Series/Universe: Captain Power and the Soldiers of the Future
Disclaimers: M7 characters belong to Trilogy, et al. Jonathan Power, his team, Lord Dread, and all other Captain Power characters belong to Landmark Entertainment. Original characters are all mine ... don't mind if you borrow them, just ask first, give them back intact and give credit where credit is due.
Warnings: The usual ... violence, language, and references to ugliness. Oh yeah, and the original characters. Can't forget them.
Spoilers: both seasons of M7 and the one season of Captain Power and the Soldiers of the Future
Author's Note: This set of stories is a fusion between Captain Power and the Soldiers of the Future, a science fiction show which aired back in the late 1980's, and the Magnificent Seven. It was suggested in large part because Cadet Erin, in the episode 'Gemini and Counting' was one of Laurie Holden's early roles as an actress, when she was just a teenager. However, I came to realize that the Seven would fit in perfectly as a Resistance unit. If any of the references confuse you, please don't hesitate to ask ... I know a lot of people never saw this show.
The year is 2160. The Metal Wars have now raged for more than thirty years. While the Resistance continues to hang on, as more and more units join the fight, Lord Dread and his Bio-Dread Empire grow more and more brutal.
Chief among these new groups to join the fight are the Larabee Team, led by Chris Larabee, who lost his wife and son in a later attack. Another is the Valkyries, an entirely female squad, led by Mary Travis.
And continuing the fight is Captain Jonathan Power, struggling to hang onto his own humanity, in the wake of fighting for his entire adult life, in the wake of the losses of his father and two women whom he had loved. These three teams are about to intersect, and may whatever god they believe in have mercy on the soul of Lyman Taggart. Because neither the Valkyries nor the Larabee Team will. The Larabee Team is also called ... The Magnificent Seven.
The years following the attack on the Power Base, which led to the death of Pilot Chase, were desperate times for the Resistance. It was a devastating blow, not just to the Power Team itself, but to the entire Resistance.
Still, as is so often the case, after the shock wore off, rage took its place, and it was quickly discovered that the Resistance now had a new martyr. In her name, blood would be shed, machines would be destroyed. In her name, nothing was as it had been before, not even those whom she loved most. On the same day Jennifer Chase sacrificed herself, for those beloved people, a young cadet led a small exodus from the Dread Youth.
This was to become far more important than anyone guessed, for it began the unraveling of the Bio-Dread Empire. Up until 47-12-mark 25 (December 25, 2147, by conventional dating), only one person had ever escaped from the Dread Youth, the woman who died that day. After that date ... more and more young people saw the Bio-Dread Empire, and the Dread Youth, for what it was.
All of this was running through the mind of the slim young man sitting cross-legged, softly humming an ancient tune under his breath. He had been thinking about Jennifer Chase's death all day, perhaps because it would have been her birthday today, and she would have been thirty-three years old. And perhaps because he heard that tune earlier in the day. There are certain songs, certain smells, certain tastes, which can trigger your memory. For Vin Tanner, the young man, and the second in command for the Larabee Team, one such song was 'I'll Be Seeing You.'
It brought back memories of a time, just after Jennifer Chase's death. Vin was only twelve when she was killed in the explosion which destroyed the Power Base. He saw himself in his mind's eye, twelve years old and dressed in raggedy clothes, his brown hair even longer than it was now. He saw himself positioning himself between four men and his companion, a dark-haired young girl, the same age as himself ... a young girl who, only six months earlier, had been considered his enemy. By the time Vin was twelve, he had no innocence remaining. But that time was a time of happiness.
It was fitting, then, that when Ezra Standish, the communications and espionage specialist for the team, received a message, Vin was humming that very song under his breath as he cleaned his rifle. It was a weapon he had ever since he was a boy, another remnant of those happier times. Perhaps that was why he wasn't surprised when Ezra called, his Southern accent thickening as it always did when he was agitated, "Mistah Larabee, the Powah Team is broadcastin' this message all ovah the spectrum."
