Total Annihilation
by Wildfire K

"Amazing!" exclaimed a reporter standing a hundred feet away from the Nasada Space Center. "Over 3 hundred thousand people have gathered from around the country to say their 'goodbyes' and good luck wishes to the departing crew of astronauts. Both shuttles are set to take off very soon. The President will be addressing the world shortly."

~*~

The President stood at the podium of a press conference room at a news building in Angel Grove. Several reporters waited eagerly with microphones, and cameramen were in every inch of the room. The President cleared his throat before speaking. "I address you today not as the President, not as the leader of the United States of America, and not as a man that is gazed upon to lead millions of people. I address you today as a member of the human race. Natural disasters are common to this planet. They come, and they go. And as you all know, we in the U.S. Government, Nasada, and the United Nations have been working together on the greatest space voyage in the history of mankind. A time has come when the world is at stake, a time when the world could come to an end. The extinction of a species does happen. However, for the human race, we intend to put up a fight, to stick up for ourselves, and to prevent any sort of menace of which puts us in any kind of danger. This is a time when earth's darkest day will be man's finest hour. It will be our defining moment, our day of reckoning. It is our judgment day. We as humans now have the technology, the intelligence, and the strength to protect ourselves from total annihilation. We as one advanced, intelligent race should feel pride, possess the strength, and have the belief that life can and will go on. All I ask now are for your prayers. Pray and hope that the twelve brave souls who are putting their lives on the line for us come home successful (camera shot shows Major Hillard stepping out of the bus at the front of the group, followed by his men, leading them into battle). I want you all to believe that we will all survive, and that humanity will reign forever. And to the courageous warriors going up to fight for the earth, God speed, and good luck." With those final words, the President left the podium, with reporters all demanding questions to be answered. Ignoring their calls, the President stepped back outside and into the limousine from which he came, and headed back to Nasada.

~*~

The astronauts stepped off of the bus, which had stopped between the two shuttles. The two shuttles were positioned 500 feet from one another, just far enough so they wouldn't interfere with one another's liftoff. Major Hillard, Corporal Craven, Adam, Tanya and Billy all headed to the right, towards the Avenger Shuttle. Lieutenant Briggs, Sergeant Jackson, Zack, Rocky and Justin all headed to the left, towards the Patriot shuttle. Tommy and Jason hung back, and stood face to face for some final words. "So, I trust that the other Mega Predator is in good hands," Tommy smiled and slapped his friend jokingly on the shoulder.

"Definitely," Jason said. "We've each got a team to lead, so do your best."

"I will," Tommy responded. "Take care, bro." The two friends shared a 'manly' hug before heading in separate directions.

~*~

Some Nasada officials strapped the astronauts into their seats. Aboard the Patriot, Tommy was seated next to Rocky. "So, nervous?" Tommy asked.

"Very," Rocky answered.

"What does your family think of all this?" Tommy asked, not having much to say.

"Fasten it tightly," Rocky said to the Nasada official, then turned to face his friend, "I got to talk to them yesterday. My parents say they're proud, but worried. What about yours?"

"Well, I've been living alone since my folks died a few years back, so I haven't had as much family support as you have. I visited some of my relatives yesterday before me and Kat went out," Tommy began. "I phoned my brother David this morning, he wished me good luck."

"Speaking of Kat," Rocky said, "what's up with her lately? I haven't seen much of her in a while."

"Actually," Tommy reached into his pocket, and pulled out a small black case, opening it up to reveal an expensive, beautiful, shiny diamond ring. "I'm going to propose to her when we get back."

"Wow," Rocky exclaimed. "That's really something. You're brining that all the way with you to the asteroid and back?"

"Yeah, I'm askin' her to marry me the second I get off this shuttle and come back to earth."

"What a surprise," Rocky was happy for his friend. "Hey, can I be your best man?" he joked.

~*~

Jason was being strapped beside Billy on the Avenger. "So how you holdin' up, Billy?"

"Terrified," Billy replied nervously. "We've got some big days ahead of us."

"Tell me about it."

~*~

"Come in, Patriot and Avenger," Commander Norquist said through a speaker. "This is the Navigations Control Room. All is ready for takeoff."

"Patriot, this is Nasada. You're set for launch in T minus 60 seconds," someone in front of a computer remarked.

"Alright then," said the Commander. "Come in, Lieutenant Briggs. Do you copy?"

"Over," Lieutenant Briggs' voice came through the speaker.

"Make sure everyone on that shuttle is strapped in, and make sure those engines can launch."

"Check," the Lieutenant said.

"Begin countdown," the Commander ordered. "Make the call, Dr. Hayes."

Dr. Hubert Hayes checked his watch to maintain timing. "T minus Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one... liftoff!"

~*~

Katherine stood outside among the millions of people gathered several hundred yards away from the Patriot launch pad. She knew Tommy was in there. She watched as the engines of the Patriot were fired up, and soon smoke came from the shuttle's thrusters. The deafening noise of the shuttle taking off could be heard for miles around. The Patriot shuttle slowly left the launch pad and began to journey up into the sky. The enormous group of people watching the takeoff applauded and let out cheers as the Patriot shuttle shot like a missile into the sky, gaining altitude with every passing second.

~*~

"Patriot has cleared the tower," announced an astronomer sitting in front of the computer, reading the shuttle's altitude through the computer screen.

"We have go for Avenger," said another Nasada worker.

Dr. Hayes watched through the large windows as the Patriot shuttle flew out of sight. He then stared back down onto his watch. "Avenger is set to go in ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one... liftoff!"

~*~

The engines of the Avenger switched on, smoke filling the area for several hundred feet around. The roaring sound of the engines being fired up was deafening. The Avenger slowly disengaged from the launch pad, and followed the Patriot into the sky, just several meters behind.

~*~

"Both towers have been cleared!" exclaimed Commander Norquist. "Everything's perfectly on schedule and moving along smoothly."

"They're gaining altitude," one of the workers reported. A roar of applause echoed throughout the Navigations Control Room as they watched the two shuttles depart.

~*~

Half an hour of smooth flying went by as the shuttles reached outer space. "Well everyone, the joyride has begun," Major Hillard announced playfully to his group inside the Avenger.

"So do we just sit here and wait for three days?" asked Adam.

"Yeah," answered Corporal Craven. "There's not a lot to do, but at least you'll get some sleep. We pilots have gotta make sure we land this thing safely."

~*~

"I'm picking up an unexpected signal from space!" shrieked one of the Nasada workers.

"What is it?" asked Commander Norquist.

"Oh my goodness," muttered the Nasada worker. "It's a meteor shower!"

"Is it going to hit earth?" the Commander asked.

"No," the worker replied. "But the two shuttles are on a collision course with it!"

"Damnit!" cried the Commander. He rushed over to the head of the control room and picked up a receiver.

Kat walked into the room, wondering why everyone in sight was rushing back and forth in every direction. She walked up beside Commander Norquist. "Wh... what's going on?"

"Come in, Patriot and Avenger!" the Commander shouted through the receiver. "Code red. You're on a collision course with a meteor shower! Reroute! I repeat, Reroute now!"

"I copy, Commander," Kat heard her father's voice through the speaker. Several screens in the Control Room showed views of cameras from inside the shuttle. Kat watched as her friends strapped themselves back into their seats and put their helmets on. She couldn't make out what they were saying, but she knew something was definitely wrong. "What are they going to do, Commander?"

"They're going to have to go off course to try and avoid the meteor shower."

"It's too late!" Dr. Hayes screamed. "The meteor shower is headed right for them NOW!"

~*~

"Damn!" Major Hillard exclaimed as he piloted the shuttle. "Brace yourselves everyone, we're gonna have to fly through this thing. Ready, Corporal?"

"Ready, Major." The two pilots bravely flew into the meteor storm, as the rangers on the shuttle sat by to watch what was going to happen.

~*~

"There's no time to reroute!" called Lieutenant Briggs through the speaker. "We're goin' in."

Rocky gasped, "this is going to be horrible."

Tommy closed his eyes," hang in their, Rocky. "We have no choice."

~*~

"Keep an eye on the shuttles!" ordered Commander Norquist to one of his men. Transmission signals from the shuttles were beginning to break up. "Make sure we don't lose them!"

"There's too much debris!" Major Hillard's voice came through every speaker in the room, so the hundreds of workers inside could hear.

"We can't break through at this speed!" Lieutenant Briggs protested.

Commander Norquist sighed. "Then dump auxiliary fuel tanks! It'll get rid of some weight so you can fly easier."

"Dumping backup fuel tanks," reported Major Hillard.

"Sir, without those fuel tanks, there's no way they can make it to the asteroid with that little fuel!" Dr. Hayes ran up to the Commander's booth.

"We'll worry about that later," the Commander said. "For now they'll have to concentrate on avoiding that meteor storm."

~*~

Jason could hear the irritating sounds of several small rocks bouncing off of the shuttle. It was hard to see with all the debris, but as long as the larger rocks could be avoided, he knew they'd be able to fly through the storm. "Are we almost out of it, yet, Major!?"

"Almost!" announced Major Hillard. "Hang on, the worst will be over soon." About a minute passed by as the two shuttles flipped over and turned left and right to avoid every rock in their paths. Soon, it was over, and the Avenger and the Patriot flew along smoothly in space again. "Come in, Nasada!" the radio signal was beginning to break up due to the interference of the storm.

~*~

"Avenger, are you there?" Commander Norquist asked nervously through the speaker.

"We made it!" announced Major Hillard.

"Patriot shuttle, is everything alright?" Commander Norquist turned to the other receiver.

"We're fine," Lieutenant Briggs reported. "But fuel is going to run low if we don't do something about it."

"We're way ahead of you," Commander Norquist said. "We need you to reroute and head towards the Swiss Military satellite. They have plenty of the fuel you'll need there. I know it's a delay in the mission, which means you'll have to fly a little faster later on. But for now, get to that satellite and load up your fuel tanks to maximum! Here are the coordinates..."

~*~

"We copy, Commander Norquist," said Lieutenant Briggs. "Alright everyone, let's get to that Swiss Satellite and load up."

Rocky heaved a heavy sigh of relief, "whew, I thought we were finished! I can't believe we made it through that!"

"We may need some time to make external repairs to the shuttle," said Sergeant Jackson. "Still with us, Justin?"

"Yes sir, I'll take care of that when we reach the satellite," Justin replied.

~*~

Twenty-five minutes later...
"We have a visual of the Swiss Military Satellite," reported Major Hillard to Nasada through his speaker. "We'll be docking with it shortly." The two shuttles slowed down and slowly moved in on opposite sides of the satellite, slowly locking onto it firmly, then opening the side hatches for the teams to get down.

"Docking sequence complete," said Corporal Craven.

"Billy, get to the engine room of this ship and begin making repairs," ordered Major Hillard. Corporal Craven, stay in the shuttle in case Nasada has anything to say. The rest of you, come with me." Jason, Adam and Tanya did as they were told and followed the Major to the lower deck of the satellite station, where they were met by Sergeant Jackson, Tommy, Adam and Zack. Each team grabbed long gas pipes and made their way back upstairs to load the fuel onto their shuttles.

"Darn, these engines nearly burned out during that meteor storm," Justin said to himself as he worked on repairing some of the wires.

Justin could hear the ship being fueled, and soon Sergeant Jackson's voice came from the ship's upper floor, "How's it coming, Justin?"

