[Katherine's PoV]

  “Hold them! Don’t let them through that door!”

  Katherine’s voice cut through the chaos, echoing through the narrow corridors of the ship. Her fingers flew across the console beside the reinforced gate, inputting the override code for the security seals. The metallic doors shuddered, locking in place with a heavy clang.

  “We can’t hold them, ma’am! Some of them have Ranger Armor active!” one of her officers shouted, his voice strained, panic creeping in despite his training.

  Katherine didn’t hesitate. “Then shoot them.”

  Lasers erupted in the corridor, scorching the walls as her soldiers opened fire on their own comrades.

  Yet it wasn’t enough.

  The soldiers advancing from the other end weren’t human anymore. The black ooze that had infected them pulsed beneath their armor, leaking from the seams in viscous streams. Their movements were jerky at first, puppets on invisible strings. However, with every step, they grew faster, stronger, and more coordinated.

  “Fall back! Move!” Katherine barked, grabbing the nearest officer by the arm and dragging him toward the next junction.

  The group sprinted down the corridor, boots pounding against the deck. The sound of gunfire followed them, punctuated by the inhuman screeches of the infected.

  They turned a corner, and Katherine’s stomach dropped.

  More of them.

  The infected soldiers poured from side passages, their visors cracked, their eyes glowing faintly beneath the black slime that pulsed across their faces.

  “Fire!”

  Her team obeyed, unleashing another volley. The shots struck true, but the creatures didn’t fall. The Energy dissipated into the black slime, absorbed like water into sand.

  “It’s not working!” one of the officers shouted.

  “Then aim for the joints! Immobilize them!” Katherine snapped back.

  The shots slowed a few of them, knees shattered, arms blown apart, but the effect was temporary. The slime simply reformed, reattaching severed limbs, stitching flesh and armor together.

  Katherine gritted her teeth. Every second spent fighting was another second lost.

  “Keep moving! To the bridge!”

  Her soldiers obeyed without question. One by one, they fell back through the corridor, firing as they went.

  The black slimes moved like living shadows, leaping from wall to wall with unnatural speed. They struck like predators, their movements blindingly fast, their bodies hissing as they clung to metal and flesh alike.

  Even the soldiers in Ranger Armor weren’t safe. The slimes clung to their suits, melting through plating and reaching the humans inside.

  “We’re almost there!” one of the officers shouted over the noise, a note of desperate hope in his voice. The surviving troops pushed forward, one step at a time, forcing their way toward the bridge.

  “Seal the doo—”

  The command never finished.

  The ship lurched violently, the deck tilting beneath their feet as the entire vessel slammed into something massive. The impact threw everyone off balance. A deafening roar ripped through the corridors as the hull tore open, a blinding flash of light flooding the interior.

  Katherine’s body was thrown sideways. Instinct took over. She grabbed for the nearest wall. The metal was slick with condensation and blood, but she held on, her gauntlets digging deep into the plate.

  Metal shrieked as the ship’s side peeled open like paper, exposing them to the outside. The atmosphere screamed through the breach, a torrent of wind and debris ripping through the corridor. Anything not bolted down was torn free, all blown toward the hole in the hull.

  Katherine’s soldiers screamed as they were pulled into the night. One of them reached for her, fingertips grazing her shoulder before being yanked away.

  “Hold on!” she shouted, but the chaos swallowed her voice.

  The pressure difference was immense. Every muscle screamed in protest as the wind tried to tear her free.

  A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

  The wall she clung to groaned under the stress, the metal bending inward. Cracks spiderwebbed along its surface.

  Her mind raced. 'No, no, no—'

  The metal wall tore free from the ship’s hull, and Katherine was hurled into the void.

  The world became a blur. A deafening rush of wind howled past her helmet as she tumbled through the endless darkness. The sky around was nothing but black.

  She couldn’t tell which way was up or down. The only thing she could feel was the violent pull of gravity and the sharp sting of the wind battering her armor.

  'Lights,' she thought, activating her armor emergency lights.

  The light illuminated the darkness around her. The swirling clouds of ash and debris, the glint of shattered hull fragments tumbling through the air.

  But even with the lights, the darkness below remained impenetrable.