Vin looked up from what he was doing and carefully set the rifle to one side, being sure to ease the safety on, then sauntered over to the communications desk, as Josiah Sanchez was so fond of calling it. Chris approached from the other side, troubled green eyes meeting concerned blue eyes. That was why it was Vin, not Chris, who asked softly, "Whatcha got, Ezra?" Standish looked up, a bit startled to be addressed by the second in command.
Five years after discovering the truth about the Bio-Dread Empire and leaving his overunit rank far behind, Ezra still struggled with the chain of command within the Resistance. Not just his place in that chain of command, but the casual chain of command within the Seven. However, he replied gamely, "It's the same message, ovah and ovah again. 'I summon the thundah.' Is that not the same code which Freedom One used, all those years ago?"
Vin nodded, in danger of being lost in that time, scant months before his own first meeting with Jonathan Power and his team. Only Larabee's hand on his shoulder kept him anchored in the present. He looked up at Chris, to see worry in the bright eyes. First Jonathan Power, then Chris Larabee. How in the hell had he gotten so lucky, to find two such men in his life? When so many never found friends like those two?
"Yup ... means the same thing, too. Power and his team, they need help," Vin replied. He began looking around for his pack. A long time ago, almost fifteen years, Vin had sworn that whenever Jonathan Power needed him, he would be there. No questions asked. It was the least Vin could do for the man who had saved his life. The sharpshooter murmured, "Reckon one other team will answer that call. The Valkyries."
"Mary? Why?" Chris asked, referring to Mary Travis, the leader of the Valkyries, and a woman very special to Chris Larabee. Just as Jennifer Chase had been very special to Jonathan Power. Vin's eyes snapped back to his best friend, the man who had become like his brother in the last year. Chris kept a firm, comforting hand on Vin's shoulder, repeating, "Why would Mary respond to this distress call? Does this have anything to do with Charlotte Richmond?" Vin flinched at the reminder of the night he shared with a married woman (never mind that Will Richmond was considered dead at the time, that wasn't the point).
"Naw. Has to do with ... with before. Mary and her second in command, they owe Power, just like I do. Ya know Mary, she don't forget favors, no more than she forgets harm done to one a' hers," Vin replied. Which made the coming mission all the more difficult, for both Vin and Mary. Vin knew he was one of hers ... but so was Charlotte Richmond. She was the medic for the Valkyries, and Vin didn't want Mary to have to choose between friends.
In the early days of the Seven, Vin found himself in the middle ... between Chris and his oldest friend, Buck Wilmington. Though Buck eventually came to accept the youthful second in command, and even came to look at him as another younger brother, it was an uncomfortable position. Vin didn't want that for his friend. For any of his friends. He was all too aware that things had a way of spinning out of control, regardless of intentions ... whether it was his good intentions, Mary's good intentions, or Charlotte's.
"Yeah, I know Mary. Ezra, find out where that signal is coming from. Everyone else, be ready to move out in half an hour," Chris said. Vin blinked. Wait a minute. This was his fight, no one else's! He couldn't get them involved! If Jon and the others were sending that message, they were in deep trouble, which meant there was a good chance Vin wouldn't get out alive. Chris must have read his expression, for he added softly, "This is our fight, too, Vin. When this team came together, your fight became ours. You should know that by now."
"Don't try to argue with the man, son," Josiah Sanchez said softly, putting his hand on Vin's other shoulder, "we won't let you face this alone. But before we go ... I think we all deserve to hear this story." Vin closed his eyes. They wouldn't let him go alone. Even if he could cold-cock Chris, there were five others who would keep him from doing this alone. And did he really want to do this alone?
No. Not when Jonathan Power also taught him that some battles you couldn't fight alone. The young man sighed, "Okay, reckon that's the least I owe ya. First thing y'all gotta know ... I tol' y'all I was born in Babylon Five. And that's true. But I wasn't ... created. I was born, the old fashioned way. My ma was a technician there. When she died ... I didn't have a home there no more."