"Almost done!" Justin replied as he continued making repairs. "I just need one more component that Billy has." Justin stepped out of the engine room and made his way across the space satellite station over to the other side where Billy was inside the Avenger shuttle fixing its engines.

"Eighty-seven percent of the fuel has been transferred!" reported Rocky who was loading the fuel into the tanks.

Tommy was on the lower floor of the satellite operating the large canister which served as the fuel source that was being pumped onto the shuttles. "Are we almost ready?"

"There's enough for the shuttles now!" Sergeant Jackson called. "You can come back up! Rocky will be done loading the fuel on our ship in about ten minutes!" Suddenly, there was some turbulence on the satellite, and each team felt the ground shaking from under them, as if the satellite was tumbling over.

Jason, who was loading the fuel onto the Avenger, suddenly stumbled. "What was that?"

"I haven't got a clue," replied Adam.

~*~

"Come in, Patriot! Come in, Avenger! This is Commander Norquist. There's more where that last meteor shower came from!"

"What's happening?" Corporal Craven's voice came through the speaker.

"The worst of that storm is heading right for you guys! Hurry up and abandon the Swiss Military Satellite now!"

"There's another one?" Kat asked.

"Yes," responded the Commander. "Briggs, Hillard, get your men outta there!"

~*~

"Emergency breakaway!!!" Lieutenant Briggs leaned out of the Patriot shuttle door and screamed to his men.

"Everyone back to the ship!!!" called Corporal Craven from the other end of the satellite, onboard the Avenger. "Another storm is coming!"

Billy fell down from the ladder in the engine room where he had been working, due to the turbulence. Leaving the tools behind, he scrambled back up the ladder to the pilot room of the shuttle. "Is everyone back yet?"

"They're coming," the Corporal said in response. He watched as Major Hillard and Jason sprinted as fast as they could back through the shuttle entrance.

A small meteor hit the corridor behind the one that Tanya and Adam were rushing down. Tanya fell to the ground, but Adam helped her back up. "We'd better hurry," he said to her. They sprinted safely back onto the shuttle, and soon the door was closed.

Rocky finished loading the fuel into the Patriot, then climbed back through the entrance. Lieutenant Briggs and Justin were already waiting. "Is the rest of the crew on its way?" the Lieutenant asked.

"Yeah," said Rocky.

Sergeant Jackson, Zack and Tommy rushed down the corridor back to the Patriot. Zack ran in the lead, followed by Jackson. As they made their way through, several small meteors hit the corridor behind them, causing an explosion, which caused Tommy to stumble into a wall and fall to the ground. "Tommy!" Zack called.

"No!" cried Sergeant Jackson. "Keep going!" He pushed Zack through the corridor until they were just a few feet from the shuttle door.

Tommy got back up, and all he could see was fire around him. Suddenly, a small meteor crashed through the ceiling and fell through the hatch where the fuel room was. The fuel in the room downstairs erupted into a series of flames, the explosion hurling Tommy back to the ground, where several large pipes leaned against the wall fell on top of him. "Augh!" he grunted. He tried to move the heavy pipes away, but couldn't.

Sergeant Jackson and Zack Taylor made it back to the shuttle door. "Wait! Tommy's still out there!" Zack turned around and tried to go back, but the Sergeant tackled him in through the shuttle entrance.

"It's too late!" yelled Sergeant Jackson, who made his way into the co-pilot's seat and sat down.

Lieutenant Briggs locked the shuttle door. Rocky tried to open it again, but Briggs shoved him into a seat. "We have to go NOW!" shouted the Lieutenant. "This satellite's gonna blow!"

~*~

"Avenger, report! Is everyone on board?" asked Commander Norquist at Nasada. Katherine felt her heart pounding unusually faster.

"We're all here," Major Jack Hillard reported. Kat breathed heavily, thankful to know her father was safe.

Commander Norquist turned to the other receiver. "Patriot, what's your status?"

"We're missing Tommy," said Lt. Briggs. "He's trapped in the fire. We're taking off."

"Noooooo!" shrieked Katherine. "You can't do that!"

"There's no choice, Ms. Hillard," said the Commander regretfully.

~*~

"You can't just leave him behind!" Katherine's voice shrieked through the speakers of the Avenger. Major Hillard was standing over the communications receiver. He closed his eyes for a brief moment and thought to himself.

"We're going," Major Hillard, Corporal Craven said.

"No, just wait," Major Hillard ordered. He could tell that there was a lot of commotion going on in the Navigations Control Room. He suddenly heard little Thomas Junior crying in Kat' s arms. He sighed, "Lieutenant Briggs, this is Major Hillard, do you copy?"

"Over."

"Don't leave yet." The Avenger crew shot a strange look at Major Hillard. He turned to face the Nasada speaker, "I'm going back after Tommy."

"Sir, we've gotta go," Lieutenant Briggs protested through the speaker.

"Wait 30 seconds, that's an order!" Major Jack Hillard opened the shuttle door and stepped outside. "Give me one minute, Corporal. If I'm not back, take the crew out of here." The Corporal saluted and did what he was told. As Jack Hillard stepped outside the shuttle, all he could see was fire ablaze. Looking left, then right, he rushed his way down the hallways and looked around for Tommy. Avoiding the fire everywhere, Major Hillard spotted a moving body in the distance. Rushing towards it, the Major found that it was the long-haired boy he had been looking for. Pushing the pipes out of the way, he hoisted Tommy, who had trouble moving, up onto his right shoulder. "C'mon kid, let's go." He sprinted Tommy back towards the shuttle door of the Patriot.

~*~

"What on earth is he doing!?" the President shot a funny look at Commander Norquist.

"He... he's crazy," Commander Norquist sighed. "That fire is spreading everywhere!"

~*~

Major Hillard made his way over to the Patriot shuttle door and slammed on it until Justin and Rocky opened it up. The Major shoved Tommy inside. Lieutenant Briggs turned around, "Major, get in here! Lock that door!"

"Go on, get outta here!" Major Hillard ordered. _I've got to get back to the Avenger. The Corporal can't fly through the asteroid on his own_ He turned around and headed back to his home shuttle.

~*~

"Tracking Hillard," Hubert Hayes reported. "He's fifty feet from his shuttle."

"Hurry, daddy!" Kat said.

~*~

More explosions erupted from behind him as Major Hillard rushed back to the Avenger. Suddenly, he saw a wall of flames ignite as more fuel was spilled and ignited throughout the satellite. The wall of fire spread forward in the same direction the Major was heading. Jack continued to sprint back to the shuttle, as he heard more small meteors crash on the satellite.

~*~

"Three, two, one, let's go!" Lieutenant Briggs and Sergeant Jackson slowly steered the Patriot away from the exploding satellite. By now, half the satellite was engulfed in flames.

"C'mon, we gotta gain some altitude," commented Sergeant Jackson.

~*~

"Patriot shuttle has left the satellite," reported Dr. Hayes. "The whole crew's on board, Tommy included. They have 95% of their fuel."

The suspense kept Katherine's heart pounding, "what about dad?"

~*~

"Almost there," Jack said to himself as he hustled through the narrow corridor. An explosion behind him sent him flying into the air, and he landed on the ground, face down just several feet from the shuttle.

Jason opened the shuttle door and extended an arm out. "Come on, Major, grab my hand!"

Major Hillard grabbed onto Jason's powerful arms and was pulled into the shuttle. "Get us out of here, Corporal!" ordered Jack Hillard. Jason slammed the shuttle door shut just as the fire was closing in. Corporal Craven disengaged the shuttle from the satellite and began to head off. Just as they left, the side of the satellite where the Avenger was docked exploded and shattered into bits. "That was too close," the Major was panting.

"The whole crew's here," said Corporal Craven, reporting back to Nasada.

~*~

"The fate of the world rests in the hands of these men," said the President in a frustrated tone of voice. He rushed over to the receiver to the Avenger shuttle. "Major Hillard, this is the President. Let me make this clear to you. We leaders of the world have no tolerance for men performing actions such as what you just pulled! You could have killed every man on both crews of this mission! We have ONE chance to save this planet from being obliterated! If you were down here now I'd have pulled you out of this mission. Don't you EVER, EVER endanger the lives of ten other men just so you can go and be a hero to save one man. You got that!?"

Major Hillard sighed over the receiver. "Yes sir," he said respectfully. "Katherine, that was for you."

Kat smiled and stood over the receiver, "thanks, daddy."

The President nudged the former Pink Ranger out of the way, and spoke to Major Hillard again. "Remember what I said."

~*~

Tommy lay on the floor of the Patriot shuttle, exhausted. He was barely conscious through the whole incident, though he knew it was Major Hillard that strolled him back to safety. "Is... is Mr. Hillard alright?" he turned and faced Zack.

"He's fine," Zack replied. "He just saved your life."

"I know."

~*~

For the next three days, the trajectory of the two shuttles was monitored carefully by Nasada specialists, assuring that there would be no more trouble until the two crews made it to the asteroid. Kat waited anxiously in a large guest room that had been set out for the families of the astronauts. She had grown restless in the past few days, and wondered how the families of the rangers and those of the astronaut pilots could relax themselves. Justin's dad sat on a couch with his new wife, conversing casually. Zack's parents talked with Billy's parents. Adam and Rocky's families watched television in the corner of the room, while Jason's folks and some of his cousins sat nervously around a table, playing a game of cards. Tanya's parents sat together, expressionless, as if just as nervous as Kat was. Tommy's brother David lay asleep on a different couch. Hanging from the ceiling at the front of the room were 2 televisions, each showing the view from a camera inside the two shuttles. Kat looked down at the clock on the wall, and realized what was coming up soon. She watched through the monitors as her friends strapped on their high-tech space suits and slapped their helmets over their heads, then fastening their belt buckles. The roughest part of the trip was about to come.

Adam's dad flipped the channels on the tv set, showing a news broadcast that had just come on the air. The reporter held a channel 6 news microphone. "Ladies and gentlemen, the space mission has now reached its closing hours. In just under 60 minutes, the Patriot and the Avenger will get set to nose dive several thousand feet down onto the asteroid, where the final stages of the mission will commence. The two shuttles will have to fly through a massive storm of small meteors and rocks from the asteroid. Should they land safely, they will have half the day to drill two large holes and detonate the nuclear bombs they have planned to drop. From there, the majority of the asteroid should disintegrate, with the rest of it shattering into pieces that should float away from the earth. We now must stand by and wait anxiously, for if this mission fails, then this could very well be the earth's very last day. Now, if the drilling isn't done within the 12 hour time span that the astronauts have been granted, then the remaining pieces of rock will hit the earth, causing a 90% chance of total destruction. All we can do now is pray that the job is done." The families of the astronauts gathered around the television set to watch the broadcast.

"They'll do it, I know they will," David Trueheart muttered confidently to himself.

~*~

"Come in, Avenger. Come in, Patriot," Commander Norquist called through the radio. "As you are aware, the most dangerous part of this journey is this nose dive of which you will need to be traveling at a speed of at least 26,000 miles per hour, close to the speed of the asteroid, just enough so that you can still control your shuttles while you fly, hopefully avoiding every rock in your path. Now, should anything go wrong, your shuttles max out at 31,200 miles per hour, though your ships will be unsteady. Just a reminder. Now, just relax, sit back, and remember, you're doing this for the sake of the world. Good luck."

~*~

"Alright men, this is it," Major Hillard announced. "The roughest part of this ride is about to come. Strap yourselves down, 'cause we're goin' in! Burn those thrusters, Corporal!"

