Disclaimer: I own nothing below except the plot. All characters, locations, and concepts are owned under their respective copyrights.
Timeline and Spoilers: Up to and Including "Forget Me Not"
Author's note: I am using names and terms from the US version of 'Teknoman' aired on UPN. That is the one I watched, I am aware of the other names used in both the Japanese and International Versions.
A Little More Time
Chapter 1: A Brother's Gamble.
It was an epic, if one-sided, battle of super-powered armored warriors. These warriors were known as teknomen. On the one side was someone trying to protect the Earth, her name was Shara. On the other side were warriors fighting for the invaders. They wished to enslave the human race and turn them into an army of slaves with horrific yet awe-inspiring capabilities.
Shara flung herself recklessly around the battlefield. Her armor glowed red from her battle aura. It branched out into wings of energy that would burn anyone who got caught in it. She resembled an angelic guided missile.
She could fight differently, but she was outnumbered 4 to 1 and her armor was built for speed and long range combat. Furthermore, her enemies had the full use of their armor and powers, while her power was slowly killing her. She had to buy time for her brother Slade to complete his mission and return, she had to protect his friends until then.
She hoped to survive until he could join her, but she knew that wasn't likely. Her thoughts and focus turned briefly 'Where are you, Slade?' she came back only to realize one of her enemies was right in front of her. She was hoping for this, her aura would engulf him and hopefully take him out of the fight. Just as she was about to collide with the red and black armored opponent, a surge of pain gripped her, and her aura faltered. She felt something slam against her, and she was crashing to the ground. She knew then that she wouldn't survive 'I'm sorry brother. You just found me, and now I'll be leaving again.'
She looked up to see all four of her enemies looking down at her, their eyes flashing red with malice.
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Her brother was racing back, he had just destroyed the bomb that was fired at the Space Ring. He had taken out Allied Headquarters for Earth's Defense Forces as well. No great loss, earth's military had been all but shattered during the first week of the war. It's commander, General Gault, had become maniacal and delusional with power. The massive nuclear missile that Slade had destroyed was just the latest in a series of decisions that had brought the remainder of earth's defenses to the brink of annihilation.
He was inside the white and blue teknobot, Pegas, and was wondering how his friend's were holding out against four Teknomen. They had problems earlier, dealing with just his brother, Saber, and now the odds against them had further lengthened. He sought to find out what was happening back at the Space Knight command center. "Pegas, what do you read ahead of us." the robot responded in it's deep, mechanical voice.
There are five energy signatures. Range 100 kilometers.
Slade was confused, when he had left there were only four enemy teknomen. He asked the robot "Pegas, describe the fifth energy signature and armor."
The armor is female in shape, heavily damaged. The energy is smaller than the others and falling steadily.
'No, Shara, why? We still had time to save you.' Slade commanded the robot "Pegas, classify fifth signature as friendly, are we in range yet, can I fire a teknobolt at them?
Classification complete. Will be in range in 2 minutes for a full power shot.
'She will be dead by then.' Slade asked "I need options Pegas, what has increased range and accuracy?" Shara couldn't survive even a glancing shot from his new energy weapon boosted by anti-matter warheads.
Pegas searched his database and came up with the answer, Human weapons on vehicles called 'tanks' used it to destroy their counterparts. "Solution found, there is enough power for six shots. Transmitting details now...Data exchange complete, Sabot Tekno-bolt ready for use."
Slade told the robot "Set up four shots, target the four strong energy signatures. After the fourth shot, transfer all power to your engines."
Affirmative
"Pegas, dual battle mode, stand-by to fire" With that Slade appeared on top of the speedily flying robot. His red and white armor infused with unspent power. Pegas readied his own weapon system. Slade's shoulder pouldrons opened. And his eyes flashed green. On the right, there were four compacted energy rods created, each roughly two feet in length with a 20mm diameter. On the left there were four cup-like energy spheres created, with the hollow side facing outward and roughly 25mm in diameter.
