Chapter 9

Decoded

The last scene of Space Rangers cheering for their victory wasn't a pleasing sight for anyone working for the big bad Evil Emperor Zurg.

The entertainment of watching an action packed space battle between Zurg and Star Command was satisfying and yet the feeling of defeat weighs heavily in the air that she can almost taste it.

Even when the Grubs and Brain Pods alike were disposing their party hats and confetti to the metal large bins, imaginary dark grey clouds hovered over their heads to express to what they feel.

Loss and defeated.

They'll get over with it pretty soon. She has seen them getting back on their feet hundreds of times from utter defeat to the good guys. But this got the little girl thinking. Zyra shut off the main big screen with a remote and turned her head to Brain Pod 32.

"Hey, 32, how many times has father failed his nefarious schemes?" Zyra asked.

"Well...according to my history logs, this is his fifty-seventh attempt to take over the galaxy and Star Command thwarted his plans ninety-eighth times since his early days as the Emperor." 32 replied, holding out the statistics papers from his compartment.

"Really?" she marvels at the numbers, "That's less of what I was expecting for an Evil Emperor."

"It can't be helped," Brain Pod 32 shrugged, "He just started his reign around six months before your birth."

"Huh…so…what are the other horrible crimes has he done?" Zyra asks her brainiac scientist out of curiosity.

Brain Pod 32 flipped over several pages while going over them, "massive hi-tech robberies, vandalizing Star Command logos in Gamma Quadrant, illegal weapon extortion, conquering most of the planets in the Zeta Quadrant and so on."

"That pretty much is a given."

As he reaches to the last page, his eyes were wide open and said, "Oh! There's one here about blowing up a sour candy factory because of the Emperor's distaste for sourness from a small planet in the Gamma area."

That made Zyra laughed in a breathy, gleeful way."Pfft…That's so like him." This also got some Brain Pods and Grubs laughing, their gloom doom spirits were lightened up a little.

Seeing them like this made her happy. Finally the gloom doom is gone. Zyra hopped off from the leather soft seat, puffing out bits of popcorn shrimp from her sleeping wear.

"Okay everyone, enough with the ice breaker crack, we need to get ourselves ready. There's a vexed Emperor heading back home to Planet Z and who knows how many unfortunate souls will be endangered from his blasters."

He'll mostly redirect his outburst to the staff. She thought. Poor unfortunate souls indeed. Many nodded at her decision as they make haste with their cleaning except for one confused Grub.

"Uh…what do you mean by that, your highness?" One of the Grubs nearby asked, pausing on his sweeping work.

She look over to the side and stare at the Grub. After years of getting to know the Grub species, every single one of them has their own individual personality or uniqueness that differentiate them from any other Grub and this one is not part of the lab crew, "Are you new around here?"

The Grub in question responds with a nod, "y-yes, I was employed this morning."

An imaginary light-bulb appeared above her head. Zyra clapped her hands together once with a smile, "That's perfect! You're exactly what I need right now." then she snapped her fingers.

Brain Pod 99 come into view with a digital watch and put it on the Grub's wrist. The Grub awed at the device, fashioned with buttons on the side and a mini screen in the middle.

"Congratulations. You're now officially my little plant of getting intel from Sector X located deep within Z Tower. Those stingy staff people over there are always so secretive about their inventions and it bugs me to no end," she jerked a thumb over her shoulder, "My friend over here can easily let you in by filing some paper works."

Brain Pod 32 eyed the heiress blandly, "Always letting me do most of the paper work…again."

"Oh. You'll be fine. You're the best among the other brain pods in this facility." Zyra said, ignoring the other Brain Pod's saddened faces after hearing her comment. But really it was all true. 32's diligent work and determination to complete tasks are extraordinary, putting the rest of his kind to shame. Shaking the thoughts away, Zyra turned her attention to the newly deputized spy

"Now to answer your question, father or as you know as your Emperor has the tendency to easily get mad and will resort to use violence against anyone if his plans or his inventions failed him."

She emphasized even further by talking about the other Grub's unfortunate accidents with the Emperor and the new spy paled from it.

"So you have to be extremely careful if I were you especially around Sector X because that's where he mostly likely to stay most of the time," Zyra said with a matter of fact tone.

As if that would ease the Grub's worries. He suppressed his fear with a gulp and simply nodded. He didn't know what to do with the situation given to him right smack on his first day but if he is given a task to do, he'll surely follow it or risked being fired or worst.

Zyra smiled at that.

"Good. You're primary mission is to gather as much details about their latest inventions and report them immediately to me through the watch. Is that understood?"

The Grub saluted with a "yes, milady!" and he continued sweeping the floors.

