Disclaimer:The Power Rangers are the property of Saban Entertainment and I lay no claim to them. The character of Mackenzie Dekalb is property of Karilee who can be contacted at kajwr@twcny.rr.com. The character of Cassandra Jensen(the Emerald Ranger) belongs to Helen who can be contacted at helen0724@yahoo.com. Jeffrey Kincaid, Lord Crucible, and all other characters relating to them are mine. Should anyone wish to use my characters contact me at foi72@yahoo.com.

Team Effort
Part 10
By John Chubb

Justin stood at the door to Kincaid's quarters. He pressed the call button until he heard a "come in.", from Kincaid.

Justin saw Kincaid working on a piece of equipment that was unfamiliar to him. "Uhh...Kincaid?"

Kincaid turned to look at Justin. "Yeah?, what's up?"

"The others are waiting for you in the conference room.", said the blue Turbo Ranger.

"Okay I'm on my way.", Kincaid grabbed his jacket as Justin was looking at the piece of equipment Kincaid was working on. "May I ask what this is?"

"This, is a piece of history.", said Kincaid. "We're talking antique. Mint condition. The Atari 2600 video computer system. These things came about long before there was a Nintendo 64, or a Sega Genesis, or even Sony PlayStation. The games on this thing were so old, and the graphics weren't as real as you would see today. This was the 'in'system for it's day. Well that and the Intellevision system that was it's competition. Bruce has one of those."

"Why is it in pieces?", asked Justin.

"I'm trying to restore it in my spare time.", said Kincaid. "I managed to find working parts for it, and I picked up an assembly guide for it. All I have to do is put it together."

"Can I help out?", asked Justin. "I used to be a pretty good video game player myself. I also tinkered with dad's game system...at...times." Justin felt himself fall into despair as he mentioned his father. He wondered where he was, if he was okay, and if he would ever see him again. Kincaid saw it straight away.

"You miss your dad don't you?", he asked.

"Didn't you miss yours when he left?", asked Justin.

"Yeah, I did. But there is a difference. My father walked out, and I felt bitter about the decision. I never really knew if the man really loved me or not. Yours was taken away from you, and you knew straight away that you missed him."

Kincaid waited for a moment then looked Justin in the eye. "Don't worry.", he said. "We'll find him. We found Ashley didn't we?"

"Yeah we did."

"When we get a moment, you can help out with the game machine. But for now we have a meeting, so let's go." With that, Justin and Kincaid headed for the conference room.

* * *

Kincaid and Justin walked in to the briefing room where Ashley, Adam, Cassandra, and Mackenzie all sat in their chairs wondering what Kincaid had in mind. Justin took his chair as well and was curious as to what Kincaid was about to say.

"Okay gang. Let's get to business". said Kincaid as he called up a map on the video screen. "Hardrive and Alpha have been picking up some transmissions from what appears to be scattered resistance groups that are fighting Crucible."

We are now at number 23 in our long distance dedication countdown.", said Hardrive as he was impersonating Casey Kasem.

"All those people are fighting Crucible?", asked Mackenzie.

"No species likes being conquered.", said Cassandra. "At heart everyone screams to be free of an opressor."

"Amen to that", said Ashley.

"How are these groups faring in their eforts?", asked Adam.

Kincaid paused for a second. "Unfortunately not too well. These resistance cells are too isolated from each other to mount an effective counter attack. They need to unify."

"They're sending out transmissions. Shouldn't they be unified that way?", asked Adam.

"The transmissions appear to be wide dispersal, and limited to distress calls.", said Justin. In fact there are so many distress calls in this area that they are starting to overlap each other."

"And there's a central base that's under Crucible's control that can monitor any transmissions in that sector of space. As well as movement.", said Kincaid. "I spoke to as many of the resistance cells as I could without arousing suspicion. Each one is ready to set up an information pipeline that will link these cells together. There's only one problem."

"Let me guess. We have to knock out the central base so the cells can connect their pipeline.", said Cassandra. Kincaid confirmed her conclusion.

"When you need dirty work done, who you gonna call? Nightfighters!", said Mackenzie.

"It'll be a two-pronged attack. Cassandra you will lead the frontal in my absence."

"Absence? What are you going to do?", asked Justin.

"I'm going to be covering you, while you do the most important job.", said Kincaid as he laid out the rest of his plan.

* * *

The commander of base LV315, Korus who wore a golden armor, reviewed the survey report. Minor resistance in scattered areas of the sector. No big threats. They don't have enough together to mount a sucessful attack he thought. They could unify but there was no way for them to communicate well so what ever resistance groups remained scattered.

"Commander Korus. We have incoming ship.", said a guardsman on sensors.