"I'm tuning this thing up to fifteen thousand miles per hour first, then we'll accelerate to twenty-six thousand as we get closer, so it could get crazy," the Corporal responded. "Hang in there, guys." The main thrusters of the shuttle blasted into hyper speed, allowing the shuttle to maneuver fast enough through the debris of meteors."

"We'll go in first," Lieutenant Briggs' voice came through the speakers from the Patriot shuttle.

"Go for it, Lieutenant," Major Hillard encouraged.

~*~

The Patriot shuttle's thrusters burst into high speed, and as the shuttle nose dived closer towards the asteroid, the entire large object could be seen. "Damn, look at that, guys," Sergeant Jackson said to the Patriot crew.

"Just as massive as Billy said," Rocky commented.

"Hang on, everyone, this could get pretty ugly," Lieutenant Briggs said. "Speed is climbing," the meter read the shuttle was closing in at twenty thousand miles per hour. "Damn it! We've got debris all over!" the Lieutenant and the Sergeant had trouble steering the shuttle through the swarms and swarms of rocks. The shuttle was now close to its designated limit. "I can barely see!"

~*~

"We've hit 26,000miles per hour!" exclaimed Major Hillard. "Now let's just sit back and follow the Patriot onto the asteroid," his voice was now shaking due to the high speed they were traveling. The sound of his voice was barely able to be heard with the shuttle's high velocity.

"This is irritating!" Adam shouted, for the shuttle seemed to be traveling faster than he would have ever imagined.

"We'll be there soon!" Billy said.

~*~

"There's too much debris!" Lieutenant Briggs said over the speakers, where every Nasada monitor was tuned into some of the cameras inside the two shuttles. "We may not be able to break through! Aaugh!"

"Keep trying," Commander Norquist said to try to encourage the Lieutenant. "There's no turning back now. Don't worry about the small sized rocks. Just make sure none of the bigger ones get you."

~*~

"We're being hit from all over!" Lieutenant Briggs reported through the radio, his voice beginning to break up due to the speed of the shuttle. Several small sized rocks scraped the surface of the Patriot, making it even more difficult for the pilots to steer. A small rock hit the windshield, causing turbulence and almost knocking the pilots out of their seats had they not been restrained by their seat buckles. "We can't break through at this velocity! We're going to have to max out our thrusters!"

"This is going to be dangerous," Commander Norquist said through the radio, his heart pounding faster than it had ever. "Be careful!"

~*~

"What's the Patriot doing!?" shrieked Corporal Craven. "Their thrusters are burning up!"

"Briggs is trying to max out!" Major Hillard answered, his voice still shaking from the turbulence and the speed. "Let's try to stay on their tail."

~*~

Tommy closed his eyes as he felt the shuttle's velocity increase. Small meteors continued to hit the shuttle from left and right, causing a thumping sound every time. Suddenly, an alarm sounded, and a red light flashed from the dashboard of the shuttle.

"Oh no!" yelled the Lieutenant. "Something's wrong with the shuttle's thrusters!"

"Our engines are burning up!" Sergeant Jackson shouted in pain.

"How much further to the asteroid!?" Zack shouted, though both pilots were too occupied to respond.

Maneuvering through the debris became more difficult with every passing second. The Avenger shuttle was lucky to have to just follow the Patriot's tail. Lieutenant Briggs began to lose control of the ship. Soon, a rock the size of a small house struck the left side of the shuttle, causing the ship's controls to go offline. "Aaaaaaughh!" Sergeant Jackson shrieked.

"We've been hit!!!" Lieutenant Briggs reported regretfully.

~*~

The Lieutenant's voice echoed throughout the Navigations Control Room, where chaos began to break loose. Hundreds and hundreds of Nasada workers scrambled through the room as about half the television monitors flickered into static. The cameras from the shuttle were now out. Commander Norquist closed his eyes and felt his heart skip a beat. Justin's father walked up to the Commander. "Wh... what happened?" the Commander gave Mr. Stewart a blank look.

"Mayday! Mayday! Come in, Nasada!" Lieutenant Briggs' voice came through the speakers. Luckily the radio was still working. "We've been hit hard and we are going down! I repeat, we are going down! Nasada, do you copy?"

~*~

"Come in, Avenger," Lieutenant Briggs' voice sounded through the Avenger. Major Hillard and the rest of the Avenger crew looked straight ahead as sparks came flying from out of the brother shuttle directly in front of them. The shuttle was tumbling unusually. "We've lost all control of the shuttle, we're going down!"

The whole Avenger crew watched regretfully as the Patriot shuttle tumbled away from its scheduled path, being smacked around like a ball the meteors were playing with.

~*~

The Lieutenant's voice broke up and the signal was lost from the Patriot shuttle. Nasada officials were going hectic. "We've lost communication with Patriot," Hubert Hayes reported.

"Come in, Avenger," Commander Norquist called. "Do you have a visual of the Patriot?"

"We do, Commander," Major Hillard said in disgust. "They... they're not going to make it."

~*~

The deafening alarm continued to sound throughout the Patriot shuttle. Without control of the ship, the pilots could do nothing now but sit back and wait for the shuttle to crash, assuring immediate death of all six members of the crew. Lieutenant Briggs sighed, and looked at his controls, seeing that all he could do now was establish communication with the other shuttle. Leaning over towards the speaker, he uttered out his final words of encouragement. "We've lost all control," he repeated. "We won't make it. Good luck... Avenger."

"Strap your helmets on and take cover!!!" Sergeant Jackson screamed in fear. Tommy, Rocky, Zack and Justin slapped their helmets on. "Try to lock yourselves in the storage compartments!"

"This shuttle's gonna blow," Tommy muttered to himself and undid his belt buckle. Tumbling over, he opened up a hatch in the ground and tried to shove himself into the storage bay. "Come on!" he waved to his friends.

"WE'RE GONNA HIT!!!" Lieutenant Briggs' voice shrieked at a high pitch. "AAAAAAAAAAUUUUUGGGGGHHHHH!" the big, African American man shouted in extreme pain as he and his co-pilot were sucked out of their seats, smashing through the windshield of the shuttle. The shuttle was now on the asteroid, crashing and skidding uncontrollably through its horrific features. The front of the shuttle was mangled with the force of the crash. The last thing Tommy saw was another body come flying through the hatch of the storage bay, before he closed his eyes, hopefully not for the last time.

~*~

Katherine felt a tear rolled down the side of her face. She knew what had happened. Rather than asking any questions, she turned around and ran out of the Control Room, her baby still in her arms. The families of some of the rangers and the children of the Patriot pilots all broke out into tears. Cries echoed irritatingly around the Control Room.

"Patriot is a dead stick," Dr. Hayes said.

"What the hell does that mean!?" Zack's father grabbed Dr. Hayes by the collar.

Captain Floyd intervened, getting between the two men. "Mr. Taylor, you saw what happened. They're gone... I'm sorry about your son."

Commander Norquist, who was sitting in his chair in shock, stood up and got back to the head of the room. "Everyone! I need your attention!" the several hundred workers turned to face the Commander. "Lock every monitor we've got onto the Avenger! Keep your eyes on it and make sure that it lands onto the asteroid safely!"

~*~

The Avenger shuttle broke through the final barriers of debris as they finally came within a close enough range to land. "Brace yourselves, everyone!" Major Hillard ordered. Due to the distraction of the debris, the shuttle wasn't able to slow down quick enough to touch down softly. "If we land, it won't be easy." Every member of the crew felt their bodies get sucked back into their seats as the shuttle hit the ground and skidded across several hundred meters of rock, making an irritating noise that sounded like nails on a chalkboard. Due to this disruption, the camera views broke up.

~*~

Every monitor in the Nasada Control Room faded into static, losing visual of the Avenger shuttle. "We've lost them!" one of the officials exclaimed. The President, who had been there throughout the whole incident, shot a signaling look towards Captain Floyd, who nodded and left the room, as if he was on a secret mission.

"Try to re-establish communication!" ordered Commander Norquist. He sat down in his chair, and buried his face in his hands. "Please, God. Please tell us the other crew made it."

~*~

The Avenger had now landed in their exact target area. Jason watched the time as everyone was breathing heavily. Six long minutes passed by before anyone said a word.

"We made it," Major Hillard announced. For a moment, there was no response.

"The... the Patriot shuttle... the other team..." Adam uttered out. "Are they...?"

Major Hillard undid himself from his seat and did not want to answer, for he knew for sure his daughter's boyfriend had been killed. Corporal Craven responded, "They didn't make it."

Every member of the crew silently mourned the loss of many friends. "The Patriot," Major Hillard said under his breath. "That could have been us. We only made it because we were following them and were able to avoid enough of the debris to break through."

Tanya felt her eyes beginning to water. "I, I can't believe... I can't believe they're gone."

"Tommy... Zack..." Billy said softly to himself, as if crying for his friends.

Jason sighed, "farewell, old pals... and rest in peace." No one wanted to stand. Finally Jason undid his buckle and stood up, his body feeling stiff. "Guys," he turned to his three friends. "We have work to do. Remember what I said. Even when separated, we've always been together in spirit. Our friends are watching over us some place right now. Now let's get out there and avenge their deaths."

"Right," Billy stood out of his seat. "Let's load up the Mega Predator and send it out for drilling."

"Corporal," called Major Hillard. "Do everything you can to re-establish contact with Nasada. Let them know we're okay."

"Wait a second," Adam interrupted. "The other team was supposed to drill the other hole. Without them, how... how can we..."

"We've got double duty," answered Major Hillard.

~*~

"Still nothing," someone standing over Nasada's main computers reported.

"Keep trying," said Commander Norquist.

~*~

Katherine walked mindlessly through the halls of the Space Center. Reaching an empty meeting room, holding her baby, Kat fell to her knees, and cried softly. She knew that several families had lost a loved one. For several minutes she kneeled in the empty room, alone. The baby was drinking out of a bottle. Kat whispered to her son. "He... he's gone," she knew the baby couldn't understand. Katherine couldn't decide what to do. Without Tommy and having to take care of the baby on her own, Kat felt as though she would be lonely for a long time. Strangely, she peeped her head outside the door when she heard strange noises. Captain Floyd was across the hallway speaking to someone. It appeared to be confidential news.

~*~

Hooked up to a long cable that was suspended to the shuttle, the Mega Predator was wheeled out of the storage bay. Jason, Billy, Adam, Tanya, and Major Hillard watched as the gate to the shuttle was slowly lowered. Seconds later, they strolled outside and took a long stare at their surroundings. The asteroid was a place that people only see in nightmares, with vicious scars and horrific rock structures in every direction. It was as if the rangers had walked right into the depths of hell. What they saw made their bodies shiver. There was occasional turbulence, and craters were everywhere. Billy was in awe, "amazing," he commented. "You realize that no man has ever walked on an asteroid until now." He was carrying a toolbox in his right hand.

"Scary..." Tanya muttered. Each member of the team walked around in their giant armored space suits.

Major Hillard took a few hundred paces away from the shuttle, holding a tracking device of some sort. "Hey guys, here's the softest part of this asteroid. This is where to start drilling," he pointed to a part of the ground.

Billy quickly walked over and examined the part that was to be drilled. He knelt down and picked up a piece of rock. "I've never seen anything like this before."

