"Spock! Spock" Terrified by the uncharacteristic scream of his Vulcan commander, Sulu dropped the computer console and gave Spock a strong shake to snap him out of it. Spock stopped screaming, stopped holding the sides of his helmet in pain, and turned on Sulu.

"Kill you all!" Spock cried, nailing Sulu in the chest with a punch that sent him flying across the lab.

Sulu managed to recover himself in mid-air and land on his hands and knees, winded. He heard Spock scream again in anger and looked up in time to see Spock charging at him. "Commander!" Sulu cried desperately. He quickly ducked out of the way, sticking out one foot in hopes of tripping Spock. But Spock's reflexes were naturally quicker than Sulu's, and magnified by his black power suit. Spock leapt over Sulu.

Sulu scrambled back from Spock, towards the double doors. Behind him, he heard Spock shift something around. Getting up, Sulu saw Spock grab the burnt-out computer console and whip it effortlessly towards Sulu. "Die, Ranger! Aaaahahahaha!" Spock shrieked.

Sulu instantly realized what was going on, and ducked to avoid the flying console. He wasn't quite fast enough, and it clipped him in the knee painfully. Belatedly, Sulu also realized he'd ducked himself into a corner. "Rita, let him go!"

"Why should I?" Rita asked through Spock's mouth. "He was the one who contacted me! And how lucky for me that he did! He's much more powerful than you are, little Blue Ranger. But still no match for me!" Under Rita's influence, Spock grabbed a section of wiring that had fallen from the ceiling and easily pulled it apart in a shower of sparks. Holding the two sparking ends, Rita made Spock advance towards Sulu.

"Spock! I know you're in there, Spock, don't let her do it! You're stronger than her, Commander, I know it!" Sulu argued desperately. He knew very little about Vulcans. He knew they were contact telepaths, but full-on mind control just wasn't something they'd covered in command training!

"Spock is my toy, now! Prepare to DIE!" Rita made Spock growl, lunging at Sulu with the sparking wires.

Playing a hunch, Sulu whipped off his glove and dove at Spock's feet, grabbing his ankle as Spock continued his forward leap. Sulu gripped Spock's boot tightly, causing it to pop off unceremoniously as Spock fell over him. Twisting around, Sulu grabbed Spock's foot with his exposed hand. "Commander Spock!" he cried.

Between dragging the Enterprise in orbit, directing the spiky beast on the roof and possessing the Vulcan in the back room, Rita didn't hear anyone approach, call out her name or fire a single shot at her until numbing pain suddenly tore through her side and knocked her over. The lights in the room went dark for a moment as she struggled to collect herself.

"Rita Repulsa, I demand you release the Enterprise at once," the Gold Ranger intoned forcefully, strutting towards her, his glittering Golden Gun cocked and aimed.

For one crucial, shocked moment, Rita forgot everything except the sight of that barrel pointing at her face. The Golden Gun's beam had temporarily paralyzed her. She couldn't get up. It was only a second - less than a second, surely! - but as soon as it happened, Rita realized she had lost everything.

No! Not everything! There, in the shadows, her minions were lurking, cowering like brainless lumps. She grinned as they started to lurch over and surround the Gold Ranger.

"Mr. Scott, we're loose!" the ensign at the helm of the Enterprise announced.

"About bloody time! Fix our orbit!" Scotty ordered, sitting uneasily in the center chair. He leapt out of it. "Raise shields to maximum and take us to Warp as soon as we're clear of the atmosphere."

"Aye, sir."

"What about Jim and Spock and the others? You ain't gonna leave 'em?" McCoy demanded.

"Well, I don't want to, but you heard the Captain's orders: if we got the chance, we were to get away from here. Well, here's our chance. Status, Simmons?"

The ensign at helm was pushing buttons rapidly. "We're gaining altitude, sir. Fifteen seconds to breakaway."

"What if they need our help?" McCoy argued.

"What if whatever just let us go gets a hold of us again and crashes us for good this time? I'm taking us to extreme scanning range, hopefully far enough that it can't grab us, and we'll monitor the situation from there. It's all we can do, Doctor."

Still clearly displeased, McCoy relented and backed away.

"Thank you. Simmons?"

"Warp drive in four, three, two, one!" Simmons pushed the lever, and everyone braced themselves as the ship shuddered, and flew to a speed faster than light.