They all knew about Babylon Five. It was a colony for genetic engineering, and had produced Tank, from the Power Team. Vin continued after a moment, "Not long after m' ma died, I was taken in by a Resistance unit. They raised me ... taught me how to defend m'self against the clinkers. And then, when I was ten ... " Vin's throat closed up, remembering that day. His family, all gone. Either dead ... or put into the machine.
Before the clinkers came, they had some warning. Just enough for them to hide ten year old Vin. He watched them die ... so many dead. And he watched them take the rest away. To Volcania. To that terrible place. He followed ... no one paid much attention to a ten year old child after all. And he watched as Soaron digitized the last surviving member of his family, he watched from the ventilation grates, tears pouring down his face as, once more, he watched his mother die. But Vin told his friends none of this.
"Next few years, I pretty much looked out for m'self. 'Til I heard about a message. See, the thin' y'all gotta understand is, when I was with that Resistance unit, there was a lady, lot like Miss Nettie, who took care 'a me. Most of the unit was wiped out. 'Cept her. They digitized her," Vin explained hoarsely. He saw the expressions on the faces of his friends ... especially Nathan Jackson, who saw his mother digitized when he was just seven years old.
Nathan would understand. He would understand about the scream which seemed to be a person's very soul being torn from their body. And really, wasn't that what digitization was? Vin continued, now desperate to finish this story, "She was pulled outta the machine, 'cause she had a past with Jon Power. Name was Athena Samuels, and Dread used her ta get ta Jon." It didn't register with him at first that he used the first name of the Resistance fighter.
Because as he spoke her name, a picture formed inside his head, of the woman who raised him in those years. Athena, with her black hair, flashing black eyes, and quick smile. Whose scream still resonated in Vin's nightmares, her scream when those monsters digitized her. Nathan said softly, "I remember hearin' about that. She was gonna kill him, to protect him from Dread. 'Cept Soaron showed up ... was gonna digitize them both. Then the rest of the Power Team showed up." Vin nodded, blinking back his tears.
Chris said softly, "She contacted you, didn't she? After she healed from what Dread did to her." Vin nodded once again. Yes ... that was exactly what happened. He remembered Athena holding onto him, whispering something about her lost innocence. And the one thing Dread never knew about. Things he didn't understand. Even now, thirteen years later, he still didn't understand. Chris continued, "Then she disappeared shortly after the first PowerBase went up. But none of this explains how you owe Jonathan Power, because I don't think this actually has something to do with Athena Samuels."
"Naw. It don't," Vin agreed hoarsely. He closed his eyes, sighing, "Athena disappeared again, 'cause she was pregnant. If Dread was willin' to use her against Jon, she figgered he would kill to git his mechanical paws on the baby. Jon's baby. She created that code, 'I summon the thunder,' to alert me. If that was used, and if the signature on the transmission was Jon's, then I was ta assume that her baby girl was being threatened."
"Wait a minute ... Captain Power has a daughter?" JD Dunne gasped. Vin nodded wearily. JD was the youngest of the Seven and still prone to hero worship. The twenty year old grew up hearing about Captain Power from his mother. Kid probably never even stopped to consider that Jonathan Power was a human bein,' just like the rest of 'em. JD continued, "Then she would be real appealin' to Lord Dread."
"Exactly, Mr. Dunne. The child is far more important than anyone except her father knows ... with the possible exception of her mother. If Lord Dread could take the granddaughter of his old friend and old enemy, Dr. Stuart Gordon Power, and turn her against her father ... that would shatter the Resistance," Ezra Standish observed quietly. He paused, then continued, "Which is why Captain Power spread the disinformation that the child living with him is not his biological daughter."
"Jon was tryin' to protect her. He could claim Aislinn, without comin' out an' sayin' she was his daughter, his biological daughter. She's just a little girl, only thirteen ... and I reckon they been teachin' her to protect her all these years, but she's still just a kid. If this message has been sent, he's runnin' outta options. Either Dread has taken Aislinn ... or he's gettin' real close. Either way, that little girl ain't safe," Vin said softly.