"Come on guys, let's get inside the zord," ordered Jason. He, Adam and Tanya strapped themselves inside the Mega Predator's cockpit, with Jason sitting in the center, Adam on his left and Tanya to his right. The Mega Predator moved forward towards its target. Jason operated the main controls, "Mega Predator, power up!" Billy and Major Hillard stepped out of the way as the zord's drill head began to spin at high velocity. The drill was then lowered into the ground.

"Let's rip this thing apart!" Adam could feel a burst of adrenaline. The drill head made irritating screeching noises when pressed to the ground, cracking through the first barrier of rock.

"Easy now, easy..." Jason grinded his teeth together and pushed some buttons on the controls. Gas could be seen steaming from the drill head.

"Come on... come on," Billy said under his breath. The Mega Predator pushed forward, screeching noises continuing to irritate the rangers' and Major Hillard's eardrums. For several minutes, sparks flew out from the ground, and to the three rangers inside the zord, it felt as though they were ripping through the surface easily.

Suddenly, an alarm sounded from the zord's controls. "Beep! Beep! Beep!"

Jason looked down onto his reader, "what the? Circuit overload!?"

"I don't believe this!" Tanya shouted in frustration. Although the Rangers were patient and disciplined, what they were facing was more dangerous than anything they had ever faced in the past.

"Back the zord off!" Bill commanded. He stood on the outside, monitoring the drilling. Soon, the Mega Predator's drill head detached, and a small explosion forced the Mega Predator back about ten feet. The drill head flew off high into the air, and landed on the ground, a heap of rusted steel. Billy quickly dashed over to the broken drill head and opened his toolbox, but before he even began to make repairs, he realized what had happened. "It's been destroyed, guys. I won't be able to fix it," he said. Each ranger had a wire hooked up inside their helmets so they could communicate with one another so long as they were within a certain range.

"Billy, the zord won't read how much depth we've drilled. Check it out for us," ordered Jason.

"Right," Billy walked towards the targeted drilling area, and shuddered at what he saw. There was nothing but a few scrapes along the ground. "Uhh... guys?"

"Well, Billy? How much have we drilled?" asked Adam.

"I hate to tell you this," Billy said sadly. "But you've barely grazed the surface. Zero feet, in other words."

Jason slammed his fist on the controls. "Nothing?"

"Nothing," Billy responded. "It looks like the elements which compose this rock are stronger than we thought."

Jason slammed his head backwards into the headrest of his cockpit and sighed. "We have to keep working. Billy, get back to the shuttle and get one of the spare drill heads."

~*~

Static continued to flicker on the monitors at Nasada. "Come in, Major, Corporal, anybody, just answer!" Commander Norquist waited anxiously.

"They're probably gone," the President said pessimistically.

"If they are, then we're as good as dead," Commander Norquist replied.

"No we're not," the President said. "I've called for an emergency plan."

"What emergency plan? We never talked about this!"

"Too late now," the President gave a wicked smile.

~*~

"Major!" called Corporal Craven's voice from the Avenger. "Get back to the shuttle, I think I've made contact!" Major Hillard dashed back towards the shuttle, and made his way over to the radio communications area of the shuttle where the Corporal was sitting. He got up and let the Major sit down and put on a headset. Major Hillard removed his helmet. The monitor in front of them flickered into a view of the Nasada Navigations Control Room.

~*~

Suddenly, every monitor in the control room changed to a view of Major Hillard sitting in front of the Avenger's communications radio. "Come in, Nasada! Do you read me?"

Hundreds and hundreds of workers wiped the sweat from their foreheads and sighed in relief. Dozens of workers rushed to their computer monitors to try and pick up the signal coming from the shuttle. Commander Norquist dashed over to the communications radio. "We read you, Major! You had us worried. Where are you right now?"

"The Avenger has landed safely. We're in our exact target area and drilling his begun!" announced the Major with a smile. Hundreds of people in the room broke out with cheers for several seconds.

Katherine walked back into the Control Room and was glad to see her father on every monitor of the room. "Dad!" she called.

"Hi honey," her father greeted. "Don't worry, my crew is safe. I'll be home soon."

"Major, how much have the Rangers drilled?" interrupted Commander Norquist.

"Well," Major Hillard took a deep breath. "We just began, and, unfortunately, we broke our first drill head. We've barely scratched the surface," he regretted having to report this to Nasada.

The President stepped in, "Major, give us a straight answer. What is our current depth?" the Commander stepped out of the way, shaking his head. He knew what he was about to hear would be anything but good news.

"Nothing... yet. We have no depth right now." reported the Major. "But we're still working on it, Mr. President."

"I don't believe this..." muttered the President to himself. He hung his head low, but then turned around and headed for the door of the large room. "Tyrone," he pointed to one of his men. "Give the Russian military headquarters a call. Have them prepare the nuclear warheads for launch."

"What nuclear warheads!?" shrieked the Commander. It seemed the President had made backup plans without consulting anyone.

"If those BOYS you sent onto the asteroid can't do the job, then we're switching to plan B," answered the President. "We can't afford to have that asteroid pass the final barrier before the drilling is done... IF it gets done."

"What's plan B?" Major Hillard was in surprise.

"Forget it," said the President coldly. "Get back out there and do your job." With that remark, the President left the room.

~*~

In an unknown area on the asteroid...

The lifeless Patriot shuttle lay in a heap of scrap metal on the asteroid. The hatch to the craft's storage bay opened and Tommy pulled himself out. Taking deep breaths, he crawled around on his hands and knees, unable to stand due to the severe pain he felt in his body. He was too stunned to know where he was, and too confused to know whether or not he was alive, until he saw a motionless human body in a space suit laying beside a broken seat of the shuttle. Tommy crawled over and took a closer look. A million different thoughts crossed his mind as he stared into Zack's bloody face. "Zack? Zack! Zack, answer me!" he shook his fallen friend, then came to the realization that his comrade was dead. Tommy felt sick to his stomach, but managed to crawl to where Justin had been sitting before the crash. He took a close look at another lifeless body, shaking the young boy to see if he were still alive, but got no reaction. Tears rolled down the side of Tommy's face. Justin had become a victim of the crash. "No... it... it can't end this way!" Tommy buried his head in his arms. His communicator was still in tact from inside his helmet, but he was too far out of range to contact the other crew. "Hello out there! Does anybody read me? Is anyone else alive in here? Somebody... anybody... please answer!" He paused for a brief moment, looking around at how viciously damaged the shuttle was. It looked as though something had crashed through the windshield, which was smeared with blood stains from the two pilots being sucked through it. Broken cables and wires hung out from the shuttle controls. Tommy waited for a response, but heard nothing but static from his communicator. Seconds later, someone reached out from the hatch to the storage bay. Tommy heard several grunts and moans from behind him. He turned around and watched as Rocky pulled himself out of the storage bay.

"Is... is that you Tommy?" Rocky was relieved to see his friend.

"It sure is," Tommy replied. "Man, am I glad to see you."

"Is everyone else alright?" Rocky was anxious to know.

Tommy hung his head low, "No. We took quite a hit."

"You mean... we... we're the only ones?"

"Just us," Tommy sadly told his friend, and sighed, "we lost everyone."

Rocky closed his eyes and fell onto his knees, exhausted and saddened. "Where are we?" he asked, not having much else to say.

Tommy looked outside at the scarred face of the giant rock. "We're on the asteroid."

"What should we do?" Rocky began to get worried. His body was sore, and he was traumatized from the crash, feeling lucky that he survived.

"I'm not sure yet," Tommy answered. "Let's just hope Jason and the others are safe somewhere."

~*~

"Steady... steady..." Billy watched as the Mega Predator drilled into the ground. "I think we've finally broken through! Keep goin,' guys!"

"We've got some depth!" Jason reported. "My reader shows we're five feet into the ground." The zord was suspended to a long cable attached to the shuttle. "Alright rangers, we're goin' in!" The zord drilled its way into the ground.

"Keep it coming," Billy encouraged. "Let me know if anything goes wrong." He knew that after the hole was dug deep enough, the zord would continue to be lowered into the ground, in accordance to the depth it would be drilling. Billy patiently waited for time when he would stare down and see the Mega Predator a thousand feet from the rock's surface.

~*~

Rocky sat with his back resting against a wall. "I bet everyone thinks we're dead."

"Probably," Tommy didn't have much to respond. He reached into one of his pockets and pulled out the small black case containing the ring he intended to give to Kat for their wedding. It hadn't been damaged at all. _Katherine... she must be so worried._ he thought to himself.

"I don't think there's anything we can do," Rocky said.

Tommy closed his eyes and thought about the people he needed to save. He thought back to the day his baby was born. He remembered staring into Thomas Jr.'s adorable face, and he remembered the last night he spent with Kat at the dance club. "I've got too much to live for. I can't give up," he muttered to himself.

"What?" Rocky didn't hear him clearly.

"Maybe there is something we can do," Tommy said optimistically. "Come on, I've got an idea. Follow me." He got up and Rocky followed him back down the storage bay, where the Mega Predator, slightly damaged, but still in tact, was stored. Tommy undid the chains that held the Mega Predator in place during the journey, then stepped inside. He then searched around for the nuclear bombs that were supposed to be detonated on the asteroid. "Help me load these into the zord," ordered Tommy.

~*~

A while later...
Corporal Craven sat impatiently inside the Avenger shuttle, in communication with the President. "No, Mr. President, unfortunately, I don't know what our current depth is."

"Well, find out then," ordered the President coldly. "We need to make a decision here." Just then, Major Hillard and Billy walked into the shuttle and grabbed another spare drill head.

"Major," whispered Corporal Craven. "How are we doing?"

"Not good," replied Major Hillard curtly.

"We just broke another drill head," Billy added.

"Nice to see you again, Major," commented the President, looking somewhat dissatisfied.

"He wants us to file a status report right now," Corporal Craven continued to whisper to his commanding officer.

Major Hillard put the huge drill head down and undid his helmet. "You wish to speak to me, sir?"

"Yes, in fact, I do," said the President. "You've had plenty of time to work now. We're all anxious to know what your depth is."

"Um..." Major Hillard didn't want to answer. Looking through the monitor in front of him, he could see Katherine waiting a distance behind the President, looking just as anxious as everyone else.

"Well?" the President asked impatiently.

"Listen," Major Hillard began. "We're under a lot of pressure. The whole world is riding on our shoulders right now. If you don't mind, Mr. President, and with all due respect, my men and I would like to work in privacy without you having to disrupt us all the time." Jack Hillard now made it well known to the hundreds of people in the Navigations Control Room how fed up he was with the President's pessimism.

Moments later, Jason, Adam, and Tanya entered the shuttle. Without a drill head, there was no way they could continue their work outside. "Hey, Billy, Major, what's taking so long?" asked Jason.

"Hold on a sec," Billy said. Jason suddenly noticed the frustrated look on the President's face in the monitor.

"Major, must I repeat that all I ask is a simple question?" the President was slowly turning this conversation into an argument.

"You're holding up our time," the Major wasn't about to back down. If the President weren't a hundred thousand miles away from him, the Major felt as though he would have physically shown him how upset he was becoming.

"Damn it! Major, let me make this clear to you," the President continued. "You've had almost TWO hours. You should be at three hundred and thirty feet by now. The asteroid gets closer to final barrier with every second we waste! Answer me, WHAT IS OUR DEPTH AS OF THIS MOMENT!?"

Major Hillard leaned over to the monitor, and hung his head low. "We have eighty-six feet."

