-
Lightspeed
-
- initially secret operation off the coast of Mariner Bay designed to defend city against demons
801-OpLs
Shortly after the demons had been released from the Tomb of Forever, Dana vaguely reported that something had come up, at
which point Captain Mitchell dismissed
his personnel in attendance before
continuing privately although not altogether secretively.
In private, Dana told Mitchell, now speaking as daughter to
father, that "they" had escaped, prompting him to remove the four
confidential Ranger files from his safe in
his quarters; opening the seals on
the files, Mitchell told Dana, "It's time to bring them in." (See "Teens, group 12" for further selection
information.)
Almost all Aquabase display panels and controls bore
striking similarities to Astro Megaship
controls, with some panels actually identical to the Megaship's, including the "Education"
paneling seen in 807-CybR; see "Miss Fairweather" for further Space-Lightspeed parallels, as well as strong Turbo-Lightspeed parallels.
The existence of the Aquabase was apparently classified, as the teens didn't know where they were after their
submarine ride; furthermore, Joel didn't
originally know who Captain Mitchell
was.
Two guards, having led the teens in with Dana, stood
by the doors of the conference room as Mitchell debriefed the teens on the demon
crisis and their selection as Lightspeed
Rangers, preventing the teens from leaving
until they'd heard the captain out.
After explaining the demons' ancient capture and recent release,
Mitchell told the teens Lightspeed had developed technology and
highly sophisticated weapons which they believed could stop the demons.
Because of their skills, the teens had been chosen to use the weapons to
become Lightspeed Power Rangers and defend
the city.
Kelsey asked, "You built
this whole 'Aquabase' so that the four of
us could fight off a bunch of... angry demons?" and Mitchell agreed, although noting it was
putting it simply.
The five Rescue
Morphers were kept in a silver sigiled
"Top Secret" briefcase.
When Dana saw the fifth Morpher, Mitchell revealed he'd been training her
for this for 18 years, although his year-counting was not always
completely accurate (see Mitchell, 812-TDis).
People cheered for the sigil-laden Rangers after they'd arrived in their clearly
marked "Lightspeed Rescue" Humvee and destroyed Ghouligan; the existence of
Lightspeed was presumably secret no longer.
802-LsTm
Seeing Miss
Fairweather, Mitchell introduced
her to the teens as "the genius behind
everything," from the Rescue Morphers
to their newest weapons.
Welcoming the teens to
Lightspeed, Miss Fairweather told them
Diabolico would stop at nothing to destroy
the city, and it was her job to make sure the Rangers remained one step ahead of him and his
monsters.
After the Train Bay
had emerged from the water, joined by a length of track from underwater
as well, the standard Rail Rescue
deployment would involve the swiveling of a nearby suspension bridge to
join to the end of the Rail Rescue track,
all the cars on the bridge moving to the shoulder lanes to make way for
the giant train which would then race unobstructed along highways and
rail lines.
804-REdg
Saying she should have known daredevil Kelsey would turn out to be a Power Ranger, pilot Nancy asked what it was like to be
a part of Lightspeed Rescue, possessing prior awareness of the
organization; this knowledge was presumably public and not exclusive to
the space program.
807-CybR
Bewildered upon seeing the Cyborg Rangers and their associated red-sigiled crew, Mitchell turned to Miss Fairweather, but she replied
uneasily, "We aren't developing any such Cyborg Rangers."
Mitchell asked
if they hadn't sent the Cyborgs, who
had, at which point General
McKnight, entering the Transport
control area, answered he had; on his military uniform, as well as the
uniforms of the two officers accompanying him, was the same red sigil of unknown meaning.
While exercising authority over Lightspeed, General McKnight was apparently part
of the Third Army, and the two noncommissioned officers accompanying McKnight apparently belonged to the
24th Infantry Division, both of which have been involved in the Middle
East.
Stiffening nervously upon seeing McKnight, Mitchell saluted and addressed him by
name, then asked semi-curiously, "What in the world's going on? I
wasn't told--"; McKnight replied
that no one was told, as the Cyborg
Rangers were a top secret project.
The teens raved over
the Cyborgs, excited to team up with
them, but McKnight replied the Cyborgs weren't there to join them, but
rather to replace them.
McKnight
softly asked Mitchell, "What were you
thinking, Bill?" telling him the teens could
never defeat Diabolico and his evils.
McKnight
said the Cyborg Rangers were the future
of Lightspeed Rescue, and Diabolico wouldn't
know what hit him.
After the human Rangers had destroyed both the malfunctioning
Cyborg Rangers and giant Strikning, General McKnight apologized to the teens and told Mitchell he wouldn't interfere again,
telling him to carry on.