"You've referred to him by his given name more than once, Vin. Just how well do you know Jonathan Power?" Josiah asked. Vin looked at the big man, sighing deeply. That was a harder question to answer, though not because he didn't know. It was a question that was hard to answer because he was caught between his loyalty to his friends, and his loyalty to Jonathan Power. It wasn't that he didn't trust his new friends. That wasn't the case at all.
But he didn't know how much to tell them ... how much Jon would want him to tell them. A gentle pressure on his shoulder brought his attention back to Chris Larabee. The leader of the Seven nodded at him, his green eyes filled with both compassion and trust. And what the hell had Vin Tanner ever done to deserve that trust? The young man sighed, "I ... he took care 'a me for a time, 'Siah. After Pilot was killed."
"But that was back in '47. You couldn't have been more than twelve or thirteen years old," Buck objected. Vin raised his eyebrows. Yeah, so? Buck shook his head, saying, "You were just a kid, Vin! How the hell did your path cross Power's, and why didn't you ever tell us this before?" This time, Vin rolled his eyes in annoyance. They had been kinda busy during the last year, he didn't exactly have time to tell them before.
"That's not important, Buck. JD, how long will it take to finish prepping the ship?" Chris asked. The boy flashed two fingers, then a balled fist, and Chris murmured, "Twenty minutes."
"We can finish this on the ship. I've got my med-kit all ready," Nathan suggested. Chris nodded, and Nathan looked at Vin, saying gently, "Ya had yer reasons for not tellin' us before. I'm glad ya told us now." Vin nodded and Nathan squeezed his shoulder, then headed to the infirmary in their subterranean base. Josiah wanted to make sure he had his own supplies (including his Bible, for giving Last Rites). Buck just stared at Vin, as if he had never seen him before, then went to help JD.
Ezra remained at the communications desk, his green eyes never leaving Vin. The sharpshooter said softly, "I need ya to send this message across the spectrum. The important people will understand it. 'The storm approaches.' That's all ya need to say. Jon, and the Valkyries, will understand what it means." Ezra nodded and Vin sank into the chair beside the communications officer, burying his face in his hands. As Chris once more rested his hand on Vin's shoulder, the young man remembered ...
"I summon the thunder. Original, Jonathan. Real original."
Mary Travis straightened up, sighing deeply as she made eye contact with her second in command. She had known Adriana Wilmington for almost fifteen years, and though there had been separations in that time frame, due to the war, no one could read Mary better than Adriana. Not Terry Greer, the communications specialist for the Valkyries. Not Charlotte Richmond, her medic. Not even Nora Whittaker, her pilot, whom Mary had helped to rescue from the Dread Youth earlier that year.
"Well, it gets the point across, and it's in code," Adriana said softly, putting all her weight on one leg, "the question now is, what do we do about it? Our plan of action. I know you're not planning on not answering the distress call." Mary glowered at her friend. It got really annoying when she did that. Although, she understood from Chris that Vin often did the exact same thing. Adriana just responded with a faint smile, adding, "Rephrase that. When are you planning to answer it ... before or after we rescue Olivia?"
"After," Mary said quietly, "Olivia is our top priority, along with anyone else who can be saved from the Dread Youth. Jon is a friend, but an adult who can take care of himself." Her green eyes shifted to Terry, Olivia's mother, who was focusing on the screen ... and nothing else. Mary's heart went out to her communications officer. Six months earlier, her eight year old daughter had been captured and placed in the Dread Youth. An attempt had also been made to take Mary's son Billy, but it failed. It was a long time before Terry could forgive mother or son for that particular piece of luck, and it almost shattered the Valkyries.
"I disagree," Nora said. All eyes turned to the pilot, the youngest member of the Valkyries at nineteen. The girl flushed, but pushed forward, saying, "while I don't disagree that Olivia is our top priority, I think we have a better chance at rescuing her if we have other teams working with us. The Power Team for one. And the Larabee Unit helped my sister rescue me from the Dread Youth, especially after Overunit Wickes tried to recapture me."
