, yeah, whatever.” said Aria “Let’s just take over the world first and then comment one another.” “Come on, let’s jam!” said Sonata, and she and the others warmed up their voices as they stepped up to a microphone linked to the satellite controls, and they began to sing of their own songs: “Under our Spell!” As they sang, the minions, the Lingos, practically all the prisoners in the tower grooved to the beat, while at the same time, the sound was beamed up to the satellite and transmitted in soundwaves all over the world. People in the streets suddenly stopped dead in their tracks as they head the music. People who were in bed and asleep awoke to the sound. Even Lightning and Krysta heard the song in The Congo, “What’s that sound?” asked Krysta. “I don’t know,” said Lightning “But it feels so…” he didn’t finish as his eyes glowed green and he began to groove to the cool beat, and Krysta did the same, as did everyone anywhere who heard the sound. However, within the rangers’ base, Twilight and the others were unaffected due to being too far underground, and the strong metallic padding of the metal shielded them as well. The alarms sounded, making the babies cry! “Oh, it’s okay, kids. It’s okay….” Celestia said as she and Luna comforted the babies. “Kill hose alarms!” Luna called out, and the alarms were switched off. “What’s going on?” Spike asked. Twilight typed into the computers and could see the people in the streets all acting strangely and some strange music playing in the air. “It’s The Sirens!” cried Twilight, “But I don’t see them anywhere.” Luna and Celestia looked at the monitors and judged by the many people affected at once, “The must be transmitting their song somehow.” said Luna. “Can you detect the source?” asked Celestia. “No, I can’t. The signal’s locked out, I can’t trace it, but it has to be from somewhere.” Celestia picked up the mic and spoke to her husband, “Celesto…!” “Yes, Celestia, I heard.” replied Celesto, “There can only be one explanation…” he looked up and could see just a little ways towards the horizon a soft glowing light form another satellite, not of Earth-Design. “Rangers, you must destroy that satellite!” The rangers understood, except they were still being taunted and attacked mercilessly by Starlight, “Kind of preoccupied here!” Rainbow said. Celesto groaned, “Twilight, can you send up the Comet Striker?” “Negative! The sound waves are interfering with the summon control.” Celesto sighed, and clenched his fists, “I guess it’s up to me then. I’ll have to destroy it myself.” “What?!” snapped Celestia “Honey, don’t!” “Are you crazy?!” added Spike. “There’s no argument! I have to!” said Celesto, and he fired his jets and leaping hard off his own satellite. “I hope my fuel supply can hold out.” The monster was so busy having fun beating the rangers up that she didn’t see the tiny astronaut going past her. “You rangers haven’t a chance!” she thundered, “I am master of all the cosmos. This is my domain, where I rule!” and with that, she blasted the rangers hard with her laser, and threw more stars at them making the megazord flip over and over backward. “I’m getting really tired of this spinning!” groaned Fluttershy, and she reached for the controls to correct the rotation, “No, wait…!” snapped Sunset “I think I have an idea, just trust me.” “Ugh… I hope we can hold out! In all this tumbling…Ooh… about!” groaned Rhymey. The monster gazed at the tumbling megazord and taunted “What’s wrong, Rangers, feeling space sick? Well, let me put you out of your misery!” and she prepared to sprint forth, exactly what Sunset waited for. “Now…!” The megazord drew it’s saber and gave a huge slash just as Starlight was about to ram it, hitting her hard and making a big explosion that sent her tumbling backwards! “Hey! You can’t do that! It’s not fair!” she whined. The megazord finally straightened out and looked ready to face her. The monster was livid, “I’ll show you!” and she dashed forth, but much slower than before due to being struck so hard. “It’s worked!” cried Sunset “That should level the field a bit.” The megazord could now avoid Starlight’s attacks much easier, and hit her with its own attacks full force. “Take this!” shouted Starlight as threw more stars, “Think again!” sneered Rainbow, and she fired the rockets boosting the megazord way up avoiding the stars, then soaring down hard and ramming the monster sending her down towards Earth, but she rocketed right back up again, “Why you…!” she thundered and extended her hair. “Look out!” cried Fluttershy. Starlight unleashed a barrage of pulse-blasts and fired her eye-lasers. The megazord swerved round the blasts, and used its sword to block more shots, but still got hit by other blasts. At least they were keeping the monster well distracted as Celesto finally reached the alien satellite. “The Sirens’ little operation is about to have a mechanical accident.” He said to himself as he prepared move in and sabotage the machine, but suddenly, before he could start, the satellite fired another beam at him and held him in place. “Celesto!” cried Celestia. “Oh, no!” added Luna. The rangers saw this as well, “Mr. Grandruler!” cried Sunset. “What’s happening to him?” asked Rainbow. A small monitor-screen came out from the satellite, and Bronc appeared on it, laughing at them. “Just a little precaution I took.” Celesto struggled and fired his jets to the point of exhausting the last of his fuel, but he couldn’t break free from the tractor-beam. “You let him go right now! Or we’ll bust you, and how!” shouted Rhymey, but the rangers were suddenly rocked about, as Starlight latched onto the megazord, grasping it hard to prevent it from moving at all. “We’ve got a better idea…” she hissed “You rangers surrender, and we just may not throw your precious leader down to Earth.” The rangers were flustered! Neither one of them, not even Celesto could see a way