trans_9 | Empty Hallowed Halls [Open]

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Empty Hallowed Halls [Open]

How could Billy have missed this heart-wrenchingly familiar structure on all his prior trips to the City?

On a test flight of the RADBUG's improved engine, he'd happened to turn his head just the right way and spot the unmistakable scroll-like tops of a building that had been his second home for so long. The second it was spotted in the distance, he changed course and brought the car into a descent. Moments later he parked just outside the ground-level entrance.

So the only confirmed remnants of my world are myself, my Zord, the RADBUG, and the Command Center. Perhaps Tenaya as well, but her world seems to be radically altered. I highly doubt that Zordon and Alpha are inside waiting for me, but I need to investigate.

It pained him to admit it, but he was afraid of what he would (or wouldn't) find. But a Ranger never backed away from a potentially tricky situation. Even if they had to call for backup, which Billy decided would be wise when entering an abandoned building. In seconds, a quick note was typed out on his omnicom and posted.

As Billy studied the exterior he hadn't seen in what he guessed must have been almost a year, he turned his Power Coin in his palm. It seemed to feel more charged than usual. Likely to be a low-key reaction to its location, he thought.

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By this point, Stephen was wishing he'd had a vehicle. At this point, he wasn't particular. At least he had coordinates. Not to mention the run would do him good. He'd kept himself in decent shape, all things considered, but he'd still been a smoker before his arrival here. Cold turkey was a rude awakening, but really, he was keeping that particular sourness compartmentalized and--damn it, he was proud of himself. He hadn't snapped yet.

Hopefully he wouldn't either.

His panting and wheezing was probably audible, though, as he approached the building, bent over, and put his head between his knees, just breathing in and out in an attempt to catch his breath.

"Are you all right, Stephen?"

Billy walked over to him, concern evident on his face. Maybe he should have offered people rides from the City entrance---he'd do that next time, definitely.

"Take your time. I'm not rushing through this task." He was actually somewhat worried about what would happen inside the building.

Edited 2010-06-08 00:01 (UTC)

He waved a hand at Billy and straightened slowly, taking a deep breath. "I'll be fine. I'm just stubborn. My comm unit is in working condition, after all." Which meant he could have asked for a ride, but he'd wanted to run all the way there.

Just making sure the "mad" still preceded the Scientist, Stephen would say. Assuming he were asked.

"Well, I doubt I'm entirely prepared for an exploration of this caliber, but I'm as ready as I can be." He was more worried about Billy's reaction, if anything. "I expect you to let me know what I'm looking for, and looking at, if you don't mind?"

Ah, that made more sense. Billy nodded with a slight frown. "All right. Well in any case, welcome to the Command Center. As I said over the network, it was the base of operations I shared with my friends."

Once Stephen announced he was ready to go, Billy gestured for them to approach the ground entrance. "My team usually teleported in and out of the building, but without that ability we have to use the ground entrance."

And they do---the place detects Billy's Power Coin and lets them pass through the entranceway. From here, there was a short walk through an area that was almost entirely dark. Only a few distant lights reached them, and it was difficult to see where they were going. "It's not far to the main room. That area should be somewhat lighted, at least. I should've brought a flashlight," he muttered.

While Tenaya usually tended to fail miserably at social interactions from her own , there were some things she could respect.

This was one of them. This building had been an important to Billy, and as much as it was nice to have it still standing, the emptiness and quietness was disturbing.

"So, this is it?" she asked.

And there's Tenaya. She's acknowledged with a slight smile and a nod.

"Affirmative. I'm not expecting to find anything other than the equipment inside it, but it pays to be prepared." He'd been inside once with Stephen and hadn't seen much, but there might be something in the lower levels or other rooms he'd missed before.

Flipping a freshly-acquired flashlight in his hand, he approaches the main door and holds his Power Coin out. It opens, and he steps inside when Tenaya reaches the door. "Ordinarily we'd teleport inside, but I lost my connection to the necessary equipment."

It's a short walk of nothing interesting through a flashlight-lit hallway that seems to go in a circle around the base of the building. Eventually, they come to a very dimly lit room. A blank globe sits on a stand near the entrance to this room, and a path leads from it to the ovular blue platform surrounded by control panels. Around this platform are dull silver columns that once glowed with vibrant light, and extending out into the darkness are a few dim lights that somewhat resemble a starry sky. Once, they had been brighter and more numerous.

But the biggest empty artifact in the room is the blue-grey column facing the platform. Once, a sage in another dimension had made his connection with his team of heroes here. That voice is no longer present.

"Well, this is it."

It was strange hearing Billy talk about teleportation like it was so simple. The Rangers Tenaya had known only had access to teleportation through the Ranger Green powers, and between its unpredictability and his own ineptness with it, it was never that easy.

She looked around at the consoles, touching a few wires here and there. On some level, the technology appeared old and outdated, but in other places, it was more advanced than anything she'd ever seen. Not bad for a ten-thousand year old sage.

Finding a port she could access, she asked, "Do you mind if I plug in here? See what's in the programming?"

Billy studied the familiar structures. It still felt like coming home after a long journey and finding that the house had been rearranged. This cold, barren place wasn't the lively action center that his friends had made it.