The Seven weren't the only ones involved in the rescue ... Wickes made the mistake of taking Mary instead, back in the days before she formed the Valkyries. Charlotte Richmond added softly, "There's one other thing, which I think everyone has forgotten. What 'I summon the thunder' means. It's the code established between Jon and Athena, if their daughter Aislinn was ever threatened by Lord Dread."
What??? This time, all eyes were on Charlotte, and the medic said, "I thought all of you knew. I thought she told you, before she told me." Mary shook her head, her eyes never leaving her medic, who continued, "She told me two years ago. After ... " Her voice broke and she looked away. Nothing more needed to be said. After her daughter Allison was killed in a Dread attack, the same Dread attack which everyone believed had killed her husband Will.
Adriana reached out and gently squeezed Charlotte's shoulder, saying softly, "I had never heard about this, either, but it makes sense. And I'll bet, if we run a check on that transmission, we'll find Athena's signature embedded in it as well." Mary glanced back at Terry Greer, who was nodding. She was right. Adriana looked at Mary, her hand still on her friend's shoulder, and asked, "What do you want to do, Mare?"
Mary didn't answer at first ... she was still looking at Olivia's mother. Looking back now, Mary could remember how furious Charlotte had been with Terry, for giving up on her child. At least Terry's daughter was still alive. Charlotte would turn herself over to Dread himself, if it would bring Allison back from the dead. Terry said softly, "They're right, Mary. We help Power protect his daughter, we have a better shot at convincing him to help us rescue mine."
"All right," Mary said, "all right, then we'll get ready to head out. We leave in twenty minutes ... what's that?" A beeping from the terminal in front of Terry Greer drew the attention of all five Valkyries. The communications expert tapped in a sequence of numbers, while Mary leaned forward. Her fingers dug into the back of Terry's chair as the message appeared on the screen, and she read aloud, "The storm approaches."
She heard the gasp from her second in command, then said, "The Larabee Team will be part of this, too. Charlotte ... Drina ... are you two all right with this?" She glanced first at her second in command, then at her medic, to find both nodding determinedly. Mary never doubted either of her friends, but she had to ask. She was actually more worried about Charlotte, because she knew Chris Larabee had never forgiven her medic for Charlotte's error in judgment after her husband Will returned from the dead. And as far as Mary Travis was concerned, Will Richmond should have stayed dead, for all the trouble he had caused. For now, the leader of the Valkyries continued, "Okay, this is what we're gonna do. Nora, prep the ship, and Terry, send that same message across the spectrum. That's our confirmation."
Terry nodded, while Nora asked softly, "Should I contact Lydia?" Nora's older sister Lydia was the new Mindsinger in Tech City, the third of her kind. Just as the current voice of the Resistance was the third of her kind, Freedom III. Mary paused, thinking that through, then shook her head. No, not yet. If one of them had to jack into the Web, to get information, then they would contact Lydia.
But for now, for her own safety, they had to keep her out of this. As the new Mindsinger, Lydia's position in Tech City was precarious. They had to be very careful, or she would end up as dead as her two predecessors. Hilda, the last Mindsinger before Lydia, had been killed only a few months earlier while protecting the Larabee team from Ella Gaines, a rogue Overunit who had been in love with Chris Larabee. And Ella was still on the loose.
"No, Nora, hold off on that ... wait until we have more information. We'll go to Tech City, if we have to get information about Olivia's whereabouts, but until then, I want to leave Lydia out of this," Mary responded. A quick glance to her side told her that when it was time to head to Tech City, Adriana would be the one jacking in. As a former Dread Youth, she knew what areas to avoid and how to use her years in the Dread Youth to her advantage.
Nora responded with a cock-eyed salute, making her older partners smile, then she headed to the hangar. Mary took a deep breath, looking around the base. Back in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, into the twenty-first, this had been a storm cellar, protecting people from the tornadoes which swept across Oklahoma and Texas. With the beginning of the Metal Wars, more than thirty years earlier, it had become a hideout for Resistance fighters on the run, particularly after their bases were destroyed in the fighting.
