Dynamic Power Rangers

Chapter 1: The Impossible Pilot .1

/-Dynamic Power Rangers - 01 - Impossible Pilot Part 1 -\

Taylor Hicks was a man who generally enjoyed his job. He loved to fly. He got to fly. When he wasn't tasked with test flying experimental aircraft the company he worked for developed, he was flying hither and yon making passenger and supply runs. Astral Dynamics had research facilities; it seemed, all over the world. The main office was in Los Angeles. He'd been working out of Clear Water Creek, California for the past two years. He'd been to many other places. He didn't always know what was going on at said places. He assumed it was science-y stuff that went over his head.

This particular day, he was making both a cargo and passenger run to a new facility AD was trying to get established. He wasn't told much; just that it was based in the mountains over Starkweather Valley. He was given a set of coordinates that included altitude as well as longitude and latitude. "We're almost over the city," he said to his passenger, a pretty African-American girl with dark eyes, blondish hair and a green tinge to her face.

Tempest Strong nodded. She hated flying so she hadn't said much. She just nodded at him. She liked to think of herself as a brave person. She'd chosen to be paramedic over studying to become a surgeon because of the fast pace of the life. That and she couldn't afford medical school. It was part of the reason she was taking this job with Astral Dynamics. They were going to pay her very well.

Tay shot her a crooked grin. People who were afraid of flying amused him. He frowned as he checked his instruments. He was almost on the base but the mountains were still in the distance. He grabbed his radio to double check his coordinates were right when something slammed into the tail of the plane.

Tempest screamed and gripped her seat for dear life.

Tay couldn't even begin to imagine what had hit him but before he went into a tailspin, he managed to bring the nose back up. "May Day. May Day. Astral Dynamics Base, this is Cargo Plan Delta. We're coming in hot. Where the hell are you guys? There's nothing at the coordinates supplied to me," he said into his radio. He could barely talk. It was taking all his will power to keep the plane in the air. It was shaking so hard he thought Tempest was going to pass out from fear.

"Delta, this is Sky Base. Keep on your trajectory. You're almost on top of us. Whatever you do, do not lose altitude," a male voice said over the radio.

"What the hell are you talking about there's nothing--never mind," he said and almost lost the plane when a city in the sky appeared below him. It had gleaming white spires and pointed domes, and a lake and river and a waterfall that feel off the side of the floating hunk of earth but ended in a cloud of mist that surrounded the entire thing. He could clearly see the make shift landing strip. "Hold on. This is going to be bad," he warned Tempest.

"How can it get worse?" she asked.

Tay didn't have time to explain that the plane was on fire and their landing gear was gone. He went in for the landing. He hit the ground hard. Tempest screamed. Luckily, Tay managed to go in at an angle, but they still jumped and skipped and spun around several times. It was a monstrous effort not to let it flip over.

They finally shuddered to a stop. People came running using water buckets to put out the fire. Tay took off his headset and collapsed backwards in his seat. He was going to pay for exerting so much energy.

When he opened his eyes again he realized he'd passed out. He was now lying on the ground near the plain with Tempest Strong poking and prodding him. "I'm fine. I'm fine," he assured her and sat up.

"Baby, that was amazing," she told him with stars in her eyes.

Tay shrugged it off without a word. He heard a loud whoop. It was an oddly familiar sound. He turned his head. Out of one of the white buildings, a lanky Latino man was running toward them. "I knew there was only one person in the universe that could have made that landing," he cried. "Eagle Eye Hicks. Son of gun," he declared.