Slade fired one the rods, it went rather slow as there wasn't much power behind it. He fired one of the cups, it caught up with the rod and flew with and just behind it. Pegas fired an anti-matter warhead. As the warhead came in contact with the energy cup, it exploded.
The explosion was of the nuclear variety in the tactical kiloton range. The cup bore the brunt of the explosion and transferred the force of it to the rod before disintigrating. The rod spedaway like a penetrator from an old earth tank shell. It reached hypersonic speeds and burned as it was wreathed in superheated plasma. By the time it would reach its target, the rod would be no bigger than a .50 caliber rifle bullet. But it would still punch through whatever it hit, including nearly indestructible teknoman armor.
The first shot happened in the span of about five seconds, the next three did the same. The four nuclear explosions first stopped and then pushed Slade and Pegas back with each one. After the last shot, Slade descended back into the robot, who then brought it's engines to full power. He was four minutes away from his sister, he hoped his modern fusillade would be effective in giving him a little more time.
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Shara reflected on all of the ways she could have died recently. First, there was her capture. Along with the rest of her family, friends, and crew of their ship, they explored an alien ship. Everyone was trapped by succubus-like lifeforms that studied them through extensive and continuous torture. She watched as some of her friends and family were killed during the process. She saw her father get spit out like nothing more than a chewed up morsel. The torture was agonizing for her. At times she wished it would all just end. Finally, she was put into a suspended and long-term storage pod. She had resisted becoming evil far longer than anyone else. She had seen what they had done to everyone she cared about.
Second, there was escaping her storage pod and the Moon and heading to Earth at high speed. Entering the atmosphere with no proper vector or navigation seemed like a sure way to end up as a burnt cinder. By the same thought, crashing to the ground like a meteor was not a way to keep one's health. But her armor was up to both challenges.
Third, she thought about the walk through the desert. She thought being cooked by the blazing hot sun was her future. Luckily she had been helped multiple times.
Fourth, there was the fight with her brother, Saber, who wanted so very badly to kill her for escaping and not turning evil like he had. Her other brother, Slade, had rescued her.
Fifth, it seemed likely that the incomplete tekno process would kill her. That she would fade away being comforted by her brother and his friends. A similar fate had killed her father.
Being crucified and tortured by the enemy, who included Saber, had crossed her mind, but that is what was actually happening. The odds were against it. But she was the unlucky one today. Her wrists were pierced and pinned to the rock of one the mesas surrounding the command center. She was still reeling from the pain of two slashes that criss-crossed her chest. Her armor had taken the edge off of the blows, so she was still alive. If just barely.
That looked like it was about to change as Saber drew his arm and lance back for a thrust that looked like it would gut her if it struck. She prayed and thought 'I'm sorry, Slade.' At that moment a speeding bullet of energy slammed into Saber's neck. It burned through his armor and hit the parasite that was controlling him. He was thrown to the ground by the force of the hit. He looked over to see that his comrades had suffered similar hits. They had been hit in the side, back, and front respectively. There were holes in their armor and burnt flesh underneath.
Saber's mind cleared, and realized the horror of what he had done, and what he was about to do to his own sister. He had to get rid of the other three teknomen, who were now his enemies. "Retreat, if Slade shows up, we are all vulnerable. I'll follow after I deal with the traitor here, she doesn't deserve her brief and pathetic existence." The three armored warriors, Axe, Lance, and Sword, heeded his orders and flew off. Saber stood up and walked over to Shara, who was limply hanging by her wrists. He took the two tekno-lances out, and caught her as she collapsed. At this point Slade appeared.
Slade saw Saber embracing and cradling Shara and guessed the worst. Some small part of his humanity must have let Saber be so gentle, after he had killed her of course. Slade readied himself for battle, when his brother's amplifed voice cut through his rage. "Slade, take her, she's still alive." Saber handed the red and yellow armored form of his little sister over to his twin.