"On screen", said Korus. On the screen was a red ship. A ship every commander was briefed on.

"Defiance.", said Korus. "All ships stand ready. Prepare to attack."

* * *

"They see us coming.", said Cassandra.

"All right Hardrive. Do what Cassandra tells you. She's the boss here.", said Kincaid.

"What are your orders Captain Janeway?", said Hardrive.

"First of all deploy Zords, then initiate Zord transform." The DragonZord, the BlackHawk, Roadbuster, Cassandra's Emerald Tiger and Mackenzie's Astro Viper all launched. Cassandra then teleported to her own zord's cockpit, then ordered Hardrive to transform Defiance.

Defiance, Roadbuster, and the Astro Viper transformed to their warrior modes while the DragonZord, the Blackhawk, and the Emerald Tiger stayed in their animal modes.

"Their defences have gone on line.", said Adam. "They're ready to fire."

"Okay, it's showtime. Begin the attack.", ordered Cassandra. The Zords began their advance.

* * *
Korus watched as the Zords approached. "Get a lock onto those zords and destroy them."
* * *

'Like clockwork', thought Cassandra. 'Now let's really confuse them'

"Defiance, fire pattern spread!", she ordered. Defiance's chest opened up as a pattern of scatter fire erupted to scatter the base sensors.

"All right Kincaid.", said Cassandra. "We're ready to press on. Launch now!"

* * *

The Zords resumed attacking as a small shuttle emerged from Defiance and made it's way towards the base. On board were Justin and Kincaid.

"The remote link ups are working pretty well.", said Justin. "Defiance and RoadBuster are fighting as well as if we were in charge of them."

"Let's hope these guys think the same thing.", said Kincaid as he flew the shuttle towards the base.

"We're approaching the entry point", said Justin.

Kincaid then set down the shuttle near a base wall. "The shuttle's escape teleporter should provide us with enough power to get us inside the base close enough to the computer center."

"This idea came from Star Trek didn't it?", asked Justin.

"If Hardrive were here he'd say 'The Best of Both Worlds:PartII' where Data and Worf beamed onto a Borg ship to rescue Captain Picard while the Enterprise attacked.", said Kincaid. "Be glad Hardrive's not here I don't want you to lose confidence."

The escape teleporter activated transporting Justin and Kincaid aboard. They materialized in the hall near the computer center. Two guardsmen were guarding it. Justin drew out his Turbo blaster and took out the guardsmen.

"Simple and direct. I like that.", said Kincaid. Then Justin began work on the locking mechanism. After two minutes, Justin cracked the lock and gained entrance into the computer center. Justin and Kincaid brought out two data storage banks and connected them to the central computer. He then activated them as one took out the old data and another put in new data.

"This may take a while.", said Justin.

"I hope Cassandra's holding up well.", thought Kincaid.

* * *

"They're in!", shouted Adam.

"Just in time, the spread is starting to dissipate.", said Cassandra. "All right, Mackenzie and Ashley. You two are going to play a little game of tag with the turrets. Adam and I will cover you with the ground Zords."

"Tag?", asked a surprised Mackenzie. "Who's supposed io be it?"

"Whichever turret you blow away.", said Cassandra.

"What's to stop them from tagging us?", asked Ashley.

"Adam, me and the other Zords.", said Cassandra. "We go at them head on. You do hit and run. One wall can't go two sides at once."

The rangers began their respective attacks. Many of the turrets were taken out, but the guardsmen worked feverishly to replace them.

"How long do we keep this up?", asked Adam.

"Until Kincaid and Justin are done.", said Cassandra.

"How long will that take.", asked Mackenzie.

"Not too long.",said Cassandra. Mentally she added 'it better not!'

* * *
"Zords attacking perimeter. Defences are being eliminated. Repair crews are working on it.", said a guardsman.

"How long can we hold out?", asked Korus.

"We can hold out far longer that the Zords can. Before long they will have to retreat.", said the guardsman.

"Yet they are still there.", said Korus. "A simple hit and run would have been effective. What are they...?"

Just then Korus realized it. "All guardsmen, intruder alert."

* * *
Kincaid and Justin were working on copying the data from the computer core and placing a special surprise in the computer that Kincaid said was guranteed to drive Boltax crazy. They were distracted by the intruder alert siren. "They know we're here.", said Justin.

"Continue working!", said Kincaid. "I'll keep watch. How many more left to go?"

"25% more to go.", said Justin.

Kincaid stood by the door waiting. Then a platoon of guardsmen coming down the hall. "Keep working Justin. I'll keep em busy."

Kincaid then went into fighting the guardsmen while Justin copied the computer. Kincaid was holding his own. For now.

* * *
Ashley and Mackenzie were still doing their strafing run of the defences until Ashley's Blackhawk took some fire. "I'm hit", she said.