~*~

Nasada... same time, same conversation...
The President motioned for one of his scientific advisors to come towards him. "What's the maximum time we can wait before firing those bombs up there?"

"As soon as possible," the advisor answered. "Preferably within the next half hour. Those nukes will take some time to get up there. Also, if we were to wait a few hours before making a decision, if those bombs do hit the surface while the asteroid is too close to the earth, a large piece of rock may still hit us. Even if a small fraction, for example, 8 miles of that asteroid were to hit us at the velocity that it is coming at us, it would still cause total destruction all over the earth."

"Alright then," the President said. He then turned towards the monitor, where he saw Major Hillard, the Corporal, Billy, Jason, Adam and Tanya all waiting for his response. "Major, get your men out of there."

"What's going on?" Major Hillard was becoming furious. By now, Commander Norquist didn't want to intervene.

"You're too far behind schedule," the President said.

"But you're holding us up."

"We'll fire the nuclear warheads at the asteroid, and obliterate it that way," the President stated. "Your work is done. Now get out or we'll have to blast the asteroid with you on it."

"No," Major Hillard objected.

"Tell your men to back off now, Hillard! We don't have time for your protests! Go on, order them to pack whatever they brought and fly off that asteroid."

"I will NOT give that order!" the Major shouted at his high authority. The hundreds of workers, not knowing what else to do, merely stopped what they were doing and stared at the two men chew each other out.

"Sir," Billy got in front of the monitor. "If this asteroid hits the earth, it would hit with the force of a hundred thousand nuclear warheads. That means you'll probably need that many to stop it if you were going to fire them up here. And, unfortunately, the earth doesn't have that many. Even if we did, from your distance to us, there would be no possible way to get each and every one to hit the asteroid. We've been through this already. This asteroid is made of minerals far stronger than anything we have on earth. Don't do it."

"Thank you for the advice... but no thanks, Mr. Cranston," the President said. "My mind is made up. The swarm of nukes will be fired within half an hour."

"No, wait!" Jason cut in. "Mr. President, if you'll just listen."

"I have no more time to listen. Get out of there."

Jason ignored the command. "Can't you see, we are the Power Rangers. We've been through many, many grueling battles throughout our lives. And in all our years, we have NEVER lost a battle we have been in. We're not about to start now. Do you understand what I mean? We are NOT leaving this asteroid UNTIL the job is done!"

"Fine then," the President said. "We'll just have to blow up that asteroid with you on it." He turned around and began to head out of the room. However, Kat, who had been behind him the whole time, stopped him and began to object.

"You can't do this!" she pleaded. "Let those men do their job. I know they'll finish it!"

"There's two holes to drill up there, Ms. Hillard," the President explained. "The first one won't even be done on time. Now, if you'll excuse me."

Suddenly, Mr. Park, Adam's father stopped the President from exiting the room. "That's our families up there."

"Let the man through," one of the President's guards pushed Mr. Park out of the way and guided the President out the door.

Seeing that the President had exited the room, Major Hillard had more to say: "Commander, where are they launching those nukes from?"

"From Moscow," replied the Commander.

"You've got to stop them from doing this," pleaded the Major. "His plan won't work."

"I know," answered Commander Norquist sadly. "But it's out of my hands now. No one is willing to oppose the President's views, especially at a time like this. I wish I could do something, Major, but I can't. I'm sorry."

The Major took a moment and turned to converse with Billy silently before turning back to the monitor to say more: "Commander, give me the coordinates to that Russian military base they're firing from."

~*~

With a pen and paper in hand, Billy quickly jotted down the coordinates given: "got it," he said.

The Major turned to face Billy. "What's your plan, Billy?"

The former Blue Ranger adjusted his glasses before speaking: "Someone has to stop the President from insanely firing those nukes up here and ending our mission. Major, I know you won't like this, but listen to me anyway. I left the Zeo crystal with Katherine. She can teleport to that Russian base and disarm those nukes. Then we'll be able to continue drilling up here."

"No, I can't have her put in danger like that," the Major disagreed with Billy's idea. "There's gotta be another way to stop the President."

"Well, there's nothing we can do about him from up here," said Billy. "I can contact Kat through my communicator, give her the coordinates, and she can disarm those nukes without anyone knowing."

"That's very risky," Major Hillard still wasn't assured Billy's plan would work. "But if we are to finish our job the right way, then someone has to stop those nukes from coming up here. I may not like it... but go ahead. Knowing Katherine, she'll be willing to do it. I'll let Commander Norquist know first." Billy then used his communicator to tell Kat what she had to do.

~*~

Kat hid herself in one of the empty rooms in Nasada. "Alright Billy, I got it," she whispered through her communicator.

"When you find the main controls, let me know and I will tell you what to do," Billy's said. "You have less than half an hour to deactivate those bombs."

Jason then stepped in to speak to Kat: "Katherine, before you go, head over to the guest room I stayed in during our training. Look into the red gym bag on the floor, and get my Swiss Army knife, just in case."

"Okay, I will," Kat said. She kissed her baby on the forehead before leaving him with David Trueheart, then began her mission.

~*~

Elsewhere on the asteroid...
Tommy and Rocky steered their Mega Predator out of the Patriot shuttle, and searched around. "My scanner says we should be heading east," Tommy said.

"Okay," answered Rocky. "But what exactly are we looking for?"

"The place where we're supposed to start drilling," said Tommy. "We may not be able to get out of here, but the least we can do is try and save those we care about."

~*~

Moscow...
After teleporting, Katherine found herself several hundred feet outside the entrance of the Russian military base. Seeing that two security guards stood at the front door, she knew that the place was not open to the public. Knowing she had to get in somehow, she ran up to the two guards, making herself look tired when she approached them. "Excuse me," she called.

"Yes, ma'am?" one of them answered.

"There's a fight going on down that street over there!" she pointed in a southwest direction. "I think one of those men has a gun!"

The security guard she spoke to motioned to his partner: "We'll check it out." The two guards dashed down the street. With the guards gone, Katherine was able to enter the military base.

Seeing that there were several directions to go, the former Pink Ranger halted a man in a grey suit. "Um... excuse me, but where may I find the main control room?"

The man pointed down the left corridor, "right down that way," he said. "Mind you, they're busy. What do you need?"

"Oh, um..." Kat had to think quickly. "I'm helping out with firing those bombs. I'm a specialist on military weapons," she lied.

"Where's your ID?"

"Uhh... I was rushed from home right away so I couldn't bring my card with me," she answered. "But thanks for your help." She headed down to the control room.

Reaching the control room, Kat looked inside the giant double doors in front of her, and could see that people were busy, surrounded around what appeared to be the main computer. Outside the large window on the other side of the room, she could see hundreds of missiles and bombs lined up, all waiting to be launched from the base. "Billy, there's people surrounded around the main controls," she reported through the communicator.

"You've got to get them out of there somehow," Billy said. "You'll need a diversion. Is... is there a fire alarm somewhere?"

Kat looked at the wall behind her, "yes there is, Billy."

"Pull it, that should get them running out of the room."

Reaching into her left pocket, Kat pulled out a handkerchief and wrapped it around her fingers to avoid having someone trace her fingerprints. "I hope this works," she muttered to herself as she pulled the alarm. Soon, an irritating bell rang throughout the military base, and, as Billy had guessed, the people in the control room came bursting out, leaving the main controls unattended. Just before Katherine stepped inside, the two security guards she had lied to earlier on came rushing down the corridor after her.

"There she is! You there, stop where you are!" one of them shouted.

Kat quickly rushed inside the control room, slammed the doors shut, and locked them. She rushed to the keyboard of the main computer as the two guards pounded on the door. "What's next, Billy?"

"Kat, the first thing you need to do is shut down the main computer," Billy said as Kat did as she was told. "Then, use Jason's knife and cut up every wire you see attached to its hard drive."

This process took Katherine about two minutes, and by now, the two guards had began to budge through the doors. "Done, Billy. Is there anything else I need to do?"

"Knock over any electronic device that looks somehow connected to the main computer," he said.

Following his orders, Kat knocked over as many things in the room as she could. Soon, the guards burst through the doors and rushed towards her. "Uh-oh, trouble," she muttered to herself. One of the guards tried to tackle her, but Kat backflipped out of the way, then executed a spinning heel kick to the other guard, knocking him over. The first guard then tried to grab her, but she took him by the arm and flipped him over her head. "I'm sorry I had to do this," she said to the guards. Still holding the Zeo crystal, Kat raised it high above her head and teleported out of the base and back to Nasada.

~*~

Nasada... just 10 minutes later...
Everyone in the Navigations Control Room watched as the time on a large monitor. "Thirty seconds to launch," Captain Floyd said. "Those nukes outta stop that asteroid." The hundreds of people in the room watched as the time ticked down, "ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one..." suddenly a siren sounded, and the words "nuclear warheads deactivated" flashed on the monitor.

"What do you mean you can't launch those nuclear warheads!?" the President shouted through a telephone in the Navigations control room. He was speaking to an officer from the Russian base. "Someone broke in?" Asides from the President and his men, every Nasada worker had been informed about what was happening.

Soon, Katherine walked in and David gave her baby back to her. "It's done, Billy," she said through her communicator.

Seconds later, every monitor in the room flickered to the image of Major Hillard staring through the camera on his shuttle, with Corporal Craven, Jason, Adam, Billy and Tanya standing around him. "Mr. President," the Major began, "this is Jack Hillard. Whatever plan you had just failed. Also, I've got a problem with you. Y'see, I promised my daughter that I would come home, and you can damn well bet that I will do so. But right now, I want you to just sit back, relax, and watch while we dig these holes up here to save the world!!!" The people in the control room erupted with cheers again, knowing that the mission would continue.

Commander Norquist walked over to Katherine and gave her a hug, "thank you."

~*~

"Katherine did it, guys," exclaimed Billy. "Now let's get back to work."

Jason, Adam, and Tanya strapped their helmets back on and stepped back into the rearmed Mega Predator to resume drilling. "We're running short on time," Jason reminded his team. "Mega Predator, armed and ready!" The large zord was lowered into the eighty-six foot hole that had been dug, and continued drilling through the foreign rock compound. The time ticked by ever so slowly as the rangers attempted to make better progress...

~*~

Hours later at Nasada...
"How are your men doing?" asked the President.

Commander Norquist turned to face him: "Better. Billy has told us that they are over nine hundred feet deep now."

"But they still have to drill the other hole," the President said. There's less than four hours left in the mission. They've had eight now and they still don't have the first one done."

"I know," Norquist replied. "I'm beginning to worry."

~*~

"Nine hundred thirty-six feet," Billy listened to Jason's voice from the wire attached to his helmet.

"Billy, the zord's engines are burning up!" Adam said.

Billy walked over to the giant hole where his friends were digging and stared down into the blackness. Smoke was steaming from the Mega Predator's engines. "Shut it down, I'll have a look at it," Billy said.

"No," Jason refused. "Nine hundred fifty-seven feet and climbing. Billy, there's no time for that. I'm going to turn this thing up and try to break through faster. You'll have to repair it later."

"Alright then," Billy sounded slightly unsure about Jason's decision. "Just make sure it doesn't overheat. Keep it going."

"Nine hundred seventy-one feet," Jason reported. "Nine seventy-six, nine-seventy-nine, nine eighty-one..."