Upon hearing her question, he paused to think. He had no reason not to trust that Tenaya wouldn't harm anything, but he wasn't overly confident with her either. This Command Center was precious, and he wanted as much of it intact as possible while still helping the team.

But on some level he knew he had to extend her that trust---someone who had been coerced into evil needed to know they weren't distrusted because of that. He'd learned that lesson with Tommy and with himself. After another moment of consideration, he gave his approval.

"All right. I know most of this technology as well as the back of my hand, but you may find something unique. And we'll work better if we both understand what's going on." He's still slightly nervous, but curiosity over what Tenaya might find overrides that emotion.

Tenaya nodded and added, "I'll be careful," before plugging in.

Her eyes lit up as the data streamed through her mind. The programming was complex, very different from what she was used to, but the more she looked at it, the better she understood it.

"This is impressive," she said, an actual grin. "I've never seen anything like this before."

But she had to look for something helpful. She picked through notes on various weapons and Zords--most of which were difficult to work with without the resources or a power source--and finally came across the teleportation. It was less complicated than Ziggy made it look--which should have been her first clue, given that Ranger Green wasn't the fighter the others were--but it did need a lot of power. Finally, she unplugged and looked at Billy.

"The teleportation looks pretty much like what you said--just some equipment repairs and a power source," she said. "If we get past that, it shouldn't be too hard for anybody to work. I also found some notes on different weapons--I'm guessing the ones your team used?"

Watching her absorb the data is a most interesting thing. He waits patiently, glancing up when she's done.

"Right. There's also the issue of whether people who aren't Rangers would be able to tap into the system, but I'm sure I'll eventually be able to work around that." Oh, if only Alpha was here to fiddle with the communicators now. Part of him still wished the little robot would appear from behind one of the consoles, chirping his familiar "Ai yai yai".

But he had to bring himself back into the present. "Yes. There were originally five of us, and we each had our own weapon to summon in combat. The Black Ranger had an axe, the Red Ranger had a sword, the Yellow Ranger had daggers, the Pink Ranger had a bow, and the Blue Ranger had a lance. That last one is mine. They were summonable at any time while we ere morphed."

Raking his hand through his hair, he pushed off one of the consoles and strode to the center of the room. "Unfortunately, it looks like the connection to the Grid is severely weakened and consequently most of the power is lost. The machinery on the lower levels should still be usable, but to do anything with what's already here we'd need power."

He turned his Power Coin in his hand, considering this problem.

Yzak was the type who would respond to a request for help, any bit of complaining or muttering about the degree of the situation aside. But seeing terms like teleportation system in a request was certainly something to raise an eyebrow at. It was intriguing to see what sort of technologies other people were accustomed to, especially since Yzak thought his own world was something to boast about.

Thankfully he was good at following directions, so he could be seen approaching the Command Center, eying it closely and with a barely noticeable tinge of wonder; this was still a new place to him, after all.

Huh. He'd been escorting his newer acquaintances around the Command Center, but the person approaching now was almost entirely unfamiliar to him. One of the new arrivals, he remembered.

"Hey," Billy greeted with a wave and a friendly smile, pushing off the side of the RADBUG. "Are you here for the Command Center excavation, or did you want to talk about something else?"

"Hello," he started, inspecting the RADBUG. For all the talk of things like teleportation, the outdated-looking vehicle was just strange. But he dismissed the thought for now.

"I'm here for the former. Although I admit that after hearing about it, I'm curious about what sort of things might be in there, as well."

"As I wrote on the bulletin board, I'm Billy. It's nice to meet you." Yes, he'd like a name before he takes someone into his former sanctuary. Luckily, he doesn't need much else.

"The primary items of interest were the giant mecha known as Zords, but I'm assuming the Zord Bays were emptied. My Zord was relocated to the vehicle bays, and the others are unaccounted for at the moment. Everything else was for communications, surveillance, teleportation, or Zord maintenance. The empty bays and some experimental workshops are on the lower levels, but the main level has a console room and a remote viewing globe that could once display a picture of any location in the world."

He responded with a quick, sharp salute. "I'm Yzak Jule, of the ... ZAFT ... military." He trailed off with a confused frown. The extended greeting was something that came almost instinctively, but it wasn't as if anybody other than the people he knew from home actually knew what ZAFT was.

But one word in Billy's next sentence stood out. "You're a pilot? I saw a bunch of other machines in the hangar when I was checking it out, but I have no idea what half of them even are."

"I have a small one. I tend to load up the pockets of my lab coats. This one seems no different." True to the Scientist's words, the flashlight was small, but was an LED-driven one, so was pretty bright.

"You know, I should install a pen light in my goggles. That might work, too." He trailed off and let his brain chew on that for a few moments, before continuing.

"What do you want me to do?" Stephen's fully prepared to let Billy give him directions. While the technology itself might be easy for him to adapt to, this was Billy's home, and Stephen was well prepared to give both the building and the man as much respect as he could.

Thankfully, light soon arrives. "Thank you. First I want to examine the main room, and then I'd like to enter one of the storage bays for supplies. Feel free to ask me about anything you see."

