Supertroopers (The Adventures of the Galaxy Rangers)
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The Supertroopers are a fictional group of genetically engineered supersoldiers from the animated TV series, The Adventures of the Galaxy Rangers. Shane "Goose" Gooseman, one of the show's main characters, is a former Supertrooper.[1]
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[edit] Supertrooper origin
In 2080, the combined Governments of Earth began to develop a team of genetically constructed soldiers to be prepared to fight against the alien hostiles that the militarily-active among them were concerned might want to invade Earth.[citation needed]
Commander Joseph Walsh, a strong proponent of the genetic soldier project, was assigned to oversee the project. The Chief geneticist was Doctor Owen N'Gata (Nagata) an aging scientist with dynamic ideas on how to enable superhuman abilities within the genome to give the 'Supertroopers' an added edge against the perceived enemies. Also involved was Genetics wizard Max Sawyer.[citation needed]
The Supertrooper directive was thus:
- Develop a soldier using known and tested genetic structures which will do the following:
- Be able to heal and survive damage at levels that would kill or cripple a normal soldier.[citation needed]
- Have enhanced abilities that will enable them to fight with natural weapons to supplement their technological weaponry.[citation needed]
- Be capable of ruthless efficiency in combat, to ensure victory under all conditions.[citation needed]
The Directive was interpreted by Doctor N'gata and Commander Walsh differently, and as a result, two types of Supertrooper were developed. The First Batch, and the Second Batch.[citation needed]
- First Batch Supertroopers were designed as front-line soldiers, mostly muscle, brawn, and brute strength or savagely efficient skill. Riker Killbane is an example of a First Batch Supertrooper.[citation needed]
- Second Batch Supertroopers were designed to be more intelligent and tactically minded, so they could plan and counter more intelligent maneuvers by the enemy. Shane Gooseman is an example of a Second Batch Supertrooper.[citation needed]
Due to the third directive, the supertroopers were never taught to like each other, and strong and occasionally bitter rivalries soon developed between the members of the Supertrooper corps. Although they can work together, each supertrooper feels that he or she is the best there is, so they do not normally need any assistance.[citation needed]
To both minimize exposure to the general public, and to keep the soldiers isolated, they were formed, decanted, trained, and lived on the island base known as Wolf Den, which was located off the south-east coast of North America. This huge Island Base was fully capable of both training, and containing the supertroopers should they prove uncontrollable, under normal circumstances.[citation needed]
Wolf Den covers almost 400 acres, mostly coated in varying levels of pre-stressed concrete and granite. But it has a large expanse of jungle-type terrain and other non-industrial regions to ensure the soldiers could be properly trained in all aspects of combat.[citation needed]
The Supertroopers numbered between sixty and eighty at the height of training and production, but during the 21 years of the base's operation, there was some attrition and by the time of the Wolf Den incident, there were only forty-six left alive.[citation needed]
The Wolf-Den Incident was the death knell for the Supertrooper Project, and caused many fatalities among Supertroopers and their attendant staff in the process. Senator Wheiner (his name being an actual label for his true character; that of an overbearing and trouble-making whiner) decided against the judgement of the actual staff, to introduce a powerful DNA acceleration agent, known as X-Factor into the Supertrooper barracks to super-charge their genetic powers to full potential. The X-Factor was untested on the trooper genome, but had produced less than desirable results in test animals.[citation needed] Dr. Owen N'Gata had previously used this formula in his early research and had found it to be dangerously unstable. He thus terminated its further use. However, the meddlesome Senator Wheiner somehow obtained a sample, aguing for its use upon the Supertroopers on the basis that the human colonies and Earth itself were growing "more vulnerable to alien attack every day." He further mentioned the need for "soldiers that would show no mercy", and that X-Factor would advance the Supertrooper DNA systems, making them "truly superhuman and ruthless". Senator Wheiner - who is not by any means a geneticist and thus not fully cognizant of the ramifications of his actions - was dangerously tempting fate. Not surprisingly, Wheiner's statements thoroughly alarmed Dr. N'Gata.
Wheiner released the X-Factor into the air duct system while the supertroopers were resting in their barracks. The results were dramatic, shocking, and fatal for some. The X-Factor instantly went to work, enhancing and charging the supertrooper abilities beyond the design specifications. Some, like Stingray, became instantly lethal, while others, like Killbane, simply became more durable and powerful, if not further mentally unstable.[citation needed]
The Supertroopers went wild, feeling an unfamiliar energy burning through them, and seeing nothing but treachery from their Wolf Den commanders. Doctor N'Gata tried to incapacitate them, but before he could finish sealing the barracks, was killed by an electrical current unleashed by Gravestone after he had been supercharged by Brainchild jamming an electrical cable into his back. The Supertroopers who were not instantly incapacitated by the accelerator or the sonic pulse created by Shane Gooseman escaped from Wolf Den, scattering through the League of Planets and beyond.[citation needed]
The only supertrooper to remain was Shane Gooseman, who was considered the 'runt' by some of the others by virtue of him being 3 years younger than any of the other troopers. He elected to remain behind, and because of this, was eventually forced into the Ranks of the Galaxy Rangers with a special directive to hunt down and return the rogue supertroopers to Earth and storage within the Cryocrypt, or be sent there himself.[citation needed]
It also must be said that lies and treachery plagued this project form its very onset. Commander Walsh used some of his DNA profiles to model the final product, Shane Gooseman, upon. In essence, Shane Gooseman is his prodigal "son", but Walsh decided to cover-up this fact. Senator Wheiner discovered this through his own "investigations". Furthermore, Walsh's decision to reach an accord with Senator Wheiner for the both of them to remain mutually silent about each other's actions is symbolic of good that used bad actions and must now bargain with evil. Finally, it is Senator Wheiner's actions that sounded the death-knell on the very project that he relied upon to protect the human colonies. The developing arrogance and aggressiveness of some the Supertroopers was one problem, but their further dangerousness and branding as fugitives and criminals is fully Senator Wheiner's own fault.