More smoke continued to come out. "Hurry, guys!" Billy tried to encourage. "With every passing second the Mega Predator is being damaged more. I need to repair it soon!!!"

"Almost done, Billy!" Jason responded. "Nine eighty-nine, nine ninety-three..."

As Billy stared into the giant hole being dug, he thought he heard an explosion, but hoped he was just hearing things. A moment later, he could see flames coming out of the Mega Predator's rear. "Shut it down NOW! The circuitboard is overheated!!!"

"Nine ninety-seven, nine ninety-nine," Jason persisted with the drilling. The sparks came flying out of the zord's cockpit. The main controls were now offline. "One thousand!!!" Jason exclaimed.

"SHUT IT DOWN! SHUT IT DOWN! IT'S GONNA EXPLODE!!!" Billy shrieked.

Finally, Jason shut the zord down. "It's off, Billy." Soon, the long cable attaching the zord and the shuttle was wheeled up until the zord was above the surface again.

The zord was now covered in dirt, with fire continuing to come from its engine room. Wires were loose and the drill head was almost dulled. Billy rushed over to his friends. "Guys, get outta there. I need to fix it."

"Alright Billy..." Jason paused for a moment, then thought about what they had just accomplished. "One thousand feet! Guys, we did it!"

"Yeah!" Adam felt exhausted from the whole process.

"Now let's go dig the other one," Tanya said. Suddenly, the screen on the zord's dashboard flashed the letters "WARNING: DANGER." Tanya was shocked. "What the...? What's happening to the zord?" Before anyone could answer, the zord's main controls exploded. Jason, Adam, and Tanya quickly dove out of the cockpit.

"It's gonna blow!" Jason screamed. He, Adam and Tanya then began to dash away from the zord which had helped them carry out their important task.

Major Hillard and Corporal Craven came rushing out of the shuttle. The Major took one brief glance at the badly damaged zord and knew what was about to happen. "Corporal, hurry up and cut that cable!" The Corporal did as he was told and cut the cable which attached the zord to the Avenger shuttle. The Major then waved to the rest of his crew: "Everybody run!!!"

Parts of the zord came flying off as more minor explosions occurred within it. Flames began to engulf the Mega Predator. "NNNOOOOOOOOO!!!" cried Billy. As the other rangers ran from the exploding zord, Billy grabbed his set of tools and headed back to the zord.

"Billy, come back!" Jason ordered.

"No," Billy persisted. "I can fix it! We still need it to drill the other hole!"

"Don't do it, Billy!" Tanya called, but Billy refused to listen.

Billy dashed towards the damaged zord, opened up its back compartment, and tried to fix the overheated engine. Working as quickly as he could, he began re-connecting wires and replacing detached screws. "Gotta fix it fast," he said to himself.

"Billy, it's gonna blow! Get back!" Major Hillard shouted, but was not heard by the former Blue Ranger.

"Stop, Billy!" Adam rushed towards the zord to get his friend out. "You'll be killed!"

Knowing that the mission could not continue without the Mega Predator, Billy stepped inside of it and began trying to fix the damaged controls. More explosions occurred inside the zord. Soon, a wall of fire surrounded the zord, blocking it off from the other rangers. The words "WARNING: DANGER" continued to flash on the zord's monitor as Billy was working on it. Soon, the entire zord exploded from the inside, breaking into many different pieces. Billy, being inside of it, was hurled through the zord's windshield and into the sky. "AAAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUGGGGGHHHHHH!!!" he shrieked in pain as his helmet was sucked off, with fire spreading onto his space suit. The explosion sent Adam flying backwards, landing on the ground in a heap of pain.

"BILLY!!!" Jason screamed in vein. "NNNNOOOOOOOO!!!"

As Jason dashed towards his friend's lifeless body, Major Hillard grabbed Jason from behind and held him back: "It's too late!" said the Major. "Stay back!" the zord continued to explode into thousands of chunks. Billy's lifeless body floated away from the asteroid and into the vast ocean of space.

"BILLY! BILLY!" Jason continued to shout, but he knew his deceased friend could not hear him. Billy had become a victim to the dangerous mission.

"Adam, are you alright?" Tanya rushed over to make sure he wasn't hurt.

"My leg," Adam was crawling along the ground. "I... I think it's broken," he rolled around in pain.

Major Hillard staggered over towards the deep hole dug into the ground. He fell to his knees, and looked around at the broken remains of the Mega Predator. Getting to his feet, he strolled back to the Avenger shuttle, and switched on the screen to speak to Commander Norquist in the Navigations Control Room.

"Major, what happened?" questioned the Commander.

"It's over, Commander," the depressed Major replied. "We... we failed."

~*~

A channel 6 news report interrupted every American television station. A reporter stood in the foreground of the screen, with the Nasada Space Center in the background. "Ladies and gentlemen, this is Natalie Smith reporting live from Nasada. We have just received word that the asteroid mission... has failed. With the heavy losses and a lack of equipment, the mission has been terminated. Many Nasada officials have rushed to their homes to be with their families. It will only be a matter of hours before the asteroid hits us. With me now is Dr. Hubert Hayes, a ten year veteran worker for this space organization."

A depressed Dr. Hayes took the microphone in his right hand. "Once the asteroid reaches final barrier, it should take no more than two hours and twenty minutes before it reaches us. At impact, the asteroid will crash in the middle of the South Pacific, creating a tidal wave five miles high which will spread across the globe within a few days. In addition, thousands of explosions will occur worldwide and, much like the atomic bombs used in World War II, buildings will be knocked flat and all life on earth will be vaporized. Any survivors of the initial crash will freeze in the wintertime. On behalf of Nasada, we would like to..." Dr. Hayes removed his glasses and wiped a tear that rolled down the left side of his face before continuing. "And I know it means nothing now, but we would like to apologize. We here at Nasada spent a month doing everything we could without sleep and without rest in order to make this mission successful. We... we're sorry! We tried, we really did!" Dr. Hayes broke down and cried. "This wasn't meant to happen!" the emotional doctor continued, seeing that it was the end of mankind, something he hardly had time to think about with all the work going on in Nasada.

The reporter took the camera from Dr. hayes and continued. "We're going off the air now. So long." At the closing of the news report, rioting broke out on the streets of many countries worldwide. The entire world was in a state of chaos.

~*~

Nasada...
With the rest of the world degenerating into turmoil, Nasada was no exception. "BASTARD!!!" Captain Floyd struck Commander Norquist on the chin with a right cross. The Commander's glasses flew off his face and shattered into bits on the ground. Captain Floyd grabbed the fallen Norquist and wrapped both hands around his throat. "You gave away the coordinates to the Russian base! We could have stopped the asteroid! You've let us all die!"

"Captain, stop this insanity now!" the President ordered. Some of the President's other men grabbed the Captain and restrained him from continuing to lash out at Norquist. By now, most of the workers had left the Space Center.

Katherine rushed towards the Commander's side, picked up his glasses, and helped him to his feet. "Are you alright?" she asked.

"It doesn't matter now," responded the Commander, favoring his chin and putting his glasses back on. "Nothing matters when we're about to lose everything."

"I know," Katherine got up and took her baby into her arms. Finding a place to sit down, Kat held the adorable child tightly and kissed him on the forehead. "I love you," she said.

All activity had stopped in the Space Center. One of the workers who was still around buried his face in his hands in front of a computer. Suddenly, a beeping noise sounded from the computer's speakers. Sitting upright to see what was happening, a shocked expression formed on the worker's face. "Oh... my... God," he gasped. "I... I've picked up a signal!" he announced to everyone who was left in the room.

"What?" Commander Norquist was in disbelief. "Where? What are you talking about?"

~*~

Major Hillard walked into one of the shuttle rooms, where Corporal Craven was tending to Adam's broken leg, wrapping a bandage around it. Jack removed his helmet. "So close... yet so far away," he said under his breath.

"I... I can't believe we lost," Adam was too frustrated to care about his injury.

Suddenly, a transmission came from Nasada. "Avenger, this is Nasada, do you copy?" Commander Norquist's voice sounded through the speakers.

"Over," Major Hillard responded.

"We've come across a signal on the other end of the asteroid."

"What is it?" asked the Major.

"We don't know," said the Commander. "There's a rock storm going on out there so we can't figure out who or what it is. Get the nuke down the hole you've dug and head over to the Patriot's drilling site. Find out what's happening."

"We're on it," Major Hillard said.

A minute passed before anyone spoke. Adam broke the silence: "Could... could it be? Could the Patriot crew have survived?"

Major Hillard looked puzzled. "Only one way to find out. Corporal, take Jason out with you and drop the nuke down into our drilling spot. Afterwards we'll head over and have a look at what the Commander is talking about."

It took several minutes for Corporal Craven and Jason to plant the nuclear warhead into the hole. By the time they returned to the shuttle, the rest of the crew was ready to take off. Corporal Craven walked in and removed his helmet, then seated himself in his co-pilot spot. "Let's fire these engines, Major."

"Three, two, one, let's go!" Major Hillard ignited the Avenger's thrusters, and headed a hundred miles across the asteroid.

~*~

Many of the worker's who had left Nasada earlier returned to find Commander Norquist waiting for them in the Navigations Control Room, as usual. "Take your seats, everyone," the Commander said. "We should be receiving word from Avenger soon. Keep your eyes peeled and be prepared for anything.

~*~

"There's a lotta debris out there!" Major Hillard exclaimed as he neared the crew's destination. A rock storm made it difficult to see through the windshield. "We better land somewhere safe and wait for this storm to pass."

Five minutes passed before the rock storm was finished. "I think it's safe now," said Corporal Craven. "Go on, Major. I'll stay here with Adam." Major Hillard, Jason, and Tanya stepped off the Avenger and headed outside to see what was around. They were about a hundred yards from the Patriot's drilling site.

Jason looked around cautiously. "I don't see anything," he said. Making his way slowly up a hill, he stared to the far east end of his location, and saw a beam of light coming from that direction. Hustling up the hill, Jason made his way to the top, where he could look down at the valley below. A drilling sound could be heard, and there was a giant hole in the center of the valley. "Guys, over here!" his crew members rushed to his side and watched as the Mega Predator slid itself out of the hole and back to the surface. Its cockpit door opened, and a frustrated Tommy stepped out to have a look at the beaten drill head. Recognizing his friend, Jason raced down the hill where he could be close enough to communicate with Tommy through the wires hooked up inside their helmets. "TOMMY!" Jason exclaimed.

Though Tommy heard nothing but static from his communicator for several hours now, he thought he heard a familiar voice that wasn't too far off. Looking up, he saw his best friend dashing towards him. "Jason?" the two friends shared a hug.

"It's good to see ya bro!"

~*~

"Come in, Nasada," Corporal Craven's voice came through the Nasada speakers, his image on every screen in the room. "You're not going to believe this... but the other Mega Predator has arrived!" cheers echoed throughout the Control Room.

Relieved, but curious, Katherine shot a look towards Commander Norquist. Norquist knew what was on her mind, and didn't hesitate to ask Corporal Craven for more information. "Craven, who... who on the Patriot crew survived?"

"Rocky DeSantos and Tommy Oliver," replied the Corporal.

Katherine smiled for the first time in days. "Your father's alive and well," she whispered to her baby.

~*~

"We've been drilling for hours now," Rocky said, stepping out of the Mega Predator. "We've got about two hundred feet and our drill head is being dulled."

"We'll take care of that," Major Hillard said assuringly. "But for now, the mission will continue."