The spiky monster dropped Chekov. It just opened its hand and let him fall to the ground. Then it slowly lowered its arm and started to list to the side a little, making a few rather pathetic moaning noises.

As surprised as she was at the unexpected change in their luck, Uhura didn't hesitate. She took a running leap at the monster, thrusting her foot out in a kick that landed squarely on the monster's chest, between two broken spikes. The monster began to topple with an angry growl. It swiped the air, missing Uhura widely. Landing, she loosed several of her throwing stars again at point-blank range, watching in satisfaction as they tore right through the creature, sending a spray of pulverized mineral dust into the air.

"Ensign, are you all right?" she paused to ask, catching the stars.

"KIIIAA!" Chekov cried, performing a handspring towards the monster. He pulled out his staff and, gripping it with both hands, quickly began to knock the monster back towards a hole in the wall. The monster attempted to shoot more spikes, but Chekov shattered them with a sweep of his staff. Then, bracing his foot on the monster's chest, he pushed the thing out of the hole with a satisfied grunt. Uhura joined him at the edge, watching the monster fall, striking and shattering several crystal supports on the way down until it looked like little more than a collection of rubble.

Uhura turned to stare in surprise at the seventeen-year old, picking up on his racing heartbeat. But she could see nothing beyond his helmet's dark visor. He turned his head towards her. "What a rush! I'm fine," he said lightly, adding, "What was that you said about my combat training?"

"Nothing, Ensign," she said truthfully.

Chekov chuckled proudly. "Damn straight!" he said, clearly attempting to sound macho, and clearly failing.

Uhura let him lead the way towards the lower level, grinning madly to herself. She couldn't let it go. "It was your stealth that needed practice, Ensign."

Spock remembered hearing Rita screaming inside his head, then suddenly it was Sulu, shouting his name. Recognizing Sulu brought on a wave of memory: the Enterprise, Vulcan, his father, and Jim. He came crashing to the floor, finally alone in his own head, reeling with a bunch of vague, dreamlike impressions of going after Sulu with...

He noticed he was still clutching the electrical wires and threw them aside, quickly rising to his feet. He turned around to see Sulu righting himself. "Mr. Sulu, are you unharmed?" he asked.

Sulu snapped into a defensive posture. "Commander Spock? Are you...you?"

"Rita is no longer controlling me. I - " Spock paused, looking down at himself and noticing his missing boot. He spotted Sulu's exposed hand, and it all made sense. " - thank you, Lieutenant. You displayed exceptional reasoning. Your mental influence, combined with Rita's other distractions, proved just enough to break her hold over - " Spock snapped his head towards the doors again, sensing a familiar presence...Jim, in danger. "Come, Sulu, our presence is required."

The two of them charged through the doors and down the corridor. Up ahead, Spock saw Rita's throne room. Her cackle echoed down the hallway, but it sounded strained. He could just see Jim in his gold uniform, being swarmed by Rita's minions.

Spock heard Sulu draw his sword. "We've got to help him, Mr. Spock!"

Spock could tell that Rita's attention was completely focused on her minions and on Jim. She was in a weakened position. Spock prepared himself to attempt telepathic contact with her minions a second time. He stopped and lowered himself into a crouch.

"Commander, what are you doing? You're not going to try that again, are you?" Sulu demanded nervously.

"I am better prepared this time. I detect Uhura and Chekov are entering the vicinity, and if you would please join them in a direct confrontation against Rita, it would substantially improve the odds of my success in freeing both the Captain, and potentially, the outpost personnel as well."

"Ah, I see what you mean, Mr. Spock," Sulu said slowly, nodding. He tested the edge of his beautiful blue Sapphire Sword. "Be careful, sir."

"Same to you, Mr. Sulu."

Spock closed his eyes and began to concentrate, only dimly aware of Sulu's footfalls as he ran off to join the melee.

Kirk's gold suit was made of tough stuff. Even though the terrifying monsters Rita had made from the outpost personnel hadn't been able to tear or cut through his suit, Kirk was sure he was going to be one massive bruise when it was all over. One was hanging on his back, trying to squeeze his throat shut and two others were attacking his legs, immobilizing him. He'd begun the fight fairly well off, throwing off each bumbling minion that attacked him. But then they'd suddenly come together and attacked him simultaneously. His gun had been knocked out of his hand, and now it was only the sheer strength of his power suit that was keeping him from being crushed under the onslaught.