Mackenzie then transformed her zord to give Ashley some cover fire. Ashley limped the Blackhawk back to the waiting Defiance.

"Scatter", ordered Cassandra. "Spread out and maintain fire." But before they could do that the guns stopped firing.

"What happened?", asked Adam.

"Star Wars. Star Wars.", said Hardrive.

"What are you talking about Hardrive?", asked Mackenzie.

Ashley, who was listening to the transmissions of the rest of the rangers, guessed what Hardrive was talking about thanks to the endless Star Wars marathons T.J. always had. "Watch your backs guys. If Hardrive is right we should be expecting..."

Explosions erupted from behind knocking the ground Zords off balance and crashing down on the ground.

"...an attack from behind.", continued Ashley.

* * *
Kincaid had morphed into his red Night ranger armor as he was sending guardsmen flying into the walls...literally. With some concentration he was also unscrewing the inner workings of some guardsmen causing them to collapse on the floor. He took control of weapons arms blasting some guardsmen. But the numbers were overwhelming.

"I can't keep this up Justin. Are you ready yet?"

"Just 10%more to go.", said Justin.

Kincaid kept fighting but he was ready to collapse.

* * *
Korus looked at the screens before him. The rangers were down, and the red Night ranger was pinned down in the computer core. Before long he would be Crucible's prisoner.

What can go wrong? he thought. Then his entire computer system crashed.

Korus ordered his guardsmen to try to get the systems up and running. "I don't want to be staring at a blank screen. Get the equipment working!!!", he ordered.

When the computer reactivated he saw the Hogan's Heroes theme played out before him.

* * *

"Done Justin?, asked Kincaid.

"Yeah, I've got all the info and programs. All this place can do is play Hardrive's Hogan's Heroes marathon. The rebels can connect their pipeline.", said Justin.

"Good, now let's get the hell out of here!", said Kincaid as he and Justin activated their escape teleporter and transported back to the shuttle.

* * *
The ground Zords were laying down trying to get up as a stealth ship flew overhead. It readied for another pass until Mackenzie used her Zord's Astro cannon to shoot it from behind.

"Get the hell out of my sky.", she said.

The Zords in the meantime were picking themselves up. When they were upright, the shuttle carrying Justin and Kincaid was making their way towards Defiance."How'd you do?", asked kincaid.

"Ashley's damaged.", said Cassandra. "She's on board Defiance now."

"Good.", he said. "Hardrive, hailing frequencies open." Then Hardrive began transmitting to the rebel forces saying that the pipeline was ready for connection.

* * *
After extensive computer work, and watching the episode where Commandant Klink was being forced to mary the general's sister for the 11th time, Korus managed to grant a measure of control over his base.

"Sir, sensors are still down and we are missing all of our programming and information database.", said the guardsman.

"WHAT???"screamed Korus. Just then the communications board came on. "Incoming transmission."

"Put it on.", he said. When the screen came on he saw the Nightfighters before him.

"Hello Korus.", said Kincaid. "I hear you're having a T.V. party. You really should have invited my computer Hardrive. He's just a nut about T.V."

"Isn't he?", said Mackenzie sarcastically.

Korus was seething. "What did you do to my computer?", he hissed.

The other Nightfighters looked at each other and replied in unison. "We know nothing! Nothing!!!", in their best Sergeant Schultz impressions.

Korus threw his command chair at the screen in a fit of rage.

* * *
"Red Ranger. We of the newly formed united resistance offer you our thanks in helping us.", said one of the rebels. Most likely one of the commanders.

"No problem.", said Kincaid as he spoke on the command deck of the safe house. "You just keep that pipeline secure you hear? With all that Crucible's got, we need all the help we can get."

"We'll be there when you need us.", said the leader. Then he signed off.

"Okay so what trouble can we get into now?", asked Mackenzie. Then Justin ran onto the command deck. "Kincaid come quick I have something to show you."

Kincaid and the other Nightfighters followed Justin to Kincaid's quarters where he found a sight that was hard to believe. His Atari game system was completely put together.

"How...How", said Kincaid not quite able to put the question together.

"Did I put it together?", said Justin completing the question. Then he held up the assembly guide. "I just read the instructions."

Kincaid then grabbed Justin and hugged him as he rubbed his head playfully. "Smarkalec", said Kincaid. The other Nightfighters joined in the hug and then Justin said "Let's play a video game."

The other Nightfighters agreed. "What have you got?", asked Ashley.

Kincaid then brought out cases and cases of games. "Take your pick.", he said.

"And he calls me smartalec", said Justin. And for the next few quiet hours the Nightfighters played video games on a piece of history.

Rule

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