Man, multitasking is hard. She'll tired herself out if she continue trying to accomplish her tasks in one day. For quite sometime, she have been trying to find a perfect spy for Sector X and as if lady luck was real, a clueless Grub was presented to her. With that objective done, Zyra walked over to where one of the two pods that holds Desmond's body was located.

Amidst all of the excitement between two biggest forces of the galaxy, she almost forgot about him. She inspects the transfer progress from the mini side monitor column.

All programs have been installed correctly to the newly designated areas of the new body. Though the working speed was slow but the streams of lights through the cables from the old automaton to the new one were steady and undisturbed.

Every three to four lights of bytes pleased her. As much as she wanted to stay and watch all day of the process, there are other things that she needed to deal with.

Zyra called out to her brainiac scientists, "I need to head back to my personal quarters. So~ 32! I'm making you in-charge of the welcoming party and while you, 99, keep a close eye on Desmond's progress. I don't want a single glitch in the transmission system."

Not waiting for their replies, she went straight to the exit doors, fast walked through the other science bays and immediately boarded the elevator.

Inside the four cornered transport, she mulled over the end result of the invasion.

Undeniably, it was foolish for them to think that they got the upper hand when the facts are right in front of them or rather…certain opinions inside the mind of a reincarnated soul who knows about the universe better than anyone.

She mostly grew up knowing about the common threads of heroes and villains. Some are chock full of stories of heroes and their battles against the ills of society while another would be the eternal struggle between good and evil.

But she can't blame her father for what he is or has become to be. It is part of what every cartoon villain and goons does in a regular basis.

They'll do anything to achieve their goal through immoral and unethical acts but in the end, the heroes foiled the plans and praise for their heroics while the villains either get captured or flee to scheme another day.

DING!

Zyra exited the elevator and made her way to her chamber wing.

Until now, her mind never lingers any longer about taking her father's footsteps in ruling an Empire and the whole galaxy take over. It sounds fun to future villain wannabes, the desire to have it all peaks their interests but the calling hasn't arrive…yet.

If she does go with it, the first thing she'll do is never…ever…do those monologues. Giving your enemies the chance to exploit your weaknesses and used them against you is a no go.

The corner speakers from the hallways were brought to life.

ATTENTION! THE EVIL EMPEROR ZURG HAS ARRIVED ON PLANET Z!

How did he…Zyra face-palmed, "Oh! Right…the hyper jump thrusters." Zyra activated her watch and input an unknown number to the mini panel and waited for a reply.

Something buzzing came from the communicator and a text line appeared saying "Apologies. Supervisor order me to deliver a file down level". Her spy from the throne room was preoccupied.

She tried another contact and when it bare the continuous ringing she got to the others but most of her spies are on duty or being watched by the careful eyes of either the supervisor or the Hornet guards.

Zyra clenched on the device so hard that the screen would have crack from the force if she held it a little longer. But she have to remind herself that they are her agents in disguise and there's no use getting mad over it.

"Argh Craters," She cursed, "Guess I'll have to this myself."

She took a detour from her room and spotted one of the hallway vents. Zyra climbed up by the metal beams and unscrew the bolts with her mini tool kit from her pajamas' pocket. Once the metal grill falls off, not worried about anyone hearing the loud klang, she head first inside and crawled.

Time for some espionage work.

Why go through the vents many would asked. It's better to not be seen when eavesdropping any important information.

The way to the throne room was built in a zig-zag pattern making her nauseous to go through it and Zyra thanked whatever deity that gave her the strong sense of direction. It was a good thing that she studied the layout of the tower otherwise she'll be hopelessly lost in the metal maze.

Crawling through the vents is not the perfect pass time hobby for the Evil princess. There were lots of cobwebs in every nook of the corners and dead insects littered on the metal floors, joining with the dust bunnies on the side.

She'll really need to let the cleaners know that they left major parts of the vents unclean.

Wait until Brain Pod 32 hears about this. He'll really give them an earful of lecture bruise. Nearing the section corner where the Throne room is, Zyra crawled faster, moving forward until she's in front of the grilled vent.

There, a tall figure shrouded in purple armor appeared in the middle of the Throne room. A bunch of Grubs watched as Evil Emperor Zurg glide up to the throne with his menacing black cape trailing behind him.

Below her, she could hear a disgruntled voice coming from her father.

"AND I WAS SOO CLOSE!"

His fists raised above him and slammed down on the armrests of his throne.

Zyra winced at the sound.

"CURSE THOSE BLASTED RANGERS!"

Grubs stationed at the personal laboratory of Emperor Zurg below the throne room floor were shaken and dare not to peek out from where they are. With a flip of his cape, he glared at a nearby Grub.

"Call in my spy. NOW!" Zurg yelled.

A triangular monitor rose up from the ground near the throne and buzzed to connect to the other line. Her father immediately sat on his throne and tapping his clawed fingers on the armrests, waiting for the call.