After the drill head was replaced, Jason joined Tommy and Rocky in the zord's cockpit, with Tommy seated in the center, Rocky to his left, and Jason to the right. Major Hillard attached the zord to the shuttle with a cable. Tommy fired up the Mega Predator's engines and got the drill head spinning. "Let's get back to work. Mega Predator power, now!" the zord was lowered back into the hole to resume its drilling.

"We better pick up the pace," said Jason. "We've got another eight hundred feet to drill in the next three hours." The zord continued to crush the rock beneath it, gaining more depth with every passing moment.

~*~

Nasada... two hours and fifteen minutes later...
A nervous President stared at the large timer in the Control Room. Exactly forty-four minutes and thirty-one seconds before the asteroid passes the final barrier and makes its way to earth. "Norquist, we're running short on time. Find out our depth."

"Already done that," said the Commander. "They're doing it in record time. Last I checked they had just broken eight hundred feet."

"How long ago was that?"

"About half an hour ago," said Norquist. He then checked the time, and looked towards Kat, who was waiting beside him. "Ms. Hillard, do you think they'll be able to finish on time?"

"I think so," she answered, although she wasn't really sure. For the first time since she had met her friends, she, like everyone else on earth was having doubts about them.

~*~

"Be careful, Tommy," said Major Hillard. "This is our last drill head." The Major stared down into the seemingly never-ending hole in the ground.

"I know," responded Tommy. "We're at nine hundred sixty-four feet right now."

Suddenly, Major Hillard saw sparks come flying out of the Mega Predator's rear. "Tommy, is everything okay down there?"

"Our circuits are starting to fry!" answered Tommy. "This drill head is starting to dull." Suddenly, the zord's movement started to become unstable. The turbulence made it harder for the three rangers to continue their drilling.

Suddenly, Major Hillard saw a part of the zord come flying off, and an explosion occurred in the zord's rear thrusters. "Oh no, not again," he muttered to himself. "Guys, shut the zord down!"

"No!" Tommy persisted. "If we do, the drill head will get jammed and we'll lose it!"

Another explosion sent the zord's back wheels flying off of it. "Shut it down, Tommy! It'll explode! That's how we lost Billy!"

"We're burning up in here!" Jason yelled. "Tommy, I think he's right. We'd better turn it off before we lose the zord!"

"My controls are offline!" Rocky slammed his fists on the dashboard.

"Don't worry," Tommy kept his mind focused on the task. He could hear the zord falling apart, and saw that his two friends had lost control of the zord. It was up to him. His controls were the only ones functioning. "I'll push through this thing."

"Tommy, it's gonna blow any second now!" Major Hillard shouted.

"Trust me!" Tommy argued.

"Didn't you hear what he said!?" Rocky sounded frustrated. "It's gonna blow!"

"Guys, it's our last drill head!" Tommy wouldn't be convinced. "If we don't do this now, we won't have another chance. Now let's finish the job!"

Although he didn't agree entirely, Major Hillard felt that there was no other choice. He sighed, "go for it."

"I'm downshifting slowly," Tommy said. "Nine sixty-seven, nine seventy-one, nine seventy-eight..."

"Hurry!" exclaimed Rocky as his end of the controls exploded.

"Nine eighty-three," Tommy continued. "Nine eighty-seven..."

"C'mon... c'mon, just a few more feet," Jason muttered.

"Nine ninety-two, nine ninety-five," Tommy counted. He felt a drop of sweat roll down the side of his face as he pushed through the rock aggressively. "Nine ninety-seven, nine ninety-nine... one thousand and one!!!"

"SHUT IT DOWN! SHUT IT DOWN! SHUT IT DOWN!" Major Hillard shouted as loud as he could. Tommy shut the zord down just as his controls went offline.

The zord was reeled back up by the long cable attached to the Avenger. Soon, Tommy, Jason and Rocky jumped out. "Run!" Jason dashed away from the zord, followed by his two friends. The three rangers took cover as the zord exploded into pieces, its entire system overheated. This time, however, no one was hurt.

Despite losing the other Mega Predator, the job was finished. "Yeah! We did it!" Tommy raised his arms in victory.

"Awesome!" exclaimed Rocky.

"Nothing defeats the Power Rangers!" Jason said, exchanging hi-fives with Tommy and Rocky.

"Corporal, bring out the nuclear warhead," Major Hillard contacted the shuttle. "It's not over until it's down that hole."

Tanya waited inside with Adam as Corporal Craven wheeled out the nuclear bomb. As he wheeled it out, he felt the ground beneath him begin to shake. "What was that?" he asked, trying to keep his balance.

~*~

Nasada...
"What's happening?" Commander Norquist asked to a worker in front a computer.

"The hole has been dug," said the man at the computer, "but we're picking up some turbulence on the asteroid. Looks like there's gonna be some unexpected eruptions there. There's another rock storm in the area more severe than the first one, meaning our communication with them is going to be broken up for a while."

"Damn, talk about bad timing," said Commander Norquist. "The minute that storm passes, make sure we re-establish communication and assure that the bomb is down the hole. We have thirty-two minutes before final barrier is reached."

~*~

"Take cover!" Major Hillard shrieked as he dove away from a large meteor heading in his direction. Thousands of rocks rained in from every direction, each one exploding while hitting the surface.

"Jason, look out!" Tommy tackled his friend out of harm's way as more meteors hit the ground around them.

The ground beneath Rocky began to split open. Running away from trouble, a large meteor exploded behind him, hurling him several feet into the air, causing him to land on his back. "AAAAAUUUUGGGHH!!!"

"Rocky!" Corporal Craven cried and dashed over to his side.

"I'm fine!" Rocky said, avoiding help while trying to get back up. The crew ran around dodging meteors from every direction, as if they were a team of soldiers avoiding bullets in the front line of a battlefield.

For several minutes, there was no safe place to hide, and each man had to continuously avoid harm's way. Soon, the storm had passed. A tired Major Hillard found himself lying on his stomach, breathing heavily.

Getting up, he looked around to make sure none of his men were hurt. "Everyone, report to me now. Are you all there?"

"I'm alright, Major," Jason said.

"I'm here," Corporal Craven reported.

"I'm exhausted, but alive," Rocky helped himself to his feet.

The Major looked around, "Tommy, what about you?"

"I'm fine," Tommy said, getting up.

"I'll check back with the shuttle," said Major Hillard. "Adam, Tanya, you guys still with us?"

"We're here, Major," Tanya's voice sounded.

"Alright then," Major Hillard heaved a sigh of relief. "Corporal, prepare the bomb for automatic detonation."

Some debris had been spilled on the bomb. Corporal Craven got to work in preparing it. After clicking a few buttons, the word "ERROR" flashed on the bomb's timer. "What the...?" the Corporal was startled.

"What's wrong?" there was concern in Rocky's voice.

"I've set it up correctly, but it can't read the auto detonation sequence," the Corporal answered.

"What does that mean?" Tommy asked.

"It's damaged," Craven said with fear in his voice.

Rocky stepped forward to have a closer look at the bomb, "so... the bomb's busted?"

"No," the Corporal sounded uneasy, "just the auto trigger."

~*~

"The bomb's trigger is dead," one of the Nasada astronomers reported to the Commander.

Commander Norquist hesitated before responding: "so they can't detonate it from the shuttle?"

"Exactly. What should we do? Is there another way to set it off?"

"Yeah," Commander Norquist shuddered at what he was about to say. "Have... have them set it on manual detonation sequence."

"But sir, doesn't that mean...?" the astronomer's voice trailed off. Katherine stood up to listen in on the conversation, looking worried.

"I know," the Commander said in a depressed tone. "Someone's staying behind."

~*~

The Avenger crew stood in a circle inside the shuttle, all facing one another. The crew exchanged brief glances with one another, all knowing what had to be done, but saying nothing. "So..." the Corporal was the first to speak. "Detonating this thing manually is a one man job. So, here's our options: either we make it fair and we all stay behind, or we draw straws."

"No, I can't allow that," Major Hillard interrupted. "No one is drawing straws. I can't risk any of you kids dying. As a military man, it is my duty to protect people. I'll stay here and make sure the job is done."

"No, Major," Corporal Craven objected. "It's as much my job as it is yours. But at least one of us has to fly this shuttle home. And, with all due respect, Major Hillard, volunteering wasn't one of the options I just gave."

"Let's draw," Jason said in his leader tone of voice, looking around at his teammates, "and let's find out who's going home... and who's not."

Corporal Craven grabbed a bunch of small wires to serve as straws. Secretly snapping one short, he held the wires up in his right, each of his teammates taking one. Going around the circle, Major Hillard took one, then Jason did, then Rocky, then Tanya, and finally, Tommy. Adam was the only one omitted due to his injury. The remaining straw was to be Corporal Craven's. The Corporal unwrapped his hand around the last straw, and was relieved to see it was regular-sized. He looked around at his crew: "well? Who's it gonna be?"

Seeing that his straw wasn't any shorter than the Corporal's, Jason was glad to know he wasn't about to die. Then, he looked around at the rest of his crew. No one else appeared to be worried, that is, except for Tommy, who stood with a shocked look on his face while staring at a half-sized straw sitting in his right hand. "N... no..." Jason muttered, as much in disbelief as Tommy was.

Tommy opened his lips to say something, but the words never left his mouth. Speechless, the long-haired boy continued to stare at the short straw he was holding. Finally, he looked up to see the faces of his friends, who stared at him blankly. "Well, everyone dies some time. I'm just the one who gets to do it saving the world."

Tommy walked over to the Corporal, who held the manual detonation trigger in his left hand. The Corporal handed it to Tommy, "hook this up to the bomb's main wire, take the cap off, then press the button and hold it until the explosion."

"Sounds simple," Tommy responded, his body shivering with fear. His mind dwelled on many things, but mainly on Katherine and their baby, whom he knew he would never see again.

Major Hillard watched as Tommy bid farewell to his friends. Opening up the elevator doors to the ground, the Major gestured for Tommy to get in. "C'mon, I'll take you down." Tommy stepped in, followed by Major Hillard as the clear glass doors shut and transported them to the ground outside the shuttle. Tommy strapped his helmet on, and the Major could hear him breathing heavily.

"Major Hillard," Tommy said.

"Yes?"

"Pl... please," Tommy began. "Please tell Katherine and my baby that I love them."

"I will," the Major replied as the elevator hit the ground and the clear doors opened.

"Thank you." Tommy then pulled out the small black case from his pocket containing the wedding ring. "Here, I guess I won't be needing this much longer."

The Major opened up the small case, revealing the shiny, beautiful, expensive diamond ring. "Was... was this for Katherine? Were you planning to...?"

"Propose," Tommy answered before the whole question was asked. "Yes I was." Clutching the manual trigger, he stepped out slowly. "Well, this is it. Looks like I've got my work cut out for me." As he strutted out, he felt a tugging on the back of his oxygen tank. It didn't take long before his oxygen supply was cut off and he began to choke.

The Major had undid the cable which attached the oxygen to Tommy's space suit. "Your work is done," Major Hillard said as he snatched the manual detonation trigger from Tommy's right hand and stepped outside. He then shoved the small black with the ring into one of Tommy's suit pockets. "Now, get in," he said as he popped Tommy's helmet off, shoved him into the elevator and clicked on the switch that would shut the doors.

Coughing, a confused Tommy shoved his helmet away and stood up, pounding on the elevator's glass shutters. "Major! Wh... what are you doing!?"