  Then, faintly, she saw it.

  A glow.

  Something far beneath her. It grew brighter with every passing second, expanding until she realized it wasn’t a single light but many.

  The ground was rushing up to meet her.

  Katherine crossed her arms over her face, bracing for impact. She poured Energy into her armor, feeling the Red Crystal awaken.

  'The armor will hold,' she told herself. 'It has to.'

  The planet’s surface hit her like a hammer.

  The impact shook the ground, sending a shockwave rippling outward. Black dust and shattered stone erupted into the air.

  For a moment, everything was still.

  Then Katherine stirred. Her armor hissed as it vented excess heat, the plating scorched but intact. She pushed herself upright, brushing off a layer of ash.

  Her lights cut through the haze, revealing the world around her.

  The ground was dark and cracked. The structures nearby were ancient, buildings half-collapsed, towers leaning precariously, their surfaces scarred by time and corrosion. The air was thick with dust and the faint sense of Energy, the remnants of a civilization long dead.

  But amid the ruins, she wasn’t alone.

  Movement flickered at the edge of her vision.

  Four figures.

  Behind her, three stood with their Ranger Armors. Blue, Pink, and Yellow.

  But all their attention was fixed on the figure standing ahead of them.

  The Black Ranger.

  Or what was left of her.

  Her armor was incomplete, as if something had interrupted its formation. The plating covered parts of her arms and legs, but the rest of her body… was wrong.

  A black ooze crawled across her skin. It pulsed in slow, rhythmic waves, spreading across her torso, her neck, her face.

  Katherine barely had time to process the sight.

  Without warning, the Black Ranger moved.

  She lunged forward, faster than any infected creature Katherine had seen before. Her movements were sharp, deliberate, and controlled. Nothing like the sluggish, twitching motions of the others. Her strikes came in a blur, a flurry of punches, kicks, and spinning blows that forced Katherine onto the defensive.

  The ground cracked beneath their feet as their attacks collided, shockwaves rippling outward.

  'These things were never this fast,' Katherine thought, blocking a punch that sent vibrations through her entire arm. 'They barely moved before. But this one, it knows how to fight.'

  The Black Ranger’s attacks weren’t random. Every strike came with precision, though her rhythm was off, her motions jerky, as if she were fighting against her own body.

  Katherine parried another punch and countered with a sharp elbow strike. The blow connected with the girl’s side, but instead of staggering, the infected Ranger twisted midair, landing lightly on her feet. The black ooze rippled across her skin, absorbing the impact.

  'She’s really good,' Katherine realized.

  Katherine’s eyes softened for a moment.

  There was pity there. The girl before her, half-consumed by the black parasite, was already gone. Whatever spark of humanity had survived inside that writhing mass was fading fast.

  [Blood Rose]

  The command slipped past her lips like a whisper, and the Red Armor responded instantly.

  A thin incision opened along her forearm, and crimson blood flowed freely, coating her skin. The liquid didn’t fall; it moved, crawling up her arms, as the blood hardened into twin blades that extended from her wrists.

  'A shame,' she thought, lowering her stance. The faint hum of her armor filled the silence.

  Then she moved.

  Her foot struck the ground with such force that the cracked earth splintered beneath her. She launched forward, aimed squarely for the infected girl’s exposed neck.

  The Black Ranger reacted too late.

  The ooze that covered her body shifted, tendrils snapping outward in defense, but it wasn’t enough. It was strong, yes. But inexperienced. The creature could mimic technique, not instinct. It didn’t know what it meant to fight for survival, to understand the fragility of flesh and bone.

  And in that ignorance, it left itself open.

  Katherine’s blades gleamed, ready to strike.

  She could already see the trajectory, the clean arc of the cut that would end it in one motion.

  However, before she could complete the move, two hands clamped down on her arms.

  “Don’t, Kath!”

  There were only three people in the galaxy who called her that.

  Katherine blinked, her mind struggling to make sense of what she saw. The Yellow Ranger stood before her, gripping her wrists with all her strength, her armor scorched and dented, her visor cracked, but her stance unwavering.

  “Isabela?” Katherine breathed, her voice breaking. “What—how—”

  “Run!” Isabela shouted.

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