It's now significantly easier to see, and they circle around the base before entering the main chamber. Star-like lights glow dimly against the walls and a small ray of light reaches down from the tube in the front of the room, but most of their visibility comes from Stephen's light. This place definitely isn't the magnificent sanctuary he remembers.

First, Billy passes the blank globe on the stand near the entrance, and he moves to stand on the ovular blue platform where he'd received his mission briefings so many times before. He strides to one of the platform's consoles and punches in the button sequence that would have activated the viewing globe, but it doesn't respond. It's likely to be a power problem. Sighing, he turns to that empty blue-grey tube at the front of the room.

"You're not here, are you? Are you out there somewhere?"

Yes, Billy's speaking to the tube. Don't mind him, Stephen. Billy might've let himself hope against hope that a certain someone would be here to guide him.

Stephen didn't mind. Billy speaking to what seemed to him to be inanimate objects, wasn't much different than say, his father speaking to his DeLorean. Other than the fact that Pythagorus usually had some witty response.

"Do you know where the main power supply is?" Stephen was hoping against hope that it was a break in the connections or some such--that was easily fixable. Most likely it wasn't, but there was still a good chance he could use some of his Scientific 'technomancy' to fix whatever the problem seemed to be.

Stephen hoped.

Besides, he could only imagine how good it would be for Billy to get this place up and running again.

"It's on the lowest level, past the Zord Bays. But without the Morphin Grid at full power we'll be limited in what we can do. It may be possible to bring the viewing globe online or transmit messages around the ship, but teleportation would be unlikely. The grid would have to adjust to being mapped around Stacy instead of the earth. It's done that well enough for me to morph, but I don't know if it can sustain other functions."

After a moment of thought, he remembers that he hasn't told Stephen anything about the Rangers or what all of this was. "I probably just confused you, so ask me if you want an explanation on the way." And so he starts out of the chamber, entering a side path that leads to a lift. A button is pushed, and it descends slowly. Excellent, it's still working.

"A pleasure to work with you," Billy nods politely. So this one's another pilot, likely to be joining Rogue Squadron. Possibly an engineer on the mecha side.

"Yes, but unlike the other pilots my mecha is a grounded tank. It can lift and throw boulders in an almost telekinetic fashion, but its ground speed is limited. One of my other teammates had a flying Zord that would be far more useful out there. I've looked around the hangar as well, but most of us are very protective of our mecha and distrust tinkerers other than ourselves."

"A little, but I'm used to it. So, explain the Morphin' Grid to me, because I know absolutely nothing about it." It wasn't like a bunch of Sons didn't confuse the bejeebus out of each other, with all their theories and mad Science. Stephen just took it in stride, following Billy to the lift.

"I figure we'll just see what we can convince it to do, eh?"

He was almost afraid.

It was the kind of fear associated with entering a new section of this massive ship but this almost-fear turned swiftly into something else. Precisely when a paw met uncertainly with a vertical stone surface, Renne drew away as if burned by some holy flame.
This wasn't Wyvern -- he knew a castle's stone quite intimately and this was no castle stone.

He became afraid then, with the kind of fear one has upon entering sacred ground.

So Renne did the one thing he knew to do: He venerated the holy ground. He knelt, lifted his head and prayed.

Sacred ground with Bee's scent around it, Renne, is always open to you. So don't be surprised if a certain human emerges from the building and kneels next to you for a time. Following Renne's example, Billy quietly thinks of all this place means to him. Of his absent friends.

The pain of loss isn't as bad as it could be for Billy. Someone he loves is here, at least, and that'll have to be enough for now.

"All right," Billy nodded as the descent started to move.

"My world had an energy biofield known as the Morphin Grid permeating it, powered by the maintenance of a balance between good and evil in the universe. I believe that mundane human activities maintain that balance, but it was thrown off by the arrival of an extraterrestrial threat. When an evil sorceress named Rita Repulsa came to Earth with the intent of conquering it, a wizard fighting on the side of good named Zordon felt the tip of the scales and this Command Center activated. He was sealed away in a time warp, but he had a communication link with my dimension through the tube in the front of the main room."

He took a breath. "He couldn't fight Rita or her minions directly, but with evil forces active he was able to give five chosen soldiers access to the Morphin Grid's power. Those who access the Grid and gain powers to fight evil are called the Power Rangers. Its power kept our entire operation alive."

They should reach the power supply soon. At the moment, they were passing the barely visible empty Zord Bays.

The scent is well known and well loved. It's a strong factor in figuring out what this may be. Scent and stone and Renne is not dim-witted in all aspects.

His hands move in slow, seemingly meaningless rings and spirals in the air. His voice quietly whispers the beginnings of a song. Fleetingly, Renne's mind reminds him that next time, if ever, he ought to wear the proper attire for coming this close. Next time, he'll cover his face and bring a blossom from the L'Langiniar chain.

Right here, right now, Renne's hands move as his voice moves, as his memory moves. From there, he offers the formation of a small gift. An offering at the foot of a sacred place.

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Empty Hallowed Halls [Open]

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In Nomine Frater Sancti

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