"Now, Gold Ranger, you will die!" Rita shrieked, still half paralyzed on the floor.

"KIIAA!" a shrill, male voice cried, and one of the creatures clinging to Kirk's leg was knocked back by a whirl of green motion. Another's back came under attack by several red, glowing impacts, and it let him go and turned to seek out the attacker, enraged.

"Uhura! Chekov!" Kirk cried out in relief. Only the creature clinging to his back remained, and it was easy to flip it over his shoulder and send it crashing into the floor. Adopting a fighting stance, he turned around in time to see two more of the creatures charging at him. Kirk grinned to himself and leapt nimbly over them.

"HAAA!" another male voice cried out. When Kirk landed, he turned to see that the two charging monsters had run right into the path of Sulu, who was now battering them with a large, shiny blue sword.

Suddenly, a huge pair of arms closed around his torso and Kirk was lifted from the floor and thrown across the room. He managed to land rolling, but he hit hard and needed a moment to compose himself. He watched his officers engage in hand-to-hand combat with the monsters, and felt a swell of pride in his chest. But wait, where was Spock?

Kirk got up, and was about to call over the helmet conn. for his first officer, when something very strange happened. As if on cue, all seven of Rita's monsters suddenly stopped fighting. Stopped moving. Just froze where they were standing. Uhura, Chekov and Sulu paused, too, radiating as much confusion as Kirk felt.

"What are you boneheads doing?" Rita screamed, "KILL THE RANGERS!"

The monsters unfroze, but they still didn't resume their attack. They lowered their arms and looked around as if dazed.

Kirk hurriedly approached warily as he neared one of the monsters. It turned to stare at him, and Kirk noticed immediately that the red glow in its eyes was gone. Instead, it stared at him the eyes of a human being.

"NO, NO, NO, NO! ATTACK!" Rita shrieked desperately. "ATTACK!"

The creature staring at Kirk finally broke off the confused staring contest, looked at Rita, and scowled. "Shut up, you witch!" it growled irritably. "How dare you come into my base and start ordering us all around!"

Kirk's mouth dropped open. "Whaa - ?"

The creature turned back to Kirk. "I am Commander Osgood, of the Federation Outpost Iota Draconis. What the hell is going on here?"

"Commander Osgood?" another one of the creatures repeated slowly. "What happened to us?"

"NOOOOOO!" Rita wailed. Everyone appeared to wince.

Kirk saw his Golden Gun on the floor, picked it up, and aimed at Rita. "Didn't you hear the man? Shut up!" Rita's eyes fixed on the gun and her jaw snapped shut. Kirk turned to the monster identifying itself as Commander Osgood. "Commander, I'm not sure how this happened, but - "

"It's Mr. Spock, sir! He used his telepathy to break Rita's hold over the outpost personnel," Sulu cut in helpfully.

"He did? He did! Great!" Kirk responded, pleasantly surprised.

"We'll just see about that!" Rita hissed.

Kirk spun around to see her holding her staff with her unparalyzed hand. Before he could fire his gun, the tip of her staff suddenly exploded, struck by one of Uhura's red throwing stars.

"You lose, Rita!" Uhura exclaimed, catching her throwing stars as they circled back.

"NOOOOOO!" Rita shrieked again. Practically boiling with anger, she fixed Kirk with a enraged glare. "You've one this small battle, Rangers, but the war will be mine!" A shower of sparkles erupted all over Rita's body.

"A transporter beam!" Chekov gasped.

"No!" Kirk tried to lunge at Rita, but she faded away into the effervescence of energy, her broken staff in hand, leaving only a bare spot on the floor behind. "Damn!"

"Captain, look!" Chekov exclaimed.

Reluctantly, Kirk turned, and saw, to his deep surprise and relief, that the monsters were gone, replaced by seven worn, dazed looking humans in tattered Starfleet uniforms.

"When her staff broke, it must have reversed whatever she did to them," Uhura surmised.

"A likely hypothesis," said Spock, finally joining the group. "It is probable that the Enterprise has also been freed."

Kirk was elated. "Spock! Great job!" he said, slapping his first officer on the arm.