"Leave it to me," Major Hillard responded.

With so much happening is such little time, it took Tommy a moment to figure out what the Major was up to. "Major, please don't do this! I've got a job to finish!"

"No," Major Hillard disagreed. "Take care of my daughter... that's your job."

Tommy felt both relieved and thankful, yet saddened at the same time knowing that Major Hillard would die for him. "Wait," Tommy persisted.

"Promise me you'll take care of her," Major Hillard said in a sturdy voice.

"But..."

"Promise me," the Major demanded. "I won't go until you do so."

"I... I will," Tommy felt a tear roll down the side of his face, not knowing exactly how he was feeling.

"Then there's nothing more to say," Major Hillard pressed the button that would take the elevator back to the shuttle's main deck. "You're a good man, Oliver. I'll miss you."

Tommy watched as he was raised away from the Major. "Goodbye, Mr. Hillard," Tommy said.

When the elevator reached the Avenger's main deck, the remaining crew members were surprised to see Tommy on his knees, catching his breath. Jason helped his friend to his feet. "What happened? Where's the Major?" When Tommy didn't answer, the crew was able to assume what had happened.

~*~

Nasada... nineteen minutes to final barrier...
Commander Norquist ordered Corporal Craven to focus one of the Avenger's cameras to the outside of the shuttle at Major Hillard. "Miss Hillard, come here please," Norquist gestured towards a seat in front of the main screen in the Navigations Control Room.

The big monitor in front of Katherine flickered into the image of her father standing outside the shuttle. All eyes focused on the Major. "Dad?" Kat wasn't sure what was happening.

"Katherine, I'm so glad to see you," the Major began. "It's been a long 3 days."

"I know," his daughter answered. However, there seemed to be something in his voice that made her sense that something wasn't right. "Is something wrong?"

"Yes and no," her dad replied. "As you know by now, the drilling is done and the shuttle is set for launch. But Kat, there's... there's something I need to tell you. I know you said you wanted me to come back home. But... there's something I have to do, something more important than anything I've ever done."

"Wh... what do you mean?"

"I won't be back, honey," Jack finally broke the tension. "Someone has to stay behind. Someone has to make sure the bombs are detonated. Someone has to make sure the world is saved."

Kat didn't know what to say. "But... but why? Dad, please, there has to be another way," she pleaded.

"But there isn't," Jack Hillard said sadly. "I'm sorry, dear."

A brief moment passed before Kat responded, "don't be."

"No," her father explained. "I'm sorry I wasn't a better father. I'm sorry I wasn't there for you when you had your baby. I'm sorry we couldn't be a family after your mother died. All in all, I'm sorry for everything."

"Dad, it's okay," Kat felt a tear roll down the side of her face. "We all make mistakes. I'm sorry when I said I hated you. And, if anything, right now I'm very, very proud of you. You're a hero, you're a very accomplished man... and most of all, you're a great father. I love you, dad."

Major Hillard was becoming teary-eyed, "thanks honey. I love you too. Now I know I won't be around much longer, but when I'm gone, at least I'll know you'll be okay. You've got a great man in your life. Tommy was very brave up here. He will be home soon, and I know he'll take good care of you when I'm not around. You won't be alone."

Katherine smiled, with more tears, both of joy and of grief coming from her eyes. "What about you, dad? You don't deserve to die, and I don't want you to die so... so lonely."

"But I won't be," her father said. "I'll be with your mother. Together, we'll watch over you. We'll watch as you start your own family and become a fine young woman. I've watched you grow for 20 years now, and I'm proud to die knowing that you're safe with someone. I'm proud to die knowing that you helped us, and made it possible for us to finish our work up here. I'm proud of you and everything you've ever done."

"Thank you, dad," Kat sad softly. "I'll make sure that Junior knows how great his grandfather was."

"I know you will," the Major said proudly. "Now Katherine, I have to go before it's too late."

"No, daddy please stay," Katherine said, still sobbing a bit.

"I can't," he replied. "Remember me. Goodbye, honey."

"Good... goodbye daddy." With that, the monitor faded to static, and Kat knew it was the last time she would ever see her father again.

~*~

With the asteroid nearing the earth and its rotation becoming unstable due to the gravity, small eruptions occurred in several places on the giant rock. Seeing that the ground was beginning to split open, Major Hillard took cover underneath the shuttle. "Corporal, hurry up and get the crew outta here."

"We're going," Corporal Craven answered. Starting up the shuttle's engines, Craven strapped his belt buckle on and got ready to take the crew back home. However, the engines failed and the ship would not start. "Damn..."

Jason was puzzled. "We leaving yet?"

"Oh man," the Corporal was worried. "The engines are dead."

"What?" Rocky was eager to leave. Looking through the windows, he saw unexpected eruptions in several directions, and the turbulence becoming increasingly worse.

Corporal Craven leaned over to his speaker. "Come in, Nasada. Our engines are down. We have no fire. I repeat, we have no fire."

"Let me fix it," Adam undid his belt buckle.

"See what you can do," the Corporal answered while waiting a response from Nasada.

"Corporal," Commander Norquist's voice came through the speakers. "Final barrier is eleven minutes away. Do what you can to fire those engines and get the heck outta there!"

"I've got Adam working on it," Corporal Craven said. He turned and watched as Adam limped with one leg over to the Avenger's engine room.

"What are you guys waiting for?" Major Hillard's voice came through the Corporal's helmet communicator. "Go now!" the Major commanded, unaware of what was going on since he was outside the shuttle awaiting the time to detonate the bombs.

~*~

Nasada... eight minutes to final barrier...
Tension was building up in the Control Room. One of the workers turned to face the Commander. "Sir, we're running out of time. Hillard may have to detonate the bombs with the crew still there."

"I know," the Commander replied. "But I'm willing to do anything to save the crew who worked so hard to let us all live. Give them a few more minutes."

Katherine took a seat and closed her eyes, knowing Tommy was onboard the shuttle. She had been waiting anxiously for him to come home for days now. "Adam will fix it," she said to herself. "They'll be back soon... I know they will."

~*~

Five minutes to final barrier...
Adam's hands were shaking as he used Billy's set of tools to repair the engines. The former Green Ranger had never felt so tense in his entire life. It would be only a few more minutes before the Major would be forced to detonate the bombs. "Gotta keep trying," Adam said to himself. Setting a few wires in place and replacing a few screws, he made repairs as fast as he could. "Try it now, Corporal!"

"Still nothing!" the Corporal let Adam know that the ship was still unable to take off.

Adam glanced at the time. Two and a half minutes left. He continued to work as quickly as he could. Just as the clock hit the two minute mark, the lights in the engine room flickered back on, and he could hear the engines starting up. "I did it!" he exclaimed. "Go for it, Corporal!"

The Corporal ignited the engines and began to take off. "Nasada, we've got fire! Now let's get going!"

"Alright, Adam!" Tommy got up and helped Adam back into his seat. The Avenger thrusted off of the asteroid, into the air, and began to make its journey home.

"C'mon now, let's get some altitude!" Commander Norquist's voice came through the speakers.

"I'm going as fast as I can!" Corporal Craven responded. Looking out his left window, Corporal Craven saw Major Hillard staring up at the shuttle, waiting to blow the bombs. Knowing that he would never see the Major again, the Corporal saluted his most recent commanding officer. The Major answered the salute with one of his own, and soon, the shuttle was out of sight.

"I'm coming home soon, Ann," Major Hillard whispered as if he were talking to his wife. He watched as the Avenger rode home. However, an eruption from beneath him hurled the Major into the air, forcing him to drop the manual detonation trigger. "Damn it!" Major Hillard hit the ground several meters from where he was hurled.

~*~

"The shuttle's out of range," Commander Norquist said. "What could Hillard be waiting for? Detonate those bombs!"

"One minute to final barrier!" a man in the room announced.

~*~

"We're well out of range now," Corporal Craven said to his crew. "Something's not right. He should have detonated those bombs by now."

~*~

Major Hillard scrambled around, looking for the manual trigger, avoiding small explosions in every direction. "Where is it!?" he shrieked to himself. Piles of rocks and debris began to cover the area.

~*~

Commander Norquist grew more tense as the seconds ticked by. With the shuttle out of the asteroid's range, there was no way to contact Major Hillard. "Ten seconds left. Hurry up and press the button! Press it, Major!"

Katherine looked as the time winded down. "Hurry, daddy," she muttered to herself.

~*~

Uncovering piles of debris, Major Hillard retrieved the manual detonation trigger. On his knees, he stared up into the endless sky. "Katherine's safe now. I'm coming home soon, Ann." Slipping the cap off, he closed his eyes and pressed the red button which would detonate the bombs as his life flashed before his eyes...

~*~

The Avenger crew looked through their windows at the blinding flashes from the exploding asteroid. "He did it!" Corporal Craven announced.

"Thank you, Major Hillard," Tommy said under his breath.

~*~

"We have detonation!" a voice announced to a microphone in the Nasada Control Room. "Most of the asteroid has been disintegrated and all remaining pieces will miss the earth by at least two hundred miles!" the people in the Control Room celebrated, hugging one another and shaking hands.

An ecstatic Commander Norquist congratulated some of his colleagues on a job well done. He then looked around for Katherine, who stood by herself, expressionless. The Commander walked up to her. "Your father was the bravest, most unselfish, and most honorable man who ever lived. I think I speak for everyone alive when I say that. You should be proud of him."

It took a moment for Kat to respond. "I am," she smiled. She then joined the hundreds of people in the Control Room who were going outside to welcome the Avenger back home. As she stepped out near the runway, thousands were already gathered to give their praises to the team of brave warriors who fought to preserve life on earth. A while later, the Avenger touched down on the runway as the thousands of fans cheered. The press was everywhere, restrained by heavy security. Cameras flickered as Corporal Craven led the crew out of the shuttle, a band of soldiers returning home from war. Each individual stepped out, cameras taking pictures of them, not as Power Rangers, but as human beings who saved mankind. Kat watched as Tanya helped Adam make his way over to his family. Rocky was met by a few relatives whom he hadn't seen in a while. Jason was in the arms of Emily who had waited anxiously for him. Tommy was the last to come out. Kat stood out on the runway in a place where he could see her. Katherine ran towards Tommy, and they wrapped their arms around one another as they met. "Tommy, I thought I'd never see you again!"

"I'm home now... everything's gonna be okay," he said, then kissed her. For several minutes in the middle of the runway, Tommy held Katherine in his arms. He then slowly pulled out the small black case he'd been keeping for several days. "Kat..."

For several minutes in the middle of the runway, Tommy held Katherine in his arms. He then slowly pulled out the small black case he'd been keeping for several days. "Kat..."

"Yes?"

"I promised your father that you'd be alright as long as you were with me," he began. "I have never loved anyone the way I've loved you." he then got down on one knee, took out the ring, and took her right hand in his. "Katherine Hillard, will you marry me?"

The question came as a shock to Kat, who had experienced a lot of trauma over the past few days. However, all worries were now in the past, and the best was just up ahead. She smiled. "Yes, Tommy. Of course I will." He then slipped the ring onto her finger, and then kissed the future Mrs. Oliver again. By now, it was late in the day with the sun setting in the background. Fireworks exploded in the sky and everyone was celebrating and honoring the arrival of their heroes. The world was saved, and that's what mattered most.

End

Part 1 Part 2