She can only guess who that certain someone from the receiving end. With the transmission completed, the Z insignia appeared and fizzled to a face of the one person she knew too well.

The person on the line has his navy hair cropped short, flanked by sideburns, sports a chin-strip beard and definite sharp, squarish features.

At least he got rid of the afro hairstyle. She can't imagine herself holding her laughter for so long if she saw it.

It was none other than Warp Darkmatter and currently scowling at the Emperor on screen.

"This is the worst time to call, boss. I'm right in a middle of a patrol here."

True to his word, Warp's location is somewhere near a neighborhood street, quite different from Buzz's residence with rectangular one-floor homes type. Behind him, his patrol car parked under the pedestrian sign and a tough looking green alien sat at the back seat.

"It's not a worst time to call when it's your employer contacting you!" Zurg exclaimed loudly

Warp just eye-rolled at that and whispered, "Geez, looks like someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed."

"WAS THAT AN INSULT, DARKMATTER?!"

"It's nothing, boss," Warp quickly replied, "Just looking out for my patrol officer, that's all."

Zyra stifled a giggle and cover her mouth with her hands while still smiling as one of the Grubs turned to her way. It scratched its covered helm seeing nothing out of the ordinary and shrugged it off before it went back to its monitor station.

That was too close for comfort. She doesn't want anyone to find out her location. Her ears perked like an attentive dog at the sounds of someone grunted irritably.

"Look, it's not my fault the invasion failed," Warp said, "I wasn't aware that you started right away the moment I informed you the news."

"Yes. The news which you specifically stated this morning that their precious Commander was knock out cold!"

She arched a brow. Ah. So that's why the army preparation was a rush and not planned.

Zyra sighed heavily. What a waste of titanium alloy. Her father should have gather the remains of the Hornet army and re-used them for something else. Then again, Zurg owns several mining planets in the Zeta Quadrant and other illegal businesses, earning him almost close to billions of Uni-bucks. He can get truckloads of alloy whenever he wants.

But it still annoys her about the wastage of money and materials. Now that she thought about it, she still has some high quality terillium-carbonic alloy left. Best saved it for my future space suit. Once all of this drama is over, she'll start working on the design and flexibility of the suit.

It will be another epic project.

But what she made her curious about the exchange between them is how did Warp get that information so quickly when in fact it just happened yesterday night? She can't wait to find out more from the master and spy's conversation.

The Evil Emperor hummed, "I'm far more curious about the intruder."

"What about him?" Warp asked

All of a sudden, this piqued her curiosity as she loomed even further to the grills.

"I might hire his services for my plan to conquer the universe," Zurg said while steepling his metal fingers, "Someone with that kind of skill to sneak inside Star Command without notice is top-notched. So tell me! Any particular piece of information? The looks? His contact number even?"

He sounds too thrilled to her liking.

This is bad. Really bad. Zyra thought angrily, as she gritted her teeth.

Of course her father would know what Desmond looks like! Thanks to the security feeds inside the lab, her impatient father couldn't wait for it and took a sneak peak on her project a week before the completion. If that periwinkle skinned man revealed the description of Desmond, she'll never hear the end of Zurg's nagging until she'll hit thirty!

Worst, if he finds out about her little package delivery last night without his consent, who knows what her father will do.

Zyra scowled. That no good sneaky Warp! She will sorely throttle the man if they ever meet, just because he is doing his job as a spy.

Her heart beats rapidly as seconds turned to minutes waiting for any reply. The suspense is killing her, slowly driving her mad of anticipation.

"Yeah…about that…," Warp replied hesitantly. She latched to those words alone, hoping that it was something that would help ease her panic heart.

"Well? What is it?" Zurg asked.

"My senior officer was tight lipped about it. Even though I invited him to a party just to get more info, he won't budge at all. Said that it's top secret. So can't get much from that and I don't want them to have any suspicions about me being in line with you."

Oh thank the heavens! She slumped to the side of the metal vent and sighed in relief. Glad that her little secret was kept under wraps and everything is fine in her side.

Well except for her father…

The Emperor gave a stern glare at Warp on screen, "Just continue to monitor from the other side. Keep your eyes and ears open for any opportunities like this and MAKE SURE that you GET THEM RIGHT! OR ELSE!" he yelled.

"Yeah yeah.," Warp said and waved his hand nonchalantly, "I'll keep that in mind, Zurg."

"That's EVIL Emperor Zurg, to you!"

"Eh..Whatever." Warp ended the call, the triangular monitor retracted back to the ground and leaving the Evil Emperor alone to his own devises.

Zurg breathed out heavily, tapping on the armrest out of anger. His face is no longer expressed a happy one. Zyra can imagine him steaming hot red of anger like a volcano ready to explode.