out of this so easily. Worse than that, every second they delayed, The Sirens’ soundwaves continued to spread and affected more and more people all over the world. “Time’s wasting, Rangers,” Bronc called “What’s it going to be? Or perhaps I should make things a little more persuasive!” With that, he pressed a controller he was holding which extended a claw like crane and placed it round Celesto’s helmet, threatening to crush it and expose him to the deadliness of space. Celesto reached up and pushed on the claws as hard as he could, but of course the weightlessness didn’t help him find the push he needed. “Surrender while you can, Rangers, or say farewell to your friend here first!” The rangers pushed on the controls all they could, but the megazord couldn’t break free from Starlight’s grip, and the claw was starting to close in round Celesto’s helmet. Celestia, tearfully looked away from the computers and buried her face in her sister’s shoulder. Even Spike couldn’t look and jumped into Twilight’s lap, whimpering. Sunset watched in horror and extreme worry as this seemed to be it. She then looked down at her hands, clenched them into fists and decided to try one last idea. She stood up from her seat. “What are you doing?” Rainbow asked. Sunset then held both her hands at the viewport and concentrated. “Sunset, don’t…!” cried Buddy, but Sunset began to glow brightly as she focussed on the alien satellite, which also began to glow. “What?!” snapped Bronc, “What’s happening?!” he fiddled with the controls all he could, but nothing responded, and his monitor went out as the magic got stronger. The megazord started to glow too, “Hey… Hey…! What is this?!” shouted Starlight. The megazord began to quiver as it gained strength and power back, and the rangers weren’t even touching the controls. In a swift shock, the megazord sprung its arms and legs out, knocking the monster off, and the alien satellite began to malfunction and spark from within, deactivating its tractor beam, freeing Celesto. Sunset then gave a huge roar, and POW!! Like magic, the satellite was kicked out of orbit like a soccer-ball, and headed straight for the sun, crashing into it and was gone! “My satellite!” shouted Bronc. “OUR TRANSMISSION!!” cried The Sirens With the satellite gone, the transmission waves ceased, and the people slowly began to awaken from the spell all over the world, including Lightning and Krysta. “They did it!” cried Twilight. Celestia turned and wiped her eyes smiling in relief. Sunset’s magic ceased, “I did it!” she cried “I really did it!” “Way to go!” cried Rainbow. “Awesome!” added Buddy. The monster was outraged! “You think it’s over? I’ll blast you rangers into stardust!” Sunset sat down at her station, “Not before we fix you! Star Saber Power up!” “Star Saber… Engage!” The saber was powered up and ready! “STAR SLASH… GO!!” shouted the rangers, and the megazord slashed at the monster sending the large star straight for her. “Whoa!” Starlight cried as she tried to dash for it, but she foolishly couldn’t outfly or avoid it and got struck hard. “FALLING STAR…!!” she hollered as she exploded just like that. She was imprisoned and beamed inside the cockpit. “Well done, Rangers!” Celesto called to them. The team at the base rejoiced as well as the rangers, and Sunset made the call, “Monster Captured! Mission Complete!” “Um… not quite complete.” said Celesto “We still have one job left. The rangers remembered, and then made the megazord scooped him up in its hand and took back to their own satellite to finish the installment. Meanwhile, the villains were all outraged. “I can’t believe they got out of it, again!” whined Marla. Bronc angrily threw his remote to the ground, smashing it to bits. “How did they do it?” The Sirens, as frustrated as they were, could already tell the problem, “Red Ranger must be homing in on her natural magic.” said Adagio “She used it on us once before. Nothing else could explain it.” “Well that’s just dandy.” grumbled Keto “What if she learns to master it? We won’t have a chance against the rangers.” “Quit your whining…!” snarled Aria “It’s obvious she hasn’t mastered them, which still leaves us with an open edge. We’ll just have to work harder to beat them all the next time before it gets worse.” Sonata nodded, and then she asked “That means we’ll win right?” The other two and the minions could only sigh in annoyance. “…What?” With the satellite finally reprogramed and adjusted, it was already doing its think and firing its filter-waves into the air around the world. Now The Sirens wouldn’t be able to hypnotize people with their music anymore. “Well done, Rangers.” said Celesto as he sat atop the megazord overlooking the Earth below “But even with this satellite, we haven’t stopped The Sirens entirely. They will strike again. Who knows what other mysterious powers they may have?” The rangers all agreed, but they were all still curious about Sunset and her magic. “How did you do it?” asked Buddy. “I’m not sure.” Sunset confessed, “I tried and tried before and it didn’t work like it just did.” Rhymey thought it over and recounted the past times the magic had been used perfectly. “Perhaps it is because of all the danger there was. You hated to see any of us in danger, and all the world too. That could be the answer of why the magic worked for you.” “He could be right…” said Fluttershy “After all, we normally only use our super powers for good cause and reason.” “Yeah, but what about our super strengths and speeds?” asked Rainbow, to which Buddy responded, “That’s naturally enhanced genes. They were given to us by magic, but it’s not quite the same as the magical powers Sunset used.” Regardless of any of this, at least they had a clue to help Sunset regain control of her powers, but they all decided that this would come in time. For now, they all just headed back down to Earth to await their next mission.