Until some enterprising former Dread engineer happened to notice that the cellar sat right next to an abandoned Air Force base, when she was hiding from the Bio-Dread Empire. The woman (whose name was lost to history) began a tunnel from the expanded storm cellar to the hangar of that base. The supplies found there were long gone, but the planes, both small and large remained, as did the elevator which carried the planes up into the hangar.
That woman died before she could finish her tunneling ... forced to leave by Dread, then killed while on the run. But she left her plans and her notes in the cellar for the next person, and over the years, the tunnel was expanded. Until eight years ago, when Stephen Travis and his pregnant young wife, Mary, found this place, along with Stephen's parents, Orrin and Evie. Orrin had been a friend of Stuart Power's, before his death. And when Stephen and Mary's son Billy was born, Evie Travis had delivered him within this base. This was the only home he had ever known, even after his grandparents moved on.
And as for Stephen, the man who taught Mary to love ... who taught her she had worth as a human being, no matter what she might have done as a Dread Youth. Stephen had died nearly two years earlier, while defending the first Mindsinger in a Dread attack on Tech City. He ultimately died in vain, because she was killed only moments later, and five year old Billy saw the entire thing happen. Saw the face of the Dread Overunit whose laser fire killed his father ... and later, who tried to kill Chris Larabee. And that brought her mind back to the present.
The time was coming, she believed, when the Valkyries would join forces permanently with the Larabee Unit. There were simply too many ties between the two teams. While they would not become one team ... Mary and Chris were both too headstrong for that ... she did believe they could work within the same base. The question was, which base would it be? She hated the thought of leaving this place, when her son had been born here. And it was almost as big as the Passages. But one problem at a time. A gentle tap on her shoulder told her that the others were ready to go.
Mary blinked, bringing herself back to her team. She found Terry gathering up her small communications kit, Charlotte at her terminal, typing furiously. Terry murmured, "She's sending a coded message to Will, telling him that the Power Team is in trouble. When he comes out of his current hidey-hole, he'll get it. You have any idea what kind of trouble he's causing now?" Mary flashed her communications specialist a smile.
"As long as he's not causing trouble for one of our teams," she confided, "I don't much care what he's doing." Terry grinned and nodded. Will was a deep-cover operative, going under as a Dread overunit, a technician, a doctor, to create havoc within the Bio-Dread Empire. Mary continued in a low voice, "Charlotte should have never gone back to him. You knew he would abandon her again, didn't you?"
"It was a pretty good guess," Terry answered softly, "while Charlotte was so happy to have him back, I was watching him, and realized he would never change. The man whom she loved was gone, forever. It's just taken her a long time to figure that out for herself. He was the father of her child, Mary. Could you let go of Stephen easily, if you had him back?" Mary had to admit she couldn't ... but Charlotte was her friend. And she hated to see any of her friends hurting. For any reason.
Mary looked at her communications specialist and said softly, "Well, let this be known. If Will causes any trouble for us, for the Power Team, or the Larabee Team, because of his own insecurity, I will kill him myself. Unlike Jonathan Power, I never made a promise to never take another human life." She set her jaw as she spoke, quietly pledging that she would do whatever she had to, in order to protect this little band of sisters she had been given.
"And I," Terry answered softly, "will help you. We should get going." Mary nodded as Charlotte eased herself from her seat, her eyes filled with sadness. Sometimes, when Charlotte sent her messages to Will, he was there. And always, when he was there, when he answered, Mary saw the same sadness in her friend's eyes. The same sadness Mary was seeing now. Adriana, who had been seeing Billy to his hiding place, put her arm around Charlotte's waist, and the Valkyries headed for the tunnel which would take them to the hangar.
None of the women had any way of knowing the future. They had no way of knowing this threat of Dread's against Aislinn Power would be the first move in a new game, a new game which would determined the rest of the war. A new game which would create a human trinity, a trinity of teams. On that day, as they all headed to the aid of another team, they only knew that a friend needed them. And that was all they needed to know.
The Beginning
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