"What's with youths these days?" Zurg questioned. "Hopefully my daughter won't end up like a rebellious one once she turns thirteen."

"There is a high possibility, My Emperor," said a brave Brain Pod despite his robot body shaking from nervousness, "that young adolescents such as herself might experience such changes. She'll reach a certain period of time for her maturity and capable of re-"

"I DIDN'T NEED TO KNOW THAT!" Zurg yelled.

Thoughts of his daughter growing up as an unruly teenager, started dating boys and drove off with one of them to the stars entered his mind. He could almost see the two golden wedding bells taunting him while seeing his full grown daughter, dressed in a pearly white gown, waving him goodbye and walk out from his life.

The mere notion of his daughter getting married horrified him the most.

"Now look what you have done!" he immediately stood up and point an accusing finger at the Brain Pod, "This makes me even more paranoid about my little precious starlight."

Not knowing about the inner thoughts of her father, she sweat-dropped at the situation below. The tension in the air grew heavy again, what's worst about it is that it emits the aura of a raging mother bear over her cub coming from the Emperor.

Things have gotten weird as seconds passed by.

Not planning to stay long to listen more of the embarrassing facts of puberty or the overprotective rants from Zurg, Zyra decided to crawl to another passageway. No matter how much she admires the intellectual side of the Brain Pods, they really need to tone it down a little to make anyone understand instead of making the situation more awkward as it is.

Sliding into her room without making a sound, Zyra breathed out and head towards her desk. A Hornet guard almost spotted her exiting the other opening vent airway but she manages to sneak around it by the metal walls and went straight for her room.

With the whole invasion fiasco over, she can now focus more on the computer that glows green, stating that the files were already downloaded to her protective software.

Changing out her dirty sleeping wear to a more comfortable purple short-sleeve dress, Zyra sat on her chair and began to look into the one thing that she wanted and patiently waited for.

And that was the huge data folder in her desktop.

She clicked on the file and it revealed images and programs of fighting/defensive technique only known to a special force of the galaxy. This file contains the Star Command Training Academy curriculum.

The training is brutal. All of their lessons, practical exercises and training modules for specific enhance areas of the body are all here in her computer and it belongs to her solely. With just few modifications fit to her liking, she'll become an unstoppable force.

However…

Something pricked at the back of her mind and she knew that she could have used the infiltration mission as an opportunity to wreck Star Command's system.

Zyra reclined her chair back and thought of all the things that she could do with all of those function codes at the palm of her hands and Star Command.

Just imagine.

The means to control their launch bays and the mission control room from her bedroom, launching out their ships to random locations and lots of explosion. By shutting down their antennae spire, her father's Death Ray laser beam will obliterate Star Command to space dusts. Crumbled leftovers of Star Command will bring delight to the one and only Evil Emperor and let's not forget about the other two important devices of her future enemies.

Choosing between an immediate self-destruct sequence of the refuse hatch to blow the ranger's base or controlling their special control-center escape pod and override all of Star Command's functions with a push of a button brings a thrill to her evil heart.

The well-known protectors of the galaxy by then will be finished. Gone. Extinct!

And yet…she didn't go through with that idea and the reason behind that became clear to her before she sends off Desmond to his mission.

Her crafty actions will put more strain to the timeline. She knew that it contradicts her statement that her existence alone has already altered the series of events, but she WANTS to keep some of what's left of the timeline sequence intact in order for her to be prepared for the series of episodes.

Should she had pursued that intention with a simple order to Desmond, starting with disposing the important variables of Star Command before the start of Buzz's adventure, then she'll be left with an unknown factor of the future.

Not yet…I have to be sure that once everything is done, once every events are finished, I can do my other plans after.

It might take a long time but she'll have to be patient.

She searched for papers from her desk drawer and began to work as she scribbles down notes from reading the file and outlined her training course.

There will be another time where she'll need to get more new training programs from Star Command in the near future.

Better to keep a close eye on those updates. She wished that she had left a spy bug on Star Command but she'll think of a way when she gets to that point.

For now, building up her strength is on her top priority list by doing the training regime created by Star Command. If she can train herself as how they taught the future rangers with these exercises, then she can finally go toe-to-toe with them if she have to battle them.

A ping from her watch and she read a text which put a smile on her face. The message stated that Brain Pod 99 successfully retrieve the blueprints from Brain Pod 88 and that he immediately began to construct the mini canon to her ship's designs.

All of her pieces are now in place. She has the fighting machine as her partner, her spies are planted carefully in all divisions and projects she created are so close to completion that she can't help but feel giddy about it. Her operation "New Player in the Big Game" has now begun its course.

Author's Note: Thank you all for your patience for this update and the reviews! Things are starting to get more interesting in the next few chapters. This is an updated chapter (March 24, 2020) Please stay tune on the next update. Hopefully. Adieu~