[edit] Surviving Supertroopers
[edit] Shane "Goose" Gooseman
The only Supertrooper with compassion, and the only one not mutated by X-factor. [2]
[edit] Brainchild
Brainchild is a genetically enhanced general for the supertroopers, but unfortunately, the enhancement of his intelligence also enhanced his arrogance, making it very difficult for any of the other soldiers to want to follow where he led.[citation needed]
[edit] Chimera
A female supertrooper. She has combat techniques, advanced hand-to-hand combat skills, she has the ability to alter either her own appearance, or create an illusion within the minds of those around her, including supertroopers, that she has vanished or changed shape.[citation needed]
[edit] Darkstar
Darkstar is a Supertrooper, part of the same project that brought forth Shane Goosman and spawned Ryker Killbane. Her major ability is to be able to generate a field of darkness via a series of dark globules that move outwards from her and surround the target, effectively blinding them for a short periods of time. Her powers, enhanced by the Wolf Den incident, now enable her to produce permanent blindness in her targets, if she so desires.[citation needed]
She also heals faster than a normal human, and has enhanced reflexes that enable her to be an effective close combat soldier.[citation needed]
Darkstar normally dresses in a black outfit with flowing fabric, making her look a bit like a dark cloud in motion.[citation needed]
A few months before the Wolf Den incident, Darkstar became romantically involved with the Energy Projector Stingray, detailed below. During the mass breakout, the two of them fled off-world together, and ended up on the regional planet of Frontier.[citation needed]
Ranger Gooseman, as part of his duties as a Galaxy Ranger, was sent to Frontier to capture both of them and return them to Earth for Cryostasis. The Incident is chronicled in the Archival episode 'Galaxy Stranger.'[citation needed]
After the events transpired, Commander Walsh negotiated with Darkstar and Stingray, getting their word of honor that they would cause no further trouble in exchange for anonymity. He altered records slightly to indicate to most concerned that both of them were safely in the cryocrypt, and left it at that. Sheriff Bob Ladd, on Frontier, was assigned the task of keeping in touch with the two ex-soldiers to ensure that they were well, and to make sure they had not returned to their former ways.[citation needed]
Darkstar had a slight relationship with Shane Gooseman during their time at Wolf Den, but it never amounted to anything because the young Gooseman could never explain his feelings to her - which she needed to hear.[citation needed]
[edit] Gravestone
Gravestone is another first-batch trooper designed to be the ultimate gladiatorial combat warrior. He has highly enhanced strength, thickened skin, and bulked muscle, to enable him to withstand most forms of hand-to-hand combat.[citation needed]
Gravestone can be enhanced further by the injection of external stimuli, such as electricity, which supercharges his system, blowing his strength and shutting down his higher brain functions; when supercharged, he is virtually unstoppable, and it is best just to avoid him, which, being that he has enhanced speed and dexterity, is difficult at best, and fatal in most cases, like Dr. N'Gata.[citation needed]
[edit] Jackhammer
Jackhammer is one of the first-batch warrior troopers. A front-line agent whose very fast reflexes enable him to live up to his name. Jackhammer was once clocked at two hundred blows per minute in testing. With the strength he can bring to bear, this level of impact can generate sympathetic vibration in structures sufficient to collapse buildings and damage the foundations of bridges, etc.[citation needed]
He has also got one of the most active healing agents of any supertrooper, which is almost as effective as the Bio-Defence, but simply enables Jackhammer to get up again after any attack.
[edit] Ryker Killbane
Ryker Killbane is a bio-defense close combat soldier. In some ways, he is the prototype for the type of Soldier that Shane Gooseman was crafted on. During the early years at Wolf Den, since Shane was a late arrival, being much younger than the majority of the other Supertroopers, he was considered the 'baby' of the group. Killbane took a perverse pleasure in belittling the other man, going so far as to call him runt at almost every occasion. Killbane has bio-defense abilities similar to Gooseman's, but also has the ability to blow poison gas from glands in his mouth, much like a lizard or snake can release venom. Ryker Killbane has become twisted by the genetic enhancement and has focused all his rage and anger on Shane Gooseman, whom he perceives as the enemy. This is both due to the rivalry they both participated in during their time at Wolf Den and the fact that Gooseman was always being 'coddled' by Walsh, and given somewhat preferential treatment. Killbane is very self-centered, always thinking of himself before anybody else - a holdover from the days at the project. In the encounters since the Wolf Den days, Killbane has tried to attack or disable Gooseman, the only one really capable of seriously injuring him outside of the other Supertroopers.[citation needed]
[edit] Stingray
Stingray is an Energy Projector. His primary ability is to be able to channel bio-electric energy along his optic nerves, which have been altered to lase the energy into a powerful beam of light. This capability was counted on to protect him, so he was not really enhanced in any other manner. He is only slightly stronger than a normal human, but does have the same rapid healing factor as the other Supertroopers.[citation needed] Stingray speaks in an Australian accent.