"Who are you people?" the restored Commander Osgood asked.

Kirk looked at his teammates before answering: "We're the Power Rangers, Commander. Now let's get this base back in shape." Kirk heard a beeping inside his helmet. Zordon was recalling them to the cave. He gestured to his teammates, who all nodded. They were receiving the beacon, too. "Well, we gotta go, Commander. But the Enterpriseshould be in orbit, ready and willing to help you guys out."

Standing apart, the five of them were suffused with colored beams of light, and zapped from the outpost into the cave with Alpha and Zordon. They were also de-morphed back in their Starfleet uniforms.

"Congratulations, Rangers. You have saved your outpost, and your ship," said Zordon. "You fought well and used both your powers and your natural abilities responsibly. I am very proud of you."

There was a degree of paternal pride in Zordon's voice that registered deeply with Kirk. "Thank you, Zordon. We were glad to be able to help. But it looks like Rita got away from us. I'm sorry."

"Yes, James. Rita is cunning and resourceful and was able to adapt your Federation technology to beam herself someplace out of reach. There is no doubt that she will emerge again elsewhere to continue her quest for domination. And as long as Rita remains at-large, the universe will need a team of Power Rangers to defend it against her. You have all proven your worth and ability as individuals and as a team. With your Starship and my power, you would be able to meet Rita's challenge, wherever she is.

"If you wish you stay as Power Rangers," Zordon continued, "you must agree to three basic rules. One, you must never use your powers for personal gain. Two, you must not use your powers to escalate the fight; your powers are to be used against Rita and her agents only. And third, it is very important that you keep your identities secret. Tell no one that you are Power Rangers. Do you agree?

Kirk looked at his crew. Starfleet's finest, they'd already taken on so much responsibility. "What do you think, guys?"

"Aye," said Chekov, eagerly.

With a determined look on his face, Sulu agreed: "Aye."

"Aye," Uhura nodded, crossing her arms, poised to meet any challenge.

Spock was almost unreadable. "Aye."

"Aye." Kirk looked at Zordon. "Zordon, it would be our honor to serve as your Power Rangers in the battle against Rita."

"Excellent! Then you are now officially Power Rangers. In a moment, Alpha will be able to transport you back to the Enterprise."

Chekov and Sulu exchanged a high-five, then shared one with Uhura, who whooped excitedly. Kirk grinned at them and nudged Spock, who wore a slightly disapproving expression on his face. "Why so serious, Spock? We just saved the day."

"I know that, Captain, I was just considering a minor problem."

"What problem?"

"The mission log, sir. How do you intend to make our report to Starfleet without violating Zordon's terms?" He raised an eyebrow. "Lie?"

Kirk grinned, masking some apprehension at the Vulcan's intimidating gaze. "Absolutely not, Mr. Spock. Seems to me what happened was an alien sorceress named Rita took over the base and transformed the personnel. We were warned by another alien named Zordon to stay out of the way, but when we attempted to beam down and rescue our people, we were imprisoned out of sight in the basement until Zordon's team of Power Rangers showed up, rescued us and freed the base. They disappeared before we could question them. Recommend Starfleet keep a wary eye out for Rita." Kirk shrugged. "You know, the truth. You planning to say something different in yours?"

Spock regarded him quietly a moment. "That is a...logical explanation for the events witnessed on the ground and aboard ship. My report will be in agreement."

Kirk relaxed and grinned more broadly. "Thanks, Spock."

"Oh, I wish you didn't have to leave so soon, Rangers!" Alpha lamented. "It's been ten thousand years since we last had guests here."

"Don't worry, Alpha. I'm sure we'll be seeing you again soon," Uhura remarked. She was standing beside the small robot at one of the crystal banks, carefully manipulating the assortment of gems. She looked at Kirk. "Captain, I've got communications with Enterprise."

"From here? Great. Tell them to prepare for our return, Lieutenant."

"Aye, sir." Uhura transmitted the message, and then rejoined Sulu, Chekov, Kirk and Spock in the center of the floor.

"Farewell, Power Rangers. We will meet again," Zordon said.

"We'll be watching for Rita, Zordon. Together, we'll protect the Federation, and the Galaxy. Alpha, send us up."

"Aye, yi, Rangers!"

~ FIN ~