810-RAsh
The teens now knew the names of both Magmavore and Trifire despite never being shown
told their names.
813-RyDe
Learning the feathers which were all over Mariner Bay would explode at nightfall, Mitchell had them put out a city-wide
alert, and an officer with a headset spoke into his headset; Mitchell said they had to retrieve all of
the feathers.
Around 6 PM, a TV reporter spoke, "We interrupt
this program to bring you this breaking story. Feathers have been
scattered throughout Mariner Bay by Diabolico. Lightspeed has declared a city-wide
emergency. These feathers are said to be explosive and should be
avoided at all costs. Rescue teams around Mariner Bay have been mobilized in an attempt
to avoid..."
By this point, Diabolico and Lightspeed were public knowledge.
814-CCob
When asked who had designed everything in the
labs, Mitchell replied the Lightspeed Megazord, Rescue Morphers, Rescue Blasters, Rescue Bird, and Rescue Rover had all been designed by Miss Fairweather's team.
816-CStr
As the crew celebrated Diabolico's destruction, Mitchell proposed a toast, for Mariner Bay, which he began to describe as the
safest city, as of now, in the --, but the alarm sounded; Carter asked if it was a drill, and Mitchell oddly remarked they didn't have
drills, calling for everyone to move.
817-OlAs
Olympius referred to
the entry gate, still marked
with only a dolphin design and large sigil-bearing locks, as "the secret
entrance."
820-OPrj
Young inventor Simon asked if friend Joel thought he was ready to work at Lightspeed, but
Joel told him they did serious work, but that
someday if he worked hard enough, he could work wherever he wanted.
821-TrR1
Kelsey was able to
identify Leo Corbett by name and Ranger position merely by seeing that the
stranger, with his head lowered, held the Lion
Quasar Saber.
Dana and the others were
apparently previously familiar with the name Trakeena.
When Carter reluctantly
agreed to let Heather come with him to look
for her captured parents, Heather asked,
"Kinda like I'm a junior Ranger?" and Carter searchingly agreed.
As the teens conversed with Galaxy Ranger teens Leo, Kai, and Maya in the galley, various techs sat around doing their own things,
paying no attention to the visitors' presence.
The Galaxy teens told the Lightspeed teens of
Trakeena's green form, as though this weren't
common knowledge.
822-TrR2
Dana knew that the Galaxy teens had
had to put up with Trakeena all the way to Mirinoi.
Following young Heather's help to rescue her parents and other
victims of Trakeena, Carter gave Heather a
silver "Lightspeed Rescue" badge bearing a Lightspeed sigil as he told her parents that
she was in fact an official junior Ranger.
828-MMBa
As Mitchell
discussed needing something more against Infinitor, he asked Miss Fairweather about Clark's new
technology, unsure if he would help them, but Miss Fairweather was giddy over his
expertise and called him right away.
According to Miss
Fairweather, Clark had
written the book (said figuratively) on energy transformation, and she
said he was able to build a Megazord
blindfolded.
While Clark was visiting, a trash can in
Transport was filled with the
remains of shredded documents.
838-SDem
After an unsuccessful test of the experimental Lifeforce Megazord mockup cockpit, Mitchell said it was too dangerous and
thought they should shut the project down, but the teens convinced him to allow them to continue.
The Lifeforce
Megazord wielded a saber with a large red sigil for a hilt, perhaps implying an
association with General
McKnight's operation.
839-FLs1
As Miss
Fairweather reported they were working on the damaged Omega Megazord, a hardhat crew with
hardhats perhaps bearing Lightspeed sigils
operated a crane as it lowered the Omega
Megazord's severed arm onto a flatbed truck bearing a Lightspeed sigil.
There were numerous spectators around the Omega Megazord recovery, denoting a lack of
secrecy about Lightspeed operations.
Stunned by the ongoing destruction of the Aquabase, Captain Mitchell distantly remarked,
"Everything I've worked so hard for... It's gone."
840-FLs2
The six teens (except Joel,
dressed up for a date) all wore their Lightspeed jackets while turning
in their Morphers to Captain Mitchell in the park another day;
the four teens (sans Carter) would have lost theirs in the Aquabase destruction, while Ryan was not shown wearing his jacket in the desert.
As Carter proudly
removed his Morpher and handed it to Mitchell, he apologized about the Aquabase, but Mitchell replied at least Bansheera and her demons were gone forever and Mariner Bay was safe again.
None of the supporting Lightspeed crew were shown
again at this point; even Miss
Fairweather was present only for her date with Joel, not the returning of the Morphers.
"Lightspeed."
Updated 5/9/05.
Edited by Joe Rovang. Content owned by Disney, used without permission.