Slade held her, like he would a bride. He looked at his brother "Stay here, I'll come back to get you, I don't know how the others will react to you." At Saber's nod, Slade turned and rocketed towards the battered command center. He reached an open loading bay, where an evacuation was underway. Slade saw Commander Jamison, leader of the Space Knights, and quite possibly the senior most military officer left on the planet.
"Slade? Is that Shara?" At the affirmative nod, Jamison yelled "We need a medic and gurney over here now!" As his voice carried and the soldiers under his command sought to carry out his order. Slade felt Shara's power leave her.
Slade was left holding the frail body of his sister. The ragged holes in her wrists, and gashes on her chest were stark against her pale skin. There was little blood, as the wounds had partially healed while her armor was present. Her whitish-blonde hair covered his hand. And her lavender blue eyes were staring at him "Thank...you...Slade." She would have said more but she was gripped by another surge of pain. She screamed, and Slade held her to him, trying to keep her body steady. Doctors and nurses had by this point gathered a gurney. When her body stilled, she was taken from him and rushed off to the medical wing of the base. She was alive, but for how long? And what about Saber? He thought 'I'm losing my sister, but have I really regained my brother?'
Commander Jamison was still looking at him, Slade told him what he thought had happened "I'm not 100 percent sure, but I think I wounded Saber in a way that removed the Venemoid's hold over him."
By now the commander was accustomed to these swings of dealing with a dire situation while immediately welcoming hope in some form afterward. "What do you mean Slade? How do you know Saber's been turned to our side?"
"Well, he gave me Shara after she'd been tortured. If he was evil, she wouldn't be alive." Slade was having some doubts of his own, what if this was just another trick, so that Saber could kill him and his friends when he was welcomed as a new defender of the Earth.
Jamison would reserve judgment for now, Saber could prove to be a valuable ally. "Slade, go bring him in, I'll talk to him and see if what you're saying is true. Meanwhile, the Blue Earth crashed during its decoy mission, we've lost contact with Ringo. After you bring your brother in, if you have any time left in your armor, I want to you to see if Ringo survived the crash."
"My time is almost up, after I get Saber, I'll grab Star and Maggie and we'll take the Hover-tank out to the crash site." Slade and Jamison were both referring to the 30 minute time limit Slade had once he transformed, after that Slade became as evil as the enemy. The aforementioned Hover-tank was a prototype weapon developed to give the Space Knights some added defense against the forces of the enemy. It was all but useless against teknomen, but it could obliterate anything else the enemy had.
Mostly these were monsters called Spider-crabs, massive insectoid creatures that were very tough to kill with conventional human weaponry. There were still some roaming about on the once battlefield and could pose a real problem to a group of unprotected humans searching for a friend. So, the Hover-tank was an essential part of the search and rescue mission.
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Slade left Jamison and Shara. By the time Slade sped back to where he left Saber, the latter had powered down. Slade followed suit.
Saber had sat down with his back against a rock wall. As Slade drew closer his brother asked "Is Shara going to survive?" When he was evil, his voice always carried an arrogant edge to it. Now it was back to what Slade remembered as his brother's regular voice.
"For now, but her tekno power is killing her." Slade remained standing, even as his brother stood up to face him.
Saber looked his twin in the eye "I'm sorry for what I did to her, you, and your friends. I knew if Shara escaped as she did, before her transformation was complete, she would suffer horribly."
"Do you know of any way to save her?" Slade was ever-hopeful, he was always trying to keep what remained of his family and his friends alive.
Saber smiled then "You know it's funny, but the very monsters who did this to all of us, well, we can use some of their technology to save our little sister. Now come on, let's go meet these Space Knights and friends you are always protecting."
Slade and Saber, now literally brothers in arms, began making their way towards the heavily-damaged command center, and possibly towards a new, far hopeful phase in the global war against the alien invaders.
The day had started with two tekno-warriors loyal to Earth against four who fought to destroy the planet and it's people. Now, pending events with healing Shara, the odds would be more even. If Shara retained her powers, it would be three on three. If she had to be deprived of her powers, in order to save her, it would still be two super-powered warriors against three.
